The central parts of this district, comprising nearly 140 square miles, consist chiefly of one mass of granite, having, on the surface, heath, or bog-turf, under which is found a coarse gravel. Towards the north-east is a ridge of mountains, composed of hornstone intermixed with quartz. No lime-rock is found in any part of the country.* Amongst the metallic substances discovered in this mountainous tract, must be noticed lead and copper. It is a subject of much notoriety that gold has also been found, in sufficient quantities to stimulate to ardent enterprize, although not to gratify expectation. The works connected with seductive researches after this royal metal, are noticed in our account of the parish of Arklow.

The following statement of the altitudes of several mountains in this county is derived from two valuable papers in the Transactions of the Geological Society, by Dr. Tritton and Mr. Weaver. Lugnaquilla, which is supposed to be the highest, is situated to the south-westward of the centre of the mountainous district; its

over a country still too little known, has lately caused a considerable increase in the number of visiters to this delightful tract; and inns, sufficient for the comfort even of luxurious travellers, are constructed at several eligible points of the customary route.

A curious circumstance, relating to the geology of this county, is thus noticed by Mr. Fraser. “Adjacent to the chasm called the Scalp, on the eastern border of the county, and in the whole of the intervening valley, a phenomenon presents itself, when first observed exciting considerable attention, when afterwards investigated being equally difficult to be explained. Nor is it confined to this spot, but is found in very large districts both on the east and west sides of the mountains. This phenomenon arises from an infinity of rounded and blunted limestones, found in the strata of the earth, bedded generally in loose marle, and in gravel, of which the chief part is small limestone of various granular dimensions; sometimes the marle is found more compact and indurated. These blunted and rounded pebbles of limestone have every appearance of being so formed by attrition, after having been broken off from some mass of limestone; and as they are found at very considerable heights up the mountains, it might be supposed that they have been broken off from some mountains of limestone in the internal part of the district. Yet certain it is, there is no lime rock whatever to be found in the whole of the county of Wicklow, nor any vestige of such rock in the internal part of the mountains." Fraser's Survey of Wicklow, p. 9, 10.

summit is elevated 2455 feet above the house of Mr. Greene, at Kilranelagh, which is itself almost 590 feet above the marine level, making the total height of the mountain 3045 feet.* Cadeen, a hill detached from the body of the mountains, and forming a striking object from the adjacent flat country, is 1559 feet above the same place. Baltinglass-hill 682; Eadestown 749; Brisselstown 740; and Kilranelagh-hill 705.

Although numerous rivers and streams take their rise amongst the mountains of Wicklow, not any are navigable in their progress through this county; but the Liffey and the Slaney, the principal of these rivers, attain considerable importance in other districts.

The Liffey has its origin either in a stream proceeding from Kippure, or in a rival stream issuing from Sally-gap, both of which unite within a mile of the latter place. The Slaney rises amidst the mountains on the west, and, after pouring its waters through the vale of Imale, proceeds by Stratford, and Baltinglass, to the county of Carlow. The Ovoca takes its rise among the mountains in the central part of the county, whence proceed two streams, under the names of Avonmore and Avonbeg (the great and little Avon), receiving many tributary waters in their course, and uniting, three miles to the south of Rathdrum. After that junction, the river assumes the name of Ovoca, and flows in a winding course through a valley celebrated for romantic charms, equally by poetical and prosaic writers, under the appellation of the Vale of Ovoca. Here it receives the tribute of the Derry, a stream which rises in the neighbourhood of Shillelagh, and finally enters the sea at a short distance from the town of Arklow. The minor rivers of this county, although not demanding particular notice, add greatly to its beauty, in various directions.

Wicklow, as we learn from Spencer, was incumbered with a redundance of wood, so lately as the reign of Elizabeth. The pride of Shillelagh is no more: a few straggling trees are all that remain of a region, whence the architect of Westminster Hall is said to have procured the timber for constructing the

* We have the opportunity of observing that Lugnaquilla has been since measured by Mr. Griffith; and, in the opinion of that gentleman, the height is not less than 3072 feet.

singularly wide roof of that noble fabric. But numerous glens still abound in oak, which greatly ornament the country, although rarely allowed to attain a venerable or magnificent growth. Except in the immediate neighbourhood of the principal seats, the wood of this county is usually cut at about thirty years growth, and coppices consequently now occupy the place of former forests. Evergreens, of unusual size and vigour, are plentifully found in many parts of this county.

The prevailing Soil of Wicklow is described, in the survey published under the sanction of the Dublin Society, as consisting" of common clay and silex, mixed in various proportions, and of various degrees of fineness, from the coarse gravelly to every minute siliceous earth, and of various degress of fertility." Agriculture is still in a backward state in many parts; but, in the districts most thickly populated, considerable improvements have been recently introduced, and are growing into frequent adoption. The enclosed pastures are chiefly natural grass, rising without aid on fields exhausted by a long continuance of arable culture; but the herbage, notwithstanding such a neglect of the due cares of husbandry, is in general extremely rich. Some cattle are fattened in different parts of the county, and the milk of the cow is often applied, in the districts near Dublin, to the feeding of lambs. Many excellent calves are also produced for the Dublin Market. On the mountains are pastured a breed of sheep peculiar to this country, having wool particularly short and fine.

* We are told by Mr. Fraser (Agri. Sur. p. 208.) that the lambs thus fed do not suck the cows, but receive their nourishment "by women squirting the milk into their mouths." We did not see this operation performed, but we place confidence in the accuracy of the narrator. In some instances, however, the most acute investigator may be misled. Thus, it is said by Mr. Arthur Young, in his "Tour in Ireland," that some farmers in the county of Wicklow are in the habit of giving their ewes claret, in order to warm their temperament on occasions connected with the raising of stock. We inquired, at every possible opportunity, concerning the truth of a remark sounding so very like a jest ; and found, as will be supposed, that the late secretary of the board of agriculture had certainly, in this instance, sunk the dupe of a sportive sally, or a malicious trial of his credulity.

The farms are generally large, and the farm-buildings are often of a respectable character, and are rendered pleasing by whitened fronts and roofs covered with slate. We regret to observe that the habitations of the lower orders present, too frequently, an offensive contrast to the comfortable aspect of many farming abodes. Except on spots favoured with the residence or patronage of the affluent, the cabins of the peasantry are wretched tenements of mud or sod, worthy of human occupation only in the infancy of society.

The Manufactures are chiefly confined to flannel and calico; to which may be added frieze and ratteen, made in most parts of the country for domestic use, and also, in small quantities, for sale at the periodical fairs.

The English language is spoken in every part of Wicklow, and the inhabitants are courteous, quick-witted, and communicative. In recluse parts of the country, and especially in the neighbourhood of antient vestiges, they are prolific in vague traditions and strange legends, which accord with the romantic wildness of all surrounding circumstances, and are customary tributes to the genius of solitary and mountainous regions. Music and the dance find a welcome in every shed, and are the solaces and cordials of every heart. Even when their places of habitation are lamentably sordid, the peasantry seldom exhibit, in person and habiliment, indications of extreme indigence. Some of the women wear round hats made of felt, and in other respects, as relates to manner and neatness of attire, resemble the females of North Wales. The men of the labouring classes universally wear a long coat, of home manufacture.*

The few towns in this county are small, and not distinguished

* Mr. Wakefield, in the second vol. of his " Account of Ireland," notices in the following words a peculiar, and rather troublesome, vanity which prevails among the peasantry of Wicklow, in regard to the article of dress. "So fond are these people of a profusion of clothes, that a man may be seen, like the grave-digger in Hamlet, with half a dozen of waistcoats on in the height of summer; over these is one trusty on his back, while another hangs over his shoulders; and by way of bravado, and to create a row, he lets the last trail on the ground, calling out "Touch that, by Jasus, if you dare!"

by commercial importance; but the seats are numerous in the northern part, and in the fine district bordering on the sea. Among the principal proprietors of land may be mentioned Earl Fitzwilliam; the Earl of Wicklow; the Earl of Carysfort; the Earl of Meath; Lord Viscount Powerscourt; and George Putland, Esq.

Ptolemy places in such parts of the country now termed Wicklow as are to the north of the river Ovoca, the tribe, or nation, of Cauci; in which circumstance of appropriation he is followed by Richard of Cirencester. Before this territory was reduced to shire ground, the northern division comprised the antient Dalmacscoe, which was subdivided into two principalities: Crioc-Cuolan and Tyr-Tuathal. The first consisted of a narrow tract between the mountains and the sea, or the modern baronies of Rathdown, Newcastle, and Arklow; of which territory, at the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, O'Cullan was the reigning dynast, his domain extending to Naas, in the county of Kildare. O'Toole ruled the rest of the country; the Danes holding certain possessions about Bray, Wicklow, and Arklow; and the sept of the O'Byrnes inhabiting the mountains.

The septs of O'Toole and O'Byrne, enwrapped in the natural fastnesses of their woods and mountains, maintained themselves against the power of the English government until the termination of the sixteenth century. The predatory descents of these warlike mountaineers form frequent subjects of disastrous detail in the annals of Dublin, "over the neck of which city," to use the words of Spencer, "they continually hung." Wicklow, which had previously been considered by the English as part of the county of Dublin, was made a separate county, under its present appellation, in 1603. This district was the scene of many sanguinary transactions, during the troubles of the year 1798.

BRAY, a small town, distant eleven miles from the metropolis, is agreeably situated on the borders of St. George's Channel. A river, celebrated for plenty and excellence of trout, separates the town into two parts, and also forms the line of division between the counties of Wicklow and Dublin. From its situation on the