again victorious, although not animated as before by the presence of the king. The war was terminated by the celebrated siege and reduction of Limerick, which place, after repelling the efforts of William in person, was surrendered to his forces, by capitulation, in October, 1691. The treaty then entered into forms an object of considerable interest in the history of Ireland, and is noticed in our account of the city of Limerick.-The forfeiture of lands consequent on this war was very considerable, and introduced a new race of settlers.* • The following extract from a speech of Lord Clare, on the subject of the Union, has little pretension to accuracy in the statement of figures, but conveys some general information, highly curious, relating to the state of property in Ireland, subsequent to the reign of Elizabeth: "From the report made by the commissioners appointed by the Parliament of England in 1698, it appears that the Irish subjects outlawed for the rebellion of 1688, amounted to 3978, and that their Irish possessions, as far as could be computed, were of the annual value of £211,623, comprising one million, sixty thousand, seven hundred and ninety-two acres. This fund was sold, under the authority of an English act of parliament, to defray the expences incurred by England in reducing the rebels of 1688, and the sale introduced into Ireland a new set of adventurers. "It is a very curious and important speculation to look back to the forfeitures of Ireland incurred in the last century. The superficial contents of the island are computed at eleven millions, forty-two thousand, six hundred and eighty-two acres. Let us now examine the state of forfeitures. "In the reign of James I. the whole of the Province of Ulster was confiscated, containing Set out by the court of claims at the Restoration Acres. 2,836,837 7,800,000 $1,060,792 Total 11,697,629 "So that the whole of the Island has been confiscated, with the exception of the estates of five or six families of English blood, some of whom had been attainted in the reign of Henry VIII. but recovered their possessions before Tyrone's rebellion, and had the good fortune to escape the pillage of the English republic, inflicted by Cromwell; and no inconsiderable portion of the island has been confiscated twice, or perhaps thrice, in the course of a century. The situation, therefore, of the Irish nation, at the Revolution, stands unparalleled in the history of the inhabited world." The remainder of the history of Ireland, as it affects the leading objects of this work, chiefly relates to a slow progress in the arts of peace, too often retarded, until late years, by the impolitic neglect, or more active injustice, of a governing power long unacquainted with the true interests of the island, and with the able and generous character of its inhabitants. Amidst all the evils arising from a mal-administration of anthority, the country gradually recovered from the shock of wars unprecedented in the annals of the world for frequency and severity. To the professed statistical writer, and to the philosophic historian, we leave the grateful task of tracing the national advance in commercial importance (commensurate with the improved liberality of government) and the effect of this dawning prosperity on the character of the people. In our remarks on architecture, comprised in these introductory pages, we show that the increase of security and refinement has, in late years, been conspicuously evinced in a great accession of splendid piles, both public and private, which adorn the face of the country, and nobly supplant, whilst they rival in number, those dreary masses of fortification which once formed the only architectural contrast, of a civil, or domestic description, to the forlorn cabin of the neglected pea sant. Two events, in years subsequent to the Revolution, demand mention in this brief summary of the leading features of national history, as connected with topographical enquiry. The unhappy rebellion of 1798, has left impressive marks of contention and woe on some of the fairest districts of the island; and, occasionally, in future pages, the locality of important transactions at that disastrous æra must unavoidably be noticed. The date of these sorrows is, however, too recent to admit of extended discussion; and a mere topographical notice, in succinct terms, is all that shall be presented. If no other motive were obvious, we should be thus studious of brevity, from a conviction that the most faint resemblance of entire fidelity of statement is never attainable until disinterested writers, in days far remote from the time of an intricate public action, have collated evidence, and separated the simplicity of genuine history from the romance of party feeling. When the heat of these discontents subsided, a legislative union between the two countries, similar to that between England and Scotland, was adopted, as the measure best calculated to provide for general strength and security. This scheme was no novelty in politics. It was proposed by Sir William Petty, and was again agitated in the reign of Anne, when the union with Scotland took place. According to the act now agreed to, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland from the First day of January, 1801, and for ever after, are united into one kingdom, by the name of THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT Britain and IRELAND. ANTIQUITIES, AND ARCHITECTURE, ECCLESIASTI CAL, MILITARY, AND DOMESTIC. A new country, however luxuriant in natural charms, is scarcely adequate to the entire and permanent gratification of the examiner. What would be the plains of Marathon without their story? Even the varied and transcendant beauties of Switzerland, the "pleasure-ground" of Europe, acquire an acknowledged and potent accession of interest from the historical circumstances connected with many of the lakes and woods. It is the prerogative of a country long inhabited, to present either tangible vestiges, or recorded facts, which call forth a grateful exercise of intellect in the contemplation of districts that may be of small importance at the existing period. Such links of association between past * A modern tourist, after noticing the countless natural attractions of the Lake of Lucerne, presents the following animated remark: "But the great charm of this Lake is, that it is the classical region of Switzerland. It is the spot where the great exploits of the Swiss history were achieved, and are now commemorated. No walks in the aisles of a cathedral, among the tombs and monuments of the illustrious dead, excite so strong and solemn an image of their lives and exploits as the proceeding along the areas of this wizard Lake. The ear is haunted with the sound of ancient times. The eye at every new vista runs through a long tract of history." General Outline of the Swiss Landscapes, &c. Edit. 3d, p. 126. ages and the present, ennoble the soil in the esteem of the native and the topographer, whilst they afford to the philosophical antiquary a continued theme of useful inquiry. It has been the favourite object of some writers to represent many of the early and rude antiquities of Ireland as the works of "Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and colonists from Syria and Ionia." The most temperate of these hypothetical writers is contented with supposing that such antiquities, "particularly those in the south of Ireland," proceeded from trading settlers, whose priests undertook missions, and, perhaps, formed establishments, among the native inhabitants, rather than from eastern visitants assuming the character of positive colonizers.* We abstain in the present place from lengthened remarks on these conjectures, under the full persuasion that nearly the whole of the early antiquities of Ireland will be found to assimilate readily with the course of population usual to the sister island; namely, the Celtæ ; the Belga (or Firbolgs); and different invaders from the north. The investigator of antiquities in this country will experience, in one particular, à sensible want of interest.-No Roman vestiges here meet his view. We believe, however, that Ireland will be found to possess various" traces of other days," calculated to recompense, in a great degree, the want of those stations and roads, which have so long formed subjects of curious inquiry in Britain. + Observations on early Irish Antiquities, by Governor Pownall, Archæologia, vol. vii. p. 164. + Although the remark may appear trivial, when appended to a notice of the military labours of the Romans, we venture on directing the attention of the antiquarian reader to various traces of ecclesiastical and commercial paved roads, still observable in several parts of Ireland. These public ways appear to have led from such sea-ports as were formerly of principal consideration, to the interior of the country, connecting the several churches and monasteries. They are usually narrow, and are often paved with stones placed edge-wise. They led over mountains and heaths, and through bogs, woods and morasses. According to an Irish MS. of considerable antiquity, they were secured" at fords, defiles, and passes through woods, by cliaths, or forts, where travellers, and cars with goods, remained during the night, secure We present some collective remarks on the principal classes of Irish antiquities, commencing with those which lay claim to the most remote origin. CIRCLES OF UPRIGHT STONES, AND OTHER Vestiges of Pagan AGES.-In common with England, Wales, Scotland, and several other European countries, this island contains numerous erections of stone, which from their rudeness are evidently the works of a very remote period, and are, indeed, of a date so early, or obscure, that the uses for which they were designed are not to be ascertained in historical record. It is believed that no country presents more frequent vestiges of this description than Ireland. Scarcely one barony of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster is destitute of interesting examples. Circles composed of upright and unwrought stones, although very numerous in this country, are in no instance on so large a scale as the stupendous work of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, or that of Avebury in the same county, the latter now mutilated for sordid uses, and nearly deprived of every characteristical trace of original disposal. In many instances, however, the Hibernian circles are in a good state of preservation, and are sometimes connected with unusual and curious particulars. As an example may be noticed the stones arranged in a circular form round a tumulus at New Grange, in the county of Meath, beneath which mount was constructed an extensive gallery, appearing to have been devoted to religious and sepulchral purposes. It is also observable that within şome circles are found stone seats, or chairs, traditionally termed Brehon's, or judge's seats. Circles of stone in Ireland, as in England, are frequently, but not invariably, found, on tracts naturally elevated. Cromlechs are still remaining in most parts of Ireland, but are rarely seen within, or in the immediate vicinity of the stony circle. The term cromlech is evidently derived from the words crom, bent, from the attack of men and beasts." A map of these causeways could scarcely fail of affording much gratification to the antiquary and local historian, as it would contribute materially towards exhibiting the former state of the country, and would show the importance, in past ages, of many places now reduced to a state of utter and dreary neglect. |