Mr. Wakefield's work. He says that the linen manufacture, which had been extensively carried on in the vicinity of Castlebar, Westport, Newport, &c., and had there, as every where else, led to a division of the land, has materially declined, and that, in consequence the condition of the occupiers "has very much deteriorated." — (Ireland in 1834, vol. ii. p. 98.) Cattle long-horned, and improved by crossing with the English breed. Thirty years ago, some graziers used to hold as much as 3,000 acres; but at present few occupy more than the tenth part of this extent of land. The best grazing lands are said to fetch about 40s. the Irish acre. Average rent of the county, 8s. 6d. the statute acre. Iron was formerly made in this county; but the business was abandoned from the want of fuel. Though the houses are all thatched, there is abundance of excellent slate. Principal rivers, - Moy, Guishden, Deel, Owenmore, and Robe, besides inferior streams. The coast is deeply indented by the sea; and on the west it is fenced with numerous islands. There are some excellent harbours. Mayo contains 9 baronies, and 68 parishes; and returns 2 members to parliament, both for the county. Principal towns and population in 1831:-- Castlebar, 6,373; Ballina, 5,510; Westport, 4,448. Population of county, in 1831, 366,328.

3. Roscommon, an inland county, has Galway on the south and south-west; on the east it is separated from Longford, Leitrim, and King's County by the Shannon; on the north and north-west, it has Sligo and Mayo. It contains 609,405 acres, of which 131,063 are bog and mountain, and 24,787 water. There are some mountain tracts in the northern parts of the county and elsewhere, but, in general, its surface is nearly flat; exhibiting for the most part either green fields or bogs. Substratum principally limestone. Pastures most luxuriant. The employment of stone fences is peculiar to this county. Estates very large; but many of them let on perpetual leases, the holders of some of which form an intermediate class between the great proprietors and the occupiers. A large proportion of land in pasture; but latterly tillage has been rapidly extending. Several improvements have been introduced both in the plan of husbandry and in the instruments employed in carrying it

on.

"But the general system of agriculture, excepting on lands held by wealthy individuals, remains still in a very imperfect state; and the smaller farms are cultivated in a manner at once slovenly and wasteful." - (Weld's Survey of Roscommon, p. 654., Dublin, 1832.) Partnership tenures diminishing. Tillage farms very generally small. Oats and potatoes principal crops; but wheat is now rather extensively cultivated. A good deal of work done by the loy. Cattle long-horned; sheep long-woolled; both breeds good; few dairies. Average rent of land, 13s. an acre. Some new cottages, on a few estates, are neat and comfortable, but the great majority continue to be as bad as possible. The same may be said of the farm-buildings. There are veins of coal and ironstone in the northern parts of this county, to the west of Lough Allen. These had been occasionally wrought to some extent for a considerable period; but, in general, to the heavy loss of those by whom the works were carried on. It was, however, contended that this happened from the want of capital, or want of skill on the part of those employed; and the most exaggerated and delusive accounts were, at the same time, published of the value of the mines. At length, during the memorable year 1825, three companies were formed for working the coal and iron mines at Arigna and other places in this county. But one of these, after examining the ground, prudently declined proceeding any farther: the energies of another were paralysed by the fraud, jobbing, and mismanagement of some of its directors and agents; and the third (the Irish Mining Company), an enterprising and well-conducted association, have recently abandoned the undertaking, their collieries having proved, if not absolutely worthless, not worth the cost of working them.-(Weld's Survey, pp. 33. 77. 682., &c.) The linen manufacture was at one time pretty extensively diffused over this county; but it has within

these few years materially declined. Being washed throughout its whole extent by the Shannon, there are not many Irish counties that have greater facilities than Roscommon for the easy and convenient disposal of their products. It contains 6 baronies, and 56 parishes; and returns 2 members to parliament, both for the county. Principal towns and population in 1831:— Roscommon, 3,306; Boyle, 3,439; Elphin, 1,507. Population of county, in ditto, 249,618.

4. Leitrim, a maritime county, is bounded on the south-east by Longford; on the east by Cavan and Fermanagh; on the north by Donegal Bay; and on the west and south-west by Sligo and Roscommon. It contains 420,375 acres, of which 128,167 are mountain and bog, and 25,568 water. This is a very mountainous county; the mountains are not, however, completely barren, but afford sufficient herbage for the breeding of cattle. In the valleys and low grounds there is a good deal of dark soil, incumbent on limestone, and very fertile. Estates very large. Tillage farms small, not exceeding 50 or 60 acres; and these frequently let in partnership to a number of tenants. Agriculture in a depressed but improving state. Potatoes, oats, and flax are the principal crops; clover and turnips unknown, at least to the tenantry. Cattle improved by the introduction of English breeds; a good deal of butter made. Sheep small and few in number. Habitations of the people mostly miserable huts: even the recently erected farm-houses and offices, if so they may be called, are said not to cost more than 107. or 127.! Average rent of land, 10s. 73d. an acre. There are several bleach-fields, some coarse potteries, and some coarse linen is made for home consumption. Leitrim is said to have been at one time covered with wood; but at present it is very destitute of plantations. One of the sources of the Shannon is in this county. It contains 5 baronies, and 17 parishes; and returns 2 members to parliament, both for the county. Principal towns and population in 1831:- Mohill, 1,606; Carrick-on-Shannon, 1,870. Population of county, in ditto, 141,524. 5. Sligo, a maritime county, is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean; east, by Leitrim; south-east, by Roscommon; and south-west and west by Mayo. It contains 434,887 acres, of which 168,711 are mountain and bog, and 8,260 water. This county, though rough, mountainous, and boggy, contains no inconsiderable quantity of very good land; though a good deal of the arable soil is but indifferent. A few pretty large estates; but a considerable portion of the county is divided into small properties. Lands are let and managed in all respects similarly to those in Leitrim. There has been within these few years a very extraordinary extension of cultivation in Sligo and the contiguous portions of Leitrim. This is evinced by the rapid increase and great amount of the exports from the town of Sligo. In 1831, for example, the export of oats was 130,000 quarters; in 1832, 134,000; and in 1833, it had increased to 154,000. The export of wheat trebled within the three years ending with 1833; but, even in the last mentioned year, only 3,127 quarters were exported. The exports of butter and pork are also increasing rapidly and steadily; no fewer than 150,000 casks of the former, and 8,547 barrels of the latter, having been shipped in 1833. — (Inglis's Ireland in 1834, vol. ii. p. 12.) It is true that the extension, and even the improvement, of tillage, is not always accompanied in Ireland with any thing like a corresponding improvement in the condition of the occupiers and peasantry; but it is difficult to suppose that exportation could be carried to so great an extent without acting favourably on both. Here, however, as well as in Leitrim, the con-acre system has made much progress within the last twenty years. Average rent of land, 10s. 8d. an acre. Inhabitants in about the same condition as in Leitrim, or, perhaps, worse. Principal rivers,— Sligo, Arrow, Awinmore, Esky, Moy, &c. It contains 6 baronies, and 39 parishes; and returns 3 members to parliament, being 2 for the county, and i for the borough

of Sligo. Principal towns and population in 1831:-Sligo, 15,152; Ardnaree, 2,482. Population of county, in ditto, 171,765.

ISLANDS.

A great number of islands and islets lie along the south-west, west, and north-west coasts of Ireland; but there are very few off the east coast. Their distance from the mainland is, in most instances, inconsiderable. The largest of these islands, called Achill, or Eagle Island, from the number of eagles by which it is frequented, is situated on the west coast of Mayo, at the northwest extremity of Clew Bay. It contains about 22,000 acres, with a destitute population of about 4,000. It is mountainous and barren; and is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel, which is, in parts, fordable at low water. Clare Island, the south isles of Arran, at the mouth of Galway Bay, and Valentia Island, on the south side of Dingle Bay, are, after Achill, among the most considerable islands on the west coast. Their inhabitants, and those of the other islands, subsist partly by fishing and partly by agricul ture. They use only the Irish language; are barely acquainted with the rudiments off civilisation; and are mostly in a state of extreme poverty. Rachlin Island, off the north coast of Ireland, is principally celebrated for its basaltic columns. (Antè, p. 353.) There are reckoned to be, in all, nearly 200 islands in the seas and bays (principally the latter) round Ireland, of which, from 130 to 140 are inhabited. Their population, which in most instances is very dense, amounts to about 43,000.

PART II.

POPULATION.

SECT. I. Population of England and Wales.

Races of Inhabitants. THERE can be no reasonable doubt that Britain received its first inhabitants from the contiguous shores of the Continent. The best critics are of opinion that the original immigrants were Celts; being denominated Gael (Guydels of the Welsh), no doubt from their having passed over from Gaul. At some subsequent period these original immigrants were followed by the Cimbri, or Northern Celts.* It is believed that, after the invasion of the latter, a considerable portion of the Gaelic Celts emigrated to Ireland, where the Gaelic dialect of the Celtic language still predominates. But, however this may be, the Cimbric Celts seem to have obtained a complete ascendancy over their predecessors. Their descendants continue to this day to occupy the principality of Wales, where the Cymraig dialect of the Celtic language, "the genuine

For proofs that the Cimbri were Celts, see Pinkerton's Dissertation on the Scythians, annexed to his Inquiry into the History of Scotland.

daughter of the ancient British spoken in the time of the Romans," is still in common use. * The epoch of the Gothic immigration is not known; but, at a period which must have long preceded the Christian era, the Goths, who are believed to have emigrated from the countries between the Black Sea and the Caspian, were in possession of the north-western parts of Germany and Gaul as far south as the Seine. That portion of the great Gothic family that settled in the Low Countries and the north of France, were called by the Romans Belga, and are represented as a brave and warlike nation. (Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, lib. i. § 1.) From Gaul they passed over to Britain, where they occupied, when it was invaded by Julius Cæsar, its south-eastern and most fertile provinces. (De Bello Gallico, lib. v. § 12.) The Belgian colonists were, undoubtedly, the principal ancestors of the modern English nation. The Saxons, who invaded England after it had been abandoned by the Romans, were a congenerous race with its Belgic occupants. But the latter, enfeebled by being long subject to the Roman power, seem to have lost that valour for which they were once so conspicuous, and were easily subdued by the Saxons. There is, however, no reason to think that the latter came over in such numbers as to have been able fully to occupy the country, or to have given it a new language, had their own differed materially from that already in use in it. † The population of all the eastern, southern, and more level part of the island may, therefore, be looked upon as having been at this period essentially Gothic, and as derived rather from the Belgian than from the Saxon Goths.

The temporary conquest of England by the Danes, and its subsequent subjugation by the Normans, however important in other respects, made no sensible change in the stock of the inhabitants. The Normans, though long settled in France, where they had acquired the use of the French language, originally emigrated from Norway; and belonged, as well as the Danes, to the Gothic family. Except, therefore, in so far as we may suppose the Celtic and Belgic inhabitants to have been blended together, the Gothic blood would seem to have been preserved pretty pure in all the country to the north and east of the Severn and the Exe.

Percy's Introduction to the Translation of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 5. There cannot, as the same learned writer, Pinkerton, and others have shown, be a doubt as to the identity of the ancient Britons and the Celtic Gauls. The French call Wales Pays de Galles, that is, country of the Gauls.

+ Pinkerton's Geography, vol. i. p. 20. ed. 1802.

Within the last few years, however, an immigration has taken place into England, and also into Scotland, that has already had a great, and promises to have a still greater, influence over the blood and character of the people. We allude to the late extraordinary immigration of Irish, or Celtic, labourers into Great Britain. Considering the general want of employment, and the low rate of wages in Ireland, the temptation to emigrate to England is all but irresistible; and steam communication has reduced the expenses of transit to almost nothing; having established, as it were, floating bridges between Dublin and Liverpool, Belfast and Glasgow, Waterford and Bristol. In consequence, very many thousands of destitute Irish labourers have established themselves in Lancashire, Lanarkshire, and other places, principally on the west coast of England and Scotland. So great, indeed, has been this immigration, that at present, it is believed, about a fourth part of the population of Manchester and Glasgow consists either of native Irish, or of their descendants; and in various other places the proportion of Irish blood is still greater. Instead of being diminished, this influx, great as it has been, is progressively augmented; and threatens to entail very pernicious consequences on the people of England and Scotland. The wages of the latter are reduced by the competition of the Irish; and, which is still worse, their opinions as to what is necessary for their comfortable and decent subsistence are lowered by the contaminating influence of example, and by familiar intercourse with those who are content to live in filth and misery. It is difficult to see how, if things be allowed to continue on their present footing, the condition of the labouring classes in the two countries should not be pretty much approximated; and there is but too much reason to think that the equalisation will be brought about, rather by the degradation of the English than by the elevation of the Irish. Hitherto the latter have been very little, if at all, improved by their residence in England; but the English and Scotch with whom they associate have been certainly deteriorated. Though painful and difficult, the importance of the subject gives it the strongest claims on the public attention. It were better that measures should be adopted to check, if that be possible, the spread of pauperism in Ireland, and to improve the condition of its inhabitants; but, if this cannot be done, it seems indispensable that we should endeavour to guard against being overrun by a pauper horde.

Having premised these few observations with respect to the races of men by which the kingdom has been peopled, we proceed to an inquiry more germane to statistics, or to investigate the amount of the population.

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