IRELAND, &c.

CHAPTER V.

Situation, boundaries, extent, and civil divisions of the county of Antrim.-Description of the town of Lisburn.-Battle fought there in 1641.-Brief account of Doctor Jeremiah Taylor.-Seats in the vicinity of Lisburn described.-Village of Lambeg.-Description of the Hertford estate.-Specimen of seats on that beautiful section of the great northern road, which opens a communication between Lisburn and Belfast.

THE County of Antrim is a maritime county, which presents a considerable line of coast to the northern ocean and to the Irish channel.-By the former it is bounded to the north, and by the latter to the east. The lough, or bay of Belfast, and the river Lagan, form its limits to the southeast, dividing it from the county of Down, as far to the south as Spencer's bridge. To the southwest it has the same county, which, running to a point, meets Lough Neagh at Shanport.-To the west it has the winding shores of Lough Neagh and

Lough Beg, until it meets the river Bann, issuing from the latter; from thence this river (taking a northerly course, inclining to the west) separates Antrim from Londonderry, and, with the liberties of Coleraine, completes its circuit.

Extent.

The county of Antrim lies between 54° 26' and 55° 12′ 16′′ north latitude: its greatest length is from Bengore head north, to Spencer's bridge south, and is, according to Mr. Lendrick's map, 41 Irish miles. Its greatest breadth, from the Gobbins, east, to Island Reagh Toome, west, is about 24 miles.-The superficial contents, from the same authority, are 420,999 Irish acres.

Civil divisions.

This county contains eight baronies: their contents, in Irish acres, are as follow:

According to these divisions, all taxes upon

the county at large are apportioned.

In the ancient divisions of Ireland, that part of the county of Antrim towards the south and southwest, was denominated Dalaradia; the western and north-western parts were named Dalrieda; and the name of the whole is said to have been Andrium, or Endruim; that is, "The habitation upon the waters."-From that word, without much etymological violence, the name of Antrim might have been derived.

The minor civil divisions are, half baronies, constablewicks, and townlands.-This last division must have been of a very early date; for the names are nearly all Irish, and expressive of the qualities of the land, or descriptive of some circumstance that relates to them.-Many of the names still remain, and give a kind of vague denomination to parts of the country; but they have no exact definition as to any county regulations.-Plough-lands were instituted in the reign of Philip and Mary: according to them, certain taxes were paid. They were rated at 100 acres; but this division has no longer an existence in our civil records.

Tour and survey of the county of Antrim.

From Hillsborough (by the great coast-road still) we pursued our course to Belfast, the principal commercial town of Ulster, (and as eminent for beauty as for commerce) through Lisburn, (a town that possesses many attractions for the stranger) and which we beg to have the honour of introducing to his notice, as a place where he

will spend a few days with great pleasure, in his progress from Dublin to Belfast.

Lisburn (on the Marquis of Hertford's estate).

This town is situated in the barony of Massarene, on the river Lagan, (which separates it from the county of Down) and is probably the handsomest inland town in Ulster.-It exceeds Antrim, the shire-town of this county, in its trade; it contains an immensely larger population, a people more wealthy, and, in the beauty of its aspect, there is no competition between them.—Lisburn returns one member to parliament, since the legislative union.-It is a market, fair, and post-town; is very considerable in the fine lawn and linen trade, and has been long distinguished as the seat of one of the most eminent diaper and damask manufactories in the world.-Goods are here finished for several of the crowned heads and most eminent men of Europe, with all those devices drawn in the loom, which are emblematic of their rank and achievements.This is a new kind of type for the celebration of events; and the manufacturers, being also printers and publishers of these works, give additional celebrity to their name.-Indeed, as printers and publishers in damask folio, the Messrs. Coulson rank among the first artists in the world; but, to their customers, we presume, must be attributed the merit of the composition of those histories, which they publish in such neat editions.

But Lisburn is not dependent, for its celebrity,

upon mere works of art: it is distinguished as having been for some time the theatre of a genius that has since raised its beam in all the refulgence of wild Irish talent upon the republic of letters.-Conformable to the usual intelligence of country towns, and that sickening pride by which their paltry distinctions are maintained, this star of the emerald isle is said to have been unnoticed and unknown at Lisburn, (from whence we infer, that our brother drapers of that town, in their devotion to the loom, have forgotten the science of astrology.)—To use the expression of a facetious inhabitant of Lisburn, (who spoke without a figure, concerning the visit of this fair genius to Ulster, and her opinion of its inhabitants)—“ She came a stranger amongst us," said the wit, "and we thought to have parted with her as such, but she would not let us."-It seems not, since she used the privilege of an old acquaintance, to tell you her opinion of your character." The people of the north," said this talented lady (as the story proceeded), "by the country of their residence are Irish; by their religion, and the country of their forefathers, they are Scotch; but, by their character and actions, they are neither one nor the other. They are destitute of the generous hospitality of the native Irish, and appear to be wholly swallowed up in the vortex of their trade. -They are destitute of the literary taste and acquirements of the Scotch nation, having that kind of information only which can be rendered useful in the pursuit of gain."-Such, we have heard, was the opinion of this lady, whose tour