LEITRIM, a maritime county of the province of Connaught, in Ireland, is bounded on the north by tĥe Atlantic and the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh, on the cast by the counties of Fermanagh and Cavan, on the south by those of Longford and Roscommon, and on the west by Roscommon and Sligo. In shape it has been compared to an hour-glass, broad at both ends, and contracted in the middle. Its greatest length, measured from south-east to north-west, is fifty-two miles; its breadth where broadest is twenty, and where narrowest not more than seven miles; extending over an area of 420,375 acres, of which 266,640, or little more than one half, are cultivated land, 128,167 are bog or unimproveable mountain, and 25,568 are under water.

The county, which derives its name from an obscure village on the Shannon, is supposed to have formed part of the region inhabited by the tribe of the Nagnatae in the time of Ptolemy. The Irish chroniclers distinguish it by the name of Hy-Brune-Brefine, or Brennie. The family of O’Ruarck, which derived its descent from Roderic, king of Ireland, held in it the rank of chieftain; and under him were those of O’Murrey, M‘Loghlin, M‘Glanchie, and [7:13:222]M‘Granell. It was made shire-ground, together with the other counties in Connaught, by Queen Elizabeth; and is now divided into the five baronies of Carrigallon, Dromahaire, Leitrim, Mohill, and Rosclogher. These baronies are subdivided into seventeen parishes, of which ten are in the diocese of Kilmore, and seven in that of Ardagh. For the greater convenience of transacting the sessional business of the county, it is divided into two districts; that of Manor-Hamilton in the north, comprising the baronies of Rosclogher and Dromahaire; and that of Carrick-on-Shannon to the south, comprehending the three southern baronies.

The climate is not only colder than the more southern counties, but also moister, owing to the number and height of the mountains with which the greater part of its surface is overspread. The whole of the northern part of the county is mountainous. Lugnaquilla, the most elevated of the mountains, rises to the height of 1485 feet; Benbo is 1403 feet high; Lacka, 1315; the Green Mountain, 950 feet. More southerly are Slieve-an-Eirin and Bencroi. Large tracts of ground comparatively level are to be found in the southern part of the county, the greater part of which is well wooded, fertile, and abounding in picturesque scenery. The soil in general is stiff, heavy, cold, and wet. The tops and sides of most of the hills are covered with a thin ferruginous loam, based upon a hard gravel. The valleys, which are in general well watered, are of a quality superior to the hills, deeper in mould, and much more fertile. The more level tracts, already noticed, are a dark rich soil on a limestone bottom.

The county is not more remarkable for its mountains than for its lakes. The principal is Lough Allen, situated in its centre, where narrowest. It is eight miles long from north to south, and four*where broadest, and may be looked upon as the great reservoir and distributer of all the running water in the county, and the embryo feeder of every canal that may be made to traverse it. Storms on thislake are violent, and the waves run very high. The boatmen who navigate it assert that it is unfathomable in some parts. A few miles to the north is Lough Clean, or Bel-hovel Lake, which discharges its waters into Lough Allen by a stream of some magnitude. Several smaller sheets of water are scattered throughout the southern baronies. On the borders are Lough Gill, Lough Melvyn, Lough Cane, and Lough Boffin. The Shannon is said by some writers to take its rise in Lough Clean, but its source is more generally reputed to be in Quilca Mountain, where it is known by the name of Avonmore, or the Great River, to distinguish it from the many lesser streams that, like it, contribute to feed the great central lake. Issuing from the southern extremity of Lough Allen, it forms the western boundary of the county. The Bonnet rises near Lough Clean, and falls into Lough Gilly. The small rivers Bundrows and Brinduff, which separate Leitrim from Donegal and Sligo, contain between their mouths the scanty line of three miles of sea-coast belonging to the county. Many other streams, too small to be particularly noticed, and discharging themselves into some of the numerous lakes or larger rivers, afford a copious and perennial supply of water.

The central parts of the county form part of the great coal-fields of Ireland. The principal vein is in Bencroi Mountain, the summit of which is bog. The works originally belonged to the O’Reillys, from whom they devolved by mortgage to one of the Latouche family, who, after a very great expenditure, relinquished them. The coal is not considered as of good quality. Coal has also been found in the hill of Lacka, and in Lugnaquilla, where it crops out at an elevation of about 1170 feet above the sea level, at Meneask. Iron-ore abounds in the Slieve-na-Eirin, or Iron Mountain. On its northern side, where the interior has been denuded by the mountain floods, the metal shows itself in large quantities, alternating with strata of limestone.

The ore here is considered as richer than that of Roscommon. It was worked until the failure of timber and the ' want of a sufficient supply of mineral coal put a stop to the operations. Indications of the same ore are to be found in several other parts of the mountainous district, and even in the interior of the plain country, near the Shannon. Indeed the soil is so deeply and extensively impregnated with it, that the inhabitants, who have not the means of rendering it profitable, denounce it as the bane of the country. Lead has been found near Lurganboy. Upon the north side of Benbo Mountain are pits whence copper has been extracted. Manganese is also found in large quantities, as is pipe clay, yellow ochre, white and brown chalks, clays of various hues, and sand suited for the manufacture of glass. The substratum of the parts of the county north and south of the coal and iron district is chiefly limestone, interspersed occasionally with sandstone. Benbo is granitic. The quantity of bog is estimated to occupy 7234 acres. Its general depth is thirty feet, and it rests on a stratum of marl or blue clay. The highest level of any of the bogs above the Shannon at Lough Reagh is 114 feet, that of the lowest twenty-nine. All are so far elevated as to admit of drainage. There is a sulphureous spa at Drumsna, in high repute for cutaneous disorders, and by many considered as more effective than that of Swadlinbar. There are also others of the same quality at Annaghduff, Meelock, and Attymanus, and in some other places. Cavan spa is a chalybeate, issuing from the southern part of a peninsula in the north of Lough Allen. Oakfield spa, likewise chalybeate, is near the sea. Both are visited for their supposed sanative qualities.

The population, like that of every other part of'Ireland, has been progressively on the increase ever since any series of systematic observations have been directed to ascertain it. The following are the most important epochs of its increase :—
[table]

The foregoing table exhibits an increase upwards of quintuple in seventy years. But it is to be observed, that the ratio of increase between the first and last parliamentary census, which may be deemed to have been taken with greater accuracy than those of former years, which rest chiefly on conjectural computation, does not establish the authenticity of such a rapid increase. The average of population to the superficial contents of the county gives a rate of one inhabitant to one acre and eighty-eight hundred parts.

This population was represented in the Irish House of Commons by six members, two for the county at large, and two for each of the close boroughs of Carrick-on-Shannon and Jamestown. The union struck off the borough representatives, and as no change has been made in this point by the reform act, the county now sends but two members to the imperial parliament. The state of the constituency, as affected by the legislative alterations made since the passing of the Catholic emancipation bill, by which the right of the forty-shilling freeholders to vote in the election of representatives was abolished, exhibits the following results :—
[table]

Hence it appears, that whilst, previously to the extinction of the forty-shilling freeholders, there was one elector for every four families nearly, the number was reduced, after the change, to one for every eighteen.
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The state of crime may be estimated, to a certain degree, from the following return of the numbers committed for criminal offences during the seven years ending December 1834, viz :—

1828 380 1832 293

1829 372 1833 389

1830 282 1834 330

1831 209

The foregoing statement is taken from the annual report of the inspectors-general of prisons. Another return from the county officers gives the following result for the year 1834, which is both more specific, and varies from the other in no small degree as to the number of committals. The great excess of persons discharged unpunished above those convicted presents a very extraordinary characteristic as to the administration of justice in this, as in many other counties. Capital executions are very uncommon here.

Committals in 1834 628

Convictions , 109

Acquittals by jury 153

No bills found 66

No prosecution 208

Bailed and not tried 5

Remaining for trial 87

Total not convicted 519

The state of public education, as collected from the parliamentary inquiries in 1821 and 1824-26, may be inferred from the following table. The information on this interesting topic, collected by the late commission of public instruction, having been made up according to dioceses, instead of counties, as had been the case in the preceding parliamentary returns, precludes the possibility of giving a statement either of the numbers of children receiving instruction, or of the comparative amount of the different religious persuasions, for the year 1834.

Year. Boys. Girls. Sex not Total. j ascertained.

1821, 3580 1609 — 5,189

1824-6, 6736 3627 770 11,135

Of the numbers in the latter of these returns, 2147 were of the established church, twenty-seven were dissenters, 7757 Roman catholics, and 1204 whose religious persuasion could not be ascertained. The total number of schools was 242, of which twenty-one, educating 1181 pupils, were maintained by grants of public money; sixty-four, educating 3113, derived their support from private contributions’; and the remaining 157 schools, educating 6841 pupils, were supported wholly by the fees of those who received instruction in them.

The quantity of land under tillage is small, and the plough little used excepting in the champaign districts. In the other parts the mode of culture is by the loy, a narrow spade with a long handle. The hills are generally steep, and, though abounding with stones, are tough, and retentive of moisture. The loy penetrates into this species of soil more easily than the common broad spade, and the length of its handle serves as a lever to overcome the resistance of the tenacious soil. Potatoes are planted with a steveen, which is a stake about foui' feet long and three inches in diameter, tapering to a point at the lower end, near which a crosspiece is fixed to rest the foot on whilst pressing the implement into the ground. The seed is dropped into the hole thus made, which is then filled up with mould. Oats are the general crop; barley is but little grown; rye and wheat still less. Flax forms a part of the usual rotation of crops. Tillage farms are small; those for grazing are of considerable size, and often held by several tenants in common. The grasses are mostly natural, and in general excellent, producing fat and well-flavoured meat, and excellent milk and butter. Dairies of large size are seldom to be met with, but every small farmer produces butter to dispose of at some of the neighbouring markets. Green food is seldom used. The cattie are housed in some parts from December to May, whilst in others they are left out during the winter. The usual fence is a drain, backed at one side with a bank of clammy aluminous earth, about three or four feet high. The ditch thus made soon hardens into a consistency nearly equal to brick, and answers , every purpose of fencing except against sheep, in which case it is topped with brushwood. Stone-walls are few. Hawthorn hedges are to be met with in some parts. Manures are rich and abundant. Every part has a command of limestone, eithersolid, or in gra⅛el or marl. The farmers living upon the confined verge of sea-coast within the county industriously take advantage of the sea-weeds, shells, and gravel found there. Much attention is paid to the collection of every kind of manure. The farm-houses are generally long, narrow buildings, of one story high, with a yard before them, of which the offices form the sides. The repairs are always made by the landlord, a custom very uncommon in other counties. Leases are generally for three lives, or thirty-one years. Non-alienation clauses are common, and the tenant is sometimes bound down to manure a certain portion of the land.

The manufactures are confined to that of coarse linen, the weaving of which is carried on to a considerable extent. Potteries of coarse vessels are numerous about Leitrim and Dromahaire. The only navigable river by which an inland trade can be carried on is the Shannon. About fifty years ago a canal was opened from near Longford to Battlebridge, about three miles south of Lough Allen, in order to form a water communication thence to Limerick. This canal, if completed to the lough, would enable boats to ply thence to Dublin by its connection with the Royal Canal at Tarmenbarry. There are no fisheries of any consequence, although many kinds of fresh-water fish, particularly perch, may be caught in great abundance.

The general food of the peasantry is potatoes and oaten bread, with butter and eggs occasionally, and flesh meat at the great festivals. The clothing is neat, clean, and substantial; the coat usually of native frize, and the waistcoat and breeches of corduroy. In their general demeanour the peasantry are kind, warm-hearted, and amenable to the laws. They are, like those of most other parts of Ireland, singularly Attached to peculiar places of interment. One of the most frequented of these is on a small island near the entrance of the Shannon into Lough Neagh, where there are the remains of a church. It has been from time immemorial the burying-place for the residents in all the surrounding country; and when access to it is prevented on such occasions, by the stormy state of the lake, the friends of the deceased prefer remaining on the shore by the putrefying corpse, until the weather become favourable enough to permit a passage across, to removing it for interment elsewhere. The frequent occurrence of fatal accidents in these funereal voyages induced a neighbouring gentleman to have a piece of ground upon the adjoining mainland consecrated as a cemetery, but to no purpose. The survivors preferred awaiting all chances of weather rather than relinquish the idea of depositing the bones of their departed friend with those of his forefathers. The mountainous districts are thickly peopled, but have few resident proprietors. The lowest classes there speak Irish. They have a singular custom, when they have recourse to blood-letting, of opening a vein in each arm, in order to let the blood run even. Dancing is the favourite amusement in convivial meetings; every one is fond of displaying his agility in this enlivening exercise. At weddings the men ride to the place of worship, each horseman [7:13:224]having a woman behind him, except the bridegroom, who rides single. When a person is seen ridingFon a pyebald horse, it is considered as a sign that he is a physician. The cabin-doors in these districts are of wicker-work, lined in the inside by a mat. The harness for the cattle is exceedingly rude, being little more than a hay rope or band. The people in the neighbourhood of the iron-works appear to live in a state of extreme misery. They are wretchedly clothed, and dwell in mud houses filled with smoke. The vicinity of the three counties of Leitrim, Cavan, and Sligo to each other, gives occasion to party feuds, which often lead to desperate battles between hostile clans or factions, that never terminate without bloodshed, and not unfrequently with loss of life.

There are but few remains of ancient Irish antiquities. The most remarkable are two druidical altars; one very large near Fenagh, the other of smaller dimensions at Let-terfyan. They are called by the natives Leaba Dearmud is Graine, or Darby’s and Graine’s bed. The principal monastic buildings of which any vestiges can now be traced, are the following. Crevlea, near the river Bonnet, built by Margaret, widow of O’Ruarck, in 1509. The walls, which are nearly entire, have on them some curious figures, and contain several antique monuments. Fionagh, in Fenagh parish, still exhibits a window of fine workmanship: the place was anciently celebrated as a school of divinity, and was resorted to by students from many parts of Europe. A Franciscan friary, at Jamestown, was remarkable in the eventful period of 1641, as being the place where the Roman Catholic clergy assembled, and nominated commissioners to treat with such foreign powers as were willing to assist them in their struggle against the usurped authorities which then governed England. Clone, near a small river of the same name in Mohill barony, has still some ruins to point out its site. Mohill Abbey, Annaghduff, and Drum-leas, have been converted into parish churches. Some others are known only by name. Amongst the military antiquities maybe noticed O’Rorke’s Hall, atDromahaire, near the Bonnet, the destruction of which was expedited by using its materials for the construction of the neighbouring castle of Dromahaire, supposed to have been built by Sir William Villiers in the year 1628. Other castles, built by various members of the O’Ruarck family, are those of'Long-field, Cloncorrick, Castle Cor, and one on the banks of Lough Gill. Woodford House is built on the site of another of the O’Ruarcks’castles. Manor-Hamilton Castle, built by Sir Frederick Hamilton, in the reign of Elizabeth, is by much the largest, best built, and handsomest in the county. Castle John stands on an island in the little lake of Lough Scur. Dungarbery Castle, near the sea, is of the era of Elizabeth.

The population of Leitrim may be said to be wholly rural: no town in it contains two thousand inhabitants. Carrick-on-Shannon, the county town, where the assizes are held, and all the public business transacted, contains no more than 1428 inhabitants. Though well circumstanced for inland trade, from its situation on a fine navigable river, no advantage has been taken of its position. Its only public buildings are a court-house, a jail, a chapel of ease, and a barrack. The mail-coach road to Sligo passes through it. The only other towns whose population exceeds a thousand souls are, Mohill, which contains 1606, and Manor-Hamilton, which has 1348 inhabitants.