Pieces of native gold have, at different times, been dis covered in a mountain stream flowing down from Crone bane, and on the declivity of a mountain, seven miles west of Ashton, in the county of Wicklow. About twenty years ago, government thought it worth while to prosecute the search fur gold here ; but it was soon proved, that the quantity found would not defray the expense. Considera ble quantities of silver appear formerly to have been ob tained from the lead mines in Antrim, Sligo, and Tippe rary ; but the works were destroyed in the Irish insurrec tions in the time of Charles 1. Copper is found at Ross Island, in the Lake of Killarney ; at Mucross ; at Cronebane and Ballymurtagh, in county of Wicklow ; and also in some parts of the counties of Cork, Clare, Meath, Water ford and Dublin: but at present, it is believed no copper mine is wrought in Ireland. Lead is found near Enniscor thy, in Wexford; and near Glendallogh ill Wicklow, in the vicinity of Dublin ; and in the county of Donegal : hut not above one or two of these mines are wrought. Iron ore is very plentiful in various parts of Ireland ; and in the mid dle of the seventeenth century, iron works were very com mon ; but at present there are few or none. In the penin sula ol Howth, grey ore of manganese has been obtained in considerable quantity. It is also found in various parts of Kilkenny, in the mountains of Glanmore, in Mayo, and in several other counties. Cobalt is found in the copper mine at Mucross ; and a variety of the earth black cobalt ore of Werner, has been found in the peninsula of Howth. Frag ments of tin•stone occur in the gold mine in Wicklow. Porcelain earth, in purity equal to the " China clay" of Cornwall, has been found on the south-western side of the same county.
Coal is met with in various parts of Ireland. In Ulster there are two coal mines wrought ; one in Antrim, at Bally castle, and the other in Tyrone, near Dungannon. In Con naught, collieries are wrought near A•igna, in the comity of Leitrim. The province of Leinster, however, seems to possess the most abundant supplies of coal, w: len is wrought near Castle Comer, at Doonane, in Queen's county, and at Kilkenny. Castle Coomer colliery is the largest in the kingdom. Forty thousand tons are raised annu ally. The number of colliers employed is 600. The coal is extracted at the expense of 108. per ton. This coal is gene •ally deemed tet• ol the most pure found anywhere. Mr. Wald Id, however, represents it, as well as all the other coat ol Irelane, as of an inferior quality to the bituminous coal of England. In the province of Alunster, a vein, the continuation of the Castle Coomer coal, is wrought in Tip perary. The barony of Duhallow, in the county of Cork, is tee only part of the soutnern portion of the province of Alunster in which coal has been discovered. This vein ex tenes to Kerry.
Mineral springs are found in almost every county. They are LIMA). chalybeates. Those most frequently visited by invalids, are Lucan, near Dublin; Swadlenbar, in the county of Cavan ; Johnstown, near Urlinglord, in the county of Kilkenny ; and Mallow, in the county of Cork.
THE tenures by which almost all the estates in Ire land are held, are derived from grants made in the times of Henry VII. Queen Elizabeth, Cromwell, or William Ill. A few proprietors, however, especially in the pro vince of Connaught, hold their estates by original title to the soil.
In the History of Ireland, we have already adverted to the forfeitures of landed property, which arose out of the frequent resistance which the Irish made to the power of the English. In this place, it may be proper to consider them more particularly, as we shall thus more clearly point out the titles on which by tar the greater part of the landed property of Ireland is held. By the attainder of John O'Neil, and his associates, in the reign of Queen Eli zabeth, more than half of the province of Ulster was vested in the crown, which was bestowed upon the English lords, in such a manner as to secure the English power in Ire land. After the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond was
quelled, his immense estate was forfeited, and appropriated to the same purpose. On this occasion, lands were offered to settlers so low as twopence per acre. At this period, and on these terms; Sir Walter Raleigh and others obtain ed grants. On the flight of Tyrone, and those who had espoused his cause, more that 500 000 acres were to be dis posed of in the six northern counties. As abuses had ari sen front the grants having been too large on forme' occa sions, they were made considerably smaller at this time. Tne Corporation of London obtained its large possessions in the county of Derry by this forfeiture. Toe forfeited lands in the time ol Cromwell were appropriated chiefly to the discharge of the arrears clue to the English army. Connaught was entirely reserved for the Irish. Alter all these assignments, however, the counties of Dublin. Kil dare, Carlow, and Cork, were still unappropriated, and these were reserved to be disposed of as parliament thought proper. On the Restoration, the act of settlemem, and the subsequent bill of explanation, (both of winch have been adverted to in the history,) were passed, for the purpose of regulating and assorting the grants. In the reign ol KIng William, forfeitures were made to the- e %tent of up•sards of not million acres, and of the value of upwards of 200.0001.
ar. By the articles of Limerick and Galway, p.di of these forleitin es were restored ; but it is calculated, that the gross value of the estates forfeited, from the 18th of Feb ruary 1688, and not restored, amount to upwards ol one mil lion and a ball.
The tenure of landed property in Ireland differs, in one respect, very considerably from that by which land is held in England ; for, with but two exceptions, there are no mano rial rights in Ireland. The income of estates varies very much—from the lowest value to upwards of 100,000/. jeer annum. There are several estates of upwards of 5u,000 acres. It was formerly' a common practice to grant leases for ever, or for 999 years. or renewable for lives on a pay ment ofa certain tine. the propeit!. of very exten sive estates at present is vested in those who receive very little rent from therm In Ireland, landlords never erect buildings on their estates, nor expend any thing in re pairs ; and the leases in general, contain very few clauses. Six months credit is generally given on the rents, which renders the tenant very dependent on the landlord. In many leases the tenant is hound, besides paying his rent, to labour for his landlord at an inferior rate of wages. The system ol what ate called 4, middle men" prevails very much in Ireland : these are persons who rent land from the proprietors, and let them again to the real occupiers. Sometimes there are several renters between the landlord and the occupier ; and the latter is answerable, not only for the rent to the person under whom he directly holds, but also for the rent due by each renter to the person above him, and by the first renter to the proprietor. This system arises from the of the Irish farmers in general ; but it evi dently not only proceeds from poverty, hut tends to in crease it. The leases commo tly grantt d are. 61 years and lives-31 years and lives-31 years-21 years and lives— and 21 years according to M. Wakefield, or II. 7s. Id. Irish money per Irish acre. In some counties, the green, or cultivated acres average from 21 I Os. to 31. 83.; the lat ter is the case with the pasture land of Limerick, whereas the green acres in Alayo and Fermanagh do not average above 1/ 5s. In some parts of Ireland the value of estates is at 30 years purchase ; in general it does not exceed 20 ; audio some placesit is not more than 16 o; 18.