equally in his profession and for his philanthropy, opened at his own expense a large house in George's street for the accommodation of poor lying-in women: this was the first institution of the kind in the empire, and from it sprang a corresponding one in London. In 1751, the first stone was laid of the spacious premises for its accommodation, an undertaking towards which the parliament liberally contributed. 2d. The truly beautiful frontage of Trinity College.* 3d. The Royal Exchange, on Cork hill, founded in 1769, and opened in ten years afterwards. Previously the general rendezvous for business among mercantile men had been a portion of the Tholsel. The present Exchange, though not one of the largest, is considered one of the most richly finished structures in the city. 4th. In 1773, the Blue Coat Hospital, for the education of the sons and grandsons of decayed citizens, was commenced on Oxmantown green. 5th. The present Custom House, which is considered the most sumptuous edifice of the kind in the world, was commenced in 1781, opened for despatch of business in 1791, and, with docks, quays, furniture, etc., including accommodation for the Irish department of excise, had cost the public, by the

year

* John Wesley, in his Journal for April 6, 1758, says, "We walked round the college, and saw what was accounted most worthy of observation. The new front is exceeding grand; and the whole square (about as large as Peckwater in Christ Church) would be beautiful, were not the windows too small, as every one will see when the present fashion is out of date."-EDITOR.

1811, upwards of half a million of money. 6th. The Four Courts, comprising under one roof the several courts of Chancery, Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer. These courts were at first and for a long time ambulatory, being as often held at Carlow as in Dublin. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, they occupied a building in Christ Church lane, erected for the purpose in 1695, which also bore the name of the Four Courts. The foundation of the present edifice was laid by the Duke of Rutland, then lord lieutenant, with great ceremony in 1786, and it was subsequently completed, at a cost of about £200,000, in a style which well bespeaks the majesty of the law. It is said not to equal the design of the architect, through the impossibility of obtaining ground in the rear of the premises, sufficient to allow of the central portion being made to stand somewhat retired from the line of frontage shown by the two wings. 7th. Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, the foundation of which was laid in 1800.

With the above enumeration we might include the present Essex bridge, built in 1755; Queen's bridge, 1768; and Carlisle bridge, opened in 1794; also the erection of Granite quays on both sides of the river for confining its waters, which previously flowed up to within eighty feet of the college, and occasioned alarming inundations upon that and the opposite bank. The grand canal was commenced in 1772, and the royal canal in 1789, the former entering the river below the city on the south side, and the latter on its opposite part on the

north, both canals opening a communication from the river Shannon with the metropolis and the English channel. But the greatest undertaking of this period was the building of the Poolbeg lighthouse in Dublin Bay, commenced in 1764, with the wall, or pier, about three miles in length, connecting it with the city at Ringsend, and having the Pigeon-house Fort midway between the two. This lighthouse was the first which was provided with candles, as an improvement upon coal-fires. About the same time, candles were substituted for coal-fires in the Howth light; and in course of time the candles themselves had to give place to argand lamps with reflectors, much to the advantage of the mariner.

The silk manufacture of Dublin was, in 1764, placed by authority of parliament under the care of the Royal Dublin Society, through whose excellent arrangements the sales, at an establishment opened in the city, for disposing of silk goods, reached an average of £70,000 a year, and the silk manufacture itself, in Dublin, attained the highest state of prosperity. But, after a few years, the legislature forbade the society appropriating funds to support any house in which Irish silk goods were sold; and that prohibition seriously affected the manufacture.

About 1706, two persons established a cotton manufactory, and employed six hundred looms. Large sums, both individual capitals and even grants from parliament, were expended in promoting that branch of industry, yet with only limited success. The trade however held on, and

until recently a respectable amount of business was done.

In the year 1782, persons chiefly connected with the university associated together for the purpose of investigating general literary and scientific subjects, and questions connected with the ancient history and circumstances of Ireland. In a few years, they obtained a charter of incorporation under the name of the "Royal Irish Academy," for the study of polite literature, science, and antiquities. Its "Transactions" present a collection of papers which do honor to the body from which they emanate, and its Museum abounds in articles interesting to the curious in what belongs to Erin's ancient times.

The name of "Dean Kirwan" is still mentioned in Dublin, though half a century has gone since his day, as that of a perfect master and model of pulpit eloquence, who thrilled, and almost did his will with the audiences he addressed. He had been a Roman Catholic, but conformed. It is reported that the late Mr. Grattan said before the House of Commons that, as occupied by Kir- wan, "the preacher's desk became the throne of light." He confined himself to appeals for charity, and so great was his popularity that the military were in attendance to keep order and secure a passage to the church for the nobility and gentry, of whom the vast congregation on those occasions was almost entirely composed. His sermons were most carefully elaborated, and were spoken, not read. The collection upon one occasion amounted to eight hundred pounds. By his pub

lished discourses we are led to believe that his forte was delivery, including appropriate and correct intonation and action, rather than any thing extraordinary in the quality or quantity of thought conveyed. It cannot be said that he was what is called evangelical. But it is reported that before his death his mind underwent an important change, and that he spoke of his former preaching thus-"I can compare it to nothing better. than to Nero fiddling when Rome was on fire."

During the American war, when Ireland was in constant danger of invasion from the fleets of hostile continental powers hovering on her shores, she had not more than five thousand regular troops for her defence. The town of Belfast applied to the British government for increased protection. The reply was that all the aid available for the purpose, was half a troop of dismounted horse and half a company of invalids. The inhabitants met the exigency themselves, by forming a corps of volunteers. "The noble example was ardently followed by the country at large, and Ireland soon beheld starting up, with a scenic rapidity, a self-collected, self-disciplined body of forty thousand volunteers." In 1778, the first Dublin regiment was formed, under the command of the Duke of Leinster. The whole force reached the number of eighty thousand At their head was the Earl of Charlemont. The host included the wealth and intelligence, as it did the popular strength, of the country. The government supplied arms, and though the volunteers were not called into active service, they

men.