WICKLOW, a county of Ireland, in the province of Munster, bounded by Wexford on the south; that of Dublin and part of Kildare on the north; St George's channel on the east; and Kildare and Catherlogh counties on the west. Its length, where longest, is 36 miles, and its greatest breadth 28. It is divided into six baronies. There are some pretty high mountains in this county; in one of which there
is a copper-mine, wrought at the expence of some English gentlemen. The lowlands are pretty well inhabited, enclosed and cultivated, the soil being good and the air wholesome. From the mountains in this county, one may see, in a clear day, very distinctly the mountains of Snowdon in North Wales. In the Wicklow mountains are also some of those deep dark valleys called glyn, very beautiful and picturesque, together with some grand and astonishing water-falls. Among the former, the dark glyn and the glyn of the mountains, are particularly remarkable. "The dark glyn, (says the author of the Hibernia Curiosa), is much visited in the summer-season by the gentry from Dublin, and most of the people of fortune that come to this city. It is equal, if not superior, to any of the kind in the kingdom, one of the deepest, and at the same time the narrowest and most irriguous valleys I remember to have seen. The sides of the hills which skirt it, adorned with trees to the very tops, and intermixed with rocky precipices, together with the murmuring of a little river at the bottom, that winds its way through this intricate valley over numberless little breaks and falls, that add greatly to the beauty of the scene, render it altogether a most pleasing summer recreation. The closeness of the lofty shading hills on the sides, at the same time that it affords a most delightful cool retreat from the heat of the sun, throws a kind of gloomy solemnity on the bottom of this deep valley; and from this circumstance it is very properly called the dark glyn. It is rather a deep chasm than a valley, extending about a mile through a lofty range of hills. At the very bottom of the glyn is a way cut out by the side of the stream, and adapted to the gloomy retirement of the place, where the lover, the poet, or philosopher, may wander, with every circumstance, every scene about him, calculated to warm his imagination, or produce the most serious reflections. The glyn of the mountains in this neighbourhood is a more open and spacious valley, but immensely deep, and skirted on either hand with the most enormous astonishing mountains, covered for the most part with trees from their bottoms to the very tops, presenting a prospect of the most horrible impending rocks. The bottom of the valley is just wide enough for a road and a river that runs through it. There is something inexpressible striking, beautiful, grand, and awful in this scene." These glyns are not far from Powerscourt, a most beautiful seat, 14 miles from Dublin, belonging and giving the title of viscount to the family of Wingfield. Near this charming seat is one of the most beautiful water-falls in the world, called the Fall of Powerscourt; which, from the peculiarity of its situation, its prodigious height and singular beauty, well deserves the notice of every traveller. It is produced by a small river arising from springs and rains collected on the plains or shallow valleys, on the top of an adjacent range of mountains, and falls at least 300 feet, of which 200 are visible on the plain below. The only time to see this most beautiful and astonishing water-fall in its highest perfection is immediately after heavy rains on the mountains above. No description can then convey an adequate idea of the beauty and grandeur of the scene, or the transport of the spectator. The trees, which grow from the bottom to the top of the hill on the sides of this prodigious
water-fall, are an inexpressible addition to its charms. The whole scenery indeed, above and below, is the most extraordinary and entertaining of its kind that can be conceived. This county sends 10 members to parliament, viz. two for the shire, and two for each of these boroughs, Wicklow, Baltinglass, Carysfort, and Blessington.
Wicklow gives name to the county, and is its capital. This town is noted for the best ale in Ireland. It has barracks for three companies of foot, and a kind of castle and haven at the mouth of the river Leithrim; but most of its trade consists in carrying provisions in small vessels to Dublin. It gives the title of baron to lord Maynard.