a county in Ireland, situated in north latitude 51° 53' 54", and in 8° 30" west longitude from Greenwich, is bounded on the east and southeast by the county of Waterford and St George's Channel; on the north by Limerick and Tipperary, on the west by the county of Kerry, and on the south-west and south by the Atlantic Ocean. This is the largest county in Ireland, being nearly a twelfth of the whole island, and forms part of the province of Munster. It comprehends three dioceses, Cork, Cloyne, and Ross (the two latter were formerly united in one see), but is now divided into two by the junction, in 1586, of Ross, which is very small, with Cork, and 269 parishes, of which 94 belong to the diocese of Cork, 33 to Ross, 137 to Cloyne, and five to the see of Ardfergus; extends over 2654 square miles, or 1,698,882 English acres, of which about a fourth is waste and mountainous; and is divided into 16 baronies, besides four districts called the county of the city of Cork, with the liberties of Youghall, Kinsale, and Mallow.

The surface presents great variety; the western part is bold, rocky, and mountainous; on the north and east it is generally rich and fertile, though never flat for any considerable space. The natural scenery is, in several places, uncommonly romantic and sublime, of which Bantry Bay and the waterfall at Hungra-hill (especially after plentiful rains) present very striking instances. The terrific grandeur of the immense surges, swelled by the storm, dashing against the tremendous masses of rock which, stretching out into the Atlantic, form prominent headlands, can with difficulty be conceived by those who have never beheld them. Around Cork harbour the views are singularly beautiful and variegated. Yet the prevailing character of the landscape is wild and naked; in this, as in most other places of Ireland, full grown trees being rare, and plantations recent, and comparatively of small extent. The whole coast is indented by creeks and bays, which are sometimes studded with islets, and commonly sheltered by headlands; Bantry Bay, and the harbours of Cork and Kinsale, are particularly worthy of notice.

The most considerable river is the Blackwater, which rises from the mountains on the confines of Kerry, and, after a course of eighty miles, falls into the sea at Youghall. Farther to the south, in the same direction, issues the river Lee, which, flowing eastward, meets the tide at the city of Cork. The Bandon, which has its source in the western mountains, also flows east, and finishes its course at the harbour of Kinsale. The Awbeg deserves to be noticed, from its having been immortalized by Spenser under the poetical name of Mullin. On the banks of this river, at a place called Kilcoleman, above Buttevant, the poet fixed his residence, and, it is said, composed the greater part of his Fairy Queen. The rivers of this county flow with rapidity for the most part; a circumstance unfavourable to their being rendered navigable, but presenting many eligible situations for the erection of machinery.

The winds blow here from the south to the north-west more than three-fourths of the year; for eleven years, ending with 1748, the medium quantity of rain at Cork was 38 inches; the barometer ranges from 28.6 to 30; and the mean temperature on the south coast, near the city of Cork, in 1788, was 51° 2', and in different parts of the city itself, from 52° 5' to 53° 5'. It is a very general opinion here, that a change for the worse in the climate has taken place within the last 40 years.

The most useful fossils are limestone, which abounds to the north of the river Blackwater, and in a tract which begins to the westward of Cork, and, running from thence eastward, terminates at Youghall Bay; marble, of which ten different kinds are enumerated by Dr Smith, all of them variegated, no large block of a single colour having yet been found; and slates, near Kinsale, on the Bandon river, and at Cloghnakilty. Coal has been discovered in the barony of Duhallow, in the north-west quarter of the county, but is not wrought to any great extent, owing to the badness of the roads, and its being so combined with sulphur as to be unfit for domestic use. Iron abounds, and lead has been found in small veins; neither of them are wrought at present.

The rural economy of this district does not seem to differ materially from that of the other counties of Ireland similar to it in surface and climate. There is the same minute division of tillage lands cultivated by the spade in preference to the plough; the usual dependence on potatoes, as the common and almost exclusive article of food; with miserable cabins, crowded with filth, poverty, and indolence. Estates are generally large; tillage farms very small, seldom above 30 acres; and, when they are larger, often held in partnership, and the shares of each further diminished by the common practice of dividing the paternal possession among the sons. The leases used to be for thirty-one years, or three lives; but of late the term has been reduced to twenty-one years, or one life; and the farms, instead of being let out to middlemen, who used to relet the land in small portions to occupiers on short leases, or at will, are now held in most cases by the occupier from the proprietor himself. The crops are potatoes, in favourable situations succeeded by wheat; and oats, for one or more years, sometimes barley, follow the wheat. Flax is cultivated in many small patches, which yield an aggregate produce of about 1200 tons. Hemp very rarely. Turnips and clovers are seldom to be seen on tenanted lands. Sea-sand, sea-weed, and lime, form a useful addition to the stable and farmyard manure, which is, however, in many cases, allowed to be washed away by rains, and greatly reduced in value by careless management. Paring and burning is practised in every part of the county, as an established mode of preparation for the first crop in the course. The implements of husbandry are generally bad—the common Irish plough and harrows, seldom furnished with iron tynes, drawn by horses or mules, and in a few instances by oxen; wheel carriages have become pretty common of late. A considerable number of dairies are kept in the vicinity of the city of Cork, where the produce, in the shape of butter and skimmed milk, finds a ready market. In general, the cows, which are chiefly of the half Holderness breed, are let out to a dairyman at a certain rate for each, by the year; yet many farmers conduct the business of the dairy themselves. The average number of cows in a dairy may be from 30 to 40. A few sheep are kept on every farm, commonly in fettters, and upon the most worthless pasture. Proprietors have introduced stranger breeds, and find them to answer; but sheep can never become an object of importance in a district where farms are so small. The rental of the county comprises a great variety of rates; the mountainous and boggy tracts being valued so low as 6d. per acre, and the land near the principal towns as high as L.4. Townsend thinks that 20s. per English acre may be the average rent of the whole, which is probably much above the truth.

Tithes, of which no inconsiderable part are lay property, are generally paid by a composition with the farmers. The usual mode is to have them valued before harvest, and to appoint days of meeting with the parishioners for the purpose of letting them. Small tithes, or (as they are commonly called) small dues, viz. those of wool, lambs, &c. are for the most part relinquished. Flax, cultivated to some extent only in the south-west quarter, is commonly rated at 4s. per peck of the seed sown. The rates of valuation vary, according to circumstances and situation, from 6s. to 14s. per acre for potatoes; from 6s. to 12s. for wheat and barley; and from 3s. to 6s. for hay and oats. The revenue of the Bishop of Cloyne is derived from land and tithes; that of Cork almost entirely from land; and the amount of both fluctuate accordingly. The patronage of these sees is very considerable, nearly all the livings being in the gift of the bishops; and some of these livings, especially in the diocese of Cloyne, are of great value, many of the benefices being composed of the union of contiguous parishes. A great number of the parishes are without churches, and many more without glebe houses.

The principal manufactures are sail-cloth, duck, canvass, and drilling; osnaburgs for Negro clothing; coarse woollens; spirits at several large distilleries in Cork; and gunpowder in the neighbourhood of the same city,—the only manufactory of that article in Ireland, and it belongs to government.

The chief towns are Cork, Kinsale, Youghall, Bandon, Skibbereen, Cloghmiltly, Mallow, and Fermoy. Of these Cork, the second city in the island, is by far the most considerable. The old city stood upon an island formed by the river Lee, which divides into two branches above the town, and unites again a little below it, embracing a considerable extent of low ground, subject to frequent inundations from high tides and floods. Besides the two main channels, several small branches of the river intersected this marsh, flowing through many of the streets, and giving it a striking resemblance to some of the Dutch towns. These have been arched over. The main channels are crossed by several bridges; and the principal part of the town is now on the south bank of the river. On the north-east side of the city stand the barracks, capable of containing four regiments of infantry and a thousand horse. The streets of the old town are commonly very narrow and dirty; in some of the lanes two persons cannot walk abreast. Yet these miserable alleys, the receptacles of every kind of filth, are crowded with inhabitants. On the west of the town there is a very fine walk of about a mile, called the Mardyke Walk, considerably raised above the level of the adjoining fields, and planted on each side with elms. The corporation, under a charter of Charles I., consists of a mayor, two sheriffs, a recorder, several aldermen, and an unlimited number of freemen. Cork contains all those establishments for the diseased, the poor, and the guilty, and for religion, education, and amusement, which are usually found in large cities, with foundling hospitals both for Protestants and Catholics. The Cork Institution for the application of science to the common purposes of life, has been incorporated by charter; and under its auspices, lectures are delivered on Chemistry, Botany, and Agriculture. Cork harbour, about eight miles below the town, is the principal naval station bour. in Ireland, and is also a place of rendezvous for fleets bound to the West Indies. Vessels of 120 tons go up to the city, but larger ships lie at Passage, a few miles lower down. Between the city and the sea there are several islands, on one of which, called the Great Island, is the town of Cove. The harbour has been fortified at a great expense, and is capable of containing an immense navy. Cork carries on a very extensive trade, particularly in provisions, large quantities of which are required for the ships of war that frequent the harbour, and by the West India fleets, which sometimes remain here several weeks either wind-bound or waiting for convoy. All the linens and woollen goods from the southern districts, intended for a foreign market, are shipped here, and large quantities of spirits are sent from the distilleries to England. About 10,000 oxen, 8000 cows, and 50,000 hogs, are said to have been slaughtered here annually, but the numbers are liable to great fluctuation. In 1807 only 9600 head of cattle were slaughtered. In the provision trade Dublin seems to be gaining both on Cork and Limerick. Corn, butter, tallow, and hides, are exported to a considerable amount.

According to Beaufort, the population of this county, in 1792, was 416,000, in which the Catholics were to the Protestants in the city of Cork as 4½ to one, and in the rest of the county as 12 to one. Newenham estimates the population, in 1811, at 675,364, and, taking the same proportion of 12 to one for the county, gives the Catholic population of the towns as six to one. The Irish language is used almost exclusively by the lower orders; in some of the best cultivated districts few of the people can speak any other. Cork sends eight members to the House of Commons, of which two are for the county, taken two for the city, and one for each of the boroughs of Youghall, Bandon Bridge, Kinsale, and Mallow. See Smith's Natural and Civil History of Cork.—Wakefield's Statistical and Political Account of Ireland.—Townsend's Statistical Survey of Cork, and Mason's Parochial Survey of Ireland.