a maritime town, a municipal and parliamentary borough, the capital of Ulster, the chief manufacturing and commercial town in Ireland, and since 1850 the county town of Antrim. It is mainly comprised in the county of Antrim; but the large suburb of Ballymacarrett, separated from the town by the river Lagan, is in the county of Down. Belfast is situated in Lat. 54° 36' 8½° N., and Long. 5° 55' 53¾° W., at the mouth of the river Lagan, which flows immediately into Belfast Lough (Carrickfergus Bay), an estuary about 12 miles in length, and 5 miles broad. The town is built upon an alluvial deposit and land reclaimed from the sea, the greater portion being not more than six feet above high-water mark. In common with all places so situated, it is exposed to occasional inundations, and somewhat to the visitations of epidemics; but independently of the lowness of its site, Belfast is in other respects advantageously placed, and generally by no means unhealthful. The environs of the town are highly agreeable and picturesque.

The etymology of the name is uncertain, and its origin so obscure, that Belfast contains not one single memorial of past times deserving the notice of an antiquary. For a lengthened period the town consisted of a few houses, a church, and the castle, which latter edifice, used as a residence by the Chichester family, remained as a solitary relic of semi-barbarous times until the year 1705, when it was carelessly destroyed by fire, three daughters of the Earl of Donegal perishing in the flames.

The original charter constituting Belfast a corporation, consisting of a sovereign, twelve burgesses, and commonalty, with the privilege of sending two members to the Irish parliament, was granted in the tenth year of James I., although it was at that time a very inconsiderable place. This charter was renewed by James II. The municipal government of the borough was altered after the passing of the Act of Union, by the addition of police and life commissioners to the former corporation; and under this arrangement the borough was governed until the passing of the Municipal Reform Act in 1841, when the present corporation, consisting of a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty town councillors, was instituted. At the Union, and until the passing of the Reform Act, Belfast returned one member to the imperial parliament; but that act granted two members to the borough, the constituency under the 13th and 14th Vict. cap. 69, numbering in 1853, 3282.

In the early part of the seventeenth century, and in connection with the project of James I. for the plantation of Ulster, many Scotch and English settled in the town and neighbourhood, and at that era commence the first signs of the future progress of Belfast. The great influence exerted by this infusion of new blood into the district is attested at the present time by the persistency of the lowland Scotch dialect and accent, the prevalence of the Presbyterian religion, and the physical characteristics of the people, no less than by their commercial activity, industry, and enterprise. For some time, however, the growth of the town was comparatively slow, and Milton, in his reply to the Representation of the Presbytery of Belfast, in 1649, describes it as a "small town in Ulster," and "a barbarous nook in Ireland." At the commencement of the eighteenth century, it had become known as a place of considerable trade, and what was then considered a handsome, thriving, and well-peopled town, with many new houses and good shops.

Partly from good fortune, and more, perhaps, on account of the prudence of its inhabitants, Belfast suffered less during the civil commotions which so long afflicted the country than most towns in Ireland; its history is therefore fortunately barren of those exciting scenes so plentiful in the records of other important towns.

With regard to population, Belfast has been steadily progressive from an early period. In 1758 the number of inhabitants was 8549; in 1782, 13,105; in 1798, 18,320; in 1821, 45,177; in 1831, 48,224; in 1841, 75,308; and in 1851, 100,300. The customs duties collected at the port in 1784 amounted to £104,376, and, after various fluctuations, reached £288,756 in 1834, £339,989 in 1843, and £377,329 in 1852. The great increase of shipping frequenting the port appears in the following account of the number and tonnage of vessels entered inwards at various periods:

| Year | No. of Vessels | Tonnage | |------|---------------|---------| | 1786 | 772 | 34,287 | | 1795 | 801 | 52,576 | | 1805 | 840 | 69,685 | | 1815 | 1,134 | 91,371 |

| Year | No. of Vessels | Tonnage | |------|---------------|---------| | 1825 | 2,060 | 183,441 | | 1835 | 2,730 | 290,769 | | 1845 | 3,655 | 445,537 | | 1851 | 5,016 | 650,938 |

The chief export trade is carried on by the cross-channel navigation; but a considerable direct trade also exists with the United States and Canada, the West Indies, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic.

Belfast is the centre of the Irish linen manufacture, to the cultivation of which it is mainly indebted for its prosperity. In 1841 about 240,000 spindles were employed, and the increase during the last ten years has been so rapid, that about 510,000 spindles are now in operation. The total value of all products of the linen manufacture exported abroad in the ten months ended 5th November 1852 was £4,357,874, against £4,150,157 in 1851; and the export of linens and yarns, especially of the latter, continues on the increase. In 1851, 5,060,160 lbs. of linen yarns were exported from Belfast; and in 1852, 6,779,680 lbs.

Externally, Belfast is pre-eminent among manufacturing towns for its cleanliness, elegance, and agreeable environs; the main streets are wide, and regularly built, chiefly of brick; and although inferior to Dublin in its public buildings, it possesses many of no mean architectural pretensions, and presents an appearance of bustling activity not to be found elsewhere in Ireland.

The river Lagan is crossed by three bridges of modern construction, the chief of which is the Queen's Bridge, erected on the site of the "Long Bridge of Belfast," and opened for traffic in 1844. There are 11 places of worship belonging to the Established Church, 21 Presbyterian, 8 Methodist, 3 Unitarian, and 4 Roman Catholic chapels, besides those belonging to other denominations. The chief educational establishments are the Belfast academy, the Royal Academical Institution, the new Queen's College, built of brick, in the Tudor style of architecture, and opened in 1849, the government school of design, &c.; and, proportionate to its extent, no town in the kingdom is better supplied with educational appliances than Belfast. The public buildings most worthy of notice are the white and brown linen halls, the corn exchange, the commercial buildings, the Museum, the Northern Joint-Stock and Belfast Banks, the theatre, the town-hall, the range of buildings containing the offices for the customs, inland revenue, and post-office departments, and the county lunatic asylum, about a mile distant from the town. The botanic garden, adjoining the Queen's College, is extensive, well kept, and beautiful.

The harbour of Belfast, originally a creek of the river Lagan, has been much improved of late years, and now allows vessels drawing eighteen feet of water to reach the quays at spring-tides.