inland county in the province of Connaught, situated on the western bank of the great river Shannon, and nearly in the centre of Ireland. It is bounded on the N. by the county of Sligo; on the E. by Leitrim, Longford, and Westmeath; on the S.E. by the King's County; on the S.W. by Galway; and on the W. by the same county and by Mayo. About two-thirds of the boundaries of the county are defined by water, the eastern side being entirely formed by the Shannon and its extensive lakes; and although the extreme length of the county from north to south does not exceed 60 statute miles, yet double that extent may be assigned to the frontier-line, if all the windings of the river, and all the sinuosities of the shores of the lake, are taken into account. It extends over a surface of 607,691 acres; of which 440,522 are arable, 130,299 uncultivated, mountain, or bog, 6732 in plantations, 768 occupied by towns or villages, and 29,370 under water. Of the uncultivated land, it is probable that 40,000 acres might be advantageously improved and cultivated, 80,000 acres might be drained for pasture, and 10,000 acres must remain unimprovable. According to Ptolemy, it was inhabited by the Auteri; afterwards the tribes or septs of the O'Conors, O'Kellys, M'Dermotts, O'Flanegans, O'Fiyns, and O'Hanlys, were the chief possessors of it. Shortly after the arrival of the English in the reign of Henry II. it was seized upon by the new settlers, and their maintenance of it secured by the erection of several fortresses. For a long period afterwards the whole province was considered as consisting but of two counties, that of Roscommon being one, and all the remainder, with the county of Clare included, the other, under the name of the county of Connaught. This arrangement continued until the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, when the whole province underwent a new classification, and the county of Roscommon was divided into the baronies of Athlone, Ballintober, Boyle, Moycarne, and Roscommon; and subdivided into fifty-three parishes, and four parts of parishes, the remaining parts of which are in some of the adjoining counties. According to the ecclesiastical arrangements of the country, Roscommon contains fifty-seven parishes, of which fifty-one are in the diocese of Elphin, the remainder being in Tuam, Clonfert, and Ardagh. The bishopric of Elphin was suppressed, and the revenues vested in the Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners by the Church Temporalities Act. The spiritual jurisdiction is exercised by the Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin, and Ardagh.

Roscommon is in shape long and narrow, extending sixty miles in a northern and southern direction, whilst its breadth from east to west, where greatest, is but thirty-two miles; and it decreases gradually until it terminates in a point in its southern extremity. The greatest part of the county is level, forming the western portion of the central flat limestone field of Ireland; varied, however, by frequent considerable elevations, and by long low ridges or escars formed of limestone gravel. In the north the country rises into rugged mountains, with abrupt, precipitous sides and flattened summits, the highest of which, Bracklieve and Slieve Corkagh, are upwards of 1000 feet above the level of the sea. The equally wild though less elevated range of the Curlew Mountains also forms part of the northern boundary. The great sandstone ridge of Slieve Bawn range along the middle part of the eastern boundary. Slieve Aluyn, in the west, rises to nearly 500 feet in height. No large river passes through the county, but both its eastern and western limits are watered by navigable streams. Along the whole length of the eastern side the Shannon rolls its immense volume of waters; and on the west the Suck, which is navigable for barges to Ballinasloe, unites with the Shannon at the extreme south point. The rivers in the interior, which are small and insignificant, are all tributaries to one or other of these main channels, chiefly to the former, discharging themselves into their streams, either directly or through the medium of some of the numerous lakes dispersed throughout various parts. Of these smaller rivers, the Arigna, the Fiorish, and the Gara or Boyle river, are tributaries to the Shannon; the Bregushe and the Lung, the latter of which flows through a subterranean channel during part of its course, discharge their contents into Lough Gara. The most remarkable of the lakes, both for size and beauty, is Lough Kea, in the northern part, near the town of Boyle, from which place it also takes a name, as likewise that of Rockingham Lake, from the seat of Lord Lorton upon its shore. It is about 3 miles in length by 2 in breadth, and studded with several picturesque islands, amongst which Trinity Island is noted for its monastic ruins, and Castle Island for an ancient fortress of the M'Dermotts, now modernized into an elegant villa. The lake derives its supply from the neighbouring boundary lake of Lough Gara, upon the borders of Sligo, which, though larger, and still more irregular in its outline, is less attractive in appearance than that on which it bestows its redundant waters. To the north of Lough Kea the two smaller lakes, Lough Skeen and Lough Meelagh, are connected by a short channel with the Shannon. The lakes of Bodarrig, Boiffin, and Reagh, on its eastern side, which are, strictly speaking, expansions of the Shannon, may also be considered as partially belonging to the county. The principal of the smaller lakes are Loughs Errit, Glynn, Funcheson, and Aluyn. There are several extensive furrows or winter lakes, which, being generally dry in summer, afford rich pasture for sheep. Between Frenchpark and Elphin, that of Mantua covers 700 acres; another, near Lough Glynn, in the extreme west of the county, is half a mile in length.

The limestone, which forms the base of all the level districts, is of various kinds; some gray, containing numerous fossil remains, chiefly madreporae; some of the formation called calp, which is often found blended with layers of Lydian stone; and some black, being susceptible of a high polish, as is a light gray marble found in the southern parts. Sandstone shows itself in the eminences that protrude through the limestone. Slieve Bawn is mostly composed of it; and in the neighbourhood of Frenchpark it is raised in lamino so thin as to be used for the covering of roofs. The northern district is of the coal formation, which extends also into the adjoining county of Leitrim; but the principal stores of this most valuable mineral, and of ironstone, are to be found on the Roscommon side. The entire area, which is divided into two parts by the Arigna, extends over 6500 acres, of which 2000 are to the north, and 4500 to the south of that river. The strata of coal rise into the mountains of Bracklieve and Slieve Corkagh, where the outcrop may be distinctly seen in several places in the precipitous sides of the declivities. The coal is of the blazing or bituminous character, less inflammable than that of Scotland, but more so than that of the north of England. The principal beds are the Rover, the Gubberother, and Aughabegh collieries, in the latter of which the chief seam, and the only one deemed sufficiently rich to defray the expense of working, is from one foot to two and a half feet thick, but subject to interruptions, or what the workmen call faults, occasioned by the strata of one part of a hill having slipped down to a depth of from twenty to fifty yards, and settled on a lower level. The principal beds of iron ore are also on the south side of the Arigna river, whence the workings derived their name. They exhibit decisive indications of having been in operation at an early period; but, most probably in consequence of the exhaustion of timber for fuel, they were latterly inoperative until 1788, when the pit-coal found in the neighbourhood led to a new speculation in them by three brothers of the name of O'Reilly, who, either for want of sufficient capital, or in consequence of the real unproductiveness of the concern, mortgaged the works and premises, which were then sold to Mr Peter Latouche, the banker, who, after a total expenditure of £80,000, abandoned the speculation in 1808 as profitless and hopeless. The workings of the collieries were resumed in 1825 by three joint-stock companies—the Arigna Coal and Iron Company, the Irish Mining Company, and the Hibernian Mining Company; but only one of them, the Arigna company persevered in the experiment, and worked the mines of both coal and iron. The affairs of the company became the subject of parliamentary inquiry, and in the session 1826-27 a voluminous report was issued, containing an exposition of one of the most extraordinary instances of jobbing and fraud which even that period could produce. The iron-works have long been suspended, but the coal-pits are still worked occasionally. Potters' clay is found in several places, and is manufactured into the coarser kinds of wares; and along the shores of Lough Ree, and also more inland at Killymount, are several deposits of very pure clay, which has given rise to a local manufacture of tobacco-pipes, for which the material is well adapted. Fire-bricks were made at Arigna, of fire-clay, which forms some of the mineral strata there.

The soil varies nearly according to the nature of its sub-stratum, that on the limestone being much the most productive; except in the hilly district between the Shannon and the Suck, in which the stone rises so near the surface that the superincumbent vegetable mould is scarcely of depth sufficient to admit the use of the plough. The borders of the rivers which flow through the level parts, and are therefore liable to overflow their banks during winter, become, on the return of dry weather, pastures and meadows of the richest quality. Bogs of every size, from an extent of a thousand acres to patches merely adequate for the domestic demands of the immediate neighbourhood in which they lie, are to be found in many parts. The most remarkable and extensive of these are in the neighbourhood of Athlone and Lanesborough. The mountains are mostly covered with bog and marsh, interspersed with dry patches on which heath grows most luxuriantly. In the southern part, large tracts of a very light sandy soil, lying on the low hill between the Suck and the Shannon, afford excellent pasture for sheep. The borders of Lough Aluyn are in some parts formed of sand, apparently carried from the lake by the wind. Large deposits of gravel and different kinds of loam are often found between the surface-soil and the rock which forms the substratum.

The population, according to calculations made at different periods, was as follows:

| Year | Authority | Population | |------|-----------|------------| | 1760 | De Burgo | 41,172 | | 1792 | Beaumont | 88,000 | | 1812 | Parliamentary Return | 158,111 | | 1821 | Ditto | 208,729 | | 1831 | Ditto | 249,613 | | 1841 | Ditto | 253,691 | | 1851 | Ditto | 173,417 |

The number of inhabitants to the square mile in 1841 was 267; in 1851 only 183, being a diminution in density of 84 persons in each square mile. In 1851 about 45,000 of the inhabitants could speak the Irish language, and 1300 of that number could speak Irish only. Fully nine-tenths of the population are supposed to be Roman Catholics.

This population was represented in the Irish Parliament by eight members—two for the county at large, and two for each of the boroughs of Boyle, Roscommon, and Tulsk. The number was reduced to two at the Union, all the boroughs being deprived of the right of election. The number of registered electors for the county is about 2500.

The state of education, according to the parliamentary returns made in 1821 and 1824-26, was as follows:

| Year | Boys | Girls | Sex not ascertained | Total | |------|------|-------|-------------------|-------| | 1821 | 6881 | 3306 | ... | 10,287| | 1824-26 | 8937 | 4999 | 711 | 14,446|

Of the numbers stated in the latter of these returns, 1041 were Episcopalian Protestants, and 13,262 Roman Catholics; the religious persuasion of the remaining 343 was not specified. The total number of schools in the county was 309; of which 17, containing 545 pupils, were maintained by grants of public money; 88, containing 1954 pupils, by the voluntary contributions of societies or individuals; and the remaining 254 schools, which afforded the means of instruction to 12,147 pupils, were maintained wholly by the pupils' fees. The number of schools, and of pupils attending them during the week ended 12th April 1851, was ascertained by the Census Commissioners to be as follows:

| Schools | No. of Schools | No. of Children | |---------|---------------|----------------| | National | 70 | 2302 | | Church Education | 31 | 374 | | Diocesan | 1 | 13 | | Endowed | 2 | 55 | | Boarding | 1 | 10 | | Private | 116 | 2068 | | Parochial | 4 | 124 | | Free | 5 | 63 | | Industrial | 6 | 12 | | Mission | 6 | 62 | | Military | 1 | 7 | | Workhouse | 9 | 975 | | Gaol | 1 | 36 | | Total | 253 | 6131 |

The habits and occupations of the population are so thoroughly rural that there are but three towns with a population exceeding 2000 souls. There are several fine mansions and demesnes in the hands of resident noblemen and gentlemen, and numerous villas and country-seats belonging to independent landed proprietors; but the appearance of the dwellings and homesteads of the small farmers and cottiers in many cases are far from showing those indications of internal comfort that might be expected in a district so highly favoured by nature. Agriculture is carried on with much spirit amongst the higher classes, by whom the latest improvements in tillage and the best constructed vehicles and implements have been introduced; but the greater portion of the county might be much improved by the judicious application of capital and labour to the cultivation of the land. The extent of land under each description of crop in 1855 and 1858 was—

| Crop | 1855 | Acres | 1858 | Acres | |------------|------|-------|------|-------| | Wheat | 4,159| | 4,832| | | Oats | 59,257| | 58,909| | | Barley, bere, rye, beans, and pease | 488 | | 685 | | | Potatoes | 36,793| | 42,468| | | Turnips | 4,735| | 4,697| | | Other green crops | 1,732 | | 2,393| | | Flax | 386 | | 265 | | | Meadow and clover | 30,214 | | 36,893| | | Total | 137,764| | 149,142| |

In the mountainous districts the spade is frequently used instead of the plough. In these, also, the neighbouring landholders generally club their labour together, particularly in planting and raising potatoes, all uniting to complete the work of one farm, and then proceeding successively in a body to execute that of the other partners in the amicable joint-stock concern. The pastures are amongst the best in Ireland; and as their proprietors are almost fastidiously particular in the selection of live stock of every description, the best-fed beasts are to be met with here. This is peculiarly the case with respect to bullocks; the sheep also are of first-rate quality, both as to fleece and flavour of carcass. In prime grazing land an acre feeds a bullock and a sheep. Notwithstanding the superior capabilities of the soil for pasturage, there are not many large dairies. The annual fair of Ballinasloe, in October, is the principal mart at which cattle and sheep are disposed of. The quantity of live stock in the county in 1857 and 1858 was—

| Year | Horses | Cattle | Sheep | Pigs | |------|--------|--------|-------|-----| | 1857 | 10,929 | 93,973 | 145,969 | 32,826 | | 1858 | 10,754 | 96,620 | 152,466 | 32,395 |

Fences in general are made of stone walls, raised to a considerable height, as they are considered to afford better shelter for cattle than those of timber. That the county was once well wooded appears not only from the evidence of history, but from the fact, that, wherever the impediments to its growth are removed, the soil spontaneously throws up shoots of those species of forest-trees with which the whole face of the country was once covered. The excessive clearing of the woods, without precautionary measures to secure a new growth, has left the surface very bare; but this defect, equally unsightly to the eye of taste and injurious to the progress of improvement, is annually diminishing, through the exertions of the landed gentry, many of whose mansions are surrounded with noble plantations. Manufactures, with the exception of those already noticed, and of coarse woollens and linens for domestic consumption, do not exist. The articles of export are confined to agricultural produce and live stock, for which the Shannon affords great facilities. The navigation of this fine river, which, as has already been said, skirts the county along the whole of its eastern verge, was formerly so much obstructed by several rapids as to render it useless as a channel of enlarged inland traffic. These impediments have been obviated by means of short canals along the side of the river in those parts where the rapids occur. The connection by water with the eastern counties to Dublin is maintained by the Royal and Grand canals, which communicate with the Shannon at Tarmonbarry and Shannon harbour. As all the great lines of land conveyance to Connaught from Leinster and Ulster (including the Midland Great Western Railway, from Dublin to Galway) pass through the county, the roads are numerous, and generally well kept up.

The monastic antiquities are very numerous. The ruins of the abbey of Boyle, founded in 1148, still exhibit a large part of its highly-ornamented church, with its tower rising from the middle of the building, and resting on four columns of colossal dimensions, enriched with a variety of sculptures; and the Dominican friary at Roscommon contains a monument of an ancient member of the O'Connor family, exhibiting an effigy of an armed warrior in a lying posture, with four other armed figures on the base. Derham Abbey, in the neighbourhood of Roscommon, is little more than a heap of stones. The others of which some relics still exist, are Trinity Abbey, on an island in Lough Kea, Tusk, Clonschanvill, and Clontuskert, in which there are several monuments and inscriptions relating to the O'Kellys and other ancient families. In the parish of Oran, a few miles from Roscommon, are the remains of an ancient pillar-tower about 10 feet high; and in every part there are raths so numerous that nearly five hundred are still visible. The county contained a great number of small fortresses, evidently built when it was one of the marches or border districts, to repress the incursions of the Connaught Irish, besides which there were a few of great extent and strength, as is testified by that of Roscommon, forming a quadrangle of 220 by 180 feet, with towers at the angles and at the gateway, and containing the remains of a large building, supposed to be the residence of the governor. The most remarkable of the other castles are those of Athlone, Ballinasloe, Ballynahaid, and Lough Glynn.

county town, is built on the southern slope of a gently-rising hill, near the centre of the county. It consists but of one main street, with several minor avenues branching out into five main roads, in various directions. It was incorporated at a very early period, and was considered to be one of the chief places in these parts. Writs for the better defence of the town and castle are frequent among the earlier records. It returned two members to the Irish Parliament till the Union. Here are the buildings connected with the local administration of justice; the county court-house, the prison-house, the county infirmary, and fever hospital. The modern ecclesiastical buildings are not remarkable for architectural elegance. The parish church is a neat structure. The town is a place of very limited trade, except in that of grain, large quantities of which are sent to Lanesborough, to be exported thence by means of the Royal Canal or the Shannon. The population in 1851 was 3364. No other town wholly within the county has a population exceeding 2000, except Boyle, a neat and commercial town, with a population of 2767 souls. Part of the town of Athlone, on the Shannon, in which are the fortified magazines intended for the defence of the pass of the Shannon, is on the Roscommon side of the river. A small portion of the town of Ballinasloe, celebrated for its great annual fair for sheep and horned cattle, is also in this county. (n.s.—n.)

Wentworth Dillon, Earl of, a celebrated poet of the seventeenth century, was the son of James Dillon, Earl of Roscommon, and was born in Ireland about 1634, under the administration of the Earl of Strafford, who was his uncle, and from whom he received the name of Wentworth. He passed his infancy in Ireland; after which the Earl of Strafford sent for him to England, and placed him at his own seat in Yorkshire, under the tuition of Dr Hall, who instructed him in Latin, without teaching him the common rules of grammar, which he could never retain in his memory, though he learned to write in that language with classical elegance and propriety. On the Earl of Strafford's being impeached, he went to complete his education at Caen in Normandy; and after some years he travelled to Rome, where he became well skilled in medals and in the Italian language. He returned to England soon after the Restoration, and was made captain of the band of pensioners; but a dispute with the lord privy-seal about a part of his estate obliged him to resign his post and revisit his native country, where the Duke of Ormond appointed him captain of the guards. He was unhappily very fond of gaming; and as he was returning to his lodgings from a gaming-table in Dublin, he was attacked in the dark by three ruffians who were employed to assassinate him. The earl defended himself with such resolution that he had despatched one of the aggressors, when a gentleman came up and disarmed another, on which the third took to flight. This generous assistant was rewarded for his bravery by Roscommon resigning to him his post of captain of the guards. His lordship at length returned to London, when he was made master of the horse to the Duchess of York, and married the Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of Richard, Earl of Burlington, and the widow of Colonel Courtney. Here he distinguished himself by his writings; and, in imitation of those learned and polite assemblies with which he had been acquainted abroad, he began to form a society for refining and fixing the standard of the English language, in which his great friend Dryden was a principal assistant. In 1683 he was seized with the gout, which, by improper medical treatment, led to his death, which happened in the month of January 1684. He was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey.

His poems, which are not numerous, are in the body of English poetry collected by Dr Johnson. His Essay on Translated Verse (1684), and his translation of Horace's Art of Poetry (1680), have been much commended. Upon the latter, Waller addressed a poem to his lordship when he was seventy-five years of age. "In the writings of this nobleman we view," says Fenton, "the image of a mind naturally serious and solid; richly furnished and adorned with all the ornaments of art and science; and these ornaments unfettered disposed in the most regular and elegant order. His imagination might probably have been more fruitful and sprightly, if his judgment had been less severe; but that severity (delivered in a masculine, clear, succinct style) contributed to make him so eminent in the didactical manner, that no man with justice can affirm he was equalled by any of our nation, without confessing at the same time that he is inferior to none. In some other kinds of writing his genius seems to have wanted fire to attain the point of perfection; but who can attain it? He was a man of an amiable disposition, as well as a good poet; as Pope, in his Essay on Criticism, has testified in the following lines:

"Roscommon, not more learned than good, With manners generous as his noble blood; To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And every author's merit but his own."

Roscommon enjoys the distinction of being the only correct writer in verse before the time of Addison; and if there are not so many or so great beauties in his composition as in those of some contemporaries, there are at least fewer faults. "Of Roscommon's works," says Johnson (Lives of the Poets), "the judgment of the public seems to be right. He is elegant, but not great; he never labours after exquisite beauties, and he seldom falls into gross faults. His versification is smooth, but rarely vigorous; and his rhymes are remarkably exact. He improved taste if he did not enlarge knowledge, and may be numbered among the benefactors to English literature."