ment. There are likewise several productive silver mines. Copper has been recently found in the county of Wicklow, and at Mucross in Kerry. One of the chief mineral productions of Ireland is iron, the mines of which were little known till the time of Elizabeth. The beds of coals, occurring in various regions of Ireland, have not yet been explored to their proper extent. That of Castlecomer, in the county of Kilkenny, is celebrated, among mineralogists, as the purest which has yet been traced in any quarter of the globe. One of the most beautiful marbles of Ireland, is found near Kilkenny, and others have been discovered in various parts of the island. Slate of various kinds, is also abundant.

Religion.] The established religion and ecclesiastical discipline of Ireland is the same with that of England. Among the bulk of the people in the most uncultivated parts, popery, and that too of the most absurd, illiberal kind, is prevalent.

The religion established by law is under the government of four archbishops, and eighteen bishops; but Dissenters of various denominations are liberally tolerated.

1. The Archbishop of Armagh is styled, Primate and Metropolitan of all Ireland.'

2. The Archbishop of Dublin is styled, Primate of Ireland,'

3. The Archbishop of Cashel. 4. The Archbishop of Tuam.

The Bishops are, those of

8. Ossory.

9. Dromore.

10. Limerick, Ardford,

and Aghadoe,

11. Waterford and Lismore. 12. Cork and Ross.

In the year 1172, Henry II. conquered this island, and assumed the title of Lord of Ireland,' as did his successors till the reign of Henry VIII. who assumed the title of

'King of Ireland.' Until lately it was governed by a Lord Lieutenant, with the functions of royalty. The legislative power resided in two houses of Parliament: but since January 1801, a union has been effected between Ireland and Great Britain; and the people of Ireland are now represented in the Imperial Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Select Books on the Topography of Ireland.

Carlisle's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 4to. Grose's Antiquities of Ireland, 2 vols. 8vo. Young's Tour in Ireland, 2 vols. 8vo. Weld's Scenery of Killarney, 4to, or 8vo. Hoare's Tour, 8vo. Wakefield's Statistical View of Ireland, 2 vols. 4to.

Topography of the United Kingdom.

Carlisle's Topographical Dictionary of England, 2vols.4to. Capper's Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom, 8vo. Grose's Antiquities of England and Wales, 8 vols. 8vo. Brayley and Britton's Beauties of England and Wales, 11 vols. 8vo. (not completed.) Mavor's British Tourists, 6 vols. 18mo. Cruttwell's Tour through Great Britain, 6 vols. 8vo. Guide to all the Watering Places, 12mo. Lysons' Environs of London, 4 vols. 4to. and Out Parishes, 4to. Wallis' London, 12mo. or the Picture of London, 12mo. The Agricultural Reports, printed in 8vo. of the different counties, contain a mine of valuable information for the Topographical student. Any of these may be had separately.

Dicey's Account of Guernsey, 8vo. Falle's Jersey, 12mo. and in Warner's Collections for a History of Hampshire, 6 vols. 4to. Heath's Scilly Islands, 8vo. Wood's Isle of Man, 8vo.

Select Books on Geography.

1. Antient Geography.—Dr. Adam's Antient Geography, 8vo. Turner's Classical Geography, 12mo. D'Anville's Antient Geography, 2 vols. 8vo. is the completest work. Patterson's Classical Atlas, 4to.

2. Modern Geography.—Goldsmith's Easy Grammar of Geography, 12mo. and Geography for Young Persons, 8vo. Walker's Elements of Geography, and of Natural and Civil History, 8vo. Pinkerton's Geography, 8vo. is judiciously abridged from his larger work in 3 vols. 4to. Walker's Gazetteer, 8vo. W. Adams' General Atlas, 4to.

3. On the Use of the Globes.-Butler on the Globes, 12mo. Keith's and Adams' Treatises may be consulted with advantage. The best globes are to be had of Adams, Cary, and Jones.

** In addition to the Atlases and Maps already named, those of Cury may be recommended for their general accuracy and neatness of execution.

PART III.-Chronology.

CHRONOLOGY is that science, which treats of the artificial-divisions of time, and teaches us to adapt them to past transactions, in order to illustrate history. Chronology and geography have been termed the " eyes of history." so closely connected are these three branches of knowledge. In order to make any regular progress in learning, some acquaintance with chronology is indispensable. To pretend to read history, the source and treasure of civil as well as sacred knowledge, without attending to chronology, would be to little or no purpose; to chronology, history owes its use and beauty.

CHAP. I.—EPOCHS AND ÆRAS.

TIMES are distinguished under various eras and epochs. An epoch or epocha is a point of time that begins with æras, and concludes with some remarkable change of things. The first epoch of time, for instance, is said to have been that space which intervened betweeu Adam and the flood; the second is from the flood to the days of Abraham.

An ara is a particular date or period, whence a series of years is computed: the word is sometimes also written in antient authors era; its origin is contested, though generally allowed to have had its rise in Spain. Sepulveda supposes it formed from A. ER. A. the note of abbreviation of the words, Annus, ERat Augusti, occasioned by the Spaniards beginning their computation from the time their country came under the dominion of Augustus, or that of their receiving the Roman calendar.-This opinion is rejected by Scaliger. Vossius nevertheless favours the 'conjecture.

Different epochas or æras obtain in different nations; the understanding of which is indispensable to the student. We shall briefly notice the principal of these divisions of time.

1. The era of the Olympiads.-This method of computation had its rise from the Olympic games, which were celebrated every fifth year, near the city Olympia, in Peloponnesus. The first Olympiad commenced, according to some chronologers, in the year 3938 of the Julian period; the year from the creation 3174, the year before Christ 774, and 24 years, as some will have it 23 years before the building of Rome. The Olympiads were also called anni Iphiti, from Iphitus, who instituted, or at least renewed the solemuity of the Olympic games. We do not find any computation by Olympiads after the 364th, which ended with the year of Christ 440, except that in a charter of our king Ethelbert, the years of his reign are said to be reckoned by Olympiads. This method of reckoning was followed by the antient Greeks.

2. The era of the building of Rome; which took place A. M. (i. e. in the year of the world) 3197, and B. C. (before Christ) 752 or 753. This has also been called the Varronian epocha, being first introduced by Terentius Varro. The antient Roman historians usually follow this epoch, which is referred to thus, A. U. C. (that is, anno urbis conditæ, or the year of building the city.)

3. The era of Seleucus was followed by the Syro-Macedonians; Seleucus the Great having disused the æra of the Olympiads, and reckoned from the beginning of his own reign, which was twelve years after the death of Alexander. The era of Seleucus commences with the retaking of Babylon by Seleucus in the year of the world 3692 and before Christ 312.

4. The era of Dioclesian was introduced in honour of the emperor of that name: it has also been called the are of the martyrs, from the vast number of Christians who were put to death during the Dioclesian persecution. This æra commenced in the year of Christ 284, and was for a long time followed in the west.

The æras or epochs, however, which are now chiefly in use or referred to, are the following, viz.

1. The epocha of the creation of the world.-The number of years that elapsed from the creation to the birth of our Saviour, has never yet been satisfactorily ascertained by chronologers. It may here suffice to say, that the system now most generally received is that of Archbishop

Usher; who follows the computation of the Hebrew Bible, and fixes the creation of the world at 4000 years before the birth of Christ.

2. The vulgar or Christian æra, (or of A. D.) This was not fully settled till the year 527; when Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman abbot fixed it to the 4713th year of the Julian period, which was four years too late. It is however now so generally received, that this gross error in calculation is but seldom regarded.

3. The Hegira, or Turkish æra took its rise from the false prophet Mohammed's flight, from Mecca and Medina on Friday July 16, A. D. 622. It is a lunar year beginning with the new moon of that time, which is the reason of the regard for crescents in the east, where they rise on évery mosque. In order to know in what year of the vul gar æra any given year of the Hegira falls, the student should reduce the lunar years into solar years, and add the number of 622. Thus, the year 1221 of the Hegira corresponds with the year 1806 of the vulgar æra ; it com‐ menced on the 21st day of March 1806, and terminated on the 11th of March 1807.

4. The era of the French Revolution. As this æra is constantly referred to, by French writers, during the period that France was under republican government, a few parti culars concerning it may assist the reader's historical studies.

The era in question was substituted for the vulgar or Christian æra, in all public and civil instruments, by virtue of the decree, issued by the National Convention, on the 5th October, 1793. It commenced with the epocha of the foundation of the republic, i. e. on the 22d of Septem ber, 1792 of the vulgar æra; on the morning of which day the sun arrived at the true autumnal equinox, at 18 minutes and 30 seconds past nine o'clock. (Paris time.) This æra was abolished by Buonaparte, and the Christian æra has been re-established since the commencement of 1806.

CHAP. II. DIVISIONS OF TIME.

CHRONOLOGERS have inade use of two different sorts of years, the one taken from the course of the sun, the other from that of the moon. The first, called a solar