Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/288

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280 DUBLIN her, deals, wines, and other foreign products, and with the English markets, to which it ex- ports cattle and agricultural produce. With the United States its commerce is small, and confined mostly to timber. It has but few manufactures, and those of trifling value. Iron casting, cabinet making, and manufactures of the minor articles of jewelry and apparel are thriving, but afford employment to a very small part of the population. The manufacture of silk poplins was introduced by Huguenot refu- gees, and still flourishes to some extent. The well known Dublin porter is an important item in the trade of the city. The number of hogsheads exported in 1855 was 87,905 ; in 1862, 156,077; in 1871, 281,301. The quantity of distilled liquors exported in 1869 was 2,196 butts and puncheons, 4,520 hogs- heads, 1,193 casks, and 3,268 quarter casks. The modern part of Dublin is regularly built, without much architectural display, but with an appearance of sub- stantiality and comfort. The lower part is oc- cupied by filthy streets of wretched tenements, inhabited by people as np as their dwellings, ardly any other city are wealth and pov- erty in such close and marked contrast. But the. general aspect to strangers who follow the main thoroughfares is very favorable. The S. W. quarter is occu- pied by the poor, the N. W. by the middle classes, the S. E. and N. E. being the residence of the wealthy. The thickly populated part of the city has an extent of about If m. in each direction, but with the remainder it covers a space of 2| by 2 m. It is paved, lighted with gas, and supplied with water by works completed in 1868. Nine bridges, of which two are of iron, span the river, and an avenue called the Circular road, 9 m. long, encompasses the city. The pub- lic buildings are noted for their elegance. The bank of Ireland, in College green, was former- ly used as the Irish parliament house. It is nearly semicircular with a fine Ionic colon- nade. The chamber of lords remains as when last used. Immediately opposite the bank is Trinity college, an imposing Corinthian struc- ture. Jt was founded under authority of Pope John XXII., closed in the time of Henry VIII., and reopened by Elizabeth, who incorporated it in 1592 as the college of the holy and undi- vided Trinity. It contains a small museum, and an extensive library, rich in ancient MSS. Trinity college has a large faculty and about 1,300 students. Roman Catholics were for the first time admitted to scholarships in 1856. The queen's university, incorporated in 1850, with power to confer degrees on students of the queen's colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Gal- way, holds the meetings of its senate at Dub- lin castle. The Roman Catholic university in Stephen's green was founded in 1854. Among the other literary and scientific institutions are the colleges of physicians and of surgeons, apothecaries' hall, and medical societies; the royal Dublin society, having museums of natu- ral history and of agriculture, a botanic garden, a gallery of statues, a library numbering over 30,000 volumes, a school of art, and free lec- tures ; the royal Hibernian society of art, with an annual exhibition of paintings ; the royal Irish academy of science, literature, and anti- quities ; the royal college of science, opened in November, 1868; the archaeological society, society of engineers, mechanics' institute, sta- tistical, geological, and zoological societies, nu- Trinity College. merous other associations and reading socie- ties, upward of 200 charity schools, and sever- al libraries. An agricultural college at Leop- ardstown, near Dublin, has a farm of 200 acres. An act of parliament was passed, Aug. 10, 1854, to provide for the establishment of a " national gallery of paintings, sculpture, and the fine arts," for the care of a public library, and the erection of a public museum; and the building was begun in 1859, and opened in 1864. It forms a northern wing to the premises of the royal Dublin society, its gal- lery end facing Merrion square, and the cor- responding southern wing being devoted to the new museum. Although entitled the na- tional gallery, it is also intended as a testimonial in commemoration of Mr. William Dargan's ex- ertions in behalf of the great Dublin industrial exhibition of 1853. The cost of construction was 26,739. Thirty newspapers and peri- odicals were published in Dublin in 1873,