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for many miles round; the portico, which was inferior
in character to the rest of the building, has been re-
placed by one of loftier elevation. About 1830 the late
Board of First Fruits gave £666 for the repair, and the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £375
for the improvement, of the church. St. George’s church,
or chapel of ease, was erected in 1812, on the site of
a former edifice, called the corporation church, which
had been built on the ruins of the ancient castle: it is
a splendid structure, consisting of a nave and chancel,
with a magnificent and highly enriched portico of
six noble columns and four fluted pilasters, support-
ing a cornice and pediment, in the tympanum of
which are the arms of the united sees of Down and
Connor, and of the town, in alto relievo; this splendid
specimen of Corinthian architecture was removed from
the front of a palace built by the late Earl of Bristol,
when Bishop of Derry, on the shore of Lough Beg, the
materials for which, were quarried from the Derry
mountains, and worked by Irish artists, and after
that noble prelate’s decease purchased, on the demoli-
tion of the palace, by Dr. Alexander, then Bishop of
Down and Connor, and now of Meath, and by him pre-
sented to this church: the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
have recently granted £123. 6. 7. for the repair of the
building. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the
patronage of the Vicar, and was endowed by the late
Board of First Fruits with. £3000, laid out in the
purchase of the tithes of Naas, in the county of Kildare,
producing under the composition act £126 per ann., and
further endowed by the vicar with a portion of the tithes
of the Upper Falls, now producing to the curate, under
the same act, £50 per annum. Christchurch, contain-
ing 1000 free sittings, and situated near the Royal In-
stitution, was erected by the late Board of First Fruits,
aided by subscription, and was opened for divine service
in 1833: the living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with
£50 per ann. by the Board, together with the rents of
the pews, and in the patronage of the Vicar. It is
also in contemplation to erect a church, or chapel, in
the townland of Upper Malone, in this parish, about
three miles south of the town.
Belfast is the seat of the R. C. see of Down and
Connor, and the residence of the Bishop; there are two
spacious chapels in the town, one of which, erected in
1811, and considered as the cathedral, is an elegant
edifice, in the later style of English architecture: there
are also other chapels at Ballymacarrett, Hollywood,
Green Castle, and Ballyclare, all in the R. C. parish of
Belfast. There are seven places of worship for Presbyte-
rians, of which that for the third congregation (so called
from the order of its formation), built in 1831 at an ex-
pense of £10,000. by Mr. Millar, a native and resident
architect, is perhaps the most elegant edifice of its kind
in the three kingdoms. The front is enriched with a
stately Grecian-Doric portico of ten lofty columns rest-
ing on a basement of twenty steps, and surmounted by
a beautiful attic balustrade, composed of a series of
pedestals and light pierced work, having a novel and
pleasing effect; the other portions of the building are
noble and elegant in design, and beautiful in detail,
especially the grand staircase leading to the gallery, from
which may best be observed that agreeable harmony of
design and unity of effect which are strikingly charac-
teristic of this chaste and beautiful edifice. The meet-
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ing-house for the fifth congregation, in Fisherwick-place,
erected in 1827 at an expense of £7000; and that for
the sixth, in May-street, built in 1829 at an expense of
£9000, are also spacious and elegant structures. There
are three places of worship for the Seceders (sometimes
called Burghers or Antiburghers), two for Covenanters
or Reformed Presbyterians, two each for Primitive and
Wesleyan Methodists, and one each for General Baptists,
the Society of Friends, and Independents. Five of the
Presbyterian meeting-houses are in connection with the
Synod of Ulster, namely, those of the third, fourth,
fifth, sixth, and seventh congregations; the fifth and
sixth are of the first class and the fourth and seventh
of the second class. Two are in connection with the
Presbytery of Antrim, namely, those of the first and
second, congregations, the first being a collegiate charge,
and each of the first class; and two more in connection
with the Seceding Synod are of the first class.
The” Royal Belfast Academical Institution,” which
reflects so much honour on its founders, was projected
in 1807; and, within a few weeks from the first pro-
mulgation of the design, subscriptions to the amount of
£16,000 were raised for carrying it into effect: this sum
was further increased by subscriptions from other parts
of Ireland, and from England; and, under the patronage
of the Marquess of Hastings, and by the unwearied ex-
ertions of several gentlemen, nearly £5000 was subscribed
in India: making the total amount £25,000. In 1810,
the patrons and principal subscribers were by act of
parliament incorporated a body politic, to consist of the
Lord-Primate, the Marquess of Donegal, the Bishop of
Down and Connor, the Bishop of Dromore, and more
than 70 of the principal subscribers, including all who
should* subscribe and pay 20 guineas, with power to
elect a president, vice-presidents, treasurer, secretary,
managers, visitors, and auditors, of whom 21 should be
competent to form a board, to transact all business
relative to the institution, with license to take lands not
exceeding £2500 per annum, and other privileges. The
buildings were completed at an expense, including fur-
niture and apparatus, of £28,954. 3. 8., leaving no pro-
vision for the endowment of professorships; for which
object the managers applied to government, and in the
year 1814 received from parliament a grant of £1500,
which was continued during the years 1815 and 1816;
after which it ceased till 1824, when it was renewed on
the recommendation of the Commissioners of Educa-
tion, and in the year 1834 was increased to £3500; of
which sum £2000 was for additional buildings, and
£1500 for general expenditure. The institution com-
prehends a collegiate and a school department, the
former under the direction of seven professors of natu-
ral philosophy, moral philosophy, logic and the belles
lettres, mathematics, Latin and Greek, Hebrew, and
anatomy, respectively; there are also two professors of
divinity, one appointed by the general Synod of Ulster,
and the other by the Seceding Presbyterian Synod of
Ireland. The professors were, in 1818, constituted a
board of faculty for superintending the courses of in-
struction and discipline observed in the institution, as
were also the masters of the school department for that
branch of it. The collegiate department is conducted
on a plan similar, in most respects, to that of the uni-
versity of Glasgow; the session commences in Novem-
ber and ends in May, when public examinations take