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on the town of Carlow, but with as little success; he
was finally taken and executed as a rebel. The same
spirit of turbulence continued to the close of Elizabeth’s
reign. Donell Kavanagh, usually called Spaniagh or
the Spaniard, made himself peculiarly formidable by
his prowess and activity. In 1590, having procured the
aid of the mountain tribes of Wicklow, he plundered
the whole country from the border of Wexford to the
gates of Dublin. At length Lord Mountjoy undertook
the subjugation of the district, which lie effected after
ravaging Donell Spaniagh’s country, whence he carried
off an immense booty of cattle, and secured his con-
quest by placing garrisons in the strong posts of Wick-
low and Tullow. So effectually did he succeed, that the
leaders of those districts served under his standard in
his subsequent operations for tranquillising Munster, in
effecting which he made Carlow his head-quarters, “as
being, as things stood, the place best to give directions
to all parts and to secure the most dangerous.” It was
not until the ninth year of his reign that James I. found
sufficient leisure to put in practice his pacific project for
the settlement, or plantation, as it was called, of Carlow,
Wexford, and Wicklow counties. In that year a king’s
letter was issued on the subject, but it does not appear
to have been followed up, with respect to the first of
these counties, by further measures. On the breaking
out of the civil war in 1641, the people of Carlow and
Wexford, together with those of the Wicklow mountains,
took up arms against the Government; and not content
with overrunning these counties, they marched into
Waterford, where they were defeated by Sir William
St. Leger, president of Munster. The next year, the
Earl of Ormonde having entered the county with a large
force, the Irish, who were in possession of the town of
Carlow, and had blocked up the English garrison in the
castle, broke up the siege and retreated with some loss;
and the garrison, consisting of 500 men, was thus saved
from destruction. When the confederate Catholics after-
wards resolved to levy a force of 31,700 men, this
county was assessed at 2400, of which 40 cavalry and
400 infantry were to serve in the general army, and
the remainder to act in the county. The county was
not exempt from its share in the sufferings of 1798:
the amount of money claimed by the loyalists within it,
in compensation for their loss of property during the
disturbances, was £24,854. 14. 7.
This county is entirely within the diocese of Leigh-
lin. For purposes of civil jurisdiction it is divided into
the baronies of Carlow, Idrone East, Idrone West, St.
Mullins North, St. Mullins South, Rathvilly, and Forth.
Idrone was divided into East and West, and made two
distinct baronies, in 1802, under the provisions of an
act passed in 1799; and by an order in council, dated
June 2nd, 1834, St. Mullins was also divided, pursuant
to the same act, into North and South, or Upper and
Lower St. Mullins, now constituting distinct baronies.
The county contains the borough, market, and assize
town of Carlow; the market and post-towns of Tullow,
Bagnalstown, and Leighlin-Bridge; the market-town of
Hacketstown, which has a penny post; the post-town
of Clonegal, and part of that of Newtownbarry; and
the ancient disfranchised borough of Old Leighlin,
now a small and deserted village. The largest villages
are Borris, Rathvilly, and the Royal Oak. Prior to
the Union it sent six members to the Irish parliament;
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namely, two knights of the shire, and two represen-
tatives for each of the boroughs of Carlow and Old
Leighlinj but since that period its representatives in
the Imperial parliament have been limited to two mem-
bers for the county at large, and one for the borough of
Carlow. The county constituency, as registered at the
close of 1835, consists of 273 £50, 134 £20, and 846
£10, freeholders; 1 £50, 15 £20, and 108 £10 lease-
holders; and 9 £50, and 49 £20, rent- chargers; making
a total of 1435 registered voters. The county is included
in the home circuit: the assizes and general quarter
sessions are held at Carlow, where are the court-house
and county gaol; and quarter sessions are also held at
Tullow and Bagnalstown, at the former of which and at
Moneybeg are bridewells. The number of persons
charged with offences and committed, in 1835, was 363,
and of civil bill commitments, 23. The local govern-
ment is vested in a lieutenant, 6 deputy-lieutenants, and
50 other magistrates, besides whom there are the usual
county officers, including two coroners. There are 19
constabulary police stations, with a force of 5 chief and
20 subordinate constables, and 105 men, with 3 horses;
the cost of maintenance is defrayed equally by Grand
Jury presentments and by Government. There are a
district lunatic asylum, and a county infirmary and fever
hospital, at Carlow, also fever hospitals at Tullow and
Bagnalstown; and dispensaries, supported by equal
subscriptions and Grand Jury presentments, at Carlow,
Tullow, Leighlin-Bridge, Borris, Hacketstown, Bagnals-
town, Myshall, and Clonegal. The amount of Grand
Jury presentments, for 1835, was £15,162. 13. 10 1/2. of
which £87.11.2. was for the public roads and buildings
of the county at large; £4905. 8. 9. for the baronial
roads; £4817. 0. 6. for public buildings, charities,
officers’ salaries, &c.; £24S3. 10. 7 1/2. for police, and
£2869. 2. 10. in repayment of an advance made by
Government. In the military arrangements the county
is included in the eastern district, and contains one
barrack station for cavalry at Carlow, affording accom-
modation for 8 officers, 112 non-commissioned officers
and men, and 90 horses.
This county presents a considerable variety of sur-
face: the ground is generally undulating, particularly in
its northern parts, where the rivers Barrow and Slaney
form broad valleys of great fertility and beauty, rising
into low hills clothed to the summits with a rich her-
bage varied by fine plantations. To the south and west
the character changes. In the south the land rises into
a very elevated ridge, which runs along the whole of
the south-eastern verge of the county, separating it by
a strongly marked natural barrier from that of Wex-
ford. The northern portion of this ridge, which com-
mences from the valley of the Slaney at Newtownbarry,
is called Mount Leinster, and is separated at its south-
ern extremity from the Blackstairs mountain by Sculloge
gap, the only passage through which a communication
can be kept up between the two counties. Blackstairs
extends in the same direction till it is interrupted by
the Barrow, where its rugged and precipitous termina-
tion, together with the peculiarly sombre tints of its
appearance throughout its whole extent, has fixed upon
it the name just mentioned. This part of the country
is comparatively barren and of discouraging aspect. To
the west of the Barrow there is also a tract of elevated
land, called the Ridge of Old Leighlin, which, however,