nfinement, and is now used as a place of custody for goods attached by the court till bailed.
The parish, which is also called Blaris, comprises, according to the Ordnance survey, 10,697 statute acres, of which 2827 1/4 are in the barony of Upper Massareene, county of Antrim, and 3064 in Upper Castlereagh, and 4805 3/4 in Lower Iveagh, county of Down. The lands are very fertile, and the system of agriculture is highly improved; for the last twenty years, wheat has been the staple crop, and oats, formerly the principal produce, are now grown only for the sake of a due rotation of crops. The Maze race-course, described in the article on Hillsborough near which town it is situated, is in this parish. The surrounding scenery is enlivened by numerous gentlemen's seats, among which are Ballymacash, the residence of Edw. Johnson, Esq.; Brookhill, of James Watson, Esq,; Larchfield, of Wm. Mussenden, Esq.; Lambeg House, of Robert Williamson, Esq.; Seymour Hill, of Wm. Charley, Esq.; Chrome Hill, of Richard Niven, Esq.; Ingram Lodge, of J. Richardson, Esq.; Suffolk, of the late J. Mc Cance, Esq.; and Colin, of Matthew Roberts, Esq.; besides many other elegant houses near the town. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Connor, and in the patronage of the Marquess of Hertford. The tithes amount to £700: there is a glebe-house but no glebe attached to the living. The church is a spacious and handsome building, with a tower, to which an octagonal spire was added in 1807, at the expense of the late Marquess of Hertford; a fine organ has been presented to it by the present Marquess; and in its improvement considerable sums have been expended, including a recent grant of £256 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It contains a handsome monument to Lieut. Dobbs, a native of the town, who was killed in an engagement with Paul Jones off this coast; and an elegant monument has recently been erected at the expense of the bishop and clergy of the diocese, to the memory of the celebrated Dr. Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down and Connor, who died here in 1667, and was buried in a vault in the church of Dromore, which he had built. In the churchyard are several monuments to many of the Huguenots who settled here under the patronage of Wm. III. and Queen Anne. It is the cathedral church of the united dioceses of Down and Connor; the visitations are held in it, and all the business belonging to the see is transacted in the town. There are no chapels of ease within the parish, but divine service is performed in the school-houses of Newport, Maze, and Broomhedge, in rotation. In the R. C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, also called Blaris, comprising the parishes of Lisburn and Hillsborough; in each of which is a chapel. There is a meeting-house for Presbyterians of the Synod of Ulster, of the first class, also two for Wesleyan Methodists, and one for the Society of Friends.
To the north of the town is the Ulster Provincial School for the Society of Friends, founded in 1794 by Mr. John Handcock, who bequeathed a sum of money for, the erection of the premises; 50 children, who are eligible at eight years of age and remain till fourteen, are boarded, clothed, educated, and apprenticed; each scholar pays £3. 12. per annum, and the remainder of the expense, which averages about £14 per annum each, is defrayed by contributions from the society. A free school for boys was founded in 1810, and aided by the Association for Discountenancing Vice; and there is a similar school for girls, built and supported by subscription: the late George Whitla, Esq., bequeathed £100 to each, the interest of which is applied in procuring clothing for some of the poorest children. There are also two other schools for both sexes, one of which is aided by the same society, and the other is supported by subscription. An infants' school, also supported by subscription, was established in 1832, and a building was erected for its use at an expense of £120, towards defraying which the Marquess of Hertford contributed £50. The number of boys on the books of