in language of deep personal hatred. He was not aware of the assurance which Cornwallis had been authorized to convey to the Catholics that the union was to pave the way for emancipation, and when he heard of it after the passing of the act he bitterly complained that Pitt and Castlereagh had deceived him. After the union Clare became more violent than ever in his opposition to any policy of concession in Ireland. He died on the 28th of January 1802; his funeral in Dublin was the occasion of a riot organized “by a gang of about fourteen persons under orders of a leader.” His wife, in compliance with his death-bed request, destroyed all his papers. His two sons, John (1792–1851) and Richard Hobart (1793–1864), succeeded in turn to the earldom, which became extinct on the death of the latter, whose only son, John Charles Henry, Viscount Fitzgibbon (1829–1854), was killed in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava.
Lord Clare was in private life an estimable and even an amiable man; many acts of generosity are related of him; the determination of his character swayed other wills to his purpose, and his courage was such as no danger, no obloquy, no public hatred or violence could disturb. Though not a great orator like Flood or Grattan, he was a skilful and ready debater, and he was by far the ablest Irish supporter of the union. He was, however, arrogant, overbearing and intolerant to the last degree. He was the first Irishman since the Revolution to hold the office of lord chancellor of Ireland. “Except where his furious personal antipathies and his ungovernable arrogance were called into action, he appears to have been,” says Lecky, “an able, upright and energetic judge”; but as a politician there can be little question that Lord Clare’s bitter and unceasing resistance to reasonable measures of reform did infinite mischief in the history of Ireland, by inflaming the passions of his countrymen, driving them into rebellion, and perpetuating their political and religious divisions.
See W. E. H. Lecky, History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (5 vols., London, 1892); J. R. O’Flanagan, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal in Ireland (2 vols., London, 1870); Cornwallis Correspondence, ed. by C. Ross (3 vols., London, 1859); Charles Phillips, Recollections of Curran and some of his Contemporaries (London, 1822); Henry Grattan, Memoirs of the Life and Times of the Right Honble. Henry Grattan (5 vols., London, 1839–1846); Lord Auckland, Journal and Correspondence (4 vols., London, 1861); Charles Coote, History of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1802). (R. J. M.)
CLARE, a county in the province of Munster, Ireland, bounded
N. by Galway Bay and Co. Galway, E. by Lough Derg, the river
Shannon, and counties Tipperary and Limerick, S. by the estuary
of the Shannon, and W. by the Atlantic Ocean. The area is
852,389 acres, or nearly 1332 sq. m. Although the surface of the
county is hilly, and in some parts even mountainous, it nowhere
rises to a great elevation. Much of the western baronies of
Moyarta and Ibrickan is composed of bog land. Bogs are
frequent also in the mountainous districts elsewhere, except in
the limestone barony of Burren, the inhabitants of some parts of
which supply themselves with turf from the opposite shores of
Connemara. Generally speaking, the eastern parts of the county
are mountainous, with tracts of rich pasture-land interspersed;
the west abounds with bog; and the north is rocky and best
adapted for grazing sheep. In the southern part, along the banks
of the Fergus and Shannon, are the bands of rich low grounds
called corcasses, of various breadth, indenting the land in a great
variety of shapes. They are composed of deep rich loam, and are
distinguished as the black corcasses, adapted for tillage, and the
blue, used more advantageously as meadow land. The coast is
in general rocky, and occasionally bold and precipitous in the
extreme, as may be observed at the picturesque cliffs of Moher
within a few miles of Ennistimon and Lisdoonvarna, which rise
perpendicularly at O’Brien’s Tower to an elevation of 580 ft.
The coast of Clare is indented with several bays, the chief of
which are Ballyvaghan, Liscannor and Malbay; but from
Black Head to Loop Head, that is, along the entire western
boundary of the county formed by the Atlantic, there is no safe
harbour except Liscannor Bay. Malbay takes its name from its
dangers to navigators, and the whole coast has been the scene of
many fatal disasters. The county possesses only one large river,
the Fergus; but nearly 100 m. of its boundary-line are washed by
the river Shannon, which enters the Atlantic Ocean between this
county and Kerry. The numerous bays and creeks on both sides
of this great river render its navigation safe in every wind; but
the passage to and from Limerick is often tedious, and the port of
Kilrush has from that cause gained in importance. The river
Fergus is navigable from the Shannon to the town of Clare, which
is the terminating point of its natural navigation, and the port of
all the central districts of the county.
There are a great number of lakes and tarns in the county, of which the largest are Loughs Muckanagh, Graney, Atedaun and Dromore; but they are more remarkable for beauty than for size or utility, with the exception of the extensive and navigable Lough Derg, formed by the river Shannon between this county and Tipperary. The salmon fishery of the Shannon, both as a sport and as an industry, is famous; the Fergus also holds salmon, and there is much good trout-fishing in the lakes for which Ennis is a centre, and in the streams of the Atlantic seaboard. Clare is a county which, like all the western counties of Ireland, repays visitors in search of the pleasures of seaside resorts, sport, scenery or antiquarian interest. Yet, again like other western counties, it was long before it was rendered accessible. Communications, however, are now satisfactory.
Geology.—Upper Carboniferous strata cover the county west of Ennis, the coast-sections in them being particularly fine. Shales and sandstones alternate, now horizontal, as in the Cliffs of Moher, now thrown into striking folds. The Carboniferous Limestone forms a barren terraced country, often devoid of soil, through the Burren in the north, and extends to the estuary of the Fergus and the Shannon. On the east, the folding has brought up two bold masses of Old Red Sandstone, with Silurian cores. Slieve Bernagh, the more southerly of these, rises to 1746 ft. above Killaloe, and the hilly country here traversed by the Shannon is in marked contrast with the upper course of the river through the great limestone plain.
Minerals.—Although metals and minerals have been found in many places throughout the county, they do not often show themselves in sufficient abundance to induce the application of capital for their extraction. The principal metals are lead, iron and manganese. The Milltown lead mine in the barony of Tulla is probably one of the oldest mines in Ireland, and formerly, if the extent of the ancient excavations may be taken as a guide, there must have been a very rich deposit. Copper pyrites occurs in several parts of Burren, but in small quantity. Coal exists at Labasheeda on the right bank of the Shannon, but the few and thin seams are not productive. The nodules of clay-ironstone in the strata that overlie the limestone were mined and smelted down to 1750. Within half a mile of the Milltown lead mine are immense natural vaulted passages of limestone, through which the river Ardsullas winds a singular course. The lower limestone of the eastern portion of the county has been found to contain several very large deposits of argentiferous galena. Flags, easily quarried, are procured near Kilrush, and thinner flags near Ennistimon. Slates are quarried in several places, the best being those of Broadford and Killaloe, which are nearly equal to the finest procured in Wales. A species of very fine black marble is obtained near Ennis; it takes a high polish, and is free from the white spots with which the black Kilkenny marble is marked.
The mineral springs, which are found in many places, are chiefly chalybeate. That of Lisdoonvarna, a sulphur spa, about 8 m. from Ennistimon, has been celebrated since the 18th century for its medicinal qualities, and now attracts a large number of visitors annually. It lies 9 m. by road N. of Ennistimon. There are chalybeate springs of less note at Kilkishen, Burren, Broadfoot, Lehinch, Kilkee, Kilrush, Killadysart, and near Milltown Malbay. Springs called by the people “holy” or “blessed” wells, generally mineral waters, are common; but the belief in their power of performing cures in inveterate maladies is nearly extinct.
Watering-places.—The Atlantic Ocean and the estuary of the Shannon afford many situations admirably adapted for summer bathing-places. Among the most frequented of these localities are Milltown Malbay; with one of the best beaches on the western coast; and the neighbouring Spanish Point (named from the scene of the wreck of two ships of the Armada); Lehinch, about
