Death of John O'Neil "the Proud"




HISTORY OF IRELAND


BOOK I.


CHAPTER I.

THE FIRST INHABITANTS.

Ireland is situated in the North Atlantic, between the
degrees fifty-one and a half and fifty-five and a half
North, and five and a quarter and ten and a third West
longitude from Greenwich. It is the last land usually
seen by ships leaving the Old World, and the first by
those who arrive there from the Northern ports of America.
In size it is less than half as large as Britain, and in
shape it may be compared to one of those shields which
we see in coats-of-arms, the four Provinces--Ulster,
Connaught, Leinster, and Munster--representing the four
quarters of the shield.

Around the borders of the country, generally near the
coast, several ranges of hills and mountains rear their
crests, every Province having one or more such groups.