VIII. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 113 IX. RELIGION 176 X. THE REBELLIONS 241 XI. PROGRESS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 253 XII. THE DAWN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 278 XIII. MISCELLANY 285 INDEX 293 [Illustration] [Illustration] HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Lancashire, on its south and south-east, is bounded by the county of Chester, the division for about 50 miles, _i.e._, from Stockport to Liverpool, being the river Mersey; on the west is the Irish Sea; on the east, up to Graygarth Fell, in the parish of Tunstall, lies Yorkshire; from thence to the waters of Morecambe Bay the boundary is formed by Yorkshire and Westmorland; across the bay is a portion of Lonsdale hundred (north of the Sands), which is almost surrounded by the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, the extreme eastern boundary being formed by a portion of Windermere Lake. Lancashire from north-west to south-east measures 86 miles, and it is 45 miles across at its widest part; it contains 1,219,221 acres. It has within it 69 parishes (exclusive of 9 extra-parochial districts), 446 townships, and 16 Parliamentary cities and boroughs, which return 35 members, the county divisions adding 23 to this number. The great divisions of the county are the six hundreds of Lonsdale (north and south of the Sands), Amounderness, Leyland, Blackburn, Salford, and West Derby. Lonsdale north of the Sands is situate in the extreme north of Lancashire, and is the most picturesque portion of the county, as it embraces a portion of the well-known Lake District; its highest mountain is the Old Man, near Coniston Water, which is 2,577 feet above the sea-level. The two subdivisions of Lonsdale north of the Sands are Furness and Cartmel. The former is the larger district: its chief towns are Barrow, Ulverston, and Dalton; in the latter there is not a single town of any considerable size or importance. Barrow-in-Furness is one of those towns which the enterprise of the latter half of the present century has suddenly created. A few years ago it was scarcely a village; it is now an incorporated borough, and not only does a large business in iron, but is a port of some importance. With this exception, and a few iron mines, almost the whole district is agricultural in its character. Furness Abbey, Coniston Priory, and Cartmel Priory were all located in the southern end of this part of the county. Lonsdale south of the Sands is also chiefly an agricultural district, and is, compared with some other parts of the county, but thinly populated; here and there tall factory chimneys may be seen, but, except in the neighbourhood of Lancaster, they are few and far between.