In 1571 the castle, with a large portion of territory adjoining it, was bestowed upon Sir Thomas Smith and his son.  The latter was assassinated by the ’wicked, barbarous, and uncivil people;’ and the former, not being able to fulfil the conditions of his tenure, the district reverted with the whole earldom of Ulster to the crown in the reign of James I. Belfast was then surrounded by extensive forests, abounding in fine timber for building.  The best specimen—­perhaps the only one in the kingdom—­of a forest like what covered the country at that time, still exists at Shane’s Castle, the magnificent demesne of Lord O’Neill, where may be seen enormous oaks decaying with age, under whose shade probably the famous Shane marshalled his galloglasse.

In 1613 the castle and manor of Belfast were granted to Sir Arthur Chichester, lord-deputy, ancestor of the Marquis of Donegal, who did so much to effect the final conquest of Ulster.  He may be said to be the founder of the town.  From the estates of his family, in Devonshire, and from Scotland, many families came over and made a strong settlement here.  Ultimately it became a corporation sending two members to the Irish Parliament.  The chief magistrate was called ’the sovereign;’ and the first who held the office was Thomas Pottinger, ancestor of the celebrated Sir Henry Pottinger.  In 1758 the population was 8,549; in 1821, it was 37,000; in 1831, it was 53,000; in 1841, it had increased to 75,000; in 1851, it amounted to 103,000; and the last census shows it to be 121,602.  About 1,500 houses are built annually in the borough, and the present population is estimated at 150,000.  The rateable property is more than 394,000 l.  The sum of 560,000 l. has been spent on the harbour improvements, to which is to be added 250,000 l. for building new docks.  I remember the quays when they were small, irregular, inconvenient, dirty, and when the channel worked its doubtful course through shifting masses of liquid mud, at low water.  Now there are quays which extend in a line about a mile, covered with spacious sheds for the protection of the goods being shipped and unshipped.  There are docks of all sorts, and great shipbuilding establishments standing on ground created out of the floating chaos of mud.  ‘Year by year,’ as one of its poets has said, ’Belfast is changing its aspect and overstepping its former boundaries, climbing the hill-side, skirting the river margin, and even invading the sea’s ancient domain.

  ’Ambition’s mistress of the fertile land,
  Shuts out the ocean and usurps the strand.’

Among the ‘usurpations’ is Queen’s Island, a beautiful people’s park, standing in the midst of the Lough.  The people of Belfast have effected all these vast improvements from their own resources, without a shilling from the lord of the soil, without any help from Government, except a loan of 100,000 l. from the Board of Works.  Belfast is the ‘linen capital’ of the empire, as Manchester is the ‘cotton capital.’