During the period between the revolution and the legislative union, the city increased in an unprecedented manner in extent, wealth, and splendour. The effects are attributable partly to the long period of peace from the former of these eras to the commencement of the American war, but more so to the parliamentary grants which were expended on objects of utility. Afterwards, the regulation which made the lord-lieutenant a fixed resident in Dublin, instead of being a periodical visiter for a few months every second year, when he came over from England to hold a parliament ; the shortening of the duration of these assemblies, the removal of the restrictions by which the national industry and the spirit of commercial speculation had been shackled, combined with the general extension of literature and science throughout the western kingdoms of Europe, tended to promote this effect.
In 1798, the Leinster provisional committee of the United Irishmen were seized, with all their papers, and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the chief leader of the insurgents, was arrested, after a desperate conflict with his captors, and lodged in prison, where he shortly after died of his wounds. The following statement will show the increase of population from about the middle of the 17th century till the legislative union : in 1682 the number of inhabitants was 64,483 ; in 1728, 146,075 ; in 1753, 128,570 ; in 1777, 138,208 ; and in 1798, 182,370.
