Leinster, south-eastern province of Ireland; bounded N. by Ulster, E. by the Irish Sea, SE. and S. by St George's Channel, and W. by Munster and Connaught; greatest length, N. and S., 140 m.; greatest breadth, E. and W., 80 m.; area, 4,876,918 ac., or 23.4 per cent, of the total area of Ireland; pop. 1,278,989 (or 4.5 per cent, less than in 1871), of whom 85.6 per cent, are Roman Catholics, 12.3 Episcopalians, 0.9 Presbyterians, and 0.6 Methodists. (For agricultural statistics, see Appendix.) The province comprises 12 counties - Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, King's co., Longford, Louth, Meath, Queen's co., Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow. Leinster was anciently a kingdom, and was brought within the English pale on the conquest of Ireland in the reign of Henry II. It gives the title of Duke to the family of Fitzgerald.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))