Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/413

Rh R E N R E N 395 January 1409. Although his father was crowned king of Naples at Avignon by Pope Clement VII. in 1384, he was unable to make good his claims. After his death Louis III., the elder son, assumed the title, and in 1423 was adopted by Johanna II. of Naples, and obtained possession of the throne. Dying 15th November 1434, he left his claims to his brother Rene", who was also appointed heir by Johanna II. at her death in the following year. Meantime Rene" had been imprisoned by the count of Vaudemont for contesting his claims to the dukedom of Lorraine, and therefore appointed his wife Isabella regent in his stead. In 1437 he procured his freedom and the acknowledgment of his right to Lorraine for 400,000 florins, and in the following year landed at Naples and rejoined Isabella. Finding, however, that the task of conquering the kingdom from Alphonso of Aragon was beyond his power, he returned in 1442 to Lorraine, which he afterwards gave over to his son John, titular duke of Calabria. In 1444 he took part at Tours in the peace negotiations between England and France ; and, to cement the alliance, Henry VI. espoused his daughter Margaret of Anjou. Subsequently he ceased to concern himself with politics, and devoted his chief attention to literature. He also took a special interest in painting and sculpture, although there appears to have been no foundation for the statement that he practised either of these arts. His closing years were spent in the company of his daughter the exiled queen. He died 10th July 1480. His (Euvrcs Completes, with a biography and notes by the count of Quatrebarbes, were published at Paris, 4 vols., 1844-46. See also De Villeneuve-Bargemont, Histoire de Rent d' Anjou, 3 vols., Paris, 1825 ; Renouvier, Lcs pdntrcs et Ics cnlumineurs du roi Rent, 1851; and Lecoy de la Marche, Lc roi Rene, 2 vols., Paris, 1875. RENFREW, a county of Scotland, skirting the Firth of Clyde, lies between 55 40' 34" and 55 57' 45" N. lat., and between 4 13' and 4 54' W. long., and is bounded N. by the Clyde, N.E. by Dumbarton and by Lanark, E. by Lanark, S. by Ayr, and V. by the Firth of Clyde. Its greatest length from west-north-west to east-south-east is 30J miles, and its greatest breadth at right angles to this 13J miles. The area is 253-793 square miles or 162,427-958 acres, of which 2021-179 acres are foreshore and 3621-342 are water. Except a small portion opposite the burgh of Renfrew, the whole county lies to the south of the Clyde. Twenty-seventh among the Scottish counties as regards extent, it is fifth in point of population, and Midlothian alone is as densely populated, the number of inhabitants to the square mile in 1881 having been 1075 in both. For local purposes the county is divided into an upper and a lower ward, the former embracing the two-thirds lying to the east, and having its district centre at Paisley, Avhile the latter contains the parishes of Innerkip, Greenock, Port Glasgow, and Kilmalcolm, and has its dis- trict centre at Greenock. The southern border and western part of the county are hilly, but none of the heights rise very much above sea-level, the highest points being Misty Law (1663), East Girt Hill (1673), Hill of Stake (1711), and Burnt Hill (1572), all along the border of Ayrshire. The central part is undulating and, as much of the higher portion of it is well wooded, the scenery is in some places picturesque. Along the greater part of the northern border is a flat tract of clayey carse-land known locally as the "laich lands," and very fertile in favourable seasons. The principal river is the Clyde, which forms a considerable portion of the northern boundary ; and the other chief streams are the White Cart, Black Cart, and Gryfe. The first has its chief sources in the extreme south-east of the county, and flows north- wardforming for most of the way the boundary with Lanarkshire to Cathcart, south of Glasgow, whence it has a westerly course to Paisley, and then again a northerly course till it joins the Clyde a mile north-west of the burgh of Renfrew. The Black Cart issues from Castle Semple Loch near the centre of the southern border of the county, and follows a general north-easterly course to its junc- tion with the "White Cart at Inchinnan church a mile west of the burgh of Renfrew. Its most important headwater is the river Calder, which, with smaller streams flowing to it, drains a con- siderable portion of the southern border and flows into Castle Semple Loch at Lochwinnoch. The Gryfe, which, with a large number of streams flowing to it, drains nearly all the western half of the county, rises at Gryfe Reservoir, 2 miles south of Greenock, and has a winding easterly course to its junction with the Black Cart at Walkinshaw, 2 miles north-west of Paisley. A number of smaller streams flow direct to the Clyde, the most important being the Kip and the Kelly Burn in the west of the county. The principal lochs are Loch Thorn and Gryfe Reservoir, 2 miles south of Greenock ; Castle Semple Loch, near the centre of the southern border ; Long Loch and Loch Coin, farther east near the same border; and Balgray and Glen Reservoirs, connected with the Glasgow water supply near the centre of the eastern part of the county. The Glasgow, Paisley, and Johnstone Canal, which for- merly united these three towns, has since 1882 been laid dry along the greater part of its course and the bed converted into a railway line. The rocks throughout the county are Carboniferous, and almost the whole of the Lower Carboniferous or Calciferous Sandstone series is here represented by a thick set of volcanic deposits. The oldest beds are the red sandstones, cornstones, and conglomerates which occupy the extreme west corner between Jnnerkip and Loch Thorn. Overlying these is the upper portion of the Lower Car- boniferous the cement-stone group which runs from the hills behind Greenock on the west, south-eastward by the high ground south of Paisley, and so on to the south-east corner of the county and thence into Lanarkshire. The cement-stones form the under- lying deposits over nearly two-thirds of the county to the south, west and west ; but, though the base of this subdivision here con- sists of the usual white sandstones and cement-stones, yet the great mass of the rocks are contemporaneous lava-flowsbasalts, mela- phyres, and porphyrites with interbedded tuffs and volcamc agglomerates which have all issued from a line of vents the posi- tions of which may still be traced by the volcanic necks which remain at several points. In the south-east there are intercalated beds of sandstone, shale, and impure limestone. In some places this series of beds passes conformably up into the overlying Car- boniferous Limestone series, which occupies a basin covering nearly one-third of the county to the north-east ; but the two subdivisions are oftener brought into contact by faults, a double line of which along the valley of the Black Cart brings a narrow tract of the limestones right across the volcanic beds just described. The base of the Carboniferous Limestone subdivision consists of limestones, the middle portion of a series of valuable seams of coal and iron- stone, which are extensively worked, and the upper part of lime- stones. Masses of intrusive volcanic rocks occur to the south of Johnstoiie and the north-east of Paisley, and to the north of John- stone and north- west of Paisley are oil-producing shales, which are worked at Clippens and Walkinshaw. Near Pollokshields, at Thornliebank, and to the east of Barrhead there are small outliers of millstone grit consisting of yellow sandstones ; and along the extreme north-east corner of the county to the south of Glasgow the true Coal Measures of the great Lanarkshire arid Stirlingshire basin are brought in by a fault which throws them down against the Carboniferous Limestone series. Volcanic dykes of Tertiary age run across the older rocks at various points, some very well marked examples occurring near the centre of the southern border. The Glacial deposits are well marked and interesting, the clays at Jordanhill to the north of the Clyde and near Paisley having yielded numerous species of Foraminifcra and arctic shells. The beds of economic value are all extensively worked. In 1882 the eighteen collieries within the county produced 114,324 tons of coal out of a total of 20,515,134 tons for all Scotland, 164,523 tons of ironstone out of a total of 2,404,177 tons, 90,804 tons of oil-shale out of a total of 994,487 tons, and 22,554 tons of fireclay out of a total of 435,457 tons. Limestones are also quarried in large quantities for smelting purposes and for the manufacture of lime, one thin but valuable bed at Orchard, 4 miles south of Glasgow, producing a cement that ' ' sets " under water. Copperas is obtained from the iron pyrites got in the shale, and at one time alum-shale was worked at Hurlet in the north-east and copper in the volcanic rocks about Lochwinnoch. Farming operations do not differ in detail from those earned on in the adjoining middle and lower wards of Lanarkshire. The climate is very variable ; and, as the prevailing west and south-west winds come in from the Atlantic warm and full of moisture, con- tact with the colder land causes very heavy, rains, and the western part of Renfrewshire is one of the wettest districts in Scotland, the mean annual rainfall amounting to over 60 inches. The mean annual temperature is about 48. The hilly district has a good deal of moss and moorland, but the soil, which is a light earth, is also over considerable areas deep enough to produce good pasture. In the undulating middle district the soil is generally deeper and