ISLES OF THE BLEST

isles of the blest, or fortunate islands (gr. [greek: ai ton makaron nesoi]: lat., fortunatae insulae), in greek mythology a group of islands near the edge of the western ocean, peopled not by the dead, but by mortals upon whom the gods had conferred immortality. like the islands of the phaeacians in homer (_od._ viii.) or the celtic avalon and st brendan's island, the isles of the blest are represented as a land of perpetual summer and abundance of all good things. no reference is made to them by homer, who speaks instead of the elysian plain (_od._ iv. and ix.), but they are mentioned by hesiod (_works and days_, 168) and pindar (_ol._ ii.). a very old tradition suggests that the idea of such an earthly paradise was a reminiscence of some unrecorded voyage to madeira and the canaries, which are sometimes named fortunatae insulae by medieval map-makers. (see atlantis.) islington (in domesday and later documents _iseldon_, _isendon_ and in the 16th century _hisselton_), a northern metropolitan borough of london, england, bounded e. by stoke newington and hackney, s. by shoreditch and finsbury, and w. by st pancras, and extending n. to the boundary of the county of london. pop. (1901) 334,991. the name is commonly applied to the southern part of the borough, which, however, includes the districts of holloway in the north, highbury in the east, part of kingsland in the south-east, and barnsbury and canonbury in the south-central portion. the districts included preserve the names of ancient manors, and in canonbury, which belonged as early as the 13th century to the priory of st bartholomew, smithfield, traces of the old manor house remain. the fields and places of entertainment in islington were favourite places of resort for the citizens of london in the 17th century and later; the modern ball's pond road recalls the sport of duck-hunting practised here and on other ponds in the parish, and the popularity of the place was increased by the discovery of chalybeate wells. at copenhagen fields, now covered by the great cattle market (1855) adjoining caledonian road, a great meeting of labourers was held in 1834. they were suspected of intending to impose their views on parliament by violence, but a display of military force held them in check. the most noteworthy modern institutions in islington are the agricultural hall, liverpool road, erected in 1862, and used for cattle and horse shows and other exhibitions; pentonville prison, caledonian road (1842), a vast pile of buildings radiating from a centre, and holloway prison. the borough has only some 40 acres of public grounds, the principal of which is highbury fields. among its institutions are the great northern central hospital, holloway, the london fever hospital, the northern polytechnic, and the london school of divinity, st john's hall highbury. islington is a suffragan bishopric in the diocese of london. the parliamentary borough of islington has north, south, east and west divisions, each returning one member. the borough council consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 60 councillors. area, 3091.5 acres.