The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 03, July 18, 1840Various
History
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 03, July 18, 1840
Various
Ireland -- Periodicals
Determined, however, as we for own part always are, to acquire a
knowledge of ourselves, we felt no small gratification at the opportunity
which, we presumed, would be amply afforded us by the work of Messrs
Bartlett and Willis, the first an English artist, and the second an
American _litterateur_, who have left their homes, in a most commendable
spirit of philanthropy, to depict our scenery and antiquities, and to
tell us all that it behoves us to know about them and ourselves. We
accordingly lost not a moment in possessing ourselves of the precious
treasure that would, as we hoped, "the giftie gi'e us, to see oursells as
others see us;" and verily we must acknowledge that our wonderment during
its perusal has been excessive, and that it has convinced us that we
never knew ourselves before, or ever saw any thing about us with proper
eyes. Henceforward we shall be cautious how we trust to the evidence of
our senses for any thing we may see, for it is pretty plain that hitherto
they have been of no manner of use to us. They have deceived and
bamboozled us our whole lives long; and from the present moment we will
trust to none save those of Messrs Bartlett and Willis--at least we will
never trust to our own.
The very vignette on the title-page gave us some startling notification
of the fearful discovery that awaited us. We had flattered ourselves that
we were quite familiar with all the remarkable features of Irish scenery,
and should not fail at a glance to identify any delineation of them,
inasmuch as there is not a river or lake in Ireland of any extent that we
have not sailed on, not a mountain that we have not climbed, not a
headland or island on our coast that we have not visited. But here was a
subject of a striking and most remarkable character that appeared quite
new to us, nor should we ever have been able to guess at it, if a friend
to whom we applied for information had not assured us, to our utter
astonishment, that he was informed it was nothing less than our old
acquaintance the Giants' Causeway! The wonder at our blindness, however,
in some degree diminished when we perceived--if we can guess at the only
point from which such a view could be obtained--that the ingenious artist
had represented the sun setting in the north; for as often as we had been
at the Causeway, we never had the observation or good fortune to witness
such a sight. We must confess, moreover, that our feelings of
mortification at our ignorance were partly soothed, when we turned over
to the next vignette, which we at once recognised by its bridge to have
been intended for Poul-a-phuca, or, as Messrs Bartlett and Willis name
it, more correctly we presume, Phoula Phuca! We cannot, however, state
the impression left on our minds by each of the prints in succession; but
we shall take a glance at two or three of them; and when we have pointed
out the particulars that most confounded us in each, we can have little
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account