The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 5, January, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 5, January, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
the trees that descended from our feet to the river,--were finely
contrasted with the heavier and more monotonous mass that met it in the
bottom, down the other side.
In stepping back a few paces, we just descried, over the opposite
boundary, the top of Sugar-loaf, in dim and distant perspective. The
sensations of a mariner, when, after a long voyage without sight of
shore, he suddenly perceives symptoms of land where land was not
expected, could not be more novel and curious, than those excited in us
by this little silent notice of regions which we had literally
forgotten,--so totally were we engrossed in our present enchantment,
and so much were our minds, like our view, bounded by the sides of the
glen. This single object let in a whole train of recollections and
associations: but the charm could not be more gradually and more
pleasingly broken. The glen, still retaining all its characteristic
luxuriance, began gracefully to widen,--the country to open upon us,
and the mountains to rise; and at length, after a gentle descent, we
passed the Dargle-gate, and found ourselves standing over the
delightful valley of Powerscourt. It was like the transition from the
enjoyments of an Ariel to those of human nature,--from the blissful
abode of some sylphic genius, to the happiest habitations of mortal
men,--from all the restless and visionary delights of fancy, to the
calm glow of real and romantic happiness. Our minds that were before
confused by the throng of beauties that enclosed and solicited them on
every side, now expanded and reposed upon the scene before us. The sun
himself seemed liberated, and rejoicing in his emancipation. The valley
indeed "lay smiling before us;" the river, no longer dashing over rock
and struggling with impediments, was flowing brightly and cheerfully
along in the sun, bordered by meadows of the liveliest green, and now
and then embowered in a cluster of trees. One little field of the
freshest verdure swelled forward beyond the rest, round which the river
wound, so as to give it the appearance of an island. In this we
observed a mower whetting his sithe, and the sound was just sufficient
to reach us faintly and at intervals. To the left was the Dargle, where
all the beauties that had so much enchanted us were now one
undistinguishable mass of leaves. Confronting us, stood Sugar-loaf,
with his train of rough and abrupt mountains, remaining dark in the
midst of sunshine, like the frowning guardians of the valley. These
were contrasted with the grand flowing outline of the mountains to our
right, and the exquisite refinement and variety of the light that
spread itself over their gigantic sides. Far to the left, the sea was
again disclosed to our view, and behind us was the Scalp, like the
outlet from Paradise into the wide world of thorns and briers.
From the Cincinnati Mirror.
PHRENOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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