Lakes of Killarney. 417 



Dark, deep, and broadly-expanded shades, 

 assuming the sable guise of night, now chilled 

 that surface which instantly before had blazed 

 with golden streams of warmth. The dazzled 

 eye, contracted by the luminous effect of the 

 sun, was, on its disappearance, though dilated, 

 dimmed the darkened tints which were thrown 

 upon the lake operated an instantaneous tran- 

 sition of feeling the sublimity of the scene 

 had reached an acme of gratification, in which 

 we could no longer indulge the excess of 

 delight became a source of melancholy and 

 while a tributary tear involuntarily moistened 

 the eye, as a grateful acknowledgment for the 

 feast in which it had luxuriated, the relief of 

 intellectual obligations could only be expressed 

 by an effusion of deep-drawn sighs ; and me- 

 mory will cease to exercise her functions, ere 

 the impression is forgotten or recalled, without 

 a repetition of the even painful exuberance of 

 pleasure that vision had occasioned. 

 



When the strong excitement created by this 

 enchanting scene had so far subsided as to 

 permit the consideration of minor objects, I 

 discovered a few insulated habitations, the mo- 

 dest simplicity of which seemed to indicate the 

 desire of eluding observation, while the cha- 

 racter they assumed, by an easy transition., 



VOL. i. 2 E 



