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                        THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.

      NUMBER 7.        SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1840.         VOLUME I.

[Illustration: REMAINS AT MONASTERBOICE. COUNTY LOUTH.]

To the observing and imaginative traveller, our island must present a
great number of peculiarities of aspect which will not fail to excite his
notice, and impress themselves indelibly upon his mind. The scantiness of
wood--for its natural timber has nearly all disappeared--and the abundance
of water, are two of the characteristics that will most strike him; and,
next to these, the great extent of prospect usually afforded to the eye in
consequence of the undulating character of its surface. Sparkling streams
are visible everywhere, and shining lakes and noble rivers come into view
in rapid succession; while ranges of blue mountains are rarely wanting to
bound the distant horizon. The colours with which Nature has painted the
surface of our island are equally peculiar. There is no variety of green,
whether of depth or vivid brightness, which is not to be found covering
it; they are hues which can be seen nowhere else in equal force; and even
our bogs, which are so numerous, with all their mutations of colour, now
purple, and anon red, or brown, or black, by their vigorous contrasts give
additional beauty and life to the landscape, and assist in imparting to it
a sort of national individuality. Our very clouds have to a great degree a
distinctive character--the result of the humidity of our climate; they
have a grandeur of form and size, and a force of light and shadow, that
are but rarely seen in other countries; they are _Irish clouds_--at one
moment bright and sunny, and in the