as the price of their enjoyment, and which _we_ call the most
beautiful in the island.

But as artists are often enraptured with passages of scenery that
to others prove comparatively uninteresting, we subjoin a sketch by
Sir H. ENGLEFIELD, showing the deep interest and pleasure the
surrounding landscapes are capable of affording:--

"To enjoy in all its glory, the complete view of the northern
tract, which in detail presents so many separate beauties, we must
ascend the chalk range that rises immediately from the woods of
Nunwell. When the weather is clear, it is impossible to describe
the magnificent scene which these hills command, from Brading
Downs, by Ashey Sea-mark, and soon quite to Arreton chalk-pit.

"To the _north_, the woodlands form an almost continued velvet
carpet of near 10,000 acres, broken only by small farms, whose
thatched buildings relieve the deep tints of the forests. The
Wootton River winds beautifully among them, and beyond the whole
the Solent Sea spreads its waters, which in clear weather is tinged
with an azure more deep and beautiful than any I ever saw. The
Hampshire land rises in a succession of hills quite lost at length
in blue vapour. The inland view to the _south_ is far from
destitute of beauty, though less striking than the northern scene.
The vale between the chalk range and the southern hills is seen in
its full extent: and the southern hills themselves rise to a
majestic height. To the _eastward_ the sea is again visible over
the low lands of Sandown, and by its open expanse affords a fine
contrast to the Solent Channel.

"The nearer objects on the southern slope are also very
interesting: Knighton House, with its venerable grey fronts mantled
with luxuriant ivy, and bosomed in the richest groves, is as
beautiful at a distance, as it is interesting on a nearer approach.
Arreton is also surrounded with trees, which group happily with the
pretty church and an old mansion now converted into a farm: and
from the western end of the downs, the country about Newport and
Carisbrooke is seen to great advantage. _Such is the faint outline
of a scene, which, in richness of tints, and variety of objects,
surpasses anything I ever saw._"

_Note._--Since this was written, Knighton House has been pulled
down.