and other curiosities of
Rock-scenery, can be viewed only by water, which is extremely desirable
in calm weather._

* * * * *

THE WHITE CLIFFS OF ALBION is so favorite a poetical designation of the
English coast, that it is with some degree of pride we hail our
"sea-girt isle" as surpassing in the magnificence and splendor of this
characteristic, every other part of the kingdom; for even Shakspeare's
cliff at Dover, immortalized as it is by the pen of the bard himself, is
little more than half the elevation of some of the chalk precipices of
the Isle of Wight,--which, at Freshwater, rise from the bosom of the
blue ocean with a perpendicular face of the most dazzling whiteness, the
sublime altitude of more than 600 feet!--being nearly one-half higher
than the pinnacles either of St. Paul's or Salisbury Cathedrals.

A stranger from the inland districts, who may never have seen a
precipice upon a grander scale than is presented by the sides of some
deep chalk-pit, would be at a loss to imagine wherein consisted the
BEAUTY and the INTEREST of such seemingly monotonous scenes; especially
when informed that they are indebted to no borrowed ornament from either
tree or shrub: and indeed it would prove equally difficult on our part
to furnish a comprehensive definition. One eminent writer
enthusiastically eulogises their appearance as "_singularly elegant_
when viewed at a proper distance; and with the Needle Rocks,
constituting a whole that is scarcely to be equalled:"--another declares
that "the most lofty and magnificent fabrics of Art, compared with
these stupendous works of Nature, sink in idea to Lilliputian
size:"--and a third, that "the towering precipices of Scratchell's Bay
are of the most elegant forms;" and "the pearly hue of the chalk is
beyond description by words, probably out of the power even of the
pencil."

* * * * *

As almost every visitor has a card of _all the local curiosities_
presented to him by some of the boatmen of the place, it would be
useless here to describe individually the several objects deserving
personal observation: we shall therefore confine our notice to a few of
the most prominent,--commencing at ...

FRESHWATER-GATE,

Remarkable for the brilliancy as well as beauty of the surrounding
promontories, of which an enchanting view is presented as we descend
from the downs. The outline of the precipices is here extremely