The distance from Ventnor to Godshill is four miles:—and thence to Newport, six: the country is well-cultivated, but presents no object to call for particular notice: we pass the hamlet of Rookley: and the villas of Pidford and Standen.
WHITWELL is a very retired village, winding between Godshill and Niton: and having a church of some antiquity.
Returned to the Undercliff, the next place in our route which boasts of superior scenic beauty is ...
STEEPHILL,
STEEPHILL, UNDERCLIFF, ISLE OF WIGHT.
Where a splendid CASTLE was erected in the year 1833, by J. Hambrough, esq. (thence often called after his name), on a broad terrace of rock that rises almost perpendicularly from the present road: and here it may not be quite uninteresting to state—at least to some of our friends who used to visit the island years ago, that the castle occupies the very site of the once-noted Cottage of the late Earl Dysart, and which was for many years that nobleman's favorite retreat. Steephill was then a most charming rural hamlet; but the cottages are removed (much to the advantage of the tenants), to afford a scope in the grounds corresponding with the dignity of the new mansion. Rustic simplicity and the wilder graces have given way to elegance and polished decoration: but whether the alteration
"Adds beauties to what Nature plann'd before,"
Is merely a question of taste, on which we shall not presume to decide: various are the opinions,