Beginning at the western end of the lozenge-shaped island, beyond which are the Needles, the entrance to the Solent is found defended by successive batteries on every headland, with Hurst Castle on the Hampshire shore. High Down, with its fine chalk-cliffs, rises six hundred feet above the sea, being haunted by numerous sea-gulls, and under it is Scratchell's Cave, a singular recess in the rock accessible only by boat. Sheltered by the bold headland is Alum Bay, with its tinted sands, gray, buff, and red, and from Headon Hill, its eastern boundary, the coast stretches away to Yarmouth, a little town on the Solent, where are the remains of one of the defensive blockhouses built by Henry VIII. The shores of the strait trend to the north-east, with pleasant views across on the coast of Hampshire, until the northernmost point of the Isle of Wight is reached, where its chief stream, the Medina, flows into the strait through an estuary about five hundred yards wide. Here is Cowes, divided by the river into the West Cow and the East Cow, the plural form of the name being modern. It is a popular bathing-place, but gets the most fame from being the headquarters of the Royal Yacht Club; their house is the old castle at the Medina entrance, built by Henry VIII., it is said, with portions of the masonry of Beaulieu Abbey. The harbor, at the proper season, is usually dotted with yachts. There is steam communication with the mainland, and a railway runs inland to Newport, the chief town of the island. Near East Cowes is Whippingham, which was the birthplace of Dr. Arnold, the famous head-master of Rugby School. Ascending the Medina, the beautiful park and gardens of Osborne House, the marine residence of Queen Victoria, border its eastern margin. This was the ancient manor of Austerbourne, and its owner in the Civil War buried all his money and plate in an adjoining wood, called the Money Copse, so as to preserve it. When peaceful days came back he went to get it, but found he had concealed it so thoroughly that it could not be recovered. The queen bought the estate in 1844, and the plain mansion was extended into an elegant marine villa just back from the sea-coast. It was the queen's childhood attachment to the locality that made her settle here, for when a young princess she had passed many pleasant days in the neighboring Norris Castle.
East of the Medina the coast trends to the south-east, the shores being lined by fine villas surrounded with highly-cultivated grounds; indeed, the coast of the strait seems like an extended park. Here, opposite Portsmouth, is the famous watering-place of Ryde, in a beautiful situation, and with railways running across the island to Sandown and Ventnor. The land steeply rises from the sea, with the town stretching along its slope, a panorama of villas whose trees grow down to the water's edge. It is an ancient town, having existed in the reign of Richard II., when the French burned it, but none of the present buildings are of much antiquity, it having in later years been gradually converted into a fashionable watering-place. The pier is the popular promenade, and the Spithead roadstead in front is closely connected with English naval history. It was here that the "Royal George" went down on a calm day and drowned her admiral and eight hundred men: she was careened over, the better to make some repairs, and, a squall striking her, it is said the heavy guns slid down to the lower side and tipped the vessel over, when she quickly filled and sank. Here also, in 1797, was the great mutiny in Lord Bridport's fleet, the sailors, when the signal to weigh anchor was given, declining to do it until their just demands were granted; the mutiny was suppressed and the leaders severely punished. All the neighboring shores bristle with forts and batteries protecting the entrance to Spithead. Inland are the Binstead quarries, whose stone was in demand in the Middle Ages and built parts of Winchester Cathedral, Beaulieu Abbey, and Christchurch; also, here are the scanty remains of Quarr Abbey. Eastward of Ryde the coast is low and bends more to the southward, reaching the estuary known as Brading Harbor, a broad sheet of water at full tide, but a dismal expanse of mud at low water, through which a small stream meanders. At Brading is the old Norman church which St. Wilfrid founded, of which Rev. Legh Richmond, author of the Annals of the Poor, was the curate. In the churchyard is the grave of his heroine, little Jane, the "Dairyman's Daughter." Extensive remains of a Roman villa have been discovered at Morton, near Brading, and to the eastward of them a hyptocaust. Rounding the Foreland, which is the easternmost point of the island, the chalk-rocks rise again, and Whitecliff Bay nestles under the protection of the lofty Culver Cliff as the coastline bends south-west and then makes a grand semicircular sweep to the southward around Sandown Bay. This wide expanse broadens between the two chalk-ridges that cross the Isle of Wight from its western side. The railway from Ryde runs across the chalk-downs to the growing watering place of Sandown, standing on the lowest part of the shores of the bay. Here the coast is guarded by a grim fort, and here in the last century came the noted John Wilkes to recuperate after his contests with the House of Commons, which vainly tried to keep him out of his seat.
SHANKLIN CHINE.
THE UNDERCLIFF.
The chalk-ranges to the southward provide magnificent scenery, and two miles from Sandown, but on higher ground, is Shanklin, from which its celebrated chine descends to the sea. This little ravine is about four hundred and fifty yards long and at its mouth about two hundred feet deep. It has been gradually worn in the brown sandstone rock by the action of a diminutive brook that bubbles over a little cascade at the upper end. The rich colors of the crags, the luxuriant foliage of the slopes, and the rhapsodies of guide books combine to give the Shanklin Chine a world-wide fame. It was here that a party of French under the Chevalier d'Eulx landed in 1545 to get some fresh water. The process was tedious, the stream being so small, and the chevalier and some of his party, wandering inland, were caught in an ambuscade. He and most of the others were killed, though they defended themselves bravely. South of Shanklin the chalk-cliffs are bold and lofty, and off these pretty shores the "Eurydice" was lost in a squall, March 24, 1878, when returning from her training-cruise in the West Indies. It was at four o'clock on Sunday afternoon, and her ports being open when the squall struck her, she capsized and almost immediately foundered, only two survivors remaining out of the three hundred persons on board. Climbing the cliffs south of Shanklin and crossing the summit, we reach Bonchurch on the southern coast, described by Dr. Arnold as the most beautiful thing on the sea-coast north of Genoa. Here villas are dotted and the villages are spreading into towns, for the coast of the Undercliff is becoming one of the most fashionable resorts the English have. Already complaints are made that a too general extension of settlements is interfering with the picturesque wildness of scenery and luxuriant vegetation that are the great charm of this delightful region. The Undercliff stretches along the southern coast for several miles to the westward of Bonchurch—an irregular terrace formed by the sliding forward of the chalk-downs, which dip gently towards the sea. This makes a lofty natural terrace, backed by cliffs to the northward and open to the full influence of the southern sun. It has the climate of Madeira, and is fanned by the sea-breezes that invigorate but do not chill. The mildness of the winter makes it a popular resort for invalids, and many greenhouse plants live outdoors throughout the year, the almost perpendicular rocks of the Undercliff absorbing during the day the heat that they radiate throughout the night. Yet at Bonchurch many who had sought health in this beautiful region ultimately found a grave, and of its churchyard it has been written, "It might make one in love with death to think one would be buried in so sweet a place." The ancient little Norman church of St. Boniface is still here, but a new and larger church was built not long ago. Here lies Rev. W. Adams, who wrote the allegory Under the Shadow of the Cross, and it is strictly true, for the cross raised as his monument casts its shadow on the slab over his grave. Admiral Hobson was born at Bonchurch, and ran away from the tailor's shop in which he was apprenticed to come back knighted for his victory over the Spaniards at Vigo Bay. Ventnor, known as the "metropolis of the Undercliff," is beyond Bonchurch, and is also a thriving wateringplace, above which rises the attractive spire of Holy Trinity Church, built by the munificence of three sisters.
From Ventnor the most beautiful part of the island coast stretches westward to Niton. The bold chalk-downs rise from their craggy bases, the guardians of the broken terrace intervening between them and the sea. Foliage and ivy cling to them; flowers cluster on the turf and banks and gleam in the crevices; and little streams come down the ravines. Here was the smallest church of England—St. Lawrence—twenty feet long, twelve wide, and six feet high to the eaves. A chancel has lately been added, while below are the ivy-clad ruins of the ancient Woolverton Chapel. Near Niton, at Puckaster Cove, Charles II. landed after a terrific storm; and beyond is Roche End, the southern point of the island. The coast, a dangerous one, then trends to the north-west, and wrecks there are frequent, while inland St. Catharine's Down rises steeply, there being a magnificent view of the island from its summit, elevated seven hundred and fifty feet. Here in the fourteenth century was founded, on the highest part of the Isle of Wight, a chantry chapel where a priest prayed for the mariner and at night kept a beacon burning to warn him off the reefs. An octagonal tower of the chapel remains, but a lighthouse supersedes the pious labors of the priest; a column near by commemorates a visit of the Russian Czar to the summit of the hill in 1814. The wild scenery of this region is varied by the great landslip which in 1799 carried about one hundred acres down towards the sea, the marks of its progress being still shown in the rended rocks and wave-like undulations of the earth. About a mile to the westward is the most noted and wildest of the ravines of the island, the Blackgang Chine, now filled with paths and summer-houses, for the thrifty hotel-keepers could not help domesticating such a prize. It is a more open ravine than that at Shanklin, and like it cut out by a tiny stream, while far away through the entrance is a distant view westward to Portland Isle and St. Aldhelm's Head. The rocks are dark green, streaked with gray and brown sandstone, looking like uncouth courses of masonry. The adjoining coast is guarded by grim crags on which many ships have been shattered. There are other chines to the westward—all of great attractions, though of less size and celebrity. The coast is not of so much interest beyond, but the cliffs, which are the outposts of the chalk-measures, become more lofty at Freshwater Gate, and our survey of the island shores terminates at the Main Bench, whose prolonged point goes out to the Needles.