CARISBROOKE CASTLE.
LOOKING FROM CARISBROOKE CASTLE.
Following up the Medina River a few miles, almost to the centre of the island, it leads to the metropolis, the little town of Newport, and here, upon an outer precipice of the chalk-downs overlooking the river-valley and the town, and elevated two hundred feet above the sea, is Carisbrooke Castle. The oldest part of the present remains come down from Fitzosborne, but additions were afterwards made, and Queen Elizabeth, in anticipation of the descent of the Armada, had an outer line of defence constructed, pentagonal in shape and enclosing considerable space. The loyalty of the people in that time of trial was shown by their subscribing money and laboring without pay on these works. The ruins are not striking, but are finely situated on the elevated ridge. They are much decayed, but the entrance-gateway is well preserved, with its flanking round towers, portcullis, and ancient doors. Here lived Charles I. and two of his children. A small stone building within the enclosure covers the famous well of Carisbrooke, sunk in Stephen's days, two hundred and forty feet deep, of which ninety feet are filled with water. A solemn donkey in a big wooden wheel works the treadmill that winds the bucket up. Formerly, every visitor dropped a pebble into the well to hear the queer sounds it made in falling—"His head as he fell went knicketty-knock, like a pebble in Carisbrooke Well," used to be a proverb—but as this amusement threatened to fill up the well, it has been prohibited. The keep is at the north-eastern angle of the castle, polygonal in plan and of Norman architecture. Carisbrooke was held for the empress Maud against Stephen, but the failure of the old well in the keep, now filled up, caused its surrender. The new one, which has never been known to give out, was then bored. In the reign of Charles I. the castle was invested by militia on behalf of the Parliament, and was surrendered to them by the wife of the governor, the Countess of Portland. She obtained specially advantageous conditions from the besiegers by appearing on the walls with a lighted match and threatening to fire the first cannon unless the conditions were granted. King Charles I. took refuge here in November, 1647, but soon found he was practically a prisoner. He remained ten months, twice attempting to escape. On the first occasion he tried to squeeze himself between the bars of his window, but stuck fast; on the second his plan was divulged, and on looking out the window he found a guard ready to entrap him below. He was taken to Newport and surrendered himself to the Parliamentary commissioners, but was ultimately returned to Carisbrooke. Then some army officers removed him suddenly to Hurst Castle on the mainland, and thence he was taken to Windsor and London for the trial that ended on the block at Whitehall. Two of his children were imprisoned in Carisbrooke with him—the young Duke of Gloucester, afterwards sent to the Continent, and the princess Elizabeth, who died here in childhood from a fever. She was found dead with her hands clasped in the attitude of prayer and her face resting on an open Bible, her father's last gift. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Newport Church, but the coffin was discovered in 1793, and when the church was rebuilt in 1856 Queen Victoria erected a handsome monument over the little princess, the sculptor representing her lying on a mattrass with her cheek resting on the open Bible, the attitude in which she had been found. Newport has some ten thousand population.
TENNYSON'S HOME.
Tennyson's pretty home is at Farringford, near Freshwater, on the western slope of the Isle of Wight, just where it begins to contract into the long point of the chalk-cliffs that terminate with the Needles. At Brixton, on the south-western coast, is Bishop Ken's parsonage, where William Wilberforce spent the closing years of his life. The little rectory here is honorably distinguished as having given to the Church of England three of its famous prelates: Bishop Ken, one of the martyrs whom James II. imprisoned in the Tower, and whose favorite walk is still pointed out in the pretty garden; Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of Winchester, whose unfortunate death occurred not long ago at Evershed Rough; and the present Bishop Moberly of Salisbury. The western extremity of the Isle of Wight is a peninsula, almost cut off from the main island by the little river Yar, which flows into the Solent at Yarmouth. This is known as the Freshwater Peninsula, and presents almost unrivalled attractions for the tourist and the geologist. The coast-walk around the peninsula from Freshwater Gate to Alum Bay extends about twelve miles. The bold and picturesque chalk-cliffs tower far above the sea, their dazzling whiteness relieved by the rich green foliage. Some of these hills rise four hundred feet, forming the chalk-downs that are the backbone of this most attractive island. Among these hills are bewitching little vales and glens, and almost every favored spot is availed of as a villa site. No part of England is more sought as a place of rural residence than this richly-gifted isle, thus set as a gem upon the southern shore of the kingdom.
FARRINGFORD, TENNYSON'S RESIDENCE.