Brannons Picture of The Isle of Wight | Page 4

of the ocean, presents a very different aspect, showing the resistless progress of the waves:--and hence perpendicular cliffs of great altitude, precipitous slopes constantly detaching large masses of earth and rocks, and all the picturesque confusion produced by successive landslips: here therefore the scenery is variously characterized by dreary devastation, romantic beauty, or sublime splendor of effect. But not so of the Interior of the island, which presents the softer pictures of pastoral and rural life: for ...
"Creation's mildest charms are here combined,"
enlivened by several splendid mansions, with their parks and groves. The churches are numerous: some "embosomed soft in trees," and others picturesquely seated on commanding knolls: and many of the highest hills are adorned by a light-house or signal-station--some lofty obelisk, tower, or mill; so that in every direction a conspicuous object gives an interest and discriminative identity to those broad features of scenery, which would otherwise be perfectly tame and monotonous.
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_Situation, Extent, Climate, &c._
The Isle of Wight extends from east to west 23 miles, by about 14 from north to south (being very nearly the figure of a lozenge), circumscribes at least 60 miles, and contains upwards of 100,000 acres. It is separated from the Hampshire coast by a strait called the SOLENT SEA, varying from three to seven miles in width: and bounded by the British Channel on the south--the nearest part of the French coast being Cherbourg (18 leagues distant), which is said to have been seen from the hills of Freshwater, &c. The extent of the English coast visible in clear weather is above 100 miles, from Beachy Head in Sussex, to the Isle of Portland in Dorset.
THE CLIMATE.--The purity of the air was always acknowledged by those who ever visited the island owing to the dry and highly cultivated face of the country: but it was left to an eminent Physician, Dr. James Clarke, to give due celebrity to the unrivaled salubrity of the climate:--
"The Island, from the variety which it presents in point of elevation, soil, and aspect, and from the configuration of its hills and shores, possesses several peculiarities of climate and situation, which render it a very favorable and commodious residence throughout the year, for a large class of invalids. On this account, the Isle of Wight claims our particular attention, as it comprehends within itself advantages which are of great value to the delicate invalid, and to obtain which, in almost any other part of England, he would require to make a considerable journey." And he further remarks, that "the Undercliff bids fair to exceed all other winter residences in this country, and the island will have added to its title of the Garden of England, that of the BRITISH MADEIRA."
The classical designation of the island is VECTA or VECTIS: but its modern name is derived from Wect, With, or Wict, as it is found variously written in Doomsday Book.
Some writers have supposed the island to have been once connected with the mainland by an isthmus stretching from Gurnet, near Cowes, to Leap, on the Hampshire roast; but nothing decisive has yet been advanced in support of this strange hypothesis.
The surface of the island presents a constant succession of valley and eminence--the two principal chains of hills being ... a range of chalk downs of a smooth rounded shape, and from 500 to 700 feet high, that stretch lengthways through the middle of the island, abutting the ocean at Freshwater on the west, and Bembridge on the east:-and a still loftier range, variously composed of chalk, firestone, &c., that skirts the south-eastern coast from Shanklin Down to St. Catharine's (the latter 830 feet in height,) and whose broken flank on the sea-side forms the celebrated and romantic region of the UNDERCLIFF.
The principal streams in the Isle of Wight navigable for marine craft are the Rivers Medina and Yar, and the Creeks of Newtown and Wootton.--The Medina, whose source is in the south, and which joins the sea at Cowes, divides the island into two hundreds of nearly equal extent, respectively called the East and West Medene; the first comprising 14, the latter 16 parishes.
The population of the island has doubled since 1802, and now exceeds 45,000. No manufacture of any consequence is carried on (with the exception of the lace-factory near Newport,) Corn being the staple article of trade,--for which there are about 42 mills, nearly all of them worked by water.
Almost encompassed by formidable rocks and shelves, few parts of the English coast are more dangerous to ships driving in a storm. The most dreaded parts are the Needles and Shingles, at the western point; Rocken-end Race at the south, and Bembridge Ledge at the eastern extremity: few winters pass without the melancholy catastrophe of shipwreck; though the danger is now of course diminished