MR. DOAVNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



my ideal of the Isle of Wight was realized. These villages lie on the south side 

 the Island, backed by steep hills, and sloping to the sea. The climate is almost perfec- 

 tion. It is neither hot in summer, nor cold in winter, and though open to all the sea 

 breezes, the latter seem shorn of all their violence here. The consequence is, they enjoy 

 that perfect marriage of the land and sea so rarely witnessed in northern climates. The 

 finest groves and woods, the richest shrubbery and flower-gardens, the most emerald- 

 like glades of turf, here run down almost to the beach, and you have all the luxuriant 

 beauty of vegetation, in its loveliest forms, joined to all the sublimity, life and excitement 

 of the ocean views. As to the climate, you may judge of its mildness and uniformity, 

 when I tell 3-ou that the Bay trees of the ]Mediterranean grow here on the lawns, as lux- 

 uriantly as snow-balls do at home, and Fuchsias, as tall as your head, make rich masses 

 in almost every garden, and stand the winter as well here, as lilacs or syringoes do with 

 us. In the neighborhood of Shanklin, I saw a charming old iiarsonage house — the very 

 picture of spacious ease and comfort — with its great bay windows, its picturesque gables, 

 and its thatched roof — quite embowered in tall myrtles — Roman myrtles — one of our cher- 

 ished green-house plants, that here have grown thirty or forty feet high, quite above the 

 eves! Bays, Portugal laurels, hollies and China roses, surround this parsonage, and never 

 lose their freshness and verdure, (the owner assured me the roses bloomed all winter long,) 

 cheating the inhabitants into the belief that winter is an allegory, or if not, has only a 

 substantial existence in Iceland or Spitzbergen. 



Then the hotels here — especially in Shanklin — are absolutely romantic in their rural beau- 

 ty. Designed like the prettiest cottages, or rather in a quaint and rambling style, half cot- 

 tage and half villa, the roof covered with thatch, and the walls with Ivy, jessamines, and 

 perpetual roses, and set down in the midst of a charming lawn, and surrounded by shrub- 

 bery, }^ou feel the same reluctance to take the room which the chambermaid, with the fresh- 

 est of roses in her cheeks, and the cleanest of caps upon her head — shows you, as 3'ou 

 Avould in hiring the apartments of some tasteful friend in reduced circumstances. When 

 you rise from your dinner, (admirably served,) always in a private parlor, the casement win- 

 dows open upon, a velvety lawn, bright with masses of scarlet geraniums, verbenas, and Tea 

 roses, set in the turf, and 3rou give yourself up to the profound conviction that for snugness, 

 and cosiness, and perfection at a rural Inn, the world can contain nothing better than may 

 be found in the Isle of Wight. 



Bowchurch disputes the palm with Shanklin, for picturesque and sylvan beauty. We 



made a visit here to Capt. S of the Royal Navy, whose beautifid villa in the Elizabe- 



thean style, gave me an opportunity for indulging my architectural and antiquarian taste 

 to the utmost. Imagine an entrance through a rocky dell, the steep sides of which are 

 clothed with the richest climbing plants, between Avhich your carriage winds for some 

 distance, passing under a light airy bridge, with festoons of Ivy and clusters of blooming 

 creepers "waving over jour head. You soon emerge upon the prettiest of little lawns, 

 studded with fine oaks, and running down to the very shore of the sea. On the left are 

 shrubberies, pleasure grounds, kitchen and flower gardens, all in their place, and though 

 you think the place one of GO or 80 acres, there are not above 20. 



The house itself is one of the most picturesque and agreeable residences of moderate 

 size that I have ever seen. Its interior, especially, unites architectural beauty, antique 

 character and modern comfort, to a surprising degree. Every room seemed to have been 

 studied, so that not a feature was omitted, or an effect lost, that could add to the pleasure 

 or increase the beauty of a home of this kind. 



If I was delighted with the house, I was astonished with the furniture. It was 



