VICTORIA AT HOME. 157 



later erections there are a number of very strong exceptions 

 to this remark. 



In this paradise the climate, by favour of its shelter of hills 

 on the north, and the equalising influence of the ocean on the 

 south, is, perhaps, the most equable and genial in the northern 

 temperate zone. The mercury does not fall as low in winter 

 as at Rome; deciduous trees lose their verdure but for a 

 brief interval ; greensward is evergreen ; tender-roses, fuschias, 

 and the dark, glossy shrubs of Canaan and of Florida, feel 

 themselves at home, and flourish through the winter. 



Where the chalky downs reach the shore without an inter 

 vening barrier of rock, or a gradual sloping descent, they are 

 broken off abruptly and precipitously ; and thus are formed the 

 &quot; white cliffs of Albion&quot; and a coast scenery with which, for 

 grandeur, there is nothing on our Atlantic shore that will in 

 the least compare : notwithstanding which, and although they 

 really are often higher than our church-steeples and monu 

 ments the familiar standards with which we compare their 

 number of feet they have not the stupendous effect upon the 

 mind that I had always imagined that they must have. 



We were rambling for the greater part of two days upon 

 the island, spending a night near Black-gang-Chine. Return 

 ing, we passed near Osborne, a private estate purchased some 

 years since by the Queen, upon which she has had erected a 

 villa, said to be an adaptation of the Grecian style to modern 

 tastes and habits, but of which nothing is to be seen from 

 without the grounds but the top of a lofty campanile, from 

 which is now displayed the banner with the royal arms, which 

 always indicates the presence of the reigning sovereign of 

 Great Britain. It is the custom of the royal family, when 

 here, to live in as retired and unstately a way as they can 

 ever be permitted to. The Prince himself turns farmer, and 

 engages with much ardour in improving the agricultural capa- 



