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The Needles, which are of the fame tex- 

 ture of rock with the neighbouring cliffs of 

 the ifland, feem to have been wafhed from 

 them by the fea. A gradual change has 

 been obferved, even in the memory of man. 

 We may eafily imagine with what violence a 

 florm at fea pours in among thefe piles of 

 formidable rocks, when the faction and eddies 

 of tides and currents make them dangerous 

 to approach ;:lmoft in the fereneft weather. 



Befides the curious fltuation of Hurft- 

 caftle, there is another peculiarity on this 

 coaft, which deferves notice. It is an ifland 

 called the Shingles^ which fometimes rifes 

 fifteen or twenty feet above the water; and 

 at other times totally difappears. It fhifts 

 it's fltuation alfo, rearing itfelf, at one time, 

 nearer the ifle of Wight, and at another, 

 nearer the coaft of Hampfhire. The myftery 

 of it is this. In that part of the channel lies 

 a vaft bank of pebbles, fo near the furface, 

 that it is beaten up into an ifland, by the 

 raging of the fea, fometimes on one fide, 

 and fometimes on the other, as the tides and 

 currents drive. From the fame caufes too, 



all 



