THE ISLE OP WIGHT. 523 



and the accommodation at the hotels is, for the time at least, brought 

 up to the style and prices which the titled yachtmen naturally be- 

 get. The flag of the admiral of this fancy fleet, the Earl of Yar- 

 borough, floated from the mast of his fast-looking vessel, and a va- 

 riety of craft, of all sizes, lying about her, gave the whole neighbor- 

 hood an air of great life and animation. 



Our party, three in number, took one of the light, open car- 

 riages, with which the Island abounds, and started, the next morning 

 after our arrival, to explore it pretty thoroughly. 



The neighborhood of East Covves, abounds with pretty seats, and, 

 on the opposite shore, are numberless little cottages, by the side of 

 the water, " to let," with all the cosy furniture in-doors, of English 

 domestic life, and out-of-door accompaniments of trees and shrubs, 

 and overhanging vines, that gave them a very inviting appearance. 

 Although I had never lived under the authority of a landlord, I 

 could find nothing b.ut temptations to become a lessee of such pretty 

 domicils as these. They look so truly home-ish, and tell you at a 

 glance, such a story of years of the tenderest care and attention, in 

 all that makes a cottage charming, that they make one long to stop 

 acting the traveller, and nestle down in the bosom of that peaceful 

 domestic life, which they suggest. 



A short distance, perhaps a mile, from Cowes, is Osborne House 

 -the marine residence of Victoria. This place is her private pro- 

 perty, and having been almost wholly erected within a few years 

 past, may be said to afford a tolerable index to the taste of her Ma- 

 jesty. The residence is an extensive villa, in the modern Italian 

 style, with a front of perhaps two hundred feet, and the outlines 

 picturesquely broken by tower or campanile. It stands in the midst 

 of a sandy plain, which is level around the house and towards the 

 road, and undulating and broken towards the sea of which it com- 

 mands fine views. 



It is fenced off from the highway by a close, rough board " park 

 paling," some seven or eight feet high. Within this fence is a 

 belt of young trees, and scattered here and there, over the surface 

 of most of the inclosure, are groups and patches of small trees and 

 shrubs, newly planted. The whole place has, most completely, the 

 look of the pretentious place of some of our wealthy men at home, 



