1858.] FRESHWATEIl AND YARMOUTH. 525 



the glass-manufactories of different and distant parts of the king- 

 dom. The town is a poor place ; its mean appearance belies in 

 no respect its real condition. Although formerly a Parliamentary 

 borough^ and still a corporate town, it has only one butcher's 

 shop^ and this solitary shop is only open for the sale of meat on 

 Saturdays. Its few shops are of the kind usvially met with in 

 country villages, where everything is sold, from bread and gro- 

 ceries to toys and mouse-traps. Cloth, stationery, drugs, door- 

 mats, gingerbread, liquid blacking, snuff, and cigars^ may be 

 sold at one of these omniwyt-gatherums. 



The whole population is seafaring or dependent on the sea, 

 and appears to be superlatively indolent, indifferent, and uncour- 

 teous. 



The ecclesiastic and civic buildings are mean and tasteless. 

 The only prominent edifices are the church, conspicuous for its 

 lofty square tower and the ugliness both of the exterior and inte- 

 rior of the fabric, and the modern residence of Sir Wra. Symonds, 

 which at a distance has a castellated appearance, but which on a 

 nearer view proves to be a cottage-like building, surmounted 

 with two or three towers of no assignable style. The ' George ' 

 hotel, a tall, high-roofed, brick edifice, white- washed at no very 

 distant date, but now appearing partially in its true colours, is 

 the only noticeable building in the town. It is said to have been, 

 two centuries ago, the residence of the Governor of the island, 

 who had the honour of entertaining King Charles II. under this 

 roof. 



The town is, however, conveniently situated for transit, as 

 steamers cross to Lymington several times a day, and to Cowes, 

 Ryde, and Portsmouth several times a week. It is also a good 

 centre from which the adjacent coast may be examined, and its 

 botanical rarities will amply repay the labour of looking for them. 

 Sconce Point, where the fort and barracks or garrison are build- 

 ing, is within little more than half a mile of the ferry, and Col- 

 well Bay is about a mile further, where a second fortress is pro- 

 posed to be built. 



Totland's Bay is the next object, and its southern headland 

 forms the northern side of the celebrated Alum Bay. 



Beyond Sconce Point, proceeding onwards to Colwell Bay, 

 there is a repetition of the famous undercliff at Ventnor, though 

 in miniature. The basis of the upper strata, which is marly, is 



