THE ISLE OF WIGHt. 523 



.tind the aoeor&modatibn at the hotels is, for the time at least, brought 

 up to the style and prices w^t^ich the titled ya^htmeh naturally be- 

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

 hotough, floated from the mast of his fast-lpoking vessel, and a va- 

 riety of, CTaft, 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 whieh the Island abounds, and started, thenext morning 

 after our arrival,, to explore it' pretty thoroughly. 



The neighborhood pf East CoWes, abounds with pretty seats, and 

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

 the /ityater, " to let," with all the cosy furniture in-doors, of Englisl 

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

 ^nd overhanging vines, that gave them a very inviting appearance 

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

 could find nothing but temptations to beciome a lessee of sueh prettj 

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

 glance, such a story of years of the t^nderest care and .attention,, ir 

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

 acting the t^raveller^ and nestle, down in the bosom of that peacefu: 

 tethestic life, which they suggest. 



A- short distance, perhaps a mile, from Cowes,, is Osbdrne House 

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

 perty, and havjng been almost wholly ejected within a few yeari 

 fast, may be said to afibrd a tolerable index to the taste of her Ma- 

 jesty. The residence is an extensive villa, in the modem Italiai 

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

 picturesquely broken by tower or canipanile. It stands in the mids 

 of a sandy plain, whiph is level around the house and towards th( 

 i-oad, and undulating and broken towards the sea— of which it com 

 mands fine views.' ., 



It is fenced oflF from the highway by a close, rough board,'! pari 

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

 belt of young trees, and scattered here and there, over the surfac( 

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

 shrubs, newly planted. ^The whole place has, most C(^ptetely, the 

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



