and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. 20. No. 570. | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1832 | [PRICE 2d. |
THE ISLE OF WIGHT.
NOTES FROM A PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION IN THE ISLAND.
By a Correspondent.
Although the roads of the island have within the last twenty yearsbeen rendered passable for vehicles of all kinds, even to stagecoaches, yet by far the best mode of inspecting this English Arcadiais to travel through it on foot, commencing at Ryde.
From this town a footpath leads across the park and grounds of St.John's into the high road which may be followed to Brading. About amile from that place is Nunwell, the seat of Sir W. Oglander; andopposite is a delightful view of Bembridge (the birthplace of Madamede Feuchares) and Brading Harbour, which at high water presents to theeye a rich, deep, green colour, with an increased effect from beingsurveyed through the long line of tall elms on the road side. Bradingboasts of a mayor and corporation, and formerly sent a member toparliament, which privilege was abolished by Queen Elizabeth. The townis of high antiquity, as is also the church, which tradition says wasthe first built in the island. It contains few monuments of interestor note, but the surrounding burial-ground can boast of a collectionof epitaphs and inscriptions which are above mediocrity. The followingto the memory of Miss Barry by the Rev. Mr. Gill has been renderedcelebrated by the admirable music of Dr. Calcott:
Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear,
That mourns thy exit from a world like this;
Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here,
And stayed thy progress to the realms of bliss.
No more confined to grov'ling scenes of night—
No more a tenant pent in mortal clay;
Now should we rather hail thy glorious flight,
And trace thy journey to the realms of day.
On a rising ground at the end of the town is the Mall; at the entranceof which the earth reverberates to the tread of horses' feet in amanner similar to that produced by riding over a bridge or hollow. Itis most probably occasioned by a natural cleft in the chalk beneaththe gravel road. Here the tourist should rest to enjoy a scene ofunrivalled beauty. On the left, below the road, lies the town ofBrading, and more remote,[pg 226]St. Helen's Road, and the opposite coasts ofPortsmouth and Southsea. In front, at the foot of the hill, are therich levels, with the sinuous river Yar slowly winding towards theharbour, with the full broad front of Bembridge Down interrupting themarine view, which is again presented on the right from the village of