* * * * *

>> A very common way of seeing these precipices is to go by water to Alum Bay, there land, walk up to the Light-house, and return by the beacon:  or take boat at Alum Bay, and sail round the Needles or to Freshwater Bay, just as fancy may suggest.  Some proceed on foot from Freshwater-gate to the Needles Light-house (about three miles), on the green sod, near the margin of the cliffs:  other parties again go round by the carriage-road the whole distance in their vehicles.  As, however, the grandest scenes can only be visited by boat, we shall best perform our duty as Cicerone by pointing them out as they appear in an aquatic excursion—­that to parties generally affords a degree of elevated pleasure to which nothing else in the island can bear any comparison.  Yet should the weather be too rough for this to be enjoyed, the visit to Freshwater may prove not the less interesting:  since it is impossible for any spectacle to exceed in sublimity that which is displayed when a storm is raging around the majestic cliffs and vast detached rocks that here encounter the winds and waves of the British Channel:—­

    “Down bursts the gale—­the surges sweep,
    Like gathering hosts, against the steep,
    Sheeting, with clouds of snowy spray,
    Its lofty forehead, old and gray. 
    With sudden shriek and cowering wing,
    To the wild cliff the sea-birds spring;
    Careering o’er the darken’d heaven,
    The clouds in warring heaps are driven;
    And crested high with lawny foam,
    Rushes the mighty billow home.”

* * * * *

(Another Hotel is situated on the north side of the down, within sight of the Needles, by whose name it is distinguished.)

[Illustration:  WATCOMBE BAY FRESHWATER ISLE OF WIGHT.]

From Watcombe Bay the precipices continue to increase in height till they reach their greatest elevation (617 feet) at HIGH-DOWN, on which the beacon is erected:  they are however less perpendicular here than we shall presently find them; and the more sloping portions are covered by extensive patches of turf, samphire, &c., which vary the pure white of the upright masses, though perhaps the lofty appearance of the whole is thereby rather diminished, at least to a spectator at their base.  Amongst the most remarkable objects in this part of the range are NEPTUNE’S CAVE, and LORD HOLMES’S PARLOUR:—­the latter, a cavern of considerable height and breadth, derives its name from the nobleman, whose name it bears, having occasionally enjoyed a repast with his friends in the briny coolness of its shade, at least so tradition tells us:  it can be easily entered by boat in calm weather:  and when viewed from beneath its rough vaulted roof, has certainly a very romantic appearance.