Litchfield enquirer., 1851-07-17
rnOIlsh PuradIse---TsIe Of Wight.

English PaFdalSC---AsAO Va "'Su
Auover the Island, the roads, sometimes
h,osd-but often mere narrow lanes-are
bordered BY hawthorn hedges: sOfreqnent-
- Won drive for mile or more. without
setting a peep beyond leafy walls of. YER
dure. I could imagine that in May, when
these hedges are all white with blossoms,
the whole Island must be a very gny land
scape |: but lust now they only served to
confirm me in my opinion of the English
mans fondness for seclusion and privacy in
his own demense. Just in proportion to the
smallness of his place, his desire to shut out
all the rest of the world increases; so that
if he only owns half an acre, his hedge shall
be eight feet high. and the sancity Of the
paradise within remains inviolate. The
solid, high, well built stone wall around
some of the little cottage and villa places OF
half nm acre on the South side of the island
astonished me, and gave me new under
standing of the saying, that every mans
house is his casue," Here at least,
thought, it is clear that people understand
what is meant.by private rights, and intend
TO have them respected,
II was not until had reached the pretty
villages of Bowchurch. Shaklin and Vent
nor, that my ideal of the Isle of Wight was
realized. These villages lie on the South
side of the Island, backed by steep hills and
sloping to the sea. The climate is almost
perfection, 1t is neither hot in Summer,
nor cold in Winter, and though open to Il
the sea breezes, the latter seems shorn OF
all their violence here. The consequence
is, they enjoy that perfect marriage of the
land and sea SO rarely witnessed in North,
ern' climates. Tie finest groves and woods
the richest shrubbery and flower gardens,
and the most emerald like giades OF turf,
here run down almost to the beach, and
you have all the luxurlant beauty OF vegeta-
ton, in its lovelest forms, joined to all the
sublimity, life, and excitement OF the ocean
views.
AS to the climate. you may judge of its
mildness and uniformity when tell you
that the bay trees Of the Mediterranean
grow here on the lawns, rs luxurlously as
snowballs do at home; and fuchsias as tall
as your head, make rich masses in almost
every garden, andstand the Winter as well
as liiacs or syringoes do with us. In The
neighborhood of Shanklin, lsaw charming
old parsonage house; the ve"y picture OF
sbacious ease and comfort-with its great
bay windows, its picturesque gables, and its
matched roof, quite uncovered in tall myr-
tles-Roman myrtles lone OF the cherish
ed green house plants that here has grown
thirty or forty feet high, quite above the
caves. Bays, Portugal laurels, holys, and
China roses, surrouhdedthis parsonage, and
never lose their freshness and verdure, Qhe
owner assured me the roses doomed oil
Winter long,) cheating the Inhabitants in
to the belief that Winter is an allegory, or
if not, has only substantial existence in
Iceland or Spitzenbergen.
Then the hotels here-especially in
ShankIin, are absolutely romantic in their
rural beauty. Designed like the prettiesl
cottages, OF rather in quaint and rambling
siyle; half cottage and half villa, the root
covered with thatch aud the walls with ivy F.,
iesss{nines and perpetual roses, and set
down in the midst OF u charming lawn, and
SURROUNDED by shrubbery. you feel the
Same reluctance to take the room which
chambermaid, with the freshest OF roses on
her cheeks, and the cleanest of caps on her
head, shows you. as you would in hiring
the apartment of some tasteful friend in re-
duced circumstances. When you rise from
your dinner, admirably served,) always in
d private parlor, the easement window opens
upon a velvet lawn, bright with masses OF
scarlet geraniums, verbenas and tea roses,
set in the turf, and you give yourself up to
the profound conviction that for snugness
and coziness, and perfection at rural inn'
the world can contain nothing better than
may be found in the Isle of Wight Down
ing's Letters from Europe