ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES.

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church, or be at all injurious to her sacred rites. There are but few fragments of these edifices remaining. Time has swept them away; and succeeding generations have preferred the pure light of revelation, to the imposing form of a corrupted Christianity. These sacred structures were placed in some of the most beautiful spots in the Island. The fine valley, the shady wood, the fertile and well-watered country, were generally the site of these ancient piles; and though the buildings themselves are nearly all so dilapidated as to leave scarcely a stone remaining, yet the beautiful scenes in which they once stood, will amply repay the visitor who may have curiosity enough to view them.

Many of the churches of the Island are delightfully situated; and the village spire or the lofty tower, rising in the midst of a beautiful glen, add very considerably to the enchantment of the scene.

The

churches are not characterised generally by vastness in their dimensions, or beauty in their architecture, though many of them have the vestiges of former days. The chapels of ease, which stand on the northern shore of the Island, are all of modern date.

Whilst the sacred edifices of the Island have suffered only the ravages of time, the religion of this "suckling of the seas" has partaken of all the changes which have been felt by the parent Isle. Bartholomew day, so celebrated in the pages of ecclesiastical history, spread a little of its dark cloud over this lovely spot; and on that day, when non-conformity was increasing, by the impolitic ejectment of two thousand ministers from the pale of the establishment, the Island added eight clergymen to this noble army of eonfessors.*

*The churches from which the ministers were ejected, were Calbourne, West Cowes, Freshwater, Godshill, Newport, Yar

But these dark days have rolled away, and the inhabitants literally "sit under their vine and fig tree,” in the calm repose of civil and religious liberty.

mouth, and Yaverland. Calamy, in his account of the ejected ministers, says of the Rev. Robert Tutchin, the minister of Newport, "he was so well beloved by the inhabitants of the town, that when he was ejected, they allowed him the same stipend as when he was their minister, so that they paid two ministers till his death. He had three sons, who were eminent men, all silenced the same day with himself. His successor the Rev. Goldsmith, preached his funeral sermon; and such was his respect for him that he would not suffer him to be interred in the common burying place, but ordered a grave for him within the church."

CHAPTER II.

RYDE.

A general description of the Town.

RYDE, which in the course of a few years has become one of the most beautiful watering places in the south of England, and has risen to the greatness and publicity of a market town, was originally an insignificant fishing village. Occupying the declivity of a hill on the shore of the Solent, opposite to Stoke's Bay, in the coast of Hampshire, it commands a most delightful sea view.* Its situation is highly interesting: at a short

* Fielding's description in 1754 is so beautiful that we cannot resist the temptation of inserting it :—

"As to its situation, I think it most delightful, and on the most pleasant spot in the whole Island. It is true, it wants the advantages of that beautiful river which leads from Newport to Cowes, but the prospect here extending to the sea, and taking in Portsmouth, Spithead, and St. Helens, would be more than a recompense for the loss of the Thames itself, even in the most delightful part of Berkshire or Buckinghamshire, though another Denham or another Pope should unite in celebrating it. For my own part, I confess myself so entirely fond of a sea prospect,

distance from its shores is a fine anchorage for shipping, designated the Motherbank. A little farther to the East is Spithead, where the fleets destined for war or for commerce ride proudly and securely on the bosom of the deep; whilst, intercepted by a passage of only five miles, are the ancient towns of Portsmouth and Gosport. The peculiar locality of Ryde, (being the nearest regular landing place from any part of the opposite coast), is gradually giving it a commanding character; as it affords the greatest facility for commercial pursuits, or visits of pleasure; and is become the most direct communication from the metropolis of the kingdom to the capital of the Island.

In the ancient rolls, it is designated by the name of La Rye or Ride, and is one of those places where a watch was appointed to be kept for the security of the Island. During the reign of Richard II. this little village was devastated and burnt by the French. This solitary event is all that can be traced as giving Ryde an association with the magnificent records of history. The site of the town was once part of the possessions of the family of Dillington, till Sir John Dillington sold

that I think nothing in the land can equal it; and if it be set off with shipping, I desire to borrow no ornament from the terra firma. A fleet of ships, is in my opinion, the noblest object which the art of man hath ever produced; and far beyond the power of those architects, who deal in brick, in stone, or in marble.

This pleasant village is situated on a gentle ascent from the water, whence it affords that charming prospect I have described. Its soil is a gravel, which assisted with a declivity, preserves it always so dry, that immediately after the most violent rain, a fine lady may walk without wetting her silken shoes. The fertility of the place is apparent from its extraordinary verdure; and it is so shaded with large and flourishing elms, that its narrow lanes are a natural grove or walk; which, in the regularity of its plantation, vies with the power of art, and, in its wanton exuberance, greatly exceeds it."

it to Henry Player, Esq. in whose family it still remains; the proprietor of every house being subject to the payment of an annual quit-rent, and a fine for the renewal of a life-in some cases a certain, and in others an uncertain sum. Such was the poverty and insignificance of this place, little more than forty years ago, that the old inhabitants delight to tell of the difficulty to which travellers were at times exposed for want of accommodation; and about seventy years ago there were supposed to be not more than thirty houses in the place. At that time there was scarcely any thing in the shape of a country inn; and persons passing through the village, were often obliged to repair to the neighbouring farms, to procure hay and corn for their cattle.

The place was then distinctly divided into Upper and Lower Ryde. The corn fields, which year after year presented their beauty and fertility to the eye, separated the one from the other; and a little narrow path, bounded by a rustic stile, formed the footway through the field on which now stands the principal commercial street. Upper Ryde was situated at the top of the hill, and consisted of a few mean built cottages. Lower Ryde skirted the shore, and consisted chiefly of buildings of a similar description. Such being the original state of the place, it furnishes nothing remarkable as to historic fact or antiquarian research. It never was the scene of great military exploit, the birth place of superior genius, nor the site of a mouldering ruin. Time, which throws the most astonishing changes over all that is earthly, has by the lapse of years, greatly altered the face of this little village. It now stands forth with all the attraction of a neat, wellbuilt country town; containing a population of five thousand souls.

Rapid as its growth has been in buildings, in inhabi