ART. IX.—1. The History of the Isle of Wight. By the Rt. Hon. Sir RICHARD WORSLEY, Bart. London: 1781. 2. Description of the Principal Picturesque Beauties, Antiquities, and Geological Phenomena of the Isle of Wight. By Sir HENRY C. ENGLEFIELD, Bart. Folio. London: 1816.

3. The Oglander Memoirs. Edited by W. H. LONG. London: 1888.

4. Letters to the County Press,' 1884-92. By the Rev. E. BOUCHER JAMES, M.A., Vicar of Carisbrooke, late Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford.

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HE 'ryvers,' or pirates of the Isle of Wight, among whom King John is by popular tradition supposed to have found a refuge after signing Magna Carta,' no longer haunt the shallow creek of King's Quay. It is no longer necessary, as it was when, in 1633, Sir John Pennington, on board the Vauntgard,' lay 'athwart Donose, the southern'most poynt of the Ile of Wight,' to search its bays and inlets for Pirates, Pickeroones, or any such as disturb the 'peaceable traffick of his Majesty's subjects.' Such perils as these had ceased sixty years later; nor were the wreckers, who plied a brisk trade in Chale Bay, to be feared between Portsmouth and Ryde. Yet, in 1698, Dr. Prideaux, a wellknown figure in the University of Oxford, took pains to 'disswade' his nephew, who had a phancy to passe over into the Isle of Wight,' from so foolhardy an exploit, because of the hazard of passing the sea.' The voyage was not unattended with discomfort, if not with danger. Wilkes, writing in 1788 from his 'villakin' at Sandown Bay to his dearest Polly,' describes his lucky passage of an hour and five minutes in a wherry with two oars not larger than a Thames boat hired for 4s. 6d.,' in which he committed. himself to our English Deity, old Neptune, who favourably heard my prayers.' Whether Hassall prayed to Neptune or not in 1798, he was less fortunate in his passage. On his leaving Portsmouth for Cowes a combustion of the 'elements' began, which prevented his reaching the Roads till seven tedious hours' were passed.

Nor, when arrived at the coast of the island, was it easy to land. In 1753 Henry Fielding, detained at the anchorage off Ryde when on his voyage to die at Lisbon, endeavoured to spend the time of his detention on the island, But

'between the sea and shore there was, at low water, an impassable gulf, if I may so call it, of deep mud which could neither be traversed by walking nor swimming; so that for near one half of the twenty-four hours Ryde was inaccessible by friend or foe. However, as there is scarce any difficulty to which the strength of man, assisted with the cunning of art, is not equal, I was at last hoisted in a small boat, and, being rowed pretty near the shore, was taken up by two sailors who waded with me through the mud, and placed me in a chair on the land.'

Eighty years later Marryat speaks of the wherries which came in as far as they could, and were met by a horse and cart, which took out the passengers and carried them 'through the mud and water to the hard ground.'

Once landed, the difficulties of the travellers were not ended. Internal communication was difficult. In Elizabeth's time the inhabitants were so cut off from the mainland that there was no regular post, and all letters were conveyed to and fro by a 'coneyman' who visited the island at short intervals to buy rabbits for the London markets. Everyone travelled on horseback-the mistress on a pillion behind the master. Sir John Oglander's coach, in 1600, was the second seen in the island, and persons treated the journey to London as an East Indian voyage,' and, says Sir John, always made their wills before starting. Even a century ago there was but one vehicle to be hired-an old one-horse chaise, that belonged to a man in Newport, who walked at his horse's head, leading it by a leathern strap.

In 1892 access to what Mrs. Norton called the Cockney 'Paradise' is as easy as it once was difficult. Every summer the population doubles itself, and, the season ended, shrinks as suddenly by a half. Quiet and seclusion vanish before the crowds whom railways, steamers, coaches, bicycles, or their own feet, carry to the remotest districts. Picturesque fishing-hamlets are transformed into Surbitons-by-the-Sea, and, for four months in every year, the island becomes a tea-garden, with every lion carefully caged and every spot of beauty or interest converted into a source of profit or a place of picnic. When Jones, in his poem of 'Vectis' (1782), apostrophises Carisbrooke Castle as commemorating

'A bleeding kingdom, and a murder'd king;
O sacred Charles! Thy unexampled fate,
Thy injured Manes meets me at this gate,'

he did not foresee the day when, instead of the royal shade, he would be beset by vendors of photographs, Alum Bay sand, pears, and ginger-beer, or solicited by a group of

mendicants who would do no discredit to the porch of a French cathedral.

Still, the presence of man cannot entirely destroy the natural charms of a strangely varied landscape, or wholly efface the historical associations with which the island is

liberally endowed. What Drayton wrote of the Isle of Wight is as true now as it was in the days of Elizabeth :

Of all the Southern iles, she holds the highest place,
And evermore hath been the great'st in Britaine's grace;
Not one of all her nymphs her sovereign favoureth thus,
Imbraced in the arms of old Oceanus.'

The main object of the following pages is not to help tourists to make a tour of the island. For such a purpose there exist guide-books innumerable. Our object rather is to collect such scattered rays of light as illustrate some of the stirring scenes enacted on its stage, or the lives of worthies who have helped to make its history, or, by birth or residence, have enriched its fame. The field is varied, the list of celebrities long. A selection only is possible. As in its geological structure the island reveals the phenomena of stratification-as in its electoral history it illustrates the development of our representative system-as in its varied landscapes it offers a miniature abstract of English scenery; -so its history is an epitome of British history. Each epoch has left a mark upon its surface. Here are commemorated the Celt and the Roman, the Jute and the Saxon, the Dane and the Norman. Here were played romantic parts on which hung the fate of kings and kingdoms. Here lived and died many worthies whose illustrious names the nation will not allow to perish. The portrait-gallery of island worthies is long, and it is our good fortune that many of their pictures have been painted by the cunning hand of the Rev. E. Boucher James, the Vicar of Carisbrooke. For years past his antiquarian and historical labours have delighted the natives of the island; but their scattered publication in the columns of a weekly newspaper of local repute has rendered them inaccessible to the general public. To his valuable contributions to the history of the Isle of Wight we desire, once and for all, to acknowledge our obligation.

'It is, and hath been, a taxe layd on this Island,' says Sir John Oglander, that it never produced any extraordinary ffayre handsome woman, nor a man of any supereminent 'gwyftes in wit or wisdom, nor a horse excellent for good'ness.' It is with the second charge alone that we are here

concerned. Among its natives have been Sir John Cheke, the tutor of Edward VI., who preferred to turn rather than burn in the days of Queen Mary, and to whom Milton addressed the lines:

Thy age like our's, O soul of Sir John Cheke,

Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,

When thou taught'st Cambridge and King Edward Greek;'

Dr. Cole, the friend of Ascham and of Leland, the preacher of Cranmer's funeral sermon at Oxford; the three servants of Queen Elizabeth, to whom she entrusted her soul, her body, and her goods-Dr. Edes, her chaplain, Dr. James, her physician, and Lord Chief Justice Fleming; Thomas James, the friend of Camden, and the first Bodleian librarian ; Dr. Hooke, the scientific discoverer; John Lisle, the regicide; William Keeling, the explorer; Admiral Hopson, who broke the boom at Vigo Bay; Sir Robert Holmes, who took New York, and introduced the guinea; Dr. Arnold, the head-master of Rugby; and among living worthies may be added the names of Miss Sewell, and the authoress of The Silence of Dean 'Maitland.' The list is not scanty for so thinly populated a spot as the island was till half a century ago. But the list of 'overers whose connection with the island has enriched its fame is longer and more brilliant. Among its Governors were Henry, Earl of Southampton, the friend of Shakespeare; Salamander' Cutts; General Webb, in whose regiment of Fusiliers the young Mr. Esmond was gazetted; and Lord Cadogan, the last survivor of Marlborough's captains and Eugenio's friends.' Among its Parliamentary representatives were Lucius, Viscount Falkland; John Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough; Sir Philip Francis; James Stanhope, afterwards Lord Stanhope, the captor of Port Mahon; Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington; Lord Palmerston; Sir John Copley, afterwards Lord Lyndhurst; and George Canning. Other celebrities who have resided in the island have been Bishop Ken, who, like Samuel Wilberforce, was Rector of Brighstone; Dean Hook, of Whippingham; John Wilkes, Keats, George Morland, and the present Poet-Laureate, Lord Tennyson.

Such are some of the worthies who have made the history of the island which is chronicled in the stones of Carisbrooke Castle. Close to the castle is the site of the earliest Celtic settlements. The rivulet of Lukely, that runs down from the chalk hills, is bordered by rich meadows; above rise the hills, with the belts of trees, the thin, dry soil easily scratched

by imperfect implements, and the downs affording pasture to flocks and herds. At the bottom of this valley was placed the Celtic fortress. Standing, as it does, in a commanding situation, holding the roads that radiate to the centre of the island, it was held by the Romans as their strongest post. There in succession were raised the palisades of the Jute and the Saxon, the Norman keep of Fitz Osborne, and the outworks of Richard de Redvers. There lived Isabella de Fortibus and her ancestors before her. Of the Honour of Carisbrooke all land was held. There mustered the ancient Militia of the island. Under the shelter of its walls grew up the town of Newport and the priory of Carisbrooke. To it the inhabitants looked for protection, and from under its walls the victorious French were beaten back. There were sworn in, before the captain of the castle, the chief officers of the Corporation of Newport. As civilisation advances, the gloomy keep and hall are transformed into a fortified residence, and the arms of Montacute and of Woodville adorn its walls. There is chronicled the alarm that was spread by the Spanish Armada, and the dates of 1588 and 1598 mark the preparations for resistance. On the possession of Carisbrooke turned the fate of the Civil War in the island. There were imprisoned Charles I. and two of his children. There was also imprisoned Sir Harry Vane. There Davenant, as a prisoner, wrote part of Gondilbert;' and there Harrington, in converse with Charles I., perhaps conceived his Oceana.' There, too, came Dorothy Osborne, most fascinating of English gentlewomen, to take upon herself her brother's fault and win the heart of Temple. There the Governors of the island, in the days of their power, kept open house, and dispensed hospitality with lavish hand; there, also, in the days of their decadence and non-residence, the castle became a ruin, its military uses ended and its social uses neglected. There, under its walls, Keats composed part of 'Endymion,' as he drank in the scenery from its battlements, and conversed with the descendants of the jackdaws that had chattered to Charles I. Carisbrooke is, as has been said, the centre and the chronicle in stone of the history of the Isle of Wight.

Geology and natural configuration, well portrayed by Sir Harry Englefield, show that the Isle of Wight was once a promontory attached to the eastern extremity of Dorsetshire. But history only knows it as an island, severed from the mainland by the 'gwyth,' or channel, whence its name is derived. Bede describes it as separated from the mainland by