n object of interest (at least with artists or amateurs of sketching,)
that ought not to be passed by unnoticed. It is exceedingly steep: has a
never-failing spring on its lofty summit, and is often cheerfully
sprinkled with sheep, of the South-down breed, safely nibbling the close
herbage on its precipitous side.

Speaking of the down, we should deserve to be censured by those of
our elderly readers who may have been to Ventnor ere it reached the
magnitude of a town, not to inform them, that _the then only Hotel_
(so beautifully seated close at the foot of the hill,) _is no
longer a place of public accommodation_; the license has been
transferred. Many were the respectable parties of the olden time
who used to amuse themselves with the attempt to gain the summit of
the down,--sometimes successfully, but more frequently at the
expense of a rather too precipitate descent, to the no small
diversion of their friends who had less daring to make the
experiment. In this age of refinement, such displays of rural
agility would be regarded as "utterly vulgar!" there are however
more circuitous and accessible paths by which we may reach the
eminence, and hence enjoy a most delightful prospect.

In concluding this brief notice of Ventnor, it would be very unfair
to Dr. Clarke, not to mention the fact, that he was decidedly
opposed to the residences of invalids (with pulmonary consumption)
being accumulated together "_in the form of a Town_;" he recommends
that a number of _detached_ houses should be built along the
Undercliff, each surrounded with the protection of a garden-wall
and a few trees. But, begging the Doctor's pardon, we heartily
rejoice that his advice could not be acted upon to any considerable
extent (except at Ventnor and Bonchurch); because fortunately the
most eligible and attractive spots in this romantic district are in
the holding of gentlemen who have chosen such for their _private_
residences: and certainly, if selfishness was ever pardonable, it
is so in this instance; nay, for our part, we really congratulate
the public, that the spirit of exclusiveness so widely exists in
this happy region of the sublime and beautiful. For what a
lamentable transformation it would prove of the natural character
of the scenery, to have many large and often glary houses ob