s; the towering
precipices are of the most picturesque shapes; and the Needle Rocks form
an inimitable termination to the scene. Just within the bay is the
NEEDLES CAVE, the deepest along the whole range, as it penetrates the
chalk 300 feet: but the _unique_ feature which above all the rest claims
attention is the niche-like recess in the face of the cliff,
appropriately designated ...

THE GRAND ARCH;

It indicates little that is remarkable at a distance; but a truly
sublime effect is produced when the stranger is placed under its awful
roof with his back against the concave chalk: for he then sees above him
a magnificent Arch two hundred feet in height and overhanging the beach
at least one hundred and eighty!--yet so true, nay, even elegant is the
sweep, that it rather resembles the stupendous work of Art, than the
casual production of Nature. To form an idea of the sublimity of the
scene, the reader should task his memory with the dimensions of some of
the proudest architectural monuments in Great Britain: and the
comparison would immediately remove all doubt, that a sight of the Arch
itself would amply repay the trouble of a visit to Freshwater.

[Illustration: SCRATCHELL'S BAY, _And the NEEDLE ROCKS, as viewed from a
bold Bluff called Sun Corner, being the termination of the Freshwater
Cliffs.--Isle if Wight._]

Scratchell's Bay is about half-a-mile in breadth; being formed by Sun
Corner and the Grand Arch on the eastern side, and on the west by the

NEEDLE ROCKS,

Which stretch out into the sea a considerable distance: they are remains
of the original cliff, and forcibly illustrate the destructive power of
the ocean's stormy winds and waves, which in successive ages have
removed so vast a quantity of the adjacent chalk. Nor are their ravages
at all diminished at the present time: for it is only within the last
few years that the smallest rock has been completely insulated; while
another immense mass of the cliff is evidently separating by degrees,
and will probably become ere long entirely detached, forming a
magnificent pyramid two or three hundred feet high. It is impossible to
convey by verbal description a correct idea of these celebrated rocks:
for in passing round or through them, they assume a different shape
almost every dozen yards; sometimes appearing like a continuation of the
main promontory,--sometimes as one or more lofty acuminated
pyramids,--or again we see the different masses extending in