her papa on the causes of this remarkable convulsion of nature. “Is it supposed to have been occasioned by an earthquake or a volcano?” asked she. “No,” replied Mr. Merton; “the cause is supposed to be the numerous beautiful little springs, which you will see presently, meandering among the fallen rocks; sometimes collecting into little pools, and sometimes forming miniature cascades, in their progress towards the sea. The springs, it is thought, formerly flowed under this sunken cliff, and must have melted some of the softer under strata, which being washed away, the upper part would gradually sink down, as we see it has done.” “Is it long since the fall took place?” “All memory of the first land-slip of this cliff has passed away; but in the year 1779 a large portion of the upper cliff, about eighty or ninety acres, was suddenly seen sinking, and sliding towards the sea; the surface cracking in various directions, and chasms opening here and there as it fell. This was near the very spot we are now traversing.” “But have there been any slips since then?” asked Agnes, looking somewhat frightened. “Yes,” said the driver, “there was a house swallowed up near Niton, not many years ago.” “There was also a land-slip, in the year 1811, at the other extremity of the under cliff, near Bonchurch,” said Mr. Merton, “by which about fifty acres were displaced.” They had stopped the carriage while they were looking at the cliffs, and now when they began to move on again, the driver pointed to what appeared an upright black stick, at the extremity of the horizon, and told Agnes that it was the Alexandrian Pillar. Agnes remembered that her mother had told her that light-houses were sometimes called Pharos, from the name of the island on which the first was erected; and she thought, as Pharos was near Alexandria, perhaps the Alexandrian Pillar was another name for a light-house, so she said, “Oh yes, the light-house; I see it just below us.” “No,” said the man, “I don’t mean the light-house, but the pillar Squire Hoy built on the Downs.” Mr. Merton now explained to Agnes, that Mr. Hoy, who possessed a good deal of property in that part of the Isle of Wight, had been a Russian merchant; and that he had erected this column, out of gratitude for the kindness he had experienced from the Emperor Alexander, in commemoration of that monarch’s visit to Great Britain, in 1814. “St. Catherine’s Down,” continued Mr. Merton, “is about nine hundred feet above the level of the sea, and is the highest part of the island.” “Yes, but it is lower now than it used to be,” said the driver. “They say it is not above eight hundred feet high now in most parts, and that it is gradually sinking.” “I wonder they did not put the light-house on the top of the Down, as it is so high,” said Agnes.