Isle of WightMoncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
History
Isle of Wight
Moncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
Isle of Wight (England) -- Description and travel
In short, one of Bevis’ sons won the crown of England, with the hand of
its heiress; the brother was provided with a kingdom abroad; and Bevis
himself returned to another of his foreign dominions, to live happily
ever afterwards till, at a good old age, he, Josyan, and Arundel died
within a few minutes of each other, the knight and his true lady
sumptuously buried in a church, where even his dead body continued to
work miracles.
Thus ended Bevis of Hampton
That was so bold a baron.
Have I said enough to persuade strangers that they are wrong in not
stopping at Southampton on a visit to the tourist-haunted Island? To
Americans this port should be of special interest, as hence sailed the
_Mayflower_ and the _Speedwell_, freighted with the hopes of a New
England, but the smaller vessel proving unseaworthy, the adventurers,
all packed on board the _Mayflower_, finally embarked at Plymouth, which
thus gets credit for the departure of an expedition that really set out
from Delft Haven, winged by the parting charge of its large-minded
pastor. I had the pleasure of recommending a stay at Southampton West to
Mr W. D. Howells, who in a recent book owns to having enjoyed it; and
indeed there is more to be seen and enjoyed in or about Southampton than
at many places better famed in the tourist world.
On the west side of Southampton Water, through outskirts of the New
Forest, is soon reached the Boldre River, near the mouth of which stands
Lymington, a town before mentioned as pier of the shortest crossing to
the Island, at its Yarmouth end, where it has been proposed to make a
tunnel from the spit on which Hurst Castle rises. Of Lymington there is
not much else to be said, but that it has a look of having come down in
the world, its trade of shipbuilding not being what it once was, though
the estuary still makes a station for yachts. From the open sea it is
separated by flats, that were utilised as salterns. The scenery in the
background is more taking, where the edge of the New Forest plantations
is soon reached over the heathy swells of Sway Common.
Westward, the crumbling cliffs of the coast are fringed by groups of
hotels and lodging-houses growing along Christchurch Bay to Highcliffe
Castle, which was recently selected as _Kur-ort_ for the Kaiser, who
here seems to have profited by the mild air and by the views of the Isle
of Wight that are the chief attraction of this shore. He may also have
admired the prospect on Hengistbury Head, which some stories make the
scene of the first German invasion of England. Then beyond the mouth of
the Stour and Avon, are reached the purlieus of Bournemouth, where the
Island drops out of sight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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