Passing over to the Isle of Wight, and traversing its shores, we shall witness many unique examples of natural beauty, swelling sometimes into sublimity,--such are the chalk cliffs near its western extremity, from two hundred to six hundred feet high,--sometimes hollowed out into magnificent domes, and the pillars of chalk, called _Needles_, in the midst of the sea, alive with sea gulls and cormorants, and forming the remnants of the chalk bridge that once united the island to England. There, too, Alum Bay, with its many-colored strata of clay, unites the interesting in geology with the picturesque in scenery. Along the southern coast, also, are the stupendous cliffs and the romantic under-cliffs, as well as the ragged _chines_, where an almost tropical climate attracts the invalid, while the cool sea breezes draw thither the wealthy and the fashionable. But if sublime scenery pleases us more, we must traverse the Highlands of Scotland,-- "Land of brown heath and shaggy furze," land of lofty and naked mountains, embosoming lakes of great beauty, and full of historic and poetic interest. Passing over Loch Lomond, the queen of Scottish lakes, you go through the long shadow of Ben Lomond, propped by many lesser mountains. Rising into the Highlands, the sterility and wildness increase, and reach their maximum in Glencoe, whose wildness and sublimity are indeed indescribable; but if seen, they can never be forgotten. Still farther north, Ben Nevis lifts its uncovered head above all other mountains in the British Isles; so high, indeed, that often, during the whole summer, it retains a portion of its snowy, wintry mantle. Yet farther north, we come to the unique terraces, called the _Parallel Roads of Glen Roy_, formerly supposed to be the work of giants; but now, that they are known to be the product of nature, proving not only objects of great scenographical interest, but a problem of special importance and difficulty in geology. If we should pass from Scotland to the north-east part of Ireland, taking Staffa in our way, we should find in the basaltic columns of Fingal's Cave, and the Giant's Causeway, what seems, at first view, to be stupendous human structures, or rather the architecture of giants. But you soon find it to be only an example-- "Where nature works as if defying art, And, in defiance of her rival powers, By these fortuitous and random strokes, Performing such inimitable feats, As she, with all her rules, can never reach."