which, with other cliffs of the same kind on the English coast, have given rise to the poetical name of Albion.

The rocks and shoals, which, on the southern part of the island, extend far out to sea, and render navigation there dangerous, may, very possibly, have been formed by the tumbling of the cliffs, from remote antiquity.

CHALK FORMATION OF ENGLAND.

I have already had occasion to remark that the scenery of countries depends upon their geological structure. I. am acquainted with no district of our country which presents such a physiognomy as the south and south-eastern parts of England. It is not flat like an alluvial region; it is not rugged and rarely mountainous like a primitive country. It is marked by undulations whose boundary lines are curves of large dimensions-generally not indented, and ragged, but regularly arched into, convexities and concavities; presenting cup shaped hollows, and spherical hills. Such is most of the south and east of England-part also of the north-east and of the midland counties. How different from the bold mountains and deep vallies of Derbyshire and of Bath and Bristol; and still more, from the bleak ridges and rugged vallies of Cornwall and Dartmoor, of Snowdon and Pennanmaur, of Skiddaw and Plyulimmon. Most observers perhaps, struck with the picturesque features of a country, enquire no farther than the appearances themselves, and little suspect that they depend upon the nature of the rocky formations beneath.

Chalk is comparatively a rare formation in the world. It is found in Poland, Denmark and the Danish islands, but most abundantly in France and England, and espe

cially in England, which contains the most remarkable chalk formation in the world. I have now travelled over the most important parts of it, and am very much struck with the similarity of features, which, in different parts of the country, it presents. The soil is not deep-yet it is productive in wheat and especially in a fine rich grass, and this is more remarkable as chalk hills are dry, and water is rarely seen oozing from their sides. I have already remarked that the plough often strikes through the soil, and uncovers the chalk beneath, and that sheep thrive remarkably well, and yield fine mutton, when fed upon the chalk downs. There is another interesting circumstance which the traveller will often observe in the English chalk countries. It is the existence of flint imbedded in the chalk. Flint appears to possess no analogy with chalk, being a purely siliceous mineral, while chalk is a calcareous one, yet so constant is this natural association that I believe good flint, fit for sporting, or for war is rarely if ever, found any where but in chalk. Sometimes it is said to be deposited in the chalk in layers, but, much more frequently it is in detached nodules, perfectly imbedded in the chalk, yet entirely distinct from it; forming a continued stratum and yet commonly without any connection between the nodules; nay more, successive layers of flint nodules are found in the chalk, at different elevations, yet preserving commonly a parallelism with one another, and each obeying all the inflections of the other. Most of these facts I have had occasion to verify in the progress of my journey. Where the chalky cliffs are vertically broken, as at Niton, the included nodules of flint are also often broken with such precision, that they look like a pudding with its plumbs cut through by the knife. I have elsewhere re

marked that flint is so abundant in the chalk counties of England, that it is used as materials for mending the roads, and it is excellent for this purpose, as it is at once so easily broken and so indestructible. At Stonehenge, wishing to break off a fragment of the ruin, to bring away with me, I seized a nodule of flint which lay at hand, but the repeated blows shivered the flint to pieces while the tender sand stone to which it was applied was scarcely affected.

There are no chalk countries in either of the Americas as far as observation has gone, and no considerable quantities of flint. Chalk beds contain some petrifactions, but as far as I am informed, they are not calcareous, as we should expect, but siliceous.

It is said that on the loftiest rocks, near the western extremity of the island, the inhabitants practise the dangerous arts, used in the Shetland islands, to catch the birds that build in these cliffs, which are inaccessible to all but such hardy adventurers. Sitting on a cross-stick, fastened to the end of a rope, which is tied to a stake in the ground, they are lowered down the precipice, till they arrive among the birds, whom they kill, while the sea is roaring below. I was informed that the eider-down is obtained in this manner in the cliffs of the Isle of Wight.

From these instructive scenes I hastened back to Newport, regretting that I had not more time to explore this interesting island. I left my horse, and, as no conveyance offered, I walked back to Cowes, where I arrived at two in the afternoon, and employed myself till bed-time in writing the journal of several preceding days, unavoidably omitted at the proper periods, on account of the rapidity of my late movements.

I did not observe any thing in the agricultural productions of this island, which is not found generally in the middle and southern counties of the kingdom. Wheat, oats, barley, and beans grow well, but wheat is the principal crop, and it is even said that the government places considerable reliance upon the Isle of Wight for the supply of the army and navy. It is, on the whole, a highly favoured spot, and one of the most desirable residences in the kingdom.

No. LV.-PORTSMOUTH.

Passage to Portsmouth-Modern taste for Gothic buildings—Ships of War-Victory-Royal Sovereign-Sketch of PortsmouthFreedom of travelling and of conversation in England-Embarkation of Lord Nelson-Anecdote.

Sept. 14.—About nine in the morning, with a fair wind, and an uncommonly fine sky, I embarked in a passage boat, and, at noon, landed at Portsmouth.

As we sailed from the harbour of Cowes, at the mouth of which is a castle built by Henry VIII. I had a repetition of the fine views of the town and island. On our right, near the shore, we saw a villa, which Lord Henry Seymour is now erecting. He has built it, thus far, in the ancient castle style, with towers and battlements, so that it looks like the residence of one of the old feudal barons. This taste for the antique seems to be very prevalent at present in England. The king's new palace at Kew, a new church at Bristol, and various other struc

tures, both public and private, which I have seen in different parts of England, are in this style; I have seen even a toll-house at a turnpike-gate, in the Gothic style.

It is certainly an odd whim to build castles, in a period when they are no longer of any use, and to introduce anew, the heavy, prison-like edifices of a barbarous age, instead of the airy, convenient, and elegant structures of modern architecture.

In our passage to Portsmouth, we sailed close to the fleet, which lies moored at Spithead. I counted between sixty and seventy sail of ships, besides brigs and smaller vessels. They were not all ships of war, although most of them were, in some way, connected with the naval service. I had the pleasure of seeing among them several ships of war of from seventy-four to one hundred and ten guns.

The Victory, the proud flag-ship of Lord Nelson, lay. moored off St. Helens, three or four miles from us, and, with a glass, I could plainly distinguish her ports; she had white sides, and with her three tiers of guns, made a most formidable appearance. We passed near the Royal Sovereign, another one hundred and ten gun ship, commanded by Admiral Collingwood.

As we approached Portsmouth, I was forcibly struck with the magnitude and extent of its fortifications. As it is the great naval station, no pains or expense have been spared in making it impregnable. The ships of war are not stationed in the harbour of Portsmouth alone; the whole expanse of water between this town and the Isle of Wight, forms indeed but one great haven, which is an excellent road for ships of war.