[Illustration:  To JOHN HAMBROUGH Esq. of Steephill Castle, in the Isle of Wight, This view of ST. CATHERINE’S CHURCH, erected by him at VENTNOR, is most respectfully inscribed by His much obliged humble servant, GEORGE BRANNON.]

ST. CATHARINE’S CHURCH is a beautiful feature in every respect, both in its exterior and interior, being the neatest in the island:  and situated as it is on a commanding knoll nearly in the middle of the town, affords an admirable relief to the whole scene, by arresting the eye from the scattered glare of the surrounding slate-roofed and white-walled buildings,—­which are almost the universal character of the houses.

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The COVE presents at certain times a very animated and engaging picture:  fishermen preparing for or returning from their voyage; invalids and other respectable parties sauntering or reclining on the sunny beach:  some reading, others amused in listening to, and watching the curling waves expire at their feet in spreading foam.  The material of the shore is principally fine shingle, or very small pebbles, among which particles are frequently picked up, possessing a brilliancy that has gained for them the title of “Isle of Wight diamonds;” and though they may be comparatively of inferior value in point of intrinsic quality,—­still, the interest taken in searching for them must prove a source of the most agreeable employment to those visitors whose health precludes any exercise of a more active nature.

ST. BONIFACE DOWN, which forms a green back-ground to the view, is also an object of interest (at least with artists or amateurs of sketching,) that ought not to be passed by unnoticed.  It is exceedingly steep:  has a never-failing spring on its lofty summit, and is often cheerfully sprinkled with sheep, of the South-down breed, safely nibbling the close herbage on its precipitous side.

Speaking of the down, we should deserve to be censured by those of our elderly readers who may have been to Ventnor ere it reached the magnitude of a town, not to inform them, that the then only Hotel (so beautifully seated close at the foot of the hill,) is no longer a place of public accommodation; the license has been transferred.  Many were the respectable parties of the olden time who used to amuse themselves with the attempt to gain the summit of the down,—­sometimes successfully, but more frequently at the expense of a rather too precipitate descent, to the no small diversion of their friends who had less daring to make the experiment.  In this age of refinement, such displays of rural agility would be regarded as “utterly vulgar!” there are however more circuitous and accessible paths by which we may reach the eminence, and hence enjoy a most delightful prospect.

In concluding this brief notice of Ventnor, it would be very unfair to Dr. Clarke,