The view of Milford Haven would be much more pic turesque, if it were not for a deficiency of wood : it also loses much of its effect from the want of grandeur in the surrounding hills.
Beyond Milford Haven, the coast of South Wales continues rocky : it is also full of caves and remarka ble apertures, to the entrance of the bay of Caermarthen. The northern horn of this bay is formed by the rock on which Tenby is situated; the opposite horn, by the point of Penryhn Gwye,—the extremity of that singu lar peninsula in Glamorganshire, that is called Gower. On the other side of this peninsula lies the bay of Ox wich, and still lower the bay of Swansea expands itself. The greatest part of the sea coast of Glamorganshire swells into a semicircular sweep, but the western extre mity is formed into a narrow beak, between the open channel, on the one hand, and an arm of the sea, which runs round the Caermarthenshire coast, on the other. Beyond the hay of Swansea, the shore presents the cas tles of Dunraven, St Donats, and Fienmuni; the bay of Glamorgan next succeeds ; and from its shore, the Bristol Channel being here much contracted, the heights of the opposite coasts of Devonshire and So mersetshire, between Ilfracombe and Minehead, ap pear finely elevated : the sea which separates England and Wales, contains in this place the two small islands of the Steep and the Flat Holmes, which however are much nearer to the Welsh than the English coast.
The shore of Monmouthshire inclines chiefly to the south, verging at last towards the east : the first part of it is marshy and low, but as we approach the Wye, it becomes rocky and lofty.
The coast of Somersetshire receives the Bristol Chan nel into an extensive bay, which forms a kind of semi circle ; and, if the indented outline of the shore is ta ken into the account, it will be found to stretch nearly 60 miles ; at first it forms a broad plain, bordered by marshes, and it continues chiefly level, till it reaches the bay of Minehead, where the majestic pile of Dun ster Castle appears proudly elevated. From this the coast of Somersetshire, together with that of Devonshire, which soon joins it, may be called mountainous, abound ing in dark cliffs and rocky hollows. The shore of the latter county extends at first due west, and then turning south, the land is very irregularly indented, so as to form Barnstaple Bay : it turns again westward, and, afterwards advancing north, forms the bay which is called Porlidge Mouth, at the extremity of which lies Hartland Point ; the extent of the whole is rather more than 36 miles.
Soon after we pass Hartland point, the coast of Corn wall commences, the land declining to the south-west. The first place we meet with on the Cornish shore is Beedshaven. A long range of broken coast succeeds to
St Ives, its inclination being more and more westward from the south. After passing the semicircular bay of St Ives, the coast begins to turn, and after Cape Corn wall, the Land's End, the most westerly point of the island, makes its appearance. After doubling this point, the Cornish shore advances southward, with some swells to the east, and soon expands into the capacious bay of St Michael. The Lizard is the next remarkable object, a promontory that stretches out farther to the south than any part of the western coast of England, being somewhat below the 50th degree of latitude. The shore next inclines, for a short space, in a north-east direction, and then turning irregularly towards the southeast, becomes indented as far as the southern horn of the Ram's Head, which is opposite to the coast of Devonshire. In this part of the Cornish coast, there are several bays and havens, the most remarkable of which is Falmouth Ilaven; the estuaries of the Fowey and the Lucie follow in succession; that of the Tamar being the last and most important, where the harbour and Sound of Plymouth are formed between the shores of Cornwall and Devonshire.
Throughout that part of the English Channel, which runs from the entrance of Plymouth Sound to Ports mouth harbour, the coast principally fronts the south : it is, however, deeply indented with various bays, that are formed by great projecting headlands. The har bour of Plymouth is double; the outer harbour, princi pally for merchantmen, lies beneath the Old Town, while the noble road, called the Sound of Plymouth, is formed by the confluence of the Plym and the Tamar with the sea. Plymouth Sound opens to the south east, opposite to the rock on which Eddystone light house is built. The Eddystone rocks are a congeries of irregular rocks, situated about 12 miles from the mid dle of the Sound: they are so much exposed to the heavy swells from the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean, that the waves frequently break over them with inconceivable fury. In consequence of the many fa tal accidents that happened to ships, from running against these dreadful rocks, a light-house was erected on one of them in the year 1696: this stood many vio lent storms; but in the dreadful storm that happened on the 27th of November, 1703, it was blown down, and all within it perished. A second light-house was erected in 1708, and burnt in 1755. The present edi fice, which was built by Air Smeaton, and finished in the year 1759, is universally admired, for the mechanism and architecture displayed in its construction, and bids fair to hand his name down to a very late posterity as an engineer of the first rate talents and experience.