causeway on one side, and are generally bordered by verdant hedges, decked in the spring with a profusion of primroses and other wild flowers, and occasionally shaded on either side by trees, whose branches form an arch impervious to the sun; the frequent openings afford a pretty coup-d'œil of the country. GRASS LANDS. The productive soil of this island appears nowhere to so great advantage as in the pastures near the town. Both the soil and climate are very favourable to the produce of grass; the land is constantly manured, but they mow it only once in the year. The common produce of hay per vergee is a ton, which be nearly two tons and a half the statute acre; but a plentiful crop will be half a ton more per vergee, being at least three tons and a half. may It is a general remark made by English agriculturists, that the farmers here suffer the grass to stand too long before they cut it; and also permit it to remain abroad too long, which destroys a portion of the nutritive part of the hay. It has been before observed, that all kinds of cattle are tethered on the pastures; it may be added, that some persons tether even their sheep; this practice, it is said, makes them thrive better; it at least makes the grass go farther, and the animals more docile; and this plan may do for those who keep only half a dozen, but an English grazier would smile at the sight. Many of the best cultivators of the soil here, make use of instruments, like those contained in plate nos. 3,4, 5, p. 144, for the purpose of rooting up docks and other large weeds from the pastures. The rents of the lands may be calculated from their sales; for land is here taken to rent by quarters of wheat. Guernsey measure is three Winchester bushels to the quarter; the price of the quarter, at this period, is 15s.; in time of war it has been as high as 40s.; 15s. the quarter is at the rate of 27. 5s. the vergee, or about five guineas the statute acre. This is the value of land within a mile and a half of the town; lands at a distance from it will not produce so much by a quarter of wheat or more the vergee; and land sold for building will produce a much higher price. LABOUR. The pay of the common labourer by the day, in the country parishes, is from one shilling and sixpence to two shillings; with two bottles of cider, or half a pint of spirits, which they drink mixed with water. When they have their three meals, they are paid from one shilling to one shilling and three-pence per day. About the town, labour is somewhat dearer; working gardeners, who have stated days at different houses, once or twice a week, to keep the respective gardens in order, are paid two shillings and sixpence, with an allowance of cider or spirits once in each day at least. Those gardeners who manage wall-fruit and green-houses, are paid somewhat higher. Masons have two shillings and fourpence, and carpenters three shillings per day; the best workmen, and plasterers, have also three shillings per day. 1. CHAPTER VIII. "Now call we our high Courts of Parliament, King Henry IV. ALL these islands in St. Michael's Bay (or Gulph of Avranches, or Contance,) were ceded A. D. 912, by Charles the Simple to Duke Rollo. In 1066 their sovereign, William I, a Norman, ascended the English throne; and in 1360, by the treaty of Bretigni, when our Edward III agreed to yield to the French monarch his claim to the dutchy of Normandy itself, the right to all the islands of which Edward was then in possession, was expressly reserved to him in full sovereignty. 1 From the time of the union of these islands to Great Britain, their inhabitants have ever remained attached to it in heart and interest; "Evincing on every emergency (says Quayle), which history or tradition records, the most devoted loyalty and persevering courage." .Their ancestors' example is emulated by the present descendants in all the islands; but perhaps those of Guernsey and Sark have been less under the dominion of the dæmon of discord than the other two. Party spirit has 1 Falle's Cæsarea, p. 7 and 37; Warburton, p. 7; Quayle, p. 2. truly run high both in Jersey and in Alderney, yet it has not in the least affected the loyalty of their respective inhabitants. Guernsey forms a Bailiwick, in which is included the isles of Alderney, Sark, Herm, and Jethou, with a Governor, usually non-resident, and a Lieut.-Governor, or deputy, residing.1 The general legislative power belongs to the Assembly of the States: it is said general, because the Royal Court, at its Chief Pleas, has the power of issuing ordinances for the better government of the island; these are however deemed temporary laws Perhaps the share of the legislative power which these two respective bodies possess, cannot be accurately defined by a stranger. 2 The Assembly of the States of the island must have the "The dukedom of Normandy was divided into seven great bailiwicks, which were again subdivided: of these the isles of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, anciently formed one bailiwick. In the time of Henry VII, when Matthew Baker, Groom of the Bedchamber, was made Governor by the title of Captain of Jersey, Guernsey was made a distinct Government."-Dr. Shebbeare's Hist. of Jersey, vol. i. p. 11 and 113. 2 "As for any ordinance, or act of the Court, or of the Chief Pleas, or made by the States of the island, all such are but provisional ordinances, and have not at all the force of a law; nor can they be so esteemed, until they have the ratification of the King, or at least of the Lords of the Council, which alone can put such a stamp upon them as may make them authentic: and yet these have sometimes obtained in the island an allowance of greater authority than in truth they ought in right to have."-Warburton, p. 77. See also Quayle's Remarks, p. 240. "In the time of Edward II, between the years 1307 and 1327, the islands appear to have been under the jurisdiction of the Courts of Westminster, which harassed the inhabitants with quo warrantos, by which they were obliged to make their appearance at Westminster: but by Edward III this order, compelling the inhabitants to attend the Courts of Westminster, was suppressed." "By ordinances of Henry VII, the military and civil government had been divided, as powers too great to be exercised by the same person."— Shebbeare's Hist. of Jersey, p. 171. See also Falle's Ditto, p. 107. sanction of the resident Governor in the first instance, but he has only a consulting or an advising voice in the proceedings of the meeting, which consists of the Bailiff, who is president; the Lieut.-Bailiff and the eleven other Jurats; the Procureur, or his Majesty's Attorney-General; the clergy, namely, the eighth Rectors,1 and the Constables of the ten parishes, having for each parish only one vote. His Majesty's Comptroller, the The reader is referred to the Order in Council dated 11th December, 1776, respecting the meeting of the States, an extract from which may be seen in the Appendix.-Edit. In all grants, patents, and orders, of King and Council, and the oaths which are taken by the Bailiff and Jurats, there appears to be no legislative power imparted to the Court, but to the States only : custom has, however, in this instance, become law. Dr. Shebbeare remarks on this subject, the absurdity of this union of inconsistent powers. Hist. of Jersey, p. 91. 1 Foreigners, preferred to benefices, are excluded, unless naturalized by the Court. In the answer of the Bailiff and the Royal Court to a petition of five of the Rectors to the King and Council, for their right to sit at the left hand of the Bailiff, at the meeting of the States, which petition is dated 10th of February, 1732, and the answer of the Court on the 17th of October, 1732, it appears that the Royal Court denied the right of the clergy to sit in the States, except by courtesy and they say that the constitution of the island makes no mention either of that body or of the Procureur, though it appears by the same answer, they acknowledge that the States of Normandy consisted of the clergy, nobility, and commons. The Order in Council, granting the request of the clergy, is dated the 18th of December, 1735. In 1760, Dean Hemming petitions the King and Council to grant him a seat in the States, he not being a Rector. The Order in Council relative to this, is dated 10th of July, 1760, and grants to the Dean, "All the powers and privileges which his predecessors in the same office have, at any time heretofore, held, possessed, or enjoyed:" but the Order does not specify either his right of sitting or voting in the States as Dean of the island. Here the matter rested; as it appears the Royal Court had no objection to his seat, but only to his It certainly must appear strange that the head of the clergy in the island should be denied the privilege which the subordinate clergy possess. The deanery having been united to one of the rectories, has set this matter at rest.-Edit. vote. Q* |