LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOURIST.

WE sailed from Southampton for Jersey, by the Lady de Saumarez, at six o'clock, on Saturday, the 6thof August. The opposition, which has reduced the prices, has very much increased the number of passengers, so that the only or at least the best birth vacant was over the paddlewheel, and that was worse than none at all; for the vibration of the engine, the slapping of the paddle-boards on the surface of the water, and the odour of the molten cart-grease were all together utterly insupportable. However, the night was fine, and I found a tolerably comfortable corner on deck, where I lay down, and slept soundly, with the sky for a coverlid and the stars for night-lamps.

Before the moon rose the lights at Hurst Castle and the Needles had faded from our view, and we were alone on the deep dark sea. There is something indescribably agreeable in the sensation produced by first losing sight of land. The feeling of solitude, however irksome when continued for any length of time, is the reverse of painful when one knows it will last only for a few hours. After indulging for a time my thoughts I retired to my bed as before described, and laid my head on the hard boards to enjoy a slumber, which was as sweet and as sound as though it had been on a bed of down. One of the advantages of a couch al fresco, on the open deck, was the early waking, which enabled me to see the sun rise. We were off the island of Aurigny, or Alderney, when I first shook the night dews from my hair, where they had gathered somewhat abundantly, and looked out on the broad red belt which skirted the eastern horizon. That part of the heavens nearest the water was free from clouds, but they had clustered rather thickly above, and, as the hour of sun-rise more nearly approached, the far reaching beams of the sun kindled the opaque, and it glowed with a brightness almost too intense for the eye to bear, till at length the ruddy god peeped over the bounding line and showed his broad disc on the face of the waters.

Not long after we arrived at Guernsey, and had no sooner brought to, than halfa score of boatmen from the island leaped on board to make prize of such passengers as were thither bound. They are a fine hardy, healthy-looking race, and their appearance agrees exactly with the character they bear-that of inveterate and daring smugglers. At ten o'clock we reached St. Heliers, in Jersey, and shortly after were safely landed.

I had expected to see something of a French character in the people or the houses; or both, but this is by no means the case. The town, which is said to contain about 30,000 inhabitants, much resembles an English country-town of the same size, both as regards cleanliness and the mode of building and laying out. The people in dress and manners entirely resemble the English, the only mark of their foreign descent being the recitative, if I may so call it, of their language, which is French. Indeed, the intonation is precisely that of a Frenchman speaking English perfectly well, though of course the idiom is purer than a foreigner can possibly acquire. Of their

character I can give no very just opinion. The shortness of my stay in the island, and the peculiar circumstances of my visit, may perchance have impressed me with too favourable ideas of them:-but they appear to be hospitable and obliging, certainly very loyal and independent. Indeed they are highly favoured both by nature and political circumstances. The climate is exceedingly healthy. Poverty is almost unknown among them, and taxation exists only in name. Custom and excise laws there are none; and, in short, they may be considered as independent republics living under and enjoying the protection of a powerful empire. They seemed to me prejudiced and self-important, but this must not be wondered at, considering their situation; and even if their trifling magnitude and importance were so low in the scale as to justify the contemptuous observation of the great Lord Thurlow, when threatened by them with a rebellion in case of the English council persisting in some measures which they thought harsh and unjust; yet right sorry should I be if any ill-judged severity or arbitrary interference with their internal administration, should crush or tend to crush the loyal and Antigallican spirit of the Channel islanders.

One of the peculiarities of this people seems to be an indifference to the accumulation of wealth. No man here is ambitious of being thought a man of fortune :-provided they have a competence they are satisfied; and competence here is very different from the same thing in England. A limited income, which in England would scarcely suffice for the necessities of life, will here amply supply all the luxuries that can be desired. A man must, however, be satisfied with a domestic life, for there is almost an absolute lack of places of entertainment, and you must seek for enjoyment within your own circle of connections, or find it not. There is also a lassitude, a want of energy apparent in the character of the inhabitants which would ill assort with the active spirit of one accustomed to the busy habits, the tumult and struggle for advancement in place or means which pervades a metropolis of itself covering a space of ground equal in magnitude to the whole island.

The courts of law here still use the French language, a corrupt dialect of which is much spoken by the common people; but a passing visitor may not hope to explain the mysteries of a judicature which is neither written in statutes nor founded on precedents, as far at least as I could learn. Indeed, they scarcely seem to have any criminal code at all; and there is a culpable lenity prevalent among them which forbids the destruction of life even in cases of the most unmitigated description. One singular custom still remains, which is a part of the old Norman law of Rollo, called the "clameur de Haro." The great freebooter, after the cession of Neustria to him and his pirates, governed them and the other inhabitants of the district, from the new comers called Normandy, with justice and paternal care. One of his laws was to the effect that any one who considered his property unjustly trespassed on should cry aloud three times," Haro!" that is, "Aid me, Rollo !" and such was his known equity that none dared continue his aggression till it was decided by some tribunal which of

* Tempestas in matulà.

the parties had justice on his side. This law is frequently observed in Jersey, and in cases of disputed property prevents the trespass being carried to an irremediable extent before the right is decided.

Every resident, whether native or not, is obliged to serve in the militia. I saw them reviewed by the lieutenant-governor, and though their personal appearance was the reverse of favourable, they performed their evolutions with considerable precision and readiness. When the island was attacked by the French, in 1781, the militia assisted in the defence-not without some loss of life. There is in the church a monument to the memory of Major Pearson, who fell on that occasion, which is beautifully executed; but the name of the sculptor is effaced, nor could any person whom I had the opportunity of asking supply me the information I required.

The people of Jersey are, for the most part, of low stature, in that respect being inferior to the natives of the English side of the channel. But they are stout and healthy, and many of them boast pedigrees which would do honour to the most distinguished blood in the empire. The de Carteret family (of which Captain Carteret the circumnavigator was a member) have been so long established in the island that their origin is lost in the darkness which preceded the historical period, and Philippe de Carteret was, in the year 1685, the fifty-ninth seigneur de St. Ouen, all having borne the same name and descended from the same stock.

The face of the country is agreeably varied, and offers most charming prospects to such as are satisfied with the picturesque without the sublime. There are some remnants, too, of antiquity by no means devoid of interest: the chateau of Mont Argeuil, memorable for its seiges, the Fort Elizabeth, at the mouth of the small harbour of St. Helier's, and the Tower of Hogue Bye, which, by the way, has been rebuilt not many years since. From the top of this tower may be seen the greater part of the island, broken as its surface is by valleys and hills of no great magnitude, but enough to relieve the eye from the monotony of a plain, and studded with what appears from that elevation to be forests, but are in reality orchards. I leave to the guide-books and chronicles particular descriptions and historical anecdotes, and here close an account of Jersey, which I fear you may find somewhat of the longest. The other islands, which I did not visit, are I am told so similar that one description will serve for all. “Ab und disce omnes." My next letter will be dated from Paris.

LETTER II.

Paris, August 13.

I HAVE just arrived here, after the usual troublesome journey by diligence-diligence, quotha! it bears no resemblance to its name. Five miles an hour is but sorry pace for one accustomed to English stage-coaches and double that speed. I left the island of Jersey by the Ariadne steamer, wind fair and sun shining, and arrived at St. Malo in four hours. We landed after the usual examination by the douanier, and I found myself on French ground, after eleven years' absence from "the sacred soil," as our neighbours call it. The first thing was to secure a place in the diligence, and none was to be

found except on the bouquette. Now this is the cheapest part of the coach, and, for the most part, appropriated to inferior passengers. But in reality it is by far the most agreeable, being, in fact, the front seat on the top, with a cover over it like that of a cabriolet. As it happened I had the company of two Englishmen, as eager to get forward as myself, and we passed our time pleasantly enough. Normandy in its general appearance, as far as nature is concerned, very much resembles England. The same perpetual verdure,-the trees and hedge-rows, the waving surface of the soil-all was familiarlooking and delicious; but, then, one need not come so far for it. However, there was much to satisfy me of the identity of Normandy and France. The first signs were in the cuisine: at breakfast we had, among others, a dish of pigeons' wings fried in what appeared to me to be train oil, but I suppose I was mistaken. To return however to St. Malo, the town requires little description; it is built on a tongue of arid soil that runs into the sea, is surrounded by high walls, and is as dirty and uncomfortable as can be well imagined. But my business lay not here. So that after a visit to the sous-prefecture to obtain my passport, and a stroll round the town and along the ramparts, my curiosity was amply satisfied; and I spent the remainder of my spare time in watching the drill of some companies of the thirty-third regiment, which was quartered here. You must not suppose that the much and deservedly-praised French soldiery show so well as we might expect. They are, for the most part, much shorter and slighter than our fellows, and though they have a peculiar character, and that too very military, I do not think they are nearly so perfect in their evolutions. You look in vain for the regularity and firmness of our troops; and, though I do not pretend to be a judge in military affairs, I think, without knowing it to be the truth, I could guess that they would give way before a charge of English bayonets, however gallant and fearless of danger their spirits might be in any other situation. The weight alone would bear them down. But I may, perhaps, be able to say more about them after I have looked round me in Paris. I return to the point of departure from St. Malo-the messageries.

"A vos places messieurs les voyageurs," cried the conductor; and I mounted the diligence. "Eh! roule, cocher," for the postillion no longer exists. The harness is not improved, but the horses are driven much after the fashion of our own four-horse coaches. The whip, formed of a long strip of untanned hide fastened to the end of a clumsy stick,was cracked, and offtrotted our five ragged-heeled, rough-coated horses, dragging the lumbering vehicle after them as fast as they might. Of course during the night we could see nothing; but, as the morning advanced, we were presented with every variety of the high Norman cap, which, to my eye, is the reverse of graceful. The eternal blouse and a straw hat, or a white cotton nightcap, furnished a head-dress for the he-peasants, with occasionally the addition of sabots. The pigs, who like all French pigs I have ever seen, are long-legged and lank-bellied, have collars formed of four staves, each pair parallel and at right angles with the other pair, the head being inserted in the square of the centre. I have no doubt that they are very inconvenient to the wearers, but they seemed admirably adapted

for preventing their passage through hedgerows and trespassing on forbidden ground. At Caen I found a French town utterly uncorrupted by English travellers, very few of whom pass through this part of France. Many 'of the houses are [exceedingly old and picturesque, with beams of carved wood on the outside, two of which opposite to the hotel where I dined appeared to be the subject of one of Prout's drawings. There was much reason to regret not having time to visit the cathedral, or that of Coutances. Both are said to be fine, with beautiful stained glass-windows. From Caen to Paris, another two-and-twenty hours journey, gives one a sufficient taste of the pleasures of land travelling, but to those who could spare the time to traverse it more leisurely this road offers much that is inviting. Part of this road lies on the banks of the Seine, passing by the château de Rosney, the birth-place of Sully, lately belonging to the duchess of Berri. Among the inconveniences of inside places in the diligence not the least annoying is an unpleasant companion. My opposite neighbour was an old French woman, who, to judge by her appearance, might have been the mother of Methusaleh; but I can conceive that in these days she cannot have been much past a hundred. Now her appearance alone was so disgusting that it was absolutely painful to look upon her; and, to render her presence still more annoying, she had a huge pannier of eatables and drinkables, which occupied the place where my legs ought to have been, which legs in consequence were squeezed into another place, much against their will. For what purpose such a decrepit old creature could travel I cannot conceive; but surely she must have had pressing affairs to induce her to undertake a journey from St. Malo to Paris at her time of life. But the road shortens. We arrive at St. Germains, at Nanterre, and at length pass the barrière de Neuilly, et "me voila" encore une fois à Paris. Before I leave the French capital I shall give you some account of the changes which have taken place since we visited it together in 1825.

LETTER III.

Paris, August 17.

HHVING now paid a hurried visit to many of the chief places of Paris, I proceed to redeem my promise at the close of the last letter. The first step I took on my arrival was to visit an old acquaintance, in order to learn what there was to be seen new since our visit some years ago. Having obtained the requisite information, I repaired to the Madeleine, now at length completed. A church founded by the unfortunate Louis XVI.-in the reign of terror converted into a temple where the mad republicans might worship their goddess Liberty (alas! that so fair a name should ever have been desecrated by the horrors of that period)-by Napoleon destined for a temple of glory, wherein should be inscribed the names of all his heroesduring the restoration left untouched, and now at length completed and about to be opened for the worship of God, in a nation the vast majority of whom openly profess infidelity. Indeed its appearance is that of a heathen temple, not of a Christian church. There can be no question as to its beauty; originality it does not claim. The form