226 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS: JERSEY,, GUERNSEY, ALDERNEY, &c. 

 (THE RESULT OF A Two YEAR'S RESIDENCE). BY HENRY D. 

 INGLIS. 2 VOLS. WHITTAKER AND Co. 



MR. INGLIS is a traveller after our own heart. He is not one of 

 those soul-less tourists who can journey from Dan to Beersheba, and 

 then exclaim, " 'Tis all barren !" He has his eyes about him, and a 

 taste for the beauties of nature, as well as for the legendary lore of 

 the countries through which he passes. Hence in all his volumes of 

 travels he agreeably blends the most vivid and picturesque delinea- 

 tions of nature, with the most agreeable legends, which are even now 

 among the peasantry. The present volumes are at once entertaining 

 and instructive. We defy any man to read any of Mr. Inglis' works 

 without being pleased with his manner ; and if he be not a living en- 

 cyclopedia on the subject of the Channel Islands, he must derive a 

 great deal of useful information respecting these islands from the 

 work before us. The Channel Islands were before comparatively un- 

 known ; as much so, indeed, though so near the British shores, as 

 some of the islands in the South Seas, In the volumes before us, 

 Mr. Inglis furnishes us with a complete account of those islands, of 

 their statutes, their resources, their physical condition, and the man- 

 ners and habits of their inhabitants. But there is no part of his 

 work with which we are more delighted than with his description of 

 scenery. We have seldom seen any thing more graphic, or more 

 charming. We give the following specimen, not certainly from any 

 idea that it is the best, for there are many much better, but because 

 it is most suited, from its brevity, to our limited space. It relates to 

 the general scenery of Jersey : 



"Jersey is everywhere undulating, broken into hollows and acclivities, 

 and intersected by numerous valleys, generally running north and south ; 

 most of them watered by a rivulet, and as rife in beauty, as wood, pasturage, 

 orchard, a tinkling stream, and glimpses of the sea can make them. There 

 is one picturesque feature, which enters into every view in Jersey : it is, 

 that the trunks of the trees are, I may say without exception, entirely 

 covered with ivy ; which not only adds to the beauty of the scenery when 

 the trees are in leaf, but which greatly softens the sterility of a winter pros- 

 pect, and gives a certain greenness to the landscape throughout the year. 

 Nor is the luxuriant growth of the ivy in Jersey confined to the trees; it 

 covers the banks by the wayside, creeps over the walls, and even climbs 

 upon the rocks by the sea-shore. About two miles to the east of St. Helier's, 

 there are several elevated rocks, the bases of which are washed at high 

 water, and which, higher up, are entirely overgrown with ivy ; and, from 

 the natural outline of these rocks, and their green covering, they have all 

 the appearance of ruins. * * * 



" Although in walking, or riding, up some of the Jersey valleys, the 

 scenery of these individual valleys is laid open, it is difficult, by walking or 

 driving across the island, to obtain any view of it. The roads are, in many 

 places, over-arched with trees ; and, even if they were not, as they inva- 

 riably are, skirted with trees, the high banks, covered with underwood and 

 ivy, generally shut out the prospect. Stand up in your vehicle, or on your 

 stirrups, or climb up one of the banks, and the matter is not much mended ; 

 a thick orchard is sure to be on the other side ; and, though an open grass- 

 field, or a corn-field, occasionally seems to hold out expectations of a more 

 open prospect, these are probably bounded on the other side by orchards, 

 so that the view is still circumscribed." 



