204 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



came here for tin ; still more certain that, in the tenth 

 century, " when trade began to thrive, shipping to in- 

 crease, and naval wars to be carried on in the western 

 world, the commodious situation of these islands at the 

 opening into both the Channels soon showed of what 

 importance it was to possess them, and how dangerous 

 they might be to the trade and safety of England if in 

 an enemy's hand." The hungry may find in Borlase a 

 succession of historical dates and facts from the tenth 

 century downwards ; we will pause only at what is 

 said of Queen Elizabeth, who saw the importance of 

 these islands ; " and having the Spaniards, then the 

 most powerful nation by sea in the world, to deal with, 

 ordered Francis Godolphin (knighted by her in 1580, 

 and made Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Cornwall) 

 to improve this station. Star Castle was begun and 

 finished in 1593. At the same time were built a 

 curtain and some bastions on the same hill.'' The 

 castle still remains ; and the fortifications — not of a 

 very formidable aspect — manned by five invalids, still 

 keep up the fiction of awing the enemies of England. 

 Not being a military man, and still less a politician, it 

 does occur to me either that Scilly is strangely neg- 

 lected in the matter of fortifications, or else that our 

 enemies are very easily awed. What Borlase said of it 

 a century ago remains true to-day : " In the time of 

 war it is of the utmost importance to England to have 

 Scilly in its possession : if it were in an enemy's hand, 

 the Channel trade from Ireland, Liverpool, and Bristol 

 to London and the south of England could not subsist ; 



