CHARLES II. IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 175 



second visit to Jersey, both he and his brother, the Duke of 

 York, visited Mont Orgueil Castle and inspected it. 



Indeed Dr. Hoskins asserts that it has been proved almost 

 to demonstration, that whether as Prince of Wales or titular 

 sovereign of England, Charles had his abode exclusively at 

 Elizabeth Castle, where is still preserved " the only personal 

 memento of Charles' first visit to Jersey, in the shape of a single 

 riding boot. In size it is adapted for a lad of 16, and is made 

 of coarse black leather, with a thick sole and high many-pieced 

 heel," altogether says Dr. Hoskins "a very clumsy sample of 

 boot-making." * 



But before referring any further to the relics associated with 

 the king that are left in the island it would be interesting, 

 perhaps, to consider shortly the circumstances which led to 

 Charles visiting Jersey, when in 1646 its affairs began to be 

 associated more closely with those of the mother country, in 

 consequence of the island being regarded as an eligible asylum 

 for the Prince of Wales, whose safety required that he should 

 seek an abode beyond the immediate verge of the kingdom, 

 there apparently existing an objection on the part of his advisers 

 to his going to France, where the Queen mother Henrietta 

 Maria was then residing. What these circumstances were may 

 be gathered from the following materials which I have hastily 

 compiled from Dr. Hoskins' interesting and painstaking work 

 and which, being vouched for in most cases by references to 

 contemporary authorities, I have no hesitation in accepting as 

 trustworthy. 



It will be interesting also to remember that at this time, whilst 

 Sir George Carteret was Lieut.-Governor of Jersey, Sir Peter 

 Osborne (the father of Dorothy Osborne, the writer of those 

 delightful and genuine love-letters to Sir Wm. Temple, so highly 



* I was informed that this " clumsy sample of boot-making" has been 

 removed to the Royal Engineers Barracks in St. Heliers. When and by whom I 

 was not told. I had not time in my recent visit to test the accuracy of this 

 information by visiting either one place or the other. 



