2C8 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



pier, began to eye me with an air of supercilious weariness ; 

 and I forbear to investigate the sentiments of the Scillians, 

 lest they should too painfully resemble the indifference of the 

 dogs. Decidedly it was time to pack up. In spite, there- 

 fore, of the inexhaustible obligingness of my friend Mr J. G. 

 Moyle, the admirable surgeon of whom Scilly is justly proud 

 — ^in spite of his efforts to make my residence every way 

 ajrreeable, I took the hint : the Granite Beauties turned a 

 cold boulder on me, and I resolved to weary them no longer. 

 My animals were scattered to the four winds (figuratively, of 

 course — one of the four being the railway to London, which 

 transported a coffee-tin of anemones to a tank-loving lady) ; 

 my tent was struck, and after hurrying through Penzance, 

 Falmouth, and Plymouth, it was once more pitched in the 

 pretty island of Jersey. 



Nothing could be more charming than the welcome smiled 

 by the rich meadow-lands and orchards there. After the bold 

 picturesque solitudes of Scilly, it seemed like once more en- 

 tering civilised nature. Every inch of ground was cultivated. 

 Cornfields and orchards resplendent with blossoms, sloped 

 down to the very edge of the shore, and, by the prodigality of 

 soil, defied the withering influence of sea-breezes. It was not 

 amazins: to me to learn afterwards that the land in the in- 

 terior yields double the crop, per acre, which can be raised 

 in most parts of England ; and that, although the rent is £10 

 an acre, such rent can be paid by potatoes alone. Elsewhere 

 it is difficult to get even grass to grow close on the shore, and 

 trees have always a look of stunted old-maidenish misery ; 

 but here the high tide almost washes the hedge which limits 



