ST. PETER-rOKT TX m GONP: TIMES. 343 



Schools might be kept in the said house in time to come. 

 Bestowing also, at the same time^ two quarters of annual 

 ^Yheat-^ent upon the schoolmaster, who was to repeat to the 

 scholars, and make them repeat, every evening before leaving, 

 an Anthem of Our Lady, with a De Profundis, and an Ave 

 Maria, for the souls of the donors, the souls of all their friends 

 and benefactors, and for all the souls in general for whom God 

 would have us pray. The Parish School was still held here 

 between Mtj and sixty years ago and Avas known as La Petite 

 Ecole, Elizabeth College being La Grande Ecole. The school- 

 house was rebuilt early in the present centur}^, and stood very 

 uear where St. Julian's Avenue now abuts upon Glatney 

 Esplanade. I believe the last schoolmaster's name was Machon. 



The second event is the Naval Battle of St. Peter-Port in 

 the days of King Edward VI. It is an instance of violation of 

 the Privilege of Neutrality. Early in July, 1549, a considerable 

 French force seized upon the little desert island of Sark, but 

 like the Bete d'la Touar, finding time hang heavily upon their 

 hands they made up their minds to run over to Guernsey and 

 try issues with a small squadron of English ships-of-war then 

 lying in the roadstead of St. Peter-Port. Accordingly they 

 started from Sark at night with eleven galleys, and by day- 

 break came up with the English who discovered their approach 

 just in time, and with their cannons gave their visitors a very 

 warm reception. Several of the English captains were sleeping 

 in St. Peter-Port, but roused by the noise of the guns they 

 hurried aboard their ships. The gunners at Castle Cornet now 

 joined in the fight, aud the Frenchmen began to wish they had 

 not come. At length after a loss, according to Foxe's " Actes 

 and Monuments," of one thousand men, the enemy was obliged 

 to retreat and make the best of his way to St. Malo to repair 

 damages. 



From this time — that is the reign of King Edward VI. — 

 the annals of St. Peter-Port can be more easily traced through 

 the pages of existing histories, and my desire being to give you 

 fresh details as much as possible, I shall now go on to speak of 

 the town structurally, and socially. And, in the first place, I 

 should like to call your attention to the fact that if the four 

 gates on the land side of the town were restored to-morrow, 

 each of them would block an existing thoroughfare. Accord- 

 ingly we must come to one of two conclusions ; either streets 

 already existed in these places before the wall Avas built, or 

 (which is less i^robable) subsequently to the placing of the 

 gates, the houses became ranged along thoroughfares leading to 

 them. In either case we must decide that Cornet-street, 

 Fountain-street, High-street, Smith-street, and the Pollet, all 

 existed more or less completely, between five and six hundred 

 years ago. T can tell you for certain that in 1331 there were 



