1922.] 



outgoing president's addhess. 99 



study. But everyone who has attempted it knows the work 

 is worth while and is its own reward. If I may suggest, there 

 is one especial point to which I think the attention of the 

 Societe should be drawn; and that is, to gather together re- 

 cords, pictures, and measurements of our Castles. Castle 

 Cornet, I presume, has been accurately surveyed by the Royal 

 Engineers, but there remains the Chateau des Marais, or Ivy 

 Castle, Vale Castle, the site of the old Chateau de Jerbourg, 

 and even a few remnants of the Tour de Beauregard at the 

 top of Cornet Street. These few walls and buttresses, such 

 as they are, should, I think, be taken in hand at once, for, 

 should the rebuilding of Cornet Street be carried out, they 

 would inevitably disappear. It is such a misfortune that no 

 survey was taken before St. Barnabas' Church was built, 

 when so many old walls and doorways must have been de- 

 stroyed, and I appeal to all members of the Guernsey 

 Photographic Society who may be present to photograph 

 the many picturesque — if insanitary— corners of Cornet 

 Street and Rosemary Lane, before it is too late, and we will 

 gladly publish their photographs in forthcoming numbers of 

 the Transactions; for now the Island is in such a state of 

 transition, the land passing out of the hands of Guernsey- 

 men, and old land-marks being daily swept away, I want the 

 Societe to collect, and our Transactions to record, as far as 

 possible, whatever of our birthright remains from the "mess 

 of pottage' ' into which it is gradually being transformed. 



I am glad to say that our Botanical Section has been 

 revived, and, in the capable hands of Mrs. Rawdon McCrea 

 and Mrs. Hichens, I feel sure it will be a great success. 



I am afraid that the newly-formed Section devoted to 

 the study of our Guernsey French is in abeyance; I am no 

 longer able to give it a rendezvous, much to* my regret, for 

 our meetings, where the old language was once more heard 

 and old island reminiscences interchanged, were wholly 

 enjoyable; and I must again emphasize the fact that no 

 knowledge of the past history of our Island can be acquired 

 without a knowledge of French, the language in which our 

 old Records were written, the origin of the names of our 

 families, of our lands and of our laws ; and no one will ever 

 penetrate into the mind and the traditional lore and belief of 

 the Guernseyman without a knowledge of Guernsey French, 

 another birthright which I hope will never be allowed to 

 lapse. 



Since our last Annual Meeting five of our members have 

 passed away ; Colonel Le Mottee and Miss Rose Corbin, who 

 always took such real interest in our meetings; General 

 Harvey, who died last week at an advanced age, having 



