14 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW 



a ready market, without any dues, in England ; while 

 they draw all their daily supplies from France, the 

 markets being crowded from Coutances or Granville, 

 ports on the other side of the narrow strait, or from 

 St. Malo, only four hours' daily steam-transport from 

 St. Helier's. Colleges and schools being plentiful, ex- 

 cellent and far cheaper than in England, have attracted 

 families, to whom the inexpensiveness as well as abun- 

 dance of household supplies has been a temptation, to 

 this almost suburban retreat from England. Their quar- 

 ries pave the streets of London ; their pilots navigate 

 the royal and mercantile fleets Timber being Imported 

 free of all duty, shipbuilders' yards line St. Heller's 

 Bay. There is almost daily steam communication both 

 with London and Paris, and crowds of excursionists 

 come gladly to be fleeced by the inn and lodging-house 

 keepefs. L wonder the islands flourish and Aeir val- 

 leys laugh and sing ' Not even religious controversy — 

 that direst bane of civilized communities — has as yet 

 disturbed ' the even tenor of their way.' The popula- 

 tion, having been uniformly Puritan or Huguenot, has 

 resisted all contact with Romanism effectually, and the 

 Pope only reckons subjects among the foreign and alien 

 residents of the Channel Islands. One of the two ser- 

 vices in the churches is invariably conducted in the 

 French language, which is spoken with remarkable 

 purity by the higher circles. Hence a Jersey pastor, the 

 son of a poor miller, who rose by his talents to be vice- 

 chancellor of the University of Oxford, and died, two 



