Guernsey

“ One of the most striking changes which the visitor, whether from England or France, meets with on his landing in Guernsey, is the entire absence of beggars; which are so truly abundant in England, especially in the pauper districts of Dorset and Ireland. That miserable compound of imposture and real distress—the wandering mendicant—is there unknown. A tradesman who has been established at St Peter-Port for upwards of thirty years, assured me that during the whole period of his residence in the Island he has never once seen a beggar. ”

“ From the earliest times of which we have any authentic record, the people of Guernsey appear to [478] have been a seafaring race. Perhaps they inherit their disposition for maritime pursuits from their remote ancestors, those hardy Scandinavian adventurers, who, there can be no doubt, found these islands a very convenient resort in their early piratical incursions, and probably had settled in them long before they took possession of that fertile province of France, now known as Normandy, the land of the Northmen. ”

“ He is an inhabitant of the parish of Torteval, and a Guernseyman born and bred, although bearing a name which shews that his family came originally from another country. One evening, as he was returning from his work, a certain tailor, who shall be nameless, and who bears but an indifferent character, met with an adventure which was far from being agreeable. A man, dressed entirely in black, of a sinister aspect, and mounted on a black horse, met him on his way. ”

“ It is easy to understand how the reign of King John came to form an epoch in the history of Guernsey; for it was then that the connexion with the mother-country, Normandy, was severed, and the islands, until then part and parcel of that Duchy, became attached to the Crown of England, and have so continued ever since. But it is not so easy to say when or how the latter saying originated. It may refer to an invasion [518] of the island by David Bruce, about the tenth year of Edward III., (A.D. 1336) ; when great atrocities appear to have been committed on the inhabitants ”

“ The marked distinction of “noble” and “rôturier,” if such ever existed in Guernsey, died out many centuries ago; and this proverb has all the appearance of an importation from Normandy, or some other part of France, where the peasantry were oppressed by the feudal system. The word “biauture” does not belong to the Guernsey dialect, and when the saying is quoted in the present, it is generally with reference to the two first clauses.
Un tchien (chien) vaut bien p’tit qui ne vaut pas ùn caoup de sufflet (coup de sifflet) .—A dog that is not worth whistling for is not worth much. ”

“ Certain it is that the Jerseymen have at all times had the reputation of being always ready, when an opportunity presented itself, to play a bad turn to their neighbours of Guernsey.
It is said that three audacious mariners, who had come over from the larger island with a cargo of agricultural produce, after disposing of their wares to good advantage, and having indulged perhaps a little [430] too freely in the excellent cider of the place, conceived the bold design of carrying away the island with them and joining it on to Jersey! ”

“ The two last are dependencies of Guernsey, as are also Herm and Jethou, which serve to shelter the roadstead, that otherwise would be of no importance. In approach, the shores of Guernsey do not present the same attractions as those of Jersey, being altogether more sterile, and of a less fertile aspect. The form of the island is triangular, and its whole circumference upwards of thirty miles, and is deeply indented with commodious bays and harbours. Its length from North-East to South-West is twelve miles ”

“ It was in the year 1549, during the reign of her brother Edward VI., that the French, being at war with England, and finding the island uninhabited, landed four hundred men and took possession of it. The anonymous author of Les Chroniques de Jersey, written apparently in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in noticing the recapture of Sark by Flemings, says nothing of the stratagem, but simply that, guided by some Guernseymen, they landed at night and overpowered the French garrison, which, at that time, was very much reduced in numbers. ”

“ Of course I am no good judge, for we Guernsey people believe ourselves as perfect as any class of the human family. Certainly, we pride ourselves on being a little more difficult of approach than the Jersey people. Strangers are more freely welcome there than here, unless they bring introductions with them. If you have any introductions, you will find Guernsey as hospitable a spot as any in the world. ”

“ In this excellent undertaking, which was the era of civilization in Guernsey, Government lent a hand, by allowing the money derived from the sale of the Braye du Valle to be applied for the same. At present, the roads are kept in repair by a rate on land proprietors bordering the main roads, and by grants of money from the States. The lanes that here and there intersect the island, may be said to be the old roads, and furnish the green-lane botanist with delightful, cooling, and shady walks throughout the heat of summer. ”

“ The inhabitants in Guernsey and Jersey are not exempt from these feelings, which find vent in malicious tales told of each other. The saying quoted above is common in Guernsey; probably its counterpart exists in Jersey, substituting “Guernesiais” for “Jerriais.” It by no means follows, however, that the want of comfort in these mixed marriages may not be quite as attributable to the one side as the other.
Il y a terjoûs quiqu’ùn qui a sa qu’minse à sequier.—There is always some one wanting to dry his shirt. The weather never suits everybody’s wants. ”

“ Guernsey, idealized in the morning mist, lay like a dream on the horizon. Here and there a fishing-boat, whose sail flashed orange when the sun touched it, was tossing on the waves; nearer in a boat with furled sail was cautiously making for the narrow passage—the Devil's Drift, as the fishermen called it—between the island and the mainland, a passage only traversed with oars, the oarsmen facing forwards ”

“ Michel in Normandy, and in the Record Office in England, certain monks who had been expelled from that monastery for their irregularities, or had left voluntarily in consequence of reforms in the community which they disapproved of, came over to Guernsey about the year 966 and established themselves in a part of the island called Le Clos du Valle, which at that period, and until the beginning of the present century, was cut off from the mainland by an arm of the sea, and could only be reached by a way across the sands when the tide had receded. ”

“ Editor’s Notes.—That these customs were also kept up in Guernsey is evident from the following extract from the manuscript note book of Monsieur Elie Brevint, who died in the island of Sark in 1674, aged 87. He says:—“Le premier Dimanche de Caresme s’appelle le jour des Brandons; à St. Martin de Guernezé les jeunes hommes par esbat portent au soir du dit jour brandons de glie, etc.” ”

“ The scenery in Guernsey, generally speaking, is not much enriched with sylvan beauty, and perhaps the above mansion, together with St George, and Woodlands are the most conspicuous. Although a dense wood or coppice is hardly known here, nevertheless, there is a good sprinkling of elm and other timber; the former of which is of a peculiar growth and quality, being in its structure not much unlike the poplar. ”

“ The course of true love never did run smooth.”
The promontory of Pleinmont forms the south-western extremity of the island of Guernsey, and, to the admirer of the wild and rugged beauties of cliff and rock scenery, affords an ever-varying treat. ”

“ The Jersey Gallows.
In Guernsey it is told as a joke against their neighbours the Jerseymen, that when there was a question of rebuilding the gallows, hitherto a wooden structure, but falling to pieces from rottenness, the Procureur de la Reine recommended that the uprights should be of stone, as more desirable, and strengthened his argument by saying, “It will last for ever, and serve for us and for our children.”
Proverbial Stories.
The terse form of an aphorism is not only one in which the proverbial philosophy of a people may be expressed. ”

“ An old sea captain, of the name of Mahy, who for many years had navigated a cutter between Guernsey and England, had, at last, by industry and perseverance, amassed a sufficient competency to enable him to give up his arduous and dangerous profession, and pass the remainder of his days in peace on shore. At least, so he hoped, but, alas! the expectation of happiness, which poor mortals indulge in, is often doomed to be disappointed, and often by apparently trivial causes. Who could have guessed that a cat would have embittered the remaining days of the old sailor? ”

“ For centuries tumult and action have been other names for the Channel Islands. It is no wonder that the inhabitants partake of the nature of their surroundings. Contact with the elements produces a love for combat. As this little book is largely a record of strife, and of one of Guernsey's greatest fighting sons, it may be well to recall the efforts that preceded the birth of our hero and influenced his career, and through which Guernsey retained its liberties. ”

“ No name indeed is more common in the parish of St. Martin de la Belleuse, and especially in the neighbourhood of Saint, than that of Mauger. An authentic document, the “Extent” of Edward III., proves that a family of this name held land in this parish in 1331. [228] All who bear the name, even in the humblest ranks of society, have heard of the Archbishop, and pride themselves in their supposed descent from him. Nor is this belief confined to Guernsey, for in Jersey also, where a branch of the family has long existed, the same idea prevails. ”

“ Thus the pastoral saying:—“To lose one’s sheep for a penn’orth of tar,” becomes, very naturally, among a nautical population, “to lose one’s ship, etc.”
Some few proverbs are so thoroughly local as to [510] appear to have originated in the place where they are used.
Guernsey is not rich in proverbs properly so called; but, as might be expected among an agricultural and maritime people, weather-sayings are not uncommon. Many of these could no doubt be traced to the mother-country, Normandy, but some few may be indigenous, and the result of local observation. ”

“ In Guernsey it is rather locally distributed, being common all round the coast, both on the high and low part of the Island, but only making its appearance in the cultivated part in the interior as an occasional straggler. It is quite as common in Alderney and the other Islands as it is in Guernsey, in Alderney there being few or no enclosures, and no hedgerow timber. It is more universally distributed over the whole Island, in the cultivated as well as the wild parts.
Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but marks it as only occurring in Guernsey and Sark. ”

“ He shall never lack for bread, nor shall he ever be childless whilst this well be preserved untainted.” Now, many, many years ago, the Guilles, who still own St. George, inherited it from the De Jerseys, and it so happened that the lord of the estate had an only [195] son who was naturally very dear to him. An old friend of the family brought him a canary bird as a pet, and, as one had never before been seen in Guernsey, it was very precious. One day it flew away from its cage, the door being accidentally left open, and was pursued hotly by the child. ”

“ Whether, in former days, Guernsey could boast of any number of these metrical histories, it is now [451] impossible to say. Unless we include in this category, a sort of “complainte,” written in 1552 by the Roman Catholic priests, whom the progress of the doctrines of the Reformation had driven out of their cures, the ballad of “Ivon de Galles, ou la descente des Aragousais,” is the only one which has come down to us. ”

“ In the reign of Queen Elizabeth a Mr. Nicholas Careye was farmer of most, if not all, the mills in Guernsey situated on the Crown domain, he being then Her Majesty’s Receiver. At a time when all persons residing on a manor were obliged to bring their corn to be ground at their Lord’s mill, under severe penalties, such a monopoly in the mills as Mr. Carey possessed, must have tended to make him a very wealthy man. ”

“ Guernsey did not escape the epidemic delusion which spread over the whole of Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Here, as elsewhere, a terror seized upon the people, and no man thought himself secure from the machinations of the agents of Satan. The records of the Royal Court of the island contain far too many condemnations of unfortunate men and women to the stake for sorcery ”

“ Between the period of Captain Saumarez' departure from Guernsey in 1776, and his return in 1782, the island of Guernsey had undergone great and important changes. The war with America had brought an influx of strangers; wealth and its attendant luxuries had superseded the simple mode of living of its inhabitants; society had extended ”

“ Cake and wine are offered to visitors, and the day ends in most households with a feast in proportion with their means and rank in society. All the morning the roads and streets are crowded with groups of persons hurrying from house to house, hands are warmly shaken, kind words are spoken, many a little coolness or misunderstanding is forgotten, and even breaches of long standing are healed, when neighbours join in eating the many cakes for which Guernsey is famous, and which are considered suitable for the occasion. ”

“ Se donner une peine inutile, faire un travail qui ne produira rien. En Béarn, comme dans la Gascogne, (Bladé, Prov.) on attribuait aux habitants de quelques villages le fait d’avoir semé des aiguilles, dans l’espoir qu’elles multiplieraient comme du blé.”
How the Jerseymen Attempted To Carry Off Guernsey.
It is not easy to understand why it should be so, but it is nevertheless a fact that the inhabitants of Jersey, although conceiving themselves a far superior race, have always looked with eyes of envy and jealousy on the smaller and less pretentious island of Guernsey. ”