Table Talk [pp. 24-25]

24APPLETONS' JO LTJ?NAL OP POPULAR [JANUARY 1,
daughter Anna Comnena, the historian of her times. The expedition,
which sailed from Sicily for the conquest of the Eastern world, met
with misfortune from its outset. Storms and tempests, hunger, and
finally disease, had thinned their ranks and broken their pride, so
that the Byzantine army found their tents tenanted by only five hun dred knights, attenuated by short commons and prostrated by fever "their gesture sad,
Investing lank, lean cheeks and war-worn coats,
Presenteth them unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghosts " as the genius of Shakespeare portrayed the famished host of Plantagenet Henry's ragged array at Agincourt. No wonder that the rich
and overfed Orientals treated them as the Constable of France did the
famished Englishmen-offered them ransom, "that their souls might
~makle a peaceful retire from off the fields where, wretches, their poor
bodies must lie and fester." But such terms did not suit the Norman
mind. They donned their rusty armor, and gave the emperor so
hearty a lesson, that his daughter chronicles that he never stopped in
his headlong retreat till he reached the gates of the Hellespont. He
never tried them again.
Of course, during the reign of the first five kings, Normandy was
part of the English realm; but, when King John was defeated by
Philip Augustus, and the French wrested it from his sceptre, the
Channel Islands had to make their choice of nationality, and they followed their crown. Since that day, there has never been war between the two nations but a descent has been made and successfully
resisted, and not one sun's setting has witnessed the French flag on
their shores, though many a bloody day has been fought out between
the stout islanders and their near neighbors. The inventory of the
families and their lands of King John's day is still extant; the heraldic
records, and many of the deeds of knights' service and other feudal
tenures of possession, still remain in the Herald's College of Rouen,
the capital of the ancient duchy to which they then belonged. The
law-courts, the petty jurisdictions, even the terms, are all Norman
French, as is all the language of agricultural labor, to this day.
Hence, during the long troubles of the Huguenot persecution, the
Channel Islands became the retreat of the routed Protestants, who
found a ready asylum, identical in language as in faith; and, in later
times, Royalists and Republicans, Orleanists and Reds, have hailed
the snug haven of St. Helier's of Jersey as the paradise of exile, from
which their longing eyes can see the fair shores of France-" forever
distant, yet forever near."
No taxes or imposts have ever been laid upon these fortunate
lands. No custom-house officials here prey upon the friendless stranger. Their southern climate and sea-girt situation insure them a
mild and genial atmosphere even in the depth of winter, and, where
the formation of the ground affords a shelter, the vegetation, watered
by a thousand rills, attains an almost tropical verdure. Their neighboring coasts and shoals afford a boundless supply of fish; the celebrated Rochers de Cancale yield the most noted and delicious oysters
of the European gourmand, ignorant of the superior dainty of the
Shrewsbury and the Saddlerock; while their unrivalled breed of cattle
gives them an opportunity of a market in every agricultural country
on the face of the globe. The islanders have not been slow to avail
themselves of these advantages. Their soil is so fertile, that the cows
only require the circuit of their tether for food in the rich pasture, and
the seasons are never severe enough to require their house-shelter.
Their apples and pears are renowned in the fruit-culture, and their
wonderful crops of potatoes find 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, excellent, and far cheaper than in England, have attracted families,
to whom the inexpensiveness as well as abundance of household supplies has been a temptation, to this almost suburban retreat from
England. Their quarries pave the streets of London; their pilots
navigate the royal and mercantile fleets. Timber being imported free
of all duty, shipbuilders' yards line St. Helier'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
keepers. No wonder the islands flourish, and their valleys laugh and
sing! Not even religious controversy-that direst bane of civilized
communities-has as yet disturbed "the even tenor of their way."
The population, having been uniformly Puritan or Huguenot, has re
sisted all contact with Romanism effectually, and the pope only reck ons subjects among the foreign and alien residents of the Channel
Islands. One of the two services in the churches is invariably con ducted 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 Uni versity of Oxford, and died, two years ago, Bishop of Peterborough,
was selected, in 1861, to preach in the Abbey of Westminster to the
guests of England at the Great Exhibition of all nations, and aston-
ished the educated foreigners by the grace and purity of his French
idiom. The whole expenses of government are defrayed by the Eng lish crown, which maintains military governors, garrisons the forts, and
pays the militia, recruited on the Prussian model, every male adult be ing compelled to serve a definite period in drill, and being liable to
service in the narrow circle of his home in case of war. Under these
circumstances, military life is made a pleasure; and, the rifles and
ammunition being always at hand, the hardy fishermen and oyster dredgers, rocking on a calm sea, amuse themselves in their leisure by
friendly emulation in shooting-matches at birds and rocks, and the
frequent encounters between parishes and regiments on shore for
small prizes, at the fairs and revels, which still keep up the memory
of the old Norman festivals, give ample opportunities of testing their
skill. It is not an uncommon thing for one out of the four regiments
of Jersey militia to boast of one hundred men of their rank and file
who can be backed to hit the bull's-eye at five hundred yards.
Upon all considerations, therefore, the Channel Islands have a fair
claim to be thought to have succeeded to those fortunate islands of
the West, whose existence had puzzled the brains of the learned before the hopes they gave rise to culminated in the discovery of the
Western Hemisphere by Columbus. Though lying out of the great
track of travel, they are yet in the very centre of trade and civilization; untrammelled by legislation or custom-houses, they have free
scope for the development of their rich natural resources; too small
to invite political demagoguism, and too insignificant for priestly domination, they flourish in even, happy contentment, in the enjoyment of
a climate, a soil, and a society, completely free from the disturbances
which afflict and often destroy larger and more celebrated but not so
free and favored communities.
TABLE-TALK.
WHEN this reaches our readers, they will probably be experien cing, in greater or less degree, their annual perplexity as to the
selection of Christmas-gifts. There are some serene souls who unconcernedly purchase for this purpose whatever at the last moment they
can conveniently lay their hands upon; and there are other calm and
prudential individuals, who make out their lists and deliberately choose
long in advance of the occasion. But there are those whose tastes
are fastidious or peculiar, those who find it difficult to make slender
means accomplish their generous designs, those who confuse themselves amid a multitude of objects, and ceaselessly try to adjust a gift
for Niece Mary that shall correspond to a token for Cousin Charlesand all these, with an almost infinite variety of other forms of perplexity, make up a large proportion of the Christmas-giving community. The custom of exchanging, at Christmas, gifts of affection,
respect, or courtesy, seems to have settled so completely into an ac- -
cepted fact, that it is now too late to concern ourselves about its origin, or to debate its wisdom. No doubt, it is a beautiful custom, with
all its abuses, and in despite of its many absurdities. Abuses and absurdities more or less cling or pertain to all human fashions or customs; it would be too much to expect a uniform or even an average
wisdom in any popular custom; and, in this matter of Christmasgifts, the affection and good-will that so generally prompt the giving
must fully atone for whatever of the vulgar, the ostentatious, or the
tasteless, that may be exhibited in it. The suitable selection of gifts
is an art. It requires discrimination, and a nice perception of the fitness of things. There should enter into the gift, as it were, the individuality of the giver, or the individuality of the destined recipient.
Gifts that do not express the taste or the likings of one or the other,
or which do not in some way measure or record their mutual sympathies, are without significance or special value. The motive or the
affection of the giver, of course, extenuates errors in taste; but a gift
is thrice valued, into which.care, thought, and a happy perception as
to its fitness, have entered. No man or woman is honored by receiv
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APP LETONS' JO U.RNAL OF POPULA-R
[JANUARY 1,