Rambles among the Channel Islands / by a Naturalist.

Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rambles among the Channel Islands / by a Naturalist. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    adherence to the English government justly entitles them to be considered, in the words of one particularly jealous of this honour, “ not mere English subjects, but Englishmen; and we are proud of the name, yet reckon it a happiness to be suffered to live under our own laws, and enjoy our ancient usages, though it must necessarily keep up a sort of distinction between the strictly English and us.” The French themselves, we are told, did not con- sider the fact of the peasantry being Norman in all their connexions, and speaking the dialect of that province, to be any link between their country and the Channel Isles, and were accus- tomed, after their separation, to call them the “ English Isles.” The French, however, still cherished the hope of reconnecting these islands with their own country, and in the reign of Edward I. made a fresh assault upon them. This invasion was not more successful than their previous attempts, and after a sharp and hardly con- tested struggle, the invaders withdrew. The islanders lost a good many men, the widows and children of whom were specially provided for afterwards by a royal decree. During the reign of Edward III., and in the contest that ensued between that monarch and Philip de Yalois of France, these islands became again