After this brief sketch of the ecclesiastical affairs of the Island, the present state of its religious establishments and services will claim attention.

The number of Beneficed clergy, or incumbents, including the dean, is just equal to that of the parishes, the canons of Jersey absolutely forbidding pluralities. The dean is always one of the rectors. Here is a regular spiritual court, of which the dean is the head: the other eleven rectors are his assessors. This court has, attached to it, a greffier or register, two advocates or proctors, with an apparitor to execute its summonses. Three ministers, including the dean, or vice-dean, are sufficient to form a court. Appeals may be made from this tribunal to the bishop of Winchester, as superior ordinary; or, in case of a vacancy in that see, to the archbishop of Canterbury; such appeals must be heard by the prelate in person.

Before the dean, as surrogate to the bishop, the wills of persons dying in the Island are proved and registered, and from him administrations are obtained of persons dying intestate, copies of which are transmitted to the Bishop's Court at Winchester. The dean has likewise the power of granting licences for private marriage; and as these are not expensive, the practice of marrying in private is very commonly adopted.

The rectors are entitled to the small tithes, and, though only in some instances, to a part of the great tithes : the remainder of these belongs principally to the crown, and forms a part of the governor's salary. Thus, instead of being rectories, the livings may with more propriety be denominated vicarages. The repairs necessary for every parsonage house are done at the expense of the parish; so that the heirs of a deceased rector are not liable to

those dilapidations that sometimes, in England, fall so heavily on a widowed family.

When the revenues of the churches were seized, the patronage fell to the sovereign, who has since ceded it to the governors; but the crown still nominates to the deanery, and, by the canons of James the First, "the dean shall be a master of arts, or a graduate in the civil law, at the least, and the originaries or natives of the Island shall be preferred before others to the ministry."*

Though, from the causes just recited, the livings are necessarily small, yet most of the rectors have at present an advantage, as local chaplains to the troops stationed in or near their respective parishes: the increased value of land, and the advanced prices of its produce, add likewise to the clerical incomes.

There is a church in every parish, and a chapel connected with the Establishment, at St. Aubin's: this was erected by subscription; and the proprietors possess the right of electing the minister. The chaplainship of Elizabeth castle is a distinct military appointment.

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By the before-mentioned canons, no conventicle, or congregation, shall be suffered to make sect apart, or withdraw themselves from the ecclesiastical government established in the Island." This exclusive regu

lation is no longer enforced: so that now here are Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, Catholics, a Quaker's family, and a few Jews. The first two mentioned sects have, of late years, rapidly increased. The Independents and the Methodists have each a spacious and neat chapel

It should appear, that, in King James's time, the inhabitants were in general very illiterate; since in the same canons, it is ordered, that two churchwardens are to be chosen for each parish; men " able to read and write, if possible."

at St. Helier's; and there are also conventicles of both persuasions in other parts of the Island, as well as Baptists. The Catholics have likewise the privilege of performing their worship publickly: they are chieffy emigrants, both clergy and laity, together with such of the military as profess the same faith.*

Two regular church services are appointed for every Sunday in the parish church: one of these is now, in some of the parishes, performed in the English language; this is because the rectors have become chaplains to the troops. At St. Helier's there is, in addition, an evening service. There is also a chapel of ease to the parish church, in which the service is performed morning and afternoon. There are likewise two neat episcopal chapels, St. Paul's and St. James's in which it is performed in English: these are both modern erections; the former was built in 1818, the latter in 1829. (See Appendix.)

The bishop not residing in the Island, young persons are not obliged to be confirmed previously to their partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper: they are however assembled by a minister, examined, and admonished: thus are they received into the communion of the Church of England. The Bishop of Winchester has, however, within a few years, visited the Island for the purpose of performing the ceremony of confirmation.

There are, in Jersey, two free grammar schools, each for the children of six parishes; one in St. Saviour's parish, called St. Manlier's; the other in the parish of St. Peter, called St. Athanasius's; but as the endowments are small, the masters usually take boarders, or adopt other means to increase their income; that at St. Manlier's has

*For a list of these Chapels, and the time of celebrating public worship, the reader is referred to the Appendix.

lately been much improved by large additions to the original building. They were founded in A. D. 1498.

Every parish has a fund, supported by legacies, for keeping the church and the parsonage house in repair. The poor are likewise maintained by legacies, by poor's boxes, collections at the church doors, and by a rate when necessary: extraordinary cases of distress or misfortune are frequently relieved, and liberally so, by private contributions.

Two public schools for the instruction of poor children, of both sexes, were established, by voluntary subscriptions, a few years since, The plan has recently been extended, and is now in successful operation.*

For information respecting other Societies, established for the benefit of the Island, the reader is also referred to the Appendix.

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CHAPTER II.

Name, Situation, Form and Extent, Appearance, Tides, Highways, Military Roads, Regular and Island Troops, and Fortifications.

THE name by which JERSEY was known, in ancient times, is not decisively ascertained. Like other states, it has had several appellations; some so remote, both in sound and orthography, from others, as to elude every attempt to trace their etymology to one common source.

Jersey has been variously spelled; Gearsey, Gersey, and Jereseye, and is supposed to have been derived from Cæsarea, by which name it was known to the Romans.† It has been attempted to be proved that it was called Augia, previously to its possession by that people: by this name it was indeed given by Childebert, king of France, to Samson, archbishop of Dol, in Armorica, about A. D. 550: but as this was subsequent to the declension of the Roman power in Gaul, it rather proves that the change was from Cæsarea to Augia.

The N. W. point of Jersey, is situated in north latitude 49° 16', and in 2° 22′ longitude west of London. It forms the most southern island of that group, which

* So spelled in the records of the Tower and Exchequer.
+ It is so named by the emperor Antoninus, in his Itinerary.

This group is composed of the following islands, viz. Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sercq: with the smaller ones of Herm, Jethou, and the rocky islets of Chausey, Ecrehou, &c.