pied the site of the castle. The
impregnable works of the great Regent Fort are upon a precipitous hill
commanding the harbor and castle. Upon the eastern side of the island is
another huge fortress, called the castle of Mont Orgueil, upon a lofty
conical rock forming the northern headland of Grouville Bay. The apex of
the mountain shoots up in the centre of the fortifications as high as
the flagstaff which is planted upon them. Here lived Charles II. when in
exile, and this is the most interesting part of Jersey, historically. A
part of the fortifications is said to date from Caesar's incursion into
Gaul, and the Romans in honor of their leader called the island Caesarea,
describing it at that time as a stronghold of the Druids, of whose
worship many monuments remain. It was first attached to the British
Crown at the Norman Conquest, and, though the French in the many wars
since then have sent frequent expeditions against the island, they have
never been able to hold it. The Channel Islands altogether cover about
seventy-five square miles. Alderney, which is within seven miles of the
French coast, now has an extensive harbor of refuge. Guernsey contains
the remains of two Norman castles--one almost entirely gone, and the
other called Ivy Castle, from its ruins being mantled with shrubbery.
Its great defensive work, Fort George, built in the last century, stands
in a commanding position and is of enormous strength. Upon a rocky islet
off St. Peter's Port is the chief defensive fort of that harbor, located
about a mile to seaward--Castle Cornet, a work of venerable antiquity,
parts of which were built by the Romans. In 1672, Viscount Christopher
Hatton was governor of Guernsey, and was blown up with his family in
Castle Cornet, the powder-magazine being struck by lightning at
midnight. He was in bed, was blown out of the window, and lay for some
time on the ramparts unhurt. Most of the family and attendants perished,
but his infant daughter Anne was found next day alive, and sleeping in
her cradle under a beam in the ruins, uninjured by the explosion. She
lived to marry the Earl of Winchelsea and have thirty children, of whom
thirteen survived her.

[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE DEVIL'S HOLE, NEAR CORBIERE, JERSEY.]

THE SOUTHERN COAST OF DEVON.

Westward of Portland Isle, on the southern coast near Abbotsbury, are
the ruins of a monastery built by Canute, and St. Catharine's Chapel,
perched on a steep hill overlookin