Two letters on the Commissariat, by Havilland Le Mesurier
A supportive review of an important work by Havilland Le Mesurier, the letters following on from his System for the Commissariat of 1798, from The Critical Review, Vol. 9, 1807.
Library Book Collection
Essay on the Institutions, Laws and Customs of the Island of Guernsey
The short preface to the 1889 first edition of Laurent Carey's work of reference, which was used on a day-to-day basis by the Royal Court in its proceedings.
Pouliche and paen-paen
A translation of the entry for 'pouliche' in George Metivier's Norman-French Dictionary, from the Guernsey Magazine, January 1884; and another little rhyme.
The witch and the raven: The life of Helier Fautrart, by John Quick, ed. E.P. Le Feuvre
Icones Sacrae Gallicanae et Anglicanae was compiled by John Quick, a Presbyterian clergyman who was born in Plymouth in 1636. Helier Fautrart's life as Rector of St Peter Port Church is one of the biographies of fifty 'French divines' he gathered together in his first work; he followed this with twenty English ministers. He has, however, conflated the life of Helier, who ministered in Jersey, with that of his son, Daniel, who became minister of the Town Church in Guernsey in 1633. This volume includes a fascinating witchy tale.
Cachemaille's The island of Sark: The Gouliot Caves
An extract from the Reverend James Cachemaille's fascinating guide to his adopted home, translated from the French by Louisa Harvey. How his friend the Seigneur discovered the Gouliot Caves, once a famous tourist destination, and a description of their 'Chimney' souffleur in a gale. The photograph of the caves is part of the Priaulx Library Collection and dates from 1900.
The Chaumontel pears of Guernsey and Jersey
'There is a pear which is peculiar to these islands, the Chaumontel, which grows to an extraordinary size, and sells very frequently for a shilling each for exportation.' From Cochrane's Guide to the Island of Guernsey, 1826. 'Guernsey supplies to London, besides granite pavement and chaumontelle pears, megalithic theories and watercolour paintings.' The Channel Islands Magazine, May, 1853. The watercolour is from Alphonse Mas' Le verger (The kitchen garden), 1865.
Ever-happie Iles: Michael Drayton's Poly-olbion
The sprightly Muse her wing displays. And the French islands first surveys—Drayton's poetic description of Britain, written in 1612, opens with the Channel Islands. This is the 1813 rendition into modern English by Robert Southey. The Library has a facsimile of the 1622 edition, published for the Spenser Society in 1889.
Cherries, by Metivier
The poet George Métivier's family home, St George in the Câtel (the painting of the house is by Young, 1821), was planted with cherry trees, about which he fondly reminisced, along with the birds that feasted on them. Here are some excerpts from the Guernsey Magazine of November 1884 about cherries, taken from a series called 'Guernsey Popular Names of Plants, as compared with those in other places,' No. 8, 'Based on Mr Métivier's Glossaire.'
Table des Monnaies, Poids et Mesures en usage a Guernesey, published by Frederick Clarke
In the mid-19th century Frederick Clarke produced in his establishment in the States Arcade this little booklet, attempting to distil in four pages the labyrinthine system of weights and measures at that time employed in the island. Its difficulty was compounded by the sheer number of currencies that island merchants and traders had to deal with. The information is taken literally from schoolmaster Thomas du Frocq's Nouveau Precepteur of 1818, which is a (mainly) applied mathematics primer of tortuous complexity and much greater length.
Guernsey Weights and Measures, from Warburton's Treatise, 1682
Extracted from a review of Guernsey by the then Governor, Lord Hatton, known under the pseudonym of 'Warburton.'