1834 guide to Jersey - comparison with European towns

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1834 guide to Jersey:
Comparison with European towns


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Rents higher than any French town other than Tours were one of Jersey's main disadvantages in the 1830s


This is the chapter comparing life for newcomers to the island with what could be expected in European towns, from the Jersey volume of The Channel Islands (the result of a two year residence) by Henry David Inglis

I think I have stated tolerably fairly the advantages and disadvantages of Jersey as a residence, and I shall conclude with a brief comparison between Jersey in this respect, and the principal resorts of the English on the Continent.

Costs similar

In point of expense, Jersey differs very little from most of these. Foreign and colonial produce is dearer on all parts of the Continent; but on the other hand, house rent is higher in Jersey than in any place on the Continent frequented by the English, excepting Tours.

In the smaller English resorts, pretty towns and villages, for example, on the coast of Normandy and Brittany, all the necessaries, and many of the luxuries of life are greatly cheaper than they are in Jersey. But except cheapness, these spots have nothing to recommend them.

As for agrements, there is no doubt that all the large cities resorted to by the English have a great advantage over Jersey; and in the state of society also, they will fully bear a comparison with it. The theatres, the promenades, the spectacles, the galleries of Paris, Florence, or even Brussels, offer resources which may be sought for in vain in Jersey.

Jersey does not lie under any disadvantage in comparison with the smaller resorts. It is true that the monotony of Pau may be broken by an excursion to Bagneres de Bigorre, which all the world has heard of, or to the village of Biarritz in the bay of Biscay, which very few have heard of, but which is nevertheless one of the most charming, and coolest of retreats. And the beautiful tranquillity of Lausanne may be interrupted by a ramble among the Swiss mountains, or an excursion on Lake Leman.

But these resources are as expensive, and not so full of variety, as those which Jersey offers, in excursions to London and Paris. And in Jersey there is greater room for selection in society than in those places where the more limited number of residents scarcely admits of different circles; or indeed of choice.

The English society of Jersey is not unexceptionable, nor is it equal, in either polish or intellect, to an equally large circle in England. But good breeding and gentlemanly feeling are always to be found among those whose profession has been arms. And among the hundreds of residents in Jersey there is no difficulty in falling into a circle from which the exceptionable are excluded.

Climate

In point of climate, Jersey takes a medium rank. I do not speak of it as a resort of invalids, but of those who merely desire fine weather, and neither an excess of heat or cold. Paris, Caen, Tours, Pau and Lausanne are hotter in summer, and colder in winter, than Jersey. Brussels and Boulogne-sur-mer are every way inferior to it in climate. Florence, Nice and Pisa have superior winters, but are too hot in summer, so that Jersey does not appear to suffer by comparison.

There is one advantage which Jersey possesses over all Continental places. It is more English. English comfort is better understood in it. English ways, more common.

Houses are English in their structure and conveniences: one can have closed shutters, a snug room and a coal fire.

Above all, the English language, although not the language of the island, is sufficiently understood to make the use of a foreign language unnecessary.

And let me add that, however many years an Englishman remains abroad, he never conquers the desire to return to his native country. He cannot endure for ever, the feeling that he is a foreigner; and the consciousness that he must lay his bones in a foreign land.

The murmur of English voices comes to his ear; he recalls the appearance of an English town, an English population, and the aspect of an English landscape; and while fancy places before him the village and the village church, and the churchyard, with its many tombs and tall, sheltering trees, he feels that he would rather be buried there; and that his own countrymen might pause before his tomb, and English children play and prattle upon his grave.

Yes, let his sojourn be beautiful as it may, he feels that he is a stranger, and that not in life only, but in death also, he has a home, a home in his native land.

But these feelings are scarcely experienced in Jersey. There is little to remind an Englishman of his absence from his country. He scarcely feels himself a stranger, and is therefore spared that restlessness which would infallibly come upon him, sooner or later, in a foreign land.

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