itant think the world was coming to an end. The children, less experienced, thought the sky was raining sugarplums.

In

enough of it to make the oldest inhab- there is a good deal of fog over the islands at times. This would not suit all invalids, quite apart from the effect the warning-guns in the night from the Bishop Lighthouse might have upon people of a nervous temperament. the little churchyard of the island of Bryher (area two hundred and sixtyeight acres ; population about one hundred) there is a tombstone to one Jacob Hicks, who died in 1852, aged ninetysix. He was probably the patriarch of the isles, a position which, from part of his epitaph, he seems to have valued: This is to let you see

I've had the fifth generation on my knee.

To

The absence of the usual kinds of social amusement may also be regarded as a deterrent for people in ill health, to whom diversion is one of the best of tonics. A Methodist cantata, now and then, appears to be the most advanced form of dissipation in the capital. be sure, there is a local book-club; but as the subscribers are still busy with Scott's novels, it will be long ere the writers of our time come into their hands. I was asked what I thought of Waverley much as in town one is asked one's opinion of the latest of Ibsen's trifles.

They live long in the Scillies if they survive the first thirty years of life. Hale octogenarians are numerous for a community less than two thousand in number. A certain Tresco man of eighty-seven or eight (he couldn't remember which) was my boatman one day to St. Martin's, an island two miles away. He rowed me thither, and while I was there he took himself off for a few hours into the open Atlantic and caught half a score of fine pollock, after which he returned to convey me back to Tresco. I let him do all this because I wished to see if he was as capable as he was reputed to be. They told me he was full of knowledge about the islands; but he was so cautious and reticent that I am constrained to believe he has not always "acted on the square." Indeed, he let out that he had borne many a barrel upon his back in the old days, by which he meant smuggled rum and brandy. He also told with pride how, some forty years ago, when a merchantman drove upon an island north of Tresco, he was the second man aboard her in the morning. However, I need say no more on this I saw much of this old fellow, but he count. There is no resident invalid was never more interesting than when population here as in Penzance or TorI met him for the first time prowling quay. A single doctor looks after the among the granite blocks of the north entire archipelago, upon a tariff of five coast of Tresco, with bent back, his shillings per visit in the daytime, and white beard shaking to and fro, and a ten shillings by night. As in other coil of rope round his meagre waist. I island groups, the islanders on such asked him what he was doing. He occasions take their turns in manning glanced at me shrewdly with his beady eye, and replied, in a shrill, pipy voice, "I be just looking to see if I can pick up some bits of things; but it be a bad time; there be nothing here." "Ah, Agnes!" he exclaimed, when I mentioned my visit to that fatal island, "there's plenty there. There be many a ship goes to pieces off Crebewethan and them, and washes up there." He was glad on this occasion to get rid of me, and I left him peering like a gull this way and that as he groped along.

Yet, though undoubtedly salubrious,

the boat which is to convey the doctor to his patient. The poor gentleman sometimes earns his fee at considerable self-sacrifice.

To my mind the charm of the islands is the simple, primitive life of the islanders. To appreciate this, it is of course needful to abandon the hotels of St. Mary's, with their charges of eighteen pence daily for attendance. The other islands do not breed hotels, though there is a house in Tresco where visitors can lunch, and a licensed house also in Bryher. On Agnes or St. Martin's

you are at the mercy of the hospitality | colored the shallow currents pale green. of the people; and it is the same in the The perfume and gold of the gorse eastern part of St. Mary's. upon all the islands in sight added to the charm of the scene.

I spent three days in the little white house of a retired mariner on the east coast of Tresco, and quite fell in love with the serenity of the life. It was a house built shipwise. To enter it one had to stoop as if one were going down a hatchway; to ascend to the bedroom it was further necessary to take heed of one's head. Here I lived on plain food and kept early hours. The walls were populous with grocers' and drapers' Christmas almanacs. A funeral card or two kept me in mind of my mortality. The crockery and cutlery were of an unassuming kind. I drank out of a Jubilee mug, with the words "A present for a good little girl” upon it. The cooking was far below club standard. But what of all this? There was nothing really of the nature of a hardship about it, and as a change it was delightful. The ex-mariner's boat was moored just outside, under the cottage wall, which at high tide the Atlantic half hid. It was easy enough to get into it and row to Norwethel, Tean, St. Helen's, or the serrated shape of Menawore, in search of adventures. The adventures were of course likely to be of the moderate order; but I was content enough when I found myself chased by the thirteen young bullocks of Tean (unused to the sight of mortals) with singular unanimity and in a lusty manner that reminded me of a Spanish bull ring. On St. Helen's there is what some take for the ruins of a church, and also the dismantled building which years back was used as a pesthouse. The bedsteads upon which the sick sailors lay still stand disjointedly in the roofless rooms.

There was further an old seventeenthcentury block-house on a headland within gunshot of the cottage window, and soft turf with scentless violets in it on the slope from the block-house to the sea. The Tresco church was about as near in another direction a bijou place of worship, with Himalaya palms and palmetto dispersed among the graves. From the low, wind-blown patch of firs a little more remote, the cuckoo sounded its soothing note from still grey morn to dewy eve. And by climbing the hill in the middle of the island, I could in a little while reach the Smith monument, set in the heart of a gorse thicket, with rabbits speeding hither and thither, and the finest panorama of the islands north, south, east, and west. This was the place for the sunset. Even though the wind might be ever so fierce, the granite base of the pile (in memory of the late governor) afforded stout protection from it; and with one's back to the thing, one might watch the changing hues of the sky until the gloaming had arrived, and the lonely rock of the Bishop Lighthouse, four miles from inhabited land, had disappeared into the distance.

It was a cottage, too, for lazy moods, as well as for a certain amount of romance. For there was a well-made bench in the sandy garden, with some gillyflowers and young onions growing in front of it; and the ex-mariner had a famous telescope through which one could see the men of the Round Island Lighthouse (the third in the archipelago) moving about their limited rocky domain. Like other ex-mariners, this good fellow could tell yarns beginning,

But

On calm days at low tide the space between Tresco and St. Martin's pre- When we were off Cape Hatteras, sented an odd appearance. Its two one day in the year so and so." miles of waterway shrank to three or he was never so utterly tiresome or four poor little channels between the mendacious as some of his brethren are black island rocks, and here, too, care apt to be on the like themes. was essential to avoid sticking upon one of the protrusive weed-clad granite edges which peeped above the blue water. The white sand underneath

In this little cottage I was treated with as much distinction as possible for four-and-sixpence a day.

It was nearly the same on the island

no doubt been made, and thus the number of its parts is ever on the increase.

of St. Martin's. Here I was the guest of a farmer in the Middle Town; and it was settled (not without apology from I think the view of the islands from the farmer's wife about the extrava- the St. Martin's downs is even more gauce of the charge) that I should pay interesting than that from Tresco. four shillings daily for my board and Here we are not in the middle of the lodging. The chief article in the bill group. It is all spread out beneath us of fare was clotted cream. At low tide upon one side; while upon the other my host collected cockles from the side is the Atlantic and the grey outline sandy shore looking towards St. Mary's, of the Cornish coast beyond. Seen by three miles distant. These, with excel-moonlight, the interlacing of the reefs lent plum cake and a tin of Australian in the silvery water is a remarkable meat, may be described as the table sight. At such a time, too, there will dainties of St. Martin's. My bedroom window opened into the greenhouse, in which heliotrope and hundreds of cut narcissi ready for the market made a perfume that was almost too sweet for sufferance. There was no end to the amiability of the household. One day the farmer had the butcher over from St. Mary's, and a two-year-old ox was slain in the presence of the people. That evening, when I went to bed, the gory head of the slaughtered beast hung at the foot of my staircase, to remind me of a nursery picture of the decapitation of Goliath. And on the following day part of the "offal" enriched the principal meal.

But it was more especially outside the farmhouse and its narcissus beds that I took my pleasure on St. Martin's. The island is only about five hundred acres in extent, but it is an enchanting combination of rocky coast, white sandy bays, and grassy downs with gorse and heather and crimson stonecrop on them. The hills pervade it; and from the balmy ridge Cornwall seems quite near. Fortunately the weather was exquisite while I was here. At low tide I walked to White Island, and inspected the deep fissure which some think a relic of ancient tin-prospecting Romans. There is no present trace of tin in the cutting; but if man's handiwork is not in the quarry, nature is a subtler imitatrix of it than one would expect to find her. This island, like most of the others, is destined in no long time to be divided into two parts. The Atlantic pinches the waists of the isles until, after a series of spring tides, channels form in their midst. Thus the archipelago has

be the witness of half-a-dozen lighthouses to suggest that not always are the Scillies so sweet and idyllic a picture. For not only are the local lights visible from these downs of St. Martin's, but those of Cornwall also.

St. Martin's ought to be a moral little land. Its inhabitants neither smoke tobacco nor drink strong drink. There is no licensed house in its three miles of length. In case of need, a certain householder will provide a little brandy; but one may conjecture that the need will have to be extreme before it is administered. The perfume of my cigar seemed to certain members of my household a very strange kind of smell. I am sorry to say it by no means met with approval from the pretty young daughter of the farmer. She it was who picked the narcissi for the British market, and deftly tied them in bunches of twelve. Her mother and father rated her for her daintiness, but she was not to be led against her own instincts. In other ways I was not to her liking. When first I entered the house as a guest, she made me happy by her readiness to wait upon me and by the winsome blushes upon her cheeks. Somehow it was assumed I was a woollen draper, or at least a grocer. But when, in response to leading questions put to me at meal-time, I avowed that I lived by my pen, and even wrote stories, all the attractive lustre faded from her eyes, and a leaden look of reproach took its place. "Stories!" she exclaimed, "how can a man write such things-all lies!" There was not a doubt that I had degraded myself in her esteem. And I

resolved there and then that when I return to St. Martin's, it shall be with a portmanteau half full of pattern-books. But I fear, long ere that time comes, one of the young men of St. Martin's will have taken her to a certain little white house, with its appanage of narcissus beds and new-potato patches.

From Blackwood's Magazine.
ADDISCOMBE:

THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S MILITARY

COLLEGE.

kept prominently in view, whilst efficiency was not neglected. So there was much searching for suitable quarters and much negotiation before the acquisition in 1809 of Addiscombe Place, near Croydon, formerly the residence of the first Earl of Liverpool, which comprised a mansion and about fiftyseven acres of land.

Its late owner, Charles Jenkinson, was the chief political adviser of George III., and enjoyed that monarch's complete confidence. He commenced Parliamentary life in 1761 under Lord Bute, had rapid promotion, was created IN these days, when companies for Lord Liverpool in 1796, and died in the development of vast tracts of Africa 1808. The house was a fine old red are being established, both interest and brick mansion, and the grounds were advantage may result from an investi- well timbered and very beautiful. It gation of the methods followed by their was no doubt unavoidable that most of great predecessor, the Honorable East the trees should be cut down to make India Company. If much may be room for the hideous barracks and class found that is now out of date, still more rooms, for whose design we believe the is to be learnt of unquestionable value company's architect and a senior officer from the extended experience and of royal engineers were responsible ; wise blending of liberality with econ- but who would credit that the mansion omy which characterized the manage- itself was white washed! Possibly on ment of the great company. In its the authority of the "Rolliad," purifigeneral aspect the subject is manifestly cation after the departure of its late too extensive for more than mere men-owner and his friends Pitt and Dundas tion here; but a short consideration of was considered necessary before the one branch of it—the supply of officers for the company's military service may prove useful, and is certainly interesting, as it involves a description of the military school in which many officers were trained whose services were of the highest order, and of whom some have acquired enduring renown.

house was fit for the reception of the seminary staff; but if so, the efforts might have been contined to the interior, and the gratuitous advertisement of the vandalism of the new proprietors might have been spared. Suitable quarters having thus been secured, the directors appointed Dr. James Andrew head master, and intrusted him with the selection of professors and with the management of the institution. In 1809 there were sixty cadets, for whose board and education Dr. Andrew received an allowance of £80 each per annum, and there is evidence that the arrangement was to his entire satisfaction. Whether it pleased the cadets equally is another story, concerning which official reports are silent.

In the early days of the company the territory under their sway was comparatively limited, and consequently their army was small. Its officers were irregularly supplied; some from local sources were appointed to the infantry, whilst others from Woolwich or Marlow filled the few vacancies in the artillery and engineers. But as these corps had to be augmented to keep pace with the increase of territory, the Court of Directors decided to establish a seminary, as Dr. Andrew was professor of mathethey delighted to call it, for the educa- matics and head classical master, the tion of cadets destined for their service other professors being Mr. Glennie for in India. In accordance with the tra- fortification, with Mr. Bordwine as asalitions of the company, economy wassistant; Mr. Shakespear for Hindu

stani, with Hasan Ali as assistant; and diligence; and it was arranged that a military-plan drawing-master; and engineers were to be detained in EnColonel Mudge was public examiner. gland without prejudice to their rank, Each cadet paid £30 half-yearly to in order that they might be attached to cover the cost of books, mathematical the ordnance survey then in progress, instruments, stationery, pocket-money, and learn the elements of surveying. washing, etc., "cloaths and medical at- Another regulation is curious as a sign tendance;" the further cost of educa- of the times. Cadets whose parents tion was paid by the company to secure resided in Scotland or Ireland had the useful and efficient men for their work privilege of remaining at the seminary in India. The age for admission was during the vacation, travelling being from thirteen and a half to sixteen then so slow and expensive. But this years, a bad arrangement which led to indulgence, if it may be termed one, mischief, for mere boys require a disci- was not an unqualified success, for we pline totally different from that suitable find two young men thus situated had for young men. In time this error was first boarded with Hasan Ali the assistso far amended that the minimum age ant Hindustani master, and afterwards was raised to fifteen and the maximum lived in private lodgings in Croydon, to eighteen years, but still the consid- where they conducted themselves in erable difference in the ages of cadets a very exceptionable manner,”1 and thus possible was an element of need- contracted during the holidays "opinless danger to the management. Never- ions and habits of independence which theless, at first the students seem to indisposed them on resuming their have given little trouble; there is noth-studies to submit to the necessary dising recorded against them save inatten- cipline of the seminary." This was tton to the study of Hindustani. The first public examination was held in October, 1810, when, in order to give the occasion "a proper degree of solemnity and consequence," ," the directors were asked to attend in full strength. Besides them the only other guests seem to have been Dr. Hutton, the late professor of mathematics at Woolwich, and Mr. Leyburn, who held a similar position at Marlow, both of whom certified that the cadets passed a very strict and scientific examination in mathematics, and that great merit was due to both preceptors and pupils. On this occasion eight were selected for engineers and twenty-one for artillery.

provided for by a code of regulations. Cadets were not allowed to go into Croydon or beyond the grounds without the permission of the head master; they had always to wear uniform even when on short leave; they were not liable to what the official records term "corporeal punishment," but could be fined, get extra drill, or be put “in the Black Hole, there to be fed on bread and water, provided that such confinement shall not extend beyond nine o'clock at night, but it may be resum'd the following morning.”1 The fines formed a fund whence prizes were given to the deserving.

The respectable monotony of order It is curious and instructive to note seems to have been broken in 1815 the gradual development of the institu- under the following circumstances. On tion from this humble beginning. At a Sunday afternoon some of the young first no prizes were given save the ap- men applied for leave to go beyond the pointments to India; but soon we find grounds; and Dr. Andrew (to quote the seminary committee recommending his version of the affair), thinking that "that a box of colors and other draw- to give no leave would be ungracious ing materials, with a suitable super- and to give unlimited leave dangerous, scription," 1 should be given to the best told the students to muster at five military draftsman. Other prizes fol- o'clock and he would walk with them! lowed, in order to promote emulation But the worthy gentleman's company

1 MS. records.