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but wliicli ought not to exist, a moment after these are
removed. The establishment of Elizabeth Colleoofe
too, will facilitate this change; children of different
classes of society will be educated together; intimacies
will be formed; equality of treatment, and a community
of knowledge, will weaken, if not erase aristocratic
distinctions: playmates will become friends;
friendships will lead to family connexions and alliances;
and exclusiveness will die away, because there will
be no longer any rational or defined line of demarcation.
The tone of the best society in Guernsey is unobjectionable:
and whether in dress, manner, appointments,
or language, is on a level with society of the
same rank in England. Parties of a hundred and
fifty or two hundred persons, are given every fortnight,
by a certain limited number of families of the exclusive
classes; and at these entertainments, I have seen
nothing wanting, that either money or taste could
command. I have heard it remarked by persons who
had mixed much in good English society, that in
Guernsey there is somewhat too much stateliness; and
that one was occasionally reminded of persons playing
at kings and queens. It would not have occurred to
me, to make the observation; but this I must admit,
that unless on gala days, things are not always in
perfect keeping. The door of a house like a palace,
or at least, of such a house as no one in England would
think of living in, who possessed less than 6000/. or
8000/. a year, is perhaps opened in Guernsey by a
female servant. This is a trifie, but it is a trifle worth
telling.
English residents have complained of the difficulty
of gaining admission into Guernsey society. When
speaking of Jersey, I made some remarks upon this
complaint, which apply equally to Guernsey, as to
Jersey: and I will only now repeat, that it is an
unreasonable expectation for any one to indulge, that
the best society is to be open to him who brings no
passport to it,—no proof that he has a claim to its
attentions.
Owing to the better opportunities which many in
Guernsey have enjoyed both in England and on the
continent, of judging of the fine arts, by seeing and
hearing the best models—painting and music are more
cultivated and more patronised in this island, than in
•Jersey. At Castle Carey, the residence of J. Carey,
Esq., there is a good collection of pictures, chiefly of
the Spanish school. There are Murillos and Espano-
lettos,—and some clever bits by others than the Spanish
masters ; particularly by Bassano, Guido, Teniers,
and Salvator; though it is questionable, whether the
pictures acribed to the latter, be really from the hand
of this great master. The collection is well worth
a visit ; and the proprietor has much pleasure in shewing
his pictures to those who are capable of appreciating
their merits.
As the best proof I could give, of the superior estimation
in which music is held in Guernsey, comparatively
with Jersey, I need only state, that 1 have
known the same highly respectable Italian company,
perform one week, to empty houses in Jersey, and
the next, draw overflowing audiences in Guernsey.
Altogether among the native inhabitants of Guernsey,