for the purposes of an hospital; room would also be
required for the spare materiel of a siege; work-shops
for artificers; store-rooms for provisions, &c.; and
besides, the casemates under the bastions, which could
alone be converted to these purposes, would require
to be kept clear of all that might impede the working
of the guns wliich enfilade the bottom of the ditches.
Fort Regent is commanded by two eminences,
which, although at least a thousand yards distant, are
• sufficiently near to have been considered dangerous
by the engineer; for traverses have been raised on
the bastions, and across the curtains, with the view
apparently, of counteracting tlie effects of an enemy’s
fire. The fortress is abundantly supplied with excellent
water, from a well, two hundred and thirty-four
feet deep, and ten feet in diameter, bored through the
solid rock.
It is doubtful, whether all this labour, and money,
has not been after all, injudiciously expended; and
whether Fort Regent be in reality, any compensation
to England, for the 30, or 40,000/. per annum with
which it has saddled her : and it is also the opinion of
many, that if a fortress of this nature were to have
been erected, it would have been placed more advantageously
at Noirmont-point, on the opposite side of
the bay. It is evident, that in case of a descent upon
Jersey by a force superior to any that could be opposed
to it, the only use of a stronghold is, to afford
iJie means of succour from England. This is no
better secured by erecting the citadel close to the
town, than if it had been raised on the other side of
the bay, and in case of a siege, the former involves
the destruction of the town, not only by an enemy,
but by its defenders also; since in such an event, it
would be necessary to clear away all that part of the
town which lies under the fort, as opportunities would
otherwise be afforded for making lodgments, and for
undermining.
This new and expensive defence of the island of
Jersey, reduces to insignificance, the ancient, and
more picturesque fortress called Elizabeth Castle,
which I have already mentioned as so striking an
object in approaching the island. Striking, however,
as this castle is, whether seen from sea, or from shore,
and interesting as it is, from some historical details
connected with it, I was some time in Jersey before I
visited it, the access to it being by no means inviting.
It is not more than three quarters of a mile, from the
pier of St. Helier, to Elizabeth Castle; but in order
to reach it on foot, or on horseback, at low water, one
must make a long circuit, and traverse a natural causeway
little less than a mile long, which the confluence
of the tides has formed between the castle and the
shore. The whole of the sands indeed, on each side
of the causeway, are left by the ebbing tide; but
being too wet and soft to be passable, one is obliged
to keep on the rough narrow elevation. The situation
of Elizabeth Castle will be tolerably well seen and
understood from the map.
Before visiting Elizabeth Castle, one has no idea of
its extent. The rock, however, on which it stands, is
not less than a mile in circumference, and I was surprised
on passing through the gateway, to find a wide
grassy level, terminated by extensive barracks and
l(