enough of it to make the oldest inhab- | there is a good deal of fog over the itant think the world was coming to an islands at times. This would not suit

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 There was further an old seventeenthcoast of Tresco, and quite fell in love century block-house on a headland with the serenity of the life. It was a within gunshot of the cottage window, house built shipwise. To enter it one and soft turf with scentless violets in it had to stoop as if one were going down on the slope from the block-house to a hatchway; to ascend to the bedroom the sea. The Tresco church was about it was further necessary to take heed of as near in another direction a bijou one's head. Here I lived on plain food place of worship, with Himalaya palms and kept early hours. The walls were and palmetto dispersed among the populous with grocers' and drapers' graves. From the low, wind-blown Christmas almanacs. A funeral card or patch of firs a little more remote, the two kept me in mind of my mortality. cuckoo sounded its soothing note from The crockery and cutlery were of an still grey morn to dewy eve. And by unassuming kind. I drank out of a climbing the hill in the middle of the Jubilee mug, with the words "A pres-island, I could in a little while reach ent for a good little girl" upon it. The the Smith monument, set in the heart cooking was far below club standard. of a gorse thicket, with rabbits speeding But what of all this? There was hither and thither, and the finest panonothing really of the nature of a hard- rama of the islands north, south, east, ship about it, and as a change it was and west. This was the place for the delightful. The ex-mariner's boat was sunset. Even though the wind might moored just outside, under the cottage be ever so fierce, the granite base of wall, which at high tide the Atlantic the pile (in memory of the late govhalf hid. It was easy enough to get ernor) afforded stout protection from into it and row to Norwethel, Tean, St. | it; and with one's back to the thing, Helen's, or the serrated shape of Mena- one might watch the changing hues of wore, in search of adventures. The the sky until the gloaming had arrived, adventures were of course likely to be and the lonely rock of the Bishop of the moderate order; but I was con- Lighthouse, four miles from inhabited tent enough when I found myself land, had disappeared into the distance. 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.

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, When we were off Cape Hatteras,

But

On calm days at low tide the space between Tresco and St. Martin's presented 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

of St. Martin's. Here I was the guest of a farmer in the Middle Town; and it was settled (not without apology from the farmer's wife about the extravagance of the charge) that I should pay four shillings daily for my board and lodging. The chief article in the bill of fare was clotted cream. At low tide my host collected cockles from the sandy shore looking towards St. Mary's, three miles distant. These, with excellent plum cake and a tin of Australian meat, may be described as the table 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.

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

I think the view of the islands from the St. Martin's downs is even more interesting than that from Tresco. Here we are not in the middle of the group. It is all spread out beneath us upon one side; while upon the other side is the Atlantic and the grey outline of the Cornish coast beyond. Seen by moonlight, the interlacing of the reefs in the silvery water is a remarkable sight. At such a time, too, there will 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. But it was more especially outside I am sorry to say it by no means met the farmhouse and its narcissus beds with approval from the pretty young that I took my pleasure on St. Martin's. daughter of the farmer. She it was The island is only about five hundred who picked the narcissi for the British acres in extent, but it is an enchanting market, and deftly tied them in bunches combination of rocky coast, white sandy of twelve. Her mother and father bays, and grassy downs with gorse and rated her for her daintiness, but she heather and crimson stonecrop on them. was not to be led against her own inThe hills pervade it; and from the stincts. In other ways I was not to balmy ridge Cornwall seems quite near. her liking. When first I entered the Fortunately the weather was exquisite house as a guest, she made me happy while I was here. At low tide I walked by her readiness to wait upon me to White Island, and inspected the and by the winsome blushes upon her deep fissure which some think a relic of cheeks. Somehow it was assumed I ancient tin-prospecting Romans. There was a woollen draper, or at least a grois no present trace of tin in the cutting; cer. But when, in response to leading but if man's handiwork is not in the questions put to me at meal-time, I quarry, nature is a subtler imitatrix of avowed that I lived by my pen, and it than one would expect to find her. even wrote stories, all the attractive This island, like most of the others, is lustre faded from her eyes, and a leaden destined in no long time to be divided look of reproach took its place. "Stointo two parts. The Atlantic pinches ries!" she exclaimed, •how can a the waists of the isles until, after a man write such things-all lies!" series of spring tides, channels form in There was not a doubt that I had detheir midst. Thus the archipelago has graded 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 Lord Liverpool in 1796, and died in 1808. The house was a fine old red brick mansion, and the grounds were well timbered and very beautiful. It was no doubt unavoidable that most of the trees should be cut down to make room for the hideous barracks and class rooms, for whose design we believe the company's architect and a senior officer of royal engineers were responsible ; but who would credit that the mansion itself was whitewashed! Possibly on the authority of the "Rolliad," purification after the departure of its late owner and his friends Pitt and Dundas was considered necessary before the house was fit for the reception of the

IN these days, when companies for the development of vast tracts of Africa are being established, both interest and advantage may result from an investigation of the methods followed by their great predecessor, the Honorable East India Company. If much may be found that is now out of date, still more is to be learnt of unquestionable value from the extended experience and wise blending of liberality with economy which characterized the management of the great company. In its general aspect the subject is manifestly too extensive for more than mere mention here; but a short consideration of one branch of it—the supply of officers for the company's military service-seminary staff; but if so, the efforts 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.

In the early days of the company the territory under their sway was comparatively limited, and consequently their

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.

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. Glenuie for in India. In accordance with the tra- fortification, with Mr. Bordwine as asditions 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 tion to the study of Hindustani. The provided for by a code of regulations. 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 confinement shall not extend beyond 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.

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

nine o'clock at night, but it may be resum'd the following morning." 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," 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.