given, that the prosperity and happiness of a people are much more dependent on its laws, institutions, and the manner which its government is carried on, than on climate and fertility of soil. I have twice visited the Island of Guernsey under circumstances favourable for becoming acquainted with its condition: and in the hopes of directing general attention to a model from which even a nation might derive advantage." One of the most striking changes which the visitor, whether from England or France, meets with on his landing in Guernsey, is the entire absence of beggars; which are so truly abundant in England, especially in the pauper districts of Dorset and Ireland. That miserable compound of imposture and real distress--the wandering mendicant--is there unknown. A tradesman who has been established at St Peter-Port for upwards of thirty years, assured me that during the whole period of his residence in the Island he has never once seen a beggar. For myself I neither saw nor heard of one; and I was satisfied, from all I learnt, that a beggar in Guernsey is a being of a past age--a creation of history--a fit subject for the speculation of the antiquary--but too completely covered with the dust of ancient times, for those of the present day to examine. Not only is the island free from beggars, but it is free also from those debasing but unfortunate creatures whom the twilight of evening brings forth from their hiding places, like swarms of moths, to join the giddy dance round the flame that is soon to destroy them. Prostitution proceeds from the same sources as mendicity--want and ignorance; and where the latter is not found, the former will rarely be met with. Be that as it may, however, the fact is, that the streets and roads of Guernsey are not disgraced by the appearance either of the prostitute or the beggar. St Peter-Port, the capital, is situate on the profile of a hill about the middle of the East coast, and extends for a considerable distance, the streets in the old town being narrow, whilst those of the upper or new one are very superior, but having the appearance of being built in valleys. On being slightly acquainted with the town, the stranger's uppermost remark is always the number of steps, when he is apt to exclaim: "There is no end to them!" The opening of a new street, the erection of a market-house, and the purchase of the adjacent land cost the States £80,000, the profits of which enabled them to erect a fish-market on a magnificent scale. The public buildings around are extensive and handsome, and consist chiefly of the Mechanics' Library, a semi-arcade of shops, and the Assembly Rooms opposite, underneath which is the Poultry Market. [Illustration: Assembly Rooms and Market-Place.] Besides this the town boasts of a spacious Court of Justice, a Prison, Hospital, Public Libraries, Theatre, Billiard Rooms, Reading Rooms, &c.