Since the Reformation the tithes have been appropriated, and passed with the different leases of the lands. Remains of the convent, most properly dedicated to St. Nicholas, are still to be seen on the island of Trescow. St. Nicholas was the patron of mariners, and frequently preserved vessels in a miraculous manner when his aid had been fervently invoked; perhaps the right of wreck was given to the convent for the pupose of attaching an increased degree of merit to their prayers in favour of ships likely to be dashed against those rocks. St. Nicholas had also delegated to him from Heaven the peculiar care of infants, as a reward for his early piety, which induced him, in the first month, to abstain from taking the nourishment afforded by his mother’s breast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on all occasional fasts appointed by the church. He was Archbishop of Myra, a city of Lycia, in Lesser Asia, where he died in 342; but in 1087 his relics were forcibly taken from thence, and conveyed to the town of Bavi in Italy, towards the opening of the Adriatic, and where they continue to perform the most wonderful cures, more especially in all cases of infants. The Scilly Islands first became objects of public attention in the great civil war, and especially towards the latter part of these struggles. After the death of King Charles the First, Sir John Grenville, subsequently created Earl of Bath in memory of the battle at Lansdown, where his father fell in the arms of victory, having collected a small force, kept possession of St. Mary’s island, where they either constructed or enlarged lines, rather than a fortress, which still remain. Their opponents encamped themselves on Trescow, till at last, as relief was clearly impossible, the cavaliers surrendered, but not till they had evinced their honour and true feelings as gentlemen, by refusing to accept any terms from a foreign power, and preserving the integrity of England, although it was in the hands of their deadly foes. Unfortunately for these islands, they remain public property, or as it is termed, belong to the Crown; and a system has prevailed, at least from the time of Queen Elizabeth, one of the very worst that could be devised, of granting them at an annual rent, and for a short term of years, to private gentlemen; renewed, indeed, in the same line for more than two hundred years, first to the family of Godolphin, and then to the family of Osborne, which succeeded to the property of the former, but always with an uncertain tenure and the impossibility of encouraging others to expend capital on any permanent undertaking. A better system has, however, been at last adopted, although very inferior to the plain, simple, and natural one of making the land freeholds in the hands of individuals.