perhaps — allegorically at least — some of the gilt had been taken off, a fortnight previously by the arrival of
Wombwell’s far-famed Menagerie. But even this was not allowed to have it all its own way; for on the day of its arrival, notwithstanding the wind-force of its powerful brass and copper band, there was a counter-blast from Old Notus[1], commonly called a gale, whose roar was equal to that of the lions and tigers, and made them shut up the exhibition for the first day, at least.
A Reminiscence. In a letter to the Hastings News, of August 4th, Mr. John Banks wrote “By reference to a memorandum, I find that on Saturday, Sept. 28th, 1844, about 6 a.m., the sun just above the horizon, I was walking on the mound on the northern side of the Lady’s Parlour on the West hill; a smart breeze was blowing from the north and bringing a dense fog down the valley to the west of the hill. The eastern boundary of the fog was tolerably well defined, and illuminated by the rays of the rising sun. My shadow and that of the elevated ground on which I stood were strongly depicted on the fog. In addition to the beauty and singularity of the appearance, there was something ludicrous in seeing the figure of a human being suspended as it were, in the mist, varying from 50 to 80 feet in height, as the fog oscillated to the east or the west, imitating, with the utmost precision the motions I made. The phenomenon lasted eight or ten minutes, and disappeared in consequence of the fog enveloping the place where I stood. I noticed nothing like the frame-work, said to have been seen in the North, but as I descended the hill and became slightly enveloped in the fog, the upper part of the shadow then diminished in size, was surrounded by a circle, coloured red; outside of this was a light circle without colour, and surrounding this was another circle, exhibiting the colours of the solar spectrum, blue being innermost and red outermost. — This phenomenon, as witnessed by Mr. Banks, was a local “Spectre of the Brocken”[2].
A Rare condition. Almost as phenomenal, if not so curious, were the circumstances in connection with the Union Workhouse. This asylum, with its 115 inmates had not been so little occupied during a period of five years. There was but one pauper from St. Leonards, and the same from Fairlight. Guestling and All Saints never had such low rates. St. Clements also was as low as 4d., and Trinity, whose rates had sometimes been the 1/9, had only a sixpenny rate. That such a condition might be less rare is, doubtless, the devout wish of many a ratepayer.
- ↑ Notus was the Greek god of the south wind and bringer of the storms of late summer and autumn.
- ↑ A Brocken spectre (German: Brockengespenst), also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre, is the magnified (and apparently enormous) shadow of an observer cast upon clouds opposite the Sun's direction. The figure's head is often surrounded by the halo-like rings of coloured light forming a glory, which appears opposite the Sun's direction when uniformly-sized water droplets in clouds refract and backscatter sunlight.
