Page:Volume 3 1840.pdf/94

For there pure harmony prevails,
And sweetest music never fails.

O music! music! throw thy vest
Around each agitated breast;
Thy virtues to each soul unpart,
And tranquilize each gen’rous heart.

O music! music! haste thee near,
Thy blissful strains I long to hear;
Play me some peaceful, soothing strain,
To calm my fears,—to ease my pain.

Come crotchet, quaver, semibreve
Lend now thy aid—my mind relieve;
'Twill check my growing sinful pride
And root out many ills beside.

Ah! well-known melody how sweet
The oft’ner heard, the richer treat
That symphony may start a tear
Yet charms my faithful list’ning ear.

Yes! whether sacred song or glee,
'Tis all the same—I welcome thee;
Or instrumental, grave or bold—
With me thou never growest old.

Thy language known in every clime
Is most exalted, most sublime;
Thy tone of pure celestial sounds
On consecrated soil abounds.

By thee we can our thoughts express,
In humble garb or splendid dress;
The high, the low, the rich, the poor,
In thee may find exhaustless store.

Thou tellest what the poor man needs,
Thou spread’st the fame of valor’s deeds;
Thy tuneful, blythesome jocund lays,
We hail with pride on pleasure days.

Thou tell’st of merry laughing hearts—
Of plighted love—of cupid’s darts;
A nuptial-feast thou deign’st to tell
By welcome sounds of ding-dong. bell.

Thy gladsome strains of joy and mirth
We hail at every royal birth;
Or if perchance a mortal die
A solemn dirge thou dost supply.

Thou liv’st below, thou dwell'st above,
Thou reign'st where all is peace and love;
Then most unsocial must he be
Who does not gladly welcome thee.

To quote again from the local diarist, there is found on page 161, supposed to have been written on June 10th, as follows:— ”Whether, in a feeling of displeasure or one of a different nature, is not known, but certain it is that after repeated and fruitless applications in the ordinary way, the more novel application in doggerel rhyme proved to be immediately effective. It was thus :—

“Long credit you've had, sir,
’Tis really too bad, sir,
Your payments so long to evade;
So settle off-hand, sir,
The sum I demand, sir,
Ere county-court process be laid.”

Not only was the money immediately sent, but a polite apology for negligence accompanied it, and instead of the debtor being offended, he became afterwards a better customer. Perhaps, like some other persons who could be named, he chose to be needlessly eccentric in his commercial dealings.

On the next page of the diary is another specimen of eccentricity. It professes to be a ”Bill and Receipt,” as ordered by T. Musgrave, Esq., at 60, Marina, St. Leonards. It must have been, however, at a somewhat later date than 1848, and was probably copied from the original to fill up a blank page. It runs thus:—

“Squire Musgrave's in debt to one Thomas B Brett,
For copies a score of St. Leonards Gazette,
And wishing to pay before going away,
Demands his account without further delay.

'Tis one of this gentleman’s funny desires
To have in the shortest of time,
A proper account of indebted amount,
The same to be rendered in rhyme.

So then, to comply, on the 5th of July,
Was when this account did commence,
Hence clear may be seen, to November fifteen,
Was due shillings three, and four pence.

But surely ’tis funny, that double the money,
Is afterwards found in Brett's till;
Tis given by him who, with satisfied whim,
Gets rhyme and receipt with his bill.”

(Concluding extracts from a local diary.)

June 13. Commenced public practice with the St. Leonards Band on the parade for the summer season, June 30. “A disease among sheep” was predicted for last month by Simmonite in his Almanack published eight months previously, and the prediction is verified by the Bury Post which says ”The alarming visitation of small-pox among sheep which appears to be extending, was the subject of much remark at Thetford wool-fair on Thursday last.”

July 8. Simmonite foretells “ Many shipwrecks at this time,” and his forecast is too truly verified, among other casualties, by the total loss of the ”Finn McCoul” Scotch steamer and the emigrant ship “Commerce” with loss of life.

July 17. Zadkiel foretells that “ At St. Petersburg the people will suffer much by sickness and pestilence,” and the Times of to-day proves the accuracy of his judgment. It says ”At St. Petersburg from June 24th to July 3rd there had been 5,063 cases of cholera, of which 2,596 had proved fatal.”

July 19. Zadkiel further says “Jupiter transits the Sun’s place in the nativity of the Czar, and we hope that he will be mercifully inclined.” This hope of the astrologer is realised by the Emperor of Russia’s generosity in sending 50,000 roubles for the relief of the inhabitants of Orel who have been rendered homeless by the calamitous fire in that town Oct. 27. The Hastings News publishes under the heading of “ The St. Leonards of Poetrv,“ a poem from a correspondent written by R R. Madden, Esq., and previously printed in a Forget Me Not for 1834. This, which I have set to music, will be found among the unpublished portions of my musical compositions.

The words are, however, as follow :—

“The trav’ler may boast of the climes of the East,
He may rave about Naples and Rome;
He may rove thro’ the world like a child at a feast,
And forget all the pleasures of home;
Though sweet are the shores and ambrosial the gale
O’er the South, with its bright summer sea,
The glare of its beauty shall never prevail
O’er St. Leonards by moonlight with me.

“The poet may dream of Arcadian sprites,
And illumine his page with the glow
Of a summer in Greece when Apollo delights
On Olympus in vesture of snow;
I care not for Phoebus, I court not a beam
Of his beauty, however divine,
Of sunshine and splendour let Moore make a theme,
While St. Leonards by moonlight is mine.

“Let Byron awaken the heart-strnng(sic) lyre,
And the beauty impassioned proclaim
Of Haides and Helens whose features inspire
Each breast at a glance with a flame;

The beam unabashed of the dark, rolling eye
I seek not, and never will pine
For beauties Circassian, nor breathe e’en a sigh
While the maid of St. Leonards is mine.”

As the summer of 1893, just passed, has been noted for a long period of heat and drought, it may be of some interest to know that in the month of May, 1848, there was a lengthened period of extreme heat, which was said at the time to have caused a considerable number of visitors to leave Hastings for a cooler region. Those persons who attributed the departure of visitors to the cause of unusual heat appeared to forget that it was a part of year when a similar movement always takes place; yet it must be admitted that even at the present time the boast of having so much sunshine causes visitors to say that the drawback to a Hastings sojourn is its great amount of sunshine which causes the air to be relaxing. Statisticians know that the local temperature, take the year round, is more equable than at most other places, but the published records of sunshine give visitors an impression which it is not easy to remove. Turning again to the unusual heat and dry weather of May 1848, it may be well conceived how troublesome were the clouds of dust when the wind blew strongly over the then large open space which has since been covered with ​building​s from Carlisle Parade and Robertson terrace clean away to the railway station in one direction and to the Alexandra Park and West hill slopes in another. As a means for remedying the condition of dust alluded to, a letter appeared in the Hastings News of May 12th, 1848, signed by “ J. R.” (presumably James Rock, who was afterwards twice a Hastings Mayor) an extract of which is as follows :—

“Sir,
Why is not the ​road​ across the Priory Ground (alias the Desert) watered? This question is asked by almost everyone whose lot it is to cross that desert land at this dry and dusty season. You could not better employ your editorial pen than by directing the attention of our fellow-townsmen to these subjects; and if the only result be to get the Priory ​road​ watered either by the Commissions of both towns or by subscription, you will have achieved a public benefit. . . I will take this opportunity of mentioning a curious fact in connection with the Priory desert illustrative of the durability of the fertilizing action of manure. About half-way across the [beachy and bricky] ground, and but a few yards from the slope of the parade wall there is a little oasis which remains green and flourishing in the driest seasons, even when all around is dry and bare, This oasis marks the spot upon which stood the manure heap of the Pelham mews, which many of your readers will remember as occupying a part of the Priory ground before it became a 'despoblado’ under the William. Rufus-like doings of Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Woods and Forests and Land Revenues. Although 13 years have elapsed since the mews was pulled down, and the soil consists of little else than gravel or beach, the effects of the manure are still visible. There is another, but smaller green spot on the same ground which derives its fertility from a similar source.”

I have somewhere stated in my treatment of the events of 1848 that on the 4th of May Mr. John Banks — who, like myself, was the son of a blacksmith — was unanimously elected as schoolmaster to Parker's Charity at a salary of £155, in the place of Mr. George Rubie, then deceased. I now add that the death of Mr. W. Bevins having caused also a vacancy in the less remunerative mastership of Saunders’ Charity, a successor was advertised for and notice given that the election would take place at the Town Hall on the 6th of July. The regulations required the master to be of the Established Church, and to be competent to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, mathematics, navigation and Latin. The number of boys on the foundation was not to exceed 70, and the master was to be allowed to receive 10 private pupils. The salary, arising from land-rents at Wittersham, yielded about £85. The master elected for this charity was Mr. F Foster. What would schoolmasters now think of such conditions, with the salaries of assistant teachers to be paid by themselves?

The numerous sudden deaths and coroners inquests during the year have already been noticed, and among those of a more looked-for nature was the demise of the venerable Mrs Gill, widow of the banker William Gill. Her death occurred on the 28th of June, in the 97th year of her age, and her remains were interred in the burial-ground of All Saints on the 5th of July, when most of the shops were closed as a tribute of respect to the departed lady. Her husband’s death, at the age of 82, had preceded hers on the 16th of Nov., 1831. Notwithstanding that Mr. and Mrs. Gill attained to such venerable ages there were only two of their seven children who reached the age of fourscore. Ann, the eldest. who was born in 1776 and became the wife of William Scrivens, one of her father’s partners in the bank, died in 1863 at the age of 87. William, who was born in 1779, died in 1788, Charlotte was born in 1781, and George first saw the light in 1784, the latter dying at the age of 23. Thomas was born in 1786, and though I am not conversant with his life, I have a notion that it was he or a son of his, who, in 1848 delivered an interesting lecture at the Battle Mechanics’ Institute on ”The Connection of History with Common Life.” John came into the world in 1790 and went out of it at the age of 32. James, the youngest son, born in 1794, went to Sydney, New South Wales, where he died at the age of 80 years, after surviving his wife ten years, who died in 1864 at the age of 70.

Another of the Hastings deaths worthy of notice in 1848 was that of Charles Lutwidge, Esq. It occurred on the 7th of September at his residence, 2 Wellington square. The deceased, who had passed his 80th year, came to Hastings a few years before, was a gentleman greatly esteemed both in private and public life. He was the eldest son of Henry Lutwidge, Esq., of Cumberland, and had accompanied his uncle, Admiral Lutwidge, to the siege of Toulon in the Terrible, of 74 guns and was afterwards an officer in the Lancashire Militia, with which he served in Ireland during the rebellion of 1798. After that, he was the commanding officer, at Dungeness under Sir John Moore. He was next appointed Collector of Customs at the port of Hull, which office, after 35 years service, he gave up when he came to Hastings. He was regarded as a true Christian.

Having referred to the death of the venerable Mrs. Gill, widow of William Gill, the Hastings banker, as having taken place in 1848, it occurs to me to notice the death in the same year of Mr. Richard Smith, brother of Francis Smith, a late partner in the same Hastings Bank. Francis Smith came to Hastings in or about the year 1824; and, as he once told me, was carried over the Priory Bridge on the back of a big man (James Brazier) in that same year, When many of the Rope- Walk houses were washed down, and all the thoroughfares between Pelham place and the White-rock hill were inundated by the highest tide of the present century. But it was 24 years later, when there were no Rope. Walk houses existing to be demolished, and no Priory bridge to be passed, when Francis Smith’s brother Richard came to an untimely death. His residence was at Vinehall, and on the 7th of December, 1848, he attended the Cattle-Show dinner at Hailsham and on his return journey it is supposed, was thrown from his horse. He was afterwards found in a ditch beside one of the ill-formed marsh ​road​s to the east of Hailsham.

Another death in 1848 was a still more deplorable one, inasmuch as it was not natural, not accidental and not self-inflicted; it was, indeed a murderous one, and I would gladly draw a veil over the melancholy affair, but as an impartial historian, it behoves me not to pass it by. On the forenoon of Sunday, Nov. 12th, the cook at Catherine Villa, West Hill, St. Leonards, was brutally murdered while the greater part of the family, consisting of Miss Moore, Dr. Moore, (her brother) the coachman and footman were all at Hastings, attending service at the Baptist Chapel. The housemaid and cook were left at home, the former, whose name was Jane Cannon, proceeding afterwards to St. Leonards Church. The cook, whose name was Mary Ann Newman, and whose age was 56, had held the situation 26 years. On the return of the family, the footman, not being able to effect an entrance in the ordinary way, got in through Miss Moore's bed-room window, and found the room disarranged with jewel-cases and opened trunks, The cook was discovered in the lower passage, still breathing, with three severe wounds at the back of her head, Watches, jewellery and other portable valuables had been stolen, but no trace of the robber and murderer was at first possible. A man named 'Turf' Hyland, who had committed petty thefts and had been recently concerned in a sacreligious(sic) entry of the St, Leonards Church, was at first apprehended, but quickly discharged. Remembering that a young man named Pearson had previously lived at the house as coachman and that he had frequently quarrelled with the cook, whom tradesmen and others Judged to be of an unamiable temper, he was taken on suspicion at 11 o’clock the same night. The terribly injured woman lingered on until the following Tuesday, when she expired, as it was believed she would necessarily do. On the following day an inquest was held, to which I was summoned as a juryman, and it was then shewn that the wounds had been inflicted with a spade that had stood near the passage. The private opinion of some of the jurymen was that the murder was not premeditated, but that the assailant having been detected in the act of carrying off stolen property, and confronted by the cook, the impulse of the moment was to use as a weapon the spade which was near to hang. The murdered woman was short and corpulent, and apparently ill-calculated to offer resistance to any violent attack. She was a native of Tor in Devonshire, but of her early life very little could be gleaned. Her parents died when she was young and she was brought up by an aunt and two male cousins, the only relatives she had living. She entered Miss Moore’s service in 1821 at the age of 29 years. She possessed some peculiarities of character which may be described as failings, but as ”the good that men do is buried with them,” it would be wrong to say aught that makes the “evil live after them” One remarkable circumstance is that a short time before her death she related a dream to her mistress to the effect that Pearson would one day be her murderer. The stolen property was valued at £250. Pearson was apprehended at the Hastings Arms inn after he had been to St. Clement’s Church, and it is another curious circumstance that on that particular evening the gas suddenly went out and the church was left in darkness. Candles were procured and one was given to Pearson, which it was said he held with a steady hand, and even conversed about the murder. He was afterwards committed for trial by Mr. Alfred Burton, who was the first Hastings mayor elected from St. Leonards, if we omit Mr. John Brett, of -