Fitzherbert, Maria Anne, 1756-1837; George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830
But Dr. Richard Russell, having removed from Mailing, near Lewes, to
this town about the year 1750, called attention to the benefit of
sea-bathing, having written a treatise, which was translated into
English, and went through several editions--'De Tabe Glandulari,
sive de usu aquæ marinæ in morbis glandularum dissertatio,' Oxford,
1750, 8vo. This brought visitors to Brighthelmstone; the erection of
lodging-houses became a profitable speculation, and the town began to
increase in population and celebrity.
Dr. Russell's successor, Dr. A. Relhan, wrote, in 1761, 'A Short
History of Brighthelmston, with Remarks on its Air, and an Analysis of
its Waters, particularly of an uncommon Mineral one, long discovered,
though but lately used.' In this tract he thus describes the
Brighthelmstone of his time:
'The town, at present, consists of six principal streets, many lanes,
and some spaces surrounded with houses, called by the inhabitants
Squares. The great plenty of flint stones on the shore, and in the
cornfields near the town, enabled them to build the walls of their
houses with that material when in their most impoverished state; and
their present method of ornamenting the windows and doors with the
admirable brick which they burn for their own use, has a very pleasing
effect. The town improves daily, as the inhabitants, encouraged by the
late great resort of Company, seem disposed to expend the whole of what
they acquire in the erection of new buildings, or making the old ones
convenient. And, should the increase of these, in the next seven years,
be equal to what it has been in the last, it is probable there will be
but few towns in England that will exceed this in commodious buildings.
'Here are two public rooms, the one convenient, the other not only so,
but elegant; not excelled, perhaps, by any public room in England, that
of York excepted: and the attention of the proprietor in preparing
everything that may answer for the conveniency and amusement of the
company is extremely meritorious.
'The men of this town are busied almost the whole year in a succeeding
variety of fishing; and the women industriously dedicate part of their
time, disengaged from domestic cares, to the providing of nets adapted
to the various employments of their husbands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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