that a moderate sized fishing-boat would scarcely have escaped being injured by either of them. Many elegant spectators were on the Cliff during the exercise.” The west battery was removed in 1859. A flagstaff within a railed space, marks its last site; as, twice after its original construction, it was removed with the sanction of Government, to admit of widening the King’s Road at that spot, to accommodate the increased traffic. The battery house and the other buildings in connexion with the Battery, were disposed of by auction by Mr. P. R. Wilkinson, on Monday, September 9th, 1861, and by the 28th of that month the space was entirely cleared for the erection of an hotel, Government having disposed of the ground to the Brighton Hotel Company. The remnant of the battery platform, marked by the flagstaff, belongs to the town, the Corporation having purchased it of Government to prevent any other purchaser placing buildings upon it. Brighton thus, wholly depends upon such means of defence as the emergency of the occasion may require to be brought into operation, by means of the railway, the facility of transit offering the full assurance that every _materiel_ would be at hand for the ready service of our Volunteers, should an enemy have the temerity to invade our shores and put to the proof every Englishman’s motto, “_Pro aris et focis_.” CHAPTER XII. THE INCURSIONS OF THE SEA UPON THE TOWN. Brighton has not had merely to defend itself against the aggressions of foreign invaders, but the encroachment of the sea at various times has checked its prosperity. Between 1260 and 1340, upwards of 40 acres of land had become submerged, {73a} and the sea made continual inroads upon the lower town. Previous to 1665 twenty-two copyhold tenements under the Cliff, belonging to the manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes, alone were swept away. Amongst them were twelve shops, with four stake places and four capstan-places attached to them, and three cottages and three parcels of land adjoining them. {73b} There still remained under the Cliff, 113 tenements (shops, capstan and stake places, and cottages) which were destroyed by the memorable storms of 1703 and 1705.