Above the names is a cherub at each corner of the tablet; and between the 7 and 0 are represented two nude children amidst scroll-work, which is surmounted with an angel in the act of sounding a trumpet. Dr. Mantell remarks that at Brighton the inroads of the sea have been very extensive. The whole of the ancient town was situated on the spot which is now covered by the sands, and the present cliffs were then behind the town, like those of Dover; and Mr. Lyell, in his “Principles of Geology,” says:—“The sea has merely resumed its position at the base of the cliffs, the site of the old town having been a beach which had for ages been abandoned by the ocean.” In the _Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliæ et Walliæ_, _auctoritate P. Nicholas_ (A.D. 1292), and _Nonarum inquisitiones in coria scaccarii_ (A.D. 1340), mention is made that the losses of land sustained by the action of the sea, between the years 1260 and 1340, a period of only eighty years, were in Brighthelmston, 40 acres; in Houve, 150 acres; Aldrington, 40 acres; and in Portslade, 60 acres. The “Magna Britannia,” of 1737, says:—“About 90 years ago, this Town was a very considerable Place for Fishing, and in a flourishing Condition, being then one of the principal Towns of the County, containing near five hundred Families; but since the beginning of the Civil Wars it hath decayed much for want of a Free Fishery, and by very great Losses by Sea, their shipping being often taken from them by the Enemy: Nay, it is the Opinion of the most judicious Inhabitants, that had not Divine Providence in a great Measure protected them by their Town being built low, and standing on a flat ground, the _French_ would several times have quite demolished it, as they had attempted to do, but the low Situation of it prevented their doing it any considerable Damage, the Cannon Balls usually flying over the Town; But the greatest Damage to the Buildings has been done by the breaking in of the Sea, which within these forty years hath laid Waste about 130 Tenements; which Loss, by a modest Computation, amounts to near 40,000_l._ and if some speedy Care be not taken to stop the Encroachments of the Ocean, it is probable the Town will in a few years be utterly depopulated; the Inhabitants being already diminished one-third less than they were, and those that remain are many of them Widows, Orphans, decrepid Persons, and all very poor; insomuch that the Rates for their Relief are at the Rack-Rent of 8d. in the Pound, for there are but few Charities given for their Support, _viz._ one by Mr. Barnard Hilton {76} of 16_l._ _per Annum_, with some other small Benefactions, which make it about 20_l._ a year.”