]58 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



prodigious, and the latter at a 

 moderate price. The English 

 carry off uiuch gold from this 

 fair. The loiiis-d'ors have risen 

 in price, and are at present at 

 more than 9 per cent, pieniium. 

 It is generally remarked, that the 

 English at present draw much 

 re:idy money from the Continent. 

 There are at the fair a great many 

 Jews, who have a great deal of 

 money; but hitherto they have 

 purchased little, and are waiting 

 for a still more favourable mo- 

 ment. .Many traders will not 

 clear their personal expenses. 

 The causes to which the badne.ss 

 of tlie fair is as. ribed are the 

 great number of large sales by 

 auction, which have taken place 

 in dlH'erent parts, the increasing 

 dearth of provisions, the scarcity 

 of ready n;oney, and the reduc- 

 tion of a great number of for- 

 tunes. 



Colonial produce is in little de- 

 mand, though at a moderate 

 price. The pound of good coffee 

 costs al)out 7 ISaxon giosschen (2 

 shillings) ; sugar is from <) to 10 

 grosschen. The labours of the 

 harvest are not yet finished in oiu" 

 neighbourhood, which also tends 

 to diminish the nun)ber of retail 

 purchasers \\ho usually come 

 from the country. 



13. Kingsgate, (near Margate)^ 

 — " An extiaordinaiy and awful 

 incursion of the .sea hiis produced 

 a Pom])lete revolution in that part 

 wher;' stood a house, from time 

 inuiiemojial, called the Admii'al 

 Digby's Head. During the preva- 

 lence of one of those hurricanes 

 which at times be.-et our coast, 

 an eastern gale carried away the 

 whole of tiie house, except a part 

 of one wing, wherein a servant 



boy slept. This tremendous visi- 

 tation happened in the night. 

 'J he boy awoke with the rumbling 

 noise of the premises giving way, 

 but whether it was owing to being 

 overcome with terror, which be- 

 numbed all his facidties, or that 

 he preserved moie than stoical 

 firmness, it is certain that he did 

 not attempt to escape the impend- 

 ing danger. From tlie details 

 given by a resident in the vicmity 

 (for the family were all providen- 

 tially absent at Margate), it ap- 

 pears that the surf rose consider- 

 ably above a hundred feet from 

 the sea, and broke uith such force 

 over the cliff as to inundate every 

 object around. As a temporary 

 duelling, the innkeeper has fitted 

 up that whimsical Gothic pile 

 which was long used for accom- 

 modating horses and carriages, 

 'i'he sea is ap))r(iaching willi gi- 

 gantic strides to the edifice called 

 the Castle, which, though it stand 

 on an eminence, towering over 

 all the other dwellings, yet is by 

 no means safe from the dreadful 

 hollow- broken seas which are pe- 

 culiar to this i]uarter, and during 

 the equinox particularly violent." 

 Brighton. — .About nine o'clock 

 last night a serious accident was 

 occasioned by two tival coaches 

 endeavouring to a priority of en- 

 tering into Brighton. Without 

 any observations on the frequent 

 repetition of these imprudent ri- 

 valships, we shall confine our de- 

 tail of the ])articulais to a stiite- 

 ment of the affair. The Phoenix 

 and Dart coaches, on leaving 

 London, passed each other on the 

 road, and the foru'cr kept the ad- 

 vantage within a mile of this 

 town, when, making the rising 

 turn of the road, the Dart en- 



deavour«d 



