The Brighton of my Boyhood 



''to see a fight between any two country- 

 men or fishermen that could be bribed to 

 the work. Once I mind 'twas between an 

 ostler and a butcher, and butchery it was if 

 you like. His Royal Highness used to bet 

 very heavy in those days, I heard tell." My 

 father, like all old Brightonians, had many 

 a tale to tell of the Prince's pastimes in our 

 town. Anything in the form of a race had 

 great charms for him, and he was delighted 

 when, for his pleasure, a Captain of the 

 Sussex Militia, mounted by a grenadier of 

 eighteen stone, matched himself to run fifty 

 yards against a pony carrying a feather, to 

 run a hundred and fifty. And the Steine 

 donkey-races were frequently favoured by 

 the Royal presence. The riders, who some- 

 times rode with their faces to the tails of 

 their steeds, were often orentlemen of noble 

 birth, and once, as gossip says, even princes 

 of the blood. 



On the occasion of these Royal romps 

 the Steine was gay with the presence of all 

 the eleo-ant folk from the Pavilion. " The 

 Nobility and Gentry who assemble on this 

 celebrated Promenade," said the bombastic 

 little guide-book of that date, "are not to be 

 equalled for Numbers and Respectability by 

 any in the Kingdom." Thither, too, came 

 the burly .fishermen and lads, shouldering 



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