LAST OF THE REGENCY 267 



bare South Downs, open to every wind that blows. 

 Surely gratitude is well described as a " lively sense 

 of favours to come." and they, no doubt, considered 

 that the statue they had erected in the Steyne gardens 

 to him was a full discharge of all obligations. Nor is 

 the history of that effigy altogether creditable. It was 

 erected in 1828. as the result of a movement among 

 Brighton tradesfolk in 1820. to honour the memory of 

 one who had incidentally made the fortunes of so 

 many among them ; but although the subscription 

 list remained open for eight years and a half, it did 

 not provide the £3.000 agreed upon to be paid to 

 Chantrey. the sculptor of it. 



The bronze statue presides to-day over a cab- 

 rank, and the sea-salt breezes have strongly oxidised 

 the face to an arsenical green ; insulting, because 

 greenness was not a distinguishing trait in the character 

 of George the Fourth. 



The surrounding space is saturated with memories 

 of the Regency ; but the rovsterers are all gone and 

 the recollection of them is dim. Prince and King, the 

 Barrymores — Hellgate, Newgate, and Cripplegate — 

 brothers three : Mrs. Fitzherbert, " the only woman 

 whom George the Fourth ever really loved," and whom 

 he married ; Sir John Lade, the reckless, the frolicsome, 

 historic in so far that he was the first who publicly 

 wore trousers : these, with others innumerable, are 

 long since silent. No more are they heard who with 

 unseemly revelry affronted the midnight moon, or 

 upset the decrepit watchman in his -box. Those days 

 and nights are done, nor are they likely to be revived 

 while the Brighton policemen remain so big and 

 muscular. 



With the death of George the Fourth the play 

 was played out. William the Fourth occasionally 

 patronised Brighton, but decorum then obtained, and 

 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert not only disliked 

 the memory of the last of the Georges, but could not 

 find at the Pavilion the privacy they desired. The 

 Queen therefore sold it to the then Commissioners of 



