The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-12
MISUNDERSTANDING PLACE
Brighton-by-the-Sea, and It's Influence
Upon London and English High Life.
The Tight Little Isle intoxicated with Poll
tics-LOrd Randolph ChurchilIs Relations
to the New Conservative Cabinet.
Correspondence OF the Indinnapolis Journal.


LONDON, July 3.-The famous English water
ing place which Thackeray called DR.. Brighton
because Of its healthfulness. is unlike any sea-
side city of America 1t has a series of seasons
all the year round 1t is always full of visitors
though society proper shuns it in the summer
During July and august the commoner human
clay avails itself of the Brighton beach, piers,
baths and downs. In the fall and winter Bright
is the centre Of fashion. By the end OF DC
tober half the peerage is represented among the
crowd that oscillates to and fro in splendid equl-
pages between the extreme points OF the drive
by the sea- Three miles of carriages, and three
miles of handsome stores, houses, hotels cafes,
representing picture Of life and
wealth rarely seen at watering
place out of England But Brighton
is, after all only London by the sea. Kings
road and Undercliff, or the grand marine parade,
as it might be called along the shore of the En-
glish channel, is the Regent street and
Bond street of London, with the sea dashing up
10 the roadway. At night long rows of lamps
mark the coast line, and variegated illumina-
lions dot the new pier, where the strains of a
military band rise and fall above the accompani-
ment Of ''the ever sounding sea-
Brighton has population of about 900.
AS London grows Brighton increases. 1t is
city of lodging houses, hotels, stores, baths and
private residences. In contradistincti0n to the
American watering place, it should be noted
that there is not wooden house in this English
Brighton The buildings are all of brick and
stone, some of them reminding you of the best
residences in Boston, New York, Washington,
Of tbp odnu
erectoGs of Coney Island, nor the tempo
rary cottages at Saratoga or Newport. In
regard to its seasons" the contnuousness of
which have mentioned, the cheap excursion
isss7 from London and other cities swarm over it
IN the summer; as the autumn comes the rich
Jews Of London arrive here in great numbers;
from October to February the arstocracy make
ii their own. In the interim there are special
train services from Friday until Monday in each
week, so that Brighton is always more or less
gay with holiday life. The young swells of Eng
land can hunt and frt here to their hearts
content, from the opening of cub hunting until
the last fox has been killed. for there are balls,
rOuts, concerts receptions, all the time. Bright
On is gay place for the poor scions of noble
houses on the lookout for heiresses: it is choice
hunting ground for penniless adventures on the
watch for rich widows; modern D'Orsays and
Beau Brummes find pleasant occupation at the
clubs and in society while generals without
regiments and parvenus pose on the side
walks at the most popular hour of the day for
doing the three-mile drive by the sea. Margate
and Ramsgate, which form the Isle of Thanet,
are often spoken Of as marine suburbs of Lon
don, but they are the resorts of the cockney
pure and simple. Cheap and nasty" describes
Margate, in contradistinction to Brighton, which
Is Mayfair in the country, London by the sea.
stood for an hour the other day opposite the old
Ship Hotel Ia Representative of England'S former
DAYS of inns and taverns), and 1t seemed as If
Hyde Park, Regent street and Mayfair had just
emptied themselves, carriages, horses and all,
into Kings road, Brighton. Cabinet ministers
and their wives peers and peeresSes, jour
nalists, artists, members of Parliament, actors,
distinguished foreigners, a motley crowd of
fashion, in one long procession by the There
Is hotel here taller than the Fifth Avenue or
the Windsor in New York. 1t is called the
Grand. 1t towers up to the sky and has been
found by one of its literary admirers to realize
something of Mark Twans description of the
houses in Naples. They don't understand the
art of managing big hotels in England, and
would advise Americans visiting Brighton to
stay at a boarding house or try their luck at the
smaller hotels.
A century and half ago. Brighton, or, as it
was then called, Bright Helmston little
fishing town, upon which the sea was continually
making encroachments. Surveyed by engineers.
it was found that the cost of makingan embank
Tnent to protect the land from the ravages of the
ocean would be 100000. That was considered
too much for the government to spend upon
Brighton. The banks were, however improved
bit by bit, and in 1853 the fashionable world
began to hear the first words about Brighton
air and Brighton water" DR.. Russell, vino was
known in fashionable London circles, came to
live here He tried the effect of Sea-bathing and
the local waters and praised them. He ordered
his patients to follow his example. The Duke
mud Duchess of Marlborough acted upon his ad-
vice. They followed by the Northumber-
land and other aristocratic families. Where the
shining lights of society became fixed stars
their satellites soon began to twinkle Brighton
grew apace In 1882, George. Prince of Wales
who afterward became George ", selected
site at Brighton for new royal residence. Lon
don and other great centers began to find the
new watering place attractive, and at the begin
ming Of the present century there were lodging
houses and hotels enough to accommodate 800
visitors. In 1907 a handsome theater was built
and opened by Mr.. and Mrs kemble with the
tragedy of Hamlet" in 1920 the present chain
pier was built; in 1929 the present sea wall was
completed at cost Of 5000. 900; in 1871 railway
trains began to run between Brighton and Lon
don, and in 1885 parlor cars, special expresses,
trains that never stop on their way between
Brighton and London, run at convenient hours,
and hundreds of city merchants live at Brigh-
ton aud run up and down hundred miles day
from their offices to the in less time than
cab used TO take them to their suburban villas
at Hampstead or Hammersmith, while the great
working population of London in the summer
time are taken to and fro in day, and nine
hours given them by the for 81.
The architecture of Brighton is a curious
mixture of classic and the Gothic: and throwing
into the picture the domes and minarets of the
Pavilion, we get touch of the Moorish. Chinese
aR2 Egyptian. In spite of these ineongruities
Brighton may fairly be called magnificent city.
The Pavilion was formerly a royal residence
Designed by the great architect Nash, 1t was
built under the superintendent of George "
himself, when he was Prince of Wales. 1t looks
like the palace of some Great Mogul. If Nash
had invented the building from description in
the Arabian Nights" he could hardly have
realized more completely an Eastern palace of
the Imagination. 1t is a mixture of Moorish,
Hindoo Chinese and Egyptian, and sets one
thinking of Bagdad and the Prince Al Raschid
IN 1850 there was JOY IN Brighton for this mag
nileent monstrosity was purchased from
IN. 10 IL