XXXVI

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Charles G. Harper

The Pavilion and the adjoining Castle Square, where one of the old coach booking-offices still survives as a railway receiving-office, are to most people the ultimate expressions of antiquity at Brighton; but there remains one landmark of what was “Brighthelmstone” in the ancient parish church of St. Nicholas, standing upon the topmost eyrie of the town, and overlooking from its crowded and now disused graveyard more than a square mile of crowded roofs below. It is probably the place referred to by a vivacious Frenchman who, a hundred and twenty years ago, summed up “Brigtemstone” as “a miserable village, commanded by a cemetery and surrounded by barren mountains.”

From here you can, with some trouble, catch just a glimpse of the Watery horizon through the grey haze that rises from countless chimney-pots, and never a breeze but blows laden with the scent of soot and smoke. Yet, for all the changed fortune that changeful Time has brought this hoary and grimy place, it has not been deprived of interesting mementoes. You may, with patience, discover the tombstone of Phoebe Hassall, a centenarian of pith and valour, who, in her youthful days, in male attire, joined the army of His Majesty King George the Second and warred with her regiment in many lands; and all around are the resting-places of many celebrities, who, denied a wider fame, have yet their place in local annals; but prominent, in place and in fame, is the tomb of that Captain Tettersell who (it must be owned, for a consideration) sailed away one October morn of 1651 across the Channel, carrying with him the hope of the clouded Royalists aboard his grimy craft.

ST. NICHOLAS, THE OLD PARISH CHURCH OF BRIGHTHELMSTONE.

His altar-tomb stands without the southern doorway of the church, and reads curiously to modern ears. That not one of all the many who have had occasion to print it has transcribed the quaintness of that epitaph aright seems a strange thing, but so it is:

P.M.S.

Captain NICHOLAS TETTERSELL, through whose Prudence ualour an Loyalty Charles the second King of England & after he had escaped the sword of his merciless rebells and his fforses received a fatall ouerthrowe at Worcester Septr 3d 1651, was ffaithfully preserued & conueyed into ffrance. Departed this life the 26th day of Iuly 1674.

——>——>——>

Within this monument doth lye,
Approued Ffaith, honor and Loyalty.
In this Cold Clay he hath now tane up his station,
At once preserued ye Church, the Crowne and nation.
When Charles ye Greate was nothing but a breath
This ualiant soule stept betweene him & death.
Usurpers threats nor tyrant rebells frowne
Could not afrright his duty to the Crowne;
Which glorious act of his Church & state,
Eight princes in one day did Gratulate
Professing all to him in debt to bee
As all the world are to his memory
Since Earth Could not Reward his worth have given,
Hee now receiues it from the King of heauen.

The escape of Charles the Second, after many perilous adventures, belongs to the larger sphere of English history. Driven, after the disastrous result of Worcester Fight, to wander, a fugitive, through the land, he sought the coast from the extreme west of Dorsetshire, and only when he reached Sussex did he find it possible to embark and sail across the Channel to France. Hunted by relentless Roundheads, and sheltered on his way only by a few faithful adherents, who in their loyalty risked everything for him, he at length, with his small party, reached the village of Brighthelmstone and lodged at the inn then called the “George.”

THE AQUARIUM, BEFORE DESTRUCTION OF THE CHAIN PIER.

That evening, after much negotiation, Colonel Gunter, the King’s companion, arranged with Nicholas Tettersell, master of a small trading craft, to convey the King across to FÉcamp, to sail in the early hours of the following morning, October 14th. How they sailed, and the account of their wanderings, are fully set forth in the “narrative” of Colonel Gunter.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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