“And whose very snug-looking Place
is this?”--said Charlotte, as in a
sheltered Dip within 2 miles of the
Sea, they passed close by a moderate-
sized house, well fenced & planted, &
rich in the Garden, Orchard & Meadows
which are the best embellishments of
such a Dwelling. “It seems to have
as many comforts about it as Willingden.”
--“Ah!--said M^r P.--This is my
old House--the house of my Forefathers
--the house where I & all my
Brothers & Sisters were born & bred--
& where my own 3 eldest Children
were born--where M^{rs} P. & I lived till
within the last 2 years--till our new
( 44 )
House was finished.--I am glad you
are pleased with it.--It is an honest
old Place--and Hillier keeps it in very
good order. I have given it up you
know to the Man who occupies the
cheif of my Land. _He_ gets a better
House by it--& I, a rather better
situation!--one other Hill brings us
to Sanditon--modern Sanditon--a
beautiful Spot.--Our Ancestors, you
know always built in a hole.--Here
were we, pent down in this little contracted
Nook, without Air or Veiw,
only one mile & 3 q^{rs} from the noblest
expanse of Ocean between the South
foreland & the Land’s end, & without
the smallest advantage from it. You
will not think I have made a bad
exchange, when we reach Trafalgar
House--which by the bye, I almost
wish I had not named Trafalgar--for
Waterloo is more the thing now. However,
( 45 )
Waterloo is in reserve--& if we
have encouragement enough this year
for a little Crescent to be ventured on
--(as I trust we shall) then, we shall
be able to call it Waterloo Crescent--
& the name joined to the form of the
Building, which always takes, will give
us the command of Lodgers--. In a
good Season we sh^d have more applications
than we could attend to.”--“It
was always a very comfortable House--
said M^{rs} Parker--looking at it through
the back window with something like
the fondness of regret.--And such a
nice Garden--such an excellent Garden.”
“Yes, my Love, but _that_ we
may be said to carry with us.--_It_
supplies us, as before, with all the fruit
& vegetables we want; & we have in
fact all the comfort of an excellent
Kitchen Garden, without the constant
Eyesore of its formalities; or
( 46 )
the yearly nuisance of its decaying vegetation.
--Who can endure a Cabbage
Bed in October”? “Oh! dear--
yes.--We are quite as well off for
Gardenstuff as ever we were--for if it
is forgot to be brought at any time,
we can always buy what we want at
Sanditon-House.--The Gardiner there,
is glad enough to supply us--. But it
was a nice place for the Children to run
about in. So shady in Summer!”
“My dear, we shall have shade enough
on the Hill & more than enough in the
course of a very few years;--The
Growth of my Plantations is a general
astonishment. In the mean while we
have the Canvas Awning, which gives
us the most complete comfort within
doors--& you can get a Parasol at
Whitby’s for little Mary at any time,
or a large Bonnet at Jebb’s--and as
for the Boys, I must say I w^d rather
( 47 )
_them_ run about in the Sunshine than
not. I am sure we agree my dear, in
wishing our Boys to be as hardy as
possible.”--“Yes indeed, I am sure
we do--& I will get Mary a little
Parasol, which will make her as proud
as can be. How Grave she will walk
about with it, and fancy herself quite
a little Woman.--Oh! I have not the
smallest doubt of our being a great
deal better off where we are now. If
we any of us want to bathe, we have
not a q^r of a mile to go.--But you
know, (still looking back) one loves to
look at an old friend, at a place where
one has been happy.--The Hilliers
did not seem to feel the Storms last
Winter at all.--I remember seeing
M^{rs} Hillier after one of those dreadful
Nights, when _we_ had been literally
rocked in our bed, and she did not
seem at all aware of the Wind being
( 48 )
anything more than common.” “Yes,
yes--that’s likely enough. _We_ have
all the Grandeur of the Storm, with
less real danger, because the Wind
meeting with nothing to oppose or
confine it around our House, simply
rages & passes on--while down in this
Gutter--nothing is known of the state
of the Air, below the Tops of the Trees
--and the Inhabitants may be taken
totally unawares, by one of those
dreadful Currents which do more mischief
in a Valley, when they _do_ arise
than an open Country ever experiences
in the heaviest Gale.--But my dear
Love--as to Gardenstuff;--you were
saying that any accidental omission is
supplied in a moment by Ly D.’s
Gardiner--but it occurs to me that
we ought to go elsewhere upon such
occasions--& that old Stringer & his
son have a higher claim. I encouraged
( 49 )
him to set up--& am afraid he does
not do very well--that is, there has
not been time enough yet.--He _will_
do very well beyond a doubt--but at
first it is Uphill work; and therefore
we must give him what Help we can--
& when any Vegetables or fruit happen
to be wanted--& it will not be amiss
to have them often wanted, to have
something or other forgotten most
days;--Just to have a nominal supply
you know, that poor old Andrew may
not lose his daily Job--but in fact to
buy the cheif of our consumption of
the Stringers.--” “Very well my
Love, that can be easily done--& Cook
will be satisfied--which will be a great
comfort, for she is always complaining
of old Andrew now, & says he never
brings her what she wants.--There--
now the old House is quite left behind.
--What is it, your Brother Sidney says
( 50 )
about it’s being a Hospital?” “Oh!
my dear Mary, merely a Joke of his.
He pretends to advise me to make
a Hospital of it. He pretends to laugh
at my Improvements. Sidney says
any thing you know. He has always
said what he chose of & to us, all.
Most Families have such a member
among them I beleive Miss Heywood.
--There is a someone in most
families privileged by superior abilities
or spirits to say anything.--In ours, it is
Sidney; who is a very clever Young Man,
--and with great powers of pleasing.--
He lives too much in the World to be
settled; that is his only fault.--He is
here & there & every where. I wish
we may get him to Sanditon. I should
like to have you acquainted with him.
--And it would be a fine thing for the
Place!--Such a young Man as Sidney,
with his neat equipage & fashionable
( 51 )
air,--You & I Mary, know what effect
it might have: Many a respectable
Family, many a careful Mother, many
a pretty Daughter, might it secure us,
to the prejudice of E. Bourne &
Hastings.”--They were now approaching
the Church & neat village of
Sanditon, which stood at the foot of
the Hill they were afterwards to ascend
--a Hill, whose side was covered with
the Woods & enclosures of Sanditon
House and whose Height ended in an
open Down where the new Build^{gs}
might soon be looked for. A branch
only, of the Valley, winding more
obliquely towards the Sea, gave a
passage to an inconsiderable Stream,
& formed at its mouth, a 3^d Habitable
Division, in a small cluster of Fisherman’s
Houses.--The Village contained
little more than Cottages, but the
Spirit of the day had been caught, as
( 52 )
M^r P. observed with delight to Charlotte,
& two or three of the best of
them were smartened up with a white
Curtain & “Lodgings to let”--, and
farther on, in the little Green Court of
an old Farm House, two Females in
elegant white were actually to be seen
with their books & camp stools--and
in turning the corner of the Baker’s
shop, the sound of a Harp might be
heard through the upper Casement.--
Such sights & sounds were highly Blissful
to M^r P.--Not that he had any
personal concern in the success of the
Village itself; for considering it as too
remote from the Beach, he had done
nothing there--but it was a most valuable
proof of the increasing fashion of
the place altogether. If the _Village_
could attract, the Hill might be nearly
full.--He anticipated an amazing Season.
--At the same time last year, (late
( 53 )
in July) there had not been a single
Lodger in the Village!--nor did he
remember any during the whole
Summer, excepting one family of children
who came from London for sea
air after the hooping Cough, and whose
Mother would not let them be nearer
the shore for fear of their tumbling in.
--“Civilization, Civilization indeed!--
cried M^r P--, delighted--. Look my
dear Mary--Look at William Heeley’s
windows.--Blue Shoes, & nankin
Boots!--Who w^d have expected such
a sight at a Shoemaker’s in old Sanditon!
--This is new within the Month.
There was no blue Shoe when we passed
this way a month ago.--Glorious indeed!
--Well, I think I _have_ done
something in my Day.--Now, for our
Hill, our health-breathing Hill.--” In
ascending, they passed the Lodge-
Gates of Sanditon House, & saw the
( 54 )
top of the House itself among its
Groves. It was the last Building of
former Days in that line of the Parish.
A little higher up, the Modern began;
& in crossing the Down, a Prospect
House, a Bellevue Cottage, & a Denham
Place were to be looked at by
Charlotte with the calmness of amused
Curiosity, & by M^r P. with the eager
eye which hoped to see scarcely any
empty houses.--More Bills at the Window
than he had calculated on;--and
a smaller shew of company on the Hill
--Fewer Carriages, fewer Walkers. He
had fancied it just the time of day for
them to be all returning from their
Airings to dinner--But the Sands &
the Terrace always attracted some--.
and the Tide must be flowing--about
half-Tide now.--He longed to be on
the Sands, the Cliffs, at his own House,
& everywhere out of his House at
( 55 )
once. His Spirits rose with the very
sight of the Sea & he c^d almost feel his
Ancle getting stronger already.--Trafalgar
House, on the most elevated
spot on the Down was a light elegant
Building, standing in a small Lawn
with a very young plantation round it,
about an hundred yards from the brow
of a steep, but not very lofty Cliff--
and the nearest to it, of every Building,
excepting one short row of smart-
looking Houses, called the Terrace,
with a broad walk in front, aspiring to
be the Mall of the Place. In this row
were the best Milliner’s shop & the
Library--a little detached from it, the
Hotel & Billiard Room--Here began
the Descent to the Beach, & to the
Bathing Machines--& this was therefore
the favourite spot for Beauty &
Fashion.--At Trafalgar House, rising
at a little distance behind the Terrace,
( 56 )
the Travellers were safely set down,
& all was happiness & Joy between
Papa & Mama & their Children; while
Charlotte having received possession
of her apartment, found amusement
enough in standing at her ample,
Venetian window, & looking over the
miscellaneous foreground of unfinished
Buildings, waving Linen, & tops of
Houses, to the Sea, dancing & sparkling
in Sunshine & Freshness.--
( 57 )