Westward of Beachy Head is the noted watering-place of this southern
coast, Brighton, the favorite resort of the Londoners, it being but
fifty-one miles south of the metropolis. This was scarcely known as a
fashionable resort until about 1780, when George IV., then the Prince of
Wales, became its patron. Taken altogether, its large size, fine
buildings, excellent situation, and elaborate decorations make Brighton
probably the greatest sea-coast watering-place in Europe. It stretches
for over three miles along the Channel upon a rather low shore, though
in some places the cliffs rise considerably above the beach. Almost the
entire sea-front, especially to the eastward, is protected by a strong
sea-wall of an average height of sixty feet and twenty-three feet thick
at the base. This wall cost $500,000 to build, and it supports a
succession of terraces available for promenade and roadway. In front the
surf rolls in upon a rather steep pebbly beach, upon which are the
bathing-machines and boats. Along the beach, and behind the sea-wall,
Brighton has a grand drive, the Marine Parade, sixty feet wide,
extending for three miles along the shore and in front of the buildings,
with broad promenades on the sea-side ornamented with lawns and gardens,
and on the other side a succession of houses of such grand construction
as to resemble rows of palaces, built of the cream-colored Portland
stone. The houses of the town extend far back on the hillsides and into
the valleys, and the permanent population of 130,000 is largely
augmented during the height of the season--October, November, and
December. Enormous sums have been expended upon the decoration of this
great resort, and its Marine Parade, when fashion goes there in the
autumn, presents a grand scene. From this parade two great piers extend
out into the water, and are used for promenades, being, like the entire
city front, brilliantly illuminated at night. The eastern one is the
Chain Pier, built in 1823 at a cost of $150,000, and extending eleven
hundred and thirty-six feet into the sea. The West Pier, constructed
about fifteen years ago, is somewhat broader, and stretches out eleven
hundred and fifteen feet. Each of the piers expands into a wide platform
at the outer end, that of the West Pier being one hundred and forty feet
wide, and here bands play and there are brilliant illuminations. Both
piers are of great strength, and only four cents admission is charged to
them. Prince George built at Brighton a royal pavilion in imitation of
the pagodas of the Indies, embosomed in trees and surrounded by gardens.
This was originally the royal residence, but in 1850 the city bought it
for $265,000 as a public assembly-room. The great attraction of
Brighton, however, is the aquarium, the largest in the world, opened in
1872. It is constructed in front of the Parade, and, sunken below its
level, stretches some fourteen hundred feet along the shore, and is one
hundred feet wide, being surmounted by gardens and footwalks. It is
set at this low level to facilitate the movement of the sea-water, and
its design is to represent the fishes and marine animals as nearly as
possible in their native haunts and habits, to do which, and not startle
the fish, the visitors go through darkened passages, and are thus
concealed from them, all the light coming in by refraction through the
water. Their actions are thus natural, and they move about with perfect
freedom, some of the tanks being of enormous size. Here swim schools of
herring, mackerel, and porpoises as they do out at sea, the octopus
gyrates his arms, and almost every fish that is known to the waters of
that temperature is exhibited in thoroughly natural action. The tanks
have been prepared most elaborately. The porpoises and larger fish have
a range of at least one hundred feet, and rocks, savannahs, and
everything else they are accustomed to are reproduced. The visitors walk
through vaulted passages artistically decorated, and there is music to
gladden the ear. This aquarium also shows the processes of
fish-hatching, and has greatly increased the world's stock of knowledge
as to fish-habits. The tanks hold five hundred thousand gallons of fresh
and salt water.
Back of Brighton are the famous South Downs, the chalk-hills of Sussex,
which stretch over fifty miles parallel to the coast, and have a breadth
of four or five miles, while they rise to an average height of five
hundred feet, their highest point being Ditchling Beacon, north of
Brighton, rising eight hundred and fifty-eight feet. They disclose
picturesque scenery, and the railways from London wind through their
valleys and dart into the tunnels under their hills, whose tops disclose
the gyrating sails of an army of windmills, while over their slopes roam
the flocks of well-tended sheep that ultimately become the the
much-prized South Down mutton. The chalk-cliffs bordering the Downs
slope to the sea, and in front are numerous little towns, for the whole
coast is dotted with watering-places. A few miles east of Brighton is
the port of New Haven on a much-travelled route across the Channel to
Dieppe.