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256 THE SUSSEX COAST
he does not speak of her with the raptures we might hope for, and confesses to being "in the even very dull and sleepy; this courting does not well agree with my constitution, and perhaps it may be only taking pains to create more pain." However, " she comes of reputable parents and may perhaps, one day or other, have a fortune." This was half the battle, and they were duly married by Mr. Porter. Perhaps Molly was more in the habit of nosing into Mr. Turner's private drawers than Peggy had been, perhaps his life became less interesting or more strenuous; at any rate, no further such confidential memoirs are extant, the diary comes to an end long before one's interest in it has begun to evaporate.
Newhaven Harbour is at present by far the best and most important in Sussex, but during the eighteenth century its authorities seem to have been less alert than they are to-day; a Lewes paper for January 2, 1772, contains a warning that an indignant but public-spirited skipper seems to have paid for as an advertisement : " Whereas I, Joseph Hartley, of the William from Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, came off Newhaven Harbour on the 29th ult. and could not get in, though she draws but six feet and a half of water, so was obliged to go to Shoreham where I lay till Thursday upon great Expences and had during that time a hard Gale of Wind, whereby I was in imminent danger. This is therefore to caution all Captains of my Acquaintance not to attempt that Harbour till it is repaired. Joseph Hartley."
Here in 1848 landed Louis Philippe, ex-King of France, who had styled himself the First of |
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