The Allied Sovereigns.—“The March to Paris.”
Louis XVIII.—“Henri Quatre.”
May Peace produce Plenty and Plenty Gratitude.—“Speed the Plough.”
Prosperity and Unanimity to the Town of Brighton.—“Tight little Island.”
The after part of the day was devoted to dancing, blind-man’s-buff, jingling matches, foot-racing, stool-ball, kiss-in-the-ring, jumping in sacks, &c.; and the happy throng concluded the day by joining hands and forming long chains of human beings, and thus in high glee they “threaded the tailor’s needle” to Castle Square, where, after singing “God Save the King,” they, in the most orderly manner, dispersed, and made for their several homes.
Cricket was a favourite pastime with the Prince of Wales, who was frequently engaged in the manly game with the noblemen and gentlemen of his suite, on the Royal Ground, which had been granted for his use by Mr. Thomas Reed Kemp, the Lord of the Manor. His Royal Highness, however, upon coming to the throne, retired from cricket, and hence the Ground was given up. Mr. Kemp then made the grant of a portion of it to the Town for the recreation of the inhabitants, and the road to the north of the Level was formed.
In 1822, an enterprising townsman, Mr. James Ireland, became the purchaser of ten acres of the land immediately north of the road, and in the following year, Ireland’s Gardens and Cricket Ground were opened to the public. The original entrance was at the south-west comer, where was a neat lodge that conducted to the cricket ground, and an excellent bowling green, with raised banks, and a billiard room with colonnade and rustic seats in front. At the lower or east end was the tavern department, the Hanover Arms Inn, where, also, was an excellent fives’ court. The Gardens were approached either by crossing the Cricket Ground, or by a separate road that skirted the property.
Mr. Ireland was the successor of Mr. Daniel Constable, who, with his brother William as shopman, commenced May 29th, 1802, the drapery business, now the well-known establishment of Messrs. Hannington and Son, at No. 3, North Street. Mr. Ireland became the purchaser of the business in 1806, and it passed from him to the late Mr. Hannington, the successor also, at No. 4, of Mr. William Diplock, who, in the summer of 1819, when Brighton churchyard was despoiled of its dead, announced himself as sole agent for the sale of patent metallic coffins, of the security of which he assured the public, every person would be satisfied. Previous to the formation of the Hanover Grounds, Mr. Ireland carried on the business of woollen draper and undertaker at No. 10, North Street.
A noble and conspicuous building, comprising reading, refreshment, and dressing rooms on the basement, and an elegant promenade room, eighty feet by thirty feet, over them, formed the junction of the Cricket Ground with the Gardens, just within the entrance of which was the ladies’ bowling green, surrounded by a beautiful lawn and tea arbours. There were likewise, adjacent, an aviary and a grotto. A Gothic tower and gateway approached by a bridge that spanned a piece of water at the north end of the main central avenue, was the entrance to a Maze, in the centre of which was a Merlin swing. From the want of that support from the public which was due to Mr. Ireland, for the spirit he evinced in so zealously catering for their entertainment, the thousands which he expended were entirely lost to him, and he retired from that which ought to have been a benefit to the town and himself, a ruined man.
During the time that he held possession, a public declaration was made by the town crier that a man would fly from the top of the assembly room to the extreme north of the Grounds. All Brighton was tickled by the announcement, and hours previous to the time stated for the intended flight, throngs of people were wending their way northward, and taking up their position, where they imagined they could obtain the best view of the sight. The Round Hill was covered with one mass of human beings, whose eyes were concentrated upon a slight scaffold that was erected on the roof of the building. From the top of this structure a stout cable was stretched to the foot of the bridge at the maze, affording sufficient evidence that no hoax was intended. Expectation, therefore, was on tip-toe; and after patience had undergone a long endurance, a slightly-built man, in light fleshings, with Zephyr-like wings, was seen to ascend the scaffold, causing an universal clapping of hands, and the firing of the guns at Staines’s mimic fort. About a couple of minutes sufficed for the performer to make the necessary adjustments for his flight, and then, amidst loud huzzas, he, waving a flag in each hand, gracefully glided down, head foremost, beneath the cable, along which revolved an arrangement of wheels, to which he was attached longitudinally. Those who had a gratis view of the exploit smiled, and contented themselves with the satisfaction that the sight had cost them nothing; but those who went into the Gardens and paid, to see whatever could be seen, felt sorely vexed, and some were so excited as to attempt a castigation of the exhibitor. His friends, however, quickly liberated him from his machinery, and he took a flight through the maze that enabled him to elude his pursuers.