'The Bishop and his Grand Vicar were hospitably received at Hastings by the Rev. Mr. Whitear, who entertained them till Saturday, when they left that place for London. It is the duty of every Magistrate and Gentleman to prevent the lower classes in this country from imposing upon these poor fugitives. We are sorry to learn that, at Hastings, the exactions of the boatmen, on Wednesday last, were shameful in the extreme. They refused to bring any of the Frenchmen on shore for less than four shillings a man; and some even raised their fare to five shillings.—Among English mariners, we thought that such unjust and unfeeling wretches were not to be found.'
A notice of the nuns who took refuge here must close this episode:
October 29, 1792.—'The Nuns, whose arrival at Brighthelmstone was mentioned in our last paper, were driven from a convent at Lisle. At the time of their debarkation they had only about thirty pounds in specie remaining, all the valuables of their convent having been seized on by the regenerate French. The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert paid them a very long visit at the New Ship Inn; after which, his Royal Highness set on foot a subscription for their relief, which, in a short time, amounted to upwards of one hundred pounds.
'The above ladies, on the evening of their arrival, celebrated High Mass, with great solemnity, in an apartment at their inn.
''Twas remarkable that no two of the above nuns could be prevailed on to sleep in one bed.'
October 1, 1792.—'The Prince, we hear, has it in contemplation, to take down, and entirely rebuild, on a much larger scale, his Marine Pavilion at Brighthelmstone;' but he did not do it just then, as he was woefully hard up.
A VOLUPTUARY UNDER THE HORRORS OF DIGESTION.
Of course, during the year the Prince did not escape the pencil of the satirist, and there was a print published on May 23, to understand which it must be premised that formerly, at the opening of Courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions in England, a proclamation against vice and immorality was always read. This print is called 'Vices overlooked in the New Proclamation,' in which are depicted the King and Queen as Avarice, the Prince as Drunkenness, the Duke of York as Gambling, and the Duke of Clarence and Mrs. Jordan as Debauchery.