I am not sure how much of this long, satirical article is accurate. The simple illustrations are in my opinion rather bizarre. It was printed in the Illustrated Times, 24 October 1857.
BY THE SEA-SIDE. – NO. XI
ST LEONARD’S-ON-THE-SEA
Is the West End or Belgravia of Hastings. St Leonard’s proper begins at the archway which crosses the Esplanade; but it is the custom of residents who live in Eversfield Place, Warrior Square, and Grand Parade, which are eastwards of the archway, to date from St Leonard’s-on-Sea, and these places are, we understand, included in the St Leonard’s post-office delivery. Hastings, to our mind, is a pleasanter locality than St Leonard’s; the heights are loftier, and the neighbourhood is more picturesque, but the houses in St Leonard’s are larger and grander. It is moreover far from the vulgar shopkeepers and fishermen, and therefore fashion has decreed that it is the proper thing to live at St Leonard’s, and vulgar to reside at Hastings. St Leonard’s is quite modern. It dates only from the year 1828. It was at first a distinct town, but gradually Hastings stretched westwards and St Leonard’s to the east, and now they have met, and are in fact one continuous town.
THE ESPLANADE.
This range of houses, which we have already said is two miles long, is one of the finest in the kingdom; indeed, we doubt whether on the whole there is anything equal to it; and to young swells, who go to the sea-side to be seen rather than to see, this promenade must be a paradise. Fancy, for instance, the secret ecstacy of one of these “dandiacal bodies,” elaborately go up, regardless of expense – in the morning in the nautical style, in the evening in Belgravian walking costume – parading along this magnificent promenade, or attitudinising on a bench in front of the Marina, delightfully believing that he is the observed and admired of all observers, that from the
windows scores of eager eyes are observed and admired of all observers, that from the windows scores of eager eyes are directed towards him, and that every group of ladies that he meets is secretly peeping at him through the curtains of their broad-brimmed hats ! “Oh, if it be true there is bliss upon earth, it is this – it is this !” Into Hastings these “dandiacal bodies” seldom wander; and on the heights they are as rare as swallows at Christmas. The fishermen of Hastings would offer no incense; nor would our swells produce the smallest sensation amongst the coast-guard or the sea gulls at Ecclesbourne or Fairlight. Like the peacock, they will not display their beauties where there is nobody to admire. But on the Esplanade they resort at all hours, for there they can be seen, and there they sedulously display themselves. Their principal object is, as we have said, to be seen; but they also wish to see, although that is not the height of their ambition – indeed, it is quite a secondary matter. But think not, oh reader ! that it is the sea, or the heights, or the glorious sunsets, which attract our swells. When they divert their thoughts from their own charms, it is to ogle the other sex, which they do with the coolest impudence imaginable; and it is probable that the fashion of curtains hung from the brims of the ladies’ hats, now become so prevalent, was adopted to protect the wearers from these vulgar intrusions. Our artist has sketched one of these starers ogling the ladies on a balcony – a favourite amusement of the sea-side swells. In St Leonards there are but few shops – only just enough to supply the wants of the fashionable inhabitants; and these shops are, for the most part, all in a line, just within the archway opposite the Marina. Here every morning may be seen a crowd of mothers and daughters purveying for the day, attended of course by the assiduous swells.
Before the evenings had drawn in and turned chilly as they now are, the melodious strains of a band of music out at sea were to be nightly heard floating over the water. This was a luxury provided exclusively for the aristocratic residents at St Leonard’s. The more humble sojourners at Hastings had to be content with a German band, that never ventured off terra firma.
