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Chap. XIXJ Dr. Brodie s Letters. 267
meet her. What was the consequence ? She wrote to her aunt at the moment she left London, of course the letter could not arrive before the morrow, and then too late for the carriage to set off in time to meet her; but as expedition was not so much the object as the expense of porting the boy arrived in good time although after he had got to Maresfield he was obliged to wait four hours to rest his horses—so after thirty-six hours spent frugally on the road she arrived express from London just in time to f-ee her aunt before she died. 0 Elwes, thou art a prince in comparison to this hopeful set!"
Under date of August 31,1824, Dr. Brodie writes to his sister as follows :—
" East-Bourne is as full as it can well hold, and very respectable; we had more gentlemen's carriages at Church last Sunday than I have s^en for many years, and the Church so crowded that many were obliged to leave for want of seats. Mrs. Gilbert is disposed neither to let for a short time, or a long time, TJpperton. She has had many applications for it, and that being the case, she does not know what to ask for the letting, nor to whom to let it. In short, she-is as contraiy as she can be."
Under date of February 25, 1824, Dr. Brodie writing to his sister, makes two allusions which have some modern interest. First of all he mentions the departure from East-Bourne of a certain Mrs. Cazalet, who had been the occupier of what is generally known as the Upperton Farm ILouse. A daughter of this Mrs. Cazalet afterwards became the wife of the Rev. W. Upton Richards, well-known many years later as the first Incumbent of All Saints' Church, Margaret Street,. London. The second allusion is to a recommendation made of a certain Captain Ranking for employment under Captain Franklin. The first named Captain was, I believe, a son of the principal East-Bourne doctor of the period, whilst Captain Franklin was the distinguished Arctic Navigator, who was then preparing for his celebrated expedition in search of the North Pole. I take it for granted that this chain of incidents connecting East-Bourne with the North Pole was due to the fact that Mr. Davies Gilbert was President of the Royal Society, and therefore in touch with all kinds of scientific efforts.
The wreck of the Thames is thus alluded to by Dr. Brodie in a letter to his sister, dated February 5,1822 : —
" This place since Sunday morning early has been in a state of great confusion and bustle occasioned by the wreck of an Eastindiaman of 1500 tons burden, near the Eleven-gun Battery. The report is that seven lives are lost. The vessel is stranded, but not destroyed. She may get off again, and be of further service." |
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