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engagement, but no sooner was the contract completed than a would-be rival appeared on the scene. This quassi (sic) rival had conceived a passion which, as he told his quandom friends, he had hitherto concealed from the object of that passion until she should have grown a few years older, so that the great disparity of ages should be less noticeable; but now that his purpose was being thwarted in such an unexpected manner, he could no longer restrain his feelings, but allowed them to excite his jealousy and revenge to such a pitch as to induce the belief that he was not accountable for his actions. Thus, in his wild moments, he confided to some of his acquaintances that, sooner than permit a rival to supplant him in the object of his affections, he would waylay him and take away his life, notwithstanding that his own doom would be the scaffold. Apprised of this resolution of a claimant in prospective, Leonardo acted upon the aphorism of "A faint heart never won a fair lady," and so treated the threat with a nonchalance which he hoped was worthy of his aim. He might have had occasional misgiving as he journeyed to and from the trysting place in a dark winter's night, and one a ​road​ which was the very acme of loneliness, but if so, he was soon reassured by the righteousness of his cause, combined with the confidence which for once he had placed in a "lucky star."

A Tale of Verulam Place - Description of the Front Line

The appointed day at length arrived, and the marriage, with its subsequent festivity, was accomplished in the most successful manner. The earth was clothed with a mantle of snow, whose pearl-white crystals glistened in the rays of an unclouded sun; the tables of a baronial hall teemed with the choicest of nature's produce provided by liberal hands; vocal and instrumental music, stationed on the spacious lawn, further enlivened the already joyous scene; and the beautifully conjoined planets, with their dazzling brilliance in the starry vault at night formed, indeed,, the interesting spectacle that had been predicted on their behalf. To the newly-married couple who had, as it were, committed their destiny to the sweet influence of those shining lights, the interest of the scene was intensified, for they seemed to lead the way over many miles of traveled ground from east to west, and from one party who were celebrating the marriage to another party who were awaiting the "Welcome Home." Thus, with Shakespeare, the happy couple were ready to exclaim :

"So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
That after hours with sorrow chide us not."

But what of Jeanette? the reader may ask. Is she to disappear altogether from the scene? No! - and this is the painful part of the story; but it must be told. In his new-found joy, Leonardo, as he journeyed that night over the Hastings "Desert" and passed a certain house in Verulam place, could not quite dispel from his mind the reflection that if at some time Jeanette should ally herself to someone less worthy than she deserved - for she was undoubtedly a deserving woman - there was the possibility of her discovering that the fault had been her own. Such a contemplation was, however, but briefly indulged in, for Leonardo had naturally at such a time an abundance of occupation both for his thoughts and attention. A year or two rolled on, and then came the news that Jeanette was married to a man of inferior position whom she had met with in France. "Well, I am surprised!" exclaimed one of her acquaintances. "Poor girl!" sympathetically responded another, "I do hope she will be happy, but it looks as if she had thrown herself away." After a little while a business was taken in St. Leonards by Jeanette and her partner; and with a desire to be on friendly terms, frequent invitations for a visit were given by Leonardo and his wife, the latter offering assurances to the effect that she would be always ready to welcome any friend or acquaintance of her husband's. The invitation was not accepted; and, some years after, on the occasion of an accidental meeting, in a railway carriage - the only occupants of which were Leonardo, Jeanette and the latter's little boy - the question was put, during a desultory conversation on miscellaneous topics, "How is it that you have never been to see us?" After some hesitation, with face crimsoned, and the voice, slightly tremulous, uttered the words, "I really could not, after my treatment of you; I should not feel comfortable in the presence of one so much more deserving of your confidence than I could have ever been”. Had Leonardo been capable of anticipating such a response he probably would not have put the question; for, although he felt some kind of relief to his own once troubled mind that in the unexpected confession, the long-delayed explanation had by inference come at last, it grieved him that he had unwittingly touched a tender chord. The face of Jeanette was then turned towards that of her child, and a white handkerchief was placed between them as though to disguise the absorbtion (sic) of moisture from the mother’s eyes. A pause ensued, and after a while the conversation was resumed in a more cheerful strain,but upon quite a different theme.

Years went on, and troubles thickened with their number. Jeanette's family increased; her husband became an invalid; her own savings, invested n the business, were exhausted; and at last, worn down with care, hard work and anxiety, the worthy woman resigned her breath to Him who gave it. The whole help and stay of the family had passed away, and nothing remained for the invalid husband to do but to go with a portion of his young family, into a well-known asylum for the infirm and destitute. Most of these troubles had run their course ere the account of them reached the ears of Leonardo, who would have had a heart of adamant not to have been moved to pity by the recital of them. "And of what complaint did the good woman die?" was the question put to the informant, a relative of the deceased, and one who knew all her surroundings from a child. "You ask me," said he, "of what complaint she died, and I have no hesitation in saying that she died of a broken heart." "Poor girl!" ejaculated Leonardo, "I am indeed sorry for her and her family, but my sorrow would have been less bearable to myself had she not voluntarily relieved me, some years ago, of any suspicion that I might have entertained of her belief that I had not the disposition to make her a happy wife had she not of her own will broken off the engagement."

Fifty-three years have passed since Leonardo and his second love were united in Hymen's bonds, and as they are still mentally and physically capable of enjoying life, it seemeth to warrant the assumption that

 
'Twere right for a truth to be long since confessed,
That of first love and last love the last love is best.

And now, indulgent reader, I hope I have not wearied you with this partly pleasurable and partly sorrowful episode. It is but an outline narrative of facts, which might have been filled in with interesting and, to some extent, sensational details. But that would have required the plume of a novelist, instead of the more sober pen of a mere chronicler of events. It therefore appears, as was intended at the outset, a simple and true tale of Verulam Place.

My readers have lately accompanied me in an imaginary journey westward from Beach Cottages to Verulam Buildings, during which I have descanted on the Condemned Hole and its smuggling associations, the Priory Ground and its history, the Ellsworth Charity and the battle-ground of the Squatters, the harbour scheme and what came out of it, the Priory Farm and its occupants, the opening of the Infirmary and previous contentions over its site, and the "love-story" of Verulam place, the situations and circumstances of which were sufficient proof that the ways of fact are some times as devious and uncertain as those of fiction. Between Verulam place and the projected Warrior square there was still a long line of frontage where Eversfield place was afterwards erected, the two houses known as Cliff Cottages (now 5 and 6 Eversfield) being the only interception, and the cliffs continuing to present the rugged, dwarfish and unpicturesque appearance in which they were left in 1834-5, when the contractor's men cut them down for the double purpose of ​building​-sites and for material with which to form the new ​road​ and parade. Some description of this formation has been given in preceding chapters, but now that I think of them a few more particulars may not be out of place. The ​road​ which at the time of writing affords such an excellent drive was, up to the year when the Princess Victoria and her mother came to St. Leonards at a lower level- if indeed it could be called a level - flanked on one side by indented and obtruding cliffs, and on the other by immense ridges of shingle which in the absence of artificial walls and groynes the sea was enabled to lay up as a barrier to its own encroachment. Much of this old ​road​ was as far removed from the sea as are the present Eversfield houses although it was necessarily of a somewhat serpentine formation in consequence of sundry projections of the land. During the construction of the new ​road​ and parade by Mr. Ranger at the expense of the Eversfield Estate much inconvenience to traffic was experienced, and the Surveyors of Highways for St. Mary Magdalen had occasionally to be armed with special powers for removing or modifying the obstructions. Hence, at a vestry meeting held in the month of Nov. 1834, the Surveyor was instructed to compel the contractor to make the thoroughfare between St. Leonards and Hastings more passable for carriages and foot-passengers; and in the event of Mr. Ranger not complying, to order the rails to be taken up. These rails were laid down in a tramway fashion for the carting of material from the cliff to the parade, and added to the dangerous nature of a broken-up thoroughfare in a dark night without lamps. The order being insufficiently complied with, another meeting of parishioners was held in the following January, when a committee, consisting of Messrs. Jeffries, Wood, Waghorne, Troup, Deudney, Austin and Inskipp. - the then principal holders of property eastward of the Archway - to assist the surveyors in enforcing the before-mentioned conditions. The pressure of this representative phalanx, together with considerations suggested by the presence of royalty and the desire of Mr. Eversfield to realise many thousands of pounds by the sale of that vast frontage which his agents once offered to Mr. James Burton for only one-thousand had the desired effect; so that on the last day of February the committee were able to report that a positive assurance had been obtained from the Trustees of the Estate that the whole of the new ​road​ should be immediately completed and beached. This promise was satisfactory so far as it went, but the holders of property were so determined to see it carried into effect that the vestry meeting was adjourned till the 3rd of March, when Mr. Walter Inskipp stated, by letter, that he had received the command of the Eversfield Trustees to put the ​road​ between the Archway and the White-rock Brewery in a good condition, and that Mr. Putland had already commenced the work. To the credit of the parish be it also said, that as its surveyors had been desired to repair the ​road​ between the White-rock and the Brewery - probably on account of the previous in​road​s of the sea - the sum of £12 was paid to Mr. Chas. Deudney (of the White-rock Brewery), another sum of £2 12s. 6d. to Mr. Putland, for work done by him, and a third sum of £3 7s. to Mr. Ranger, the contractor to the Eversfield Estate.

At and from that date the duties of the Highway surveyors were such as to make the office anything but a sinecure; and as I have hitherto named the offices for St. Leonards parish, and not those for St. Mary Magdalen, in which parish the greater portion of St. Leonards town was situated, it may be well to append a list of the latter from 1828 to 1840. These were :-

	Overseers	Surveyors	Assessors
1828	Robt. Deudney	Chas. Deudney, sen	----
		Robt. Deudney	----
1829	Robt. Deudney	Robt. Deudney
1830	Robt. Deudney	Robt. Deudney	Wm Longley
	Steph. Milstead		Wm. Ridley
1831	Robt. Deudney	Robt. Deudney	Steph. Milsted
	Benj. Homan	Steph. Putland	Hy. Edlin
1832	Benj. Homan	Steph. Putland	Steph. Milsted
	Geo. Scott	Jas. Homan	Hy. Edlin
1833	Wm. Waghorne	Steph. Putland	Steph. Milsted
	Jos. Wells	R. T. Noakes	Hy. Edlin
1834	Wm. Waghorne	Wm. Eldridge	Steph. Milsted
	Wm. Eldridge	H. P. Hutchings	Robt. Deudney
1835	Wm. Waghorne	Jas. Harman	Steph. Lovelock
	Wm. Eldridge	Jno. Collins	Saml. Chester
1836	Jno. Viner	Jas. Harman	Wm. Beck
	W. Lempriere	S. Putland	Hy. Hughes
1837	Jas. Troup	Walter Inskipp	Wm. Beck
	C. V. Levett	John Evenden	Edwd. Pilcher
1838	Hy. Beck	Chas. Deudney	Wm. Waghorne
	Jas. Mann	Steph. Putland	H. P. Hutchings
1839	Geo. Voysey	Jas. Troup.	Wm. Noon
	Saml. Chester	Wm. Waghorne	Newton Parks
1840	Jno. Austin	Jas. Troup	Wm Noon
	Alfred Burton	Wm. Waghorne	Newton Park

Before the year 1828, when the parish contained only a few farm-houses and lands, the overseership and highway management were principally and precessively in the hands of Mr. Robert Deudney, his father (Chas. Deudney) and his grandfather (Thos. Deudney); and this period extended from 1762 to 1830, after which latter date, for forty or fifty years, the late venerable J. P. continued to take an active interest in the parochial management of St. Leonards and St. Mary Magdalen.

The mention of some other appointments between the years 1828 and 1849 will indicate the growth of population and the changes which were effected during that twelve years; whilst by comparison with present exigences and conditions it will show the giant strides that have been made since. Up to the year 1834 the overseers had to collect the rates themselves, but at that time a parish meeting resolved that they be allowed 2 1/2 per cent to find an efficient collector; and in the following year, Mr. Peerless was appointed Assistant-overseer at a salary of £5 per annum. If in those days a labourer was as well worthy of his hire as in the present, it speaks but little for the appreciation of efficiency when the parishioners expected a man to collect two or three rates a year from the Archway to the Victoria Hotel in one direction and from the Archway to the White-rock Brewery in another for the paltry pittance of £5 per annum. At such a price it need be no surprise that the magistrates were asked to allow a discharge of from twenty to forty pounds at a time as uncollected or unrecoverable rates. The parishioners appear to have been actuated by similar parsimony when they voted a sum not exceeding £5 per year for the services of a beadle, and ordered the discontinuance of £3 per year to Hollington parish towards William Shoesmith's salary as beadle for the three parishes of Hollington, St. Leonards and St. Mary Magdalen. What a stupendous police force was this! And that nothing in that particular department should be wanting, the new functionary (Stephen Eldridge) was to be assisted by three respectable tradesmen as special constables, the first batch to consist of Messrs. Putland, Payne and Mortimer, the aim, as stated in a resolution, being "to provide a more efficient police, and to prevent nuisances." There was one other office, in providing for which, the parishioners - probably in an over-estimate of the value of medical labour and materials - were exuberantly magnanimous. They positively offered £10 per year to surgeon B. P. Smith for attending all the poor in the parish and supplying them with medicine for twelve months. This was an extravagant price when it is borne in mind that Mr. Frederick Ticehurst was doing a similar thing for St. Leonards parish for just half the amount, and that Mr. Watts, at Battle had previously done it for £2 a year. With more experience, however, and with a considerable increase of population the matter was reconsidered in the following year (1833) and the reduced sum of £5 was to be offered to Mr. Madden, and if he refused it, then Mr. Smith was again to be applied to, and if he declined it, as a last alternative, the magnificent sum was to be offered to some of the surgeons at Hastings. "Oh! they needn't turn up their noses at such a proffered stipend; there were plenty of doctors to be had in the old town, and the salary was very liberal!" Besides there was a shilling to be paid for every poor person that was vaccinated, and as some of them afterwards died of smallpox, the parish thus got rid of them as paupers, and saved its money. Another saving was effected in providing coffins for them. Theretofore the charges for coffins had been made regardless of any fixed scale, but for the future a pauper's coffin was not to exceed 30s. Another saving was sought to be effected in the supply of gas to the four public lamps which lighted the mile of ​road​ between the Archway and the White-rock Brewery, and after some amount of "chafering," the parish made its own terms of £2 15s. per lamp. This was in 1833, but in 1834 the parish recoiled from the contract and the ​road​ remained unlighted for several years. In the year 1840 Mr. John Phillips had been vestry clerk both for the Magdalen and St. Leonards parishes a full decade, and so continued four years longer for the former, and thirty years longer for the latter when he died. A re-valuation of the property was made in the Magdalen parish in 1840, previous revisions having been made in 1837 and in 1832; whilst in the St. Leonards parish only one re-assessment had taken place during the twelve years, although many separate readjustments had -