desperate act had been committed. Scarcely a vestige of the face remained, when the Coroner's jury examined the body on Wednesday: the brain had been collected and placed in one bloody heap where the scull had been. The only circumstance which could be deposed before the Coroner, G. Gwynne, Esq. as likely to have affected the deceased's mind, and subdued it to the distressing catastrophe, was that of his having been suspected to have robbed an officer of the trifling amount of two shillings. The following letter, a literal copy, supposed to have been written but a very short time previous to his death, was read at the Inquest "Brighton, March, 15, 1822. “Dear Father and Mother “I have taken my pen to write thos fu lins to you oping to find you in health as it leaves Me at present thank God for it But I have been acused Wrong full to Day My Master losed to shillings and he says I must have took it But I hare so innocent as POETRY. ON THE DEATH OF AN UNHAPPY FEMALE. And prudes levell'd at her the shafts of their making, (O ye, who enjoy the distress of another, A curse on the venom that poisons your breast! Could nothing atone for a single transgression, 66 Her mother forsook her; her angry father, Her limbs from the fierce winds of winter to shield. Sweet, oh! sweet be thy slumbers, thou child of misfortune, Swift be thy fight to yon regions above, Where no lurking villain shall blast thy enjoyments, Its lofty summit and its scite commands. 'Twas there, in purest streams, I drank those joys Love's artless lore, I sipp'd the sweets as much as other boys. And in yon briny flood, I oft did bathe, Or float upon, Or swim along The rippling billow, or the foaming wave. Or, on the pebbled strand, in sunny ray, I've bask'd some hours on many a summer's day; The golden themes Of fancy's dreams Hath serv'd. to fritter-precious time away. Nor less than these remember'd, kindred ties, Parental love, instruction good and wise : And num'rous traits Of bienfaits, Still soft emotions in my soul revives.. Thrice happy epoch! youth's fair morn begun, Arriv'd, how soon! The first gay course of life, how swiftly run! The thunder's crash, And all, contending elements perform, I knew the pow'r Of ills attendant, when I ceas'd t' obey. Worthing, April 18, 1822. ODE TO PEACE. Come, peace of mind, delightful guest! Where wilt thou dwell, if not with me, And pleasure's fatal wiles? For whom, alas! dost thou prepare The great, the gay, shall they partake For thee I panted, thee I prized, Whate'er I lov'd before. And shall I see thee start away, And, hapless, holpless, hear thee say-- Farewel! we meet no more? TO CORRESPONDENTS. 2. Z.'s second favour in our next.---Several communications are unavoidably postponed. THE BRIGHTON GLEANER. No. 2. "Honour and worth from no conditions rise; MONDAY, MAY 6, 1822. VOL. I. EPITOME OF BRIGHTON---continued from page 3. THE DRUIDS.---The salubrity of the situation of the town, is beyond dispute, and there is reason to believe that in the earliest periods, it was in the highest estimation, the Druids being considered to have regarded it as a favourite residence. The nature of this subject, however, will not admit of our speaking with any certainty upon it, though it is generally admitted, that they lived in retired places, in the precincts of woods of oak, where the air was good and the soil healthy, diversified with falling and rising grounds, and invariably near the sea, their adoration of which, in many cases, made part of their religious observances; and, from the many traces of their altars, the only surviving remains of the ancient Britons, to be found in this vicinity, it becomes strikingly feasible, that this part of the country was marked by their peculiar preference. necessity of forming probable conjectures of them merely, for as their ignorance of the use of letters compelled them to commit every thing to memory, it was impossible that any proper or satisfactory testimonials could be left behind them; and their cruel attachment to human sacrifices, so enraged and rendered the Romans their enemies, that they resolved on their extirpation; and in which, in the end, they appear to have completely succeeded. The religious rites of the Druids were always performed in the open air; and it is a received principle, wherever Druidism has prevailed, that the confining of the worship of the Deity within walls, was unworthy of his divine immensity and universal predo minance. THE ROMANS.---The limited information we have of the Druids, however, confines us to the The name and precise condition of this town in the earlier ages, under the Britons and the Romans, the industry of our most intelligent antiquaries have not been able to discover; though that there has been a Roman station in this neighbourhood, has, long since, been admitted, but its exact situation does not appear to have been ascertained; though various traces, at different times have, in different places, with much conjectural ingenuity, been pointed out. About the year 1730, an urn was dug up in this neighbourhood, containing a thousand silver denarii, of different impressions, from Antonius Pious to Philip, at which period, in all human probability, Britain was a Roman province. In the burgs or barrows to the east of the place, G ashes and fragments of human bones, inclosed in urns of Roman fabrication, have also been discovered. It has been boldly asserted, that Julius Cæsar made this the place of his landing: but this assertion is founded in error-for to every person acquainted with his descents, it is manifest that he never entered Sussex. The Portus Adurni of the Romans, has been placed by Seldon at Aldrington, about two miles west of this place—and by Tabor, it is presumed to have been at EastBourn, one-and-twenty miles east of it---the former, however, is considered to have been correct. THE DANES.---During the Saxon æra, this town formed, of the South Saxons, nearly the centre of the kingdom; and, though it submitted to the various revolutions of the Norman conquest, its central situation preserved it from those scenes of sanguinary warfare to which many other parts were but two frequently subjected. THE CONQUEROR:---Hastings, where the Conqueror landed, is forty miles east of this town--neither his troops, therefore, nor those of Harold, ever came near it; and, after the fate of England had been decided by the bloody engagement at Battle, this place, with other large possessions in the county, was granted to William de Warren, who married the Conqueror's daughter, and who made it part of the endowment of the rich Priory which he founded at Lewes. The town now, completely under the domination of the Monks, was deprived of many privileges which, in common with adjacent places, it had before enjoyed; and still more to diminish its consequence, a Convent of mendicant Friars was founded and dedicated to St. Bartholomew, to be maintained and supported by the industry of its lay inhabitants. At this period also, the tythes were taken from the incumbent, and appropriated to the Priory at Lewes, and which have never since been restored. THE REFORMATION---Thus oppressed, the people of the place, for a series of years, were in a state of wretchedness which nothing but the Reformation could raise them from; and, accordingly, in the reign of Elizabeth, we find, that their condition was happily changed, and that from a state of misery and despondence, they again applied themselves, with cheerfullness and vigour, to their almost suspended employment of fishing, and in fitting out vessels for trade; and supporting industry once more resided within their precincts. At this period, persecutions prevailed in many parts of Europe, and multitudes flew to this island for protection, of whom, numbers settled in this town, their efforts, to deserve bread and the asylum they had obtained, being presently directed to maritime affairs, in which they succeeded; and the trade and advantages of the town alike increased with its population. FISHERRY AND BLOCKHOUSE IN 1579.---In 1579, by a subsisting record bearing that date, we find, there were then employed in the fishery of this town, four score boats, four hundred able mariners, ten thousand nets, &c. and, from the same record, we likewise |