'd this happy land.
'Tis here no brow appears with care,
What would we be, but what we are?

Before leaving this genial county organ I must quote from a paragraph in
1796 on the Prince himself:--"The following couplet of Pope may be fitly
applied to his Royal Highness:--

If to his share some manly errors fall,
Look on his face and you'll forget them all."

What could be kinder? A little earlier, in a description of these
anodyne features, the journalist had said of his Royal Highness's "arch
eyes," that they "seem to look more ways than one at a time, and
especially when they are directed towards the fair sex."

Quieter and more normal pastimes were gossip at the libraries, riding
and driving, and bathing in the sea. Bathing seems to have been taken
very seriously, with none of the present matter-of-course haphazardness.
In an old Guide to Brighton, dated 1794, I find the following
description of the intrepid dippers of that day:--"It may not be
improper here to introduce a short account of the manner of bathing in
the sea at Brighthelmston. By means of a hook-ladder the bather ascends
the machine, which is formed of wood, and raised on high wheels; he is
drawn to a proper distance from the shore, and then plunges into the
sea, the guides attending on each side to assist him in recovering the
machine, which being accomplished, he is drawn back to shore. The guides
are strong, active, and careful; and, in every respect, adapted to their
employments."

[Sidenote: "SMOAKER"]

[Sidenote: MARTHA GUNN]

Chief of the bathing women for many years was Martha Gunn, whose
descendants still sell fish in the town; chief among the men was the
famous Smoaker (his real name, John Miles) the Prince of Wales's
swimming tutor. There is a story of his pulling the Prince back by the
ear, when he had swum out too far against the old man's instructions;
while on another occasion, when the sea was too rough for safety, he
placed himself in front of his obstinate pupil in a fighting attitude,
with the words, "What do you think your father would say to me if you
were drowned? He would say, 'This is all owing to you, Smoaker. If you'd
taken proper care of him, Smoaker, poor George would still be alive.'"
Another of the pleasant stories of the Prince refers to Smoaker's
feminine correlative--Martha Gunn. One day, being in the act of
receiving an illicit gift of butter in the pavilion kitchen just as the
Prince