4
aged seventy-seven) a character both in London and in Sussex. He was big
and bluff and wealthy and the squire of Rose Hill. He sat for Sussex
from 1801 to 1812, and was once carried from the House by the Sergeant
at Arms and his minions, for refusing to give way in a debate and
calling the Speaker "the insignificant little fellow in a wig." His
election cost him _L_20,000 plus _L_30,000 subscribed by the county. When
Pitt offered him a peerage he said no: "I was born Jack Fuller and Jack
Fuller I'll die." When he travelled from Rose Hill to London Mr.
Fuller's progresses were almost regal. The coach was provisioned as if
for arctic exploration and coachman and footmen alike were armed with
swords and pistols. ("Honest Jack," as Mr. Lower remarks, put a small
value upon the honesty of others.) Mr. Fuller had two hobbies, music and
science. He founded the Fullerian professorships (which he called his
two children), and contributed liberally to the Royal Institution; and
his musical parties in London were famous. But whether it is true that
when the Brightling choir dissatisfied him he presented the church with
nine bassoons, I cannot say.

[Sidenote: TURNER IN SUSSEX]

John Fuller has a better claim to be remembered in Sussex by his
purchase of Bodiam Castle, when its demolition was threatened, and by
his commission to Turner to make pictures in the Rape of Hastings, five
of which were engraved and published in folio form, in 1819, under the
title _Views in Sussex_. One of these represents the Brightling
Observatory as seen from Rosehill Park. As a matter of fact, the
observatory, being of no interest, is almost invisible, although Mr.
Reinagle, A.R.A., who supplies the words to the pictures, calls it the
"most important point in the scene." Furthermore, he says that the
artist has expressed a shower proceeding "from the left corner." Another
picture is the Vale of Ashburnham, with the house in the middle
distance, Beachy Head beyond, and in the foreground woodcutters carrying
wood in an ox waggon. "The whole," says Mr. Reinagle, A.R.A., "is
happily composed, if I may use the term." He then adds: "The eye of the
spectator, on looking at this beautifully painted scene, roves with an
eager delight from one hill to another, and seems to play on the dappled
woods till arrested by the seat of Lord Ashburnham." Other pictures in
the folio are "Pevensey Bay from Crowhurst Park," a very beautiful
scene, "Battle Abbey," and "T