Sitting down on the wooden bench now placed for the comfort of those tired in making the ascent, and casting your eyes to the left, are seen stretching far away to the east, hills now precipitous and now receding, and others clothed with bushes to the water's edge, interspersed with rugged rocks and green slopes ; on one of these heights is the signal station of Fairlight ; to the right is the Glen, and farther on, the bold and craggy cliffs of Hastings.
To the enthusiastic lover of the vastness, the beauty, and variety of nature, few situations are capable of impressing such feelings of pleasure as this spot. The melancholy and romantic tale of the Lovers'-seat is not a fiction ; its principal incidents happened in the early part of the late war, the heads of which we will relate-a full and particular account we cannot, as it would occupy more space than could be spared in a guide.
Captain L-b, a native of the neighbouring town of Rye, paid his addresses to Miss B., also of the same place ; after a time, for some cause or other known only to themselves, the friends of the lady objected to the match, and, to secure her from the visits of the gentleman, she was sent to reside with a friend at Fairlight-place, at that time a farm-house ; but as her lover had the command of the Stag revenue cutter, cruising from Dungeness to Beachy head, consequently, often passing Fairlight, it was not long ere the kerchief signal told the tale of the lady's whereabout, and still less time was occupied in climbing the cliff to meet his fair one : suffice it to say the meetings were often, and ended in a marriage at Hollington Church[1]
- ↑ They had one child, a daughter, married to a clergyman, not far from Hastings, and now the mother of a numerous family.
