e met Mr. Toots. "The Doctor's," says Dickens, "was a
mighty fine house, fronting the sea. Not a joyful style of house
within, but quite the contrary. Sad-coloured curtains, whose proportions
were spare and lean, hid themselves despondently behind the windows. The
tables and chairs were put away in rows, like figures in a sum; fires
were so rarely lighted in the rooms of ceremony, that they felt like
wells, and a visitor represented the bucket; the dining-room seemed the
last place in the world where any eating or drinking was likely to
occur; there was no sound through all the house but the ticking of a
great clock in the hall, which made itself audible in the very garrets;
and sometimes a dull cooing of young gentlemen at their lessons, like
the murmurings of an assemblage of melancholy pigeons."--Dr. Blimber's
must have been, I think, somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Bedford
Hotel.

[Sidenote: THACKERAY'S PRAISE]

Among other writers who have found Brighton good to work in I might name
the authors of _The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton_ and _A System of
Synthetic Philosophy_. Mr. William Black was for many years a familiar
figure on the Kemp Town parade, and Brighton plays a part in at least
two of his charming tales--_The Beautiful Wretch_, and an early and very
sprightly novel called _Kilmeny_. Brighton should be proud to think that
Mr. Herbert Spencer chose her as a retreat in which to come to his
conclusions; but I doubt if she is. Thackeray's affection is, however,
cherished by the town, his historic praise of "merry cheerful Dr.
Brighton" having a commercial value hardly to be over-estimated.
Brighton in return gave Thackeray Lord Steyne's immortal name and served
as a background for many of his scenes.

Although Brighton has still a fishing industry, the spectacle of its
fishermen refraining from work is not an uncommon one. It was once the
custom, I read, and perhaps still is, for these men, when casting their
nets for mackerel or herring, to stand with bare heads repeating in
unison these words: "There they goes then. God Almighty send us a
blessing it is to be hoped." As each barrel (which is attached to every
two nets out of the fleet, or 120 nets) was cast overboard they would
cry:--

Watch, barrel, watch! Mackerel for to catch,
White may they be, like a blossom on a tree.
God send thousands, one, two, and three,
Some by their heads, some by their tails,
God sends th