Cremorne

“ As in the world of Whistler, so in the world of the Goncourts, we see cities in which there are always fireworks at Cremorne, and fair women reflected beautifully and curiously in mirrors. It is a world which is extraordinarily real; but there is choice, there is curiosity, in the aspect of reality which it presents. ”

“ In 1857 the Chelsea Vestry had presented the first of many annual petitions against the renewal of the licence, setting forth the inconvenience of the late hours of Cremorne, the immoral character of its female frequenters, and its detrimental influence generally on the morals (and house property) of the neighbourhood. Such petitions, like the annual protests against old Bartholomew Fair, were a long time in taking effect, but, as Cremorne grew older, the rowdy and wanton element certainly increased, and finally, as we shall see, not undeservedly brought about its downfall. ”

“ Jonah thought of Cardigan Street, and smiled. They walked in silence along the path to Cremorne Point, the noise of birds and the rustling of leaves bringing a touch of the country to Jonah.
"Had you been waiting long?" asked Clara, suddenly.
"Since twenty past two," replied Jonah.
"The impudence of some people is incredible," she said. "I've just lost a pupil and a guinea a quarter—it's the same thing. The mother thought I should buy the music for the child out of the guinea. That means a hat and a pair of gloves or a pair of boots less through no fault of my own. ”

“ There was, even in De Barranger’s time, some entertainment at Cremorne, for in the meadow known as Cremorne Meadow on the opposite side of the King’s Road, a fair was held, and at Cremorne ground some pony races and a horse and sporting-dog show, but the commencement of Cremorne as a place of public entertainment was in about 1839, under Baron p. ”

“ Being a man fond of athletics, he conceived the idea of turning Cremorae Farm, Lord Cremome’s place at Chelsea, into a suburban gymnasium and place for field sports. Cremorne Farm became the Stadium, and flourished under the Baron’s management. He rode out always attended by his four sons on horseback, dressed in grey military tunics, and with swords at their sides. This cavalcade occasionally clattered along Amwell Street, Pentonville, to pay a business visit to Cruikshank, who, with his brother, was illustrating with sporting etchings the guide-book to the Stadium. ”

“ The comic papers sneered at the petitions ‘signed by all the babies and children under ten,’ and issued a revised set of Cremorne Regulations. All ladies were henceforward to have certificates of respectability from the Board of Guardians, though members of the London School Board were to be admitted free. No fireworks, dancing, smoking, laughing, or flirting were allowed, but by an order from the Vestry you could obtain a coffee cobler or a cocoa cocktail. Ridicule is sometimes a legitimate weapon against the Puritan, but in this case Canon Cromwell and the Vestry were hardly in the wrong. ”

“ Oh, good-night!
[She flutters away. The rain beats still more violently upon the window panes.]
Charles.
[Glancing at the window.] Ph—e—e—w! Great 'evans!
[He is dropping the curtains at the window when Rose appears at the folding-doors.]
Rose.
[In a whisper.] Charles!
Charles.
Miss?
Rose.
[Coming into the room, distractedly.] Miss Gower has gone to bed.
Charles.
Yes, miss—oh——! [A flash of lightning.]
Rose.
Oh! my friends! my poor friends!
Charles.
H'and Mr. Briggs at Cremorne! Reelly, I should 'ardly advise you to wenture h'out, miss——
Rose. ”

“ Early in the morning the Enchanter mounted his horse and rode down to the Cove to have a look at Master Cormoran, and to give him a piece of his mind before he removed the spell and let him go, and a piece of something else as well! Cormoran quaked when he saw the old lord coming, for he looked every bit as angry as he really was, and first he lashed the giant with his tongue, and then he lashed him with his whip, and he flogged him and flogged him until in his agony Cormoran kicked and struggled so hard that he broke away from the rock and leaped right into the sea. ”

“ It is near daylight—and before daylight Paul Cremarre, what is left of him, must be disposed of. If the man is found here, the victim of a violent death, it means an inquest, the influx of authorities, the possible discovery of Cremarre's identity—and ours!"
"We could tie something heavy on him," said Runnells thickly, "and drop him in the water."
"We could—but we won't," said Captain Francis Newcombe curtly. "One never feels at ease with bodies disposed of in that fashion—they have been known to come to the surface. It might be the easiest way, but it's not the safest. ”

“ ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
There are few places in this kingdom which combine to a greater degree the advantages of a salubrious and invigorating air, a fine and open sea, or more pleasing scenery than Cromer. The lover of nature, the student, or the invalid may frequent its shores with equal benefit, and with equal gratification. That it is not more known, or become a place of more general resort, is the result rather of circumstances, than of any deficiency in itself. ”

“ As the rays of setting sun Light the sky with mellow beauty, aged sires, with heads of white, Tell the children why the curfew did not ring that one sad night.
O’er the distant hills came Cromwell. Bessie saw him; and her brow, Lately white with sickening horror, glows with sudden beauty now. At his feet she told her story, showed her hands, all bruised and torn; And her sweet young face, so haggard, with a look so sad and worn, Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light. “Go! your lover lives,” cried Cromwell. “Curfew shall not ring to-night!” ”

“ Of course in Ireland there was only one “curse of Cromwell”; but in England I soon found that there were two, and so the progress of confusion began, until at the present time, when you are visiting any old church and see in a niche an adult saint with a broken nose, or a carved rood screen deficient about the rood, the verger—sometimes the rector himself—is quite fluent in explaining that the heavy hand of Cromwell must be held accountable for the spoliation. If you ask which of the two, the answer will most certainly be, “Why, Cromwell to be sure—Cromwell—Oliver Cromwell.” ”

“ Some pray before battle; others dance and drink. The memory of Cromwell prevails over that of Prince Rupert with most Englishmen but Prince Rupert, per se, usually prevailed over Cromwell. To your adventurous soldier; to our heroes, Bobs, Sir Evelyn, Garnet Wolseley, Charles Gordon (great psalm-singer though he was) an occasion like to-night's holds the same intoxicating mixture of danger and desire as fills the glass of the boy bridegroom when he raises it to the health of his enigma in a veil. ”

“ And, even while you pause to look, the thick dark veil of night falls over all, with a blackness so cold, complete, and impenetrable, as to make you almost doubt the reality of the mighty magnificence which yet has scarcely ceased. In the eventide of his life's day such a sun was Cromwell. Few men might look him fairly in the face as peers in strength. ”

“ My marriage to Cymlin will be a barrier sacred to both of us. Our friendship can hold itself above endearments. You need not fear for Cymlin; Matilda de Wick will honour her husband, whether she obeys him or not. Cymlin is formed for power and splendour, and he will stand near the throne."
"If there be a throne."
"Of that, who now doubts? Cromwell is falling sick, and you may feel 'God save the King' in the air. If you had married Stephen, he would have been alive to join in the cry. I could weep at your obstinacy, Jane." ”

“ YOU ask what — I have found, and far and wide I go:
Nothing but Cromwell's house and Cromwell's murderous crew,
The lovers and the dancers are beaten into the clay,
And the tall men and the swordsmen and the horsemen, where are they? ”

“ Where bathing only is the inducement, the place and its neighbourhood is of very little consequence, provided it is convenient and near the sea; but where the mind and body are capable of being sufficiently active to be amused abroad, or to those whose aim is pleasure, a country affording that amusement by its variety, is certainly to be preferred; and to such as are fond of the study of landscape, variety and some degree of beauty are absolutely necessary.
As every little excursion will begin and end at Cromer, each will be formed into a separate section. ”

“ Cromwell is a hard man, and if you steal through his cordon you must not come within his power in a hurry.”
“No fear, lass, he dare not touch me. Once my foot’s in Scotland, I’m like that ancient chap you told me of; I draw virtue from the soil and am unassailable. Cromwell wants nothing of me when this packet escapes him. I’ll turn back from Traquair the moment I give it to him.” ”

“ This promenade is certainly extremely agreeable. p. 10No one who has not witnessed a fine sunset at Cromer, can have any idea of its magnificence: nor is the sunrise less beautiful; but few eyes, it may be presumed, are then open to view it. Cromer, indeed, possesses this double advantage, that the sun both rises and sets in the bosom of the ocean. During the season, a person, who is paid gratuitously, acts as a keeper of the jetty, whose business it is to prevent improper persons from obtruding themselves, and to preserve good order. ”

“ The cromornes were in very general use in Europe from the 14th to the 17th century, and are to be found in illustrations of pageants, as for instance in the magnificent collection of woodcuts designed by Hans Burgmair, a pupil of Albrecht Dürer, representing the triumph of the emperor Maximilian, [8] where a bass and a tenor Krumbhorn player figure in the procession among countless other musicians. ”

“ In the year 1780 the fishing town of Cromer was thrown into a state of acute excitement by the behaviour of a casual stranger—a great, bearded man of foreign aspect who, taking a lodging in the place, resorted daily to the beach, where he walked the sands "at low water mark," now writing with great assiduity in a book, again gesticulating wildly to the sea and the cliffs, whence the suspicious townsfolk, then all unused to "visitors" and their eccentricities, watched his antics in wonder and consternation. ”

“ Wherever he led, a great passion, like to a tempestuous wind, seized the men, and they crowded and rushed the enemy from street to street, shouting as they did so psalms of victory. Yes, Martha, yes, Jane, rushed them as the devil rushed the demon-haunted hogs into the sea of Galilee. Oh, I tell you, Cromwell! our Cromwell! is always grand, but never so mighty as when on horseback in front of his army. Then you look at the man, and thank God for him."
"And the battle began at four? I remember hearing Swaffham church strike that hour. ”

“ Cromer is much frequented in summer by visitors for the sake of sea-bathing, for which the fine sandy beach to the eastward affords great convenience. It is a place of very little trade, and is chiefly dependent on the fishery. Cromer light-house stands on an eminence, about three-quarters of a mile to the eastward of the village. It is a revolving light, and is visible, in clear weather, at a distance of five or six leagues. ”

“ Almost every one of those smart red-brick villas is of the boarding-house order, and only when the very centre of the town is reached, by the church, do the shops commence.
Cromer, until modern times a small fishing village, but now grown to the proud estate of a fashionable, expensive, and exclusive seaside resort, was once a portion of the town of Shipden, and lay quite half a mile distant from the sea. ”

“ And would they sit in the dark, alone and perfectly content, watching the lights of Crump across the black water as men watch shrine-candles in the dim church of their worship? These things, that made the life of his soul, were the natural heritage of a son of Kilne, who needed scant initiation into their mysteries. But there was no son at Kilne; only a daughter, into whose hands the birthright of love and service could never fall. ”

“ Cormoran and the Trecrobben Hill giant were very friendly and neighbourly one with the other, and they used to borrow and lend to each other any little thing they happened to want, just as ordinary people do who are on very good terms with one another. ”

“ Dull, loud, and monotonous, stroke after stroke fell like a weight upon the ear: the whole atmosphere seemed oppressed with the invisible but conscious presence of Death. "They are tolling," ejaculated Lord Avonleigh, in a subdued voice, "for the death of Cromwell."
"For Cromwell's death?" cried Albert, his eyes flashing, and his cheek colouring, like a young gladiator in the first flush of his ferocious triumph—"for Cromwell's death? Why it is the bravest peal that ever rang from the steeples of London. Out upon their dastardly tolling! ”

“ Even Henry himself, who seemed to fear neither man nor God, feared Cromwell. It was Cromwell who was more responsible than Henry for the deaths of More and Fisher; it was Cromwell who, when the Pilgrimage of Grace took place, carried fire and sword into Yorkshire, and afterwards into Devonshire; it was Cromwell who instigated Henry to exterminate the families of de la Pole and Courtenay; it was Cromwell who threatened to destroy Cardinal Pole, although the latter had put the seas between himself and the terrible instrument of the King’s enmity. ”

“ The character of Cromer thenceforth became altered, and various improvements followed. Indeed, the inhabitants of Cromer owe a large debt of gratitude to him, and if universal respect, and, it is to be hoped, p. 19just success, to himself, can reward him, he receives his full recompense.
There are several machines for sea-bathing, the hour for which is regulated by the tide. The bather, Mr. Jacob, who is a very steady man, and the descendant of a line of bathers, lives in Jetty Street. ”