In January1878, the Journal Amusant could not resist having a little fun at the expense of Brighton. Our town was, after all, a serious rival to Le Touquet (or Paris-Plage as the French know it).
First to draw the attention of Mars, the illustrator, was the entertainment on the West Pier.
THE PERFORMING FLEAS ON THE WEST PIER – The caption reads: My poor performing fleas have disappeared! Everyone here! Search yourselves!
All images are from Le Journal Amusant, 3 January 1878. Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
Courtesy of Signor Ubini, performing fleas appeared for many a summer season of the 1870s on the West Pier.
The next little dig at Brighton was not so much at the people but at the weather: hot coffee and hot potatoes being the order of the day, especially in January. Alas, the caption writer did not have a secure grasp of the English language.
BAK’S P’TATHERS! ALL TOT”
The chip seller
A PHILOSPHER. – The great and the good of England shall pass away, but the hot potato seller will endure.
And then the perennial subject of l’amour or le flirt comes to the fore. The roller skating rink at the Brighton Aquarium had opened in 1876. English engravings saw this form of entertainment as being rather decorous.
Steel engraving by Newman & Co, 5 March 1877 Image reproduced courtesy of the Brighton Print Collectors and the Regency Society of Brighton and Hove
The Gallic view of this activity was somewhat different. But then, surely every gallant gentleman would see the need to support, or even put his arm around, a young maiden if she were not too secure on her skates.
If you had missed the hand-holding and waist-encircling in the drawing, the caption would explain it to you:
AT THE OPEN AIR SKATING RINK (AQUARIUM)
In the hustle and bustle of couple and groups
Laughing, gliding, running, criss-crossing in troops
I sought for, in French, a rhyme for skating …
My word! Nothing’s better than skating and flirting!
And the French must defend their womenfolk’s reputation for elegance. The poor English girls do not come off well in this rather harsh pictorial comment:
A PHILOSOPHICAL COMPARISON (LOW RELIEF)
The Frenchwoman who picks up her skirts The Englishwoman who pick up her skirts
Knows what she is doing doesn’t know what she is doing
and does it well and that’s her only excuse
CONCLUSION: Why do so many Englishwomen pick up their skirts while too many Frenchwomen let their skirts drag in the mud?
(N.B. – We have concentrated, when speaking of Englishwomen, not on the rule, but on the exceptions, which are as numerous as they are deplorable!)
The Journal does try to be fair. It would seem that English ladies are as adept at a touch of feigned illness as are the French.
A VERY PRACTICAL TIP
Give yourself a “fashionable” little malady, – and let the gentlemen pay court as you nonchalantly recline in a perambulator, – as they say over there.
And the Miss Maud Fitzcobald (seen below) is clearly of minor English gentry. She could certainly win the prize for Miss Derrière 1878.
(in other words, the smartest girl in all Brighton). You must admit that if the dowry is as well-rounded as the rest …
We are left with the feeling that the Journal and its illustrator, Mars, are a little torn between extolling the attributes of their own womenkind and, rather reluctantly, admiring les Anglaises. Thankfully, they strike a happy balance.
French Brighton 