<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<div class = "mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br/><br/>
To improve accessibility, certain letters in the 'Dialect' Chapter have been replaced with letters which
should appear in most browsers.<br/><br/>
'e with dot above' is rendered as ê<br/>
'a with dot above' is rendered as â<br/>
'o with dot above' is rendered as ô<br/><br/>
Some punctuation has been added or corrected, and spelling of
names has been standardized except in quoted material.</p>
</div>
<p class="tbrk"> </p>
<h1><i>Highways and Byways in Sussex</i></h1>
<p class="tbrk"> </p>
<h2>BY E. V. LUCAS<br/> WITH · ILLUSTRATIONS · BY<br/> FREDERICK L. GRIGGS</h2>
<p class="tbrk"> </p>
<h3>MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED<br/>ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON<br/>1921</h3>
<p class="tbrk"> </p>
<h4><i>COPYRIGHT.</i><br/><i>First Edition printed February 1904.</i><br/>
<i>Reprinted, April 1904, 1907, 1912, 1919, 1921.</i></h4>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></SPAN>PREFACE</h2>
<p>Readers who are acquainted with the earlier volumes of this series will
not need to be told that they are less guide-books than appreciations of
the districts with which they are concerned. In the pages that follow my
aim has been to gather a Sussex bouquet rather than to present the facts
which the more practical traveller requires.</p>
<p>The order of progress through the country has been determined largely by
the lines of railway. I have thought it best to enter Sussex in the west
at Midhurst, making that the first centre, and to zig-zag thence across
to the east by way of Chichester, Arundel, Petworth, Horsham, Brighton
(I name only the chief centres), Cuckfield, East Grinstead, Lewes,
Eastbourne, Hailsham, Hastings, Rye, and Tunbridge Wells; leaving the
county finally at Withyham, on the borders of Ashdown Forest. For the
traveller in a carriage or on a bicycle this route is not the best; but
for those who would explore it slowly on foot (and much of the more
characteristic scenery of Sussex can be studied only in this way), with
occasional assistance from the train, it is, I think, as good a scheme
as any.</p>
<p>I do not suggest that it is necessary for the reader who travels through
Sussex to take the same route: he would probably prefer to cover the
county literally strip by strip—the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii"></SPAN></span> Forest strip from Tunbridge Wells
to Horsham, the Weald strip from Billingshurst to Burwash, the Downs
strip from Racton to Beachy Head—rather than follow my course, north to
south, and south to north, across the land. But the book is, I think,
the gainer by these tangents, and certainly its author is happier, for
they bring him again and again back to the Downs.</p>
<p>It is impossible at this date to write about Sussex, in accordance with
the plan of the present series, without saying a great many things that
others have said before, and without making use of the historians of the
county. To the collections of the Sussex Archæological Society I am
greatly indebted; also to Mr. J. G. Bishop's <i>Peep into the Past</i>, and
to Mr. W. D. Parish's <i>Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect</i>. Many other
works are mentioned in the text.</p>
<p>The history, archæology, and natural history of the county have been
thoroughly treated by various writers; but there are, I have noticed,
fewer books than there should be upon Sussex men and women. Carlyle's
saying that every clergyman should write the history of his parish
(which one might amend to the history of his parishioners) has borne too
little fruit in our district; nor have lay observers arisen in any
number to atone for the shortcoming. And yet Sussex must be as rich in
good character, pure, quaint, shrewd, humorous or noble, as any other
division of England. In the matter of honouring illustrious Sussex men
and women, the late Mark Antony Lower played his part with <i>The Worthies
of Sussex</i>, and Mr. Fleet with <i>Glimpses of Our Sussex Ancestors</i>; but
the Sussex "Characters," where are they? Who has set down their "little
unremembered acts," their eccentricities, their sterling southern
tenacities? The Rev. A. D. Gordon wrote the history of Harting, and
quite recently the Rev. C. N. Sutton has published his interesting
<i>Historical Notes of Withyham, Hartfield, and Ashdown Forest</i>; and there
may be other similar parish histories which I am forgetting. But the
only books that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix"></SPAN></span> I have seen which make a patient and sympathetic
attempt to understand the people of Sussex are Mr. Parish's
<i>Dictionary</i>, Mr. Egerton's <i>Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways</i>, and "John
Halsham's" <i>Idlehurst</i>. How many rare qualities of head and heart must
go unrecorded in rural England.</p>
<p>I have to thank my friend Mr. C. E. Clayton for his kindness in reading
the proofs of this book and in suggesting additions.</p>
<p class="right">E. V. L.</p>
<p><i>December 12, 1903.</i></p>
<p>P.S.—The sheets of the one-inch ordnance map of Sussex are fourteen in
all, their numbers running thus:</p>
<table border='1' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='15' summary='ordnance maps of sussex'>
<tr>
<td class="center">300<br/>Alresford</td>
<td class="center">301<br/>Haslemere</td>
<td class="center">302<br/>Horsham</td>
<td class="center">303<br/>T. Wells</td>
<td class="center">304<br/>Tenterden</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="center">316<br/>Fareham</td>
<td class="center">317<br/>Chichester</td>
<td class="center">318<br/>Brighton</td>
<td class="center">319<br/>Lewes</td>
<td class="center">320<br/>Hastings</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="center">331<br/>Portsmouth</td>
<td class="center">332<br/>Bognor</td>
<td class="center">333<br/>Worthing</td>
<td class="center">334<br/>Eastbourne</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_x" id="Page_x"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="PREFACE_TO_THE_SECOND_EDITION" id="PREFACE_TO_THE_SECOND_EDITION"></SPAN>PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION</h2>
<p>In the present edition a number of small errors have been corrected and
a new <SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XLII">chapter</SPAN> amplifying certain points and supplying a deficit here and
there has been added. The passage about Stane Street is reprinted from
the <i>Times Literary Supplement</i> by kind permission.</p>
<p class="right">E. V. L.</p>
<p><i>April 20, 1904</i></p>
<hr />
<p class="center"><SPAN name="frontispiece.png" id="frontispiece.png"></SPAN><ANTIMG src="images/frontispiece.png" width-obs='617' height-obs='700' alt="The Barbican, Lewes Castle." /></p>
<h4><i>The Barbican, Lewes Castle.</i></h4>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
<div class="index">
<ul>
<li><SPAN href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#PREFACE_TO_THE_SECOND_EDITION">PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</SPAN></li>
<li>MIDHURST</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</SPAN></li>
<li>MIDHURST'S VILLAGES</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</SPAN></li>
<li>FIRST SIGHT OF THE DOWNS</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</SPAN></li>
<li>CHICHESTER</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</SPAN></li>
<li>CHICHESTER AND THE HILLS</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</SPAN></li>
<li>CHICHESTER AND THE PLAIN</li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</SPAN></li>
<li>ARUNDEL AND NEIGHBOURHOOD</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</SPAN></li>
<li>LITTLEHAMPTON</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</SPAN></li>
<li>AMBERLEY AND PARHAM</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</SPAN></li>
<li>PETWORTH</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</SPAN></li>
<li>BIGNOR</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</SPAN></li>
<li>HORSHAM</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</SPAN></li>
<li>ST. LEONARD'S FOREST</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</SPAN></li>
<li>WEST GRINSTEAD, COWFOLD AND HENFIELD</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</SPAN></li>
<li>STEYNING AND BRAMBER</li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</SPAN></li>
<li>CHANCTONBURY, WASHINGTON, AND WORTHING</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</SPAN></li>
<li>BRIGHTON</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</SPAN></li>
<li>ROTTINGDEAN AND WHEATEARS</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</SPAN></li>
<li>SHOREHAM</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</SPAN></li>
<li>THE DEVIL'S DYKE AND HURSTPIERPOINT</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</SPAN></li>
<li>DITCHLING</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</SPAN></li>
<li>CUCKFIELD</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</SPAN></li>
<li>FOREST COUNTRY AGAIN</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</SPAN></li>
<li>EAST GRINSTEAD</li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV</SPAN></li>
<li>HORSTED KEYNES TO LEWES</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI</SPAN></li>
<li>LEWES</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII</SPAN></li>
<li>THE OUSE VALLEY</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII</SPAN></li>
<li>ALFRISTON</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX</SPAN></li>
<li>SMUGGLING</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX</SPAN></li>
<li>GLYNDE AND RINGMER</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI</SPAN></li>
<li>UCKFIELD AND BUXTED</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII</SPAN></li>
<li>CROWBOROUGH AND MAYFIELD</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII</SPAN></li>
<li>HEATHFIELD AND THE "LIES"</li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV</SPAN></li>
<li>EASTBOURNE</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV</SPAN></li>
<li>PEVENSEY AND HURSTMONCEUX</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI</SPAN></li>
<li>HASTINGS</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII</SPAN></li>
<li>BATTLE ABBEY</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII</SPAN></li>
<li>WINCHELSEA AND RYE</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX</SPAN></li>
<li>ROBERTSBRIDGE</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL</SPAN></li>
<li>TUNBRIDGE WELLS</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI</SPAN></li>
<li>THE SUSSEX DIALECT</li>
<li><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII</SPAN></li>
<li>BEING A POSTSCRIPT TO THE SECOND EDITION</li>
<li><SPAN href="#INDEX">INDEX</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#ADVERTISEMENTS">ADVERTISEMENTS</SPAN></li>
</ul></div>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></SPAN>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
<div class="picindex">
<ul>
<li><SPAN href="#frontispiece.png">THE BARBICAN, LEWES CASTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page004.png">COWDRAY</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page010.png">BLACKDOWN</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page022.png">COWDRAY</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page031.png">CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page035.png">CHICHESTER CROSS</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page039.png">THE RUINED NAVE OF BOXGROVE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page041.png">BOXGROVE PRIORY CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page043.png">BOXGROVE FROM THE SOUTH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page049.png">EAST LAVANT</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page054.png">BOSHAM</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page068.png">ARUNDEL</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page071.png">THE ARUN AT NORTH STOKE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page084.png">GATEWAY, AMBERLEY CASTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page087.png">AMBERLEY CASTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page089.png">AMBERLEY CASTLE, ENTRANCE TO CHURCHYARD</SPAN></li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#page091.png">AMBERLEY CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page093.png">PULBOROUGH CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page095.png">AT PULBOROUGH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page097.png">STOPHAM BRIDGE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page099.png">THE ROTHER AT FITTLEWORTH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page101.png">ALMSHOUSE AT PETWORTH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page104.png">PETWORTH CHURCHYARD</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page112.png">THE CAUSEWAY, HORSHAM</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page118.png">COTTAGES AT SLINFOLD</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page121.png">RUDGWICK</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page135.png">CHURCH STREET, STEYNING</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page138.png">STEYNING CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page140.png">BRAMBER</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page142.png">COOMBES CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page145.png">CHANCTONBURY RING</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page153.png">SOMPTING</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page157.png">LANCING</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page185.png">NEW SHOREHAM CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page188.png">OLD SHOREHAM BRIDGE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page189.png">OLD SHOREHAM CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page193.png">POYNINGS, FROM THE DEVIL'S DYKE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page196.png">HANGLETON HOUSE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page200.png">MALTHOUSE FARM, HURSTPIERPOINT</SPAN></li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#page207.png">DITCHLING</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page208.png">OLD HOUSE AT DITCHLING</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page212.png">CUCKFIELD CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page219.png">EAST MASCALLS—BEFORE RENOVATION</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page228.png">THE JUDGE'S HOUSES, EAST GRINSTEAD</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page239.png">ON THE OUSE, ABOVE LEWES</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page241.png">HIGH STREET, SOUTHOVER</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page246.png">ANN OF CLEVES' HOUSE, SOUTHOVER</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page251.png">ST. ANN'S CHURCH, SOUTHOVER</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page253.png">THE OUSE AT SOUTH STREET, LEWES</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page255.png">THE OUSE AT PIDDINGHOE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page256.png">RODMELL</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page258.png">PIDDINGHOE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page261.png">SOUTHOVER GRANGE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page263.png">NEAR TARRING NEVILLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page282.png">GLYNDE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page293.png">FRAMFIELD</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page298.png">IN BUXTED PARK</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page318.png">BEACHY HEAD</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page325.png">BEACHY HEAD FROM THE SHORE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page329.png">PEVENSEY CASTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page333.png">WESTHAM</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page335.png">HURSTMONCEUX CASTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page349.png">BATTLE ABBEY—THE GATEWAY</SPAN></li>
<li><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx"></SPAN></span><SPAN href="#page352.png">MOUNT STREET, BATTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page355.png">BATTLE ABBEY, THE REFECTORY</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page359.png">THE LANDGATE, RYE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page363.png">SEDILIA AND TOMBS OF GERVASE AND STEPHEN ALARD, WINCHELSEA</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page365.png">THE YPRES TOWER, RYE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page370.png">COURT LODGE, UDIMORE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page372.png">UDIMORE CHURCH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page373.png">BREDE PLACE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page375.png">BREDE PLACE, FROM THE SOUTH</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page377.png">BODIAM CASTLE</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page388.png">SHOYSWELL, NEAR TICEHURST</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page391.png">THE PANTILES, TUNBRIDGE WELLS</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page396.png">BAYHAM ABBEY</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="#page403.png">ASHDOWN FOREST, FROM EAST GRINSTEAD</SPAN></li>
<li><SPAN href="images/map.png">MAP OF THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX</SPAN></li>
</ul></div>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></SPAN></span></p>
<p class="center"><ANTIMG src="images/page001.png" width-obs='700' height-obs='528' alt="page1" /></p>
<h2>HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS</h2>
<h3>IN</h3>
<h1>SUSSEX</h1>
<p class="tbrk"> </p>
<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></SPAN>CHAPTER I</h2>
<h3>MIDHURST</h3>
<blockquote><p>The fitting order of a traveller's progress—The Downs the true
Sussex—Fashion at bay—Mr. Kipling's topographical
creed—Midhurst's advantages—Single railway lines—Queen Elizabeth
at Cowdray—Montagus domestic and homicidal—The curse of
Cowdray—Dr. Johnson at Midhurst—Cowdray Park.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If it is better, in exploring a county, to begin with its least
interesting districts and to end with the best, I have made a mistake in
the order of this book: I should rather have begun with the
comparatively dull hot inland hilly region of the north-east, and have
left it at the cool chalk Downs of the Hampshire border. But if one's
first impression of new<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></SPAN></span> country cannot be too favourable we have done
rightly in starting at Midhurst, even at the risk of a loss of
enthusiasm in the concluding chapters. For although historically,
socially, and architecturally north Sussex is as interesting as south
Sussex, the crown of the county's scenery is the Downs, and its most
fascinating districts are those which the Downs dominate. The farther we
travel from the Downs and the sea the less unique are our surroundings.
Many of the villages in the northern Weald, beautiful as they are, might
equally well be in Kent or Surrey: a visitor suddenly alighting in their
midst, say from a balloon, would be puzzled to name the county he was
in; but the Downs and their dependencies are essential Sussex. Hence a
Sussex man in love with the Downs becomes less happy at every step
northward.</p>
<div class="sidenote">THE INVIOLATE HILLS</div>
<p>One cause of the unique character of the Sussex Downs is their virginal
security, their unassailable independence. They stand, a silent
undiscovered country, between the seething pleasure towns of the
seaboard plain and the trim estates of the Weald. Londoners, for whom
Sussex has a special attraction by reason of its proximity (Brighton's
beach is the nearest to the capital in point of time), either pause
north of the Downs, or rush through them in trains, on bicycles, or in
carriages, to the sea. Houses there are among the Downs, it is true, but
they are old-established, the homes of families that can remember no
other homes. There is as yet no fashion for residences in these
altitudes. Until that fashion sets in (and may it be far distant) the
Downs will remain essential Sussex, and those that love them will
exclaim with Mr. Kipling,</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<div>God gave all men all earth to love,</div>
<div class="i1">But since man's heart is small,</div>
<div>Ordains for each one spot shall prove</div>
<div class="i1">Beloved over all.</div>
</div><div class="stanza">
<div> * * * * *</div>
</div><div class="stanza">
<div>Each to his choice, and I rejoice</div>
<div class="i1">The lot has fallen to me</div>
<div>In a fair ground—in a fair ground—</div>
<div class="i1">Yea, Sussex by the sea!</div>
</div></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">MIDHURST</div>
<p>If we are to begin our travels in Sussex with the best, then Midhurst is
the starting point, for no other spot has so much to offer: a quiet
country town, gabled and venerable, unmodernised and unambitious, with a
river, a Tudor ruin, a park of deer, heather commons, immense woods, and
the Downs only three miles distant. Moreover, Midhurst is also the
centre of a very useful little railway system, which, having only a
single line in each direction, while serving the traveller, never annoys
him by disfiguring the country or letting loose upon it crowds of
vandals. Single lines always mean thinly populated country. As a
pedestrian poet has sung:—</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<div>My heart leaps up when I behold</div>
<div class="i1">A single railway line;</div>
<div>For then I know the wood and wold</div>
<div class="i1">Are almost wholly mine.</div>
</div></div>
<p>And Midhurst being on no great high road is nearly always quiet. Nothing
ever hurries there. The people live their own lives, passing along their
few narrow streets and the one broad one, under the projecting eaves of
timbered houses, unrecking of London and the world. Sussex has no more
contented town.</p>
<p>The church, which belongs really to St. Mary Magdalen, but is popularly
credited to St. Denis, was never very interesting, but is less so now
that the Montagu tomb has been moved to Easebourne. Twenty years ago, I
remember, an old house opposite the church was rumoured to harbour a
pig-faced lady. I never had sight of her, but as to her existence and
her cast of feature no one was in the least doubt. Pig-faced ladies
(once so common) seem to have gone out, just as the day of Spring-heeled
Jack is over. Sussex once had her Spring-heeled Jacks, too, in some
profusion.</p>
<p class="center"><SPAN name="page004.png" id="page004.png"></SPAN><ANTIMG src="images/page004.png" width-obs='700' height-obs='417' alt="Cowdray" /></p>
<h4><i>Cowdray.</i></h4>
<div class="sidenote">ELIZABETH AT COWDRAY</div>
<p>Cowdray Park is gained from the High Street, just below the Angel Inn,
by a causeway through water meadows of the Rother. The house is now but
a shell, never having been rebuilt since the fire which ate out its
heart in 1793: yet a beautiful shell, heavily draped in rich green ivy
that before<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></SPAN></span> very long must here and there forget its earlier duty of
supporting the walls and thrust them too far from the perpendicular to
stand. Cowdray, built in the reign of Henry VIII., did not come to its
full glory until Sir Anthony Browne, afterwards first Viscount Montagu,
took possession. The seal was put upon its fame by the visit of Queen
Elizabeth in 1591 (Edward VI. had been banqueted there by Sir Anthony in
1552, "marvellously, nay, rather excessively," as he wrote), as some
return for the loyalty of her host, who, although an old man, in 1588,
on the approach of the Armada, had ridden straightway to Tilbury, with
his sons and his grandson, the first to lay the service of his house at
her Majesty's feet. A rare pamphlet is still preserved describing the
festivities during Queen Elizabeth's sojourn. On Saturday, about eight
o'clock, her Majesty reached the house, travelling from Farnham, where
she had dined. Upon sight of her loud music sounded. It stopped when she
set foot upon the bridge, and a real man, standing between two wooden
dummies whom he exactly resembled, began to flatter her exceedingly.
Until she came, he said,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></SPAN></span> the walls shook and the roof tottered, but one
glance from her eyes had steadied the turret for ever. He went on to
call her virtue immortal and herself the Miracle of Time, Nature's
Glory, Fortune's Empress, and the World's Wonder. Elizabeth, when he had
made an end, took the key from him and embraced Lady Montagu and her
daughter, the Lady Dormir; whereupon "the mistress of the house (as it
were weeping in the bosome) said, 'O happie time! O joyfull daie!'"</p>
<div class="sidenote">A QUEEN'S DIVERSIONS</div>
<p>These preliminaries over, the fun began. At breakfast next morning three
oxen and a hundred and forty geese were devoured. On Monday, August
17th, Elizabeth rode to her bower in the park, took a crossbow from a
nymph who sang a sweet song, and with it shot "three or four" deer,
carefully brought within range. After dinner, standing on one of the
turrets she watched sixteen bucks "pulled down with greyhounds" in a
lawn. On Tuesday, the Queen was approached by a pilgrim, who first
called her "Fairest of all creatures," and expressed the wish that the
world might end with her life and then led her to an oak whereon were
hanging escutcheons of her Majesty and all the neighbouring noblemen and
gentlemen. As she looked, a "wilde man" clad all in ivy appeared and
delivered an address on the importance of loyalty. On Wednesday, the
Queen was taken to a goodlie fish-pond (now a meadow) where was an
angler. After some words from him a band of fishermen approached,
drawing their nets after them; whereupon the angler, turning to her
Majesty, remarked that her virtue made envy blush and stand amazed.
Having thus spoken, the net was drawn and found to be full of fish,
which were laid at Elizabeth's feet. The entry for this day ends with
the sentence, "That evening she hunted." On Thursday the lords and
ladies dined at a table forty-eight yards long, and there was a country
dance with tabor and pipe, which drew from her Majesty "gentle
applause." On Friday, the Queen knighted six gentlemen and passed on to
Chichester.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A DESPERADO POET</div>
<p>A year later the first Lord Montagu died. He was <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></SPAN></span>succeeded by another
Anthony, the author of the "Book of Orders and Rules" for the use of the
family at Cowdray, and the dedicatee of Anthony Copley's <i>Fig for
Fortune</i>, 1596. Copley has a certain Sussex interest of his own, having
astonished not a little the good people of Horsham. A contemporary
letter describes him as "the most desperate youth that liveth. He did
shoot at a gentleman last summer, and did kill an ox with a musket, and
in Horsham church he threw his dagger at the parish clerk, and it stuck
in a seat of the church. There liveth not his like in England for sudden
attempts." Subsequently the conspirator-poet must have calmed down, for
he states in the dedication to my lord that he is "now winnowed by the
fan of grace and Zionry." To-day he would say "saved." Copley, after
narrowly escaping capital punishment for his share in a Jesuit plot,
disappeared.</p>
<p>The instructions given in Lord Montagu's "Booke of Orders and Rules"
illustrate very vividly the generous amplitude of the old Cowdray
establishment. Thus:—</p>
<blockquote><p class="center">MY CARVER AND HIS OFFICE.</p>
<p>I will that my carver, when he cometh to the ewerye boorde, doe
there washe together with the Sewer, and that done be armed
(videlt.) with an armeinge towell cast about his necke, and putt
under his girdle on both sides, and one napkyn on his lefte
shoulder, and an other on the same arme; and thence beinge broughte
by my Gentleman Usher to my table, with two curteseyes thereto, the
one about the middest of the chamber, the other when he cometh to
ytt, that he doe stande seemely and decently with due reverence and
sylence, untill my dyett and fare be brought uppe, and then doe his
office; and when any meate is to be broken uppe that he doe carrye
itt to a syde table, which shalbe prepared for that purpose and
there doe ytt; when he hath taken upp the table, and delivered the
voyder to the yeoman Usher, he shall doe reverence and returne to
the ewrye boorde there to be unarmed. My will is that for that day
he have the precedence and place next to my Gentleman Usher at the
wayter's table.</p>
<p class="center">MY GENTLEMEN WAYTERS.</p>
<p>I will that some of my Gentlemen Wayters harken when I or my wiffe
att any tyme doe walke abroade, that they may be readye to give
their<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></SPAN></span> attendance uppon us, some att one tyme and some att another
as they shall agree amongst themselves; but when strangeres are in
place, then I will that in any sorte they be readye to doe such
service for them as the Gentleman Usher shall directe. I will
further that they be dayly presente in the greate chamber or other
place of my dyett about tenn of the clocke in the forenoone and
five in the afternoone without fayle for performance of my service,
unles they have license from my Stewarde or Gentleman Usher to the
contrarye, which if they exceede, I will that they make knowne the
cause thereof to my Stewarde, who shall acquaynte me therewithall.
I will that they dyne and suppe att a table appoynted for them, and
there take place nexte after the Gentlemen of my Horse and chamber,
accordinge to their seniorityes in my service.</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="sidenote">THE HOUSE OF MONTAGU</div>
<p>The third Viscount Montagu was not remarkable, but his account books are
quaint reading. From July, 1657, to July, 1658, his steward spent
<i>£</i>1,945 10<i>s.</i> solely in little personal matters for his master. Among
the disbursements were, on September 11th, fourteen pence "for washing
Will Stapler"; on November 22nd, 1<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> to the Lewes carrier "for
bringing a box of puddings for my mistress and my master"; on January
17th, <i>£</i>4 to "Mr. Fiske the dancing-master for teaching my master to
dance, being two months"; and on April 21st, seven shillings "for a
Tooth for my Lord."</p>
<p>The fifth Viscount was a man of violent temper. On reaching Mass one day
and finding it half done, he drew his pistol and shot the chaplain. The
outcry all over the country was loud and vengeful, and my lord lay
concealed for fifteen years in a hiding-hole contrived in the masonry of
Cowdray for the shelter of persecuted priests. The peer emerged only at
night, when he roamed the close walks, repentant and sad. Lady Montagu
would then steal out to him, dressing all in white to such good purpose
that the desired rumours of a ghost soon flew about the neighbourhood.</p>
<p>The curse of Cowdray, which, if genuinely pronounced, has certainly been
wonderfully fulfilled, dates from the gift of Battle Abbey by Henry
VIII. to Sir Anthony Browne, the father of Queen Elizabeth's host and
friend. Sir Anthony<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></SPAN></span> seized his new property, and turned the monks out
of the gates, in 1538. Legend says that as the last monk departed, he
warned his despoiler that by fire and water his line should perish. By
fire and water it perished indeed. A week after Cowdray House was
burned, in 1793, the last Viscount Montagu was drowned in the Rhine. His
only sister (the wife of Mr. Stephen Poyntz) who inherited, was the
mother of two sons both of whom were drowned while bathing at Bognor.
When Mr. Poyntz sold the estate to the Earl of Egmont, we may suppose
the curse to have been withdrawn.</p>
<div class="sidenote">DR. JOHNSON AT COWDRAY</div>
<p>Among the treasures that were destroyed in the fire were the Roll of
Battle Abbey and many paintings. Dr. Johnson visited Cowdray a few years
before its demolition; "Sir," he said to Boswell, "I should like to stay
here four-and-twenty hours. We see here how our ancestors lived."
According to the <i>Tour of Great Britain</i>, attributed to Daniel Defoe,
but probably by another hand, Cowdray's hall was of Irish oak. In the
large parlour were the triumphs of Henry VIII. by Holbein. In the long
gallery were the Twelve Apostles "as large as life"; while the marriage
of Cupid and Psyche, a tableau that never failed to please our
ancestors, was not wanting.</p>
<p>The glory of the Montagus has utterly passed. The present Earl of Egmont
is either an absentee or he lives in a cottage near the gates; and the
new house, which is hidden in trees, is of no interest. The park,
however, is still ranged by its beautiful deer, and still possesses an
avenue of chestnut trees and rolling wastes of turf. It is everywhere as
free as a heath.</p>
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