BYGONE 
 
 SUSSEX 
 
 WILLIAM E. A. AXON
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 OLD ROMAN GATE, W1NCHELSEA.
 
 /I - 
 
 BYGONE SUSSEX 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM E. A. AXON. 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM ANDREWS & Co., 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE, E.G. 
 
 1897.
 
 U/q 
 
 TO 
 C. P. SCOTT, M.P., 
 
 IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE 
 OF THE KINDNESS OF MANY YEARS, 
 
 THESE GLEANINGS 
 
 . IN THE BYWAYS OF HISTORY AND LITERATURE, 
 ARE DEDICATED.
 
 Contents. 
 
 THE LAND OF THE SOUTH SAXONS - i 
 
 PARDON BRASSES - - 10 
 
 TRIAL OF HENRY ROBSON IN 1598 - 28 
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY - 36 
 
 THE LONG MAN OF WILMINGTON 72 
 
 THE TRUE MAID OF THE SOUTH - - 81 
 
 "OLD HUMPHREY'S" GRAVE - 89 
 
 A MEDIEVAL LEGEND OF WINCHELSEA - - 96 
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES - 101 
 
 SPIRITS AT BRIGHTLING IN 1659 - - 129 
 
 THE MONSTROUS CHILD OF CHIC HESTER 133 
 
 A RUSKIN PILGRIMAGE - - 137 
 
 RYE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES 144 
 
 THE MERCHANT OF CHICHESTER - - 151 
 
 DRAYTON'S SONG OF SUSSEX 154 
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK - - 165 
 
 THE MERCER'S SON OF MIDHURST - 182 
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX - 184 
 
 SUSSEX SUN-DIALS 201 
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS EARLY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 210 
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB - 224 
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE 236 
 
 INDEX. - . - 253
 
 preface. 
 
 HT^HE following essays are selected from 
 material that has accumulated in the 
 years that Sussex with its picturesque scenery 
 and varied associations has had a special at- 
 traction for the writer, who, though not to the 
 manor born, feels as strongly as any of her 
 sons the charm of the seaboard and the down. 
 Perhaps some of the thousands of visitors who 
 throng the Sussex coast in quest of health or 
 amusement may find in these pages suggestions 
 of historic memories that may add to the interest 
 of their stay, and Sussex men themselves may 
 recognise that a strong and healthy local senti- 
 ment is no bad foundation for an enlightened 
 patriotism. 
 
 Of the illustrations several are from the facile 
 and graceful pencil of Mr. Raffles Davison, who 
 has also felt the charm of Sussex scenery 
 a charm that Mr. A. C. Swinburne has put into 
 the melodious lines, written between Lancing 
 and Shorham : 
 
 Fair and dear is the land's face here. 
 
 And fair man's work as a man's may be ; 
 
 Dear and fair as the sunbright air 
 
 Is here the record that speaks him free ; 
 
 Free by birth of a sacred earth, and regent ever of all the sea.
 
 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 %anfc of the Soutb Sajrons. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SUSSEX, the "land of the South Saxons," 
 has had many chances and changes within 
 the historic period. The traces of the Roman 
 conquerors may still be seen in the relics of three 
 great military roads, and in the encampments on 
 its hills. The Saxon Aella pushed the Britons 
 eastward at the great battle of Mercredesbourne. 
 and founded the Sud-seax Kingdom, which was 
 the smallest of the Heptarchy, and at last was 
 merged in Wessex by Caedwalla. Saint Wilfrid 
 not only converted the people of what was then 
 the most savage part of the island, but taught 
 them the art of the fisherman, so that they could 
 secure other than eels as the harvest of the river 
 and sea. Thus the South Saxons found it profit- 
 able to abandon their " vain idols." King 
 Edilwach and his wife Ebba gave land at Selsey 
 for the endowment of the first bishopric for
 
 2 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Sussex. Earl Godwin's possessions at Bosham 
 became the home of his famous son, and it was 
 thence that Harold journeyed to Normandy. 
 The name of the last of the Saxon Kings is for 
 ever connected with that famous battle when 
 England was lost and won. Nor is William the 
 Conqueror less associated with Sussex on whose 
 coast he landed, and where he fought the decisive 
 battle that made the Normans masters of the 
 realm. Pevensey, that remarkable combination 
 of Roman fortress and Norman castle, was 
 besieged by the Red King. Arundel Castle was 
 the scene of the reception of the Empress Maud 
 by the Queen Dowager Adeliza. At Lewes was 
 fought the great battle in which Henry III. 
 sustained a crushing defeat by his barons. Peace 
 had her victories too, and Sussex was honoured 
 by royalty in stately progresses. Henry VIII. 
 received a royal welcome at Michelgrove, 
 Edward VI. at Petworth, "Good Queen Bess" 
 at Cowdray, and George I. at Stanstead. In 
 modern times Brighton grew up under the 
 patronage of George IV. and William IV. It 
 was from Brighton then the little fishing town 
 of Brighthelmstone that Charles II. escaped to 
 France, and it was at Newhaven that Louis
 
 THE LAND OF THE SOUTH SAXONS. 3 
 
 Phillippe and his Queen, disguised as Mr. and 
 Mrs. Smith, landed on their escape from France. 
 
 We do not now think of Sussex as a seat of 
 manufacture, yet here was the earliest seat of the 
 iron industry. Roman coins have been found in 
 the old cinder beds, and in the Middle Ages the 
 iron- works flourished greatly. The tomb of 
 Henry III. was guarded by Sussex railings, and 
 the horses that went to the fatal field of Bannock- 
 burn were shod with Sussex horse-shoes. When 
 artillery came into use, the first cannon were cast 
 here. The great forests which covered nearly all 
 the county were destroyed in the process of 
 smelting. The savage animals that once roamed 
 in the sylvan glades were exterminated, though 
 the wild cat survived at Ashdown to the sixteenth 
 century. But by the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century, the Sussex iron industry was on the 
 wane, and the manufacture passed from the South 
 to the North of England. The manufacture of 
 glass, though perhaps never very extensive, was 
 another branch of the early trade of Sussex. The 
 shepherd and the fisherman are the characteristic 
 special types of the industry of the county. The 
 Southdown breed of sheep has attained great 
 fame. To the maritime industry we owe the
 
 4 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Cinque Ports, of which Sussex claimed the Port of 
 Hastings, the ancient towns of Rye and Win- 
 chelsea, with those less noble members the towns 
 of Pevensey and Seaford, and the five villages of 
 Bulverhithe, Petit Shaw, Hidney, Beakesbourne, 
 and Grange. The " barons of the Cinque Ports " 
 were men of mark in the Middle Ages. They 
 found ships for the defence of the empire. They 
 had their own chancery, and at the coronation 
 they bore aloft the silken canopy. Smuggling, 
 the prohibited importation of brandy, tea, and 
 other articles, and "owling" the prohibited 
 exportation of wool or sheep were once great 
 activities on the Sussex coast, but they are now 
 happily as extinct as the Sussex iron-trade. 
 
 There are many names of interest associated 
 with the county. " Many shires have done 
 worthily," says Fuller, "but Sussex surmounteth 
 them all, having bred five Archbishops of Canter- 
 bury." These were John Peckham, Thomas 
 Bradwardine, Thomas Arundell, and William 
 Juxon. Sussex gave Percy Bysshe Shelley to 
 English poetry, and John Selden to learning. 
 The Howards, the Fiennes, the Sackvilles, the 
 Pelhams, the Ashburnhams, the Percys, and the 
 Montagues, are amongst its noble and gentle
 
 THE LAND OF THE SOUTH SAXONS. 5 
 
 families who have won distinction. The three 
 Sherley brothers gained a remarkable position in 
 the seventeenth century. The three Palmer 
 brothers had also picturesque careers. The three 
 Smiths of Chichester have a humble niche in the 
 temple of fame for contributions to art and verse. 
 Jack Cade has been claimed as a Sussex man. The 
 gentle and unfortunate poet, William Collins, was 
 a native. Dr. Andrew Borde, " Merry Andrew," 
 was born at Pevensey. The county claims four 
 saints, Richard de la Wych, the canonised Bishop 
 of Chichester, St. Wilfrid, St. Cuthman, and 
 Lewinna, the virgin martyr, slain by the Saxons 
 of the seventh century. The names of John 
 Fletcher and the unfortunate Thomas Otway are 
 illustrious in dramatic literature. Other Sussex 
 worthies are Pell, the mathematician, James 
 Hurdis, the gentle poet, Richard Cobden, the 
 apostle of free trade, the Hares, Dr. E. D. Clarke, 
 the traveller, Henry Morley, and M. A. Lower, 
 the antiquary. Gibbon, the historian, is buried at 
 Fletching ; and Cartwright, the inventor of the 
 power loom at Battle. Nor should we forget Henry 
 Burwash, Bishop of Lincoln, of whom Fuller says : 
 " Such as mind to be merry may read the pleasant 
 story of his apparition, being condemned after his
 
 6 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 death to be viridis viridarius, 'a green forester,' 
 because in his lifetime he had violently enclosed 
 other men's grounds into his park." William 
 Barlow, Bishop of Chichester, had a prosperous 
 career, in spite of an enforced exile in the days of 
 Queen Mary. His wife's epitaph is rendered by 
 Fuller :- 
 
 " Barlow's wife Agathe, doth here remain, 
 Bishop, then exile, Bishop then again. 
 So long she lived, so well his children sped, 
 She saw five Bishops her five daughters wed." 
 
 Less fortunate, in a worldly sense, were the ten 
 Protestants, burned in one fire at Lewes, or the 
 other sufferers in that time of persecution. But 
 Sussex has had worthies of all creeds Gregory 
 Martin, the Roman Catholic exile, who had the 
 principal hand in what is called the Douay Bible ; 
 Matthew Caffyn, the controversial " Battle-axe of 
 Sussex ;" Richard Challoner, the learned titular 
 Bishop of Debra ; and Colonel John Michelborne, 
 who was Governor of Londonderry, and held that 
 city for William III. in the famous siege in which 
 he lost his wife and seven children by famine and 
 disease. 
 
 Sussex, whilst not claiming the first place for 
 the grandeur of its churches, has many that are of
 
 THE LAND OF THE SOUTH SAXONS. 7 
 
 great beauty and interest, though it must be 
 sorrowfully admitted that the " restorer " has been 
 abroad, and, seeking what he could devour, has 
 destroyed much. Yet there are still relics of 
 Saxon architecture as at Sompting, Bosham, and 
 Worth, whilst the Norman builder can be traced 
 at the Shorehams, Bramber, Steyning, Shipley, 
 and elsewhere. Chichester, Rye, and East- 
 bourne are amongst the transitional structures. 
 Early English and Decorated may be seen at 
 Arundel, Poynings, and Mayfield, whilst Winchel- 
 sea, Alfriston, and Etchingham supply instances 
 of later Decorated. There are round towers at 
 Southease and Piddinghoe. The Sussex churches 
 contain some fine specimens of monumental art, 
 noble tombs like those of the Fitzalans at Arundel, 
 and the Fiennes at Herstmonceux, and brasses 
 such as those at Battle and Etchingham. 
 
 The antiquary and the lover of the picturesque 
 cannot fail to be delighted with the ruined castles 
 of Bodiam, Pevensey, Herstmonceux, Hastings, 
 Bramber, Amberley, Arundel, Halnaker, Lewes, 
 Scotway, Camber, and the Ypres Tower at Rye. 
 The religious orders have left their mark in the 
 ruined abbeys and monasteries of Battle, Boxgrove, 
 Tortington, Hardham, Shulbrede, Lewes, Wil-
 
 8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 mington, Mayfield, Robertsbridge, and Win- 
 chelsea. 
 
 It is an old complaint against Sussex that its 
 roads are so miry and muddy as to be a terror to 
 the traveller, whether he be on horseback, in a 
 vehicle, or a plain wayfaring man. Defoe saw, 
 not far from Lewes, "an ancient lady, and a lady 
 of very good quality," riding to the village church 
 in a coach drawn by six oxen, whose united 
 strength was necessary to cope with the difficulties 
 of the road. And when Prince George of Den- 
 mark journeyed to Petworth to meet Charles VI. 
 of Spain, the last nine miles of the journey 
 occupied six hours. Matters have greatly im- 
 proved since then, and there is no special difficulty 
 in visiting any part. The geologist and the 
 botanist will find ample reward in his excursions, 
 and the woodlands are not silent of song, though 
 the ornithologist must lament the disappearance 
 of some that were formerly denizens. The 
 student of folk-lore may pick up curious items 
 about the " pharisees," and learn how magpies 
 were shoed at Piddinghoe, and see at Mayfield 
 the very tongs with which St. Dunstan pulled 
 the devil's nose. 
 
 Sussex is notable for the variety of its interest.
 
 THE LAND OF THE SOUTH SAXONS. 9 
 
 The breezy South Downs, the bold hill of 
 Chanctonbury, the great rift of the Devil's Dyke, 
 the wide extending Weald, the quaint old-world 
 villages nestling amid the trees, the busy modern 
 towns of Brighton and St. Leonards, the stately 
 mansions of Goodwood, Petworth, and Norman- 
 hurst, the ruined castles and monasteries 
 eloquent of bygone ages, and the mighty waters 
 of the ocean for ever washing its shores, all 
 combine to make Sussex a land of enchantment 
 for those who have the salt of the sea in their 
 blood, who delight in the beauty of hill and 
 woodland, or who care to muse upon the intricate 
 movements of those forces that have made 
 the nation. For Sussex was the scene of 
 the most decisive incident in the whole 
 of England's history, that great victory of William 
 the Conqueror, when the Norman was grafted 
 upon the Saxon stock, producing in due season that 
 strongest and most conglomerate of races, the 
 " true born Englishmen," who, scorning the narrow 
 limits of their island home, have since gone forth 
 to the ends of the earth, and taken possession of 
 no small portion of the globe, and have founded 
 an empire which is the largest and most populous 
 in the world.
 
 jparfcon Brasses. 
 
 A PARDON brass is one which promises to 
 the bystander, who shall offer up a certain 
 number of prayers for the repose of those whose 
 grave he beholds, a remission of a portion of the 
 punishment due to his own sins and to be 
 endured in a future life. There are three 
 remarkable instances of this monumental form 
 of " indulgence " in connection with Sussex. 
 
 In the great church of Winchelsea is the 
 gravestone of Reginald Allard. The brass 
 which once decorated it is gone, but round the 
 edges of the tombstone the inscription can still 
 be partially made out. In its complete form it 
 read : " Reginald allard q'i morout le xv jour de 
 avrill 1' an m ccc viii gist icy. Dieu de s' Alme 
 ait merci. Q'i pur s' alme priera 1 jour de 
 pardon auera." Here it will be seen the 
 promise is given of fifty days' remission of punish- 
 ment in return for a single prayer for the soul of 
 the dead man. 
 
 * Sussex Archaological Collections, xxiii., 190.
 
 PARDON BRASSES. n 
 
 John, the seventh Earl Warren, was buried in 
 1305, at Lewes Priory, with an inscription, which 
 Dugdale has preserved : 
 
 " Vous qe passer ou bouche close, 
 Prier pour cely ke cy repose : 
 En vie come vous esti jadis fu, 
 Et vous tiel serretz comme je su ; 
 Sir Johon Count de Garenne gist icy ; 
 Dieu de sa alme eit mercy, 
 Ky pur sa alme priera 
 Trois mill jours de pardon avera." 
 
 In the fine church of Herstmonceux, sacred in 
 our own time by its many memories of Julius 
 Hare, his brother and his friends, is a brass to 
 the memory of Sir William Fiennes, an ancestor 
 of the powerful Lords Dacre of the south. The 
 inscription is : " William Ffienles Chiualer, qy 
 morust le xviii jour de Janever 1' an del 
 Incarnacon nre [Seigneur] Jh' u Cryst m cccc 
 v gist ycy [Dieu de sa alme eyt mercie] qy pur 
 sa alme devostement Pater noster et Ave priera 
 vj xx jours de pardon en auera." * Here it will 
 be noticed that the precise prayers to be said 
 are named, and instead of fifty days, one hundred 
 and twenty days of pardon are promised. 
 
 The subject is one of great curiosity and 
 
 * Sussex Arckceologiced Collections , xxiii., 167.
 
 12 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 interest. The Sussex brasses can only be explain- 
 ed by reference to those existing elsewhere, and 
 to the custom of the Middle Ages in relation to 
 " indulgences." Dr. Fairbank has called attention 
 to indulgences granted by the Archbishop of York 
 at the close of the thirteenth and beginning of the 
 fourteenth century. Thus, in 1286, there is one of 
 ten days for the soul of a man buried at Dover, 
 one of an unmentioned term for a man buried at 
 Kirkstall, one for a lady whose body is buried at 
 " Bysse-mede " and whose heart is buried at Cam- 
 bridge., and for another lady buried at Lincoln. 
 There is also one of ten days for a man and wife 
 who are buried at Stapleford. Although it is not 
 expressly stated, these indulgences were probably 
 granted to those who prayed for the well-being of 
 these departed persons. There can be no doubt 
 in the historic instance of Eleanor, the well- 
 beloved wife of Edward I. The King wrote to 
 Archbishop Romano desiring the prayers of the 
 faithful for the dead Queen, and the Archbishop 
 granted a forty days' indulgence to those who 
 should offer prayer on behalf of Queen Eleanor's 
 soul. This was granted 28th November, and 
 again 8th December, 1290. Again, in 1319, 
 Archbishop Melton gave an indulgence of thirty
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 13 
 
 days to all who would hear the mass of Robert 
 de Bardleby, Canon of York and the King's 
 clerk, on Easter day, and pray for the good estate 
 of the said Robert and his father and mother. 
 In these York grants it is noticeable they are not 
 made merely within the limits of the diocese, but 
 apparently were granted for any locality.* 
 
 Mr. J. G. Waller observes : " The announce- 
 ment of pardon for saying prayers for the 
 deceased is very commonly found on monumental 
 brasses, but never before has the promised 
 reward been of so liberal a character [as in that 
 of the Macclesfield monument, to be mentioned 
 presently]. In the earlier examples, those of the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a very 
 common form of inscription appears, in which 
 forty days of pardon is promised to those 
 praying at the tomb. This occurs so frequently 
 that it seems to have been the most usual term. 
 About this period very many similar ones occur, 
 but the largest amount of ' pardon ' vouchsafed 
 appears on a small brass, having two demi figures, 
 in Heylesdon Church, Norfolk, where ten years 
 and forty days are granted. This is an unusual 
 
 * Transactions of the Cambridge University Association of Brass 
 Collectors, No. xi. , vol. ii. , p. 9. Several instances in this paper are given 
 by Dr. Fairbank. See also No. x., p. 19.
 
 14 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 instance, and the date of the monument is about 
 the close of the fourteenth century."* What- 
 ever the multitude of pardon brasses may have 
 been, comparatively few are recorded, and the 
 extent of the remission promised by them varies 
 very considerably, and is sometimes greatly in 
 excess of the limit mentioned by Mr. Waller. 
 
 At Cobham, in Kent, is the tomb of Dame 
 Joan de Cobham, who died in 1298. The 
 inscription is : " Dame Jone de Kobeham gist 
 isi Deus de sa alme eit merci ki ke pur le alme 
 priera, quarante jours de pardon avera." 
 
 At Hellesdon, Norfolk, is a brass assigned to 
 the year 1370, and the inscription, after giving 
 the names of Richard de Heylesdone, and Beat- 
 rice, his wife, says: "qi p lour almes p' era x. 
 aans & xl. jours de pardoun auera." 
 
 William, Marquis of Berkeley, who died in 
 1491, and was buried in the Friars Augustin, 
 London [now " Austinfriars," Old Broad Street], 
 left a testament in which he says : " Also I will 
 that my exors shall purchase a pardon from 
 Rome, as large as might be, for plein remission 
 of the sins of all those who shall be confessed 
 and contrite at Longbrigge from evensong to 
 
 * Journal British Arctueological Association, v. , 259.
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 15 
 
 evensong in the feast of the Trinity, and there 
 say Paternosters and 3 aves for my soul and the 
 soul aforesaid." 
 
 In the middle aisle of York Cathedral there 
 was buried John Albain, painter, and his wife 
 Alice, for praying for whom eighty days' pardon 
 is granted ; there is no date. An undated tomb, 
 once in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire, gives one 
 hundred days. That of William de Basynge, 
 prior of Winchester, promised three years one 
 hundred and forty-five days of pardon. Dr. 
 Rock explains it as a pardon of forty days multi- 
 plied by the number of bishops, thirty-one, who 
 had concurred in the grant. * This he regards as 
 an abuse. 
 
 At Great Coates, Lincolnshire, on the brass of 
 Sir Thomas Barnardiston and his lady, 1503, is a 
 similar grant of pardon : 
 
 " Of yo charite say a pr noster aue & creed, 
 & ye schall haue a C days of p'don to yo r med." 
 
 The epitaph formerly on the brass of John 
 Marsham and wife, St. John's, Maddermarket, 
 Norwich, 1525, illustrates the change of religious 
 opinion at this period. The original inscription 
 was in ten English lines, and concluded : 
 
 * Church of our Fathers, vol. Hi., p. 74.
 
 1 6 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 " Ye shall not lose your charitable devocion 
 XII Cardinals have granted you xii dayes of Pardon." 
 
 The plate was afterwards reversed, and the new 
 inscription engraved on the back, " Of your 
 Charyte," etc., and it concluded, " on whose 
 soulles," etc. 
 
 Richard Hollinworth, in describing the Strange- 
 ways Chantry in Manchester Church, observes 
 "In it there is a pardon under the picture of the 
 Resurrection of Christ from the Sepulchre. The 
 pardon for V. Pater nr. V aves and a crede, is 
 xxvi thousand and xxvi dayes of pardon." This 
 brass has long since disappeared, nor is there 
 anything to show with what particular tomb it 
 was connected. 
 
 The promise contained in the Manchester 
 pardon is identical as to the term with the inscrip- 
 tion on a brass which still remains at Macclesfield, 
 although it is now in an imperfect state. The 
 picture in the last-named represents the miracul- 
 ous mass of Saint Gregory the Great, and shows 
 Christ as appearing to him in answer to his 
 prayer for a manifestation of the reality of the 
 presence in the sacrament. The " Mass of St. 
 Gregory " was not infrequently chosen by artists, 
 but Mr. Earwaker has pointed out that this is the
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 17 
 
 only known brass dealing with it. Hollin worth 
 was probably not well posted in matters of 
 Catholic art, but he can scarcely have confused 
 subjects so different as the mass of St. Gregory 
 and Christ rising from the sepulchre, or we might 
 be tempted to think that the Manchester and 
 Macclesfield brasses were replicas of each other. 
 The suggestion has indeed been made that the 
 brass formerly at Manchester is now at Maccles- 
 field, but a picture of the latter, taken before the 
 time of Hollinworth, is in existence. If, how- 
 ever, the Manchester brass was mutilated so as to 
 make the figure of the saint less striking, the 
 picture might then easily be taken to represent 
 the resurrection of Christ. The Macclesfield 
 pardon is part of the memorial brass of Roger 
 Legh and Elizabeth, his wife. She died in 1489, 
 and he in 1506, so that the monument may be 
 referred to the early years of the sixteenth 
 century. It is noteworthy that whilst the inscrip- 
 tion which records the deaths is in Latin, the 
 pardon, which occupies a distinct position in the 
 design, is in English, and reads : " The p'don for 
 saying of v. pater nost r & v aves and a cred is 
 xxvi thousand yeres and xxvi dayes of pardon." 
 It is engraved in Mr. J. P. Earwaker's East
 
 i8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Cheshire. These enormous grants of indulgence 
 are stigmatised by Dr. Rock as "spurious and 
 imaginary." * 
 
 It is greatly to be regretted that there is no 
 known sketch of the Manchester brass, nor a 
 description sufficiently detailed to show whether 
 it was a " Mass of St. Gregory " or some form of 
 the " Image of Pity." Indulgences in the form 
 of broadsides, printed from wooden blocks, were 
 very popular at the close of the fifteenth century 
 and early part of the sixteenth. These curious 
 relics of Christian art have been described by the 
 late Henry Bradshaw, who says : "In the cuts 
 found in Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany, 
 there is a certain amount of similarity. St. 
 Gregory is kneeling before the altar ; our Lord 
 appears on the altar ; and all around the back- 
 ground is filled with the symbols of the 
 passion scattered around. In many copies 
 of the Primer, or Book of Horce, written 
 in England, a picture of the 'Imago Pietatis ' 
 or ' Arma Crucifixi ' is prefixed to the Psalms 
 of the Passion. St. Gregory does not appear, 
 but a half-length figure of our Lord appearing 
 above a tomb or altar, with the symbols 
 
 * Church of our Fathers, p. 77.
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 19 
 
 grouped round him."* These symbols were 
 about the year 1487, formed into a border 
 for the central figure. In Caxton's Primer 
 issued about that year, there is a figure of 
 Christ standing half out of a tomb or altar. 
 The inscription promises three thousand two 
 hundred and fifty-seven years of pardon for the 
 devout saying of five paternosters, five aves, and 
 a creed. This is repeated in an edition of the 
 Horce believed to have been printed in 1494 by 
 Wynkyn de Worde in the house of Caxton. A 
 broadside indulgence printed by Caxton about 
 1490 represented Christ wounded and rising from 
 a tomb. The inscription likewise grants three 
 thousand two hundred and fifty-seven years of 
 pardon. The " Ecce Homo" indulgence dis- 
 covered by Mr. W. Y. Ottley, is now in the 
 British Museum. The text is : 
 
 " Seynt gregor' with o/ir' popes and bysshoppes yn feer' 
 Haue grafted' of pardon xxvi dayes and xxvi Mill' yeer. 
 To/eym that before /is fygur' on/eir knees. 
 Deuotly say v paternoster and v avees." 
 
 The extent of the pardon, it will be noticed, is 
 the same as on the Macclesfield and Manchester, 
 but the repetition of the creed is not laid down as 
 
 * See Bradshaw's Collected Papers, p. 84, et seq. cf., also p. 256.
 
 20 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 a condition. But in an indulgence now preserved 
 in Lincoln Minster Library, the resemblance is 
 exact. It represents Christ with wounded body 
 and crossed hands standing half out of a tomb. 
 Below on the face of the altar or tomb are the 
 words : 
 
 " The pdon for v. Pr nr v. 
 
 aues & a crede is xvvjM, 
 
 yeres & xxvi dayes." 
 
 Hollinworth's words are certainly more exactly 
 applicable to this picture than to the " Mass of 
 St. Gregory." 
 
 So at Quatford, Shropshire, there were some 
 wall paintings, and under one, which represented 
 Christ rising from the sepulchre, were these 
 lines : 
 
 " Seynt Gregory and other popes 
 and bysschops grants sex and 
 twenty thousand yere of pardon 
 thritti dayes to alle that saies devou 
 telye knelying afore pis ymage fife 
 paternosters fyfe aves and a cred." * 
 
 It will be seen that the amount of the pardon 
 varies greatly. In the thirteenth century we 
 have examples of ten days, and forty days ; in 
 the fourteenth century thirty, forty-six, and fifty 
 
 * Rock, vol. iii., p. 77.
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 21 
 
 days, forty and of three thousand days unless 
 there has been some error in transcribing the 
 epitaph. In the fifteenth century we have one 
 hundred and twenty days ; and in the sixteenth, 
 twelve days and one hundred days ; two thousand 
 six hundred years twenty-six days ; and three 
 thousand two hundred and fifty-seven years. It 
 is not altogether a case of chronological expan- 
 sion, although the longest pardons are the latest 
 in date. 
 
 The " Mass of St. Gregory " as the illustration 
 on letters of indulgence is found in many printed 
 and MS. Horce of fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries. 
 
 The religious poems of William de Shoreham, 
 who was Vicar of Chart-Sutton, in Kent, in the 
 reign of Edward II., were edited by Thomas 
 Wright for the Percy Society. He was the first 
 vicar, and was perhaps previously a monk of the 
 priory of Leeds, to which the rectory of Chart- 
 Sutton was impropriated by Walter, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. Wright thinks him to have been 
 a native of Shoreham, near Otford, in Kent, but 
 it seems equally probable that he took his name 
 from the much better known Sussex Shoreham. 
 There are several pious colophons to his verses,
 
 22 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 and one reads thus : " Oretis pro anima domini 
 
 Willelmi de Sckorham, quondam vicarii de Chart 
 
 juxta Ledes, qui comiposuit istam compilacionem de 
 
 septem mortalibus peccatis. Et omnibus dicentibus 
 
 oracionem dominicam cum salutacione angelica 
 
 quadraginta dies veniae a domino Symone archie- 
 
 piscopo Cantuariae conceduntur," 
 
 Robert de Cologne, in a treatise on indulgences, 
 printed at Zutphen in 1518, says that St. Gregory 
 granted fourteen thousand years of indulgence ; 
 that Nicholas V. doubled them ; that Calixtus 
 III. added five prayers to the five paternosters 
 and five aves, and then doubled the indulgence ; 
 that Sixtus IV. added two more prayers, two 
 paternosters, and two aves, and again doubled the 
 indulgence; and that Innocent VIII. added two 
 more prayers, with two paternosters and two 
 aves, and again doubled the previous indulgence. 
 Opinions are divided as to whether the total 
 result of the operations is seventy thousand, 
 ninety-two thousand, or one hundred and twelve 
 thousand years of pardon. A " Mass of St. 
 Gregory" is facsimiled in Holtrop's Monuments 
 Typographiques des Pay has au XVieme Siecle. 
 In this the risen Christ is seen standing on an 
 altar, before which kneels St. Gregory, whilst the
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 23 
 
 background is crowded with the instruments and 
 emblems of the Passion, but these are not, as in 
 most English prints of the Image of Pity, 
 arranged as a border framing the whole picture. 
 The inscription is in Flemish, and promises four- 
 teen thousand years of pardon. The print is 
 believed to have been issued between 1455 and 
 1471. 
 
 Of course the "Imago Pietatis " and the 
 " Mass of St. Gregory " were not the only artistic 
 indulgences. There is a fine wood engraving 
 belonging probably to the school of Gaudenzio 
 Ferrari, and dating from the early years of the 
 sixteenth century, representing the Virgin and 
 Child and St. Joseph with a considerable amount 
 of landscape. Underneath is an Ave Maria and 
 a statement also in Latin that Sixtus IV. had 
 granted "xi milia annorum " for each time it was 
 said. To consider the many indulgences printed 
 in the infancy of typography would lead us far 
 afield. 
 
 The papal grants of " indulgences " were 
 among the abuses that led to the Reformation 
 under Luther. Indulgences appear to have been 
 developed as a powerful instrument for the pro- 
 motion of the crusades, those remarkable, but in
 
 24 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 the end futile, efforts to accomplish the redemp- 
 tion of the Holy Land from the "infidels" on 
 which the Popes had set their heart. The 
 remission promised to the actual crusaders was 
 afterwards extended to those who were less 
 directly engaged. " Thus, for instance, it became 
 necessary in course of time to reward by remis- 
 sions of so and so many days those who would 
 consent even to be present at the preaching of 
 the papal legate who came to announce a crusade; 
 and, finally, just before the fall of Acre, full 
 remission was granted to those who would con- 
 tribute anything at all to the lost cause." " One 
 papal legate in 1219 offered to the crusaders 
 willing to remain in the Holy Land that he would 
 absolve the souls of their fathers, mothers, 
 brothers, sisters, wives, and children, "t The 
 system was extended in many ways. 
 
 The theory of the Roman Catholic Church as 
 to indulgences is that in addition to the eternal 
 punishment of sin there is also a temporal punish- 
 ment, and that as the former may be remitted by 
 the merits of the Saviour, so the latter may be 
 shortened by the merit of certain good works or 
 
 * E. F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents, 1892, p. 272. 
 t Ibid,
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 25 
 
 acts of devotion of the faithful. An indulgence 
 is not, as is too often said by the opponents of 
 the Roman Church, either a remission of sin or a 
 permission to sin, nor is it of avail without the 
 repentance and amendment of the sinner.* But 
 
 * The teaching of the Roman Communion on the subject of " indul- 
 gences " is set forth in the following passages, chiefly from the Prompta 
 Bibliotheca of F. Lucius Ferraris (Venice, 1772) : i. " By an Indulgence, 
 moral fault is not remitted, but only the temporal penalty (poena) still 
 remaining to be paid in this life or in purgatory. 2. Whenever in the 
 form or grant of an Indulgence remission of sins is said to be granted by 
 it, we understand by 'sin' the penalty of sin, in accordance with II. 
 Machabees xii., 46. The whole passage reads: (43) 'And making a 
 gathering, he (Judas the Machabee) sent 12,000 drachmas of silver to 
 Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well 
 and religiously concerning the resurrection. (44) For if he had not hoped 
 that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed super- 
 fluous and vain \.o pray for the dead. (45) And because he considered that 
 they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them. 
 (46) It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that 
 they may be loosed from sins.' 3. As to Indulgences ' from penalty and 
 fault ' (a poena et culpd), ' Benedict XIV. pronounces these to be 
 apocryphal, even if only venial sins were meant : De Synodo, lib. 13, Cap. 
 18, No. 7.' 4. The Indulgence called "A Quarantine means of Forty 
 Days, that is to say a remission of as much punishment (poena) as -would 
 have been remitted for the penance ( poenitentia ) of 40 Days formerly fixed 
 by the Church for certain sins, in the Penitential Canons." And so of 
 other Indulgences for fixed periods. Ferraris says: "We are not to 
 understand that so many days or years are remitted of punishment in 
 Purgatory, or that a stay of that much time in Purgatory is abated (for 
 indeed it is not likely that Purgatory will be in existence for the 200,000 or 
 300,000 years for which an Indulgence is sometimes granted), but by such 
 an Indulgence is meant that so much punishment is remitted by it as would 
 be remitted in virtue of the penance appointed by the Penitential Rules 
 (canons) in the Canon Law, if such penance were performed in this world 
 for the number of days or years mentioned ." So in the ' ' Catholic Directory " 
 for 1893 we read: "In the early ages of the Church, 'canonical 
 penances ' as they were called were inflicted for sin ; and an Indulgence of 
 forty days, for example, represents a remission of as much of the temporal 
 punishment as would have been remitted by means of forty days of such 
 canonical penance ; but how much that is, or would have been, is not 
 known to us." 5. As to Indulgences of 100 years, l,ooo, ioo,coo, etc.,
 
 26 BYGONE SUSSEX 
 
 without going into these theological refinements, 
 it cannot be doubted that the system was one 
 which led to enormous abuse. The hypocrisy, 
 craft, and falsehood of those who made a traffic 
 of the sale of pardons and indulgences has left its 
 
 years, P. Minderer in his Treatise on Indulgences, pronounces them to be 
 of trivial credibility. " Soto has not hesitated to affirm that they were 
 fictions of the Quaestors [i.e., the Preachers of Indulgences such as those 
 before the Reformation for the raising of funds for building St. Peters, 
 etc.]. Estius openly says they are fabrications and forgeries, and in no 
 wise attributable to the Holy See. The Venerable Cardinal Thomasius 
 concludes that they are incredible and altogether improbable. See 
 Benedict XIV., De Synoiio, Book xiii., Ch. 18." 6. "St. Pius V., Pope, 
 
 27 January, 1567, revoked all Indulgences that included the gaining of 
 money (quaestus). See also the Council of Trent on this matter, Session 
 25, in the Decree of Indulgences ; and Session 21, ch. 9, on Reformation. 
 Paul V., 23 May, 1606, revoked all Indulgences granted by his pre- 
 decessors to all or any Religious Orders, and issued a new series in their 
 stead. In his ' Constitution ' of 23 May, 1606, effecting this, he recites 
 that 'Our predecessor, of happy memory, Clement VIII., with great 
 diligence and solicitude, endeavoured to abolish abuses and corruptions 
 that had crept into the giving of Indulgences, and also into tbe accepting 
 of them.' Clement VIII. reigned from 1592 to 1605. Innocent XL, in 
 a 'Decree' dated 7 March, 1678 (not relating merely to Religious Orders 
 like the above 'Constitution' of Paul V.), refers to 'certain made-up 
 (confictae), and altogether false Indulgences that are carried about 
 ( circumferentum ) through divers parts of the Christian world ; and others 
 that on examination have been found to be either apocryphal or already 
 revoked by the Roman Pontiffs, or no longer valid owing to a lapse of 
 time ;" and records that a Congregation of Cardinals, to whom this 
 matter had been referred, has drawn up a list of such Indulgences, and 
 that the said Congregation ' declares them to be partly made-up and 
 clearly false, partly apocryphal, or from some other cause null and 
 void, and that can benefit nobody, and forbids them to be published any- 
 where as true, or to be put forward as capable of being gained by the 
 faithful, and strictly orders to be destroyed all sheets and books in which 
 they are so put forward or alleged, unless the said Indulgences have been 
 diligently expunged therefrom. And ' [the said Congregation] hereby [i.e., 
 by making specific mention of those in its' list] does not wish it to be 
 inferred that all others not mentioned in this Decree are therefore to be 
 held as true and legitimate and tactily approved.' The Decree concludes :
 
 PARDON BRASSES. 27 
 
 mark indelibly on popular as well as on theological 
 literature. Chaucer as well as Luther may be 
 cited in evidence of the evils of that system 
 which these pardon brasses recall to memory. 
 
 ' A report on these thing having been made by the Secretary to the Holy 
 Father, his Holiness has approved the whole, and ordered it to be 
 inviolably observed. Given at Rome, 7th March, 1678.' " 7- Ferraris 
 goes on to give, in six pages of double columns, "Sundry Decrees lately 
 issued (and printed in the Bullarium of Clement XL), in which many 
 things are laid down and declared concerning Indulgences, and some 
 things are prohibited and interdicted as false and apocryphal."
 
 of 1benn> IRobscw in 1598. 
 
 IN the golden days of Elizabeth, when the 
 ancient town of the Cinque Ports was still 
 " Rye Royal," there happened a strange tragedy, 
 the particulars of which are commemorated in a 
 tract, written by L. B. whose full name remains 
 unknown and which the title page states to be 
 "printed by Felix Kingston for R. W., and are to 
 be solde in Paternoster Row at the signe of the 
 Talbot" in 1598. 
 
 This account is noteworthy, not only in 
 relation to forensic medicine, but to the 
 methods of criminal law as administered in the 
 days of the Tudors. The facts are in a small 
 compass. Henry Robson, a fisherman of Rye, 
 was for a long time well thought of by his 
 neighbours, but a taste for lavish expenditure led 
 him into debt, and being unable to satisfy his 
 creditors, he was, as the result of several suits, 
 cast into prison as a debtor, and remained there 
 without any prospect of release. He had a 
 faithful, honest wife, but she was unable to pay
 
 TRIAL OF HENRY ROBSON. 29 
 
 his debts, and he conceived a strong but 
 concealed dislike for her. If she were out of the 
 way Robson thought he could turn what remained 
 of his goods and estate into money, and by 
 fleeing into the Netherlands escape the persecu- 
 tion of his obdurate creditors. One day, in 
 conversation with a fellow prisoner, he expressed 
 his regret that his wife's continuance in life 
 hindered his escape. The other scoundrel there- 
 upon offered to procure ratsbane, and to teach 
 Robson how it might be used without fear of 
 detection. 
 
 Glasier, such was the worthy's name, was soon 
 after released from durance. By Robson's 
 request he bought some ratsbane at the shop of 
 Fisher, a mercer in Rye. This he conveyed to 
 Robson, and told him to mix it with glass beaten 
 small, and wrap it in the skin of a shoulder of 
 mutton, making the packet of poison about the 
 size of a hazelnut. The poison was to be 
 administered to Robson's wife per vaginam when 
 next she would come to stay with her husband. 
 This we are told was done on her next visit. 
 Soon after her return home she began to be 
 seriously ill, and as her pains continued and 
 increased, medical aid was called in ? The
 
 30 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 physicians were unable to relieve her, but 
 strongly suspected foul play. After some five 
 days she died, and a post mortem examination 
 revealed the presence of ratsbane and glass ' ' in 
 everie vaine." Inquiries were set on foot, and 
 the purchase of the poison from Fisher was 
 discovered. Glasier hearing of this absconded. 
 Naturally enough suspicion fell upon the husband, 
 and after some denials he confessed, and at the 
 next sessions was tried, condemned, and hanged. 
 Let us first consider the accuracy of the 
 narrative of the poisoning as given by the Tudor 
 pamphleteer. On this point I have to thank 
 Professor J. Dixon Mann for a note on the 
 pathology of the case. The first point is as to 
 the precise meaning of "ratsbane." In Ramsey's 
 " De Venenis " (1660), he refers to "that kind 
 of arsenick which they usually lay for mice 
 (commonly called by us, ratsbane)." There is, 
 therefore, nothing impossible in the narrative. 
 There are many cases on record of persons being 
 poisoned by the external application of arsenic, as 
 for example, when it has been applied by quacks 
 to cancerous growths of the breast. The intro- 
 duction of the poison into the vagina would be 
 likely to be followed by the general symptoms of
 
 TRIAL OF HENRY ROBSON. 31 
 
 arsenical poisoning. The addition of powdered 
 glass by abrading the mucous membrane would 
 facilitate the introduction of the poison into the 
 system and probably cause death within the time 
 specified. 
 
 Powdered glass is still used by Indian poisoners. 
 The only improbability is the statement that both 
 glass and ratsbane were found in every vein. 
 The glass would not be found in the veins 
 because it would not get there ; the arsenic 
 probably would be present in the blood, but it is 
 doubtful if the chemical knowledge of that age 
 would be equal to its detection. The statement 
 is probably a rhetorical exaggeration of the fact 
 that arsenic was found in the body of the poor 
 woman.* 
 
 There is therefore every reason to think that 
 Robson was guilty of the murder, but our 
 modern sense of fair play to accused persons 
 revolts from the method employed in trepanning 
 
 * It may be remembered that another remarkable trial for alleged murder 
 by arsenical poisoning occurred at Lewes assizes in 1826. A woman was 
 accused of poisoning her husband by the administration of arsenic. There 
 was some divergence of medical opinion as to the length of time in which 
 the poison would operate fatally. Mr. G. A. Mantell, the famous 
 geologist, who was then in practice as a surgeon in that town, and his brother 
 Joshua, who was in the same profession, were satisfied that the woman 
 was innocent, and ultimately procured her pardon. One result of this 
 trial was the publication of Mantell's treatise on arsenical poisoning.
 
 32 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 him into an admission of his guilt. The circum- 
 stances of the wife's visit to, and stay with her 
 husband in prison, the purchase of the poison by 
 his crony, Glasier, and the subsequent flight of 
 that worthy, the discovery of arsenic in the body, 
 all pointed to the suspicion of wife-murder, and it 
 is not surprising that some persons should have 
 openly avowed their belief in Robson's guilt. 
 The Mayor, Jurats, and Recorder of Rye 
 assembled, and it was decided to send for Robson. 
 
 " Neighbour Robson," said Mr. Francis Bolton, 
 the Recorder, " we understand by one Glasier, 
 that you had certain poison of him, which you 
 caused him to buy. Now we have* sent for you to 
 know to what intent you bought it ? For that 
 you are suspected of the death of your wife, and 
 by some manifestly accused." 
 
 Robson protested that he was as ignorant as a 
 newly born child both of the death of his wife and 
 of any such poison. 
 
 "Nay," said the Recorder, "if you be so 
 obstinate, we will bring Glasier forth who to your 
 shame shall testify it, and then you are guilty not 
 only of the poison, but of the act doing. And 
 therefore confess the truth, and shame the 
 devil,"
 
 TRIAL OF HENRY ROBSON. 33 
 
 " Well," said Robson, " I had, indeed, ratsbane, 
 but what of that ? " 
 
 "Why didst thou deny it then?" asked the 
 Recorder. "It shows a guilty conscience. But 
 what didst thou with it ? And to what intent 
 didst thou buy it ? " 
 
 "Why," replied Robson, "the Courthouse is 
 full of rats, and I bought it to kill them." 
 
 " That is not so," said the Recorder, " But the 
 devil is the father of lies, and I fear thou art his 
 son. Confess the truth of what thou didst with 
 it?" 
 
 " Well," answered Robson, "if you will needs 
 know, I will truly resolve you. I have been long 
 in prison, and I have often heard that poison will 
 break open any iron lock, and therefore I bought 
 it thinking thereby to get my liberty. Now I 
 have told the truth, I hope you will pardon me."* 
 
 " No," said the Recorder, " thou hast not told 
 the truth, for with it and glass mingled together 
 thou didst poison thy wife ; and therefore as thou 
 lookest for any favour at our hands, confess how 
 and in what manner thou didst it and who was 
 thy counsellor in it ? " 
 
 " Well then " replied Robson, " I perceive you 
 
 * A very curious bit of folk-lore.
 
 34 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 glut after my blood, and if it will pleasure you, you 
 shall have it." He imagined from the Recorder's 
 bold statement that Glasier had made an avowal 
 and that further denial would be unavailing, and 
 therefore in the words of our chronicler "openly 
 declared the whole manner aforesaid, how and in 
 what manner he had done it, and for what cause, 
 and who was his Counsellor. Which they 
 hearing, greatly marvelled, and committed him to 
 prison, where he remained till the Sessions Day, 
 when he was arraigned and condemned, and 
 according to the law he there was adjudged to be 
 hanged, which was performed." 
 
 It is not at all probable that in the absence 
 of Glasier, Robson could have been convicted but 
 for the confession which the Recorder tricked him 
 into making. The words so graphically reported 
 by the pamphleteer read more like those of a 
 French juge d 1 instruction than of an English 
 magistrate as the duty of the latter would now be 
 interpreted. Even the humblest instruments of 
 the law are to-day expected to warn their prisoner 
 that he need not make any incriminating state- 
 ment. No accused person is expected to aid in 
 his own conviction. But our forensic annals 
 show that in the past judges did not always so
 
 TRIAL OF HENRY ROBSON. 35 
 
 interpret their duty. The genius of Bunyan has 
 drawn a vivid picture of the conduct of a criminal 
 assize in his day, and although the account of the 
 trial of Christian and Faithful may seem now a 
 monstrous exaggeration, there is only too much 
 evidence for accepting it as a faithful picture. 
 And the case of Henry Robson, even on the 
 assumption of his guilt, is another example of the 
 unfairness which once prevailed in the administra- 
 tion of the law.
 
 3n Denis Biwal's Country. 
 
 IN his interesting " Reminiscences," Dean 
 Hole has a characteristic notice of 
 Thackeray. ''I went," he says, "with Leech, 
 and the servant told us that he was engaged. 
 As we were going disappointed away, Miss 
 Thackeray opened the door and called to us, ' Of 
 course, papa will see you.' We went up to his 
 study, and found him sitting, more suo, with his 
 face turned to the back of his chair, on which a 
 small board was fastened for his writing materials. 
 He sighed, and said he was wearied by his long 
 monotonous work (it was nigh the end, for the 
 last pages of ' Denis Duval ' were before him) ; 
 and Leech said, ' Why don't you have a holiday 
 and take the girls to the seaside?' He made no 
 verbal answer, but, rising slowly, plunged his 
 hands to the very bottom of his pockets, brought 
 them out, shook, replaced them, and then 
 resumed his seat." 
 
 There is room for difference of opinion as to 
 which is Thackeray's masterpiece, but there are
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 37 
 
 many who think that in u Denis Duval," which 
 unhappily was still incomplete when death stayed 
 the skilful hand, we have the ripest and mellowest 
 expression of his genius, even though it may lack 
 the supremest touches which mark certain scenes 
 in "Vanity Fair" and "The Newcomes." As in 
 other of Thackeray's works there is local colour, 
 and a visit to " Denis Duval's " country will show 
 to what extent he has reproduced the spirit of the 
 scene even when he has thought it necessary to 
 depart from strict archaeological accuracy. The 
 earlier scenes are laid at Rye and Winchelsea, those 
 two quaint old towns which are the delight of the 
 antiquary and the artist. Thackeray's observant 
 eyes saw the charm of the old-fashioned streets, 
 the antique houses, the ruined towers, the great 
 gates looking landward and seaward, and the long 
 stretch of marsh leading to the waters of the 
 English Channel. There have been few to 
 celebrate in verse the glories and reverses of the 
 " Two Ancient Towns " which watch each other 
 from two hills across the three miles of 
 road and marsh separating them ; but Edward, 
 Lord Thurlow, has written a sonnet, " To 
 Rye in Sussex," the approach that is from the 
 sea :
 
 38 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 " Before me on old ocean's pebbly marge, 
 And marshy plains, upon a spacious bay, 
 The mighty works of labour stand at large, 
 When violence within this Realm had sway : 
 
 The antique castle glooms deserted now, 
 A monument of wasteful war and pride, 
 And Winchelsea upon its raised brow, 
 That the vain shock of ages hath defied : 
 
 Before me Rye, once town of dignity, 
 Stands like a falcon on its perched rock : 
 Long may it view the everlasting sea, 
 Forsaken of the waves, and brave the shock 
 
 Of fruitless Time, till in the fatal hour 
 Oblivion shall our silver Isle devour." 
 
 The two towns are not difficult of access by the 
 South-Eastern Railway. The traveller who 
 alights at Winchelsea can, after rambling through 
 its streets and lanes, pass through its ancient 
 gateway, and proceed by the winding road to 
 Rye. The ramble can be extended to Camber 
 Castle and Rye harbour without difficulty. From 
 the low-lying land may be seen upon the two hills 
 which face each other the " Two Ancient 
 Towns " of Winchelsea and Rye. 
 
 The older Winchelsea, where William the 
 Norman landed in 1067 on his second arrival in 
 this country, was destroyed by the sea, partly in 
 1250, and wholly in 1287. The town was then 
 removed to its present position, but the base of
 
 THE LAND GATE AT RYE.
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY 39 
 
 the hill on which it stands was in those days washed 
 by the waves. The sea has since receded and left 
 Winchelsea literally stranded. But the great 
 Edward saw the capacities of the place, and 
 planned here a strong town with walls, gates, 
 churches, monasteries, and all the other 
 belongings of a prosperous mediaeval community. 
 The late Mr. E. A. Freeman was much struck by 
 the appearance of Winchelsea, which he declared 
 to be "from the point of view of municipal and 
 parliamentary antiquary one of the most 
 interesting places in England." It differs from a 
 ruined town, and is the City that Never Was. 
 " It is most striking," says Freeman, "to see the 
 preparations which were made for what was to be, 
 the walls which fence in nothing, the gates which 
 lead to nothing, the large and splendid church 
 began but never finished, the streets laid out in 
 regular order according to the plan always 
 followed in the foundations of the great King, but 
 streets which have never yet grown into the form 
 of houses. The one thing which was finished, 
 the Friars' Church, is now a ruin. A country 
 house with its usual appendages stands within the 
 walls of the town, and all that has come of the 
 great borough which was designed is a small
 
 40 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 village." This passage, written for the Saturday 
 Review in 1871, stands unaltered in the 
 " Historical Essays" issued almost simultaneously 
 with the death of the great scholar in 1892. 
 There is, however, some reason to think that the 
 Church was finished and that the nave was 
 destroyed. Winchelsea was the object of various 
 attacks on the part of the French, who came on 
 errands of plunder and massacre in 1359, 1368, 
 and 1449. By this time the sea was forsaking it. 
 The intended glories of the Edwardian foundation 
 failed of accomplishment. " Winchelsea," as Mr. 
 Coventry Patmore has said, "is a town in a 
 trance, a sunny dream of centuries ago : but Rye 
 is a bit of the old world living pleasantly on in 
 ignorance of the new." 
 
 Rye is situated in an exposed position, and for 
 its protection the Ypres Tower was built by 
 William D'Ypres, Earl of Kent, in the middle of 
 the twelfth century. From this great watchtower 
 the whole of the coast could be seen. In 1 149, 
 the town had a charter for walling and fortification. 
 The receding of the waters afterwards exposed 
 the north side of the town, and Edward completed 
 its defence by the erection of a massive gateway, 
 flanked by towers, and having nail-studded
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 41 
 
 wooden doors and a portcullis. From the 
 gateway extended a wall twenty- eight feet high 
 and five feet thick, with a deep fosse. About 
 1448, the wall built by Richard I. on the eastern 
 cliff was ruined by the undermining operations of 
 the sea. The defences of Rye did not suffice to 
 keep away the French, who made several 
 incursions. Early in the thirteenth century it 
 was captured by the Dauphin of France, and 
 again in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it 
 was sacked more than once. The town became a 
 place of refuge for the Huguenots after the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew. Fishing and 
 smuggling were both Rye industries. The 
 borough has never lost a measure of quiet 
 prosperity however far it may have been left 
 behind by younger and more energetic rivals. 
 
 These "Two Ancient Towns," as they are 
 styled in the charters which include them in the 
 Cinque Ports, are the scenes of " Denis Duval." 
 The first intention of Thackeray had been to 
 give his hero the name of Blaise. This was 
 afterwards changed to Denis, and by the 
 adoption of this designation he linked the hero 
 with a real and notable personage of the time. 
 Peter Denis was the son of a French Protestant
 
 42 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 minister, the Rev. Jacob Denis, a native of La 
 Rochefoucault, in Angumois, who had been 
 exiled from his fatherland by the revocation of 
 the Edict of Nantes. The refugee pastor settled 
 at Chester, took orders in the Anglican Church, 
 married Miss Martha Leach, "a lady of an 
 ancient Lancashire family," and became father of 
 twelve children. The youngest but one was 
 Peter, who was born at Chester in 1712. His 
 father is believed to have been one of the masters 
 of the King's School there, and the son probably 
 obtained his education in that institution. He 
 received his lieutenant's commission in 1739, and 
 went with Anson in the expedition which made 
 the "Centurion" famous. They sailed in 1740, 
 a badly equipped expedition of six ships, of which 
 two never rounded Cape Horn, and another, the 
 " Wager," was driven ashore and lost. When 
 the " Centurion " reached Juan Fernandez there 
 were not more than thirty men on board capable 
 of work. The desperate plight of the expedition 
 may be judged from the statement that of the 96 1 
 men who had left England there were but 335 
 men and boys remaining. With these in 
 the "Centurion" and the "Gloucester," Anson 
 destroyed the Spanish commerce, blockaded the
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 43 
 
 ports, and burned the town of Paita. Having 
 missed the Spanish treasure ships, he sailed for 
 China, and had to abandon two of his ships. 
 The " Centurion " alone remained, and was taken 
 to Macoa, and the crew increased to 227 by the 
 enlistment of Negroes, Dutchmen, and Lascars. 
 These were carefully drilled, and on June 2Oth, 
 1743, Anson captured the great Spanish galleon 
 with its crew of 600 men and its ,500,000 worth 
 of treasure. He returned home, was protected 
 by a friendly fog from the French fleet, and then 
 the ship's company, with band playing and colours 
 flying, marched through London City with the 
 thirty-two wagon-loads of the "loot" they had 
 obtained from the Spaniard. Anson's dispute 
 with the Admiralty may have hindered the 
 immediate promotion of Denis, but his time came. 
 In 1744-5, when Anson was one of the Board of 
 Admiralty, Denis became post-captain, and he 
 commanded the "Centurion" in the fight with La 
 Jonquiere, when the captured French ships 
 included the " Gloire " and the "Invincible," 
 which was commanded by Captain de St. George. 
 When the Frenchman surrendered his sword to 
 Anson he said, " Monsieur, vous avez vaincu 
 1' Invincible et la Gloire vous suit," a frank
 
 44 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 epigram that gained him the friendship of the 
 victor. It was the pleasant duty of Denis to take 
 home the despatches in which the victory was 
 announced. He served in Parliament for the 
 borough of Heydon. In 1756, he was on the 
 home station, and formed part of the Court- 
 Martial that had the melancholy duty of trying 
 Admiral Byng. It seems clear that they had no 
 option but to find him guilty of negligence. 
 Their strong recommendation to mercy was 
 disregarded by the King, and whatever discredit 
 attaches to the execution of Byng must be laid, 
 not to his judges, but to the inhumanity of George 
 II. Denis formed part of Sir Edward Hawke's 
 unsuccessful expedition against Rochefort in 
 1757; captured the " Raisonnable" in 1758, and 
 had his share in the great victory of Quiberon Bay 
 in 1759; a battle which Prof. Laughton has 
 characterised as " the greatest victory at sea since 
 the defeat of the Spanish Armada." In 1761, as 
 Thackeray records, it was the agreeable task of 
 Denis to bring to her English home and bride- 
 groom the German princess, so long known to 
 our grandfathers as " Good Queen Charlotte." 
 Denis became a baronet in 1767, and after further 
 service of an uneventful kind, he died in 1778,
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 45 
 
 when the title became extinct. He is buried in 
 the grounds of St. George the Martyr, Holborn, 
 There, too, lies his wife, who although known as 
 Miss Pappett, was a natural daughter of John 
 James Heidegger, the famous " Count Ugly," 
 who figures alike in the pictures of Hogarth, the 
 verse of Pope, and the prose of Fielding. 
 Heidegger was the partner of Handel in some 
 operatic ventures, and made a large income by 
 theatrical management and masquerades, so loose 
 in character that the Middlesex grand jury 
 presented their projector as " the principal 
 promoter of vice and immorality." Elizabeth 
 Pappett became the wife of Denis on September 
 2nd, 1750, and died December 3Oth, 1765. Such 
 was the career of the real personage, whom 
 Thackeray has made the god-father of his 
 imaginary hero. 
 
 Denis Duval tells us that he was born at 
 Winchelsea, "where there has been a French 
 church ever since Queen Bess' time and the 
 dreadful day of St. Bartholomew." Here his 
 grandfather was precentor. There was a Hugue- 
 not church at Winchelsea in the Armada days, 
 but unlike that at Canterbury, where the French 
 services are still held in the Crypt of the
 
 46 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Cathedral, the Huguenots of Winchelsea had died 
 out or had been incorporated in the mass of 
 English protestantism long before the time of 
 Denis Duval. So also the Huguenot Church at 
 Rye ceased early in the i8th century. This is 
 an initial anachronism, but Thackeray took care 
 to make sure as to the constitution and manage- 
 ment of these churches, so that the glimpses 
 afforded are accurate. 
 
 The French church at Rye began in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, and the arrival of the fugitive 
 Protestants was sometimes a matter of great 
 embarrassment to the authorities, which was 
 increased in 1563 by the return of soldiers and 
 people from Havre when the plague broke out in 
 the little town. There were further influxes in 
 1568 and 1572, and in 1574 a municipal 
 regulation was devised against the advent of 
 pauper refugees. One of the few exceptions to 
 the good qualities of the Huguenots is afforded by 
 Marie Gosling, wife of Philip Williams, who, in 
 1598, was executed for " murthering her own 
 child." In 1586, there were over 1,500 refugees 
 in the town. Some of these were persons of 
 wealth and substance. It was impossible for Rye 
 to absorb so large a number, and they found
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 47 
 
 openings for themselves elsewhere, so that by 
 1622 there were only between twenty and thirty 
 foreigners, presumably recent arrivals, as the 
 descendants of the older settlers would now 
 be recognised as townspeople. When the 
 persecution of 1680 began there was a new 
 irruption, and in 1682 the parishoners agreed to 
 allow the use of the church for services in French 
 from eight to ten, and from twelve to two " as 
 hertofore." The last record of the congregation 
 in Rye is of the year 1728, when they received 
 ^35 2s. od. from the Royal Bounty Fund. 
 
 The home of the Duvals was in " Port St," an 
 imaginary name for one of the Winchelsea 
 thoroughfares. Here one evening in 1769 the 
 Comtesse heard the story of the woman burned to 
 death on Penenden or Pickenden Heath for the 
 murder of her husband. The case was a very 
 curious one. A well-to-do butcher at Hythe, in 
 Kent, fell in love with his servant girl, who, 
 however, refused to marry him, and to escape his 
 importunities returned to her friends who lived in 
 another town of the same county. Here she 
 found a more acceptable suitor in a young 
 smuggler named Benjamin Buss. This fellow's 
 love was not of a very delicate order, and he
 
 48 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 urged his sweetheart to marry her elderly lover in 
 order that at his death they might enjoy the 
 money which the butcher had scraped together. 
 She was exceedingly unwilling to comply with 
 this advice, but finally consented. To expedite 
 their expected good fortune was the next thought 
 of Buss, and he again induced the woman to be 
 his accomplice. A few days after the marriage, 
 the butcher and his bride went for a few days' 
 outing, and Buss was invited to be one of the 
 company. They set off on horseback, and at 
 Burmash, by which Burwash is probably meant 
 Lott, having broken his bridle, dismounted to 
 mend it, and a public-house being at hand, he 
 went in, and the butcher ordered some " milk 
 bumbo." 4 On coming out, he first gave some to 
 his wife and then to Buss, neither of whom 
 dismounted, and then drank some himself. He 
 complained that it was bitter, and hot, and had a 
 bad taste. The landlady was surprised and hurt 
 at this disapproval, and strenuously vouched for 
 the excellence of the ingredients. When the 
 guests had gone, she herself tasted the mixture, 
 and found it very nasty. She called the attention 
 
 * Smollett, in a note to " Roderick Random," which appeared in 1748, 
 describes "Bumbo" as a liquor composed of rum, sugar, water, and 
 nutmeg, but the name was applied to other alcoholic mixtures.
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 49 
 
 of her daughter-in-law to the matter, who also 
 had a tablespoonful, and then, throwing the rest 
 away, noticed that there was a sediment at the 
 bottom of the vessel. Although the younger 
 woman vomited, no suspicion of poison arose, and 
 the badness of the " bumbo " was attributed to 
 the water. Lott had partaken more liberally, 
 and between Burmash and Bonington became 
 seriously ill. They stopped there for tea, and 
 Lott drank plentifully, and so recovered from the 
 effect of the corrosive sublimate which had been 
 administered to him. Buss, on this first dis- 
 appointment, procured larger doses, and these 
 were given to the unfortunate husband, who died 
 after nine days of intense suffering. Suspicion of 
 poisoning arose, and on examination before a 
 justice of the peace Mrs. Lott confessed the 
 crime. She was imprisoned seven months at 
 Canterbury, and thence removed to Maidstone, 
 where she remained four months awaiting her 
 trial. This was owing to the illness of the 
 apothecary from whom the poison had been 
 bought. He died, however, before the Assizes 
 came on. Buss at first denied his guilt, then in 
 an attack of jail fever, confessed, and on his 
 recovery retracted his confession. The trial came
 
 So BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 on at Maidstone, iQth July, 1769. Both were 
 found guilty. Her attitude was one of great 
 humility and dejection, especially when the child 
 she had borne in prison was brought into court 
 for her to suckle. The execution took place on 
 Penenden Heath. Buss was dressed in black, 
 and drawn in a waggon with four horses. Mrs. 
 Lott, wearing the mourning gown she had bought 
 on her husband's death, followed in a hurdle also 
 drawn by four horses, The man was executed 
 first, and when he had hung for a quarter-of-an 
 hour, Mrs. Lott was carried to a stake about a 
 hundred yards away from the gallows. The 
 stake was about seven feet high, and near the top 
 was a peg, on which the woman standing on a 
 stool was fastened by the neck. The stool was 
 pulled away, and when she was quite dead, a 
 chain was fastened round the body and the stake, 
 fagots were piled up, and these being lighted, the 
 body of the unhappy woman was reduced to 
 ashes. 
 
 It was in "Port St." that a " no Popery" riot 
 was threatened at the funeral of the Comtesse de 
 Saverne, and averted by the courage and good 
 feeling of the Rector, whose appeal to the angry 
 mob was successful in appeasing their anger.
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 51 
 
 " There was no outcry any more. The little 
 procession fell into an orderly rank, passed 
 through the streets, and round the Protestant 
 Church to the old burying ground behind the 
 house of the Priory. The Rector walked 
 between the two Roman Catholic clergymen. I 
 imagine the scene before me now the tramp of 
 the people, the flicker of a torch or two ; and then 
 we go in at the gate of the Priory ground into the 
 old graveyard of the monastery, where a grave 
 had been dug." 
 
 What Thackeray calls Sandgate is probably 
 the Strandgate. Here it was that Denis used to 
 drag in a little wheel-chair the baby Agnes, who 
 afterwards became his wife. It was in one of 
 these excursions that the Comte de Saverne, the 
 day before the duel at Boulogne with La Motte 
 the fatal duel which ended his life saw his child, 
 the infant with which his wife had fled from her 
 home. " O Agnes, Agnes ! How the years roll 
 away ! What strange events have befallen us : 
 what passionate griefs have we had to suffer : 
 what a merciful Heaven has protected us, since 
 that day when your father knelt over the little car, 
 in which his child lay sleeping ! I have the 
 picture in my mind now. I see a winding road
 
 52 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 leading down to one of the gates of our town ; 
 the blue marsh-land, and yonder, across the marsh, 
 Rye towers and gables ; a great silver sea 
 stretching beyond, and that dark man's figure 
 stooping and looking at the child asleep. He 
 never kissed the infant or touched her. I 
 remember it woke smiling, and held out its little 
 arms, and he turned away with a sort of groan." 
 
 When the poor distraught Countess had in her 
 madness left her child on the sea shore, and came 
 back with a bleeding foot and without one of her 
 slippers, the boy Denis sets out to find the little 
 child he loves. "A sudden thought comes to 
 me, and, whenever I remember it, my heart is 
 full of thankfulness to the gracious Giver of all 
 good thoughts. Madame, of whom I was not 
 afraid, and who sometimes was amused by my 
 prattle, would now and then take a walk 
 accompanied by Martha, her maid, who held the 
 infant, and myself, who liked to draw it in its 
 carriage. We used to walk down to the shore, 
 and there was a rock there on which the poor 
 lady would sit for hours. ' You take her home, 
 mother,' says I, all in a tremble. 'You give me 
 the lantern, and I'll go I'll go I was off 
 before I said where. Down I went, through
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 53 
 
 Westgate ; down I ran along the road towards 
 the place where I guessed at. When I had gone 
 a few hundred yards, I saw in the road something 
 white. It was the Countess's slipper, that she 
 had left there. I knew she had gone that way. 
 I got down to the shore, running, running with 
 all my little might. The moon had risen by this 
 time, shining gloriously over a great silvery sea. 
 A tide of silver was pouring in over the sand. 
 Yonder was that rock where we often had sat. 
 The infant was sleeping on it under the stars 
 unconscious. He, who loves little children, had 
 watched over it. I scarcly can see the words as I 
 write them down. My little baby was waking. 
 She had known nothing of the awful sea coming 
 nearer with each wave ; but she knew me as I 
 came, and smiled, and warbled a little infant 
 welcome. I took her up in my arms, and trotted 
 home with my pretty burden. As I paced up the 
 hill, Monsieur de la Motte and one of the French 
 clergyman met me. By ones and twos, the other 
 searchers after my little wanderer came home 
 from their quest. She was laid in her little crib, 
 and never knew, until years later, the danger 
 from which she had been rescued." 
 
 That which Thackeray calls the Westgate
 
 54 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 would be the New Gate, leading from Winchelsea 
 to Pett and Fairlight. 
 
 In the High Street of Rye is the Grammar 
 School, built at the cost of Thomas Peacock, 
 gentleman, in 1636, and endowed by him two years 
 later. For some years there was on the front a 
 sun-dial, given by Col. de Lacy Evans, who at 
 one time served Rye in Parliament, but this 
 monitor of time has been removed to the Town 
 Hall, and the quaint brick building with its 
 projecting pilasters is probably little altered from 
 what it was when Denis Duval passed through 
 its arched doorway into the schoolroom beyond. 
 Thackeray calls its Pocock's. Denis boarded, it 
 will be remembered, with the hypocritical Rudge, 
 who combined with the business, openly pursued, 
 of a grocer, the concealed trade of a smuggler, 
 and added to both the pious pretentious of " chief 
 man among the Wesleyans." 
 
 The first visit to Rye of the Apostle of 
 Methodism was in October, 1758. He preached 
 there again in November, 1767, "when," he 
 says, "a poor prodigal who was cut to the 
 heart the first time I was there, was one 
 of the audience ; but exceeding drunk." On 
 December nth, 1769, he was again at Rye, and

 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 55 
 
 "judging most of the congregation to be 
 awakened," he took the parable of Dives and 
 Lazarus as the topic of his discourse. On 3Oth 
 October, 1771, he walked from Rye to Win- 
 chelsea, " said to have been once a large city, 
 with abundance of trade and of inhabitants, the 
 sea washing the foot of the hill on which it 
 stands. The situation is exceeding bold, the hill 
 being high and steep on all sides. But the town 
 is shrunk almost into nothing, and the seven 
 churches into half a one. I preached at eleven 
 in the new square to a considerable number of 
 serious people." Remembering Mr. Rudge's 
 character, it is noteworthy that Wesley records in 
 his diary under date November 22nd, 1773, that 
 in Sussex he " found abundance of good people 
 willing to hear the good word, at Rye in particular. 
 And they do many good things gladly ; but they 
 will not part with the accursed thing smuggling, 
 so I fear with regard to them our labour will be in 
 vain." He visited Rye again 2ist November, 
 1775, and on January iQth, 1778, he sorrowfully 
 notes, " How large a society would be here could 
 we but spare them in one thing. Nay, but then 
 all our labour would be in vain. One sin allowed 
 would intercept the whole blessing." Doubtless
 
 56 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 this is another allusion to smuggling, and in 
 November, 1778, he refers to the doubtful dispu- 
 tations of the Rye brethern. In December, 1784, 
 he pursued his weary journey through the snowy 
 roads, but when he arrived late the house was 
 well filled with serious hearers, so that he did not 
 repent of his labours. On 28th October, 1788, 
 
 
 
 he went by the stage coach from London, due at 
 Rye by six in the evening, but finding it would 
 not arrive until eight, he took a post chaise at 
 Hawkhurst, and u with much ado " reached Rye 
 soon after six. Without staying to eat or drink, 
 he proceeded to the crowded meeting house, and 
 with difficulty making his way through the people, 
 prayed and preached. Another meeting was held 
 at five o'clock in the morning on the following day 
 before Wesley's departure. On 28th January, 
 1789, Wesley opened the new preaching house at 
 Rye. "It is," he says, "a noble building, much 
 loftier than most of our buildings, and finely 
 situated at the head of the town." Next day he 
 preached both at Winchelsea and Rye. On his 
 last visit he preached at Rye to a large 
 congregation on 5th October, 1790. " I was 
 now," he says, "informed how signally God had 
 overtaken that wretch who murdered Mr.
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 57 
 
 Haddock some years since. Being lately over- 
 taken by Captain Bray in one of the King's 
 cutters, he made a desperate resistance, and even 
 when boarded, fought still, and drew a cutlass at 
 Captain Bray ; who then hewed him in pieces 
 with his cutlass." This is one of the many grim 
 legends of Sussex smuggling. His last visit was 
 on 6th October, 1790, when he went to "that 
 poor skeleton of ancient Winchelsea." He stayed 
 at the house of an eminently pious woman, Miss 
 Jones, who gave him an account of a desperate 
 illness which had kept her in bed two months. 
 One day the thought came into her mind, " Lord, 
 if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole ! Be it 
 according to thy will," and immediately she felt 
 well again, and arose and dressed herself. 
 Standing under the large tree by the side of the 
 Church, he called to "most of the inhabitants" of 
 the town, " The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand ; 
 repent and believe the gospel." He preached 
 again in the meeting house at Rye, but the 
 sermon preached under the tree by Winchelsea 
 Church was the last delivered in the open air by 
 the founder of Methodism, who died 2nd March, 
 1791, at the age of 88. 
 When Denis is at school at Rye, a plot is
 
 58 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 hatched against him by Rudge's daughter, who is 
 doubtless instigated by Weston. He is accused 
 of stealing marked money, which is found in his 
 box, having been put there by the conspirators. 
 Here is the Town Hall where the charge was 
 made, where the perjured witnesses swore falsely, 
 where the boy's innocence was triumphantly 
 established. And as he came out of the court- 
 house " postboys were galloping all over the land 
 to announce that we were at war with France." 
 The schoolboys had another problem now added 
 to their discussions of the American War and 
 Burgoyne's surrender. "We had a half holiday 
 for Long Island," said Tom Parrott, " I suppose 
 we shall be flogged all round for Saratoga." 
 After the trial, Dr. Barnard, the good clergyman, 
 takes the boy a walk by the old Ypres Tower, 
 built as a fort, but for generations used as a 
 prison. Then they go into the Church of Rye, 
 where the boy gratefully and reverently joins in 
 thanksgiving to the heavenly power that had 
 delivered him from peril. At Rye, Denis and the 
 other boys were constantly down at the water, 
 and "learned to manage a boat pretty easy." 
 Here he half-a-dozen times took part in 
 smuggling adventures, quite unconscious of the
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 59 
 
 illegal character of the enterprise, until his mother 
 after a conversation with the friendly Dr. Barnard, 
 says, " He has reason. The boy shall not go out 
 any more. We will try and have one honest man 
 in the family." All along the coast smuggling 
 went on, and Rye harbour did not differ from its 
 neighbours in this respect. Soon after this occurs 
 Denis Duval's journey to London, in company 
 with Dr. Barnard and Mr. George Weston. 
 They are attacked by a highwayman, whom 
 young Denis Duval shoots with a little pistol 
 charged with small shot. The highwayman is 
 really Joseph Weston in disguise. The two 
 brothers, whilst living at the Priory and passing 
 off as country squires and adherents of the 
 Roman Catholic faith, are really " gentlemen 
 highway-men " and smugglers. Thackeray has 
 here preserved the names of two notorious 
 criminals. 
 
 The career of the W T estons was very remark- 
 able, and even if some liberal discount be made 
 from the stories told of them the record of their 
 successful villany remains an interesting chapter 
 in the romance of crime. Several accounts were 
 published of their trials, and the greatly 
 promising title of one will be found recorded in a
 
 60 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 footnote.* The two brothers were both daring and 
 accomplished rogues. George Weston was born 
 in 1753, at Stone in Staffordshire, and was the son 
 of a small farmer. He received his education at 
 a Grammar School, and had the reputation of 
 being the best penman of all the pupils, an 
 accomplishment which he afterwards turned to 
 evil uses. Joseph was born at Stone, in 1759, 
 educated at the same school as his brother, but 
 was not so good a scholar. George came to 
 London in 1773 to seek his fortune, and became 
 chief clerk in a mercantile house at ^200 a year, 
 which was a considerable salary in those days. 
 Then he sent for his brother, and gave him a post. 
 So far George's career was creditable, but "gay 
 life " had charms he could not or would not resist ; 
 he misappropriated money and fled to Holland, 
 
 * " Genuine memoirs of the Lives of George and Joseph Weston, now 
 under sentence of death in Newgate ; the first for forgery, the latter for 
 shooting at John Davis, and wounding him in Cock Lane. Including a 
 particular account of all their adventures, exploits, manoeuvres, forgeries, 
 travels, amours, and intrigues of different kinds from their infancy to the 
 present time ; with a curious and authentic description of the manner of 
 their being taken, very different from what has hitherto been represented. 
 To which is now added an account of their escaping from Newgate on the 
 second of July 1782 and the manner of their being retaken. With their 
 trials at large at the Old Bayley on Saturday July 6. Taken down 
 verbatum in shorthand by [William] Williamson, shorthand writer ; 
 together with Judge Buller's curious and judicious charge to the Jury. The 
 second Edition. London : printed for John Walker, 44, Paternoster Row." 
 8vo, pp. IV., 76.
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 61 
 
 whither his brother followed. George came back 
 to England in disguise, cut his fine hair and wore 
 a wig. At Durham he is said to have captivated 
 an elderly Methodist, but the marriage was 
 frustrated by a barrister on the circuit, who 
 recognised Weston. He thereupon left Durham, 
 and went to York races. Having lost his money 
 there, he joined Whiteley's company of comedians, 
 and acted under the name of Wilford. His next 
 move was to Manchester, where he was a school- 
 master, and read the London papers "at the 
 club." He is said to have been chosen 
 Constable which appears to be false, forged 
 draughts on publicans, and left in haste lest a 
 worse thing should befall him. In 1774, the two 
 brothers met at a fair in Warwickshire, where 
 they were both swindling. At Lynn, they 
 induced a farmer with whom they lodged to lend 
 them all his money, which was over a hundred 
 pounds in amount. A girl whom Joseph had 
 seduced, threatening trouble, the brothers went to 
 Scotland. At Blackburn they passed under the 
 name of Gilbert. Returning to London, they 
 traded on the charms of a notorious courtezan of 
 the day. George took a house in Queen Anne 
 Street and played the part of a country squire,
 
 62 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 and had many visitors, who were chiefly sporting 
 men. They borrowed plate from " Fanny " for a 
 big dinner party, and did not return the loan they 
 had thus obtained from the frail but good-natured 
 lady of the town. They next robbed the Bristol 
 mail, and advertised to lend money on plate. 
 The money lent was that which they had stolen. 
 On the day of their arrrest the Westons gave a bill 
 of sale for ,2,500, and jewels were sold for 4,000. 
 In 1776, they were at Brough in Lincolnshire, and 
 in the same year they rented an estate at Becken- 
 ham, Kent, in the name of Green, and one at 
 Bratley as Gilbert. They were arrested at 
 Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, but apparently 
 escaped. In 1777, we hear of them on a farm of 
 Lord Alborough's in Ireland. Here they paid 
 their way by forged bills and draughts. They 
 were known as "the two pigeons at Lucas's," for 
 their play at hazard ; but they were rooks, not 
 pigeons. From Ireland they went to Tenby, 
 where George was Mr. Scott and Joseph Mr. 
 Watson. A matter of a forged draft led them 
 from Tenby to Biddeford. In August, 1778, they 
 were at Brecknock, engaged in the aristrocratic 
 amusement of grouse shooting. They combined 
 business with this pleasure by forging a draft in
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 63 
 
 the name of Joseph Hart. They now passed as 
 James Clark and Thomas Smith. George was 
 arrested, tried at Warwick Assizes, and con- 
 demned to be hung, but escaped from jail. At 
 the end of 1778, the brothers had a vessel of their 
 own at Folkestone, and were called "the gentle- 
 men smugglers " by the meaner crew engaged in 
 that illegal but lucrative business. They are 
 heard of in Scotland again, and also in Liverpool. 
 The crowning exploit of their career as highway- 
 men was on January 29th, 1781, when they 
 robbed the Bristol Mail, and took from it the large 
 sum of ,10,000. George travelled in a post- 
 chaise north to Newcastle. Several of the bills 
 were passed by one of the brothers, disguised as a 
 footman. About Michaelmas, the brace of rogues 
 took the " Friars," Winchelsea, and passed as Mr. 
 Johnson and Samuel Watson. They had a couple 
 of " ladies " with them, who were supposed to be 
 their wives. They were milliners of easy virtue 
 from Red Lion Square, but as ignorant of the real 
 character of their husbands as the rest of the 
 world, "Mrs Johnson" and "Mrs. Watson" 
 were quiet, well-behaved girls, and were received 
 without suspicion by the neighbouring gentry. 
 The Westons kept up good style, had servants
 
 64 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 in liveries, and kept hunters. They lived at 
 Winchelsea until January, 1782, when they took 
 a house at Brompton for the girls. The Westons 
 visited Margate, and played there with a young 
 lawyer who could not pay. The result was a 
 fierce dispute. George took off his glove, 
 and a bystander noticed that he had a peculiar 
 thumb nail, resembling a parrot's beak. This 
 was the mark of a man wanted for the 
 Bristol robbery. The bystander set off for 
 London, and the police-runners came down a few 
 hours after the brothers had sailed for Ostend. 
 They returned to their fine house at Winchelsea 
 to find that, as they had not paid for the 
 furniture and plate, the creditors had taken out 
 a writ. The officers who had to serve it met 
 the brothers at Rye and tried to dismount Joseph, 
 but the Westons showed their pistols and rode off 
 safely to London. They were, however, followed 
 to Clement's Hotel, at the corner of Holies and 
 Wardour Street. They actually passed the officer 
 stationed at the door to apprehend them, but a 
 hue and cry was raised and they turned up 
 Richmond's Buildings, which proved to be a cul- 
 de-sac, and so returning were arrested in Broad 
 Street. George was knocked down by a
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 65 
 
 carpenter with a plank of wood. Joseph was also 
 knocked down, his captor being a currier who 
 disabled him by breaking his legs. He fired off 
 pistols but without damaging anyone. Joseph 
 was committed to Tothill Fields Prison, and 
 George to Newgate. Their cases were set down 
 for trial at the Old Bailey Sessions, May i5th, 
 1782, but were postponed. George, who stood 
 five feet seven inches high, was dressed as an 
 abbe. Joseph, who was five feet ten, wore a 
 military costume. He had on a scarlet frock coat 
 with red buttons, a white waistcoat, and his hair a 
 PArtois. On the 2nd of July their wives break- 
 fasted with them in Newgate, and they ordered a 
 large bottle of wine, so large that the wicket was 
 opened to pass it in. Knocking down a man and 
 woman, the Westons now escaped. They had 
 sawn off their fetters in anticipation of such an 
 attempt. Joseph ran down Cock Lane, when one 
 John Davis was passing with a sack of peas on 
 his back. Hearing a cry of " Stop Thief," 
 he arrested the further progress of Joseph, who 
 threatened him with his pistol and finally shot at 
 him. The delay was fatal to escape, and Joseph 
 was taken back to Newgate. George was re- 
 captured in Warwick Lane, and the two other
 
 66 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 prisoners who had escaped in the confusion were 
 also retaken. On July 4th the brothers were 
 brought up, and Saturday, July 6th, fixed for their 
 trial. There were thirty-seven counts in the 
 indictment. They were first tried for robbing the 
 Bristol mail, and although they were undoubtably 
 the culprits, a verdict of "not guilty" was 
 returned. George was then tried in the King's 
 Bench for forgery and found guilty. Joseph was 
 tried for shooting at John Davis, who gave 
 evidence, and a verdict of guilty was returned in 
 this case also, so that the two brothers found 
 themselves, at the end of their career of extrava- 
 gance and swindling, under a common sentence 
 of death. Joseph's conviction was secured under 
 the " Black Act " (9, George II., c, 22), which 
 seems to have been originally aimed at com- 
 binations of poachers " ill-designing and dis- 
 orderly persons [who] have associated themselves 
 under the name of ' Blacks,' and entered into 
 confederacies to support and assist one another in 
 stealing and destroying deer, robbing warrens and 
 fishponds." Weston was not a " Black," but he 
 had shot at a man, and the meshes of this 
 particular law were strong enough to retain him. 
 The two brothers, George and Joseph Weston,
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 67 
 
 were executed at Tyburn, 3rd September, 1782. 
 That day at nine o'clock, Newgate opened its 
 gloomy gates to six men doomed to death. 
 There were two carts each having three convicts 
 in it. The Westons read in the breviary, 
 occasionally " directing their eyes in the posture 
 of fervent ejaculations to heaven." The other 
 condemned men were Protestants, and were as 
 busy with the Prayer Book, except the youngest, 
 who met his fate with "hardened insensibility." 
 A priest had accompanied the Ordinary of 
 Newgate in his carriage, and when the ropes were 
 fastened round the necks of the convicts, these 
 good ministers of the gospel got into the carts 
 where the six poor wretches now stood awaiting 
 their end. When the Westons had made their 
 confession, the priest at the desire of George, 
 repeatedly " put his hand into his pocket from 
 which he extracted various articles which were 
 disposed of agreeably to his advice." The two 
 brothers bade farewell to the priest, to the 
 Ordinary, to their fellow sufferers, and then after 
 a fraternal embrace, they joined their hands 
 together, and were launched into eternity. Their 
 struggles were brief, a few convulsions, and the 
 pathetic black figures, but a moment previously
 
 68 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 full of life and let us hope of sincere penitence 
 for misspent lives, were still for evermore. 
 
 The present mansion known as the Friary, at 
 Winchelsea, only dates from the second decade of 
 the present century, but in the grounds is the 
 choir of a ruined house of the Friars Minors. 
 These Franciscan monks had a place in Winchel- 
 sea soon after the establishment of the order in 
 England in 1220, and when the old town was 
 ruined, a fresh site was selected on the hill where 
 the new town was to be built. The apse and ruined 
 arch are very picturesque. Though the temporary 
 home of the Westons has disappeared, the ancient 
 burial ground remains, and here fancy may act 
 over again the solemn scene when the unhappy 
 Clarisse de Saverne was committed to the earth. 
 And up this garden wall Denis would clamber to 
 see little Agnes, and to be endangered by 
 brickbats from his enemy, Joseph Weston. 
 Denis walked round by the Friary from Rye that 
 he might have a glimpse of Agnes' "little 
 twinkling window in a gable of the Priory House, 
 where the light used to be popped out at nine 
 o'clock." Writing years after, in the midst of his 
 happy home, Denis says, " T'other day when we 
 took over the King of France to Calais (His
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 69 
 
 Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence being in 
 command), I must needs hire a post-chaise from 
 Dover, to look at that old window in the Priory 
 House, at Winchelsea. I went through the old 
 tears, despairs, tragedies. I sighed as senti- 
 mentally, after forty years, as though the infandi 
 dolores were fresh upon me, as though I were the 
 schoolboy trudging back to his task, and taking a 
 last look at his dearest joy. I used as a boy to 
 try and pass that window at nine, and I knew a 
 prayer was said for the inhabitant of yonder 
 chamber. She knew my holidays, and my hours 
 of going to school and returning thence. If my 
 little maid hung certain signals in that window, 
 such as a flower, for example, to indicate all was 
 well, a cross curtain, and so forth. I hope she 
 practised no very unjustifiable statagems. We 
 agreed to consider that she was a prisoner in the 
 hands of the enemy ; and we had few means of 
 communication, save these simple artifices, which 
 are allowed to be fair in love and war." 
 
 One night, when Denis has taken Agnes home, 
 and is walking from the Friary by the Church 
 wall, he is bludgeoned and taken up by the press- 
 gang at the instigation of his enemies, but 
 fortunately is carried on board the " Serapis,"
 
 70 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 commanded by Captain Pearson, who is 
 acquainted with him, knows his history, and is a 
 friend of Dr. Barnard. So Denis Duval is 
 entered as a first-class volunteer, and is rigged out 
 by the proud mother, determined to make a 
 gentlemen as well as a sailor and an honest man 
 of her son. Denis and Agnes were thus parted 
 " I shall see you on Sunday, and this was 
 Friday ! Even that interval seemed long to me. 
 Little did either of us know what a long 
 separation was before us, and what strange 
 changes, dangers, adventures, I was to undergo 
 ere I again should press that dearest hand." 
 
 The press-gang ended the connection of Denis 
 with Rye and Winchelsea, nor need we follow 
 further a story so well known. Death arrested 
 the skilful hand of Thackeray before the picture 
 was completed, but the outlines at least we know 
 of Denis Duval's adventures in British ships and 
 French prisons ; his ultimate conquest of fate ; his 
 happy marriage, his green old age, and his death 
 full of years and honours as Rear-Admiral Sir 
 Denis Duval, K.C.B. 
 
 As we wander through the quaint streets of 
 Rye aud Winchelsea, and the country lanes by 
 which they are bordered, we are under the spell
 
 IN DENIS DUVAL'S COUNTRY. 71 
 
 of the magic of genius. History, in her safer 
 records, associates the ancient towns with the 
 presence of the great King Edward I. and the 
 great Queen Elizabeth ; here have dwelt bold 
 sailors and brave warriors, refugees from 
 oppression have found hospitable haven, but of all 
 the real persons who, in eight centuries, have lived 
 and moved and had their being here, none have 
 the reality and permanance of Denis Duval, of 
 Agnes, and the rest of the fictitious creatures, the 
 offspring of Thackeray's brain, to whom he gave 
 a local habitation and a lasting name in Rye and 
 Winchelsea.
 
 Gbe "long flDan of Wilmington." 
 
 * H E world knows nothing of its greatest 
 -A- men " is the declaration of the poet, and 
 it may safely be affirmed that thousands of the 
 visitors who yearly flock to Hastings, St. 
 Leonard's, Bexhill, and Eastbourne are unaware 
 that an easy excursion would bring them into 
 proximity with the smallest church, the largest 
 "man," and the oldest inn in the United King- 
 dom. From all the Sussex watering-places it is 
 easy to reach Polegate Junction. From the 
 station we descend into the Lewes Road, and 
 turning to the right, we see a fingerpost which 
 invites us to Jevington, but, resisting the tempta- 
 tion, proceed steadily along the highway until we 
 come to a third fingerpost, which indicates the 
 road to Wilmington. The highway was mono- 
 tonous and not particularly interesting, but this 
 country by road is of a different quality. The 
 lane is bounded on each side by steep hedgerows 
 plentifully studded with wild flowers. The 
 cottages have a quaint and old-fashioned air.
 
 THE "LONG MAN OF WILMINGTON." 73 
 
 The landscape is steeped in a sense of quiet and 
 repose. A long low-built joiner's shop is open to 
 the view ; wood and tools are visible, but not 
 even a solitary workman. Picturesque but lonely 
 is the aspect of the village of Wilmington. To 
 the right of the lane some steps lead up the 
 slight eminence upon which the church is placed. 
 In the green God's-acre lie the silent patriarchs 
 of the village, their hands folded from labour, and 
 their voices hushed and still. An enormous yew- 
 tree stands at the east end of the church, and we 
 rest for a while on the low benches beneath its 
 ample shade. The church door, as is frequently 
 the case in Sussex, is standing open, and we 
 enter.* The restorer has been at work here as 
 
 * It is noteworthy that Horace Smith's poem " Why are they Shut ?" was 
 composed while the author was sitting outside a country church, in Sussex, 
 much regretting that, as it was week day, he could not gain admittance to 
 the sacred edifice. 
 
 " Why are our churches shut with jealous care, 
 
 Bolted and barred against our bosom's yearning, 
 Save for the few short hours of Sabbath prayer, 
 With the bell's tolling statedly returning 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 If with diurnal drudgeries o'erwrought, 
 
 Or sick of dissipation's dull vagaries, 
 We wish to snatch one little space for thought, 
 
 Or holy respite in our sanctuaries 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 What ! shall the church, the house of prayer no more 
 
 Give tacit notice from its fastened portals, 
 That for six days 'tis useless to adore, 
 
 Since God will hold no communings with mortals? 
 Why are they shut?
 
 74 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 elsewhere, and since 1883, Wilmington has lost 
 the untouched appearance that delights the 
 archaeologist, although it may not always have 
 the same charm for the parson and his flock. 
 Some of the arches at Wilmington appear to be 
 cut out of the chalk. There is a finely-carved 
 pulpit with an elaborate canopy which well repay 
 examination ; but what has become of the 
 grotesque figure which formerly decorated the 
 western wall ? There is no one visible to answer 
 this question. Next to the church are some 
 ruins of an Augustinian priory, and from the 
 churchyard there is an extensive view of char- 
 Are there no sinners in the churchless week, 
 
 Who wish to sanctify a vowed repentance? 
 Are there no hearts bereft which fain would seek 
 The only balm for Death's unpitying sentence ? 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 Are there no poor, no wronged, no heir of grief, 
 
 No sick who, when their strength or courage falters, 
 
 Long for a moment's respite or relief, 
 By kneeling at God of mercy's altars? 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 Are there no wicked whom, if tempted in, 
 
 Some qualm of conscience or devout suggestion 
 Might suddenly redeem from future sin? 
 
 O, if there be, how solemn is the question 
 Why are they shut ''. 
 
 In foreign climes mechanics leave their tasks 
 
 To breath a passing prayer in their cathedrals, 
 There they have week-day shrines, and no one asks 
 
 When he would kneel to them and count his head-rolls 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 Seeing them enter sad and disconcerted, 
 To quit those cheering fanes with looks of gladness, 
 
 How often have my thoughts to ours reverted ! 
 How oft have I exclaimed in tones of sadness 
 Why are they shut
 
 THE "LONG MAN OF WILMINGTON." 75 
 
 acteristic Sussex scenery. To-day, with soft 
 fleecy clouds floating here and there across the 
 sky that overhangs the South Downs and the 
 plains dotted with hamlets that stretch from 
 them, it is such a landscape as Constable loved to 
 paint. 
 
 With lingering steps we leave the churchyard, 
 and, regaining the lane, are soon past the village. 
 Then signs of life become visible, and we watch 
 with lazy interest some men who are ploughing. 
 To the left there is a cart track leading from the 
 road to a chalk pit that comes into view. This 
 brings us to the largest " man " in the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 For who within a parish church can stroll 
 Wrapt in its week-day stillness and vacation, 
 
 Nor feel that in the very air his soul 
 
 Receives a sweet and hallowing lustration ? 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 The vacant pews, blank aisles, and empty choir, 
 All in a deep sepulchral silence shrouded, 
 
 An awe more solemn and intense inspire, 
 
 Then when with Sabbath congregations crowded. 
 Why are they shut? 
 
 The echoes of our footsteps, as we tread 
 On hollow graves, are spiritual voices ; 
 
 And holding mental converse with the dead, 
 In holy reveries our soul rejoices. 
 Why are they shut ? 
 
 If there be one one only who might share 
 This sanctifying week-day adoration, 
 
 Were but our churches open to his prayer, 
 Why I demand with earnest iteration 
 Why are they shut ?
 
 76 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 The " Long Man of Wilmington " is an 
 enormous figure marked upon the steep hillside 
 of one of the South Downs. The local patriots, 
 fearful lest the grassy outlines should grow dim, 
 have marked them out with bricks. A ruder 
 pictorial effort could hardly be imagined, but 
 gradually as we move about there is something 
 of distinctness in the huge image. A shapeless 
 cap appears to surmount a face which has eyes' 
 and nose, but no mouth. A stiff but sturdy right 
 arm is outstretched to clasp a staff that is the 
 exact length of the whole figure. The left arm 
 holds a similar walking-stick. With these aids to 
 locomotion the " Long Man " appears to be 
 making a step forward on the hillside. The feet 
 are enormous and unshapely lumps. The figure 
 is 230 feet in length, and the width from staff to 
 staff is i IQ feet. As we walk round its outlines 
 on the stiff short grass with which the chalky 
 downs are covered, we recognise the enormous 
 size of this Sussex Giant. His greatness grows 
 upon us. Seen from below, the outlines are not 
 always quite easy to discern, and his proportions 
 do not seem impressive ; but a " perambulation of 
 the boundaries " proves him to be a veritable son 
 of Anak. When this grassy sculpture was first
 
 THE "LONG MAN OF WILMINGTON." 77 
 
 carved, and with what object, are matters of 
 plentiful conjecture, but scant certainty. There 
 is a similar figure at Cerne Abbas, in Dorsetshire, 
 which is 1 80 feet long". The Cerne Giant holds 
 in his hands a club 1 2 1 feet long. This is close 
 to a former Benedictine monastery, just as the 
 "Long Man" is near an Augustinian priory. 
 Hence these rude earth sculptures have been 
 attributed to monastic influences. Others regard 
 them as of much greater antiquity, and believe 
 them to be representations of ancient British 
 deities. This is the view taken by the Rev. W. 
 de St. Croix, who, in 1874, with the concurrence 
 and assistance of the Duke of Devonshire and 
 others interested in the locality, had the fading 
 outlines marked by bricks. Dr. J. S. Phene is a 
 strong supporter of this theory. Both quote the 
 well-known passage in Caesar as to the images 
 which the Gauls made of their gods. Dr. Phene 
 thinks that this spot at Wilmington was a sacri- 
 ficial arena. 
 
 We now leave the Long Man of Wilmington 
 
 O O 
 
 in his solitary state, and, ascending the steep 
 above his head, we are soon amid the breezes of 
 the South Downs. After this blow, we descend 
 until we reach the lane that leads to Folkington,
 
 78 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 but instead of descending upon that tiny Saxon 
 settlement, we find a track over a hill of lower 
 range, and after a time we see across the fields 
 the church of Lullington, and are quickly at it. 
 There is an ample churchyard, but the tomb- 
 stones are very few. As the church door is 
 fastened, we seek the key, and find it in the 
 keeping of a cottager close by. The entrance 
 may be described as a second-hand barn-door, 
 and it opens into a room that is said to be sixteen 
 feet square. The description appears to be 
 accurate. On the wall in front the Creed and 
 the Commandments are painted in fading colours. 
 To the right and in the corner is the pulpit ; to 
 the left is the space allotted for the choir. To 
 the right of the entrance door stands a plain but 
 massive font ; to the left is a very small stove 
 let into the wall. That is all. We return to the 
 churchyard, and look again at the outside. The 
 edifice is a single square tower, surmounted by 
 what looks like a wooden belfrey, ornamented 
 with a weather-vane. In the wall by the door is 
 a tablet to the memory of a former rector, but 
 Time's effacing finger has made most of the 
 laudatory epitaph illegible. Close by, and jut- 
 ting out from the wall, is a low ruined wall,
 
 THE "LONG MAN OF WILMINGTON." 79 
 
 including the fragmentary tracery of a Gothic 
 window. One famous name is associated 
 with this tiny parish, for when Elizabeth was 
 Queen, the lord of the manor of Lullington was 
 Sir Philip Sidney. We enter into conversation 
 with the woman-sacristan of this tiny edifice. 
 " What is the population of Lullington now ?" 
 " There are only sixteen in the parish, sir." 
 " There were more a few years ago, were there 
 not?" 
 
 "Yes, there were twenty-six people in the 
 parish twenty-five years ago." 
 
 "And how often do you have service here?" 
 "Every other Sunday, in the afternoon." 
 "What sort of a congregation is there?" 
 " Well, the attendance has been increasing. 
 There were only six or seven some time ago, but 
 now we have large congregations, as many as 
 sixteen or twenty. Of course they don't all 
 belong to this parish ; but our minister is rector 
 of Wilmington, and when he comes here he 
 brings his choir with him." 
 
 " What is the age of Lullington Church ?" 
 " It is 500 years old, for it was built in i 300. 
 The little stone wall near the door is what came 
 from the tower when it was struck by lightning."
 
 8o BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 This is not the view of the archaeologists, who 
 hold that the church was once much larger. The 
 reduction of its size is said to have been made in 
 the time of Cromwell. 
 
 "And is this really the smallest church in 
 England?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, this is now the very smallest, I 
 believe. There was one in the Isle of Wight 
 that was as little, or less, but it has been made 
 bigger ; and so Lullington is now the least church 
 in England." 
 
 " You have a large churchyard, but there 
 appear to be very few tombs. Are there ever 
 any burials ?" 
 
 " There has been one burial in my time, sir, 
 but it was a man from another parish." 
 
 " And how long have you been in Lullington?" 
 
 11 Seventeen years, sir." 
 
 Clearly it is not Death that is depopulating 
 Lullington. 
 
 After some further talk we bid good-bye to the 
 sacristan of Lullington, and, taking a field track 
 to the right, we make our way over two bridges 
 that cross the river Cuckmere, and are at once in 
 another old-world village Alfriston. Here, in 
 1782, died Mr, Charles Pendrel, a surgeon, who
 
 THE "LONG MAN OF WILMINGTON." 81 
 
 was a descendant of that Richard Pendrel, who 
 concealed the fugitive Charles Stuart in the 
 spreading branches of the oak tree after the 
 Battle of Worcester. The worthy surgeon had 
 possession of the patent and pension granted 
 by the royal adventurer whom the British 
 nation recalled to a throne which he dis- 
 graced. 
 
 Aluriceton such is its ancient name is full of 
 interest for the archaeologist. The High Street 
 has scarcely a modern attribute. What is left of 
 an ancient market-cross is a conspicuous object, 
 and near it is the Star Inn, whose remarkable ex- 
 terior attracts the notice of every traveller. At 
 one end is a huge grotesque figure that once formed 
 the figure-head of a ship. Along the front of the 
 house are carved figures. Here is St. George 
 waging terrific warfare against a most ferocious 
 dragon ; there is a quaint head ; here are uncertain 
 animals holding a staff, whilst a little lower at one 
 side of the door-post is the figure of a priest, who 
 has for companion on the other jamb the effigy of 
 St. Julian, the friend and patron of travellers. 
 This must be the oldest inn in England, and it is 
 believe to have been a house of call for the 
 
 pilgrims who were wending their way to the 
 
 6
 
 82 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 shrine of St. Richard of Chichester. Past the 
 old-fashioned shops and houses of the village, 
 and taking the road to the left of the cross, and 
 then keeping to the right, we pass by pleasant 
 country roads and lanes until we come to 
 Berwick station. Berwick has its historic associa- 
 tions also, for when the Battle of Lewes was 
 fought, Philip Basset, Lord of Berwick, a stout 
 champion of the King, was the last man to keep 
 the field on that day of disaster to the Royal 
 cause. He was captured, and sent as a prisoner 
 to Dover Castle in the custody of young Simon, 
 the son of the great Simon de Montfort, whose 
 name is writ large in English history. But rail- 
 ways have scant respect for the memories of the 
 past, and by a few minutes' ride we are brought 
 again to our starting point of Polegate, having 
 had about nine miles of walking from first to last.
 
 Grue flDaifc of tbe South. 
 
 THE woman who disguises herself as a man, 
 sometimes from military ardour, some- 
 times under the influence of a gentler passion, is 
 a familiar figure in literature. In the following 
 ballad the nameless Lass of Rye makes but a 
 poor figure by the side of Rosalind or Viola, but 
 she has a certain rustic charm of her own. The 
 adventures of the " True Maid of the South " and 
 her lover, the " Pride of Leicestershire," were 
 printed in ballad form about 1630, and are here 
 reproduced, with the omission of two verses, 
 unessential to the story, which, whilst not offend- 
 ing the ears of the " liberal shepherds " of a 
 bygone generation, might now be deemed 
 objectionable. 
 
 THE TRUE MAYDE OF THE SOUTH, 
 
 or, 
 
 A rare example of a Maide dwelling at Rie, in Sussex, who, 
 for the love of a young man of Lester-shire, went beyond 
 the Sea in the habit of a Page, and after to their hearts 
 content, were both marryed at Magrum, in Germany, and 
 now dwelling at Rye aforesaid.
 
 84 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 To the Tune of " Come, come, my sweet and bonny one." 
 
 Within the haven towne of Rye, 
 
 That stands in Sussex faire, 
 There dwelt a maide, whose constancie 
 Transcendeth all compare : 
 
 This turtle dove 
 
 Did dearly love 
 A youth, who did appeare 
 
 In minde and face 
 
 To be the grace 
 And pride of Lester-shire. 
 
 This young man, with a noble peere 
 
 Who lik't his service well, 
 Went from his native Lester-shire 
 In Sussex for to dwell : 
 
 Where living, nye 
 
 The towne of Rye, 
 This pretty mayde did heare 
 
 Of his good parts, 
 
 Who by deserts 
 Was pride of Lester-shire 
 
 For comming once into that towne, 
 
 It was at first his chance 
 To meet with her, whose brave renowne 
 All Sussex did advance : 
 And shee likewise 
 In his faire eyes, 
 When once she came him neere, 
 Did plainely see 
 That none but hee 
 Was pride of Lester -shire.
 
 THE TRUE MAID OF THE SOUTH. 85 
 
 Then little Cupid, God of Love, 
 
 Began to play his part ; 
 And on the sudden from above 
 He shot his golden dart ; 
 
 Which did constraine 
 
 These lovers twaine 
 To prize each other deare : 
 
 Sweet Margery 
 
 Lov'd Anthony, 
 The pride of Lester-shire. 
 
 Thus with concordant sympathy 
 
 These lovers were combin'd, 
 One lov'd the other heartily, 
 Yet neither told their mind : 
 
 She long'd to speake, 
 
 Her minde to breake 
 Unto her lover deare, 
 
 She durst not tell, 
 
 Though she lov'd well 
 The pride of Lester-shire. 
 
 Within short time it came to passe 
 
 To sea the young man went, 
 And left this young and pretty lasse 
 In woe and discontent : 
 
 Who wept full sore, 
 
 And griev'd therefore, 
 When truly she did heare 
 
 That her sweet-heart 
 
 From her must part, 
 The pride of Lester-shire.
 
 86 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 THE SECOND PART, 
 To same Time. 
 
 It was his hap that time to goe 
 
 To travell with his lord, 
 Which to his heart did breed much woe 
 Yet could he not afford 
 
 A remedy 
 
 To's misery, 
 But needs hee must leave here 
 
 His Madge behinde, 
 
 Who griev'd in minde 
 For the pride of Lester-shire. 
 
 She being then bereaved cleane 
 
 Of hope, yet did invent, 
 By her rare policy, a meane 
 
 To work her heart's content : 
 In garments strange 
 She straight did change 
 
 Her selfe, rejecting feare 
 To go with him, 
 Whom she did deeme 
 
 The pride of Lester-shire. 
 
 And in the habit of a page, 
 
 She did intreat his lord 
 That, being a boy of tender age 
 He would this grace afford 
 
 That he might goe, 
 
 Service to show 
 To him both farre and neere 
 
 Who little thought 
 
 What love she ought 
 To the pride of Lester-shire
 
 THE TRUE MAID OF THE SOUTH. 87 
 
 This lord did take her, as he seem'd 
 
 To be a pretty lad, 
 And for his page he her esteem'd, 
 Which made her heart full glad : 
 To sea went shee 
 And so did hee 
 Whom she esteem'd so deare ; 
 Who, for her sake, 
 Great moane did make, 
 And shed full many a teare. 
 
 For having travelled sixe weeks 
 
 Unknowne unto her lover, 
 With rosie blushes in her cheekes 
 Her mind she did discover : 
 
 " See here," quoth she, 
 
 " One that for thee 
 Hath left her parents dear 
 
 Poore Magery, 
 
 The mayde of Rie, 
 I am, behold me here ! ' 
 
 When Anthony did heare this word, 
 His heart with joy did leape ; 
 
 He went unto his noble lord 
 To whom he did report 
 This wonderful thing, 
 Which straight did bring 
 
 Amazement to him there : 
 " Of such a page, 
 In any age," 
 
 Quoth he, " I did not heare."
 
 88 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 At Magrum then in Germany 
 
 Their lord did see them marryed, 
 From whence unto the towne of Rye, 
 In England, were they carry'd ; 
 Where now they dwell, 
 Beloved well 
 
 Of neighbours farre and neere ; 
 Sweet Magery 
 Loves Anthony, 
 The pride of Lester-shire. 
 
 You mayds and young men warning take 
 
 By these two lovers kinde, 
 Whoever you your choyce doe make, 
 To them be true in minde ; 
 
 For, perfect love 
 
 Comes from above, 
 As may by this appeare, 
 
 Which came to passe 
 
 By Sussex lasse, 
 And the lad of Lester-shire. 
 
 FINIS. 
 Printed at London jor Francis Cules. 
 
 The "True Mayde" has been re-printed in the 
 Ballad Society's edition of the Roxburghe Ballads.
 
 Ibumpbre^V (Brave. 
 
 MANY who have reached or passed the 
 middle stage of life will remember with 
 gratitude the healthy influence and good council 
 of that prolific author, who, whilst writing 
 under many names, was best known as "Old 
 Humphrey." A couple of hundred books and a 
 myriad of articles, verses and sketches flowed 
 from the pen of George Mogridge, who more 
 than forty years ago went to Hastings in search 
 of health, but remained there to die. 
 
 Literary reputation is often fleeting, but many 
 visitors to that ancient Cinque Port desire to see 
 the grave of Old Humphrey. 
 
 Wending our way along the Marine Parade, 
 thronged with holiday-makers, and surmounted 
 by the hill on which stands the ruined walls of 
 Hastings Castle, we thread the narrow High 
 Street with its old world air and many quaint 
 buildings, and then after looking at the pictur- 
 esque, aloe-covered house that was so long the 
 residence of Mr. Coventry Patmore, the poet, we 
 turn into " Old Humphrey's Avenue," a shady
 
 90 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 walk leading from High Street to All Saints' 
 Church. The church itself is a low-built but 
 handsome Gothic edifice, standing on the slope of 
 a hill and having one portion of the churchyard 
 on a lower and another on a higher level than 
 that of the sacred edifice. Close by the church 
 wall is a tomb surmounted by a classical urn, and 
 the inscription on two sides reads as follows : 
 
 THE MORTAL REMAINS OF 
 ELIZA, 
 
 THE BELOVED WIFE OF 
 
 LIEUT. BEAZELEY, R.N. 
 are buried here. 
 
 SHE 
 
 DEPARTED THIS LIFE 30TH OCT., A.D. 1823. 
 
 AGED 24 YEARS. 
 THEIR INFANT DAUGHTER 
 
 EMMA 
 
 FOLLOWED HER MOTHER NOVR. 4, A.D. 1823. 
 AGED 16 DAYS. 
 
 Led by the Truth which Swedenborg has taught, 
 She gave her heart, her mind, her every thought 
 To JESUS CHRIST, as GOD ; and none besides, 
 IF WHOSE BRIGHT FORM the TRINITY resides, 
 TH' ETERNAL FATHER in the SON proclaimed 
 WHOSE HOLY INFLUENCE is the SPIRIT nam'd, 
 To THIS GREAT SAVIOUR GOD her homage rose, 
 Her life HE bless'd, and in this world of woes, 
 HE led her gently from His Throne on high, 
 Through Love to serve HIM, and in Peace to die,
 
 "OLD HUMPHREY'S" GRAVE. 91 
 
 In HIM confiding her blest soul resign'd 
 Its fair frail tenement assur'd to find 
 Increasing Beauty, Wisdom, Joy, and Love, 
 In perfect human Form in worlds above. 
 
 Among other curious Christian names that of 
 Everetta may be seen on two grave-stones. One 
 tomb recalls the memory of A. W. Ticehurst, 
 who perished in the foundering of the steamship 
 " London," 5th June, 1866. His fate is recorded 
 on the gravestone of his elder brother, F. P. Tice- 
 hurst, who died at the age of 20, " after many years 
 of severe suffering." Thus misfortune sometimes 
 visits and revisits the same family, as we see 
 further exemplified in another epitaph which 
 records a double fatality : 
 
 In memory of EDWARD ALLDREDGE, 
 
 who was Maliciously shot 
 
 APRIL 23RD, 1806, 
 
 AGED 41 YEARS, 
 
 Also JAMES, the son of 
 
 EDWARD and MARTHA ALLDREDGE, 
 
 died Feby. 6th, 1803. Aged 6 years. 
 
 Likewise EDWARD her son 
 
 who was accidently shot 
 May 1 3th, 1810. Aged 15 years. 
 
 A pleasant feature of English life is the faithful 
 service that is rendered by those whose fortunes 
 are cast in a humble mould, and who, perhaps
 
 92 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 without shining ability, zealously perform the 
 trivial round of daily duty, and make smoother 
 the paths of masters and mistresses to whom they 
 gave what money can never pay for. Equally 
 pleasant is it to find such services gratefully 
 recorded as in this epitaph : 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 CRISSY CROW 
 
 who died at Hastings 
 
 on the gth March, 1839, 
 
 AGED 65, 
 Humbly trusting in the merits of her Redeemer. 
 
 She was the affectionate nurse 
 of the children of John Thornton, Esq., 
 
 of Clapham, in Surrey ; 
 
 in whose family she lived 31 years 
 
 esteemed and beloved by 
 
 all who knew her.* 
 
 Another epitaph preserves the name of 
 
 ALEXANDER COMTE DE VENDES 
 
 (Chevalier de St. Louis of the ancient guard of King Louis i6th), 
 
 * I may add here an epitaph copied in Etchingham church- 
 yard : 
 
 To THE MEMORY OF 
 
 MARY SKINNER, 
 
 who died nth Sep., 1867, 
 
 AGED 70 YEARS. 
 
 A faithful friend and servant in the family of 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wightwick, of Penenden, 
 
 for upwards of half a century.
 
 "OLD HUMPHREY'S" GRAVE. 93 
 
 who died at Hastings 
 
 23rd July, 1855, 
 
 AGED 89 YEARS. 
 
 His goodness and benevolence 
 
 gained him the esteem and friendship 
 
 of his family and 
 
 all those who knew him, 
 
 and by all of whom his death 
 
 is sincerely regretted. 
 
 Thus in a strange land died one who had seen 
 his own heroic nation undergo such great 
 vicissitudes. He was a man when the " Mar- 
 seillaise" and the "Carmagnole" were first sung 
 and danced in the streets of Paris. He saw the 
 downfall of the ancien regime, with its splendour 
 and its crimes ; the red rule of Terror ; the 
 victorious march of the tricolor across the 
 continent of Europe ; the pomp of the First 
 Empire ; the restoration of the Bourbons ; the 
 brief monarchy of July ; the briefer Republic of 
 February, and he died when the Second Empire 
 was at the height of its tinsel glory, and when the 
 writing on the wall had not yet been seen. 
 
 And this one from Rottingdean churchyard : 
 Sacred to the Memory of 
 
 ANN FARRANT, 
 who departed this life 
 
 June I3th, 1862, 
 
 for thirty-three years 
 
 the faithful and esteemed servant 
 
 of Mr. David Allwork.
 
 94 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 After pausing over many of these memorials of 
 mortality we come at last upon the object of our 
 search. Old Humphrey's grave is almost against 
 the wall on the upper slope above the church, and 
 just below the road known as the Tackleway. 
 Here, almost hidden behind the tomb of one of 
 more aristocratic degree, is the memorial of the 
 chatty writer, who delighted and instructed 
 thousands with his homely wisdom and cheerful 
 good-sense. Literary fame he did not seek, and 
 notwithstanding his voluminous record as an 
 author, perhaps never had. His desire was not 
 to attract admiration to himself, but to exert a 
 healthy influence on the lives of others. On his 
 tomb we read : 
 
 To THE MEMORY 
 
 of 
 GEORGE MOGRIDGE, Esq., 
 
 of Kingsland, London, 
 
 better known in numerous works as 
 
 "OLD HUMPHREY." 
 
 In his writings 
 
 he sought the honour of God 
 and the highest happiness of mankind, 
 
 in his life 
 he adorned the doctrines of the gospel, 
 
 in his death 
 
 he rejoiced in the hope of the glory of God 
 through the merits of Jesus Christ his Saviour.
 
 "OLD HUMPHREY'S" GRAVE. 95 
 
 Cheerful he passed his days below 
 
 Though stormy paths his feet had trod, 
 
 For he had found in every woe, 
 The mingled mercies of his God ; 
 
 And they sustained him in his fears 
 In youth, in manhood, and in years. 
 
 OLD HUMPHREY. 
 
 He died at Hastings, November 2nd, 1854, 
 Aged 67 years. 
 
 The committee of the Religious Tract Society 
 have caused this stone to be erected 
 to mark their high estimate 
 of his character and works. 
 
 A fitting resting place for a good man. The 
 everlasting hills are about him, close by is the 
 murmuring sea, and above and below busy feet 
 pass by the green slope of the hill-side where he 
 sleeps.
 
 Xegenfc of TOincbeteea. 
 
 A MONKISH scribe of the thirteenth 
 century has left us a Latin version 
 of a curious tradition of bygone Sussex."* 
 According to this chronicler there was once an 
 avaricious man living in the neighbourhood of 
 Winchelsea, who hoarded in a chest money which 
 was of no benefit either to himself or to others. 
 One day, as he went to look at his beloved 
 treasure, he saw sitting on the box a little black 
 demon. If he was startled at the sight, he was 
 still more startled to hear this apparition exclaim, 
 " Begone, this money is not thine ; it belongs to 
 Godwin, the Smith." Unable to make use of the 
 
 * The story was communicated by the late Mr. W. J. Thorns to the 
 " Altdeutsche Blaetter " from a Latin MS. of the thirteenth century which 
 is now in the British Museum. It reads : Quidam in partibus de 
 Winchelse, sibi aggregavit pecuniam in cista, de qua nee sibi nee aliis 
 voluit subvenire. Veniens igitur una die ut earn videret, vidit super earn 
 quendam diabolum sedere nigerrimum, dicentem sibi, " Recede, nee est 
 pecunia tua, sed Godewini fabri." Quod ille audiens, et nolens earn in 
 alicujus commodum pervenire, cavavit magnum truncum, ipsamque 
 imposuit, reclusit, et in mare projecit. Quern quidem truncum marinas 
 undae ante ostium dicti Godewini, viri justi et innocentis, manentis in 
 proxima villa, super litus in siccum projecerunt, circa vigilium Dominici 
 Natalis. Exiens itaque idem Godwinus mane, invenit truncum projectum, 
 multumque gavisus pro habendo foco in tento festo, eum in domum suam 
 traxit, et ad locum foci gaudem apposuit. Intrante itaque festi praedicti
 
 A MEDIEVAL LEGEND OF WINCHELSEA 97 
 
 treasure himself, he decided that no one else 
 should have it. He therefore hollowed out the 
 trunk of a great tree, put the box in it, closed up 
 the ends, and threw it into the sea. The waters 
 carried the trunk to the door of Godwin, who 
 dwelt in the next town evidently Rye. Godwin 
 who was a righteous and innocent man was 
 preparing to hold a Christmas festival, and the 
 appearance of this log was a source of rejoicing, 
 as it would evidently make a capital yule 
 log. So the Smith carried home the tree 
 trunk, and put it in his fireplace. On Christmas 
 Eve the fire was lighted, and the heat 
 caused the money within the box to melt and the 
 metal ran out. Godwin's wife saw this, and 
 taking the log from the fire, she hid it. The 
 result was that Godwin the Smith became rich, 
 whilst the Winchelsea man was forced to beg his 
 
 vigilia, ignis trunco supponitur, metallum intro latens liquescit, et exterius 
 defunditur. Quod videns uxor died Godwini, ignem subtrahit, truncum 
 movet et abscondit. Sicque ut dominus praedictae pecuniae victum 
 quaereret hostiatim, dictusque faber de paupere fieret inopinate dives, 
 devulgatur quia in vicinio quod miser ille pecuniam suam demersisset, 
 cogitavit ergo uxor dicti Godwini quod eidem misero in aliquo cautius 
 subveniret, cogitans dictam pecuniam fuisse suam, fecit uno die panem 
 unum, et in eo xl. solidos abscondens dedit ei. Quern infortunatus ille 
 accipiens piscatoribus super litus obviavit, panem eis pro uno denario 
 vendidit, et recessit. Venientes itaque piscatores ad domum dicti Godwini, 
 prout fuerunt assueti, dictum panem extrahunt et suis equis elargiri 
 proponunt. Quern agnoscens domina domus, avenam pro eis dedit et 
 eum recepit. Idemque miser finetenus pauper undique remansit. 
 
 7
 
 98 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 bread from door to door. But the story of the 
 manner in which the miser had lost his wealth 
 became known, and when he begged at the 
 Smith's house, the wife of Godwin thought she 
 would give the poor caitiff some help. So one 
 day she baked a loaf, and hid forty shillings in it, 
 and gave it to the beggar. The miser went his 
 way, and soon after met some fishermen on the 
 beach, to whom he sold the loaf unbroken, for a 
 penny. The fishermen came to Godwin's house, 
 and were about to give the loaf to their horses 
 when the mistress recognised it, and let them 
 have some oats instead. So the miser remained 
 poor to the end of his days. 
 
 Such is the tale to which the local habitation 
 and name of Winchelsea has been given, but it 
 is a story that exists in various forms. A 
 very similar version appears in Wright's " Latin 
 Stories," from a fourteenth century M.S., and a like 
 narrative forms a part of the " Liber de Donis " 
 of Stephanus de Borbone (No. 414). In the 
 Latin " Gesta Romanorum " but not in the 
 English it appears as Tale cix. No names are 
 mentioned, but we are told that a certain 
 covetous and wicked carpenter residing near 
 the sea, had a large sum of money in the
 
 A MEDIEVAL LEGEND OF WINCHELSEA. 99 
 
 trunk of a tree, which he kept by his fire-side. 
 But the sea overflowed its boundaries and 
 broke down that side of the building, and the log 
 floated many miles, until it reached a city where 
 there lived a man who kept open house. Early 
 in the morning he saw the trunk, and brought it 
 to land. One day he entertained some pilgrims 
 in his house ; and as the weather was cold, he 
 decided to cut up the log for firewood, and as he 
 did so the gold pieces rolled out. He put the 
 money in a safe place, until he could ascertain the 
 owner. The carpenter, lamenting the loss of his 
 money, travelled from place to place, and came, by 
 accident, to the house of the man who had found 
 the treasure. He told of his loss, and the host 
 said to himself, " I will prove, if God will, that 
 the money should be returned to him." With 
 this intention he made three cakes, the first he 
 filled with earth, and the second with dead men's 
 bones, and in the third he put some of the gold. 
 "Friend," said he, " we will eat three cakes, 
 composed of the best we have in the house. 
 Choose which you will. The carpenter took the 
 cakes and weighed them in his hand, and finding 
 that which held the earth was heaviest, he chose 
 it. "And if I want more," said he, "I will have
 
 ioo BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 that," and so laid his hand upon the cake con- 
 taining the bones. "You may keep the third 
 cake yourself." " I see clearly," said the host to 
 himself, " that God does not desire the money to 
 be restored to this wretched man." He therefore 
 called the poor and the infirm, the blind and the 
 lame together. Then opening the cake of gold 
 in the presence of the carpenter, he said, " Thou 
 miserable wretch, this is thine own gold. But 
 thou didst prefer the cakes of earth, and dead 
 men's bones. I am persuaded, therefore, that God 
 wills not that I return thee thy money." Then, 
 without delay, he distributed the whole amongst 
 the poor, and drove the carpenter away. 
 
 The carpenter's choice will at once remind the 
 reader of the incident of the " three caskets " in the 
 " Merchant of Venice." The episode is one that 
 can be traced in various forms to a somewhat 
 remote antiquity. And, notwithstanding a certain 
 amount of local colour the story of the miser's 
 treasure predestined to pious uses is probably of 
 oriental origin.* 
 
 * The localisation of these stories is one of the many curious problems of 
 folk-lore. There is the legend of the " trental of St. Gregory," which is 
 practically identical with one in the " Gesta Romanorum" of a priest 
 who, in a vision, sees his dead mother enduring torments for the sin and 
 luxury of her life. This is told in the Harl. MS. 463, 40, of Godefridus, 
 a Sussex chaplain.
 
 poems of Sussey places. 
 
 IT was a happy thought that led the American 
 poet, Longfellow, to devote so much time to 
 the compilation of an anthology of the " Poems of 
 Places "-the verses which celebrate the charm or 
 record the traditions of localities all over the 
 world that have been regarded with favour by the 
 poets and rhymers. Every English county ought 
 to have its own anthology of this nature, and such 
 compilations would bring to light many things of 
 interest that had escaped the notice of Longfellow. 
 Few men, however, could have been better fitted 
 for the task, for the author of " Evangeline " was 
 not only a true poet but a man of wide reading, 
 sound scholarship, and excellent judgment. 
 
 It is perhaps remarkable that Sussex, with its 
 lovely and diversified scenery, and its historical 
 associations, has not more frequently excited the 
 enthusiasm of the topographical muse. These 
 memoranda as to poems of Sussex places, do not 
 claim to be exhaustive, but will, it is hoped, be of
 
 102 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 interest to the reader, and perhaps lead to a 
 cornpleter investigation of the subject. 
 
 BATTLE. 
 
 Battle has associated with it the memory of the 
 great struggle when the fate of England was 
 decided by William's Norman knights. The story 
 of the battle has been recounted many a time and 
 oft. Charles Kingsley has told again the legend 
 of "The Swanneck," the beautiful Edith, wife or 
 mistress, who identified Harold's gashed and gory 
 corpse which even his mother had failed to 
 recognise. The story of the battle has been told 
 in vigorous verse by Mr. Francis T. Palgrave, 
 in his " Visions of England." 
 
 Mr. Joseph Ellis has written a humorous sketch 
 of "Ye Battel Daye," the annual meeting of 
 Sussex Archaeological Society, which was held at 
 Battle, 23rd July, 1852 (Caesar in Egypt, 1885, 
 p. 336) Another comic piece is that in which 
 Thomas Hood recounts " an explosion at Mr. 
 Baker's gunpowder mills." After this " Blow 
 up," the indignant neighbours waited upon the 
 proprietor to ask for reparation for the loss of 
 custom and the damages caused by this untoward 
 event.
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 103 
 
 Now many a person had been fairly puzzled, 
 By such assailants and completely muzzled ; 
 Baker, however, was not dashed with ease 
 But proved he acted after their own system, 
 And with small ceremony soon dismissed 'em, 
 Putting these words into their ears like fleas : 
 " If I do have a blow, well, where's the oddity ? 
 I merely do as other tradesmen do, 
 You sir and you and you ! 
 I'm only puffing off my own commodity." 
 
 Lord Thurlow's sonnet, though entitled 
 " Hastings," seems to be more appropriately 
 placed with the verses relating to Battle. 
 
 O moon, that shinest on this heathy wild, 
 And light'st the hill of Hastings with thy ray, 
 How am I with thy sad delight beguiled, 
 How hold with fond imagination play ! 
 
 By thy broad taper I call up the time 
 When Harold on the bleeding verdure lay, 
 Though great in glory, over stained with crime, 
 And fallen by his fate from kingly sway ! 
 
 On bleeding knights, and on war-broken arms, 
 Tom banners, and the dying steed you shone, 
 When this fair England and her peerless charms, 
 And all but honor, to the foe were gone ! 
 
 Here died the king, whom his brave subjects choose, 
 But dying, lay amid his Norman foes. 
 
 BEACHY HEAD. 
 
 Charlotte Smith has described this bold head- 
 land where the South Downs end in the sea.
 
 104 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Haunts of my youth ! 
 
 Scenes of fond day dreams, I behold ye yet ! 
 Where 'twas ^o pleasant by the northern slopes, 
 To climb the winding sheep-path, aided oft 
 By scattered thorns whose spiny branches bore 
 Small woolly tufts, spoils of the fragrant lamb, 
 There seeking shelter from the noonday sun ; 
 And pleasant, seated on the short soft turf, 
 To look beneath upon the hollow way, 
 While heavily upward moved the labouring wain, 
 And stalking slowly by, the sturdy hind, 
 To ease his panting team, stopped with a stone 
 The grating wheel. 
 
 Advancing higher still, 
 The prospect widens, and the village church 
 But little o'er the lowly roofs around 
 Rears its grey belfry, and its simple vane ; 
 Those lowly roofs of thatch are half concealed 
 By the rude arms of trees, lovely, in spring ; 
 When on each bough the rosy-tinctured bloom 
 Sits thick, and promises autumnal plenty. 
 For even those orchards round the Norman farms, 
 Which, as their owners mark the promised fruit, 
 Console them ; for the vineyards of the South 
 Surpass not these. 
 
 Where woods of ash and beech, 
 And partial copses fringe the green hill foot, 
 The upland shepherd rears his modest home ; 
 There wanders by a little nameless stream, 
 That from the hill wells forth, bright now and clear, 
 Or after rain with chalky mixture grey, 
 But still refreshing in its shallow course 
 The cottage garden, most for use designed,
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 105 
 
 Yet not of beauty destitute. The vine 
 Mantles the little casement ; yet the briar 
 Drops fragrant dew among the July flowers ; 
 And pansies rayed, and fre'aked and motted pinks, 
 Grow among balm, and rosemary, and rue. 
 There honeysuckles flaunt and roses blow 
 Almost uncultured ; some with dark green leaves 
 Contrast their flowers of pure unsullied white ; 
 Others, like velvet robes of regal state 
 Of richest crimson ; while, in thorny moss, 
 Enshrined and cradled, the most lovely wear 
 The hues of youthful beauty's glowing cheek. 
 With fond regret I recollect e'en now, 
 In spring and summer, what delight I felt 
 Among these gardens, and how much 
 Such artless nosegays, knotted with a rush, 
 By village housewife or her ruddy maid, 
 Where welcome to me, soon and simply pleased. 
 An early worshipper at Nature's shrine, 
 I loved her rudest scenes, warrens and heaths, 
 And yellow commons, and birch-shaded hollows, 
 And hedge-rows bordering unfrequented lanes, 
 Bowered with wild roses and clasping woodbine. 
 
 It was on Beachy Head that the greatest of our 
 living poets, Mr. Algernon Charles Swinburne, 
 in September, 1886, wrote his address "To the 
 Seamew," destined to a place of honour among 
 the birds of the great singers. 
 
 We are fallen, even we, whose passion 
 
 On earth is nearest thine ; 
 Who sing, and cease from flying ; 
 Who live, and dream of dying ;
 
 io6 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Gray time, in time's gray fashion, 
 
 Bids wingless creatures pine : 
 We are fallen, even we, whose passion 
 
 On earth is nearest thine. 
 
 The lark knows no such rapture, 
 
 Such joy no nightingale, 
 As sways the songless measure 
 Wherein thy wings take pleasure : 
 Thy love may no man capture. 
 
 Thy pride may no man quail ; 
 The lark knows no such rapture, 
 
 Such joy no nightingale. 
 
 And we, whom dreams embolden, 
 
 We can but creep and sing 
 And watch through heaven's waste hollow 
 The flight no sign may follow 
 To the utter borne beholden 
 
 Of none that lack thy wing : 
 And we, whom dreams embolden, 
 
 We can but creep and sing. 
 ****** 
 
 Ah, well were I for ever, 
 
 Wouldst thou change lives with me, 
 
 And take my song's wild honey, 
 
 And give me back thy sunny 
 
 Wide eyes that weary never, 
 And wings that search the sea ; 
 
 Ah, well were I for ever, 
 
 Wouldst thou change lives with me. 
 
 BODIHAM. 
 
 There is a sonnet by Edward, Lord Thurlow,
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 107 
 
 on beholding Bodiham Castle, on the bank of the 
 Rother, in Sussex. 
 
 O thou brave ruin of passed time, 
 When glorious spirits shone in burning arms, 
 And the brave trumpet, with its sweet alarms 
 Called honor at the matin hour sublime, 
 
 And the grey evening ; thou hast had thy prime, 
 And thy full vigor, and the sating harms 
 Of age have robbed thee of thy warlike charms, 
 And placed thee here, an image in my rhyme ; 
 
 The owl now haunts thee, and, oblivious plant, 
 The creeping ivy, has o'er-veiled thy towers ; 
 And Rother, looking up with eye askant, 
 Recalling to his mind thy brighter hours, 
 Laments the time, when fair and elegant, 
 Beauty first laughed from out thy joyous bowers ! 
 
 BRIGHTON. 
 
 Although none of Cardinal Newman's verses 
 deal with Sussex places, it may be noted that 
 some of the earlier ones were written at Brighton, 
 including the charming album verses and the 
 powerful Paraphrase of Isaiah Ixiv. Several of 
 Charlotte Smith's verses also refer to this place 
 before it had attained to its present fame as one of 
 the greatest watering-places of the world. One 
 refers to the funeral of a nameless pauper, buried 
 at the expense of the parish, in the church-yard at 
 Brighthelmstone, in November, 1792; another of
 
 io8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 the same date pictures a female exile, looking 
 with anxious fears towards the father-land she has 
 left. Charlotte Smith also wrote some lines " for 
 the benefit of a distressed player, detained at 
 Brighthelmstone for debt, November, 1792." 
 
 DITCHLING. 
 
 Gideon Algernon Mantell, although chiefly 
 remembered as a geologist, was also an accom- 
 plished litterateur. His stanzas on the cemetery 
 at Ditchling were suggested by the circumstance 
 that the graves in the Dissenters' burial-ground 
 had no monumental stones, but were covered with 
 evergreens and flowering shrubs. 
 
 What though no marbles mark this hallowed spot, 
 Where youth and age and worth and beauty sleep, 
 Nor epitaphs declare the mortal lot 
 Of those who here eternal silence keep, 
 Yet o'er these mossy beds the willows weep, 
 And yew and cypress shed a solemn gloom, 
 And morning's mists with dew their tresses steep 
 Diffusing freshness o'er the verdant tomb. 
 
 Mute but expressive emblems ! well ye teach 
 The fate of those whose relics here repose ; 
 More forcibly than moralist can preach, 
 Their present, past, and future state disclose. 
 For who that views yon fragrant blushing rose, 
 Shedding its sweetness through the balmy air, 
 Nor deems that loveliness from all its woes 
 And all its wrongs hath found a shelter there !
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 109 
 
 Yes, that fair flower blooms o'er a brother's boast, 
 
 A mother's joy, a doating father's pride ; 
 
 Brief is the tale : her^fondest hopes were crossed, 
 
 She loved, was slighted, murmured not but died ! 
 
 And sweetly by that flower is typified 
 
 Her loveliness and spotless purity ; 
 
 And the green myrtle, waving by its side, 
 
 Her certain hope of immortality ! 
 
 The sable yew-tree throws its solemn shade 
 O'er yon green mound in dreary loneliness, 
 And tells that he who there in death is laid, 
 While living was the victim of distress ; 
 His youth was folly, and his age no less ; 
 But let that pass : his was the lot of all 
 Who seek in vanity for happiness, 
 And when too late their hours would fain recall. 
 
 Beneath those cedars rest a gentle pair, 
 
 Of lowly station and of humble name ; 
 
 Their peaceful course was free from pain and care ; 
 
 In life they were but one, in death the same ; 
 
 And well their virtues may the tribute claim 
 
 With which affection had adorned the spot. 
 
 Ah ! who would covet wealth, or power, or fame, 
 
 If happiness like theirs could be his lot ? 
 
 Where yonder bay erects his graceful form, 
 There sleeps the hapless gifted child of song : 
 No more exposed to envy's bitter storm, 
 No longer keenly feeling every wrong, 
 And there is one who loves to linger long 
 Where the green turf his hallowed dust enshrines j 
 And, hiding from the giddy, senseless throngs, 
 Her hopeless misery, o'er his fate repines !
 
 no BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Yon holly marks the village lawyer's grave, 
 Those oaks the patriot's ashes canopy, 
 The laurels o'er the sleeping warrior wave, 
 And yon spring flowers shelter infancy. 
 Lady ! when in the dust this form shall lie, 
 If then thy breast my memory would recall, 
 Let the dark cypress tell my destiny, 
 And the green ivy form my funeral poll. 
 
 FAIRLIGHT GLEN. 
 
 The lovely glens of Ecclesbourne and Fairlight 
 are famous for their picturesque beauty. The 
 following descriptive verses are from Mr. William 
 Wilson's "Gathered Together" (London 1860, 
 p. 217. 
 
 SWEET FAIRLIGHT GLEN. 
 
 There are spots when once seen that can ne'er be forgot ; 
 
 Like mem'ries of childhood they haunt us for ever ; 
 Like the dear, gentle face of a mother that's lost, 
 
 Through life we can never forget them oh, never ! 
 And such, in thy mantle of beautiful green, 
 
 Far, far from the busy assemblies of men ; 
 Where the murm'ring ocean plays into thy lap, 
 
 Art thou in thy solitude sweet Fairlight Glen ! 
 
 2. 
 
 In dreams of my fancy awake, or asleep, 
 
 I behold thee I picture thee still to my mind ; 
 
 With thy soft mossy banks, and thy calm solemn shade, 
 In summer-time sultry so welcome to find.
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. m 
 
 And oh ! the wild flowers that around us are strown, 
 In fragrance to gladden each step when, oh when 
 
 Again shall I really muse o'er thee, alone, 
 
 So grand in thy solitude sweet Fairlight Glen ! 
 
 3 
 
 Leafy pride of the coast, where the southern winds breathe, 
 
 Often joining their sigh to thy soul-moving song ; 
 Which from rustling of trees, and from birds in the bush ; 
 
 Which from ocean and sheep-bell floats mingl'd along. 
 When clear the moon rideth high, high in deep heaven, 
 
 Like a fairy abode thou doth seem to me then ; 
 When her beams flit about like the shadows of fays, 
 
 Thou art grand in thy solitude sweet Fairlight Glen ! 
 
 'Midst deep shade, in his might, like a giant 'mongst dwarfs, 
 
 Stands a tree tow'ring high all his neighbours above ; 
 Who spreads his green branches wide over a well, 
 
 That from ledge to ledge drips until lost in the grove. 
 Oh, that never old ocean may dare to encroach 
 
 Should pray every lover of nature 'mongst men ; 
 For when thou hast donn'd thy soft mantle of green, 
 
 Thou art grand in thy solitude sweet Farlight Glen ! 
 
 5- 
 Hid in thy white bosom, up up out of sight 
 
 (Like a mother that shelters her babe at her breast), 
 A lover's retreat doth invite to repose, 
 
 Surrounded by green nooks where birds love to nest. 
 With many a name the old seat is carv'd over, 
 
 And to many a name there's some legend I ken ; 
 There are spots when once seen that can ne'er be forgot 
 
 Such art thou, in thy solitude sweet Fairlight Glen !
 
 ii2 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 6. 
 If e'er in life's wanderings I reach thee once more, 
 
 It will be like re-meeting some long-cherished friend, 
 Who with radiant smiles, and with frank tender looks, 
 
 A kind heart-toned voice can most charmingly blend ; 
 Amidst bare woodless cliffs is thy shelter and rest ; 
 
 Thou dost soothe to reflection the best amongst men, 
 Like a flower in a desert, a friend in the world, 
 Art thou, in thy solitude sweet Fairlight Glen ! 
 
 GARDNER STREET. 
 
 In the little village of Gardner Street, near 
 Herstmonceux, there is a house across which 
 a creeper has been trained to form the 
 inscription, " Praise the Lord," in words which 
 almost cover the upper portion of the front of the 
 building. 
 
 Down in Sussex, green and sweet, 
 In village quaint of Gardner Street, 
 Stands a dwelling, clean and neat. 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 Such the legend read of all, 
 Tendrils trained against the wall, 
 Say, in letters large and tall, 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 One who dwelt there in the past, 
 Made the creepers safe and fast, 
 Made them say in words that last, 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 Sure he had a poet's brain, 
 Silent branches thus to train,
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 113 
 
 Till they sang a glad refrain, 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 Breeze of Spring and April shower, 
 Summer's bloom and Autumn's dower, 
 Winter's snow and storms that lour, 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 Childhood bright with toy and game, 
 Manhood with its lofty aim, 
 Age with bent and tottering frame, 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 Gladness bids our hearts to praise, 
 Sorrow, too, the song will raise, 
 Death itself for ever says, 
 " Praise the Lord." 
 
 HASTINGS. 
 
 Several poems relating to the great struggle 
 between the Saxon and the Normans have already 
 been named under Battle. Thomas Campbell 
 has written " Lines on the Camp Hill, near 
 Hastings." 
 
 In the deep blue of eve, 
 
 Ere the twinkling of stars had begun, 
 
 Or the lark took his leave 
 
 Of the skies and the sweet setting sun, 
 
 I clambered to yon heights, 
 
 Where the Norman encamped him of old, 
 With his bowmen and knights, 
 
 And his banner all burnished with gold.
 
 n 4 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 At the Conqueror's side, 
 
 There his minstrelsy sat harp in hand, 
 In pavilion wide ; 
 
 And they chanted the deeds of Roland. 
 
 Still the ramparted ground 
 
 With a vision my fancy inspires, 
 And I hear the trump sound, 
 
 As it marshalled our chivalry's sires. 
 
 On each turf of that mead, 
 
 Stood the captors of England's domains, 
 That ennobled her breed 
 
 And high-mettled the blood of her veins. 
 
 Over hauberk and helm, 
 
 As the sun's setting splendor was thrown, 
 Thence they looked over a realm, 
 
 And to-morrow beheld it their own. 
 
 In a volume of verse entitled "The Ancoat's 
 Skylark," by the writer of the present volume, will 
 be found a sonnet on " A high tide at Hastings." 
 
 A thousand wavelets and a thousand waves, 
 That leap and strive with never-ceasing roar 
 And sing incessant o'er the pebbly shore 
 A song of wrecks and myriad ocean graves. 
 
 The sea leaps forward like a soul that craves 
 The full fruition that comes nevermore. 
 The moon as in the primal days of yore 
 Rains liquid music on the sombre waves. 
 
 The rushing waters headlong onward dash 
 Against the strong sea-wall, in endless fret, 
 And hurled aloft in many a futile jet, 
 Fall back repulsed from their endeavour rash.
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 115 
 
 So beats the tide of life on Fate's sea-wall, 
 With Heaven's bright lamp of pity over all. 
 
 The same volume contains " A legend of 
 Hastings." The life of Rahere, the founder of 
 St. Bartholomew's Church and Hospital (written 
 circa 1 174-1 189) includes a story of a " worshipful 
 matrone " of Hastings, Cecilia " Ceale " she is 
 called in the English version the wife of a 
 wealthy shipmaster named Helyas, who, having 
 brought his cargo safe to London, was praying at 
 the newly-opened church in Smithfield at the 
 very time that his house at Hastings was in 
 danger of being swept away in a fierce conflag- 
 ration. Cecilia, bereft of man's " counsell and 
 helpe," commends herself to St. Bartholomew, 
 and throws a thread round her house. The fire 
 leaps over it, burns the houses on the other side, 
 but spares this one, only " touchying the 
 pynnacles, leavyng them half brent." 
 
 Cecilia, standing at her open door, 
 
 Sees Hastings town wrapped in devouring flames 
 That leap exultant round the crackling frames, 
 
 And unappeased seek still one victim more. 
 
 She thinks of Helyas wandering up and down 
 
 At sea, and by the stormy tempest tossed, 
 
 On ocean struggling or in ocean lost ? 
 Or safe perchance in famous London town.
 
 n6 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 What shall she do to save her husband's home ? 
 
 The scene of homely smiles and homely tears ; 
 
 His home and hers, which now, alas, she fears 
 The rushing blaze will whelm in fiery foam. 
 Alone she stands no hand is there to aid ; 
 
 Yet, though the earth be fire, the heavens are blue ; 
 
 Though men are false and fail, the saints are true 
 And love to help when earnest prayer is made. 
 
 She prays unto Bartholomew the Saint, 
 
 And girds the house with but a slender thread 
 Her hands a-tremble and her soul in dread ; 
 
 Then to her chamber, with her heart all faint. 
 
 Again she calls unto the Saint for aid 
 
 The fire scarce touched the faith-protected cot, 
 Though on it breathed the flames all red and hot, 
 
 And e'en Cecilia's faithful heart dismayed, 
 
 (That selfsame hour the sailor husband brave 
 Knelt at the shrine of St. Bartholomew, 
 With waxen taper, sign of worship true, 
 
 And gratitude for safety from the wave.) 
 
 Houses on either side in ruins lay 
 
 Cecilia's house untouched, save that the fire 
 Had reached the pinnacles, and in its ire 
 
 Balked of a victim burned them half away. 
 
 Amazed men saw the house unburned stand, 
 
 Guarded and saved but by Faith's slender thread ; 
 Great was the marvel that the wonder bred 
 
 When Helyas came back to his native strand. 
 
 The age of miracles has long gone by ; 
 
 We smile at marvels told in monkish books, 
 Yet drag them forth from out their dusty nooks, 
 
 For Love, and Faith, and Duty never die.
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 117 
 
 No miracle is this for those whose creed 
 
 Holds that the saints who dwell in heaven above 
 Look down on human trial, woe, and love ; 
 
 And help us in the darkest hour of need. 
 
 Even those who doubt may love the legend quaint 
 Of good Cecilia, now eight centuries dead, 
 Who bound the flames with Faith's own slender thread 
 
 And prayed to great Bartholomew the Saint. 
 
 HERSTMONCEUX. 
 
 To Herstmonceux, or to Hellingley, with 
 perhaps equal appropriateness may be referred Mr. 
 M. A. Lower's " Lord Dacre, his mournful end." 
 
 HOLLINGTON. 
 
 The picturesque beauty of " The little Church 
 in the Wood " has suggested the following : 
 
 I see a little church with low-set spire, 
 Encircled by a grove of ancient trees 
 With branches rythmic to the passing breeze ; 
 And now I hear from out the village choir, 
 
 The song of praise that to the heavens aspire, 
 And mingled with these formal litanies 
 The far-off murmur of the distant seas 
 And the sweet scent of wild rose and of briar. 
 
 I pause entranced this scene of peace to mark, 
 When 'mid the blue I see a rising lark; 
 He sings and soars and rises high and higher, 
 A speck upon the sun 'tween day and dark, 
 
 From lowly nest down in the grass and mire, 
 He seeks the sun and basks him at its fire.
 
 u8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 MlDDLETON. 
 
 " Middleton," says Charlotte Smith, "is a 
 village on the margin of the sea, in Sussex, 
 containing only two or three houses. There 
 were formerly several acres of ground between 
 its small church and the sea, which now, by its 
 continual encroachment, approaches within a few 
 feet of this half-ruined and humble edifice. The 
 wall, which once surrounded the church-yard, is 
 entirely swept away, many of the graves broken 
 up, and the remains of bodies interred washed 
 into the sea ; whence human bodies are found 
 among the sand and shingles on the shore." 
 This lonely church suggested to the Sussex 
 poetess the following sonnet : 
 
 Press'd by the moon, mute arbitress of tides, 
 While the loud equinox its power combines, 
 The sea no more its swelling surge confines, 
 But o'er the shrinking land sublimely rides. 
 
 The wild blast, rising from the western cave, 
 Drives the huge billows from their heaving bed ; 
 Tears from their grassy tombs the village dead, 
 And breaks the silent sabbath of the grave ! 
 
 With shells and sea-weed mingled, on the shore, 
 Lo ! their bones whiten in the frequent wave ; 
 But vain to them the winds and water rave ; 
 They hear the warring elements no more :
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 119 
 
 While I am doom'd by life's long storm opprest, 
 To gaze with envy on their gloomy rest. 
 
 An elegy* by the same writer also refers to this 
 ruined graveyard, which the sea has since washed 
 
 away. 
 
 PEVENSEY. 
 
 The ruins of the great castle of Pevensey has 
 inspired a sonnet by William Lisle Bowles. 
 
 Fallen pile ! I ask not what has been thy fate, 
 But when the weak winds, wafted from the main, 
 Through each lone arch, like spirits that complain, 
 Come hollow to my ear, I meditate 
 
 On this world's passing pageant, and the lot 
 Of those who once might proudly, in their prime, 
 Have stood with giant port, till, bowed by time 
 Or injury, their ancient boast forgot. 
 
 They might have sunk like thee ; though thus forlorn 
 They lift their heads with venerable hairs, 
 Bespent, majestic yet, and as in scorn 
 Of mortal vanities and short-lived cares ; 
 
 Even so dost thou, lifting thy forehead grey, 
 Smile at the tempest, and Time's sweeping sway. 
 
 Mr. M. A. Lower has, in his " Little Geste of a 
 of a great Eele," versified one of the stones of 
 Andrew Borde as to the efforts of some Pevensey 
 men to drown an eel. 
 
 RYE. 
 
 Lord Thurlow's sonnet on the approach to Rye
 
 120 BYGONE SUSSEX 
 
 and Winchelsea from the sea has already been 
 quoted. The Ypres Tower at Rye has suggested 
 the following : 
 
 Where are the men who built the Ypres tower ? 
 Salt of the sea, who held the French at bay ; 
 Who had rough lives, sharp swords, and spirits gay, 
 Though storm might rage or threatening tempest lower. 
 
 No place was this for a faint-hearted bower 
 No place for dalliance or for summer play ; 
 Its skies of blue, or dark rain-laden gray, 
 Saw nations struggle for the ocean dower. 
 
 The fair bride held her life in daily dread 
 Of cruel sea, and still more cruel foe : 
 The angry wave and shining cutlass blow 
 Were in the dream around her cottage low. 
 
 The glory and the danger both have fled, 
 But still the Ypres rears its stalwart head. 
 
 SAINT LEONARDS-ON-SEA. 
 
 Thomas Campbell visited St. Leonards in its 
 early days, and his meditations are recorded in 
 the verses "On the view from St. Leonards, 
 Hastings," which first appeared in 1831. 
 
 Hail to thy face and odours, glorious Sea ! 
 'Twere thanklessness in me to bless thee not, 
 Great beauteous Being ! in whose breath and smile 
 My heart beats calmer, and my very mind 
 Inhales salubrious thoughts. How welcomer 
 Thy murmurs than the murmurs of the world ! 
 Though like the world thou fluctuates!, thy din
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 121 
 
 To me is peace, thy restlessness repose. 
 
 Ev'n gladly I exchange yon spring-green lanes, 
 
 With all the darling field-flowers in their prime, 
 
 And gardens haunted by the nightingale's 
 
 Long trills and gushing ecstasies of song, 
 
 For these wild headlands and the sea-mew's clang. 
 
 With thee beneath my windows, pleasant Sea ! 
 
 I long not to o'erlook Earth's fairest glades 
 
 And green savannahs : Earth has not a plain 
 
 So boundless or so beautiful as thine. 
 
 The eagle's vision cannot take it in : 
 
 The lightning's wing, too weak to sweep its space, 
 
 Sinks half-way o'er it like a wearied bird. 
 
 It is the mirror of the stars, where all 
 
 Their hosts within the concave firmament, 
 
 Gay marching to the music of the spheres, 
 
 Can see themselves at once. 
 
 Nor on the stage 
 
 Of rural landscape are there lights and shades 
 Of more harmonious dance and play than thine. 
 How vividly this moment brightens forth, 
 Between grey parallel and leaden breaths, 
 A belt of hues that stripes thee many a league, 
 Flush'd like the rainbow, or the ring-dove's neck, 
 And giving to the glancing sea-bird's wing 
 The semblance of a meteor ! 
 
 Mighty Sea ! 
 
 Camelon-like thou changest, but there's love 
 In all thy change, and constant sympathy 
 With yonder Sky thy Mistress ; from her brow 
 Thou takest thy moods, and wear'st her colours on 
 Thy faithful bosom ; morning's milky white,
 
 122 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Noon's sapphire, or the saffron glow of eve, 
 And all thy balmier hours, fair Element ! 
 Have such divine complexion crisped smiles, 
 Luxuriant heavings, and sweet whisperings, 
 That little is the wonder, Love's own Queen 
 From thee of old was fabled to have sprung 
 Creation's common ! which no human power 
 Can parcel or enclose ; the lordliest floods 
 And cataracts, that the tiny hands of man 
 Can tame, conduct, or bound, are drops of dew 
 To thee, that couldst subdue the Earth itself, 
 And brook'st commandment from the heavens alone 
 For marshalling thy waves. 
 
 Yet, potent Sea ! 
 
 How placidly thy moist lips speak ev'n now 
 Along yon sparkling shingles ! Who can be 
 So fanciless, as to feel no gratitude 
 That power and grandeur can be so serene, 
 Soothing the home-bound navy's peaceful way, 
 And rocking e'en the fisher's little bark 
 As gently as a mother rocks her child ? 
 
 The inhabitants of other worlds behold 
 
 Our orb more lucid for thy spacious share 
 
 On earth's rotundity ; and is he not 
 
 A blind worm in the dust, great Deep ! the man 
 
 Who sees not, or who seeing, has no joy 
 
 In thy magnificence ? What though thou art 
 
 Unconscious and material, thou canst reach 
 
 The inmost immaterial mind's recess, 
 
 And with thy tints and motion stir its chords 
 
 To music, like the light on Memnon's lyre ! 
 
 The Spirit of the Universe in thee
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES, 123 
 
 Is visible ; thou hast in thee the life 
 The eternal, graceful, and majestic life 
 Of Nature, and the natural human heart 
 Is therefore bound to thee with holy love. 
 
 Earth has her gorgeous towns ; the earth-circling Sea 
 Has spires and mansion more amusive still 
 Men's volant homes, that measure liquid space 
 On wheel or wing. The chariot of the land, 
 With pain'd and panting steeds and clouds of dust, 
 Has no sight-gladdening motion like these fair, 
 Careerers with the foam beneath their bows, 
 Whose streaming ensigns charm the waves by day, 
 Whose carols and whose watch-bells cheer the night, 
 Moor'd as they cast the shadows of their masts 
 In long array, or hither flit and yond 
 Like spirits on the darkness of the deep. 
 
 Mysteriously with slow and crossing lights, 
 There is a magnet-like attraction in 
 These waters to the imaginative power, 
 That links the viewless with the visible, 
 And pictures things unseen. To realms beyond 
 Yon highway of the world my fancy flies, 
 When by her tall and triple mast we know 
 Some noble voyager that has to woo 
 The trade-winds, and to stem the ecliptic surge. 
 The coral groves the shores of conch and pearl, 
 Where she will cast her anchor, and reflect 
 Her cabin-window lights on warmer waves, 
 And under planets brighter than our own : 
 The nights of palmy isles, that she will see 
 Lit boundless by the fire-fly all the smells 
 Of tropic fruits that will regale her all 
 The pomp of nature, and the inspiriting
 
 i2 4 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Varieties of life she has to greet, 
 Come swarming o'er the meditative mind. 
 
 True, to the dream of Fancy, Ocean has 
 
 His darker hints ; but where's the element 
 
 That chequers not its usefulness to man 
 
 With casual terror ? Scathes not Earth sometimes 
 
 Her children with Tartarean fires, or shakes 
 
 Their shrieking cities, and, with one last clang 
 
 Of bells for their own ruin, strews them flat 
 
 As riddled ashes silent as the grave ? 
 
 Walks not Contagion on the air itself? 
 
 I should old Ocean's Saturnalian days, 
 
 And roaring nights of revelry and sport 
 
 With wreck and human woe be loth to sing ; 
 
 For they are few, and all their ills weigh light 
 
 Against his sacred usefulness, that bids 
 
 Our pensile globe revolve in purer air. 
 
 Here Morn and Eve with blushing thanks receive 
 
 Their freshening dews ; gay fluttering breezes cool 
 
 Their wings to fan the brow of fever'd climes ; 
 
 And here the Spring dips down her emerald urn 
 
 For showers to glad the earth. 
 
 Old Ocean was, 
 
 Infinity of ages ere we breathed 
 Existence ; and he will be beautiful, 
 When all the living world that sees him now, 
 Shall roll unconscious dust around the sun. 
 Quelling from age to age the vital throb 
 In human hearts, Death shall not subjugate 
 The pulse that swells in his stupendous breast, 
 Or interdict his minstrelsy to sound 
 In thundering concert with the quirling winds 
 But long as man to parent Nature owns
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 125 
 
 Instinctive homage, and in times beyond 
 
 The power of thought to reach, bard after bard 
 
 Shall sing thy glory, BEATIFIC SEA ! 
 
 SOUTH DOWNS. 
 
 The breezy South Downs, which form so 
 remarkable a feature in the Sussex landscape, 
 have not passed unsung. Of several sonnets 
 referring to their beauty, by Charlotte Smith, we 
 take this : 
 
 Ah, hills beloved ! where once a happy child, 
 
 Your beechen shades, "your turf, your flowers, among," 
 
 I wove your bluebells into garlands wild, 
 
 And woke your echoes with my artless song. 
 
 Ah ! hills beloved ! your turf, your flowers, remain ; 
 
 But can they peace to this sad breast restore, 
 
 For one poor moment sooth the sense of pain, 
 
 And teach a broken heart to throb no more ? 
 
 And you, Aruna ! in the vale below, 
 As to the sea your limpid waves you bear, 
 Can you one kind Lethean cup bestow. 
 To drink a long oblivion to my care ? 
 
 Ah no ! when all, e'en hope's last ray is gone, 
 There's no oblivion but in death alone ! 
 
 A later poet, Mr. Joseph Ellis, has also felt 
 their exhilaration (Caesar in Egypt and other 
 poems, 1885, p. 172). 
 
 A song to thee, O Nature ! whilst the hills 
 Render my senses fullest sympathy ;
 
 i 2 6 BYGONE SUSSEX 
 
 Above the world of men, dissolved in thee, 
 A joy thy joy serene my bosom fills, 
 
 And claim I son-ship, mindless of ' the ills 
 The flesh is heir to,' nought is now to me 
 Than the primeval sward, and sky and sea, 
 Boundless as thy companionship instils ; 
 
 O Mother Nature ! melt my heart in thine, 
 O Mother Nature ! I in thee am lost, 
 
 Mother Nature ! own me as thy child ; 
 Why know I this sublimity divine, 
 
 If not from thee ? me take at any cost ! 
 
 1 had not loved so if thou hadst not smiled. 
 
 WORTHING. 
 
 Here, it would seem, poor Robert Bloomfield, 
 the author of the " Farmer's Bay," had his first 
 view of the sea. There is a pleasant natural 
 enthusiasm about these verses. 
 
 Are these the famed, the brave South Downs, 
 
 That like a chain of pearls appear ; 
 
 Their pale green sides and graceful crowns 
 
 To freedom, thought, and peace, how dear ! 
 
 To freedom, for no fence is seen ; 
 
 To thought, for silence smooths the way ; 
 
 To peace, for o'er the boundless green 
 
 Unnumbered flocks and shepherds stray. 
 
 Now, now we've gained the utmost height : 
 Where shall we match the vale below ? 
 The Weald of Sussex, glorious sight, 
 Old Chankbury, from the tufted brow.
 
 POEMS OF SUSSEX PLACES. 127 
 
 And here old Sissa, so they tell> 
 The Saxon monarch closed his day ; 
 I judge they played their parts right well 
 But cannot stop to sing their praise. 
 
 For yonder, near the ocean's brim, 
 
 I see, I taste, the coming joy ; 
 
 There Mary binds the withered limb, 
 
 The mother tends the poor lame boy. 
 
 My heart is there Sleep, Romans, sleep ; 
 
 And what are Saxon kings to me ? 
 
 Let me, O thou majestic Deep, 
 
 Let me descend to love, and thee. 
 
 And may thy calm, fair-flowing tide 
 Bring Peace and Hope, and bid them live 
 And Night, whilst wandering by thy side, 
 Teach wisdom, teach me to forgive. 
 Then, when my heart is whole again, 
 And Fancy's renovated wing 
 Sweeps o'er the terrors of thy reign, 
 Strong on my soul those terrors bring. 
 
 Oaks, British oaks, form all its shade, 
 Dark as a forest's ample crown ; 
 Yet by rich herds how cheerful made, 
 And countless spots of harvest brown ! 
 But what's yon southward dark blue line, 
 Along the horizon's utmost bound, 
 Oh which the weary clouds recline, 
 Still varying half the circle round ? 
 
 The sea ! the sea ! my God ! the sea ! 
 Yon sunbeams on its bosom play ! 
 With milk white sails expanded free 
 There ploughs the bark her cheerful way !
 
 128 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 I come, I come, my heart beat high ; 
 The greensward stretches southward still, 
 Soft in the breeze the heath bells sigh ; 
 Up, up, we scale another hill ! 
 
 A spot where once the eagle towered 
 O'er Albion's green primeval charms, 
 And where the harmless wild -thy me flowered, 
 Did Rome's proud legions pile their arms. 
 In infant's haunts I've dreamed of thee, 
 And where the crystal brook ran by, 
 Marked sands and waves and open sea, 
 And gazed, but with an infant's eye. 
 
 'Twas joy to pass the stormy hour, 
 In groves, when childhood knew no more ; 
 Increase that joy, tremendous power, 
 Loud let thy world of waters roar. 
 And if the scene reflection drowns, 
 Or draws too strongly raptured tear, 
 I'll change it for these lovely Downs, 
 This calm smooth turf, and worship here. 
 
 It will be seen that Sussex has not been 
 unsung, but it is noteworthy that most of these 
 poems of places have been written by those " not 
 to the manor born."
 
 " Spirits " at firigbtlfng in 1659. 
 
 IN the year 1659 there occured one of those 
 incidents which are sufficiently common in 
 the annals of what is vaguely known as 
 " spiritualism." In the age when it occurred the 
 Brightling disturbance was regarded as "a 
 stupendous and amazing piece of Providence." 
 The narrative of the affair was written by the 
 minister of Brightling, and is given in Clark's 
 " Mirror of Saints, etc." According to this 
 narrative the disturbances began in the evening 
 of November yth, 1659, when a man found that a 
 fire had kindled in his milkhouse ; on the 9th 
 dust was thrown upon the man and his wife as 
 they lay in bed. Next morning various things 
 were thrown about, and the fire was again kindled 
 in the same place in the milkhouse, but was put 
 out by the woman. Then it blazed out in the 
 eaves of the house, but was extinguished by a 
 neighbour. A pot standing on the table was 
 broken with a piece of brick. As they were 
 going to fill a tub with water, to set by them all
 
 i 3 o BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 night, the fire was kindled again in the milkhouse, 
 and suddenly the whole house was on fire, but 
 most of the goods were saved. The fire was 
 very white, and did not singe their hands when 
 they were pulling things out of it. The household 
 stuff was carried next day to a neighbour's house, 
 and put in one end, whilst the family were at the 
 other end. Dust was thrown upon the man and 
 his wife in bed. At last, unable to endure more, 
 the man arose, and with another accompanying 
 him, took a candle and lanthorn in his hand, and 
 went to Mr. Bennet, the minister of Brightling, 
 and entreated him to go back with them. 
 Accordingly Mr. Bennet and his brother went to 
 the house and prayed with the people. At first 
 dust was thrown at them, but all was quiet during 
 prayer. Afterwards as the minister was reading 
 Psalm 91, and the man was standing by him 
 holding the candle, the light was beaten out. 
 Presently a knife was thrown at the minister, 
 which fell behind him. Then a chopping knife 
 was thrown. Hereupon the man said, " These 
 things are thrown at others for my sake." At 
 length he fell down upon his knees, and confessed 
 that he had been a hypocrite and a pilfering 
 fellow, and that he had robbed his master, etc.,
 
 "SPIRITS" AT BRIGHTLING IN 1659. 131 
 
 etc. He further declared that he was willing to 
 separate the things which he had taken wrongfully, 
 from his own goods. This he accordingly did, 
 laying forth several things which he said were 
 none of his, and naming the persons from whom 
 he had wrongfully taken them. As a great chest 
 was carried out " trenchers, platters, and other 
 things were thrown about in so dreadful a manner, 
 that one not much noted for religion, said, ' Pray 
 you, let us go to prayer,' and indeed that was 
 their only refuge, praying, preaching, and singing 
 Psalms." A dish was thrown several times, and 
 once gave Mr. Bennet a smart blow on the cheek. 
 Then the man's boots, a chopping knife, crabs out 
 of a tub standing in the midst of the room, a fire 
 brand, a hammer, and a Bible, were flying about 
 once or more, " yet at prayer all was quiet." In 
 the morning, Mr. Bennet and his brother left, but 
 before they got home they heard that the house 
 was on fire. Mr. Bennet was thereupon sent for 
 again. 
 
 When the house took fire although they 
 carried away their goods, pulled off the thatch, 
 and quenched the fire ; yet it kindled again and 
 again, until the house was burnt down to the 
 ground. When the goods were removed into the
 
 : 3 2 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 field all was quiet in the second house ; but some 
 things were thrown in the field, and some noise 
 was heard among the household stuff. "Thus," 
 we are told, " these poor creatures were distressed, 
 their house burnt down, that to which they 
 removed several times fired ; and they with their 
 goods forced to lie in the open fields for several 
 days and nights together : being made a sad 
 spectacle to all sorts of people, that came far and 
 near to see and hear of the business. Afterwards 
 a Fast day was kept by four of the neighbouring 
 ministers, and sermons were preached on these 
 texts, Job 17, 13; Amos 3, 6; Luke 13, 2, 
 3; Isa. 33, 14, 15, 16. "The congregation was 
 great, and the distressed persons diligently 
 attentive ; after which, they were not at all 
 troubled any more in that manner." 
 
 We have given the narrative substantially in the 
 words of the worthy minister by whom it was com 
 municated to that well known divine, Mr. Samuel 
 Clark. The real truth is now difficult to determine, 
 but after due allowance has been made for the 
 uncritical temper of the historian, and for uninten- 
 tional exaggeration, there is not much more left 
 than might be accomplished by some mischievous 
 humourist unaided by the supernatural powers.
 
 flDonstrous Cbilfc of Cbicbeeter. 
 
 STRANGE births, and monsters of various 
 kinds were favourite topics with the ballad 
 writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 Sometimes, it may be feared, they trusted to 
 magination for their facts, but in the following 
 case the good faith of the rhymer is vindicated by 
 an entry in Machyn's " Diary," who testifies that 
 the child was brought to court, 4th of June, 1562. 
 The picture of the child is 6f inches in height. 
 The ballad formed part of the possessions of 
 George Daniel, and is here reprinted from "A 
 Collection of seventy nine Black Letter Ballads 
 of Broadsides," edited and published by Mr. 
 Joseph Lilly. 
 
 A discription of a monstrous Chylde, borne at Chychester in 
 Sussex, the xxiiii day of May. This being the very length, 
 and bygnes of the same. MCCCCCLX1I. 
 
 When God for synne to plage hath ment, 
 
 Although he longe defarde, 
 He tokens truly strange hath sent 
 
 To make hys foes afearde ;
 
 134 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 That they thereby might take remorce, 
 
 Of their yll lyfe mispent, 
 And, more of loue then feare or force, 
 
 Their formall faultes repent. 
 
 Before the earth was overflowen 
 With waters huge throughout, 
 
 He sent them Noe, that holy one, 
 Who dayly went about. 
 
 To call them then to godly lyfe, 
 At home they laughfe and fumde ; 
 
 He was contemde of man and wyfe, 
 Tyll they were all consumde. 
 
 Loth did preache most earnestly, 
 
 But it did not preuayle ; 
 When fire and brymstone verely 
 
 Upon them doune did hayle. 
 
 Pharaoes heart had no remorce, 
 Though wonders straunge he sawe, 
 
 But rather was therfore the worce, 
 Without all feare or awe ; 
 
 Untyll bothe he and his therfore, 
 
 By Justice sent of God, 
 In raging seas were all forlore, 
 
 And then he felt the rod. 
 
 Ten tymes truely were the Jewes 
 In captiue brought and led ; 
 
 Before eche tyme, our God did vse 
 Hys tokens strange, we red. 
 
 The year before Vaspatian came, 
 The Jewes a heyfer drest, 
 
 Which beynge slayne, did calue a lame,- 
 This sygne they sone did wrest,
 
 MONSTROUS CHILD OF CHICHESTER 135 
 
 As others doe, and styll have done, 
 
 In making it as vayne ; 
 Or els good lucke, they saye, shal come, 
 
 As please their foolish brayne. 
 
 The heathen could forese and saye 
 
 That when such wounders were, 
 It did foreshew to them alwaye 
 
 That some yll hap drew nere. 
 
 The Scripture sayth, before the ende 
 
 Of all thinges shall appeare, 
 God will wounders straunge thinges sende, 
 
 As some is sene this yeare. 
 
 The selye infantes, royde of shape, 
 
 The calues and pygges so straunge, 
 With other mo of suche mishape, 
 
 Declareth this worldes chaunge. 
 
 But here, lo ! see above the rest, 
 
 A monster to beholde, 
 Procedinge from a Christian brest, 
 
 Too monstrous to be tolde ! 
 
 No carver can, nor paynter maye, 
 
 The same so ougly make, 
 As doeth itself shewe at this daye, 
 
 A sight to make the quake ! 
 
 But here thou haste, by printing arte, 
 
 A signe therof to se ; 
 Let eche man saye within his harte, 
 
 It preacheth now to me, 
 
 That I should seke to lyve hencefoorth 
 
 In godly lyfe alwaye, 
 For these be tokens now sent foorth 
 
 To preache the later daye.
 
 136 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Also it doeth demonstrate plague 
 
 The great abuse and vyce, 
 That here in England now doesth raygne, 
 
 That monstrous is the guyse. 
 
 By readinge stories we shall fynde, 
 
 In Scripture and elles-where, 
 That when such things came up out of kynde 
 
 Gods wrath it did declare. 
 
 But if we lightely weye the same, 
 
 And make but myne dayes wonder 
 The Lord our strutness soon will tame 
 
 And sharpely bringe vs vnder. 
 
 Then ponder wel, be tymes long past, 
 
 The sequel of suche signes, 
 And call to God by prayer in hast 
 
 From sinne to chaunge our myndes. 
 
 Repent amende, both hygh and lowe, 
 
 The woorde of God embrace 
 To lyve therto as we should doe 
 
 God give vs all the grace ! 
 
 , QUOD JHON D. 
 
 The father hereof is one Vyncent, a boutcher ; bothe he and 
 hys wyfe being of honest and quiet conversation, they having 
 had chyldren before in natural proportion, and went with this 
 her full tyme. 
 
 Imprynted at London by Leonard Askel, for Frances 
 Godlyf, in the yeare of cure Lorde, 1562. 
 
 The " poet " remains unidentified, which is 
 perhaps as well for his reputation.
 
 
 POYNINGS CHURCH.
 
 E IRusfcin pilgrimage. 
 
 A FAVOURITE excursion of those who run 
 down to the seaside to consult " one of 
 the best of physicians " he whom Thackeray 
 has well described as "kind, cheerful, merry 
 Doctor Brighton " is to the Devil's Dyke. To 
 that picturesque spot with an evil name there 
 come pilgrims by coach, by train, and on foot to 
 gaze upon the wide expanding landscape of the 
 Weald, to have their fortunes told by the gipsy 
 "queens" who ply their trade in flagrant defiance 
 of the statute book, or to disport themselves in 
 the somewhat cockney paradise that has arisen 
 on this lovely part of the South Downs. The 
 Dyke itself is the work of Mother Nature 
 in one of her sportive moods, when she 
 seems to imitate or to anticipate the labours of 
 man. Here she has carved out a deep trench 
 that looks as though it were the work of the 
 Anakim. It has its legendary interest also, for 
 the Sussex peasantry hold, or held, that it came 
 into existence by the exertions of the " Poor
 
 138 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Man," as the Father of Evil is here euphemis- 
 tically called. Looking over the fertile Weald, 
 his Satanic Majesty was grievously offended by 
 the sight of the many churches dotted over the 
 smiling plain, and he decided to cut a passage 
 through the Downs so that the waters of the sea 
 might rush through the opening and drown the 
 whole of the valley. An old woman whose 
 cottage was in the vicinity, hearing the noise 
 made by the labouring devil in his work of 
 excavation, came to her window, and holding her 
 candle behind a sieve, looked out. The " Poor 
 Man " caught sight of the glimmering light, and 
 hastily concluded that the sun was rising. The 
 mediaeval devil could only do his malicious deeds 
 in the dark, and so he slunk away, leaving the 
 Dyke incomplete, as we now see it. Lest anyone 
 should doubt this story, the marks of the " Poor 
 Man's " footprints are still pointed out on the turf. 
 Here, too, are the evidences of an oval camp 
 with massive rampart and broad fosse, occupied 
 probably by the Romans, whose coins have been 
 found, and by still earlier warlike inhabitants of 
 the district. When the eye has satisfied itself 
 with the fine prospect, landward and seaward, we 
 may undertake a short pilgrimage to a little
 
 POYNINGS CHURCH. 
 
 (Interior towards the East.)
 
 A RUSKIN PILGRIMAGE. 139 
 
 known Ruskin shrine. Below us northward are 
 the villages of Poynings, Fulking, and Edburton. 
 The last is known to archaeologists for its leaden 
 font, which is said to date from the end of the 
 twelfth century. Here Laud, the pious, am- 
 bitious, unscrupulous, and unfortunate prelate, is 
 said to have officiated. To him is attributed the 
 gift of the pulpit and altar rails in the church. 
 
 Descending the steep slope of the South 
 Downs, and breathing the invigorating air which 
 has won so many praises, we are soon in a rustic 
 road that leads to the church of Poynings. The 
 church is one of great interest and dignity. It is 
 early Perpendicular, cruciform, and has a square 
 central tower. The alms box is an ancient 
 thurible of carved wood. " Puningas " and 
 Punnins is still a local pronunciation was 
 restored, with other lands, to the thane Wulfric 
 by King Eadgar, who pardoned some of his 
 vassal's slight offences in consideration of receiv- 
 ing 1 20 marcs of the most approved gold. When 
 Domesday Book was compiled the manor was held 
 by a feudatory of the powerful William de Warren. 
 Inside the church are some monuments of those 
 stalwart soldiers, the Poynings, and outside there 
 are still traces of their ancient home from the
 
 140 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 time of Stephen to that of Henry VII. Their 
 name is enduringly written in our history in 
 " Poyning's law." In 1294, Sir Michael, lord of 
 this manor, was summoned to Parliament as the 
 first Baron de Ponynges. His son Thomas was 
 slain in the great sea-fight at Sluys. The son of 
 this soldier was Sir Michael, the third baron, who 
 was with Edward III. at Crecy, and at the 
 surrender of Calais in 1347. When he returned 
 to his castle, he was appointed one of the 
 guardians of the Sussex coast, then in danger of 
 a French invasion. When he died in 1368, he 
 bequeathed "to him who may be my heir" a 
 " ruby ring which is the charter of my heritage of 
 Poynings." The barony passed by the distaff to 
 the Earls and Dukes of Northumberland. Sir 
 Edward Poynings, a grandson of the sixth baron, 
 had his home at Ostenhanger in Kent. Whilst 
 Lord Deputy of Ireland, he induced the Irish 
 Parliament, in 1494-5, to P ass a measure by 
 which all the laws of England were made to be of 
 force in Ireland, and no bill could be introduced 
 into the Irish Parliament without the previous 
 sanction of the Council of England. He died in 
 1521 the Governor of Dover Castle. "Who 
 more resolved than Poynings?" asks Lloyd,
 
 POYNINGS CHURCH.
 
 A RUSKIN PILGRIMAGE. 141 
 
 "whose vigilancy made him master of the Cinque 
 Ports, as his valour advanced him general of the 
 low-county forces, whom he led on to several 
 services with such success, and brought off, with 
 the loss of not above an hundred men, with 
 honour from the Lady Margaret, and applause 
 from the whole country." Poynings passed by 
 sale to the Brownes, and by failure of heirs 
 reverted to the crown in 1797. 
 
 From Poynings there is a road leading to 
 Fulking, and on the way many capital views of 
 the round breasts of the South Downs can he 
 had. Fulking is merely a hamlet of the parish 
 of Edburton, and is a somewhat debateable land, 
 for whilst it is situated in the Rape of Lewes, the 
 parish to which it is a tything, is in the Rape of 
 Bramber. It contains about 1,330 acres of 
 arable, pasture, and down land. In Domesday 
 Book it is mentioned under the name of Foch- 
 inges, and was then held of William de Warren 
 by one Tezelin, of whom nothing more is known. 
 It was situated in Sepelei (Edburton?), which 
 William de Braose held. Before the Normans 
 came, Harold held it in the time of King- 
 Edward. It was assessed, both in the Saxon and 
 Roman times, at three hides and a rood.
 
 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 It is a striking evidence of English persistence. 
 This little hamlet has continued for more than 
 eight centuries ; how many more no one can say. 
 It has not even been important enough to have 
 its own separate church, but, nevertheless, it has 
 persisted manfully in the struggle for existence. 
 A winding street of mingled villas and cottages is 
 the Fulking of to-day, nestling in trees, beneath 
 the sheltering wings of the South Downs, and 
 apparently as unconscious of the gaieties of 
 Brighton as if it were a thousand miles away. 
 
 Fulking is the end of our Ruskin pilgrimage, 
 for here on the right hand of the road is a 
 fountain with a red marble tablet, on which is 
 inscribed : 
 
 " TO THE GLORY OF GOD 
 
 AND IN HONOUR OF 
 
 JOHN RUSKIN. 
 
 PSALM LXXVIII. 
 
 THAT THEY MIGHT SET THEIR HOPE 
 
 IN GOD AND NOT FORGET. 
 
 BUT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS 
 
 WHO BROUGHT STREAMS ALSO OUT OF THE ROCK." 
 
 John Ruskin, who besides being a teacher of 
 art and ethics, is also a geologist, was appealed to 
 by some friends of Fulking who were anxious as 
 to its water supply. There is an abundant
 
 A RUSKIN PILGRIMAGE. 143 
 
 gathering ground, but Nature appeared to be 
 elusive, and the water courses ran other ways. 
 Mr. Ruskin's aid was effectual, and the ancient 
 hamlet has now its own abundant supply. Lower 
 down the road, and past the hostelry of the 
 "Shepherd Dog" a true South Down sign is 
 the storage house of Fulking Waterworks. On 
 the tablet of this we read : 
 
 " HE SENDETH SPRINGS 
 
 INTO THE VALLEYS 
 
 WHICH RUN AMONG THE HILLS. 
 
 OH THAT MEN WOULD 
 
 PRAISE THE LORD 
 FOR HIS GOODNESS." 
 
 The exact source of the first inscription will be 
 seen in Psalm, cxxviii., 7 and 16 ; and of the 
 second in Psalm civ., 10, and cvii., 8, 15, 21, 31. 
 
 Those who honour Ruskin as a great teacher 
 of truth and righteousness, will find something 
 appropriate in this memorial of him in the solitary 
 street of the little hamlet, whose feudal lord once 
 upon a time was Harold, the last of the Saxon 
 kings.
 
 IRpe in the Sixteenth anfc Seventeenth 
 Centuries. 
 
 " I "HE records of the Corporation of Rye 
 -1- contain some interesting items as to the 
 social and municipal life of that "ancient town" of 
 the Cinque Ports. These records have not been 
 printed in full, but a good calendar has been 
 made for the historical MSS. Commission 
 (XHIth Report, Appendix, part IV). 
 
 In the sixteenth century it was a place of 
 commercial importance, though it was then 
 complaining of decay. The Huguenots had a 
 church there, but the refugees were not always of 
 a desirable kind, although the majority of them 
 made excellent citizens of the land to which 
 they had fled in search of liberty of conscience. 
 In 1569, John Pilfort, a Frenchman, who had 
 been forbidden the town, ventured to return, 
 and was thereupon placed in the pillory, and 
 had " one of his ears nailed thereto." What 
 his offence was, is not stated, but in the same 
 year, James Fryes, glazier of Harlingen, in West
 
 RYE. 145 
 
 Friesland, James Johnson alias Huson, mariner, 
 of Flushing, and another named Cowper, were 
 ordered to leave the town, with their wives and 
 children, " for theyr misbelieves contrarie to 
 chrestian relegian." 
 
 The jealousy of the native traders led in 1587, 
 to an order that none of the French nation should 
 be allowed to retail textiles, haberdashery, 
 mercery ware, or grocery in the town. 
 
 Witchcraft was still implicity believed in, and 
 " Mother Margery," a poor old woman in the 
 almshouse, was driven out of the town. Some raw 
 beef was found, and it was held that as it decayed 
 those on whom she had cast a spell would also 
 decay. This was in 1571, and it is noted that 
 " since her banishment the town had not been 
 troubled with her like." In 1594 a cunning man 
 at Hastings advised a woman to " draw blood " off 
 " Mother Rogers," who he said had bewitched her 
 child. In 1608, Mrs. Anne Taylor, a gentle- 
 woman of the place, was imprisoned on the 
 charge of having " councell " with spirits, and 
 apparently she only escaped with her life by 
 virtue of a "general pardon," which stayed further 
 proceedings. Again in 1610, Joan Bayley of Rye, 
 
 who was more than four score years old, deposed 
 
 10
 
 146 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 that believing a child to be bewitched she had 
 undertaken to break the spell. She took a piece 
 of red cloth and stuck into it sixty needles and a 
 halfpennyworth of pins. Then she put it on the 
 fire upon the " emery es" and stuck a dagger in 
 the midst. It was a long time before it was 
 consumed, but she could not tell who had 
 bewitched the child, as no one came in to be 
 accused as she had expected. In 1645, the 
 mayor and jurats ordered two old women accused 
 of witchcraft "to be tried by putting them in the 
 water." 
 
 In 1574, the Mayor and jurats endeavoured to 
 put down what was evidently the old custom of 
 young and old going forth with drums and flags 
 to cut boughs in the neighbouring woods. 
 
 The iron industry flourished to an extent that 
 alarmed the authorities of Hastings, Winchelsea, 
 and Rye, who were afraid that the woods which 
 supplied them with fuel would be exhausted by the 
 demands of the iron works. Their remonstrances 
 with Lord Buckhurst, and their endeavour to 
 obtain protection from Parliament, make a curious 
 chapter in the history of an industry that has long 
 ceased to be a source either of profit or annoyance 
 to the five ports.
 
 RYE. 147 
 
 The parliamentary franchise of Rye was not 
 much of a reality. There was, indeed, no 
 pretence of popular selection. The corporation 
 who nominally made the choice, really accepted 
 the nominee of the Lord Warden, or some other 
 powerful person. In one case all they knew 
 about the candidate was that he was a son of Sir 
 Edward Courcey, and they actually elected his 
 eldest son instead of the second son for whom the 
 position was intended, and to whom it was given 
 by an amended return. 
 
 There are sundry references to Mr. Richard 
 Fletcher, the Vicar of Rye, and father of the 
 dramatist. Having to reprove one of his 
 parishioners who was in a tavern on Easter 
 Monday, when he ought to have been at the 
 preaching, the unrepentant sinner declared that 
 he was as good, as honest, and as well born as 
 the parson himself. Mr. Fletcher he declared, 
 "did eat and drink him," to which the vicar 
 made reply that he had never cost the man a cup 
 of cold water. To this John Bennet, angrily but 
 illogically replied, " Nor never shall, dwelt he 
 never so long there." And, still in a rage, he 
 declared "at the bench upon the market place 
 that he was as good a man and as well born as
 
 i 4 8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher, for his father was a butcher, and 
 Mr. Fletcher's father a wever." Bennet's brother 
 Robert was also a despiser of dignities, for 
 " debating within the church said openly he 
 would call that he would the churchwarden knave 
 of yt." 
 
 The distinctions of rank were carried out 
 beyond death in an order made in 1579 that no 
 one under the degree of the Mayor, Jurats, and 
 Common Council, or their wives "shall be chested 
 or coffenid for their buriall." Many projects for 
 the improvement of the decayed haven of Rye 
 were under consideration from time to time. 
 
 The Puritans, who called the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury "the Pope of Inglande," and the 
 Roman Catholics who smuggled " Jesus psalters " 
 were equally obnoxious to the authorities. In 
 1603, "John Arkinstal, of Ringy, in the parish 
 of Bowden, in the county of Chester," a 
 trumpeter, deposed that the schoolmaster of Rye, 
 had, at an inn in Hastings, stated that the King 
 of Scotland had been proclaimed King of 
 England at London, and that afterwards Lord 
 Beauchamp was proclaimed by the Earl of 
 Southampton. The bellicose "dominie" further 
 asserted that he had a great horse, and would
 
 RYE CHURCH TOWEK.
 
 RYE. 149 
 
 have a saddle and spend his blood in Lord 
 Beauchamp's behalf. Nothing more appears in 
 the record as to this very small attempt at treason. 
 But in 1610 one Wale was whipped for "bad and 
 lewde speeches," in which he declared that "there 
 was never an Irishman but was as good as the 
 King." 
 
 Sir Giles Mompesson, one of the obnoxious 
 monopolists licensed by James I., is described, 
 after his flight in 1620, as "a litle man of a black 
 swart complection with a litle black beard, and of 
 the age of about fortie years." 
 
 Besides the free-booters and sea-rovers who 
 harrassed honest commerce on the English coast, 
 there were the Mohammedan pirates. Thomas 
 Greenaway, of Rye, it is reported, unable to 
 endure the cruel treatment of his Turkish captors, 
 "has turned to their religion." 
 
 In 1626 the Mayor and Jurats complain, and 
 although a person receives a salary from the 
 exchequer as ".Gunner of Rye," he neither does 
 service, nor even resides in the place. Thomas 
 Harrison, the gunner in question, tartly replied, 
 that his allowance was only for attendance upon a 
 brass cannon, placed at Rye by Henry VIII., but 
 afterwards removed to the Tower of London, and
 
 150 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 that he is ready there to receive the commands of 
 the Master Gunner of England. 
 
 Perhaps nothing in these records that deal with 
 social topics marks a greater change than the 
 papers as to an ecclesiastical quarrel in 1637. An 
 aggrieved churchwarden complained to the 
 Bishop of Chichester that in one part of the 
 church of Rye, artillery was stored ; that another 
 part was used as a place for whipping offenders ; 
 and that the curate, whilst omitting to read part of 
 the church service, sometimes preached for two 
 hours. The authorities admit, practically, that 
 the two first charges were true, but that brought 
 against the curate they declared to be " altogether 
 false ; for mostlie he keepeth himself to his 
 howre, and sometymes preacheth less than an 
 howre." Those church-goers of the present day 
 to whom a sermon of even half-an-hour is an 
 infliction, may be thankful that their lot has not 
 been cast in Rye, when Christopher Blackwood 
 " mostly " kept to his hour in preaching.
 
 flDercbant of Cbicbester. 
 
 THE legends relating to a choice between the 
 halter and the altar, the " wife or the 
 woodie," as the Northern phrase goes, are 
 sufficiently varied. " Muckle-mou'd Meg" is not 
 the only heroine of song who has taken her 
 husband from the gallows. A Sussex man is the 
 chief actor in a ballad as old as the seventeenth 
 century, and perhaps even older. This is 
 "A Most Sweet Song of an English Merchant, 
 borne at Chichester," who, travelling abroad 
 in the pursuit of trade, had the misfortune, 
 although he " was both grave and wise," to kill a 
 man in a quarrel at Emden. For this he was 
 condemned to die, and came on to the scaffold, 
 where he was to be decapitated, very handsomely 
 dressed, and in a very penitent frame of mind. 
 He orders " a hundred pounds a piece " to be 
 given to the widow and her two children. But 
 at Emden they have a law that a woman who 
 will wed a condemned criminal may thus safe his 
 life. Ten merciful maidens contend for the
 
 152 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 privilege of rescuing the handsome Englishman 
 from the headsman, but he declines their offer. 
 Then another damsel steps forward, and protests 
 that she acts from love and not from mercy, and 
 as love begets love, he consents to live. 
 
 " ' I goe my, my love,' shee said, 
 
 M run, I fly for thee ! 
 And gentle Headsman spare a while 
 
 My Lover's life for mee !' 
 Unto the Duke shee went, 
 
 Who did her griefe remove ; 
 And with an hundred Maidens more, 
 
 Shee went to fetch her love. 
 
 With musicke sounding sweet, 
 
 The foremost of the traine, 
 This gallant Maiden like a Bride, 
 
 Did fetch him back againe : 
 Yea hand in hand they went 
 
 Unto the Church that day, 
 And they were married presently 
 
 In sumptuous rich array. 
 
 A sweet thing is love, 
 
 It rides both heart and mind ; 
 
 There is no comfort in the world 
 To women that are kind." 
 
 The belief that a woman might beg a con- 
 demned man as a husband is widespread, and 
 may not impossibly have had some foundation in 
 fact in ages when death was the penalty of even
 
 MARKET CROSS, CH1CHESTEK.
 
 THE MERCHANT OF CHICHESTER. 153 
 
 comparatively slight misdemeanours. There is 
 an old instance cited in the " Reliquiae Antique " 
 (I., 288). 
 
 " ' Of life and dath now chuse the, 
 
 There is the woman, here the galowe tree !' 
 ' OF boothe choyce harde is the parte 
 The woman is the warse, driue forthe the carte.' " 
 
 But our merchant of Chichester was more 
 fortunate. " Pity is akin to love," and the 
 Englishman and his pretty Dutch wife appear to 
 have " lived happy ever after." We may imagine 
 them, prosperous and happy, passing beneath the 
 Gothic arches of that most wonderful of all such 
 structures, the Market Cross of Chichester.
 
 2Dra\>ton's Song of 
 
 I "HE Topographical Muse has had no more 
 enthusiastic votary than Michael Drayton, 
 who, in his " Poly-albion," had no precursor and 
 has had no imitator. The task of putting in 
 verse " a chorographical description of all the 
 tracts, rivers, mountains, forests, and other parts 
 of this renowned isle of Great Britain, with 
 intermixture of the most remarkable stories, 
 antiquities, wonders, rarities, pleasures, and com- 
 modities of the same," might easily have daunted 
 a less strenuous and less patriotic bard than 
 Drayton. The success of the book did not 
 answer the magnitude of its scope, or even the 
 excellence of its execution. The work was 
 undertaken by 1598, and the first instalment 
 appeared in 1612, and was dedicated to Henry, 
 Prince of Wales, who encouraged the scheme. 
 After his death, the grant of 10 yearly appears 
 to have been continued by Charles. The public
 
 DRAYTON'S SONG OF SUSSEX. 155 
 
 were less generous than the princes, and the first 
 part fell flat. The poet complains that "the 
 Stationers " vexed because it did not sell so 
 quickly "as some of their beastly and abominable 
 trash " had left out the epistles to the readers 
 from some of the copies sold. For those who 
 despised their Fatherland, Drayton has a mag- 
 nificent burst of scorn. The notes to the 
 " Poly-albion " were written by John Selden, 
 the most learned of all the South Saxons. 
 This gives additional interest to the portion here 
 reprinted, in which we have bygone Sussex of 
 the sixteenth and earlier part of the seventeenth 
 century pictured by the mighty pens of Drayton 
 and of Selden. 
 
 " And soon the pliant Muse doth her brave wing advance, 
 Tow'rds those Sea-bord'ring shores of ours, that point at 
 
 France ; 
 
 The harder Surrian Heath, and the Sussexian Downe. 
 Which with so great increase though Nature do not crowne, 
 As many other Shires, of this inviron'd lie : 
 Yet on the Weathers * head, when as the sunne doth smile, 
 Nurst by the Southern Winds, that soft and gently blowe, 
 Here doth the lusty sap as soon begin to flowe ; 
 The Earth as soon puts on her gaudy Summer's sute ; 
 The woods as soon in green, and orchards great with fruit 
 To Sea-ward, from the seat where first our song begun, 
 Exhalted to the South by the ascending sunne, 
 * The sun in Aries.
 
 156 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Power stately wood Nymphs stand on the Sussexian ground, 
 Great Andredsweld's * sometime who, when she did abound, 
 In circuit and in growth, all others quite supprest : 
 But in her wane of pride, as she in strength decreast, 
 Her Nymphs assum'd them names each one to her delight. 
 As, Water-downe, so call'd of her depressed site : 
 And Ash Downe, of those Trees that most in her do growe, 
 Set higher to the Downes, as th'other standeth lowe. 
 Saint Leonards, of the seat by which she next is plac't, 
 And Whord that with the like delighteth to be grac't. 
 These Forrests as I say, the daughters of the Weald 
 (That in their heavie breasts, had long their greefs conceal'd) 
 Foreseeing their decay each howre so fast came on, 
 Under the axes stroak, fetcht many a grievous grone, 
 When as the anviles weight, and hammers dreadfull sound, 
 Even rent the hollow Woods and shook the queachy ground. 
 
 * All that Maritime Tract comprehending Sussex, and part of Kent (so 
 much as was not Mountains, now call'd the Downs, (a) which in British, 
 old Gaulish, Low Dutch, and our English signifies but Hills), being all 
 woody, was call'd Andredsweald. (b) i. Andredswood, often mentioned 
 in our stories, and Newenden in Kent by it Andredcester (as most learned 
 Camden upon good reason guesses), whence perhaps the Wood had his 
 name. To this day we call those woody Lands, by North the Downes, the 
 Weald : and, the Channell of the Riuer that comes out of those parts, and 
 discontinues the Downs about Bramber, is yet known in Shorham Ferry, 
 by the name of Weald-dich ; and in another Saxon word equiualent to it, 
 are many of the Parishes Terminations on this side the Downs, that is, 
 Herst, or Hurst, i. A wood. It is call'd by Ethelwerd(c) expresly(d) 
 Immanis sylua, que vulgos Andredsuuda nuncupatur, and was(e) CXX. 
 miles long, and XXX. broad. The Authors conceit of these Forrests 
 being Nymphs of this Great Andredsuuda, and their complaint for loss of 
 Woods, in Sussex, so decai'd, is plain enough to euery Reader. 
 
 (a) Dunum vti ex Clitophonte apud Plut. habet Cad. and Duynen Belgis, dicuntur. 
 Tumuli Aenarij Oceano obiecti. Gorop. Gallic. I. Alij. 
 
 (b) We yet call a Desert, a wildernesse from this roote. 
 
 (c) Lib. 4, Cap. 3. 
 
 (d) Wood, call'd Andredswood. 
 
 (e) Henric. Huntingdon, hist. 5, in Alfredo.
 
 DRAYTON'S SONG OF SUSSEX. 157 
 
 So that the trembling Nymphs, opprest through gastly feare, 
 
 Ran madding to the Downes, with loose dishev'ld hayre. 
 
 The Syluans that about the neighbouring woods did dwell, 
 
 Both in the tufty Frith and in the mossy Fell, 
 
 Forsook their gloomy Bowres, and wandred farre abroad, 
 
 Expeld their quiet seats, and place of their abode, 
 
 When labouring carts they saw to hold their daily trade, 
 
 Where they in summer want to sport them in the shade. 
 
 Could we, say they, suppose that any would us cherish, 
 
 Which suffer (every day) the holiest things to perish ? 
 
 Or to our daily want to minister supply ? 
 
 These yron times breed none, that minde posteritie. 
 
 'Tis but in vaine to tell, what we before have been, 
 
 Or change of the world, that we in time have seen ; 
 
 When, not devising how to spend our wealth with waste, 
 
 We to the savage swine let fall our larding mast. 
 
 But now, alas, our selves we have not to sustaine, 
 
 Nor can our tops suffice to shield our Roots from raine. 
 
 loves Oke, the warlike Ash, veyn'd Elme, the softer Beech, 
 
 Short Hazell, Maple-plaine, light Aspe, the bending Wych, 
 
 Tough Holly, and smooth Birch, must altogether burne : 
 
 What should the Builder serve, supplies the Forgers turn ; 
 
 When under publike good, base private gaine takes holde, 
 
 And we poor woefull Woods, to ruine lastly solde. 
 
 This uttered they with griefe : and more they would have 
 
 spoke 
 
 But that the envious Downes, int' open laughter broke ; 
 As Joying in those wants, which Nature then hath given, 
 Sith to as great distresse the Forrests should be driven. 
 Like him that long time hath another state envy'd, 
 And fees a following Ebbe, unto his former Tide ; 
 The more he is deprest, and bruiz'd with fortunes might, 
 The larger Reane his foe doth give to his despight : 
 So did the envious Dowries ; but that againe the Floods
 
 i 5 8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 (Their fountains that derive, from those unpittied Woods, 
 And so much grace thy Downes, as through their Dales 
 
 they creep, 
 
 Their glories to convey unto the Celtick deep) 
 It very hardly tooke, much murmuring at their pride. 
 Cleere Lauant, that doth keep the Southamptonian side 
 (Dividing it well-neere from the Sussexian lands 
 That Selsey doth survay, and Solents troubled sands) 
 To Chichester their wrongs impatiently doth tell : 
 And Arun * (which doth name the beautious Arundell) 
 As on her course she came, it to her Forrest tolde. 
 Which, nettled with the newes, had not the power to hold : 
 But breaking into rage, wisht Tempests them might rive ; 
 And on their barren scalps, still flint and chauke might 
 
 thrive, 
 
 The brave and noble Woods which basely thus upbraid. 
 And Adur t comming on, to Shoreham softly said, 
 
 * So it is coniectured, and is without controuersie Justifiable if that be 
 the name of the Riuer. Some, fable it from Arundel, the name of Beuis 
 horse : It were so as tolerable as (a) Bucephalon, from Alexanders horse, (b) 
 Tymenna in Lycia from a Goate of that name, and such like, if time 
 would endure it : But Beuis was about the Conquest, and this Towne, is 
 by name of Erundele, knowne in time of King Alfred (c) who gaue it with 
 others to his Nephew Athelm. Of all men, (d) Goropius had somewhat a 
 violent coniecture, when he deriued Harondell, from a people call'd 
 Charudes (in Ptolemy, towards the utmost of the now Juitland) part of 
 whome hee imagines (about the Saxon and Danish irruptions) planted 
 themselues here, and by difference of dialect, left this as a branch sprung 
 of their Country title. 
 
 (a) Plutarch in Alex. R. Curt. lib. 9. 
 
 (b) Steph. we/31 TToX. 
 
 (c) Testament. Alfred, vbi etiam, Ritheramfeild, Diccalingum, Angmeringum. 
 Feltha, alias in hoc agro Villae legatur Oppertho eiusdem Cognate. 
 
 (d) Gothodanic. lib. 7. 
 
 t This Riuer that here falls into the Ocean might well bee vnderstood in 
 that (a) Port of Adur, about this coast, the reliques whereof, learned 
 Camden takes to be Edrington, or Adrington, a little from Shoreham. 
 And the Author here so calls it Adur. 
 
 (a) Portus Adurni in Notil. Prouins.
 
 DRAYTON'S SONG OF SUSSEX. 159 
 
 The Dowries did very ill, poor Woods so to debase. 
 But now, the Ouse, a Nymph of very scornfull grace, 
 So touchy waxt therewith, and was so squeamish growne, 
 That her old name she scorn'd should publiquely be 
 
 knowne. 
 
 Whose haven out of mind when as it almost grew, 
 The lately passed times denominate, the New * 
 So Cucmer with the rest put to her utmost might : 
 As Ashbourne undertakes to doe the Forrests right 
 (At Pemsey, where she powres her soft and gentler Flood) 
 And Asten once distain'd with native English blood : 
 (Whose Soyle, when yet but wet with any little raine, 
 Doth blush;f as put in mind of those there sadly slaine, 
 Whose name and honors now are denizend for ours) 
 That boding ominous Brook, it through the Forrest rung : 
 Which echoing it againe the mighty Weald along, 
 Great stirre was like to grow ; but that the Muse did charme 
 Their furies, and her selfe for nobler things did arme." 
 
 So ends the seventeenth song of the " Poly- 
 albion." A part of the eighteenth may also be 
 claimed for Sussex, as may appear by the 
 " argument ": 
 
 " The Rother through the Weald doth rove 
 Till he with Oxney fall in love : 
 Rumney would with her wealth beguile, 
 And win the River from the Isle." 
 
 * New- Haven. 
 
 t In the Flaine neere Hastings, where the Norman William after his 
 victorie found King Harold slaine, he built Battell Abbey, which at last 
 (as diuers other Monasteries) grew to a Towne enough populous. There- 
 about is a place which after raine alwaies looks red, which som (a) haue 
 (by that authentic, the Muse also) attributed to a very bloudy sweat of the 
 earth, as crying to heauen for Reuenge of so great a slaughter. 
 
 (a) Guil. Paruus hist. I., Cap. i.
 
 160 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 The poet held that the mouth of the Rother, 
 where the river falls into Rye Harbour, was the 
 ancient Limen, on which theory Selden comments 
 adversely in the notes. 
 
 " Ovr Argas scarcely yet deliuered of her sonne, 
 When as the Riuer downe, through Andredsweald dooth run, 
 Nor can the aged Hill haue comfort of her childe. 
 For, liuing in the Woods, her Rother waxed wilde ; 
 His Banks with aged Okes, and Rushes ouer-growne, 
 That from the Syluans kinde, he hardly could be knowne:* 
 Yea, many a time the Nymphes, which hapt this Flood to 
 
 see, 
 
 Fled from him, whom they sure a Satyre thought to be ; 
 As Satyre-like he held all pleasures in disdaine, 
 And would not once vouchsafe, to look upon a Plaine : 
 Till chancing in his course he to view a goodly plot, 
 Which Albion in his youth, upon a Sea Nymph got, 
 For Oxney's loue he pines : who being wildly chaste, 
 And neuer woo'd before, was coy to be imbrac't. 
 But. what obdurate heart, was euer so peruerse, 
 Whom yet a louers plaints, with patience could not pearce? 
 For, in this conflict she being lastly ouerthrowne, 
 In-Iled in his Amies, he clips her for his owne. 
 Who being grosse and black, she lik't the Riuer well. 
 Of Rothers happy match, when Rumney Marsh heard tell, 
 
 * Out of Sussex, into its Eastern neighbour, Kent, this Canto leads you. 
 It begins with Rother, whose running through the woods, inisling Oxney, 
 and such like, poetically here described, is plain enough to any apprehend- 
 ing conceit ; and upon Medway's Song of our Martial and Heroic spirits, 
 because a large volume might be written to explain their glory in particular 
 action, and in less comprehension without wrong to many worthies it's not 
 performable, I have omitted all Illustration of that kind, and left you to 
 the Muse herself.
 
 DRAYTON'S SONG OF SUSSEX. 161 
 
 Whil'st in his youthfull course himselfe he doth apply, 
 And falleth in her sight into the Sea at Rye, 
 She thinketh with her selfe, how she a way might finde 
 To put the homely He quite out of her Rothers minde. 
 Appearing to the Flood, most brauely like a Queene, 
 Clad (all) from head to foot in gaudy Summers green ; 
 Her mantle richly wrought, with sundry flowers and weeds ; 
 Her moystfull temples bound, with wreaths of quiuering 
 
 reeds : 
 
 Which loosely flowing downe, vpon her lusty thighes, 
 Most strongly seeme to tempt the Riuers amorous eyes. 
 And on her loynes a frock, with many a swelling pleate, 
 Embost with well-spread Horse, large Sheepe, and full-fed 
 
 Neate. 
 
 Some wallowing in the grasse, there lie a while to batten ; 
 Some sent away to kill ; some thither brought to fatten ; 
 With Villages amongst, oft powthred heere and there ; 
 And (that the same more like to Landskip should appeare) 
 With Lakes and lesser Foards, to mitigate the heate 
 (In Summer when the Fly doth prick the gadding Neate, 
 Forc'd from the Brakes, where late they brouz'd the veluet 
 
 buds) 
 
 In which, they lick their Hides, and chew their sauoury Cuds. 
 Of these her amourous toyes, when Oxney came to knowe, 
 Suspecting least in time her riuall she might growe, 
 Th'aller'rments of the Marsh, the iealous He do moue, 
 That to a constant course, she thus perswades her Loue : 
 With Rumney, though for dower I stand in no degree ; 
 In this, to be belou'd yet liker farre then she : 
 Though I be browne, in me there doth no fauour lack. 
 The soule is said deform'd : and she, extreamely black. 
 And though her rich attire, so curious be and rare, 
 From her there yet proceeds unwholsome putrid aire : 
 
 11
 
 162 BYGONE SUSSEX 
 
 Where my complexion more sutes with the higher ground, 
 
 Upon the lusty Weald, where strength doth still abound. 
 
 The Wood-gods I refus'd, that su'd to me for grace, 
 
 Me in thy watry Armes, thee suffring to imbrace; 
 
 Where, to great Neptune she may one day be a pray : 
 
 The Sea-gods in her lap lie wallowing euery day. 
 
 And what, though of her strength she seem to make no 
 
 doubt ? 
 
 Yet put vnto the proofe shee'll hardly hold him out. 
 With this perswasful speech which Oxney lately vs'd, 
 With strange and sundry doubts, whilst Rother stood 
 
 confus'd, 
 
 Old Andredsweald at length doth take her time to tell 
 The changes of the world, that since her youth befell, 
 When yet upon her soyle, scarce humane foote had trode ; 
 A place where only then, the Syluans made abode. 
 Where, feareless of the Hunt, the Hart securely stood, 
 And euery where walkt free, a Burgesse of the Wood. 
 Untill those Danish routs, whom hunger-staru'd at home, 
 (Like Wolues pursuing prey) about the world did roame. 
 And stemming the rude streame diuiding vs from France, 
 Into the spacious mouth of Rother fell (by chance) 
 That Lymen * then was nam'd, when (with most irksome 
 
 care) 
 
 * So the Author conjectures ; that Rother's mouth was the place called 
 Limen, at which the Danes in time of King Alfred made irruption ; which 
 he must (I think) maintain by adding likelyhood that Rother then fell into 
 the Ocean about Hith ; where (as the relics of the name in Lime, and the 
 distance from Canterbury in Antoninus, making Portus Lemanis, (a) which is 
 misprinted in Surita's edition, Pontem Lemanis, sixteen miles off) it seems 
 Limen was ; and if Rother were Limen, then also, there was it discharged 
 out of the land. But for the Author's words read this : Equestris 
 paganorum exereifus cum suis equis CCL. navibus Cantiam transuectus in 
 oslio Amnis Limen qui de sylva magna Andred nominata decurrit, 
 applicuit, t\ cujius ostio I III. milliariis in eandem sylvam naves sitas sursuw 
 traxit, ubi quandam arcem semsitructaw, quant pauci inhabitabant villain,
 
 DRAYTON'S SONG OF SUSSEX. 163 
 
 The heauy Danish yoke, the feruile English bare. 
 
 And when at last she found, there was no way to leaue 
 
 Those, whom she had at first been forced to receiue ; 
 
 And by her great resort, she was through very need, 
 
 Constrained to prouide her peopled Townes to feed. 
 
 She learn'd the churlish axe and twybill to prepare, 
 
 To steele the coulters edge, and sharpe the furrowing share : 
 
 And more industrious still, and only hating sloth, 
 
 A huswife she became, most skild in making cloth. 
 
 That now the Draper comes from London euery yeare, 
 
 And of the Kentish forts, make his prouision there. 
 
 diruerunt, aUamqne sibi firmiorem in loco qui dicitur Apultrea construxe- 
 runt, (b) which are the syllables of Florence of Worcester ; and with him 
 in substance fully agrees Matthew of Westminster ; nor can I think but 
 that they imagined Rye (where now Rother hath its mouth) to be this Port 
 of Limen, as the Muse here ; if you respect her direct terms. Henry of 
 Huntingdon names no River at all, but lands them ad Portum Limene cum 
 250 navibus, qui portus est in orientali parte Cent juxta magnum nemus 
 Andredslaige. (c) How Rother's mouth can be properly said in the East 
 (but rather in the South part) of Kent, I conceive not, and am of the 
 adverse part, thinking clearly that Hith must be Portus Lemanis, which is 
 that coast, as also learned Camden teaches, whose authority cited out of 
 Huntingdon, being near the same time with Florence might be perhaps 
 thought but as of equal credit ; therefore I call another witness (d) (that lived 
 not much past fifty years after the arrival) in these words : In Limneo 
 portu constituunt puppes Apoldre (so I read, for the print is corrupted) 
 loco condicto orientali Cantia parte, destruiintque ibi prisco opere castrum 
 propler quod rustica mamis exigua quippe intrinsecus erat, Illicque hiberna 
 castra conformant, (e) Out of which you note both that no River, but a 
 Port only, is spoken of, and that the ships were left in the shore at the 
 haven, and thence the Danes conveyed their companies to Apledowre. 
 The words of this Ethel werd I respect much more than these later Stories, 
 and I would advise my reader to incline so with me. 
 
 (a,) Lemannis in Notit. Utr. Provinc. 
 
 (b) The Danes with 250 sail, came into the mouth of the River Limen, which runs out 
 of Andredswald : from whence four miles into the wood they got in their ships, and 
 built them a fort at Apledore, 893. 
 
 (c) At Port Limen by Andredswald in the East of Kent. 
 
 (d) Ethelwerd lib. 4, cap. 4. 
 
 (e) They leave their ships in Port-Limen, making their rendezvous at Appledoure in 
 the East of Kent (for this may better endure that name) and there destroyed one Castle 
 and built another.
 
 164 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Whose skirts ('tis said) at first that fiftie furlongs went, 
 Haue lost their ancient bounds, now limited in Kent." 
 
 These learned notes are not the only evidence 
 of the friendship between the poet and the scholar. 
 Selden also was a votary of the Muse, and the 
 following sonnet from his pen, prefixed to the 
 "Baron's Wars, Epistles and Sonnets," is addressed 
 " To his worthy Friend Michael Drayton :"- 
 
 " I must admire thee (but to praise were vaine. 
 What eu'ry tasting palat so approues) 
 Thy Martiall Pyrrhique, and thy Epique straine 
 Digesting Warres with heart-uniting Loues ; 
 The two first Authors of what is compos'd 
 In this round Systeme All ; it's ancient lore 
 (All Arts in Discords and Concents are clos'd. 
 And when vnwinged soules the Fates restore 
 To th' earth for reparation of their flights, 
 The first Musicians, Schollers, Louers make ; 
 The next ranke destinate to Mars his Knights ; 
 The following rabble meaner titles take) 
 I see thy Temples crown'd with Phoebus rites : 
 Thy Bay's to th' eye, with Lilly mixt and Rose, 
 As to the eare a Diapason close."* 
 
 It may perhaps be thought that the notes show 
 the scholar with far more certainty than the 
 verses show the poet. 
 
 * According to that in Plato's Phaedrus, where, under the names of 
 Louers of beauty (which comprehends all kind ot faire obiects, either 
 in the mind or body), and of Souldiers, all such as are eminent for true 
 worth, are comprehended ; the rest of men being of a farre lower ranke.
 
 a Sussey Book. 
 
 A MONGST the books to which Sussex has 
 *\ given birth, one of the most curious is 
 Turner's " Remarkable Providences." This im- 
 pressive folio is perhaps best described by its 
 very full title page: "A Compleat History 
 of the Most Remarkable Providences, Both of 
 Judgment and Mercy, Which have Hapned in 
 this Present Age. Extracted from the Best 
 Writers, the Author's own Observations, and the 
 Numerous Relations sent him from divers Parts 
 of the Three Kingdoms. To which is Added, 
 Whatever is Curious in the Works of Nature 
 and Art. The Whole Digested into One 
 Volume, under Proper Heads ; being a Work 
 set on Foot Thirty Years ago, by the Reverend 
 Mr. Poole, Author of the Synopsis Criticorum : 
 and since Undertaken and Finished, By William 
 Turner, M.A., Vicar of Walberton, in Sussex. 
 Recommended as useful to Ministers in Furnish- 
 ing Topicks of Reproof and Exhortation, and to 
 Private Christians for their Closets and Families.
 
 1 66 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 One Generation shall praise thy Works to 
 another, and shall declare thy mighty Acts. 
 Psal. 145. 4. London : Printed for John 
 Dunton, at the Raven, in Jewen-Street, 
 MDCXCVII." 
 
 Before Mr. Turner, who was born at Marbury, 
 Cheshire, in 1653, went to the University, he 
 was resident in the house of the saintly Philip 
 Henry at the Broad Oak, and to him was com- 
 mitted the early education of Matthew Henry. 
 In this, as in many other cases, the pupil sur- 
 passed his master. Turner also "entered Katy 
 in reading English, and Sarah in Hebrew." The 
 period at Broad Oak was only from August, 1670, to 
 February, 1671. He matriculated at St. Edward 
 Hall, Oxford 26th March, 1669, took his B.A. in 
 1672, and became M.A. in 1675. The early piety 
 of Matthew Henry was not more remarkable than 
 his precocious intellectual development, and though 
 Mr. Turner did not share the Nonconformist 
 scruples of the Henrys, his theological views were 
 much the same. Thus, in 1691, he wrote to 
 Philip Henry, " Your son's book is orthodox in 
 my opinion ; and agreeable to my rule of faith and 
 charity ; and his vindicator is a man of brisk brains 
 and sharp witted pen." The "vindicator" was
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 167 
 
 the Rev. William Tong, at whose instance 
 Matthew Henry had written. 
 
 William Turner, we have John Dunton's 
 testimony, was " a man of wonderful moderation, 
 and of great piety." In the opinion of that 
 honest bookseller Mr. Turner's style was "very 
 easy and free." And one other peculiarity would 
 endear him to the bibliopole, "he was very 
 generous, and would not receive a farthing for his 
 copy till the success was known." In 1698, Dunton 
 mentions that nearly a thousand copies of the 
 " Remarkable Providences" had been disposed of 
 in London, and complains that only twenty had 
 been sold in Ireland. Amongst the Dunton 
 MSS. in the Bodleian is a letter from Turner 
 to the bookseller about his " Book of Religions." 
 
 There is much promise in the lengthy title of 
 " Remarkable Providences," and it cannot be said 
 to be falsified by the contents of the book, which 
 are of the most varied and miscellaneous nature. 
 Mr. Turner appears to have emptied his common- 
 place book, and even his note book, into this folio. 
 Some of the articles are but a line in length, and 
 are mere references to authorities, whilst a life of 
 Queen Mary then recently deceased occupies 
 many of its folio pages. It is a mingle-mangle of
 
 1 68 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 " wise saws and modern instances," set down 
 without any critical effort to sort the wheat from 
 the chaff, or the true from the false. Mr. Turner 
 appears to have had the faculty of belief strongly 
 developed, and to have been innocent of any 
 principles of criticism, whether higher or lower. 
 
 A REMARKABLE ESCAPE FROM EXECUTION. 
 
 There are several references in the book to the 
 author and his relations and friends. " I will here 
 set down," he says, "a remarkable story of my own 
 father, William Turner, a private man, and dis- 
 engaged from parties ; who yet in the time of our 
 late Civil Wars, being requested by a neighbour 
 to assist him in the securing of a gelding, which he 
 had in a pasture, not far from my father's house, 
 upon the expectation of an army, that was coming 
 in that road : My father readily, without any 
 excuse, went along with him, took the horse out 
 of the pasture, went along the road, so long, till 
 the neighbour, fearing danger, diverted into the 
 fields : My father being not far from his own 
 house, and trusting partly to the innocence of his 
 cause, kept the road, and bid farewell to his 
 companion ; but by and by meeting with some 
 soldiers, he passed by them, and after them,
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 169 
 
 others ; till at last, finding the lane narrow, and 
 the soldiers come in greater multitudes, to 
 avoid the trouble of giving way to so many, 
 having a confidence in the swiftness of his horse, 
 and the knowledge of by-paths, he turned back 
 again, but had not gone far, till he was shot at 
 once and again, and at last shot through his body 
 between the bowels and bastard-ribs, and at 
 last seized. His horse, boots, sword, and clothes 
 all taken from him ; and a tattered suit of apparel 
 from a common soldier put upon him : And at 
 last brought to the General, who passed this 
 sentence upon him, that he should be hang'd the 
 next rendezvous. Accordingly he was driven 
 before them to the next market-town (Dray ton, 
 in Shropshire), put under the table, whilst the 
 General and his officers went to breakfast, in order 
 to be hanged by and by. But upon a false 
 report, the General caused the trumpeter to sound 
 a march, and so left my father bleeding inwardly 
 in the inn. Three chirurgeons, that were sent for, 
 successively, one after the other, gave him over 
 for desperate ; but at last a gentlewoman, related 
 to the Earl of Shrewsbury, looking upon his 
 wound, did believe it curable, and accordingly 
 undertook the cure, and in six months at least
 
 170 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 effected it ; but so that my father upon the least 
 surcharge of new ale or beer, or any windy liquor, 
 was obnoxious to fainting-fits ; till it pleased God, 
 after 20 years, or thereabouts, to order it so, 
 that the escharre broke out in way of an issue, 
 which continued with him (I think) to almost the 
 time of his death, which was in the 77th year of 
 his age, A.D. 1689-90. This I thought myself 
 bound in point of gratitude to the Divine Pro- 
 vidence to record." (Chap, xxiii., Some Personal 
 deliverances No. 5). 
 
 FOREBODINGS OF DEATH. 
 
 There was apparently a spice of the uncanny 
 in the family. " I had a maternal uncle," he says, 
 "that died the third of March last, 1678, which 
 was the anniversary day of his birth ; and (which 
 is a truth exceeding strange) many years ago he 
 foretold the day of his death to be that of his 
 birth ; and he also averr'd the same but about the 
 week before his departure." (Chap, xv., 13). 
 
 It is therefore not surprising that he is ready to 
 lend an ear to ghost stories and other wonderful 
 narratives. 
 
 A GHOST STORY. 
 
 " Being lately at Sir John Brisco's house, a
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 171 
 
 baronet, now living at Amley Castle, in Sussex. 
 His sister, then a guest at his house, and married 
 to an East-India merchant, a gentleman of good 
 parts, told me, that living at New-Salisbury, and 
 designing to make some provision for her 
 husband's return, and speaking of it in the house, 
 she was often discouraged by a nurse, that she 
 kept in the house with her, who advised her still, 
 to stay till she saw him return : At last, tidings 
 came, that he was dead in the Indies. Upon 
 which the nurse told her, that she being in bed 
 one night with her mistress, and sitting up to 
 give the child suck by moon-shine, a person in the 
 form of her husband (whom she had never seen, 
 but only guessed at, by the representation given 
 of him by others,) appeared to her, standing at 
 the bed-side, and looking stedfastly upon her, 
 and after some short space departed : And 
 for this reason, she suspected his death, and 
 consequently gave the advice afore-said. And 
 upon computation and comparing the story 
 of the nurse, and the contents of the letter 
 together, it was found that the apparition 
 was made at the very same time of his death. 
 This the lady assured me with great con- 
 fidence, with some other particular circum-
 
 172 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 stances, which have slipt my memory." (Chap, 
 xvi., 20). 
 
 A DOUBTFUL BEQUEST. 
 
 He was not, however, without a sense of 
 humour. " Going one time to Major Trevers', 
 his house in Cheshire, I met with the Major at 
 Tarvin, near his house, where there had been a 
 lecture that day, permitted by Bishop Wilkins, 
 and kept up by the neighbouring clergy : The 
 Major told me, that the preacher for that day had 
 this pleasant (shall I say ? or odd) passage in his 
 sermon ; A Scotch laird, or gentleman, having 
 sent for a clerk to make his will, began to him 
 thus (after the common preface), ' Imprimis, I 
 bequeath my soul to God' to which his clerk 
 made answer very seriously, ' But what if he 
 wonnot take it, mon !' With what temper of 
 spirit it was then spoken, I know not ; but sure I 
 am, 'tis a point that deserves a serious thought- 
 fulness and gravity of mind." (Chap. cxlv. 12). 
 
 A WARNING TO CANTANKEROUS PARISHIONERS. 
 
 "One of my parishioners where I was minister 
 formerly, having given occasion of scandal, by his 
 drunkenness, and reproachful tongue, and execra-
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 173 
 
 tions, was by me dissuaded from coming to the 
 Sacrament till such time as he had given some 
 proof of his reformation. He took this so disdain- 
 fully, that he left our communion, went first to a 
 meeting of dissenting Protestants in the town, 
 then to the Papists ; and at last falling ill of a 
 strange disease in his bowels, from which he could 
 find no ease or relief, but by taking a daily dose 
 of laudanum ; his only child died, his wife became 
 lame in her arm, and he continued pining away 
 some years, and at last died in extream poverty, 
 and was carried like a sack of corn, with only 
 one man attending, on horseback to his grave." 
 (Chap, cxix., 7). 
 
 SUPERNATURAL LIGHTS. 
 
 "When I was minister of Shipley, in Sussex, a 
 certain man of another parish on a Lord's Day 
 after evening service, came to me, and desired to 
 speak with me about some particular case of con- 
 science (I think it was concerning the sin against 
 the Holy Ghost) ; after some discourse upon the 
 point, he told me that he had for many years been 
 haunted with doubts, and great fears about his 
 salvation, and could enjoy no comfort ; but at last 
 unexpectedly as he was in his loom (for he was a
 
 174 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 weaver by trade) a certain text of Scripture was 
 suggested to his mind, by he knew not what 
 secret impulse, and thereupon all the thick fog, 
 which he had so long laboured under was 
 scattered, and the room was filled with great 
 light, and he enjoyed a great serenity, and peace, 
 and comfort afterwards." (Chap, xxiv., 5). 
 
 Still more remarkable is the second narrative 
 of this kind. 
 
 " One Mr. Burgess, late minister of Graffam, 
 in Sussex, being put to some trouble at his first 
 coming to that place, through the unkindness (not 
 to say dishonesty) of some neighbours, made a 
 journey to London, for the better securing himself 
 in the possession, and returning home, came late 
 to the outward skirts of the parish, where being 
 apprehensive of danger, partly by reason of the 
 great darkness of the night, and partly by reason 
 of the waters and ditches, which are thereabouts 
 somewhat formidable to a stranger, he did by 
 some secret ejaculations earnestly beg of God, so 
 to direct and preserve him in the way, that he 
 might not miscarry before he got to his own (then 
 a new) home : and presently a light shone about 
 him, to his great surprizal and comfort, and did 
 accompany him closely (as the Pillar of Fire did
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 175 
 
 the Israelites), either going before him, or sur- 
 rounding him (for I dare not be positive, through 
 the defect of my memory), till he got safe to his own 
 house. This hath been attested to me by his own 
 son, an honest, sober man, now living at Graffam ; 
 and one Mr. Cockrill, a near neighbour, who faith 
 he heard Mr. Graffam, the Elder, often speak of it 
 with wonder." (Chap. Ixxx., 8), 
 
 Turner had doubts as to the lawfulness of 
 astrology, and mentions a conversation with a 
 preacher of that art in Shropshire, who defended 
 its lawfulness, but admitted its uncertainty, whilst 
 claiming to have "hit upon the truth," by means 
 of " casting a figure," which led to the arrest of a 
 horse thief. (Chap, xi., 12). 
 
 A GIRL IN A TRANCE. 
 
 Whilst at Shipley he was much impressed by 
 the death of his servant girl, " Mary Holland, 
 aged about 16 or 17 years, jolly and corpulent, 
 honest, humble, and innocent, free from all pride 
 and guile naturally, so far as I could judge," he 
 says, ''but of no sharp intellectuals." This girl 
 fell into a deep sleep, which lasted till the third 
 night, when she awoke. Turner and his wife 
 joined the women who were nursing her, and
 
 1 76 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 began to pray, when the girl appeared to be 
 going through a spiritual conflict, "and broke 
 out into such passionate and strange expressions 
 as seemed to have proceeded from a sense of some 
 extraordinary assault from devils." After a while 
 she made a disposition of her little possessions, 
 and then began to talk with herself. These 
 meditations, apparently of delirium, Mr. Turner 
 noted down pen in hand, and it covers a good 
 page of this great folio, but is not worth repro- 
 ducing. She died on the following day. 
 (Chap, i., 10). 
 
 TOUCHING FOR THE KING'S EVIL. 
 
 The belief that the British monarchs had the 
 power to cure scrofula by touch is one of great 
 antiquity, and long survived. "Concerning 
 which," says our author, " take only this story; 
 discoursing upon a time with Mr. Philip Caryll, of 
 Shipley, in Sussex, a Roman Catholick, concerning 
 miracles done in this last age, in this nation ; he 
 produced this for an instance : That his son being 
 affected with that distemper (he having no faith 
 in the case), was earnestly perswaded to address 
 himself to King Charles the Second for a touch of 
 his hand ; which having procured, his son was
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 177 
 
 restored to perfect health ; which he declared to 
 me, calling his son into company, and shewing 
 him perfectly healed." (Chap. IxxxiL, 7). 
 
 CROWBOROUGH HILL. 
 
 " Crowborough-Hill," says Mr. Turner, "about 
 eight miles from Tunbridge- Wells, is so very high, 
 that in a clear sky ships may be seen under sail : 
 There is also an unlimited prospect on this hill, 
 which renders it the more delightful." (Pt. 2, 
 chap, xlviii., 7). 
 
 This is the only evidence the book affords of 
 any delight in natural scenery. 
 
 DWARFS AND OTHER MONSTROSITIES. 
 
 Mr. Turner felt that the proper study of man- 
 kind is man, and notes various dwarfs and 
 monsters, native and imported, that he had seen 
 in Sussex. Thus there was a maid, born in 
 Ireland, who was exposed to view at Arundel, 
 who besides strange moles upon her body, had a 
 great excrescence hard as stone, very bulky and 
 weighty, so that she was not able to carry it 
 about without a truss. (Pt. 2, chap, xxii., 6). 
 He mentions also a monstrous birth at Burdham, 
 
 near Chichester. The body was nailed up in the 
 
 12
 
 178 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 church porch "as a Monument of Divine Judg- 
 ment." (Ft. 2, chap, xxvii., 4). Another 
 monstrous birth, the child of "one Annis Fig, 
 an adultress of Chichester," is also recorded as 
 having occurred i Feb., 1581. (Pt. 2, chap, 
 xxvii., 20). Then there was a little woman at 
 Chichester not above two cubits in height, "but 
 her legs were not very perfect." (Pt. 2, chap. 
 xii., 14). 
 
 MR. WILLIAM GARRAWAY OF FORD. 
 
 Pleasanter reading is Mr. Turner's account of 
 his "honoured friend and neighbour," Mr. William 
 Garraway, the son of Alderman Garraway, of 
 London, who was a prominent figure in the 
 Commonwealth period. " He was then in the 
 eighty-first year of his age, very healthful and 
 stout in his body, of perfect sence, and good 
 memory, to a wonder : but the wonder is abated, 
 when we consider his caution used in dieting of 
 himself ; for he keeps a fast, and abstains from all 
 food, at least, one day every week ; and at other 
 times ordinarily abstains from wine and strong 
 liquors, unless now and then a glass, by way of 
 cordial." (Chap. Ixxi., 8). Mr. Garraway was 
 resident at Ford, and must have been a fine
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 179 
 
 example of bodily and mental vigour in old age. 
 " Tho' of excellent natural endowments, and great 
 reading, yet is still," Mr. Turner, testifies, " very 
 inquisitive after more knowledge, careful to pur- 
 chase all books of worth as they come from the 
 press, and very curious and attentive in reading 
 and marking them. In all my coversation I have 
 not met with such a walking-library, except the 
 late Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Barlow." (Chap, 
 xlix., 32). 
 A SPECIAL AND REMARKABLE PROVIDENCE AT 
 
 HASTINGS. 
 
 From Mr. Garraway our author heard of " a 
 special and remarkable providence " at Hastings 
 about the year 1694. " When the people were in 
 great poverty, and suffer'd much by scarcity of 
 money and provisions, it pleased God, that an 
 unusual and great shoal of herrings came up the 
 river, by which the inhabitants were plentifully 
 supplied for the present ; and the next week after, 
 a multitude of cod succeeded them, which were 
 supposed to have driven the former into the river 
 before them ; by which means the necessity of the 
 poor inhabitants was supplied unexpectedly, to 
 admiration." (Chap, xxi., 5). 
 
 Some of these passages place the Reverend
 
 :8o BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 William Turner in a light which will not com- 
 mend him to modern ideas, and it would be a 
 vain effort to attempt to show that he was wiser 
 than his own generation. Let our last quotation be 
 one then that is creditable to his heart, and to the 
 Sussex folk amongst whom his lot was cast : 
 " I think my candid reader will easily pardon me, 
 if for gratitude's sake I take an occasion here for 
 the glory of God, and the commendation of the 
 people, to make mention of the respects, love, and 
 kindness (much beyond my desert) which I re- 
 ceived as from the inhabitants of Arundel and 
 Shipley, in Sussex ; so especially from the 
 parishioners of Preston, Gubbals, and Broughton, 
 in Shropshire ; together with the adjacent neigh- 
 bourhood, which were so freely and plentifully 
 shewed me whilst I was their minister, that I may 
 testify of them, they were kind to me even beyond 
 their power (some of them) ; and I hope God 
 would return it into their bosoms, and remember 
 them in the day of their distress : for I speak this 
 to their praise, I never met with more loving 
 people in my life." (Chap. Ixi., 14). 
 
 In addition to the " Remarkable Providences," 
 he was the author of a " History of all Religions 
 in the world," which was published by Dunton, in
 
 A SUSSEX BOOK. 181 
 
 1695. A letter referring to this undertaking is 
 preserved among the papers of the bookseller in the 
 Bodleian Library. Chalmers was unable to find 
 the date of Turner's death. In 1697, he became 
 Rector of Binsted, Sussex, but the registers of 
 that parish, which adjoins his former cure of 
 Walburton, contain no mention of him. The 
 Rev. Henry C. Lewis, the present rector, has 
 kindly examined them, and reports that some 
 leaves appear to have been cut out, so that there 
 are no burials registered between 1672 and 1702.
 
 Gbe flfeercer'e Son of fBMfcburst. 
 
 SUCH a broadside as might well have been 
 in the pack of Autolycus is that which, in 
 the seventeenth century, was " printed by and for 
 A. M., and sold by the booksellers of London," 
 and is devoted to " An excellent Ballad of the 
 Mercer's Son of Midhurst and the Cloathier's 
 Daughter of Guildford." It is printed in the 
 Ballad Society's edition of the " Roxburghe 
 Ballads," ii., 189. The guileless poet tells how 
 a Sussex youth went wooing to a maid, who 
 frankly vows that she will marry only for money, 
 and is indifferent as to who her husband may be if 
 he is wealthy. On this the swain induces his 
 father to convey to him assurance " of all his 
 house and land." The married pair treat him 
 badly, and as a punishment they have no child. 
 The wife at length strangles herself, and the 
 husband 
 
 " E're thirteen years was past 
 
 Dy'd he without a will, 
 And by this means at last, 
 The old man living still,
 
 THE MERCER'S SON OF MIDHURST. 183 
 
 Enjoy'd his land at last, 
 
 After much misery : 
 Many years after that 
 
 Liv'd he most happily. 
 
 Far richer than before 
 
 By this means was he known 
 He helpt the sick and sore, 
 
 The poor man overthrown. 
 But this was all his song, 
 
 Let all men understand, 
 Those parents are accursed 
 
 Who live on their children's land." 
 
 " The moral of the story," says Mr. William 
 Chappell, " is that parents should not during life 
 relinquish the power over their property and 
 transfer it to their children ; or else they may 
 expect an ungrateful return. . . . If an old 
 house at Midhurst or at Guildford has not yet been 
 consecrated by tradition to the Mercer of Mid- 
 hurst, or to the Clothier of Guildford, it is easy 
 still to remedy the defect. ' Nothing so easy as 
 to make a tradition,' says Sir Walter Scott." 
 
 The moral of the story is the moral of " Lear," 
 and it is one that was often enforced by the 
 mediaeval moralists.
 
 IDrummer of Iberstmonceuy. 
 
 TJ GRACE WALPOLE visited Herstmon- 
 ceux Castle in 1752. "They showed us," 
 he says, " a dismal chamber, which they call 
 Drummer's Hall, and suppose that Mr. Addison's 
 comedy is descended from it." Herstmonceux is 
 now more ruinous than it was in Walpole's day, but 
 a fragment of this room still remains for the 
 inspection of the curious. How far the claim 
 that The Drummer had a Sussex origin can be 
 made good will appear from the following inquiry 
 into its literary history. 
 
 The Drummer was first produced at Drury 
 Lane, March zoth, 1716, and although the players 
 were actors of consummate ability, it was received 
 "with cold disapprobation." The name of the 
 author was not stated. The piece ran only three 
 nights. Its subsequent stage history has not been 
 much more fortunate. It was produced at 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, February 2nd, 1722, with 
 Hippisley as Vellum. When again brought out 
 at Drury Lane, October 3rd, 1738, it ran for three
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 185 
 
 nights. The playbill intimated that " the audience 
 having been much disgusted at the performance 
 being interrupted by persons crowding on the 
 stage, it is humbly hoped none will take it ill that 
 they cannot be admitted behind the scenes in 
 future." The Drummer appeared for one night 
 at Covent Garden, January 23rd, 1745, with the 
 younger Gibber as Tinsel, Hippisley as Vellum, 
 Ryan as Sir George Truman, Mrs. Horton as the 
 heroine, and Mrs. Mullart as Abigail. It was 
 played about nine times at Drury Lane, beginning 
 January 25th, 1754, with Mrs. Clive as Abigail 
 and, Mrs. Pritchard as Lady Truman. On 
 January 28th, 1762, it was produced at Covent 
 Garden, with Shuter as Vellum, Mrs. Pitt as 
 Abigail, and Mrs. Ward as the heroine. It was 
 twice acted. On January 29th, 1762, The 
 Drummer was produced at Drury Lane, and ran 
 for about three nights. This revival at the two 
 houses was due not to any conviction of the 
 merits of the comedy, but to the fact that the 
 " town " was going silly over the imposture of the 
 Cock Lane ghost. After an interval of eight 
 years the play was placed again on the stage of 
 Drury Lane, with Parsons as Vellum, Miss Pope 
 as Abigail, and Mrs. Hopkins as Lady Truman.
 
 i86 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Reduced to two acts, and now denominated a 
 farce, The Drummer, appeared at Covent Garden, 
 January 24th, 1786. It was produced at Bath, 
 March, 1790. The last time it appeared on the 
 English stage was at Drury Lane, December 
 1 3th, 1794, when it was arranged in three acts 
 with Dodd as Vellum, Miss Pope as Abigail, and 
 Mrs. Goodall as Lady Truman. These details 
 are derived entirely from Geneste, and sufficiently 
 'show that The Drummer never succeeded in 
 gaining any firm hold upon an English audience. 
 In Dibdin's " Annals of the Edinburgh Theatre " 
 there is one entry relating to this play : " On the 
 following evening (March i6th, 1756), for the 
 benefit of Mr. Thomson, late manager of the 
 theatre, The Drummer, by the late ingenious Mr. 
 Addison. Tickets at Mr. Thomson's house at 
 the Abbey." 
 
 Sir Richard Steele sold the copyright of The 
 Drummer to Jacob Tonson, March i2th, 1715-16, 
 for fifty guineas, and it was printed in quarto in 
 the same year 1716 with a preface by Steele, 
 in which the piece is very highly praised. "The 
 scenes were written very much after Moliere's 
 manner," and "an easie and natural vein of 
 humour ran through the whole." Even its want
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 187 
 
 of success is not acknowledged: "As it is not in 
 the common way of writing, the approbation was 
 at first doubtful, but has risen every time it has 
 been acted, and has given an opportunity in 
 several of its parts for as just and good action as 
 ever I saw on the stage." This is not precisely 
 the manner in which it might be expected to hear 
 a Patentee speaking of a play that, according to 
 Geneste, had only a three nights' run. Steele 
 regarded the play as the work of his friend 
 Addison, and imparted this impression to Tonson 
 when selling the copyright. Whether he con- 
 veyed the same impression elsewhere is not 
 known, but after Addison's death on the i7th 
 June, 1719, he explicitly informed the publisher 
 that 7" he Drummer was the work of Addison. 
 
 The first collection of Addison's writings was 
 made by Thomas Tickell, and published by 
 Tonson in 1721. In this edition The Drummer 
 is omitted. Sir Richard Steele re-issued it in its 
 pamphlet form with a second preface in the shape 
 of a letter to Congreve. In this he complains 
 severely of the ungenerous manner in which he held 
 that he had been treated by Tickell. As to The 
 Drummer, he says that he would not have written 
 the first preface had he thought that with it any other
 
 i88 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 than Addison "had much more to do than as an 
 Amanuensis." Further, he adds, " I will put all 
 my credit among men of art for the truth of my 
 averment, when I presume to say that no one but 
 Mr. Addison was in any other way [than as 
 amanuensis] the writer of The Drummer : at the 
 same time I will allow that he sent for me, which 
 he could always do from his natural power over 
 me, as much as he could send for any of his clerks 
 when he was Secretary of State, and told me that 
 a gentleman then in the room had written a play 
 that he was sure I would like, but it was to be a 
 secret, and he knew I would take as much pains, 
 since he recommended it, as I would for him." 
 
 The language here attributed to Addison does 
 not amount to a claim to the authorship, but may 
 perhaps be interpreted as intended to give that 
 impression, and Steele's account receives an 
 incidental corroboration in the statement of 
 Theobald, who, in a note to Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's Scornful Lady, says, " The ingenious 
 Mr. Addison, I remember, told me that he 
 sketched out the character of Vellum in the 
 comedy called The Drummer purely from this 
 model " that is, the character of Saint in the 
 Scornful Lady.
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 189 
 
 Tonson apparently carried out a threat to 
 Steele to sell the copyright, for what was the 
 third edition of the play appeared with the 
 following title page : " The Drummer or the 
 Haunted House ; a comedy. With a preface 
 by Sir Richard Steele, and his letter to Mr. 
 Congreve concerning the Author of this play, etc. 
 London ; Printed for the Company of Book- 
 sellers." This forms part of Vol. XIV., of a 
 collection of the Best English Plays, which must 
 have been published about 1723, as the plays 
 volume range in date from 1721 to 1723. At page 
 23 there is the following important statement : 
 "Advertisement concerning the author of this 
 Play. Mr. Harrison, an ingenious Gentlemen 
 who had written several Tatlers after Mr. Steele 
 had dropt them, undertook afterwards to write a 
 play called The Drummer, or the Haunted House, 
 under the direction and tutorship of Mr. Addison, 
 as he told a friend of his at the Hague where he 
 was Secretary to the Earl of Strafford in 1710. 
 That friend, to whom Mr. Harrison read some 
 scenes of his Play, thinks they were much the 
 same as here in this Play ; but he cannot be 
 positive, that Mr. Harrison had quite finished his 
 Play, or tell what alterations Mr, Addison may
 
 i 9 o BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 have made in it after Mr. Harrison's death, which 
 was in 1712. Mr. Tickell may be best able to 
 give an account of that ; and this hint may serve 
 to justify him for not joining this play with Mr. 
 Addison's works." 
 
 The Drummer has been several times reprinted 
 since then, and generally without the letter to 
 Congreve, and always without the important 
 "Advertisement." It now may be useful to turn 
 to the Mr. Harrison who is there named. 
 
 William Harrison was the son of Dr. Harrison, 
 Master of St. Cross, Winchester, and was entered 
 in the register of Winchester School, in 1698, 
 when he was thirteen years old. He was famous 
 as a youth for his power of extempore versification, 
 which was then much in use at the school. Whilst 
 there he wrote a satire on the Winchester ladies, 
 and his poem on Woodstock Park was written soon 
 after going to New College, Oxford, of which he 
 became a Fellow. This poem drew from Addison 
 the flattering remark that "This young man in 
 his very first attempt has exceeded most of the 
 best writers of his age." On the recommendation 
 of Addison he became tutor to a son of the Duke 
 of Queensberry, and whilst in the receipt of ^40 
 a year for his care of the young gentleman, he
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 191 
 
 received from Addison the sensible advice to " read 
 a good History of England, that you may know 
 the affairs of your own country." Harrison, who 
 had the sense to follow this advice, attracted the 
 notice of Dean Swift, by whose influence with St. 
 John, possibly aided by that of Addison with 
 Lord Raby, he became secretary to Lord Raby 
 (afterwards Earl of Strafford), when he was 
 ambassador at the Hague. There is a painful 
 letter, written by Harrison from Utrecht, Dec. 16, 
 1712, for it shows that notwithstanding the high 
 appointment he had received, the Government 
 refrained from paying his salary, which was 
 nominally .1,000 a year, so that he was in great 
 straits. He speaks frankly of his difficulties, and 
 with ardent gratitude to Swift for exertions on 
 his behalf. This appears in Scott's " Dryden," 
 Vol. XVI., p. 39 ; but, with many other references 
 to William Harrison, is wrongly indexed. The 
 entries in Swift's " Journal to Stella " are 
 numerous, and give a vivid picture of this, the 
 most important period of Harrison's life. They 
 show, too, what a hold the clever young man had 
 upon Swift's heart, and the efforts the Dean made 
 to promote his fortunes, whilst styling his Tatlers 
 "trash."
 
 192 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Dr. Young told Joseph Spence that when 
 Harrison came over with the Barrier Treaty he 
 ''went to court very richly dressed, on a birth- 
 night within a month after his return, caught a 
 violent cold there, which brought on a fever and 
 carried him off. He was a little brisk man, quick 
 and passionate, rather foppish in his appearance, 
 a pretty look, and a quick eye. His family were 
 all handsome." Swift, who had obtained some 
 money for him, has this entry under date 
 Feb. 14, 1712-13 : " I took Parnell this morning, 
 and we walked to see poor Harrison. I had the 
 hundred pounds in my pocket. I told Parnell I 
 was afraid to knock at the door ; my mind 
 misgave me ; I knocked, and his man, in tears, 
 told me his master was dead an hour before. 
 Think what grief this is to me ! I went to his 
 mother, and have been ordering things for his 
 funeral, with as little cost as possible, to-morrow, 
 at ten at night. Lord Treasurer was much 
 concerned when I told him I could not dine with 
 Lord Treasurer or anybody else ; but got a bit of 
 meal toward evening. No loss ever grieved me so 
 much ; poor creature ! " Tickell and Young have 
 also left on record their admiration for this " much- 
 loved youth," and their sorrow at his untimely fate.
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 193 
 
 Such is the record of this young man's brief, 
 brilliant, and pathetic career. There is but little 
 left to justify for him a place in English literature, 
 and it is the more difficult to make any claim on 
 his behalf that his writings have never been 
 collected. There exist from his pen various 
 essays in collections. Thus, there are verses 
 mentioned by Swift in Tonson's sixth "Miscellany." 
 In the second number of the Tatler he wrote the 
 verses entitled "The Medicine "-a humorous 
 story based upon a passage in Burton's " Anatomy 
 of Melancholy." When Steele discontinued the 
 Tatler Harrison started it afresh, and edited fifty- 
 two numbers 1 3th January, 1711, to igth May, 
 1711. These form what is sometimes called the 
 " Fifth Volume " of the Tatler, but although 
 Swift and Congreve were among the contributors, 
 the new periodical did not maintain the reputation 
 of its predecessor. He wrote an " Ode to the 
 Duke of Marlborough," which is printed in 
 Duncombe's translation of Horace. In Nichol's 
 " Select Collection of Poems " there are the 
 following : " To Mrs. M. M., with a bough of 
 an orange tree" (Vol. IV., p. 180) ; "In Praise 
 of Laudanum" (p. 181); "To a very Young 
 
 Lady" (p. 182); "On the Death of a Lady's 
 
 13
 
 194 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Cat" (p. 182); "The Passion of Sappho" (p. 
 183); "The Medicine "(Vol. VII., p. 234). In 
 Dodsley's " Collection of Poems " there is "Wood- 
 stock Park, 1706" (Vol. V., p. 227). This is his 
 longest attempt in verse, but the fashion of such 
 descriptive writing is now entirely obsolete. 
 Marlborough, Addison, Garth, and Congreve are 
 named. His lines "In praise of Laudanum " 
 may be quoted as possibly the expression of an 
 English opium-eater before De Quincey : 
 
 " I feel, O Laudanum, thy power divine, 
 And fall with pleasure at thy slumbering shrine ; 
 Lull'd by thy charms, I 'scape each anxious thought, 
 And everything but Mira is forgot." 
 
 A word may be said as to the influence of The 
 Drummer upon foreign literature. Phillippe 
 Nericault Destouches, the French dramatist, was 
 in England from 1717 to 1743, and here may 
 have become familiar with The Drummer of 
 which he wrote an adaptation, " Le Tambour 
 Nocturne," in 1733. It was not one of his most 
 successful pieces, from a literary point of view, 
 but was favourably received when placed on the 
 stage after his death. The editor of the works 
 of Destouches repeats a curious statement that 
 an Italian translation was condemned by the
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 195 
 
 Inquisition to be burnt. Destouches' version is 
 in prose, but there was another adaptation issued 
 in 1737, in verse par M[onsieu]r D* D* [Des- 
 caseaux Desgranges]. It also attracted the 
 notice of J. C. Gottsched, and " Das Gespenste 
 mit der Trummel " is included in the second 
 volume of his " Deutsche Schaubuhne," Leipzig, 
 1742. Gottsched translated, amongst many other 
 things, Addison's " Cato." 
 
 It frequently happens that the origin of a play 
 can be definitely traced, and plots have often 
 been freely appropriated. Tke Drummer is, how- 
 ever, an original drama, and no real analogue has 
 yet been indicated. Addison's latest biographer, 
 Mr. Leslie Stephen, calls The Drummer "a prose 
 comedy founded on the story of the drummer of 
 Tedworth, told in Glanvil's ' Saducismus Tri- 
 umphatus.' ' This assertion, which appears to 
 have no solid foundation, I have not been able to 
 find any trace of before the appearance of a 
 paragraph in the Gentleman s Magazine for 1796 
 (p. 6). The statement, not made very positively, 
 was included in " Addisoniana," in 1803. This 
 book is an amusing, but not very authoritative, 
 publication, issued by Sir Richard Phillips. 
 " Upon this story, related to him in early life, it
 
 196 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 is said Mr. Addison imbibed the first idea of 
 writing his play of The Drummer or the Haunted 
 House" This was repeated and amplified by 
 John Timbs, who had been the amanuensis of 
 Phillips, when he published, under the pseudonym 
 of Horace Welby, in 1825, a book since several 
 times reprinted, entitled " Signs after Death." 
 Timbs observes : " Every one has heard of the 
 comedy of The Drummer, or the Haunted House, 
 celebrated enough in its day, but the popularity 
 of which ceased when the affair was no longer a 
 topic of conversation." 
 
 This is sufficient in itself to show the baseless- 
 ness of the theory, for the affair at Tedworth 
 happened in 1661 1663, and The Drummer was 
 not put upon the stage until 1715. Nor is there 
 the slightest resemblance between the story told 
 by Glanvil and the drama upon which it is said to 
 be based. Glanvil's narrative is that a mendicant 
 drummer, travelling with a forged pass, was 
 detected by Mr. Mompesson of Tedworth in 
 Wiltshire, who had the drum taken from him and 
 ordered the constable to take him before a 
 magistrate. The constable let the vagrant off, 
 but sent the drum to Mompesson's house, which 
 soon after had the reputation of being haunted.
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 197 
 
 The chief annoyance was a frequent noise of 
 thumping and drumming. This was chiefly in 
 the children's room, but other parts of the house 
 were affected. Beds were lifted, a Bible thrown 
 in the ashes, and various articles moved about 
 without any apparent cause. The drummer was 
 tried at Gloucester Assizes for felony and 
 sentenced to transportation, but evaded the 
 sentence. Glanvil says " but by some means it 
 is said by raising storms and affrighting the 
 seamen he made shift to come back again, " and 
 the disturbances recommenced. Mompesson then 
 indicted him at Salisbury Assizes in 1663 u for a 
 witch," and upon evidence that he said " I have 
 plagued him, and he shall never be quiet until he 
 hath made me satisfaction for taking away my 
 drum," the grand jury found a bill, but the- petty 
 jury with greater sense acquitted him. Gradually 
 the disturbances died away apparently without any 
 discovery of their real origin. Glanvil's narrative 
 is quoted in Ennemoser's " History of Magic," 
 and other works. It will be seen from a brief 
 analysis that the incidents have not the slightest 
 resemblance to the plot of The Drummer. This 
 has no supernatural machinery. Lady Truman, 
 whose husband is supposed to have been slain in
 
 198 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 battle, has several suitors for her handsome 
 person and extensive possessions. The noise of 
 a drum is heard nightly, and the servants are 
 alarmed at this ghastly visitant. It is, in fact, one 
 of the lady's rejected suiters, who, in connivance 
 with the obliging Abigail has taken this method 
 of frightening away his rivals, the chief of whom 
 is a London fop who makes a shallow profession 
 of unbelief in everything except that the world 
 was made by chance. Sir George Truman, the 
 report of whose death was false, returns home as a 
 magician, and tells the fortunes of his " widow" 
 and her suitors. Thus when Fantome, disguised 
 as Sir George, and armed with a drum, has 
 frightened away two of the suitors, he is himself 
 driven off by the apparition of the real Sir 
 George. The comedy closes with the marriage 
 of Abigail and the Steward, and the re-union of 
 Sir George and Lady Truman. 
 
 Mr. W. J. Courthope declares, " There appears 
 to be no good reason for doubting that The 
 Drummer was the work of Addison. . . . The 
 plot is poor and trivial, nor does the dialogue, 
 though it shows in many passages traces of its 
 author's peculiar vein of humour, make amends by 
 its brilliancy for the tameness of the dramatic
 
 THE DRUMMER OF HERSTMONCEUX. 199 
 
 situation." Dr. Joseph Warton calls it "that 
 excellent and neglected comedy, that just picture 
 of life and real manners, where the poet never 
 speaks in his own person, or totally drops or 
 forgets a character for the sake of introducing a 
 brilliant simile or acute remark : where no train is 
 laid for wit ; no Jeremys or Bens are allowed to 
 appear." 
 
 The data now brought together, even if not 
 sufficient for a definitive judgment, make it 
 probable that the story of the house at Ted worth, 
 haunted by a drummer, which Addison would hear 
 in his boyhood, as his father's residence was in 
 the same county and at no great distance, may 
 have recurred to him in manhood as a fitting 
 subject for treatment in a comedy. That he 
 would suggest it to young William Harrison is 
 not unlikely, seeing the interest that he took in 
 him. The exact share of Harrison as author or 
 amanuensis cannot now be determined, but 
 whether great or little, it need not be doubted 
 that to Addison the play owes the excellent 
 qualities of its style. 
 
 It is to be regretted that Walpole did not 
 give a more detailed account of the drummer of 
 Herstmonceux. The local story appears to have
 
 200 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 been that the martial spirit guarded a treasure 
 placed in a chest and concealed in a recess of the 
 wall. This hoard having been discovered by a 
 steward of the estate the drummer felt relieved of 
 his duty. But from another account it seems 
 probable that the smugglers with whom Sussex 
 abounded in the " good old times " made 
 occasional use of portions of the castle as a hiding 
 place for goods which had not paid duty. The 
 beating of the drum was a signal used by these 
 gentry to give information to each other and to 
 frighten their superstitions neighbours from too 
 close inquiry into these transactions. This is 
 certainly a very rationalistic explanation. 
 Herstmonceux is no longer haunted. The 
 Drummer has fled and his drum has been silenced 
 for ever.
 
 Suseey Sundials. 
 
 A SUN-DIAL is always a pleasant and often 
 picturesque addition to a building, whether 
 that building be a stately church or an antique 
 cottage. Since clocks and watches have become 
 so common, it is perhaps too much to expect that 
 there will be any general revival of the older 
 fashion of marking time. The civilized man, as 
 Emerson points out, has a watch in his pocket, 
 but has lost the power of telling the time of day 
 by the sun a faculty possessed in a rare degree 
 by primitive man, and one that should never be 
 lost by those whose happy fortune it is to have 
 plenty of out-door avocations. It is a point in 
 favour of the sun-dial that, although an artifical 
 method of measuring time, it is one likely to 
 strengthen the power of accurate observation, 
 since even to the least observant the changing 
 shadow on its face would be associated in the 
 mind with the progress in the sky of the great 
 light of the earth. That there is still considerable 
 interest in the subject of sun-dials is evident from
 
 202 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 the fact that three editions have appeared of Mrs. 
 Gatty's " Book of Sun-dials." * 
 
 Sun-dials are not so common in Sussex as 
 might have been expected, but there is an undated 
 one at St. Leonard's-on-Sea, and another at Sun- 
 dial House, Hove, which are not mentioned by 
 Mrs. Gatty and her contributors. 
 
 ARUNDEL. 
 
 In the wall of the south aisle of Arundel 
 Church, there is a dial dated 1744. On it is the 
 following motto : " Dixe dies numerare " (Learn 
 to number the days], 
 
 BISHOPSTONE. 
 
 This place, the residence of that amiable 
 man James Hurdis, the author of the " Favourite 
 Village," can boast of one of the most remark- 
 able sun-dials in the country. It is placed 
 over the church porch, and is inscribed"^ 
 Eadric." The stone is rounded at the top, and 
 has for ornament a Greek fret. The hour lines 
 are thirteen in number. The five principal lines 
 
 * The latest, a handsome quarto volume of nearly 600 pages, was pub- 
 lished in 1890 by Messrs. George Bell & Son. It is a book to be welcomed to 
 the working library of the antiquary, and yet possessing so much of 
 popular and pictorial interest (for it is illustrated by charming drawings) 
 as to deserve a place on the table of what our elders called the parlour 
 a name now almost as obsolete as the sun-dial.
 
 SUN-DIALS. 203 
 
 cross at the end, and divide the day into four 
 parts. Each of these parts is divided again into 
 three. In this way the twelve hours in the day 
 are marked, etc., according to Roman usage, in 
 combination, with the four tydes of the octaval 
 system. History records that Eadric, a prince 
 of the South Saxons, who was the son of Egbert, 
 King of Kent, was living in A.D. 685, the year 
 when Wilfrid departed from Sussex. If the name 
 on the dial may be identified with that of this 
 Saxon prince, the Bishopstone dial is more than 
 twelve centuries old. 
 
 BRIGHTON. 
 
 On the West Pier at Brighton there are 
 six mottoes: "Umbra docet " (The Shadow 
 teaches); " Hinc disce " (Hence learn); "Sine 
 umbra nihil (Nothing is without shadow) ; 
 " Tis always morning somewhere in the world" 
 (a line from R. H. Home's "farthing epic" of 
 Orion]; and " Horas non numero nisi serenas " 
 (/ count only the bright hours]. In Helps's 
 " Friends in Council " Ellesmere's criticism on the 
 last phrase is "that for men the dial was either 
 totally useless or utterly false." This same motto 
 inspired Mr. Joseph Ellis to write his poem of
 
 204 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 THE SUN-DIAL. 
 
 (Horas non numero nisi Serenas !) 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 The home of gloom 
 Is in Oblivion's tomb : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 Hold for they haste ; 
 Let care as shadows waste : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 The clouds between 
 As if they had not been : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 Truth can but shine, 
 Error to shade incline : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 
 Honour is clear, 
 
 And baseness shrouds in fear : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 Count gain not loss, 
 The ore, and not the dross : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 If love hath flown, 
 Rejoice how once it shone : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 Thy friend decays ? 
 Think of the joyous days : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 Some hopes have failed, 
 Cherish what hath prevailed :
 
 SUN-DIALS. 205 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 Dark is distress, 
 And light is happiness : 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 
 Our life is light, 
 
 Our Death is as the Night 
 
 Only the sunny hours ! 
 
 So when 'tis done, 
 Mark, with the Dial's powers 
 As do the fruits or flowers, 
 
 The record of the Sun.* 
 
 BUXTED. 
 
 "We shall 1693," ma y be read in Buxted 
 Churchyard, above an old and rather elaborately 
 engraved dial. It is an effort of rural philo- 
 sophy to combine instruction and amusement, 
 and is to be read "We must die all." This pun 
 was a somewhat favourite joke with the dial- 
 makers. 
 
 CHICHESTER. 
 
 The remarkable market cross at Chichester, 
 erected in the fifteenth century by Bishop 
 Edward Story, and repaired in the reign 
 of Charles II., had formerly four dials facing 
 the principal streets of the city, but these have 
 been superseded by a clock. 
 
 * Ellis. Caesar in Egypt (1885), p. 267.
 
 206 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 EAST GRINSTEAD. 
 
 Sackville College, East Grinstead, is a 
 building dating from A.D. 1616. The dial 
 was formerly inscriped " Tempus fugit," but the 
 face of the dial was renewed during the 
 wardenship of the Rev. Dr. Neale, and was then 
 inscribed " Horas non numero nisi serenas " (/ 
 count only the bright hours]. 
 
 ELLESLIE. 
 
 At Elleslie, near Chichester, there is a cross 
 dial with ten separate mottoes, namely : " Bulla 
 est vita humana " ( The life of man is a bubble]. 
 " Fugio, fuge " (I fly fly thou\ "Nosce teipsum " 
 (Know thyself). " Nulla dies sine linea " (No 
 day without its mark). " Pereunt et irnputantur " 
 (They perish, and are reckoned]. "Quid celerius 
 tempore ?" ( What is swifter than time ?}. " Sic 
 transit gloria mundi " (So passes the glory of the 
 world). "Umbra Dei" (The shadow of God). 
 " Ut vita sic umbra" (As life so is a shadow]. 
 "Via vitae" (The Way of life). 
 
 FRANT. 
 
 " Cito pede sabitur aetas, 1724" (With 
 swift foot doth time glide by\ is engraved 
 on a stone pedestal in Frant Churchyard. The
 
 SUN-DIALS. 207 
 
 metal face is engraved with elaborate ornamental 
 
 decorations. 
 
 FRISTON. 
 
 Friston, or Bechyngton Place, which is now 
 a farmhouse in a deep dell, relieved with 
 ancient elms, has features of antiquity, including a 
 hall, the roof of which belongs to the fourteenth 
 century. In the great window is a sun-dial, with 
 this motto from Cicero : " Sensim sine sensu " 
 (Softly and no man knows). 
 
 HURSTPIERPOINT. 
 
 "Via crucis via lucis " (The way of the 
 Cross is the way of light), is inscribed at 
 Hurstpierpoint School on a dial which is shaped 
 as a recumbent cross. The hours are indicated 
 by the position of the shadow on the different 
 points of the cross. 
 
 FYNING. 
 
 " Nihil volentibus arduum " (Nothing is 
 difficult to the willing], is the inscription 
 on a dial at Fyning House, which was erected in 
 the reign of George II. 
 
 OVINGDEAN. 
 
 On a dial in Ovingdean Churchyard may be 
 read :
 
 2o8 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 " Shadows cast upon the dial show 
 The presence of the sun above ; 
 Shadows cast upon our life below 
 True tokens are that God is love. 
 
 April 6th, 1882." 
 
 RYE. 
 
 On the town hall at Rye is a dial in- 
 scribed, "That solar shadow, as it measures 
 life, it life resembles too." "Tempus edax 
 rerum " ( Time the devourer of [#//] things], 
 This dial used to be on the front of Rye Grammar 
 School, which was erected in 1636. The dial 
 was presented to the school by Colonel de Lacy 
 Evans when he was M.P. for the ancient town, 
 and it remained upon the school until 1887, when 
 the building was repointed, and new windows 
 were put in, to commemorate the Queen's Jubilee ; 
 and as it was found that the dial obscured one of 
 the windows, it was removed to its present 
 position. The first motto is from Young's 
 " Night Thoughts," Night II. 
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 
 
 "You may waste, but cannot stop me." This 
 motto is painted on a board over the door of a 
 chapel of ease in Chapel Place, near the Pantiles,
 
 SUN-DIALS. 209 
 
 Tunbridge Wells. There is no date, but the 
 maker's name is recorded, " Alexr. Raefecit." 
 
 The dial moralists harp very much on one 
 string, for the lessons they enforce can only be 
 that time is fleeting, and that, in Shakespeare's 
 phrase, "life is but a walking shadow." 
 
 14
 
 Gnnbrifcge Wells Earl? in the 
 Eighteenth Centnn>. 
 
 MACAU LAY has drawn a vivid picture of 
 Tunbridge Wells at the time of the 
 Restoration, in a famous passage wherein he says : 
 " When the Court, soon after the Restoration, 
 visited Tunbridge Wells, there was no town ; but 
 within a mile of the spring, rustic cottages, some- 
 what cleaner and neater than the ordinary cottages 
 of that time, were scattered over the heath. 
 Some of these cabins were movable, and were 
 carried on sledges from one part of the common 
 to another. To these huts men of fashion, 
 wearied with the din and smoke of London, 
 sometimes came in the summer to breathe fresh 
 air and to catch a glimpse of rural life. During 
 the season a kind of fair was daily held near the 
 fountain. The wives and daughters of the 
 Kentish farmers came from the neighbouring 
 villages with cream, cherries, wheat-ears, and 
 quails. To chaffer with them, to flirt with them, 
 to praise their straw hats and high heels, was a
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 211 
 
 refreshing pastime to voluptuaries sick of the airs 
 of actresses and maids of honour. Milliners, 
 toymen, and jewellers, came down from London, 
 and opened a bazaar under the trees. In one 
 booth the politician might find his coffee and the 
 ' London Gazette ' ; in another were gamblers 
 playing deep at basset ; and on fine evenings the 
 fiddles were in attendance, and there were morris- 
 dances on the elastic turf of the bowling green. 
 In 1685 a subscription had just been raised 
 among those who frequented the wells for building 
 a church, which the Tories, who then domineered 
 everywhere, insisted on dedicating to St. Charles 
 the Martyr." 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, one of the most charming of 
 inland towns, has never lost its attractions, and 
 if it is no longer in a special resort of the court 
 and the citizens, as in the days of Queen Anne, it 
 has remained solidly prosperous. There is a 
 glimpse of the manners and customs of the gay 
 watering-place in a broadside printed in 1 706, and 
 entitled 
 
 THE TUNBRIDGE PRODIGY. 
 
 Protect our state, and let our Marlbro' thrive, 
 Keep our crowned heads this wondrous year alive ; 
 Preserve our palaces from wind and flame,
 
 212 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Safe be our fleets, and be our Scotchmen tame. 
 Avert kind fate ! whatere th' event may prove, 
 For here's a prodigy, a man in love. 
 Wasted and pale he languishes in sight, 
 And spends in am'rous verse the sleepless night. 
 Whilst happier youths to careless spirits born, 
 View the distress with pity or with scorn ; 
 And maids so long unus'd to be ador'd 
 Think it portends the pestilence or sword. 
 
 How chang'd is Britain to the blooming fair ! 
 
 Whom now the men no longer make their care, 
 
 But of indifference arrogantly boast, 
 
 And scarce the wine gets down a Buckworth for a toast. 
 
 Not so (as still their works declare) it proved 
 
 When Spencer, Sydney, and when Waller lov'd, 
 
 And with soft numbers wing'd resistless darts, 
 
 Nor thought their passion less'ning to their parts. 
 
 Then let such patterns countenance his fire, 
 Whom love and verse do now afresh inspire 
 'Gainst all who blame, or at his state admire. 
 
 And learn ye nymphs how to regain your sway ; 
 And make this stubborn sex once more obey. 
 Call back the fugitive by modest pride, 
 And let them dye with fear to be deny'd. 
 Stay till their courtship may deserve the name, 
 And take not every look for love and flame. 
 To mercenary ends no charms imploy, 
 Nor stake your smiles against some raffled toy. 
 
 For every fop lay not th' insnaring train, 
 Nor lose the worthy to allure the vain. 
 Keep at due distance all attempts of bliss, 
 Nor let a whisper seem to steal a kiss.
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 213 
 
 Dance not upon the green but with some swain, 
 Whose long endeavours may your favour gain. 
 Nor be transported when some trifler's view 
 Directs his giddy choice to light on you. 
 Amend whatever may your charms disgrace, 
 And trust not wholly to a conquering face. 
 Nor be your motions rude, coquet, or wild, 
 Shuffling or lame as if in nursing spoil'd. 
 Slight not the advantage of a graceful mien, 
 Tho' Paris judged the prize to beauty's queen, 
 When Juno mov'd, Venus could scarce be seen. 
 
 Assert your power in paradise begun, 
 Born to undo, be not yourselves undone, 
 Contented and cheap, as easy to be won. 
 
 But if like sov'reigns you maintain your ground, 
 The rebels at your feet will soon be found. 
 And when with such authority you move, 
 No new surprise, no prodigy 'twill prove 
 ' To see one man, or the whole sex in love. 
 
 Every age regards itself as the most moral and 
 the most immoral, and in every age there is an 
 outcry as to the decay of matrimony. 
 
 An elaborate account of the place was 
 written by John Byrom, who visited it in 1723, 
 although his verses were not printed until three 
 years later. It is in the form of an invitation to 
 a friend to join him at the Wells.
 
 214 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF TUNBRIDGE, 
 In a Letter to P.M., Esq. 
 
 Dear Peter whose friendship I value much more 
 Than bards their own verses, or misers their store, 
 Your books, and your bus'ness, and ev'ry thing else 
 Lay aside for a while, and come to the Wells : 
 The country so pleasant ! the weather so fine ! 
 A world of fair ladies, and delicate wine ! 
 The proposal, I fancy, you'll hardly reject, 
 Then hear, if you come, what you first may expect. 
 
 Some eight or nine miles off we send to you greeting 
 Barbers, dippers, and so forth to give you the meeting. 
 As soon as they spy you each pulls off his hat, 
 " Does your honour want this ? Does your honour want that ? " 
 Thus being a stranger, by this apparatus 
 You may see our good manners before you come at us. 
 Now this in your custom's to get the first footing, 
 A trick, please your honour, which here we call Tooting."* 
 
 Conducted by these civil gem'men to town, 
 You put up your horse at for rhyme's sake, the Crown : 
 My landland bids welcome, and gives you his word 
 For the best entertainment his house can afford. 
 You taste which is better, his white or his red, 
 Bespeak a good supper, good room, and good bed ; 
 In short, just as travellers do when they light, 
 So fill up the stanza, I wish you " Good-Night ! " 
 
 But when ruddy Phcebus next morning appears, 
 And with his bright beams our glad hemisphere cheers, 
 You rise, dress, get shav'd, then away to the Walks, 
 The pride of the place, of which ev'ry one talks ! 
 
 * A Provincial word, which signifies prying, searching narrowly.
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 215 
 
 I'd imagine you there to be drinking the waters, 
 Knew I not that you come not for such little matters, 
 But to see the fine ladies in their dishabille, 
 Which dress is sometimes the most studied to kill. 
 
 The ladies you see ; they are ladies as fair, 
 As charming and bright as are seen anywhere : 
 You eye and examine the beautiful throng, 
 As o'er the clean walks they pass lovely along ; 
 Should any one look a little demurer, 
 You fancy, like ev'ry young fop, you could cure her ; 
 Till from some pretty nymph a deep wound you receive, 
 And yourself want the cure which you thought you could give. 
 
 Not so wounded howe'er as to make you forget 
 That your honour this morn has not breakfasted yet ; 
 So to Morley's you go, look about and sit down ; 
 Then comes the young lass for your honour's half-crown ; 
 She brings out the book, you look wisely upon her, 
 " What's the meaning of this ? " " To subscribe please your 
 
 honour ; " 
 
 So you write as your betters have all done before ye, 
 'Tis a custom, and here is an end of the story. 
 
 And now all this while, it is forty to one 
 But some friend or other you've stumbled upon ; 
 You all go to church upon hearing the bell, 
 Whether out of devotion yourselves best can tell : 
 From thence to the tavern, to toast pretty Nancy, 
 Th' aforesaid bright nymph that had smitten your fancy, 
 Where wine and good victuals attend your commands, 
 And wheatears, far better than French ortolans.* 
 
 * And, amongst the rest, that delicious bird, the wheat-ear, is brought in 
 great plenty from the South-Downs. This little bird, commonly called the 
 " English Ortolan," is not bigger than a lark, but is infinitely preferable in the 
 fatness and delicacy of its flesh. The manner of catching them is something
 
 216 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Then after you've din'd, take a view of our ground, 
 Observe the grand mountains that compass us round ; 
 And if you could walk a mile after eating, 
 Some comical rocks are worth contemplating ; 
 You may if you please for their oddness and make, 
 Compare them let's see to the Derbyshire Peak. 
 They're one like the other, except that the wonder 
 Is seen here above ground, and there is seen under.* 
 
 To the walks about seven you trace back your way, 
 Where the Sun marches off, and the ladies make day ; 
 What crowding of charms ! what Gods ! rather Goddesses ! 
 What beauties are there ! what bright looks, airs, and dresses ! 
 In the room of waters had Helicon sprung, 
 Had the nymphs of the place by old poets been sung, 
 To invite the Gods hither they would have had reason, 
 And Jove had descended each night in the season. 
 
 peculiar : The shepherds make small holes in the Downs, covered with a 
 turf about a foot long, and half a foot broad, in which they place snares of 
 horse-hair, and the birds, being very fearful of rain, run into these holes for 
 shelter at the approach of every cloud, and thus are caught in prodigious 
 numbers. They are brought to the Wells in their utmost perfection ; but, 
 as they are in season only in the midst of summer, the heat of the weather, 
 and their own fatness, make them so apt to corrupt, that the London 
 poulterers dare not meddle with them ; for which reason it is necessary for 
 the epicure to go into the country, if he would indulge his appetite with one 
 of the greatest dainties in its kind. (Cliffords Tunbridge Wells Guide, 
 /<?//, /. 95 ). There is a characteristic passage to the same purport in 
 Fuller's Worthies. 
 
 * What visitor to Tunbridge Wells fails tc see these ? The Toad Rock 
 is on Rusthall Common, and has received its name from a supposed 
 resemblance to that amphibian. Other stones in its vicinity also had 
 appellations bestowed on them, which are at least creditable to the 
 imaginative powers of the sponsers. The " High Rocks" are further from 
 the town. Evelyn, in 1661, styles them "solitudes," and was especially 
 impressed by "the extravagant turnings, insinuations, and growth of 
 certain birch-trees amongst the rocks." Mrs. Elizabeth Carter was "not 
 without a kind of terror" on beholding these " Salvator-like scenes." 
 Time has brought its changes, and the solitudes are now enclosed, 
 decorated with swings, and made into a picnic resort. They are,
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 217 
 
 If with things here below we compare things on high, 
 The walks are like yonder bright path in the sky, 
 Where heavenly bodies in such clusters mingle 
 As makes it invidious their graces to single. 
 See the charms of her sex unite in Miss K-ll-y ; 
 If ever you've seen her, permit me to tell ye, 
 Descriptions are needless ; for, after to you 
 No beauty, no graces can ever be new. 
 
 But when to their gaming the ladies withdraw, 
 Those beauties are fled which when walking you saw ; 
 Most ungrateful the scene which there is display'd, 
 Chance murd'ring the features which heaven had made. 
 If the Fair Ones their charms did sufficiently prize, 
 Their elbows they'd spare for the sake of their eyes ; 
 And the men too what work ! 'tis enough, in good faith is't, 
 Of the nonsense of chance to convince any Ath'ist. 
 
 But now it is proper to bid my friend " vale," 
 Lest we tire you too long with our Tunbridgiale : 
 
 notwithstanding, picturesque and interesting. The High Rocks are about 
 sixty feet in height. On one known as the Bell Rock is inscribed the 
 following quatrain : 
 
 " This scratch I made that you may know 
 
 On this rock lyes ye beauteous Bow ; 
 Reader, this rock is the Bow's bell, 
 Strike't with thy stick, and ring his knell." 
 
 And the visitors rarely fail to elicit a metallic sound from the rock, and 
 thus perpetuate the memory of tbe unfortunate lap-dog lost in the fissure of 
 the rock in 1702. One other rock furnishes this brief sermon in stone : 
 
 " Infidel ! who with thy finite wisdom, 
 Would'st grasp things infinite, and dost 
 A scoffer of God's holiest mysteries ; become, 
 Behold this rock, then tremble and rejoice ; 
 Tremble ! for He who formed the mighty mass, 
 Could, in His Justice, crush thee where thou art. 
 Rejoice ! that still His mercy spares thee." 
 March aist, 1831. J. PHIPPEN. 
 
 Here the orthodoxy of the scribe is more evident than his poetic genius.
 
 218 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Which should the sour critics pretend to unravel, 
 
 Or at these lame verses should stupidly cavil, 
 
 If this be our lot, tell those critics, I pray, 
 
 That I care not one farthing for all they can say, 
 
 And now I conclude with my service, good Peter, 
 
 To yourself and all friends ; farewell muse ! farewell metre ! 
 
 It may be noted Byrom makes no reference to 
 the somewhat easy manners of Tunbridge as 
 described in the " Spectator" (Nos. 492 and 496).* 
 All agree that there was much gambling. Of this 
 aspect of fashionable life at Tunbridge there is a 
 striking illustration in Goldsmith's " Life of Beau 
 Nash." 
 
 "At Tunbridge, in the year 1715," he says, 
 "Mr. J. Hedges made a very brilliant appearance ; 
 he had been married about two years to a young 
 lady of great beauty and large fortune ; they had 
 one child, a boy, on whom they bestowed all that 
 affection which they could spare from each other. 
 He knew nothing of gaming, nor seemed to have 
 the least passion for play ; but he was unacquainted 
 with his own heart ! He began by degrees to bet 
 at the table for trifling sums, and his soul took fire 
 at the prospect of immediate gain. He was soon 
 
 * Byron? s Journals, printed from his own shorthand MSS., and giving 
 a vivid picture of certain portions of the literary and general society of 
 England in the earlier part of last century, have been printed by the 
 Chetham Society, which has also issued an edition of his poems carefully 
 annotated and appreciated by Dr. A. W. Ward.
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 219 
 
 surrounded with sharpers, who with calmness lay 
 in ambush for his fortune, and coolly took 
 advantage of the precipitancy of his passions. 
 
 " His lady perceived the ruin of her family 
 approaching, but at first, without being able to 
 form any scheme to prevent it. She advised with 
 his brother, who at that time was possessed of a 
 small fellowship at Cambridge. It was easily 
 seen that whatever passion took the lead in her 
 husband's mind, seemed to be there fixed unalter- 
 ably. It was determined therefore to let him 
 pursue fortune, but previously take measures to 
 prevent the pursuit being fatal. 
 
 " Accordingly, every night this gentleman was 
 a constant attender at the hazard tables. He 
 understood neither threats of sharpers, nor even 
 the allowed strokes of a connoisseur, yet still he 
 played. The consequence is obvious. He lost 
 his estate, his equipage, his wife's jewels, and 
 every other moveable that could be parted with 
 except a repeating watch. His agony upon this 
 occasion was inexpressible ; he was even mean 
 enough to ask a gentleman who sat near to lend 
 him a few pieces in order to turn his fortune ; but 
 this prudent gamester, who plainly saw there were 
 no expectations of being repaid, refused to lend a
 
 220 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 farthing, alleging a former resolution against 
 lending. Hedges was at last furious with the 
 continuance of ill success, and pulling out his 
 watch, asked if any person in company would set 
 him sixty guineas upon it. The company were 
 silent ; he then demanded fifty, still no answer ; 
 he sank to forty, thirty, twenty ; finding the 
 company still without answering, he cried out, 
 ' By God, it shall never go for less ! ' and dashed 
 it against the floor, at the same time attempting to 
 dash out his brains against the marble chimney- 
 piece. This last act of desperation immediately 
 excited the attention of the whole company, they 
 instantly gathered round, and prevented the 
 effects of his passion ; and after he again became 
 cool, he was permitted to return home with 
 sullen discontent to his wife. Upon his entering 
 her apartment, she received him with her usual 
 tenderness and satisfaction ; while he answered 
 her caresses with contempt and severity, his dis- 
 position being quite altered with his misfortunes. 
 'But, my dear Jemmy,' says his wife, 'perhaps 
 you don't know the news I have to tell, my 
 mamma's old uncle is dead, the messenger is now 
 in the house, and you know his estate is settled 
 upon you.' This account seemed only to increase
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 221 
 
 his agony, and looking angrily at her, he cried, 
 ' There you lie, my dear ; his estate is not settled 
 upon me.' ' I beg your pardon,' said she, * I really 
 thought it was, at least you have always told me so.' 
 'No,' returned he, ' as sure as you and I are to be 
 miserable here, and our children beggars here- 
 after, I have sold the reversion of it this day, and 
 have lost every farthing I got for it at the hazard 
 table.' 'What all?' replied the lady. 'Yes, 
 every farthing,' returned he, ' and I owe a 
 thousand pounds more than I have got to pay.' 
 Thus speaking, he took a few frantic steps across 
 the room. When the lady had a little enjoyed 
 his perplexity, 'No, my dear,' cried she, 'you 
 have lost but a trifle, and you owe nothing, your 
 brother and I have taken care to prevent the 
 effects of your rashness, and are actually the 
 'persons who have won your fortune ; we 
 employed proper persons for this purpose, who 
 brought their winnings to me. Your money, your 
 equipage, are in my possession, and here I return 
 them to you, from whom they were unjustly taken, 
 I only ask permission to keep my jewels, and to 
 keep you, my greatest jewel, from such dangers 
 for the future.' Her prudence had the proper 
 effect. He ever retained a sense of his former
 
 222 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 follies, and never played for the smallest sums, 
 even for amusement." 
 
 Truly a lucky gambler. Few possessed by the 
 the demon of chance have been so fortunate. 
 
 As we stroll along the Pantiles, we can, in 
 imagination, recall those who frequented the 
 " walks " in the past. Not only Dudley North, 
 who discovered the chalybeate waters, that have 
 made its fortunes, but Henrietta Maria, and 
 Queen Anne, with her poor sickly child, the Duke 
 of Gloucester ; John Evelyn ; the Chevalier de 
 Grammont ; Dr. Johnson ; Samuel Richardson ; 
 and Elizabeth Carter, whose knowledge of Greek 
 made her an object of awe, as well as admiration 
 to the fashionable butterflies, were amongst 
 the visitort to Tunbridge. And mingling with 
 the throng of the mortals are Thackeray's 
 immortals, Harry Warrington and Colonel Wolfe. 
 
 The visitor to Tunbridge may say with Mr. J. 
 Ashby-Sterry, in his charming "Lazy Minstrel": 
 
 " Beneath the Limes, 'tis good you know, 
 
 To lounge here for an hour or so, 
 And sit and listen if you please 
 To sweet leaf-lyrics of the trees 
 
 As balmy August breezes blow. 
 
 You'll dream of courtly belle and beau, 
 Who promenaded long ago,
 
 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 223 
 
 Who flirted, danced, and took their ease 
 Beneath the Limes. 
 
 No doubt they made a pretty show 
 
 In hoop, and sack, and furbelow ; 
 These slaves to Fashion's stern decrees, 
 These patched and powdered Pantilese 
 
 With all their grand punctilo 
 Beneath the Limes ! 
 
 Beneath the limes perchance you'll fret 
 
 For bygone times, and may regret 
 The manner of the time of Anne, 
 The graceful conduct of a fan, 
 
 And stately old-world etiquette ! 
 
 The good old days are gone, and yet 
 You never saw, I'll freely bet, 
 More beauty since the Wells began 
 Beneath the Limes ! 
 
 For Linda, Bell, and Margaret, 
 
 With Nita, Madge, and Violet, 
 Alicia, Phyllis, Mona, Nan, 
 And others you'll not fail to scan, 
 
 Will make you bygone times forget- 
 Beneath the Limes !
 
 She flDiller's ftomb. 
 
 THE " Miller's Tomb" is within easy access 
 by rail and road from Worthing and 
 Brighton, and the visitor may easily include 
 Tarring and Salvington in the course of his 
 journey. 
 
 West Tarring, known also as Tarring Peveral, 
 whilst practically a suburb of Worthing possesses 
 many old world features. There is a pleasant air 
 of repose about the village, that has been a 
 market town since 1444. This privilege was 
 granted by Henry VI., to his beloved lieges of 
 the village of Tarring near the sea, because they 
 suffered great injuries and damages in their bodies 
 and effects from their enemies of France, and 
 were apprehensive of the loss of their goods, and 
 of the village itself, by these foes from over the 
 sea, whilst they were attending to business in the 
 nearest market. That they might be at hand to 
 defend their homes, the King granted them the 
 right to hold a market every Saturday. Since 
 the days of Athelstane, Tarring has been a
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB. 225 
 
 " peculiar " of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and 
 a portion of what was once the palace of the 
 Primate, now forms part of the village school- 
 house. The hum of childish voices is heard 
 where Becket may have meditated on the 
 methods of his long struggle with Henry III. as 
 to the respective share of church and state in the 
 government of the English nation. In the Fig 
 Garden close by, is a venerable tree which 
 tradition asserts was planted by the hands of the 
 prelate known to after ages as St. Thomas of 
 Canterbury. But tradition has a bow of two 
 strings, and as an alternative suggests the name 
 of St. Richard of Chichester, whose biographer 
 tells that he grafted fruit trees at Tarring with 
 his own hand. It has been noted that in this 
 locality, the lily of the valley, the favourite flower 
 of the ascetic but stormy saint, is very plentiful. 
 The fig trees of Tarring are also responsible for a 
 summer bird of passage which appears when the 
 harvest is ripe, and is believed to be identical 
 with the beccafico of the Campagna. 
 
 Tarring Church has also some modern asso- 
 ciations of interest. One of its former vicars was 
 the Rev. John Wood Warter, a man of scholarly 
 
 accomplishments, and refined literary taste, whose 
 
 15
 
 226 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 writings are prized by students, though they 
 cannot be said to have attracted the general 
 public to any large extent. Warter married the 
 daughter of Robert Southey, and a window in the 
 church is dedicated by her piety and the memory 
 of her father. Another famous name connected 
 with Tarring is that of John Strype, who was 
 some time its rector. Passing through the quiet 
 town of Tarring, a field path brings us to the 
 quieter village of Salvington, and at its entrance is 
 the cottage where John Selden is said to have been 
 born in 1584. The date on the doorway is 1601, 
 but the building may be older than the inscription. 
 The father of the great jurist was a " minstrel," 
 and is said to have won his wife by his skill in 
 music. The cottage was then known as the 
 Lacies, and was the house attached to a farm of 
 about eighty acres. On the lintel of the door 
 inside is an inscription said to have been composed 
 and carved by Selden at the age of ten ! 
 
 GRATVS Honeste MIH' No clavDAR INITIO SEDEB' 
 
 FVR ABEAS : NO SV FACTA SOLVTA TIBI. 
 
 This has been interpreted as : 
 
 Gratus, honeste, mihi, non claudar, initio sedebis [or sedequej 
 Fur abeas : non sum facta soluta tibi.
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB. 227 
 
 Honesty ! thou art welcome unto me, 
 Enter, be seated ; I would not closed be ; 
 Thief! be gone ; I open not to thee.* 
 
 From this little cottage Selden went to 
 Chichester Grammar School, and from thence to 
 Oxford, and became the wonder of his age for learn- 
 ing. In the Inner Temple he had a choice library 
 of books, of which in the beginning of all or most 
 he wrote either in the title or leaf before it, 
 irepl TTCIVTOS TTJV eXevfaptav, " Above all things, Liberty." 
 This is a noble motto for a scholar. Selden's 
 " History of Tithes" was suppressed in 1619, by 
 the High Commission Court, and he was 
 forbidden by the King to reply to those who had 
 endeavoured, with very poor success, to con- 
 trovert the positions he had defended. Selden's 
 is an impressive if not an heroic figure. He was 
 on the side of liberty but made no sacrifices. 
 There was a humorous side to his character. He 
 sat as a lay member of the Assembly of Divines, 
 and took part in their debates. " And sometimes," 
 we are told " when they had cited a text of 
 scripture to prove their assertion, he would tell 
 
 * There is a less literal rendering, 
 
 Dear to my heart, the honest, here shall find 
 The gate wide open, and the welcome kind : 
 Hence, thieves away, on you my door shall close 
 Within these walls, the wicked ne'er repose !
 
 228 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 them, ' Perhaps in your little Pocket Bibles with 
 gilt leaves (which they would often pull out and 
 read), the translation may be thus, but the Greek 
 or the Hebrew, signifies thus and thus, and so 
 would totally silence them." There is nothing to 
 shew that Selden, when he became rich and 
 famous ever revisited the rural scenes where his 
 childhood was passed. 
 
 From Salvington by pleasant ways the visitor 
 reaches Highdown Hill, and the Miller's Tomb. 
 John Oliver, the Miller of Salvington, appears 
 to have had a passion for inscriptions. On a 
 shed near the tomb he placed the lines- 
 Stranger enjoy this sweet enchanting scene, 
 The pleasing landscapes and the velvet green ; 
 Yet though the eye delighted rove 
 Think of better scenes above ! 
 
 The interior was decorated with sacred texts 
 and secular verses of equal orthodoxy, though of 
 unequal beauty. 
 
 Psalm 107, 8, 9, and 43. O that men would praise the 
 Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the 
 children of men. For He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth 
 the hungry soul with goodness. Whoso is wise and will 
 observe those things, even they shall understand the loving 
 kindness of the Lord. 
 
 Prov. 27, 9. Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so 
 doth the sweetness of man's friends by hearty counsel.
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB. 229 
 
 As in Isaiah, 55, 6, 7, 8. Seek ye the Lord while He may 
 be found call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the 
 wicked forsake His way, and the unrighteous man His 
 thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have 
 mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly 
 pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are 
 your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 
 
 Also i John 2, i. These things I write unto you that ye 
 sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the 
 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 
 
 MY FRIEND. 
 
 Let us secure an interest in the other world, 
 Let this be as it list, toss'd and hurl'd, 
 He's great and rich enough who wills to die, 
 And can with joy expect Eternity ! 
 Friend this is the best counsel I can tell, 
 Think on't and practise, and so farewell ! 
 
 When Time and Death their work fulfill, 
 Then adieu to Greendown Hill ! 
 When my remains lie here at rest 
 I hope my Soul will live among the blest ! 
 
 So far the muse-inspired Miller, but he was not 
 only a versifier, but the cause of verse in others, 
 and he placed on the door also the following 
 inscription, 
 
 Sent by the owner of Limbrick near this spot), 1778. 
 Busied no more with worldly hopes and fears, 
 But safely landed in the vale of years ; 
 Fain would my mind calm and contented dwell 
 With health and letter'd ease in Limbrick cell,
 
 230 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Whence, tho' contracted, still the view commands 
 Fair rising woods beyond the falling lands ; 
 And slightly glances at the velvet green, 
 Which justly boasts its sweet enchanting scene ; 
 More famous for the living MILLER'S tomb, 
 Who thinks upon the better scenes to come : 
 Long may his portion in good works increase, 
 E'er he exchange it for Eternal peace I 
 
 Whatever may have been the motive of the 
 Miller of Salvington in the selection of his tomb, 
 it has certainly secured him fame, both before and 
 after his death. The tomb was built in 1766, and 
 the jolly miller did not take his departure until 
 1793. Doubtless in the more than score of years 
 that elapsed between the preparation of the house 
 and the beginning of its tenancy, many visited it 
 with curious eyes, and since his death it has 
 become a favourite excursion from the neigh- 
 bouring resorts on the coast. The Miller in 
 addition to his objection to consecrated ground, 
 was noted for some mechanical talent. Thus he 
 had fixed to the top of his house two curious 
 pieces of imagery which were set in motion by 
 the same winds that turned the sails of his mill. 
 One represented a mill and a miller. As the 
 shafts were moved by the breeze, a sack opened 
 and a miniature Miller's shovel was set in motion
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB. 231 
 
 to fill it with flour. The other piece of mech- 
 anicism was even more characteristic of the odd 
 humour of John Oliver. A custom house officer 
 was represented as chasing, sword in hand, one of 
 the smugglers with which Sussex then abounded ; 
 behind the officer of the law is seen an old woman 
 who belabours the coastguard man with her 
 broom so that the "free trader" may have a 
 chance of escape. This representation has a 
 certain significance as showing the not un- 
 friendly attitude of the general public to those 
 who gained their living by smuggling. It is 
 said, too, that for many years before his 
 death the Miller had his coffin under the 
 bed, and it was only necessary to touch a 
 spring, and it ran out on castors ready for its 
 final use. 
 
 The Miller showed good taste for the selection 
 of his burial place, for the view from Highdown 
 Hill is picturesque and extensive, and the eye 
 can pass from Portsmouth to Beachy Head. 
 The mill, where he plied his avocation, has been 
 removed, and a cottage occupies the site of his 
 house. The tomb remains. It is enclosed by 
 iron railings, and is covered with inscriptions. 
 On the top we read :
 
 232 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 For the reception of the body of John Oliver, when 
 deceased, to the will of God ; granted by William Westbrook 
 Richardson, Esq., 1766. 
 
 As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, i 
 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
 The Law came by Moses ; but grace and truth by Jesus 
 Christ. John i. 17. 
 
 God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have 
 everlasting life. John iii. 15. 
 
 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than a man 
 should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion ; for 
 who shall bring him to see what shall be after him. Eccles. iii. 
 22. 
 
 Knowing that shortly I must put of this rny earthly 
 tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. 
 2 Peter i. 14. 
 
 On the west end of the tomb the rustic artist 
 
 
 
 has sculptured the image of Time and Death. 
 
 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; but to 
 keep His commandments is holiness to the Lord. 
 
 " Death, why so fast pray, stop your hand, 
 And let my glass run out its sand ; 
 As neither Death nor Time will stay, 
 Let us implore the present day. 
 Why start you at the skeleton ? 
 'Tis your own picture which you shun ; 
 Alive, it did resemble thee, 
 And thou, when dead, like that shall be. 
 But tho' Death must have his will, 
 Yet old time prolongs the date 
 Till the measure we shall fill
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB. 233 
 
 That's allotted us by Fate, 
 Both agree to take our breath ! 
 
 The eastern end of the tomb is covered with a 
 rhyming apology put forward by the poetical 
 miller to excuse his unusual place of sepulchre. 
 
 " Why should my fancy any one offend, 
 Whose good or ill does not on it depend ; 
 Tis at my own expense, except the land, 
 A generous grant on which my tomb doth stand ; 
 This is the only spot that I have chose 
 Wherein to take my lasting long repose ; 
 Here in the dust my body lieth down, 
 You'll say it is not consecrated ground 
 I grant the same, but where shall we e'er find 
 The spot that e'er can purify the mind ; 
 Nor to the body any lustre give, 
 This more depends on WHAT A LIFE WE LIVE ; 
 For when the trumpet shall begin to sound 
 T'will not avail e'en where the body's found !" 
 
 On the side of the tomb which faces the visitor 
 as he ascends the hill may he read : 
 
 "In Memory 
 
 Of JOHN OLIVER, Miller, 
 
 Who departed this life, 
 
 the 22d of April, 1793, 
 
 aged 84 years." 
 
 The Miller's funeral attracted all the country 
 side, and thousands of spectators are said to have 
 witnessed the singular spectacle. The coffin was
 
 234 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 brought from the house by mourners dressed in 
 white, and was preceded and followed by maidens 
 in white muslin, one of whom read a sermon at 
 the grave. The Rev. John Evans, having a 
 professional interest in the matter, interviewed 
 this feminine preacher in 1804, an< ^ ascertained 
 from her that the discourse was not, as was 
 generally supposed, the composition of the Miller, 
 but was contained in a printed volume entitled, 
 One hundred and sixteen Sermons preached out of 
 the first lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer 
 for all Sundays in the year, by William Reading, 
 A.M., Keeper of the Library at Sion College. 
 The text was Gen., 45, 5. Now therefore be not 
 grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me 
 hither, for God did send me before you to preserve 
 life. This is part of the lesson for Jan. 23, so 
 that the date was inappropriate, and Mr. Evans 
 remarks, " The discourse seemed by no means 
 suited to the occasion ; but what can be expected 
 from the choice of a man who all his life long 
 studied singularity, and took a pride in deviating 
 from the rest of mankind."* 1 
 
 * Reading's book appeared in sections between 1728 and 1736, and was 
 reprinted in four volumes in 1755, after his death, which occurred in 1744. 
 It is rather rare. He was a scholarly man, who greatly improved the 
 library under his care, was attentive to students using it, as we learn from
 
 THE MILLER'S TOMB. 235 
 
 The Miller was not even original, for excava- 
 tions made in 1892 showed that the hill was a 
 place of sepulture in Roman days. Skeletons of 
 men, teeth of animals, antlers of deer, pottery, 
 weapons, and coins of the Constantines have all 
 been found. Thus there is nothing new under 
 the sun. 
 
 Psalmanaazar, and, whilst his texts of the ecclesiastical historians were 
 highly esteemed, he was remarkable for his plain and honest manner of life 
 and preaching circumstances which may have endeared him to the 
 Miller of Salvington.
 
 Sussey 
 
 A SINGER of our own day, who possesses a 
 delicate and genuine poetic gift, has 
 narrated in flowing verse the vision which came 
 to him as he lay beneath the trees reading 
 Marston's book of " Garden Secrets," and watched 
 the sun sink by Highden hill.* 
 
 " For where the damask roses, mignonette, 
 
 Stocks, tiger-lilies, musk, and mint deffuse, 
 Their night-fresh fragrance, and the moonlight makes 
 
 The colours mystical, the Sussex Muse, 
 Wrapt in a veil of mist, alights and takes 
 
 Her Pan-pipes, jewel set, 
 Out from between her breasts, and, for myself 
 
 Alone, against the sundial leans and plays 
 The very tunes she played in bygone days 
 
 To Fletcher, Otway, Collins, Shelley, Realf." t 
 
 Misfortune has dogged the footsteps of the 
 Sussex poets. Only one of the five passed the 
 half century. Realf died by his own hand ; 
 
 * " Garden Secrets " was the title of one of the posthumous collections of 
 the verses of the unfortunate blind poet, Philip Bourke Marston, the record 
 of whose tragic life is one of the most pathetic pages in the literary history 
 of this age. 
 
 t This fine poem of "The Sussex Muse" will be found in "Song 
 Favours," by Charles William Dalmon (London, 1895, P- 53)-
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 237 
 
 Shelley was drowned ; Otway died destitute, even 
 if not of starvation ; Fletcher perished by the 
 plague ; and Collins passed away under a cloud 
 of mental darkness.* 
 
 Of the five poets whom Mr. Dalmon has 
 chosen as the representatives of the Sussex Muse, 
 Realf, the latest is the war singer, Fletcher the 
 earliest is the poet of pastoral, Otway has great 
 dramatic power, and Collins has beauty and 
 sublimity, but all these " pale their ineffectual 
 fires " before the mighty shade of Shelley. 
 
 The name of Richard Realf is riot very familiar, 
 but the record of his life is one of tragic interest. 
 He was born at Framfield, near Lewes, 14 June, 
 1834, and at the age of fifteen began to write 
 verses, and was employed as an amaneunsis by a 
 Brighton lady. Specimens of his poetry fell into 
 the hands of a travelling phrenologist, who 
 
 * Equally unfortunate was another son of the Sussex Muse, William 
 Pattison. He was born at Peasemarsh near Rye in 1706, and by the 
 patronage of Lord Thanet, who was the landlord of his father's farm, he 
 was educated at Appleby School, and became a Sizar of Sidney, Sussex 
 College, Cambridge, in 1724, but two years later removed his name off the 
 book, in order, it is said, to prevent the authorities from taking the same 
 course. He went up to London with sanguine hopes of fame and fortune, 
 and associated with the wits at Button's coffee-house, but his money was 
 soon gone, and he passed his nights on a bench in St. James' Park, 
 until he was taken into the house of Curll, the publisher. Here he did not 
 long endure the miseries of a booksellei's hack, but died of small pox, nth 
 July, 1727, before he had completed his twenty-first year.
 
 238 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 recited some of them at a lecture. In this way 
 the attention of literary friends was attracted, 
 and under their patronage a volume of verse, 
 "Guesses at the Beautiful," was printed in 1852. 
 After a year spent in the study of agriculture, 
 Realf emigrated to the United States. He 
 became familiar with the slums of New York, and 
 as a missionary at Five Points, established cheap 
 lectures and "a self-improvement association." 
 When the struggle between slavery and liberty 
 was going on in ''bleeding Kansas," Realf joined 
 the free-soilers, started a newspaper, and thus 
 came into contact with John Brown, who was 
 already dreaming the dreams that resulted first 
 in the tragedy of Harper's Ferry, and lastly in 
 the Proclamation of Emancipation. In the Pro- 
 visional Government, that Brown projected in 1 856, 
 Realf was named as Secretary of State. The 
 execution of the scheme was postponed, and Realf 
 revisited England, and also made a tour through 
 the Southern States. When Brown's attempt at 
 Harper's Ferry failed, Realf was arrested in 
 Texas, and sent to Washington but released.* 
 
 * Mr. Dalmon is wrong thinking that the Sussex poet was at Harper's 
 Ferry, 
 
 " Realf I loved too, and fondly hoped that he 
 Would sing for me alone, and in my name,
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 239 
 
 When the war of the Secession broke out, his 
 fiery, freedom-loving spirit found vent in the 
 Federal Army. He served through the war 
 with the 88th Illinois regiment. His war songs, 
 written in the field, and sung by the camp fires of 
 the Federal Army, had a wide popularity. He 
 became the commandant of a coloured regiment, 
 and in 1864, left the army with the rank of 
 captain and brevet lieutenant-colonel. After- 
 wards he established a school for freedmen, and 
 resumed his old life as a journalist and lecturer. 
 The last scene of all came at Oakland, California, 
 28th October, 1878, when bowed down by the 
 domestic trouble consequent upon "an unfortunate 
 man and an imperfect divorce," he committed 
 suicide by poison. 
 
 John Fletcher was born at Rye, where his 
 father was minister, on December 1579. No 
 more interesting or remarkable example of literary 
 partnership, has been recorded than that of 
 
 " Please all the world, but very soon he left 
 My arms to go and seek another fame ; 
 Leaving me of my latest bard bereft. 
 
 Still he is dear to me. 
 And I was proud, when, in America, 
 He struck for liberty with old John Brown, 
 Fighting beside him when he took the town 
 Of Harper's Ferry, in Virginia." 
 
 It is to be regretted that no notice of Realf appears in the " Dictionary 
 of National Biography."
 
 2 4 o BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Fletcher and Francis Beaumont. Not only was 
 there a "wonderful consimility of phansy" 
 between them, but they lived together on the 
 Bankside in Southwark, and had all things in 
 common. Critics still exercise their ingenuity 
 in discriminating the respective shares of the 
 twin-authors in the plays that bear their joint 
 names. Massinger, Rowley, Shirley, had also, 
 it is believed, some part in these remark- 
 able dramas. " The Two Noble Kinsmen," 
 when printed in 1634, bore on its title page the 
 names of Fletcher and Shakespeare, and " Henry 
 VIII." is believed to have many evidences of the. 
 handiwork of Fletcher and of Massinger. But 
 where we are certain that Fletcher stands alone, 
 his genius does not suffer. The lovely lyrics that 
 are scattered through the plays, give him high 
 rank, and the " Faithful Shepherdess " is not only 
 interesting as the source and spring of much of 
 Milton's inspiration in " Comus," but is also, 
 surely the brightest, sweetest and best pastoral 
 play in the English language.* In the great 
 plague of 1625, Fletcher was invited by "a 
 Knight of Norfolk or Suffolk," to pay a visit to 
 
 * On the extent to which the later poet was indebted to the earlier, I 
 might refer to my essay "Fletcher's 'Faithful Shepherdess,' and Milton's 
 ' Comus ' compared " (Manchester Quarterly, 1882^.
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 241 
 
 the country, but staying whilst his tailor made him 
 a suit of clothes, he sickened of the plague, and 
 was buried 29th August, 1625, in the same grave 
 at St. Saviour's, Southwark, which already held 
 his friend and partner, Beaumont. 
 
 Thomas Otway was born 3rd March, 1651-2, 
 at Trotton, where his father, who left him "no 
 inheritance but loyalty," was curate. The future 
 dramatist was educated at Winchester School, 
 and Christ Church, Oxford, but left the university 
 without a degree. He made one appearance on 
 the stage, and failing as an actor, became a 
 dramatist. " Don Carlos " was successful, but 
 Dryden's harsh criticism of it caused temporary 
 estrangement between the two poets. Otway now 
 produced comedies and farces as well as tragedies, 
 and might probably have been a successful man, 
 but for his intemperance. He had a hopeless 
 passion for Mrs. Barry the actress, who was then 
 the mistress of Lord Rochester, and treated the 
 poet with scorn. He enlisted as a private soldier 
 in the army that went to the Low Countries in 
 1678, but he returned a year later, thus abandon- 
 ing the rank of lieutenant. The production in 
 1680 of "The Orphan" shewed a great advance 
 
 in his powers. After the appearance of " The 
 
 16
 
 242 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 Soldier's Fortune," which was coarse beyond 
 even the indecency of the age, there came in 
 February 1681-2, Otway's crowning triumph of 
 " Venice Preserved," one of the great tragedies of 
 our language. Otway's last piece was " The 
 Atheist," a comedy. The dramatist, notwith- 
 standing the success of his pieces, was in constant 
 embarassment. The circumstances of his death 
 have been variously stated ; one account is that 
 he died from a fever following a chill, received 
 whilst pursuing the murderer of a friend ; another 
 says that he died in a sponging house ; the most 
 sensational is, that in the pangs of starvation he 
 begged a shilling from a gentleman, who gave 
 him a guinea, and that purchasing a roll, the 
 unhappy poet was choked by the first mouthful. 
 It was said of him that he " languished in 
 adversity, unpitied, and died in an alehouse, 
 unlamented." This "hope and sorrow" of the 
 age perished at the age of thirty three. Otway's 
 poetry is of very trivial value, and his comedies 
 are hopelessly disfigured by licentiousness, but in 
 tragedy he reached the level of the Elizabethans. 
 Rightly does Hazlitt admire in " Venice Pre- 
 served," the "awful suspense of the situations; 
 the conflict of duties and passions ; the intimate
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 243 
 
 bond that unite the characters together, and that 
 are violently rent asunder, like the parting of soul 
 and body;" and "the solemn march of the 
 tragical events to the fatal catastrophe that winds 
 up and closes over all." Much that he wrote has 
 passed into a merciful oblivion, but "Venice 
 Preserved " remains as a lasting monument for 
 unhappy Otway. 
 
 In William Collins, we have a gentler but 
 equally melancholy spirit. He was born 25th 
 December, 1721, at Chichester, of which ancient 
 u city his father, a hatter, was mayor. At Win- 
 chester school he had the friendship of Joseph 
 Warton, which continued to the end of his life. 
 At Oxford, where he was successively at New, 
 Queen's, and Magdalene Colleges, he was in- 
 timate with Gilbert White. His university 
 course was marred by dissipation, but the 
 " Persian Eclogues," which were published before 
 he had taken his B.A. degree, show that he had 
 begun to work a new vein of poetic gold. After 
 the death of his father and mother, his uncle 
 thought him " too indolent even for the army," 
 and therefore it was designed to place him in the 
 church. But though a title to a curacy was 
 obtained, the charms of literature were too strong,
 
 244 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 and he went to London to try his fortune as an 
 author. He had many projects, but few of them 
 were executed, and whilst intimate with Arm- 
 strong, Garrick, Thomson, Johnson, and other 
 celebrities, he was also intimate with the bailiffs. 
 The death of his uncle retrieved his fortunes, but 
 a more grievous blow was impending, "Collins, 
 who while he studied to live," says Johnson, 
 "felt no evil but poverty, no sooner lived to 
 study than his life was assailed by more dreadful 
 calamities, disease, and insanity." He tried to 
 dissipate the gathering gloom by an excursion to 
 France, but without benefit. At Islington, when 
 Johnson saw him, his only literature was the New 
 Testament. " I have but one book," he said, 
 " but that is the best." 4 For a time he was 
 under restraint in a madhouse, but his latter 
 years were passed under the care of his sister in 
 his native city. In March, 1759, Goldsmith 
 wrote to him as " still alive happy if insensible 
 of our neglect ; not raging at our ingratitude." 
 He died on June i2th of that year. Collins is 
 not "a poet of bulk," but the small volume he 
 has left behind is packed close with glittering 
 
 * This incident gave Flaxman the motive of his noble memorial 01 
 Collins in Chichester Cathedral.
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 245 
 
 treasure, and some of his happy phrases have 
 obtained universal currency. Collins, like 
 Spenser, is a poet's poet, and he lacks some of 
 the essentials of the widest popularity. But he 
 will always attract those who can follow his lofty 
 flights into realms of wonder and imagination, 
 where his spirit loved to dwell. The story of 
 his hapless life is one of the saddest in English 
 literature. 
 
 The greatest of these names is that of Percy 
 Bysste Shelley, the one Sussex man who has 
 climbed to the highest peak of Parnassus. . Well 
 may the Sussex Muse exclaim 
 
 " When Shelley's soul was carried through the air, 
 Toward the manor-house where he was born, 
 I danced along the avenue at Denne, 
 And praised the grace of heaven and the morn, 
 Which numbered with the sons of Sussex men, 
 
 A genius so rare ! 
 So high a honour, so dear a birth, 
 That, though the Horsham folk may little care 
 To laud the favour of his birthplace there, 
 My name is bless'd for it throughout the earth. 
 
 I taught a child to love and dream and sing 
 Of witch, hobgoblin, folk, and flower lore ; 
 And often led him by the hand away 
 Into St. Leonard's forest, where of yore 
 The hermit fought the dragon to this day,
 
 246 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 The children, ev'ry spring, 
 Find lilies of the valley blowing where 
 The fight took place. Alas ! they quickly drove 
 My darling from my bosom and my love, 
 And snatched my crown of laurel from his hair." 
 
 Sussex can claim only the early years of the 
 poet's short and much troubled career. Between 
 the baby that lay cradled in the wealthy home 
 of the Shelleys at Field Place, Sussex, and the 
 drowned corpse lying on the funeral pile at Lerici 
 there is but an interval of thirty years. Within 
 that brief space of time Shelley, born in an atmos- 
 phere of privilege and wealthy conventionality, had 
 shown himself to be a daring thinker, prepared to 
 demand from everything a reason for its existence. 
 Shelley wrote a plea for the " Necessity of Athe- 
 ism," yet his attack was on the "erroneous and 
 degrading " ideas of deity, and not on " the 
 Supreme Being itself ; " in fact, as Mr. Salt has 
 well said, "it was not the presence but the 
 absence of spirituality " in the conventional creed of 
 his day that made Shelley its opponent. In his 
 references to social and political reforms it will be 
 seen that he was far in advance of his day. Yet 
 many things that he held to be desirable he also 
 saw to be impracticable until mankind had received 
 further education and ethical training. Hence he
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 247 
 
 advocates no mere mechanical fashion of reform. 
 Neither wise laws nor benificent environment will 
 suffice without the quick response of the intellect 
 and the heart of mankind. When the British 
 code of law was written in blood Shelley protested 
 against capital punishment. When political power 
 was in the hands of the few Shelley advocated the 
 claims of the disfranchised many ; when the coarse 
 tyranny of the privileged classes found a brutal 
 expression in the Manchester massacre, he wrote 
 that slavery 
 
 is to feel revenge, 
 Fiercely thirsting to exchange 
 Blood for blood, and wrong for wrong : 
 Do not thus when you are strong. 
 
 The warfare of freedom is not to be like the 
 warfare of tyranny. The freeman is cast in more 
 heroic mould. Shelley, even when most indignant 
 with wrongdoing, recognises that its evil effect is 
 as great upon the tyrant as upon his victim, 
 and for both he has the tenderest sympathy. 
 Love is with him "the sole law which should 
 govern the moral world." Nor did he denounce 
 the vulgar ruffian and let the wealthy black- 
 guard go without reproof. It needed courage 
 and strength to draw this terrific picture of
 
 248 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 "England in 1819," but Shelley was equal to 
 the duty : 
 
 " An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king, 
 
 Princes the dregs of their dull race, who flow 
 Through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring, 
 
 Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know, 
 But leech-like to their fainting country cling, 
 
 Till they drop blind in blood, without a blow, 
 A people starved, and stabbed, in the untilled field, 
 
 An army which liberticide and prey 
 Make as a two-edged sword to all who wield, 
 * Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay, 
 Religion Christless, Godless, a book sealed, 
 A Senate time's worst statute unrepealed, 
 Are graves from which a glorious phantom may 
 Burst to illumine our tempestuous day." 
 
 This poem illustrates, too, another of Shelley's 
 characteristics. He never loses hope, but has an 
 unfailing faith in the ultimate triumph and of jus- 
 tice and righteousness nay, so firm in his faith 
 that he will not consent to Right adopting the 
 methods of Wrong, and doing evil that good may 
 come. Righteousness shall triumph by the in- 
 herent strength of sympathy and love and rule 
 untainted either by force or fraud. Shelley was 
 the friend of liberty alike in Greece and in Ireland ; 
 he wanted to see it at home no less than " as far 
 away as Paris is." Shelley's writings may still for
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 249 
 
 years, perhaps even for generations, be referred to 
 for their prophetic utterances. Instead of being a 
 rash revolutionist, he was himself quite conscious, 
 sadly conscious, of the slowness with which the 
 destiny of our race is accomplished, and was quite 
 ready to accept such instalments as could be 
 obtained towards the realisation of his social 
 ideals. 
 
 These are mere indications of the spirit and 
 method of Shelley the reformer. But side 
 by side with these documents of revolutionary 
 propaganda we have his contributions to litera- 
 ture. There is, perhaps, no more remarkable 
 literary phenomenon than the rapid maturing 
 of his powers from the weak style of <l Zastrozzi " 
 to the tender pathos of "Adonais," the gloomy 
 grandeur of " The Cenci," the most remark- 
 able drama written since the days of the great 
 Elizabethans, the lofty ideality of " Prometheus 
 Unbound," the lyric glory of " The Skylark," 
 the stern power of the sonnet on " Ozymandias," 
 to name but a few of many. He is intensely 
 spiritual, and penetrates to the very heart of 
 nature, as when he sings 
 
 " I love all that thou lovest, 
 Spirit of delight !
 
 250 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 The fresh earth in new leaves drest, 
 
 And the starry night ; 
 Autumn evening, and the morn 
 When the golden mists are born 
 
 I love snow, and all the forms 
 
 Of the radiant frost ; 
 I love waves, and winds, and storms, 
 
 Everything almost 
 Which is Nature's, and may be 
 Untainted by man's misery." 
 
 It is this delight in natural and intellectual 
 beauty, and the desire to remove the taint of 
 misery, that animates Shelley's vegetarianism. 
 His interest in this subject was profound and con- 
 tinuous. He translated Plutarch's essays against 
 flesh eating ; he refers to the subject again and 
 again in " Queen Mab," in " Laon and Cythna," 
 in " Alastor," in the "Refutation of Deism," and 
 in the ''Vindication of Natural Diet." He was a 
 water drinker and a bread eater by choice, but he 
 saw that the slaughter of sentient creatures to 
 supply the food of mankind has social and moral 
 as well as physiological consequences. He saw 
 that the fruit and grain destroyed in the 
 manufacture of intoxicants is so much material 
 subtracted from the food supply, and that the 
 conversion of plant food into flesh food is the most
 
 THE SUSSEX MUSE. 251 
 
 costly form of dietary. " No sane mind in a sane 
 body," he declares, " resolves upon a real crime." 
 To remove poverty, to cure disease, to substitute 
 sympathy for force, to abolish war, to knit together 
 the whole creation in a golden chain of love- 
 such was Shelley's aim. Peace, simplicity of life, 
 natural delights, are linked to the common effort for 
 the common good in order to bring about " a state 
 of society where all the energies of man shall be 
 directed to the production of his solid happiness." 
 It is more than a century since Shelley was 
 born, and we are still far from the realisation of 
 his vision. Yet whoever pities and tries to save 
 a dumb creature from torment ; whoever pities 
 and tries to help a poor brother or an oppressed 
 sister ; whoever tries to bring a gleam of gladness 
 into the face of an overwrought child ; whoever 
 offers passive resistance to a wrong ; whoever 
 tries to secure rights for those to whom they are 
 denied ; whoever recognises the sacredness of 
 life ; whoever helps to spread knowledge and to 
 make wisdom and culture, not the privilege of the 
 few, but the common heritage of all ; whoever 
 recognises the brotherhood of man in any form, 
 is helping to bring us nearer to Shelley's vision 
 of the future, the time when
 
 252 
 
 BYGONE SUSSEX. 
 
 " The dwellers of the earth and air 
 Shall throng around our steps in gladness, 
 Seeking their food or refuge there, 
 Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull 
 To make this earth, our home, more beautiful ; 
 
 - And Science and her sister Poesy 
 Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free." 
 
 This is the noblest gift of the Sussex Muse to 
 the thought of the ages.
 
 Addison, Joseph, and the author- 
 ship of " The Drummer," 184 
 
 Adeliza, Queen-Dowager, 2 
 
 Albain, John, 15 
 
 Alfriston, 7, 80 ; Star Inn, 8l 
 
 Allard, Reginald, Brass of, 10 
 
 Alldredge family epitaphs, 91 
 
 Amberley, 7 
 
 Andredswood, 156 
 
 Anne, Queen, 222 
 
 Arkinstal, John, witness as to 
 treasonable talk, 148 
 
 Arundel, 2, 7, 177 ; sun-dial, 202 ; 
 name, 157 
 
 Arun 157 
 
 Arma Crucifixi, 18 
 
 Arsenic poisoning, 29-31 
 
 Arundell, Archbishop Thomas, 4 
 
 Ashby-Sterry, J., poem on Tun- 
 bridge, 222 
 
 Ashdown, 3 
 
 Ashburnhams, 4 
 
 Axon, W. E. A., 112, 114, 115, 
 117, 120 
 
 Ballads, 83, 133, 151, 182 
 Bannockburn, Sussex horseshoes 
 
 at, 3 
 
 Bardleby, Robert de, 13 
 Barlow, Bishop William, epitaph 
 
 on his wife, 6 
 
 Barnardiston, Sir Thomas, 15 
 Barons of the Cinque Ports, 4 
 Barry, Mrs., 241 
 Bartholomew, St., legend, 115 
 Basset, Philip, Lord of Berwick, 82 
 Basynge, William de, 15 
 Battle, 5, 7 ; Poems about, 102 
 Beachy Head, poems, 103 
 Beakesbourne, 4 
 
 Beazeley, Mrs. Eliza, epitaph, 191 
 Beccafico, 225 
 
 Becket, Archbishop Thomas a, 225 
 Bennett, Minister of Brightling, 130 
 Bequest, Doubtful, 172 
 
 Berkeley, William, Marquis of, 14 
 
 Berwick, 82 
 
 Binsted, 181 
 
 Bishopstone sun-dial, 202 
 
 Black Act, 66 
 
 Bloomfield, Robert, 126 
 
 Bodiam, Bodiham, 7 ; sonnet, 107 
 
 Borde, Dr. Andrew, 5 
 
 Bosham, 2, 7 
 
 Boughs, Cutting, 146 
 
 Bowles, W. L., Sonnet on Pevensey, 
 119 
 
 Boxgrove, 7 
 
 Bradwardine, Thomas, 4 
 
 Bramber, 7 
 
 Brasses, Pardon, IO 
 
 Brightling, Spirits at, 129 
 
 Brighton, Brighthelmstone, 2, 9 ; 
 Poems about, 107 ; sun-dial, 
 203 
 
 Brown, John, of Harper's Ferry, 
 and Richard Realf, 237 
 
 Bulverhithe, 4 
 
 Bumbo, 48-49 
 
 Burdham, 177 
 
 Burials, distinctions of rank, 148 ; 
 on Highdown Hill, 235 
 
 Burwarsh, Bishop Henry, apparition 
 as a green forester, 6 
 
 Buxted sun-dial, 205 
 
 Buss, Benjamin, Crime and execu- 
 tion of, 47-50 
 
 Byrom, John, Description of Tun- 
 bridge in 1723, 214 
 
 Cade, Jack, 5 
 
 Caffyn, Matthew, the battle-axe of 
 Sussex, 6 
 
 Camber, 7 
 
 Campbell, Thomas, poems on Hast- 
 ings, 114 ; on St. Leonards-on- 
 Sea, 1 20 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishops, 4, 225 
 
 Carter, Elizabeth, 216, 222 
 
 Cartwright, Dr. Edward, 5
 
 254 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cat, Wild, 3 
 
 Cecilia of Hastings, 115 
 
 Cerne Abbas giant, 77 
 
 Challoner, Bishop Richard, 6 
 
 Chanctonbury, 9 
 
 Charles II., 2 
 
 Charles VI. of Spain, 8 
 
 Chichester, 5, 9, 157 ; Ballad of the 
 Merchant of, 151 ; Ballad of 
 Monstrous Child, 133; mon- 
 strous births, 1 77; sun-dial, 205; 
 St. Richard, 5. 225 ; Collins 
 Monument, 244 
 
 Child, Monstrous, 133 
 
 Christmas festival, 97 
 
 Churches, why are they shut ? 73 
 
 Cinque Ports, 4 
 
 Clarke, Dr. E. D., 5 
 
 Cobham, Dame Joan de, 14 
 
 Cobden, Richard, 5 
 
 Collins, William, 5; as a Sussex poet, 
 
 243 
 
 Cowdray, 2 
 Crow, Crissy, 92 
 Crow-borough Hill, 177 
 Cuthman, St., 5 
 
 Dacre of the south. Lords, II 
 Dalmon, Charles William, a Sussex 
 
 poet, 236 
 
 Devil's encounter with Bunstan, 8 
 Devil's Dyke, 9, 137 
 Death foreboding, 170 
 Davison T. Raffles, v. 
 " Denis Duval," Thackeray's novel, 
 
 36 
 
 Denis, Sir Peter, Career of, 41 
 Ditchling Dissenters' burial-ground, 
 
 109 
 Drayton, Michael, his Song of 
 
 Sussex, 154 
 Drummer of Herstmonceux, 184 ; 
 
 of Tedworth, 196 
 Dryden, John, 241 
 Dunstan, St., and the devil, 8 
 Dwarfs, 177-178 
 
 Eadric's sun-dial, 202 
 
 Eastbourne, 7 
 
 East Grinstead sun-dial, 206 
 
 Ebba, Queen, I 
 
 ''Ecce Homo" indulgence, 19 
 
 Edilwach, King, I 
 
 Edward I., 12 
 
 Edward VI., 2 
 
 Eleanor, Queen, 12 
 
 Elleslie sun-dial, 206 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 2 
 
 Ellis, Joseph, 102, 125 ; poem on 
 the sun-dial, 204 
 
 Epitaphs, 6, 10, n, 14, 15, 16, 90- 
 95, 232 ; on a lapdog, 217 
 
 Etchingham, 7 
 
 Evans, Col. de Lacy, 54 
 
 Evans, Rev. John, 234 
 
 Evelyn, John, 222 
 
 Everetta, a Christian name, 91 
 
 Execution, 46, 47, 50, 67 ; Remark- 
 able escape from, 1 68 
 
 Fairies, 8 
 
 Fairlight Glen, poem, no 
 
 Farrant, Ann, 93 
 
 Fiennes, 4 ; tombs, 7 ; Sir William, 
 
 II 
 
 Field Place, 246 
 Fig Garden, 225 
 Fishery, 3 
 Fitzalan tombs, 7 
 Flaxman, John, 244 
 Fletcher, John, 5 ; as a Sussex poet, 
 
 239 
 Fletcher, Richard, the father of the 
 
 dramatist, 147 
 Folk-lore, 6, 33, 96, 129, 138, 145, 
 
 146, 159, 171, 173, 175, 176 
 Ford, 178 
 Frant sun-dial, 206 
 French churches at Winchelsea and 
 
 Rye, 45-46 
 Friston sun-dial, 207 
 Fulking water supply and Ruskin 
 
 inscription, 142 
 Fyning sun-dial, 207 
 Funeral of the Miller of Salvington, 
 
 233 
 
 Gambling at Tunbridge, 218 
 Gardner Street : " Praise the Lord " 
 
 Cottage, 113 
 Garraway, William, 178 
 Gatty, Mrs., 202 
 George I., 2 
 
 George, Prince, of Denmark, 8 
 Giant figures, 76-77 
 Gibbon, Edward, 5 
 Ghost story, 170 
 Glass manufacture, 3 
 Godefridus, Legend of, 100
 
 INDEX. 
 
 255 
 
 Godwin, Earl, 2 
 
 Godwin, the smith, 96 
 
 Goodwood, 9 
 
 Grammont, Chevalier de, 222 
 
 Grange, 4 
 
 Great Coates, 15 
 
 Gregory the Great, 16 
 
 Gregory, St., trental, 100 
 
 Greenway, Thomas, becomes a 
 
 Mohammedan, 149 
 Gunner of Rye, 149 
 
 Ilalnaker, 7 
 
 Hanging or marriage, 151 
 
 Hardham, 7 
 
 Hares of Herstmonceux, 5, n 
 
 Harold, King, 2 
 
 Harrison, William, his career and 
 share in " The Drummer," 189 
 
 Hastings, 4, 7 ; Old Humphrey's 
 grave, 89 ; poems about, 103, 
 113; "cunning woman," 145; 
 "special and remarkable pro- 
 vidence," 179 
 
 Hedges, J., a gambler reclaimed, 
 218 
 
 Hellesdon or Heylesdon, 14 
 
 Hellingby, 117 
 
 Helyas of Hastings, 115 
 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen, 222 
 
 Henry III., 2, 3 
 
 Henry VI. , 224 
 
 Henry VIII., 2 
 
 Herstmonceux, 7, II, 117; Drummer 
 of, 184 
 
 Heylesdon, 13 
 
 Hidney, 4 
 
 Highdown Hill, 231 
 
 Highwaymen, 59 
 
 High Rocks, Tunbridge, 216; in- 
 scriptions, 217 
 
 Hollington "little church in the 
 wood," 117 
 
 Hood, Thomas, 102 
 
 Horsham, 2415 
 
 Hove sun-dial, 202 
 
 Howards, 4 
 
 Huguenot Churches, 45 
 
 Hurdis, James, 5, 202 
 
 Hurstpierpoint sun-dial, 207 
 
 Image of Pity, 18-23 
 Indulgences, 12-26 
 
 Inn, An ancient, 81 
 Iron industry, 3, 146 
 
 Johnson, Dr., 222 
 Juxon, William, 4 
 
 Kingsley, Charles, 102 
 
 Laudanum, 194 
 Legend of Winchelsea, 96 
 Legh Roger and Elizabeth, 17 
 Lewes, 2, 7, n; & coach drawn by 
 oxen, 8 ; burning of Protest- 
 ants, 6 
 Lewinna, 5 
 
 Lewis, Rev. H. C., 181 
 Lights, Supernatural, 173 
 Long Man of Wilmington, 72 
 Lott, Murder of, 47-48 
 Louis, Phillippe, 2 
 Lower, M. A., 5, 117, 119 
 Lullington, the little church, 78 
 
 Macclesfield pardon brass, 13 
 
 Manchester, 16-18 
 
 Magpies shoed, 8 
 
 Mantell, G. A., 31 ; poem on 
 Ditchling, 108 
 
 Marriage or hanging, 152 
 
 Marsham, John, 15 
 
 Marston, Philip Bourke, 236 
 
 Martin, Gregory, 6 
 
 Mass of St. Gregory, 16-18 
 
 Massinger, Philip, 240 
 
 Maud, Empress, 2 
 
 Mayfield, 7, 8 ; St. Dunstan's 
 tongs, 8 
 
 Mercer's Son of Midhurst, 182 
 
 " Merry Andrew," 5 
 
 Michelborne, Col. John, 6 
 
 Michelgrove, 2 
 
 Midhurst, Ballad of the Mercer's 
 Son, 182 
 
 Middleton churchyard washed away, 
 118 
 
 Miller's Tomb, 224 
 
 Mogridge, George, buried at Hast- 
 ings, 89 
 
 Mohammedan pirates, 149 
 
 Monsters, 177 
 
 Mompesson, Sir George, 149 
 
 Mompesson, Mr., and the drummer 
 of Ted worth, 196
 
 256 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Montagues, 4 
 Morley, Henry, 5 
 Murders, 28, 46, 48 
 
 Newhaven, 2 
 
 Newman, John Henry, 107 
 
 Norman Conquest, 9 
 
 Normanhurst, 9 
 
 North, Dudley, 222 
 
 Norwich, 15 
 
 Old Humphrey's grave, 89 
 
 Oliver, John, the Miller, tomb, 224 
 
 Otway, Thomas, 5 ; as a Sussex poet, 
 
 241 
 
 "Owling,"4 
 Ovingdean, sun-dial, 207 
 Oxen drawing a coach, 8 
 Oxney, 160 
 
 Palgrave, F. T., 102 
 
 Palmer brothers, 5 
 
 Pardon Brasses, 10 
 
 Parliamentary franchise, 147 
 
 Pattison, William, career, 237 
 
 Peacock, Thomas, 54 
 
 Peckham, Archbishop John, 4 
 
 Pelhams, 4 
 
 Pell, the mathematician, 5 
 
 Pendrel, Charles, 81 
 
 Percys, 4 
 
 Petit Shaw, 4 
 
 Petworth, 2, 8, 9 
 
 Pevensey, 2, 4, 5, 7 ; sonnet by W. 
 
 L. Bowles, 119; drowning an 
 
 eel, 119 
 
 Pharisees or fairies, 8 
 Piddinghoe, 7 ; shoeing magpies, 8 
 Pillory, 144 
 Pirates, 149 
 Poems of Places, v., 101, 155, 211, 
 
 214, 222 
 
 Poison, effect on iron, 33 
 Poisoning cases, 49 
 " Poor Man," a name for the devil, 
 
 138 
 Poynings, 7; Church, family, etc., 
 
 139 
 Protestant martyrs, 6 
 
 Quantford, 20 
 
 Ratsbane, 29 
 
 Reading, Rev. William, 234 
 
 Realf, Richard, career of a Sussex 
 
 poet, 237 
 
 Richard, St., of Chichester, 5, 225 
 Richardson, Samuel, 222 
 Richardson, W. W., 232 
 Roads, bad condition in past, 8 
 Robertsbridge, 8 
 
 Robson, Henry, trial for murder, 28 
 Rochester, Lord, 241 
 Roman Burials on Highdown Hill, 
 
 235 
 
 Romney, 161 
 
 Rowley, William, 240 
 
 Rottingdean, 93 
 
 Ruskin pilgrimage, 137 
 
 Rye, 4, 7, 97, 160-163; Ballad of 
 the True Maid of the South, 
 84 ; Church in 1637, 150 ; 
 Gunner, of, 149 ; in i6th and 
 1 7th centuries, 144-150; murder 
 trial in 1598, 28 ; scenes of 
 Thackeray's " Denis Duval," 
 38-71 ; sun-dial, 208 
 
 Sacrificial arena, 77 
 Sackvilles, 4 
 Saint-Leonards-on-Sea, 9 : poem by 
 
 Campbell, 120; sun-dial, 202 
 Scotway, 7 
 Salvington, 226 
 Seaford, 4 
 Selden, John, 4; Notes to Drayton's 
 
 Song of Sussex, 154; Birth- 
 place, 226 
 Selsey, i 
 
 Servants, Faithful, 92 
 Shakespeare, 240 
 Shelley, P. B., 4 ; as a Sussex poet, 
 
 244 
 
 Shepherds of the downs, 3 
 Shipley, 7 ; supernatural lights, 
 
 J 73 > girl m a trance, 175 
 Shirley, James, 240 
 Shoreham, 7 ; Swinburne's poem, v. 
 Shoreham, William de, religious 
 
 poems, 21 ; indulgence, 22 
 Shulbrede, 7 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, 79 
 Skinner, Mary, epitaph, 92 
 Smith, Charlotte, 103, 108, 118, 125 
 Smith, Horace, " Why are they 
 
 shut?" 73
 
 INDEX. 
 
 257 
 
 Smiths, Three, of Chichester, 5 
 
 Smuggling and smugglers,- 4, 47, 
 5. 7, 200, 231 
 
 Sompting, 7 
 
 South Downs, 9, 125, 157 ; sheep, 3 
 
 Southease, 7 
 
 South Saxons land, I 
 
 Southey, Robert, 226 
 
 Spirits at Brightling in 1659, 129 
 
 Stanstead, 2 
 
 Steele, Sir Richard, and the comedy 
 of " The Drummer," 186 
 
 Steyning, 7 
 
 Sun-dials, 201 
 
 Sussex, characteristics, I ; as des- 
 cribed in Drayton's Poly-olbion. 
 154 ; The Sussex Muse, 
 
 Swedenborg, 90 
 
 Swift, Dean, friendship for William 
 Harrison, 191 
 
 Swinburne, A. C., v. , 105 
 
 Tarring Peverel, or West Tarring, 
 
 224 
 Taylor, Mrs. Anne, charged with 
 
 witchcraft, 145 
 Thackeray, W. M., 2; on "Dr. 
 
 Brighton," 137 ; the localities 
 
 of his " Denis Duval," 36 ; 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 222 
 Thomas of Canterbury, St., 225 
 Thurlow, Edward, Lord, sonnet on 
 
 Bodiham, 107 ; on Hastings, 
 
 103 ; on Rye, 37 
 Ticehurst, A. W. and F. P., 
 
 epitaphs, 91 
 Toad rock, 216 
 Tortington, 7 
 
 Touching for King's evil, 176 
 Trance, 175 
 
 Trental of St. Gregory. 100 
 Tunbridge Wells early in the i8th 
 
 century, 210 ; sun-dial, 208 ; 
 
 Ballad of the "Tunbridge 
 
 Prodigy," 211 ; visited by John 
 
 Byron, 214 
 
 Turner, Rev. William, his "History 
 of Remarkable Providences," 
 165 
 
 Vegetarianism, Shelley's, 250 
 Vendes, Alexandre, Comte de, 
 epitaph, 93 
 
 Wai pole, Horace, 184 
 
 Ward, Dr. A. W., 219 
 
 Warning to cantankerous parish- 
 ioners, 172 
 
 Warren, John, seventh Earl, 1 1 
 
 Warter, Rev. John Wood, 225 
 
 Warton, Joseph, 243 
 
 Weald of Sussex, 9 
 
 Wesley, John, his visits to Rye and 
 Winchelsea, 54-57 
 
 Westons the highwaymen, their 
 career, 59 
 
 Wheatears, 215 
 
 Whipping, 149 
 
 White, Gilbert, 243 
 
 Wild cat, 3 
 
 Wilfrid, St., 5 
 
 William the Conqueror, 2, 9 
 
 William Rufus, 2 
 
 Wilmington, 8 ; Long Man of, 72 
 
 Wilson, William, verses on Fair- 
 light, ill 
 
 Winchelsea, 4, 7, 8, 15 ; grave of 
 Allard, 10 ; mediaeval legend, 
 96 ; scenes of ' Denis Duval," 
 38-71 ; sonnet, 120 
 
 Witchcraft, 145 
 
 Woman burned for murder, 50 ; 
 disguised as man, 83 
 
 Worth, 7 
 
 Worthing, Bloomfield's poem, 126 
 
 Wych, St. Richard de la, 5 
 
 York Cathedral, 15 
 Ypres Tower, 7
 
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 Badge of Poverty Patents to wear Nightcaps A Foolish Fashion 
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 the Tinder Box The Invention of Friction matches Body Snatching 
 Christmas under the Commonwealth Under the Mistletoe Bough 
 A carefully prepared Index. 
 
 "A delightful volume for all who love to dive into the origin of 
 social habits and customs, and to penetrate into the byways of 
 history." Liverpool Daily Pout. 
 
 " There is a large mass of information in this capital volume, and it 
 is so pleasantly put that many will be tempted to study it. Mr. 
 Andrews has done his work with great skill." London Quarterly 
 Review. 
 
 "Of interest alike to the antiquary and general reader is 'Bygone 
 England ' a book from the able pen of Mr. William Andrews, devoted 
 to the consideration of some of the phases of the social life of this 
 country in the olden time." Whitehall Review.
 
 The Lawyer in History, Literature, and 
 Humour. 
 
 Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S. 
 Demy 8vo., price 7#. 6d. 
 
 CONTENTS Introduction Law Amongst Primitive Races Ivo, 
 Saint and Lawyer Benefit of Clergy Chaucer's Man of Law The 
 Law in Shakespeare Revels at the Inns of Court The Law in Scott 
 Dickens' Lawyers Literary Lawyers --The Law in Rhyme 
 Fighting Lawyers The Costume of the Law Curious Circuit Customs 
 The Last Execution for Witchcraft Curious Legal Facts, Customs, 
 and Fictions People in the Pillory Amenities of the Bench and the 
 Bar Curiosities of the Witness Box The Law and Laughter 
 Lawyers and Eloquence Sealed and Delivered A carefully compiled 
 Index. 
 
 "A welcome addition to the lighter literature of the law." The 
 Times. 
 
 "A considerable amount of historical and literary information 
 Daily News. 
 
 "An entertaining work. It is rich in the lore and the humour of 
 the law, and ought to be as interesting to the layman as to the 
 lawyer The Globe. 
 
 "A handsome volume. . . . The work is printed and got up 
 in a style that does credit to the well-known firm of publishers. 
 Chester Courant. 
 
 A Lawyer's Secrets. 
 
 BY HERBERT LLOYD. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE CHILDREN OF CHANCE," ETC. 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 " Mr. Herbert Lloyd gives us a succession of stories which may reason- 
 ably be taken to have their origin in the experience of a lawyer practising 
 at large in the criminal courts. It is natural that they should be of a 
 romantic nature ; but romance is not foreign to a lawyer's consulting room, 
 so that this fact need not be charged against this lawyer's veracity. . . 
 The stories, seven in all, cover the ground of fraud and murder, inspired 
 by the prevailing causes of crime greed and jealousy. Our lawyer is 
 happy in having the majority of his clients the innocent victims of false 
 charges inspired and fostered in a great measure by their own folly ; but 
 this is a natural phase of professional experience, and we are only con- 
 cerned with the fact that he generally manages it as effectively in the 
 interests of his clients as his editor does in presenting them to his 
 audience. " Literary World. 
 
 "A volume of entertaining stories. . . . The book has much the 
 same interest as a volume of detective stories, except that putting the cases 
 in a lawyer's mouth gives them a certain freshness. It is well written, and 
 makes a capital volume for a railway journey." The Scotsman. 
 
 "A. very entertaining volume." Birmingham Daily Gazette.
 
 In The Temple 
 
 By a BARRISTER-AT-LAW. 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 This book opens with a chapter on the history of the 
 Temple. Next follows an account of the Knight Templars. 
 The story of the Devil's Own is given in a graphic manner. 
 A Sketch of Christmas in the Temple is included. In an 
 entertaining manner the reader is informed how to become a 
 Templar, the manner of keeping terms is described, and lastly, 
 the work concludes with a chapter on call parties. 
 
 " Amusing and interesting sketches." Law Times. 
 
 " Pleasing gossip about the barristers' quarters." The Gentlewoman. 
 
 " A pleasant little volume." The Globe,. 
 
 The New Fairy Book. 
 
 Edited by WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S. 
 
 Price JfS. 6d. Demy 8vo. 
 
 THIS Volume contains Fifteen New Fairy Stories by 
 Popular Authors. Many charming original illustrations are 
 included. 
 
 It is beautifully printed in bold clear type, and bound in a 
 most attractive style. 
 
 " A very delightful volume, and eminently qualified for a gift book. 
 The stories are bright and interesting." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " We hope the book will get into many children's hands." Review 
 of Reviews 
 
 " We can recommend the stories for their originality, and the volume 
 for its elegant and tasteful appearance." Westminster Gazette. 
 
 Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time. 
 
 BY WILLIAM ANDREWS, F.R.H.S. 
 Fcap. 4(0. Bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price <fs. 
 
 Thi> work furnishes a carefully prepared account of all the great Frosts 
 occurring in this country from A.r>. 134 to 1887. The numerous Frost 
 Fairs on the Thames are fully described, and illustrated with quaint wood- 
 cuts, and several old ballads relating to the subject are reproduced. It is 
 tastefully printed and elegantly bound. 
 
 "A very interesting volume. 1 ' Northern Daily Telegraph. 
 
 "A great deal of curious and valuable information is contained in these 
 pages ... A comely volume." Literary World. 
 
 "An interesting and valuable work." West Middlesex Times. 
 
 "A volume of much interest and great importance." Rot her ham 
 Advertiser.
 
 Biblical and Shakespearian Characters 
 Compared. 
 
 BY THE REV. JAMES BELL. 
 Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d. 
 
 Between the Hebrew Bible and Shakespeare there exists some interesting 
 and instructive points of resemblance, especially in respect of their ways of 
 life and character. No doubt certain inevitable differences also exist 
 between them, but these do not hide the resemblance ; rather they serve 
 to set it, so to speak, in bolder relief. 
 
 The author in this volume treats ot this striking resemblance, under 
 certain phases, between Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespearian Drama. 
 
 The following are the chief " Studies " which find a place in the work : 
 Hebrew Prophecy and Shakespeare : a Comparison Eli and Hamlet 
 Saul and Macbeth Jonathan and Horatio David and Henry V. 
 Epilogue. 
 
 "One of the most suggestive volumes we have met with for a long 
 time." Birmingham Daily Gazette 
 
 " A deeply interesting book." The Methodist Times. 
 
 "A highly interesting and ingenious work." British Weekly. 
 
 The Red, Red Wine. 
 
 BY THE REV. J. JACKSON WRAY. 
 
 Grown 8vo., 330 pp. A portrait of the Author and other illustrations. 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 " This, as its name implies, is a temperance story, and is told in the 
 lamented author's most graphic style. We have never read anything so 
 powerful since ' Danesbury House,' and this book in stern and pathetic 
 earnestness even excels that widely-known book. It is worthy a place in 
 every Sunday School and village library ; and, as the latest utterance of 
 one whose writings are so deservedly popular, it is sure of a welcome. It 
 should give decision to some whose views about Local Option are hazy." 
 Joyful News. 
 
 " The story is one of remarkable power." The Temperance Record. 
 
 " An excellent and interesting story." The Temperance Chronicle. 
 
 Faces on the Queen's Highway. 
 
 BY FLO. JACKSON. 
 
 Elegantly Bound, Crown 8vo., price 2s. 6d. 
 
 THOUGH oftenest to be found in a pensive mood, the writer 
 of this very dainty volume of sketches is always very sweet 
 and winning. She has evidently a true artist's love of 
 nature, and in a few lines can limn an autumn landscape full of 
 colour, and the life which is on the down slope. And she can 
 tell a very taking story, as witness the sketch "At the Inn," 
 and " The Master of White Hags," and all her characters are 
 real, live flesh-and-blood people, who do things naturally, and 
 give very great pleasure to the reader accordingly. Miss Jackson's 
 gifts are of a very high order. Aberdeen Free Press.
 
 Yorkshire Family Romance. 
 
 BY FREDERICK ROSS, F.R.H.S. 
 Elegantly bound in doth gilt, Demy Svo., 6V*. 
 
 CONTENTS : The Synod of Streoneshalh The Doomed Heir of 
 Osmotherley St. Eadwine, the Royal Martyr The Viceroy Siward 
 Phases in the Life of a Political Nartyr The Murderer's Bride The 
 Earldom of VViltes Blackfaced Clifford The Shepherd Lord The Felons 
 of Ilkley The Ingilby Boar's HeadThe Eland Tragedy The Plumpton 
 Marriage The Topcliffe Insurrection Burning of Cottingham Castle 
 The Alum Workers The Maiden of Marblehead Rise of the House of 
 Phipps The Traitor Governor of Hull. 
 
 " The grasp and thoroughness of the writer is evident in every page, and 
 the book forms a valuable addition to the literature of the North Country." 
 Oentle woman. 
 
 " Many will welcome this work." Yorkshire Post. 
 
 Legendary Yorkshire. 
 
 BY FREDERICK ROSS, F.R.H.S. 
 Elegantly bound in cloth gilt, Demy Svo., 6s. 
 
 CONTENTS : The Enchanted Cave The Doomed City The Worm of 
 Nunnington The Devil's Arrows The Giant Road Maker of Mulgrave 
 The Virgin's Head of Halifax The Dead Arm of St. Oswald the King 
 The Translation of St. Hilda A Miracle of St. John The Beatified 
 Sisters The Dragon of Wantley The Miracles and Ghost of Watton The 
 Murdered Hermit of Eskdale The Calverley Ghost The Bewitched 
 House of Wakefield. 
 
 " It is a work of lasting interest, and cannot fail to delight the reader." 
 Beverley Recorder. 
 
 " The history and the literature of our county are now receiving marked 
 attention, and Mr. Andrews merits the support of the public for the 
 production of this and other interesting volumes he has issued. We 
 cannot speak too highly of this volume, the printing, the paper, and the 
 binding being faultless." Driffield Observer. 
 
 Children of Chance. 
 
 BY HERBERT LLOYD. 
 A Second and Cheap Edition, price Is. 
 
 " In short we have little but praise for this book. 
 The reader's interest is aroused from the first, and is sustained 
 to the end. There is pathos in the story, and there is 
 humour, and Mr. Lloyd writes very gracefully and tenderly 
 where grace and tenderness are needed." Birmingham 
 Daily Gazette. 
 
 "The story . . . is full of action and movement, and is never dull." 
 The Scotsman.
 
 Stepping Stones to Socialism. 
 
 BY DAVID MAXWELL, C.E. 
 
 Grown 8vo., 140 pp. ; Jancy cover, Is. ; doth bound, %K. 
 CONTENTS : In a reasonable and able manner Mr. Maxwell 
 deals with the following topics : The Popular meaning of the 
 Word Socialism Lord Salisbury on Socialism Why There is 
 in Many Minds an Antipathy to Socialism On Some 
 Socialistic Views of Marriage The Question of Private 
 Property The Old Political Economy is not the Way of 
 Salvation Who is My Neighbour? Progress, and the Con- 
 dition of the Labourer Good and Bad Trade : Precarious 
 Employment All Popular Movements are Helping on 
 Socialism Modern Literature in Relation to Social Progress 
 Pruning the Old Theological Tree The Churches : Their 
 Socialistic Tendencies The Future of the Earth in Relation 
 to Human Life Socialism is Based on Natural Laws of Life 
 Humanity in the Future Preludes to Socialism Forecasts of 
 the Ultimate Form of Society A Pisgah-top View of the 
 Promised Land. 
 
 "A temperate and reverent study ol a great question." London 
 Quarterly Review. 
 
 " Mr. David Maxwell's book is the timely expression of a richly- 
 furnished mind on the current problems of home politics and social ethics." 
 Eastern Morning News. 
 
 " Quite up-to-date." Hull Daily Mail. 
 
 The Studies of a Socialist Parson. 
 
 BY THE REV. W. H. ABRAHAM, M.A. (London). 
 Crown 8vo., Price One Shilling. 
 
 The volume consists of sermons and addresses, given mostly at the St. 
 Augustine's Church, Hull. The author in his preface says, " It is the duty 
 of the clergyman to try and understand what Socialism is, and to lead men 
 from the false Socialism to the true." 
 
 CONTENTS : The Working-man, Past and Present : A Historical 
 Review Whither are we going? National Righteousness The True 
 Value of Life Christian Socialism Jesus Christ, the True Socialist 
 Socialism, through Christ or without Him ? The Great Bread Puzzle 
 Labour Day, May i, 1892 The People, the Rulers, and the Priests 
 Friendly Societies Trades' Unions The People's Church On some 
 Social Questions The Greatest Help to the true Social Life The Great I 
 Am God as a present force Signs of the Times. 
 
 "The volume is deserving of all praise." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " An admirable contribution to the solution of difficult problems. Mr. 
 Abraham has much that is valuable to say, and says it well." Spectator. 
 
 " The book is as a whole sensitive and suggestive. The timely words on 
 'Decency in Journalism and Conversation ' deserve to be widely read." 
 London Quarterly Review,
 
 The Press on 
 Messrs. 
 
 William Andrews & Co.'s 
 
 Printing and Binding. 
 
 " The book is very handsomely got up." Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 " A remarkably handsome volume, typographically equal to the 
 best production of any European capital." North British Daily 
 Mail. 
 
 " The book is entitled to unstinted praise on the ground of its 
 admirable printing and binding." Shields Daily Gazette. 
 
 "Will bear comparison with the best work of the first pub- 
 lishing firms in London or Edinburgh, the printing and paper 
 being everything the most fastidious could desire." Boston 
 Independent. 
 
 " The book is handsomely brought out." Scotsman. 
 
 " Beautiful work in typography and binding." Yorkshire Post. 
 
 "Very pretty binding." Publishers' Circular. 
 
 " Most elegantly bound and tastefully printed." Hull Daily 
 Mail. 
 
 " Beautifully bound and printed." Daily Chronicle. 
 
 " The letterpress is beautifully clear." Birmingham Daily 
 Gazette. 
 
 " The printer's part is perfectly done." India. 
 
 " The book is handsomely got up." Manchester Guardian. 
 
 "The book is excellently printed and bound." Library 
 Review. 
 
 " Handsomely printed." Newcastle Chronicle. 
 
 A notice of " Bygone Scotland " concludes as follows : " The 
 book forms a splendid addition to the works of the same series all 
 printed at the ' Hull Press,' and, like all its predecessors, is 
 printed in the exceptionally beautiful style which marks the 
 productions of Mr. Andrews' establishment. Mr. Andrews is a 
 bookmaker par excellence." Printing World. 
 
 THE HULL PRESS, 
 
 i, DOCK STREET, HULL.
 
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 Los Angeles 
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