ENGLISH SCENERY AND LOCAL HISTORY.* THE title of this volume,
and the title alone, reminds us of that delightful book, Field-Paths and Green Lanes, in which Mr. Jennings takes his readers through the lanes and woods of Surrey and over the Downs of Sussex. He need not fear that • The Green Lanes of Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex. By the Bev. G. N. Godwin, Chaplain of the Forces. London: Griffith and Fsrri. Mr. Godwin is poaching on his territory. His pages, which have little to do either with Surrey or Sussex, treat, according to the introduction, "of a little corner of Hampshire," and are dedi- cated to the praise of the Anchor Hotel, at Liphook. This praise, snug, in the first place, by Mr. Godwin, is echoed apparently by members of his family ; but the division of labour is not defined, neither is the quality of the writing equal. The style is, in many instances, slipshod, and the expressions are sometimes vulgar, witness chapter -written by a young lady, in which she writes of a "stiff glass of brandy hot, with or without," and adds, " you know we girls never talk slang, but we can't help picking up these horrid expressions from our brothers." Sitting upon the box-seat of the "Rocket," she passes judgment on the team in the language of the stable, considers that the near wheeler is " well put together in every way," and observes,—" It has been all collar-work for the last mile or two, and our team are evidently not sorry to have an opportunity of washing out their mouths at the 'Royal Huts.' Some of the gentlemen seem to find the same process very agreeable. I should have liked it very much, but then it would have looked so, you know !" Now and then we meet with interesting or amusing statements which we have not seen else- where; but the best portions of the volume, with the exception of the narrative in chapter xi., which is due to a former occu- pant of the Anchor, consist of passages from White's Selborne, and of copious extracts from several well-known journals. Mr. Godwin's book is a clumsy manufacture, and the best that can be said for it is that a visitor to the Anchor at Liphook—which, by the way, is unnecessarily puffed in an advertisement—will find ample information about an inn that has some associations, literary and historical. Samuel Pepys spent a night there once with his wife, en route for Portsmouth, having an old man for a guide in the coach with them, and reached the inn, " with great fear of being out of our way, it being ten at night." John Wilkes is also said to have slept there frequently, on his way to and from the Isle of Wight. There, too, several crowned heads, foreign, as well as English, have found a pleasant resting-place ; and there, in 1815, the Allied Sovereigns were entertained at luncheon. The tourist who wishes to explore a lovely district might spend a week at the Anchor with advantage. He is in Gil- bert White's country, and Selborne itself is readily accessible. Woolmer Forest is not what it was in Queen Anne's time, when it contained about 500 head of red deer, which the Queen saw " with great complacency," the whole herd having been driven by the keepers before her as she reposed on a bank ; neither is it even what it was in White's time, for the waste of fern and heather of which he speaks has been cultivated and planted. No one, we may observe, ever succeeded more thoroughly in appropriating a special tract of country than White. His book, the simple record of his life's pursuit, has the quality about it which promises immortality. Its peculiar charm cannot be affected by the progress of knowledge, and it is no rash pro- phecy to say that the Natural History of Selborne will last as long as the place itself.
The house inhabited by Gilbert White has recently been " restored," but, prior to this restoration, it was the home of Professor Bell, a man of great scientific attainments, a born naturalist, and a profound admirer of White, whose book he re- published in a beautiful edition shortly before his death. It seemed fitting that such a man should have spent the last twenty years of a long and active life in a spot so beautiful, and which possessed for him a thousand interesting associations. .Selborne is the centre of a delightful district, and embraces, pehaps, the loveliest scenery of Hampshire, with the exception of the New Forest, which is still, to our thinking, despite the art practised to deform it, one of the most beautiful spots in the South of England. Hampshire has a great reputation. Does it not boast of Portsmouth, one of the most important towns in the kingdom ; of Southampton, one of the most charming ; of Winchester, which belongs to ancient as well as to modern history—it was once the first city in the island, and is still famous for its cathedral and its school—of Christchurch, which lives, and can afford to live, on the reputation of its priory church; and of Romsey, which flourishes on a similar reputa- tion ? A large portion of this large county is painfully devoid of natural attractions, but a similar complaint cannot be made with regard either to Sussex or Surrey. Tourists, indeed, who know only the long sea-coast of Sussex might come to such a conclusion. Barren and unpicturesque is the scenery round Brighton, and the coast-line to Worthing offers little to the eye in search of beauty. Littlehampton and Bognor attract visitors who are in search of that quiet which is another word for " dullness," but to our thinking, Hastings and Eastbourne share between them all the beauty that Nature has bestowed upon Sussex watering-places. Charles Lamb said there was no sense of home at Hastings ; but Lamb daring his stay there was probably troubled with ill conditions, or he may have fixed his tent in an unfortunate position. Hodd, who went thither as an invalid, gave this famous old town a different character, and, we think, a more just one. As far as fashion is concerned, Hastings is obscured by St. Leonard's ; but all that is pictur- esque and home-like is to be found in the east end of the old town, with its church of All Saints, its old. London Road, its narrow and quaint High Street, and, above all, its cliff, which commands a view, beloved by many an artist, of the town nestled in the valley. And then, on a bright spring or autumnal morning, what walk can be more delightful than the familiar cliff walk to Ecclesbourne and to Fairlight ? There is nothing like it at Eastbourne, the only possible rival of Hastings for beauty of position ; for although Beach)* Head and the Downs that lead to it have fine views, the character of the scenery is different and inferior. One advantage, however, and no slight one, those Downs possess,—they can be visited on horseback.
But no tourist will know Sussex who does not turn his back upon the coast, and explore the interior of the county. He can scarcely go wrong, whether he make his starting-point from Midhurst or from Arundel, from Lewes or from Balcombe. The pedestrian will find an infinite variety of excursions, especially on the hills ; and Murray is right in saying that the South Downs, which extend for fifty-three miles, with an aver- age height of about 500 feet, are quite as interesting as many parts of the Continent which enjoy a far higher reputation. It was these Downs that appeared so " tremendous " to Cowper, and were termed "Alpine mountains" by Horace Walpole. Soutbey's eldest daughter, on the contrary, when she left her Keswick home for Tarring, thought the height of the Downs insignificant. So much do we judge by comparison, in our estimate of scenery.
In the walk from Petersfield to Midhurst, which forme a pleasant chapter of Mr. Jennings's "Iambics among the Hills, the writer lingers for a moment at Harting, which he describes as " beautifully situated under the Downs, with abundance of fine trees near it and about it, and a pretty church, with a deep, sloping roof." He adds that time out of mind Harting has been a favourite place of residence with gentle and simple, and well it may be; but he neither seems to be aware that the rector of the parish, the Rev. H. D. Gordon, has written an interesting history of the place, nor that it can boast some important literary associations.
The Caryll family possessed an estate at West Harting from the end of the sixteenth century to the accession of George III., and there must at one time have been a large and bibulous household to provide for, for we learn from an account-book quoted by Mr. Gordon that a thousand gallons of ale were con- sumed in one month. This was in " the good old times," when a dish of ale was drink for a king. Later on, the family had more refined tastes, and Lord Caryll, Secretary to Mary of Modena, produced a play of Richard III., which was acted by Betterton. His nephew, the Squire of Lady Holt, has gained a sort of immortality as the friend of Pope. He was the resi- dent Squire at Harting for about forty-seven years, and con- nected with the place for fifty-four. It was Caryll who intro- duced Steele to Pope, and Steele who introduced Pope to Addison ; and these introductions, which have no small signifi- cance in literature, are intimately associated, in Mr. Elwin's judgment, with the settlement of the West-Harting estates, a full account of which is given in Mr. Gordon's history of the village. Pope frequently paid a visit to Caryll's seat of Lady Holt, on one occasion with Gay, and it is supposed that much of the Iliad was translated there. " If Lady Holt's shades afford me protection," Pope writes, "it is there Homer's battles must be fought." Mr. Gordon considers that the surroundings inspired many of his poems ; but scenery had never any perceptible influence on Pope's verse, and we look in vain for proofs of such inspiration.
What White did for Selborne, Mr. Gordon has done, in his measure, for Harting. We do not compare the two volumes, for White, in his peculiar line, has no equal, but the great in- terest of Mr. Gordon's narrative leads us to agree with the writer that the story of a country parish ought to be written
separately. The wealth of information that may be gained in this way is astonishing :—" So great is the wealth of public historical documents in England, as compared with France (which, in this respect, lost irretrievably by the wanton destruction of her-records in the Revolution), that search of the most ordinary diligence will be sure to recover some historical title-deeds for the dullest hill-side."
The desultory character of this article will be accounted for by the volume that suggested it. We have but touched lightly upon a subject that will admit of being treated again and again, and always from some fresh standing-point. Harting affords a striking illustration of the interest that may attach to a parish w'_•_ich, to judge from the fact that it is not mentioned in Murray, is regarded as insignificant. Bnt Sussex, especially in the villages nestling under the cover of her Downs, abounds with historical and antiquarian lore, that will well repay the researches of a local chronicler; while the wealth of natural beguty is such, that the pedestrian who follows any of the routes pointed out by Mr. Jennings, or more formally by the handbooks of the county, may be sure of a delightful excursion. We may add, in conclusion, that in omitting, not for lack of matter, but of space, all mention of Surrey, we have done no injustice to Mr. Godwin's description of the county, since it is almost wholly borrowed from other writers.
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