Highways and Byways in Sussex

by E. V. Lucas

Piddinghoe.

The Downs when we saw them first, between Midhurst and Chichester, formed an inland chain parallel with the shore: here, and eastward as far as Beachy Head, where they suddenly cease, their southern slopes are washed by the Channel. This companionship of the sea lends them an additional wildness: sea mists now and then envelop them in a cloud; sea birds rise and fall above their cliffs; the roar or sigh of the waves mingles with the cries of sheep; the salt savour of the sea is borne on the wind over the crisp turf. It was, I fancy, among the Downs in this part of Sussex that Mrs. Marriott-Watson wrote the intimately understanding lines which I take the liberty of quoting:

A HILL POEM

ON THE DOWNS.

Broad and bare to the skies

The great Down-country lies,

Green in the glance of the sun,

Fresh with the clean salt air;

Screaming the gulls rise from the fresh-turned mould,