HANDBOOKS FOR TRAVELLERS IN SUSSEX.* ENGLISHMEN owe a great deal

to Mr. Murray. Before the publication of his English Handbooks, the traveller in England was forced to gain his information from ponderous county ,histories and from local guides, which were rarely satisfactory,and often entirely delusive. Each important watering-place and rural resort found, no doubt, some one to sing its praises ; but every one familiar with these guide-books knows how little was to be found in them accurate and trustworthy, how much that was rhetorical in style and absurdly extravagant in statement. There were, indeed, exceptions to this rule, for occasionally the office of guide-writer was undertaken by a man of ability mid taste ; but ,however able the production might be, it was rarely adapted to the tourist who, in addition to the genealogical, historical, and arch Ecological information so dear to the heart of the local antiquary, needed a guide to show him where to go, what to see, how to travel, and at what inns to put up.

Mr. Murray's admirably-written Handbooks satisfy the first demands of the tourist, and supply also an amount of information about the things of fame, the history, antiquities, and scenery, of England, which in so compact and portable a form is not to be obtained elsewhere. Volumes like these may be read with genuine pleasure and advantage by stay-at-home readers, for they are alike instructive and entertaining. Hitherto the Handbook of Sussex has been united to that of Kent, a plan which many a tourist will have found objectionable, and we hope that the issue of these handbooks singly will lead to similar divisions. There seems no reason, for instance, why Hampshire should be united to Surrey, Cornwall to Devon, or Durham to Northumberland, and a divorce in these cases will be advantageous to the purse and pocket of the tourist. The Handbook to Sussex published by Mr. Stanford is also one of a series, between which and the well-known red volumes of Mr. Murray there need be no rivalry. In these days of rapid and constant travel, the wants of all classes of tourists claim to be provided for. Different minds require different food, and travellers who do not care for the copious information given in the handbooks published at Albemarle Street may be glad to obtain, at a smaller cost and in a still more portable form, all the guidance they are likely to need in a summer excursion. Both the Handbooks before us, be it observed, are the work of writers thoroughly acquainted with the subject, both contain many tokens of original research and of familiar acquaintance with the places described, and in both the reader will find himself in the pleasant company of guides whose judgment and good- taste are as conspicuous as the extent and exactness of their knowledge. This is high praise, but it is not, we think, extra- vagant praise, and perhaps we shall best show our appreciation of these Sussex Guides by using them as our authorities, while takieg a brief and necessarily rapid glance at the county.

Mr. Chambers observes that the claims of Sussex on the lovers of natural beauty are scarcely known to the ordinary tourists who pass by railroad through the county to the sea-coast. Brighton, " dear, Dr. Brighton," as Thaekeray calls it, whatever advantages it may possess, is assuredly not beautiful. The eye is not glad-

* Handbook for Travellers in Sussex. 4th Edition, With Map and Plan. London t John Murray. 1877.

Handbook is the County of Sussex. Containing Full Information concerning all its Favourite Places of Resort on tha Coast and Inland_ By Goorge F. Chambers, P.R.A,S, With Map and Plan. London : Edward Stanford. 1877. dened by any natural charm, unless we exeept the autumn sun- sets in which Robertson found each solace and delight. Worth- ing, which seems to be rapidly growing, especially on its western side, and has manifold attractions for servant-maids and children, is, if the truth may be spoken of so fashionable a resort, desti- tute alike of the cheerful excitement of the town and the soothing beauty of the country. Of sleepy Bognor and the flats that surround it there is nothing to be said, and we may dismiss Littlehampton with the opinion expressed by Mr. Chambers, that it "wishes to be a fashionable watering-place." Hastings and Eastbourne are exceptions to the lack of fine position which marks the coast towns of Sussex. The former is loved dearly by poets and artists, and the man must be dull indeed who does not enjoy the lovely views of the East Hill, the walks along the summit, and the sight of the old town nestling between the hills. Hastings has but one fault, the enervating character of the air, which is felt to some extent even on the high ground, and we cannot agree with Mr. Chambers's judgment that "the higher portions of the town possess the bracingoair they might be expected to possess." In this respect Eastbourne, while far inferior in position, has the advantage over its rival. The noble height of Beachey Head and the fine range of Downs give a character to the town which should have been turned to better account by builders ; but Eastbourne, like almost all other English watering-places, has been allowed to grow up without the requisite supervision, When we think of the architectural beauty we might have had hero and elsewhere, and of the ugliness we have, we feel much as Mr. Ruskin feels at the sight of modern " resto- ration." Englishmen have a strong, though not perhaps a highly cultivated, love of natural beauty, but the indifference which allows mercenary builders to spoil the finest sites in the country is simply amazing.

The characteristic beauty of Sussex scenery is not to be seen - on the coast-line, but is to be found on the Downs, which extend for 53 miles, reaching sometimes to a height of more than 800 feet ; and in the lovely woodland scenery, which Mr. Chambers truly says is unsurpassed in the South of England. The style in which the Sussex Downs were described in the last century will amuse and surprise the modern reader. Cowper writes of being alarmed at their stupendous height, and Gilbert White tells his friend Barrington that he investigates "that chain of majestic mountains with fresh admiration year by year." The tourist who wishes at a slight cost of fatigue to gain some

idea of this scenery will do well to leave ,the railway at Hassock's Gate, walk to Ditchling Beacon, which is about throe

miles from the station, and 858 feet above the sea-level, and from thence to Lewes, along the crests of the hills, a distance of about six miles. This walk, according to "Murray," "is one of the finest to be had in the county, and will give an excellent notion of the Downs themselves, with their 'deans' and combes ' all marked with green fairy-rings and solitary Celtic barrows." Lewes itself is one of the most picturesque and interesting towns in Sum; and after lunching there, as with the utmost comfort he may do, the traveller may be recommended to continue his ramble by a walk from Cliffe Hill to Mount Caburn. The idler at Brighton who wishes to pass a summer day pleasantly can scarcely choose a more delightful or more practicable excursion. Probably the most picturesque view of the Downs is to be gained from some of the villages nestling beneath them, but at the distance of several miles—at Cuckfield, for instance, or at Hayward's Heath—the beantiful line of these hills forms a striking termination to the richly-wooded landscape. As centres for exploring the most beautiful or the wildest portions of the county, Cuckfield and Midhuret, Worth and Mayfield may be recommended. Pet- worth, which is about twelve miles from Midhurst, might also be chosen as a halting-place, and there, in addition to the ex- cursions to be made in different directions, is the attraction of Lord Leconfield's splendid collection of pictures, "one of the richest private collections in England," and open to the public three days in the week. The park, too, the walls of which are fourteen miles in circumference, is liberally thrown open, a gene- rosity by no means universal in Sussex. There is Parham, for example, "one of the most interesting places" in the county, which, according to Mr. Chambers, is let for five years to a tenant "who churlishly refuses to allow either the house or any part of the collection to be inspected." Of this fact, " Murray " does not seem to be aware, for he remarks that while some of the collec- tions are not generally shown, "the rest of the house and its con- tents are usually made accessible to strangers with great liberality." According to the same authority, the forest-like park or chase is one of the finest in the county. "On all all sides the

artist will find -sylvan pictures of the highest beauty, with a. back- ground of green hill caught here and there, between- the rich

masses of foliage. Here, in the centre of a thick wood of pine • Tind spruce fir, is one of the few remaining English heronries.

Advancing with the utmost caution, the visitor may perhaps in-

vade the colony without disturbing it, and hear the indescribable, half-croaking, half-hissing sound uttered by the young birds when in the act of behig fed. The slightest noise, however, even the

snapping of a stick, will send off the parent birch; at once The Parham heronry has its history. Early in the reign of James I., the ancestral birds were brought by Lord Leicester's Steward from Coity Castle, in Wales, to Penshurst. There they continued for more than two centuries, and then migrated to Michel Grove, not far from Arundel, and about eight miles south-

-east of Parham. About 3845, Michel Grove was bought by the Duke of Norfolk, who pulled down the house, and felled one or two trees in the heronry, • The birds at once commenced their migra- tion, and in three seasees all had found their way to the Parham woods."

Looking at Parham on the map, we are reminded that at no great distance is Arundel Castle, a palatial residence which, if not

worthy of high praise architecturally, is assuredly One of the " lions " of Sussex. The house is not open to visitors, but the Keep, from whence there is an extensive view, may be seen twice weekly, and the Great Park is always accessible. The .Keep used to be

inhabited by a colony of owls, but their privacy was destroyed by excursion trains, and " they did not long survive-these turbulent

invasions." Another Sussex park open to the public and well deserving a visit is Goodwood, the Duke of Moll-

mond's residence. The house may be visited at all times with the exception of Sundays and the race week, but the park is more attractive than the house. "The views from the higher grounds are very grand, and the trees beat the pictures." But the traveller in Sussex will do well to escape for a time from ducal residences and noble parks, in order to traverse, the wildest

and least frequented parts of the county. Let him, for instance, take the walk from Mayfield to East Grinstead, first of all reading what " Murray " has to tell him about this line of route. The pas- sage Will bear extracting. After saying that the accommodation in this district is somewhat rustic, but that the never-failing Sussex resource of eggs and bacon may be depended on, and "for the most part, the cleaalinesa and lavender sheets of Izaak Walton's old-fashioned inn," the writer adds :—

"All this country will be best explored by the pedestrian who will -find his pilgrimage in-search of the picturesque amply rewarded, Owing to the peculiar formation: of the Hastings sand, the whole district is broken into hill and valley, forming a •class of scenery quite distinct from that of any other part of Sussex, and strongly resembling some

corners of Devon The picturesque old villages, the venerable . farms niched into the hill-sides, with the wallet oak in front of the porch, and the green -wish or meadow below the hollow with its group of old ash-trees, and seep lanes hung with fern and wild-flowers, afford a succession of pictures well worth tho seeking."

Sussex, it is needless to say, can boast a long array of worthies, though fewer probably than the adjoining county of Surrey.

Cobden had an estate,by,Midhurst, . near the house in which be was born, and in the churchyard where ho is buried lie also the remains of the late Bishop ItVilberforce, At Chichester, where Archbishop juxon was born, died the illustrious Chillingworth ; and when he was buried in the Cathedral, a Puritan flung his

Religion et Protestants into the grave, " to rot with its author and see corruption ;" and it is said that this Puritan's son got into the cloister at night, and defaced the inscription with a pickaxe. Collins the poet was a native of Chichester, and at the end of hi s brief and painful career he obtained a monument in the cathedral. Field Place, near Horsham, is for ever famous as the birthplace of Shelley, who, to quote the absurdly inappropriate language of the Sussex Garland,, was "most., assuredly an able man." Another- greatpoet of an earlier period, Jain Fletcher, "literary brother of Beaumont," was born at Rye,- where his father, afterwards Bishop of London, was at that time vicar. At

Salvington the learned Seddon was born, in 1584, and the cottage is still standing in- which he saw the light. It would be easy to add to this list, and to mention, too, a number of famous ieci- dents which give celebrity, to the county. Great names and great .memories abound in England, and if .8ussex can boast a goodly share, her good fortune is. not singular. . And this reminds us how greatly the pleasure of home-travel is enhanced by the associations, historical, literary, or religious, of, which the traveller is continually reminded. It is possible to traverse large tracts of country on the Continent which are neither bilked with a great event, nor with the life of a distinguished

person. Step where you will in England, and you come upon ground sacred to patriotism, to literature, or to :piety. 'With a good guide in the hand, none of these associations are lost, and as we read the handbook of a county, noble deeds done or words uttered receive, as it were, new life and meaning.

Topography, it has been said, is the handmaid of patriotism, and such books as the two before us, by giving us a closer acquaintance with a most interesting part of England,, may sarve to increase our affection for the whole country. This is not one of the services generally supposed to be rendered by the Guide- writer, but it can scarcely be doubted that in doing his work well he does in a measure contribute to this result.