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172 KIPLING'S SUSSEX
cowslip " of our Shakespeare—appears in the late spring. Here too we find the circular growth of fungus known as " hag-tracks," and still believed to be the rings of " pharisees " hereabouts. This name for fairies is really an irregular plural, of a type common in Sussex speech :
" I saw three ghost esses Sitting on three postesses."
would sound quite right to Sussex ears.
It was with a very lively imagination that Gilbert White speaks of the " chain of majestic mountains," but here is a description and experience which is interesting:
" There is a remarkable hill on the Downs near Lewes, in Sussex, known by the name of Mount Caburn (White's spelling gives the Sussex value to the vowel), which overlooks the town, and affords a most engaging prospect of all the country round, besides several views of the sea. On the very summit of this exalted promontory, and amidst the trenches of its Danish (sic) camp, there haunts a species of wild bee, making its nest in the chalky soil. When people approach the place these insects begin to be alarmed, and with a sharp and hostile sound, dart and strike round the heads and faces of intruders. I have often been interrupted myself while contemplating the grandeur of the scenery round me and have thought myself in danger of being stung."
A walk of about eight miles by road from |
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