| Share page |
|
190 KIPLING'S SUSSEX
Or A. E. Housman's eulogy of malten brew :
" Oh, many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God's ways to man. Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink For fellow whom it hurts to think ; Look into the pewter pot To see the world as the world's not."
You ask what all this has to do with Sussex. Well, it has almost everything. For the next time you pass through Washington, you will think of these Bacchic notes, visit the inn, and read Hilaire Belloc's story of Grizzlebeard in " The Four Men," and that will take you to the heart of Sussex.
The excursion to Washington from Worthing will be a delight to all those who, like Richard Jefferies, hold that " there is always hope in the hills," for this is the straight road to the Downs. Gradually the pastoral nature of the scenery changes to what Kipling calls " the blunt, bow-headed, whale-backed downs," which form a unique background to the town, stretching inland for mile after mile, their pure, bracing air, fragrant in summer and autumn with the scent of wild thyme, their springy turf—a pleasure to walk on— broken in great patches by a blaze of golden gorse. |
||