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BOGNOR 99 |
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his wife (whom Swinburne thought about the most perfect on record)—has materially helped his fame. There are few writers whose reputation would not be enhanced by the complete blotting out of some of their work, but still fewer can equal for badness the worst products of Blake. For his comprehensive and childish abuse of Sussexians he cannot even have the excuse that a political lampoonist may claim—
"The Sussex Men are Noted Fools, And weak is their brain-pan—
I wonder if H----- [Haines] the painter
Is not a Sussex Man."
Nor can much be said for his attack on Hayley—
"When H—y finds out what you cannot do, That is the very thing he'll set you to; If you break not your Neck, 'tis not his fault; But pecks of poison are not pecks of salt."
However, if Blake had written nothing else the wanderer in the byways of Sussex, especially in the neighbourhood of Felpham, may well feel the highest gratitude for his ideal—
"To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour."
It is the very spirit that is essential really to appreciate a country ramble of any sort, and it is beautifully expressed.
The junction for Bognor on the main South Coast line is at Barnham, and though the buildings round the station are of no great beauty |
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