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VILLAGES ON THE PLAIN 131
account, entitled A Discovery by Sea from London to Salisbury, 1623. His remarks are unflattering, but things have changed very much since his day.
"A Town called Goreing stood neere two miles wide, To which we went and had our wants supplide : There we relieved ourselves (with good compassion) With meat and lodging of the homely fashion. To bed we went in hope of rest and ease But all beleaguered with an host of fleas : Who in their fury nip'd and skip'd so hotly That all our skins were almost turned to motley. When we (opprest with their increasing pow'rs) Were glad to yeeld the honour of the day Unto our foes and rise and runne away.
The night before a Constable there came, Who asked my trade, my dwelling, and my name, My business, and a troupe of questions more, And wherefore we did land upon that shore? To whom I framed my answers true and fit, (According to his plenteous want of wit) But were my words all true or if I li'd With neither could I get him satisfied. He asked if we were Pyrats ? We said No, (As if we had we would have told him so). He said that Lords would sometimes enterprise T'escape and leave the Kingdome in disguise : But I assur'd him on my honest word That I was no disguised Knight or Lord."
However, the results were not satisfactory, and poor John Taylor suffered more from the Constable and "his associates."
The large church is nearly all modern, but retains round pillars of about 1170, not unlike those at Rustington, though squeezed into the scallop caps are curious little ferns. There is a brass figure in armour with lady. Adjoining the churchyard are slight ruins of a mediaeval manor-house. |
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