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136 THE SUSSEX COAST |
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fate is to have become the patron of the Coachman's Gild at Milan.
The fine church at Tarring seems from its mouldings to be a little later than the time of St. Richard. Its arcades have round pillars, and the hood moulds of the arches on both sides have foliage corbels, both aisles and clearstory have lancets; those in the latter are over the pillars and deeply splayed downwards. Both tower and chancel were rebuilt in the fifteenth century, and over the former rises a tall wooden spire covered with oaken shingles. There are carved miserere stalls, and the low screen preserves its original iron spikes along the top. Modern mosaics by Italian workmen cover much of the wall space and look as if they had lost their way. The tower window has glass to the memory of Southey, whose daughter married a former rector named Warter. In the old font of this church Australian babies are received into the faith; it stands in Melbourne Cathedral.
Just north of Tarring is its hamlet, Salvington, of which Horsfield says in a somewhat flowery passage, " To the lover of antiquities, to the lover of freedom, and to the admirer of God's noblest work—an honest man—to the scholar, the patriot, and the moralist, this hamlet must offer ample temptations to a visit; for here, in a house called Lacies, was born, the eldest son of plebeian parents, him who became afterwards the erudite, conscientious defender of his country's liberties—John Selden." The "house called Lacies" is a tiny cottage. The parish register records in 1584 " John, the son of John Selden the minstrell, was baptised." He was educated at the Free Grammar School of Chichester; it was much easier then |
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