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Condé; another was the residence of John Horne Tooke, Esq. who died here in 1812, and desired to be buried in a vault which he had prepared for that purpose in his garden; his wish, however, was not complied with, and his remains were interred at Ealing.

At the south-west corner of the Common is a circular encampment, with a ditch, enclosing an area of about seven acres, which is supposed by Camden to have been the spot on which a battle was fought in 568 between Ceaulin, King of Wessex, and Ethelbert King of Kent, in which the latter was defeated.

WITLEY, a small village, three miles and a half from Godalming, with 1264 inhabitants, had some years since a vein of iron ore discovered within its hmits, which promised considerable profit, but has been since abandoned.

WOKING, once a considerable town, and giving name to the Hundred in which it is situated, is now an insignificant place, about five miles below Guildford, on the Wey. In the Domesday Book this is mentioned as a royal demesne, and the ruins of an ancient mansion are still observable, in which several of our monarchs occasionally resided. manor is now the property of Earl Onslow. The Church is an ancient structure, but contains nothing worthy of notice.

The

WOTTON, a village near Dorking, is remarkable only as the birth-place of the amiable philosopher John Evelyn, who was born at the family mansion here, in 1620, and here closed his long and useful life in 1706, and was interred in the parish Church. His works, amounting to not less than 20 in number, are on a variety of subjects, but the best known are, Sylva, a Discourse of Forest Trees," a new edition of which was published in 1812, and his Diary and Correspondence, a most interesting work, first given to the public in 1819.

66

END OF THE DESCRIPTION OF SURREY.

Sussex.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION,

THE boundaries of Sussex are, on the West, Hampshire; on the East and North-East, Kent; on the North, Surrey; and on the South, the English Channel. Its extreme length from east to west is 76 miles, while its average breadth is scarcely 20 miles, and its superficial contents are stated at 933,360 acres. It is divided into six Rapes (a division peculiar to this County), those of Chichester, Arundel, and Bramber, on the western side; Lewes, Pevensey, and Hastings, on the eastern; these are subdivided into 65 Hundreds, comprising 342 parishes; and the population of the whole County, in 1821, was 233,019. It is represented in Parliament by 28 Members.

The appearance of this county is pleasingly varied by the inequalities of the Downs, with the intervening valleys, through which the little rivers pursue their courses to the sea. The richly wooded scenery of some parts, contrasted with the pasture land in its neighbourhood, affords a rich diversity of rural prospects; but on the northern side, the wastes are very considerable, comprising not less than 110,000 acres of almost desert tracts. From the earliest antiquity, Sussex has been celebrated for its timber, and particularly oak; the forests have been considerably reduced, but the quantity of its woodlands at present is not less than 180,000 acres; and that district called the Weald, is overspread with timber in every direction, the quality of which is so excellent, that it is almost exclusively used in the construction of ships of war. The South Downs are a range of green open hills, extending 54 miles in length, by a breadth of about four miles, and comprising 90,000 acres; they afford excellent pasture, and in some places are fertile in corn.

The Soil of Sussex is various; on the South

Downs chalk predominates; in the Weald, clay; while sand, loam, and gravel, are met with in other parts of the county. Every kind of limestone is found in the Weald, and for cement, or as manure, it is valued beyond that of most other districts. The Sussex marble, when cut and polished, equals in beauty almost every other species; and much of it was formerly used in building; the pillars, vaultings, and pavement of Canterbury Cathedral are constructed of this material, as are also some parts of Westminster Abbey, and York Minster. Ironstone abounds, and to this circumstance the sterility of a great portion of the surface is to be ascribed. The range of hills which runs through the county, near the coast, is composed of chalk; and on the south-side of these hills marl is found. Fuller's earth and red ochre are dug in some parts, as is also the mineral called talc; and coal, in small quantities, has lately been discovered.

The Rivers of Sussex are insignificant streams, but they all rise in this county, and all fall into the English Channel within its limits. The Arun has its source in St. Leonard's Forest, and after passing by Arundel, discharges itself into the sea at Little Hampton; it is celebrated for its excellent mullet, trout, and eels. The Adur rises in the same forest, and running by Shoreham, falls into the Channel at Southwick. The Ouse is composed of two small streams, which unite near Cuckfield, not far from which it becomes navigable, then proceeds to Lewes, and joins the sea at Newhaven. The Lavant, which rises near East Dean, and nearly encircles Chichester; and the Rother, whose source is in Ashdown Forest, fall into the Channel at the opposite extremities of the county; as does the Cuckmere, at a short distance from Seaford.

The Climate, on the south side of the Downs, is warm, and exceedingly favourable to vegetation; but upon such parts of the hills as are exposed to the south-west, it is extremely bleak, and the winds are frequently so boisterous as to do great injury to the agriculturist. In order to guard as much as possible against this, almost all buildings in this district are placed in low and sheltered situations; but the standing corn is sometimes blown out of the ear when ready for harvest.

Sussex has no manufactures worthy of the name; in its Agriculture, it does not materially differ from the adjacent counties; the crops most commonly cultivated are wheat, oats, clover, barley, peas, tares, and turnips. In particular situations, and to a smaller extent, we find potatoes, which are principally used in fattening cattle; beans, lettuces, carrots, sainfoin, lucerne, and chicory. Hops are raised in considerable quantities near the Kentish border; rhubarb and opíum are cultivated on the Earl of Egremont's estate near Petworth; and in the western parts of the county some considerable orchards flourish, and excellent cider is produced. The cattle and sheep are considered equal to any in the kingdom; the latter especially are highly prized for the goodness of their fleece, and the fine flavour of their flesh. Rabbits, fowls of a large size, and many varieties of fish, are sent from hence to the metropolis.

The Roads in most parts of the county are good; but this praise cannot be extended to those in the Weald, which, partly from the nature of the soil, are very indifferent. The facility of communication afforded by the numerous streams has been improved by art, and few counties derive more benefit from inland navigation than Sussex.

This County is entirely comprised in the diocese of Chichester, with the exception of some Peculiars of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is divided into the two Archdeaconries of Chichester and Lewes. It is in the Home Circuit, and its proportion of the national militia is 800 men. The Earl of Egremont is the present Lord Lieutenant.

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

THE early history of Sussex is involved in obscurity, and a part of what is known has been anticipated in our account of Surrey (see p. 138-140). These counties were inhabited by a people called Regni, and do not appear to have been subdued by the Romans until the time of Claudius, A. D. 47, when his general Flavius Vespasian established his head quarters on the site of the present city of Chichester; and on his return to Rome appointed Cogidubnus, a

native chief, to govern this part of the province, with the title of King of the Regni. Many remains of encampments are found in various parts of the county; the greater part of these are supposed to be Roman, but some are attributed to the Danes. Chichester, Midhurst, East Bourne, and Lewes, are each conceived to occupy the site of a Roman station; and the roads from Portsmouth, Arundel, and Midhurst to the first-named city, are believed to have been constructed by that people. This extensive occupation evinces Sussex to have been of importance under the government of the first invaders, but history affords no fact connected with it, until the year 477, when the Saxon chief Ella, allured by the success of Hengist, landed near Chichester, and in the following year, having received reinforcements, besieged and took that city, which he totally destroyed, and, exasperated at the obstinate resistance which he had experienced, put all the inhabitants to the sword. He then over-ran the whole of Sussex and Surrey, and in 491 assumed the title of King of Suth-Seax, which he retained until his death in 505, when he was succeeded by his son Cissa, who employed himself in repairing, in some measure, the ravages of his predecessor; he rebuilt the capital, which he named Cissa-ceaster, and is said to have reigned there upwards of 70 years, dying in 577. After his death we find a quick succession of monarchs, of whose history we know nothing, except that each of them earned the throne by the defeat and death of his predecessor, and reigned until displaced by one more powerful. In 648 Adelwalch was placed on the throne; but in 650 he was defeated and taken prisoner by Wolfhere, King of Mercia, who restored him to his dominions on his embracing the Christian religion. Some years after he was conquered and put to death by Ceadwalla, a prince of the West Saxons, who, on his subsequent succession to the crown of Wessex, subdued and annexed this district to his dominions, and thus, about 685, put an end to the kingdom of Sussex, which had subsisted nearly 200 years. On the division of the country into shires, this county retained the name which the kingdom had previously borne; after the Norman invasion it was divided by the rapacious Conqueror, and we

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