An Old-time Kitchen-Curiosity Hunters-An Ancient Game-Alfriston Church-A Model Building-A Pre-Reformation VicarageOld Cottages and New Ones-Seaford, Past and Present-A Team of Oxen-Primitive Ploughs-A Farmer's Opinion of Townfolk' -Exploring the Downs-Their Solitude and Silence-A Lonely Spot-An Extensive Prospect-Bracing Breezes-Friston Church -Fame-East Dean-A Rural Inn-A Crooked Church-An Englishman's Love of the Sea-The Great Name of England.' INTERNALLY, the Star' at Alfriston bears evidence of having been altered from time to time to meet changing and various requirements; still withal it possesses a genuine old-world flavour, with its blackened oak beams, leaden lattice windows, ancient doorways, carved woodwork, and other things that belong to such Early English structures. Owing doubtless to these alterations the geography of the house is somewhat puzzling, but the planless arrangement of the rooms and its rambling passages are a delightful contrast to the monotonous uniformity of London builders' houses, where one featureless plan serves for a complete terrace, or even in some AN ANCIENT KITCHEN 143 cases a whole street. In town we secure room by ascending, here it is gained by spreading out; the former mode of procedure limits the possibilities of variations in a plan, in the latter they are endless. The landlady kindly allowed us to inspect the old kitchen, of which we caught an attractive glance in passing. Somehow at these rural inns one seems to be on a friendly footing with every one; there is no freezing formality about them, rather a feeling of homely welcome-a feeling which doubtless caused Shenstone to write his well-known verses in praise thereof. In them you are treated more as an honoured guest than a stranger, the very reverse of which obtains at their degenerate successor, the modern limited liability hotel, where you are handed over to the tender mercies of a stony-eyed barmaid or funeral-like waiter in seedy black, who is most noticeable for his attentions when the time for departure and the inevitable tip arrives. In the one you are addressed by your proper name, in the other you simply become a numbered nonentity. The one eyesore about the kitchen is the newfangled cooking-range, that stands in the ample fireplace, so utterly out of harmony with the ancient apartment. A modern Birmingham cooking-range in an English kitchen four centuries old! What an anomaly! All things else massive, substantial, and mightily constructed this trumpery cast-iron affair, with its cheerless mite of a fire, and its stupid arrangements for baking and spoiling instead of roasting good meat-how pitifully mean it looked! Over the large fireplace we observed a curious relic-a bit of old machinery, hand made, cunningly devised to turn the great joints that erst were roasted here before a right roaring fire. The landlady told us 'as how some gentlemen from South Kensington Museum' had been to inspect it with the idea of purchase, but, as some portion was missing, they refused to make an offer for what remained. What a bit of good fortune! But why should these 'gentlemen from South Kensington' compete with those from Wardour Street, and go hunting about the country to purchase and remove from their proper homes these stored-up treasures of the past? Surely old oak carved chests, fire-backs, and irons, specimens of ancient ironwork, spinning-wheels, quaint examples of our ancestors' furniture, and the like, are better worth seeing in their intended place and position than when transferred to that overcrowded collection of odds and ends that are gathered together in that confusion-crowded storehouse at Kensington? And how interesting these old things are, when seen in the midst of their time-dimmed and suitable surroundings; remove them, and something modern and cheap takes their place, the charm of associations is for ever broken-and oh, the pity of it! So we were delighted to learn that in this case those 'gentlemen from South Kensington' had been for once over particular. On a table in this kitchen the landlady pointed out to us some cut lines, which formed,' she said, 'part of an old game that they used to play at, long years ago'—the name she did not remember, "though she had heard it.' We took a careful look at the table, and observed thereon a number of A VERY OLD HOUSE 145 squares or oblongs, rudely cut, but the indented marks had been so obliterated with constant scrubbings that we were unable to make much of them. 'How old is the house?' we ventured to inquire as we left. Well, I can't rightly tell exactly, but they do say it's over five hundred year old,' was the reply we received to our query. Strangely enough, just as I had completed the last chapter, a friend called my attention to the fact that Harrison Ainsworth had before me discovered and written about this old inn. Moreover, he presented me with a copy of Ovingdean Grange,' in which the account is given at the commencement of Chapter IV., Book the Seventh. This account is specially interesting, as mentioning particulars, gathered many years ago, of what formerly existed here. It also curiously confirms our opinion that this was once a Pilgrims' inn, though I cannot at all agree with Mr. Ainsworth in converting our lion and bear into two monkeys; in all the rest of his remarks, however, I concur. As it is of interest, I have transcribed a portion of his description here, though what authority he had for his statements respecting the early uses of this hostel, I know not. The 'Star' at Alfriston, happily still existing, is one of the best specimens to be met with of an ancient English hostelry. Dating back as far as the early part of the sixteenth century, this curious old building was originally designed as a resting-place for pilgrims and mendicant friars, and was meant, moreover, to afford sanctuary to such as claimed ecclesiastical protection. The woodwork of the ancient hostelry is enriched with quaint and grotesque carvings, all of which are imbued with medieval character and spirit. On either side of the wide-arched portal are saintly figures, L and under the windows of the door may be seen two snakes with tails entwined. At the corner of the structure is a large carved lion, and over it two apes sustaining a mace crowned. Near the sign-post there used to be a dog, and beside it a bacchanalian figure with bottle and glass; but these, and doubtless many other equally curious memorials of the past, are gone. Within there are other traces of antiquity. On the main beam of the principal room is a shield, inscribed with the sacred characters I.H.S. Next we found our way to the old church, which had pleased us so from the distance; nor did it disappoint us upon a nearer inspection; indeed, it was even more interesting and beautiful than we were prepared to find. The church is a cruciform one, with a spire finely springing from a tower in the centre. Perfectly proportioned in all its parts, it is one of the most pleasing country churches it is possible to imagine, as far as its design goes. There is a simple dignity about it, a grace of form, that is very charming to the trained eye, a grandeur also that comes of well-ordered space, and that cannot be excelled in the most magnificent cathedral. It is a telling example that proves how true Gothic work, in the master-hand, can be as impressive in the humble village fane as in the most majestic monumental pile. There is an indescribable something in the chaste design, the blended lines all upwar tending, crowned by the pointed central spire, that leads the eye unknowingly, as it were, from earth to heaven: a cathedral in miniature, a gem of a country church, a model for all ages of what such structures should be. The greatest architect might be proud to have designed it. Men of old must have put their whole heart into their work to have |