A LONG-LIVED RACE 223 the gravestones, we came upon one recording the death of a certain ISAAC INGALL Who lived in the Webster family at Battle If this stone told the truth, this man must have lived to a truly patriarchal age. Judging from the churchyard inscriptions, it would appear that Sussex men are a long-lived race. During our journey we noticed in a local paper a paragraph announcing the decease of one Richard (nicknamed 'Bodle') Holmes, who is stated, upon apparently good authority, to have died at Heathfield in May 1886, 'having just completed his 107th year.' A Trap Door-Signposts-A Veritable Arcadia-Scenery in Pictures Robertsbridge-A Strange Source for a River-Country Sermons -A Poacher's Paradise-A Useless Sign-Rural Stupidity-A Landmark-Bodiam Castle-A perfectly Picturesque Ruin-A Novel Method of Defence-Sussex Railways - A Happy Land for Antiquaries and Archæologists-Three Interesting Castles-Hills considered as 'Obstructing the View'!-'A Great Damper of Curiosity'-A Chat with an Architect-Hints from the Past. THE coffee-room door of our inn at Battle had a sort of peephole cut in it, which was covered by a sliding hatch. We had not observed this arrangement in any hotel before, and, though it may be convenient, we much disliked it, for we found that the waiter came every now and again and had a look at us through it during our lunch. We felt as though we were being watched, and were annoyed accordingly. We found upon questioning him afterwards that the waiter only came to see how we were getting along with our meal, as the beef was in request for the commercial room, and that was the cause of his frequent visits to the peephole; and he thought it was far more polite to keep a watch upon us thus, to discover when we had done with the joint, than to keep on coming into the room upon one excuse or another for that purpose. But somehow the whole arrangement flavoured too much of the spy system to please us, and we even went so far as to suggest that we thought if the trapdoor was improved away altogether it would be a good thing, and that visitors would prefer if a joint were in demand to be honestly told so. Leaving Battle, we entered upon a pleasant road, which led us, with many long stretches of ups and downs, through a wooded country abounding in almost every variety of tree that grows in Britain. By the side of the way, in one part, we noticed a wooden trough, fed by a small stream, thoughtfully erected thus for passing horses and cattle to refresh themselves. Such troughs are common enough in Derbyshire and some of the Northern counties, but we did not remember having observed any before in Sussex. Soon after this we came upon a signpost at the fork of two roads, which though legible and in good condition was of no service to us, for the sole arm it possessed pointed in the direction from which we had come, and had painted upon it To Battle.' This information, however useful to parties travelling in the reverse direction, was, of course, wellknown news and of no benefit to us. A few words may not be out of place here as to the different kinds of signposts we came across during our journey. There was the utterly useless signpost, whose arms Q had long since disappeared; the provoking one, with arms existing, but with the inscriptions that were once upon them indecipherable or weathered entirely away; then there was the post, like the one in question, in perfect order, but affording no information not already known; then there was the tantalising sign, with one arm stretched out at the junction of two roads, pointing in the most unbiassed manner exactly midway between these, so that it was impossible to discover to which it related; then there was the lying post, most of all to be dreaded (one of these took me upon a certain well-remembered occasion miles out of my way)-this post may be perfect in itself, but boldly points the wrong direction. The reason for the existence of such I cannot say ; perhaps they may have been turned round for ‘a lark,' perhaps let us more charitably hope-blown down, and carelessly re-erected by the farmer on whose land they stood, without troubling to discover whether they had been properly replaced. We have not met many such posts, but still we have come across a few of this deceptive kind. Then, of course, there is the perfect signpost, in good condition, possessed of all its arms, with the inscriptions on these plainly legible, sometimes even with the distance in miles written after the names of the places -very useful information in these days, when milestones may practically be said to be non-existent : this is the rarest post of all. Presently we came upon one of those scenic revelations only to be had in England. A turn in the road, and what a delightful surprise! A peep AN ENGLISH LANDSCAPE 227 from between overarching trees of a sunlit stretch of country, with ancient mansion, farmsteads, and cottages, with hedgerows, cornfields, and pastures in pleasant variety scattered about, with here and there the grey tower or spire of some rural church showing where a hamlet lay, and through the green meadows in the valley a little silvery stream wound in and out of the prospect in a delightfully irregular manner, the whole scene being bounded by wooded hills, tenderly tinted by the hazy sunshine, with distant uplands beyond, a delicate pearly grey fading away into the palest blue. A typical picture of rural England, an everyday one, yet none the less beautiful because so abounding. The above is but an outline-and a very imperfect one at that of the scene; the mind of the reader must fill up the canvas, and the result will fall short of the reality just as the powers of the writer or the imagination of the reader is limited. If such scenery were only foreign, out of ready reach in some distant land, entailing a sea voyage or crossing the Channel, a long tedious railway journey, and the usual custom-house civilities, how we should all rush to see it! how loudly we should exclaim in praise of its soft, mellow, homelike beauty! but being at our doors, in our own country, all around us-why, we regard it not at all. During the whole of our journey, except when in the neighbourhood of fashionable watering-places, we came across only two tourists, and these we both met one evening at a country inn-and the very fact was particularly emphasised to us by its great rarity. We were impressed by it almost as much as though |