a piece of ground washed, but not actually overflowed, by a river or stream. The "Wish Tower" at Eastbourne derives its name from a marsh which formerly lay behind it. There are fields at Glynde called "Lamp Wish" and "Rye Wish," and one at Berwick called "Wren Wish."

The arable ground upon the uplands and sides of the downs was called "laines," or "lanes," and these were divided into portions or shares called "yard-lands." It is necessary to explain that in feudal times a yard-land was the ordinary holding of a copyhold tenant, and consisted of a house in the village, and a "bundle" of thirty acrestrips of land, not lying together, but scattered far and wide in the open fields, and intermixed with the acre-strips which formed the component parts of other copyholders' yard-lands, and with similar acre-strips which made up the holdings of the freehold tenants or of the lord's "demesne," or home farm. The copyholder held his yardland at the will of the manorial lord of the local "tun," or "ham," to which the same belonged, and according to the custom of the manor. We are apt to picture the manor of medieval times as lying within a ring fence, and ruled out into distinct divisions of freehold, copyhold, demesne, and waste land, but very often it was not so, for the respective holdings of lord, freeholder, and copyholder were alike intermixed in scattered strips, consisting usually of one acre each, and separated from one another, not by hedges, but by "balks," or borders of unploughed turf. This mode of agriculture, known as the "open field" system of husbandry, was derived from our Saxon ancestors, and helps to explain why it is that adjoining manors so often appear to overlap and intermingle one with another.

The old estate map before referred to gives the names of some marsh fields near the Bourne stream (thereon called "Broad Bourne "), which point to the former existence of such acre-strips in Bourne level, viz. the names, "In six acres" (i.e. six acre-strips thrown into one), "In four acres," and "Susan's oakacre." Susan, the tenant of one of the old Eastbourne farms, is commemorated by "Susans Road."

Not only, then, were the laines or ploughlands occupied in common, but the "leases" or down pastures as well. We often meet with the expression "cow-lease," "ox-lease," or "bullock-lease." It is the Saxon word lese, meaning a pasture. In the parish of Berwick it was the custom of late years for the owner of every lease, or right of pasturage, to turn out upon the common pasture one bullock from May 12 to December 11, i.e. from St. Philip and St. James's

Day to St. Andrew's Day, old style, and three, or formerly five, sheep from December 12 to April 6, old Lady Day.

The rector of Berwick, in 1619, used to allow his parishioners one ox pasture upon the lease tithe free for every "wist" of land they tilled. A wist was a superficial measure, containing at that period from sixteen to eighteen acres, though in Saxon times it was equivalent to half a hide, or sixty acres. We may observe, by the way, that there used to be a locality at Eastbourne called "the half hide," whose name still lingers in "Hyde Gardens."

Some portions of the brooks and wishes of the Sussex marshes were also held in common, or to use a local expression, in "tenantry." A good example of land subject to this ancient tenure was until lately to be found in the parish of Southease, near Lewes. Every commoner had the right of turning out upon the marsh called "North Wish" a certain number of cattle, proportionate to the number of yard-lands he possessed in the arable field of the parish. These cattle were allowed to graze there from August 12, old Lammas Day, by which date all the hay crop had to be removed, until April 6, old Lady Day, when the stock was driven off, and the land again laid off for mowing. The commoners subsequently assembled upon the land for the purpose of "trading the wish," that is, treading or measuring it out into shares of meadow. At this annual ceremony one portion of the North Wish was divided into fourteen lots, technically called "hides," and another portion into thirteen lots, called "clouts." Fourteen sticks, about half a foot in length, were then notched or marked with certain conventional characters. The eighth of these characters was called the "Doter," and the fourteenth the "Drinker." The marked sticks were then placed in the pocket of one of the party. The commoner whose turn came first drew out a stick, which was stuck in the ground at the boundary line of the first "hide," the turf beside it being marked with a corresponding character, so that there should be no dispute when the meadow was mown for hay. The second commoner then drew a stick, and the same process was continued, until the whole fourteen hides or shares had been allotted. They then proceeded to divide the remainder of the North Wish in a similar manner, each taking a clout," except the one who had previously obtained the Doter, and who had to go without a clout. A functionary called the "crier" afterwards put up the right of mowing one moiety of the Drinker hide for sale by auction. It fell to the lot of the highest bidder, and one-half of the purchase-money was devoted to a dinner for the benefit of the assembled commoners, while the other half

of the proceeds of sale was given to the labourers to spend on ale. These so-called hides were not always allotted to a single commoner, but sometimes to several in various proportions. For instance, the tenants of the parish of Telscombe, who had no marsh land of their own, nevertheless possessed the right of making hay in the marsh lands of Southease, and were accordingly entitled to participate in the annual trading of the North Wish, in respect of one of the fourteen hides or shares.

In a neighbouring parish, that of Kingston, the Drinker hide went to each owner of yard-land in rotation, and he had to pay eighteen-pence to supply drink to the other commoners at the trading of the wish. (Suss. Arch. Coll. iv. 305.) These common rights have now been abolished by means of inclosure Acts. Many similar customs are doubtless to be found chronicled in the old manorial records of the neighbourhood. They are evidence of that common or open-field system of agriculture which was once so general throughout the kingdom, but of which very few traces now remain. Those who have read Seebohm's work on "The English Village Community" will best understand their import.

The Pevensey and Bourne levels are all in permanent pasture, without a tree or hedge to break the monotony of the scenery, and are intersected by numerous broad ditches full of water, a happy hunting-ground for the naturalist who has a weakness for aquatic forms of life. The stock turned out to graze upon these marshes are superintended by persons called "lookers," who are intimately acquainted with every inch of the ground they traverse, much of which is far remote from any human dwelling.

We have encountered one of these lookers on his round, dressed in a "smock frock" and armed with a "bat." He had walked all the way from Bexhill to see after some of Maas (Master) Elphick's 'arses (horses), and remarked in his cheerful, high-pitched Sussex tone, "De zun be that arful 'ot in dis 'ere maarsh, and I be so unaccountable dry, I be, that there baint no gettin' along no'ows." The "dis," "dat," and "de" and the broad pronunciation of the vowel "a" betray the Teutonic origin of the Sussex peasants. Natives of the county may be easily recognised by their pronunciation of local names. Alciston is, or was, called "Ahson," Alfriston "Ahson-town," Litlington "Lillinton," Lullington "Linkun," Hailsham "Helsom," Selmeston "Simson," Chalvington "Chanton," Bodiam "Bodjam," Northiam "Norjam," and Pevensey "Pemsey"; while in such names as Eastbourne, Westham, Polegate, and Seaford the accent is thrown very heavily upon the last syllable, contrary to the usage in most other

parts of the kingdom. Hellingly, Ardingly, and Markly are made to rhyme with "fly." Amongst surnames Alchorne is corrupted into "Orchin," Alcock or Aucock into "Orkit," and Pocock into “Pockit” or “Pawk.”

The white smock-frock or round-frock, once the characteristic dress of the Sussex peasantry, is seldom worn now. It was formerly the custom for a squire or farmer to be carried to the grave by his tenants or labourers dressed in black smock-frocks. We may sometimes see a carter, clad in one of these old-fashioned garments, plodding along the dusty marsh road, or "Pevensey trade," in charge of his heavy farm waggon and its team of four strong horses. We may also occasionally see upon the downs the now uncommon sight of a cart or plough drawn by oxen instead of horses.

Pevensey must have been entirely isolated by water or marsh in Roman times, and except that it lay near to the harbour, it was, from a strategic point of view, in a position of small importance compared to Eastbourne, which was the key to the only available road up the country, namely, one which followed the foot of the downs, and so avoided the swamps and forests of the interior. It would have been a cramped and unhealthy site for a garrison camp, much more so for a city. Pevensey would have been known as the port of Anderida, even though the city of that name were situate four or five miles distant at Eastbourne.

The foundations of a Roman villa which were discovered at the latter place in 1848, near where the Queen's Hotel now stands, had been for the most part washed away by the sea, and there is a ridge of rocks in front of the town, uncovered at low tide, which appears to have formed the foundation of the cliff at no very remote period. It is not impossible, therefore, that the site of the much sought-for Roman colony of Anderida may, after all, have been at Eastbourne, and have been long ago submerged beneath the waves, just as we know old Hastings and old Winchelsea were in more recent times.

THOMAS H. B. GRAHAM.

W

GOETHE AND WEIMAR.

O Weimar! dir fiel ein besonder Loos!
Wie Bethlehem in Juda, klein und gross.

GOETHE, "Auf Mieding's Tod."

O Weimar! but thine is a singular fate!
Like Bethlehem city, so small, yet so great.

EIMAR is a city of memories and of graves. The existing city is scarcely the reality it dwells on the airy borderland between a dream and an actuality: but, nevertheless, very vivid and very dear to the imagination is the now torpid town, peopled vitally by the shadows of the mighty dead. It is the city emphatically of a genius and a prince; although round Goethe, like planets placed too near the sun, move the comparatively fainter spectres of Schiller, of Herder, of Wieland, and other minor stars; while the fair images of noble and graceful women—as the two Duchesses, Frau von Stein, Corona Schröter, and others-lend woman's charm to the group and complete the constellation. Yes; it is a city of the past, a city of the dead-—but of the dead who are living yet; of the dead whose life and work posterity will not willingly let die. As you gaze upon the houses, and learn to know the dwelling-places of Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Wieland, the men as they lived cease to be mere names, and become once more living personalities. Day by day, as you linger in quiet, quaint little Weimar, the impression deepens; and you realise clearly to the imagination the days and ways of the heroes of the Glanz-Periode. These were the streets they saw; these were the houses in which they lived. "Things seen are mightier than things heard ;" and he who would care to image in his fancy these men as they lived, and moved, and had their being, must go to Weimar, and there, intensely receptive, must allow the Athens of the Ilm to work. upon the mind. Creative criticism must visit Weimar. Of itself, the place would not greatly attract; but Weimar is pre-eminently the city of Goethe.

But for its galaxy of writers Weimar would be in no way great; but it is darkness which enables us to see the stars, and before we