was too good for thee to keep:
But rather joy in this great favour given,
A child on earth is made a saint in heaven.

Three miles east of Henfield, and a little to the north, is a farm the
present tenant of which has made an interesting experiment. He found in
the house an old map of the county, and identifying his own estate,
discovered a large sheet of water marked on it. On examining the site he
saw distinct traces of this ancient lake, and at once set about building
a dam to restore it. Water now, once again, fills the hollow, completely
transforming this part of the country, and bringing into it wild duck
and herons as of old. The lake is completely hidden from the
neighbouring roads and is accessible only by field paths, but it is well
worth finding.

[Sidenote: A WOODCOCK ON AN OAK]

There once hung in the parlour of Henfield's chief inn--I wonder if it
is there still--a rude etching of local origin, rather in the manner of
Buss's plates to _Pickwick_, representing an inn kitchen filled with a
jolly company listening uproariously to a fat farmer by the fire, who,
with arm raised, told his tale. Underneath was written, "Mr. West
describing how he saw a woodcock settle on an oak"--a perfect specimen
of the Sussex joke.

[Illustration: _Church Street, Steyning._]

CHAPTER XV

STEYNING AND BRAMBER

Saint Cuthman and his mother--Steyning's architecture--Steyning's
wise passiveness--Bramber castle--A corrupt pocket borough--A
Taxidermist-humorist--Joseph Poorgrass in Sussex--The widow of
Beeding and the Romney--A digression on curio-hunting.

Of great interest and antiquity is Steyning, the little grey and red
town which huddles under the hill four miles to Henfield's south-west.

[Sidenote: THE ADVENTURES OF CUTHMAN]

The beginnings of Steyning are lost in the distance. Its church was
founded, probably in the eighth century, by St. Cuthman, an early
Christian whose adventures were more than usually quaint. He began by
tending his father's sheep, with which occupation his first miracle was
associated. Being called one day to dinner, and having no one to take
his place as shepherd, he drew a circle round the flock with his crook,
and bade the sheep, in the name of the Lord, not to stray beyond it. The
sheep obeyed, and thenceforward on repeating the same manoeuvre he
left them with an easy mind. In course of time his father died, and
Cuthman determined to travel; int