oss the waves to me.

And howsoever strong the door,
'Twould never keep at bay
The thought of Fulking's violets,
The scent of Holmbush hay.

And ever when the day was done,
And all the sky was still,
How I should miss the climbing moon
O'er Chanctonbury's hill!

[Sidenote: CHANCTONBURY RING]

It is Chanctonbury's crown of beeches that lifts it above the other
hills. Uncrowned it would be no more noticeable than Fulking Beacon or a
score of others; but its dark grove can be seen for many miles. In
Wiston House, under the hill, the seat of the Goring family, to whom
belong the hill and a large part of the country that it dominates, is an
old painting of Chanctonbury before the woods were made, bare as the
barest, without either beech or juniper, and the eye does not notice it
until all else in the picture has been examined. The planter of
Chanctonbury's Ring, in 1760, was Mr. Charles Goring of Wiston, who
wrote in extreme old age in 1828 the following lines:--

How oft around thy Ring, sweet Hill,
A Boy, I used to play,
And form my plans to plant thy top
On some auspicious day.
How oft among thy broken turf
With what delight I trod,
With what delight I placed those twigs
Beneath thy maiden sod.
And then an almost hopeless wish
Would creep within my breast,
Oh! could I live to see thy top
In all its beauty dress'd.
That time's arrived; I've had my wish,
And lived to eighty-five;
I'll thank my God who gave such grace
As long as e'er I live.
Still when the morning Sun in Spring,
Whilst I enjoy my sight,
Shall gild thy new-clothed Beech and sides,
I'll view thee with delight.

Most of the trees on the side of Chanctonbury and its neighbours were
self-sown, children of the clumps which Mr. Goring planted. I might add
that Mr. Charles Goring was born in 1743, and his son, the present Rev.
John Goring, in 1823, when his father was eighty; so that the two lives
cover a period of one hundred and sixty years--true Sussex longevity.

Wiston House (pronounced Wisson) is a grey Tudor building in the midst
of a wide park, immediately under the hill. The lofty hall, dating from
Elizabeth's reign, is as it was; much of the remainder of the house was
restored in the last century. The park has deer and a lake. The Goring
family acquired Wiston by mar