1 86 IDLEHURST : 



Proper names have, of course, their own values ; 

 one soon learns to resolve Strawk and Striggs into 

 their elements of Mr. Awcock and Mr. Higgs. There 

 are stories of one Pocock who denied his identity 

 when addressed by the literary form of his cognomen, 

 but answered to the name of Pawk. The older 

 pronunciation of place-names is going down before 

 the polish of the schools; Ahson and Heffle and 

 Linvul now get their full value of Alciston and 

 Heathfield and Lindfield from our half-Cockney 

 race : the sonorous long final -ly and -lye, of so many 

 names, West Hoathly, Arn'ly, Chid'n'ly, are clipped 

 to a mincing equality with Bickley or Brockley, or 

 any other undistinctive appellation. A few ancients 

 of the more obstinate temper retain the old forms, 

 and say " hon-lye " for " only ; " use the plural fre- 

 quently for the singular (always singing " Rocks of 

 Ages " in Church) ; and sometimes, but rarely, give 

 the old Sussex d for th. But all that remains is little 

 enough ; and in another generation the last of our 

 Dorisms will have fallen before the all-absorbing 

 Attic of the Old Kent Road. 



Here Gervase French came upon us from the field- 

 gate, and took his teacup from Mrs. Lydia. He 

 had come, it appeared, for the purpose of criticising 

 the afternoon's work on the Whatman-block and 



