144 By Stream and Sea. 



over such a tremendously hilly country, that not many ot 

 the gallant sportsmen, who, smart and fresh, witnessed the 

 finding of the hare, were visible at the finish. 



Sometimes the meet is at Patcham, near finely-wooded 

 Sanmer Park ; sometimes at Ovingdean, dear to affectionate 

 equestrian couples anxious to escape from the public 

 scrutiny of King's Road promenaders ; sometimes at the 

 hamlet of Hangleton, with its ancient church and more 

 ancient manor house ; sometimes at Halmer, Thunder's 

 Barrow, or Water Hall Brow. Of course, to those who 

 follow the harriers as an excuse for getting into the country, 

 and breathing the atmosphere of the Downs, as much as for 

 purposes of sport, there is no place equal to the Devil's 

 Dyke. Once let the surprising prospect open beneath us, 

 and we desert the field forthwith, for to linger behind in the 

 hunting-field is virtually to put yourself once and for all out 

 of association with the more eager followers. By easy 

 stages we reach the crest of the verdurous Downs, whence 

 at one entranced sweep of the eye we take in, on a level of 

 six hundred feet immediately beneath, an expanse of pastoral 

 England, which, for diversified beauty and limit, east, west, 

 and north, cannot be matched in any part of her Majesty's 

 dominions. 



In the late summer, when the corn-fields are white unto 

 harvest, the very earth seems to smile in plenteous gratitude 

 for mellow sunshine and ripening fruits. On a day like this, 

 when we stand on the threshold of winter, and a stony cold- 

 ness hangs between earth and sky, this magnificent pictorial 

 map of, it is said half a dozen counties, wears a new and 

 not unattractive face, albeit it is a sombre aspect that 

 impresses you with the force of foreboding. Before it you 

 turn shivering in your saddle, while the keen wind, which 

 Charles Kingsley lauded if he did not love, but which the 



