320 



LIFE AT DOWN. ^ETAT. 3 3-45. 



with the main lines of traffic, only by stony tortuous lanes, 



may well have been enabled to preserve its retired character. 



Nor is it hard to believe in the smugglers and their strings 



of pack-horses making their way up I e lawless old 



villages of the Weald, of which ir. U existed 



when my father settled in ,s on 



.solitary upland country, 500 to 



country with little natu: 



charm in 



chal" a upon the 



lands of th* 



-.onsists of three small streets of cottages meeting 

 :t-built church. It is a place where 

 t.s - '.klom seen, and the names occurring far 

 ch registers are still well known in the 

 The smock-frock is not yet quite extinct, though 

 as a ceremonial dress by the " bearers " at 

 funt, t as a boy I remember the purple or green 



i n at chu 

 . 



ar 

 ro \.-> 



of three 

 .5g. tiles. 



ones or walls that 

 m the lane, and was 



father's first under- 



ys, covered \ 

 The garden had 

 now clter ; it was ov 



opcr. . and desolate, 



takings was to lower the lane by about two feet, and to build 

 a flint wall along that part of k which bordered the garden. 

 The earth thus excavated was used in making banks and 

 mounds round the lawn : these were planted with evergreens, 

 which now give to the garden its retired and sheltered 

 character. 



The house was made to look neater by being covered with 



