PR 



{pO\5 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 



PAG£S 



THISTLE-DOWN 1-19 



On KiDgston Hill — View from the hill — A day of thistle- 

 down — A memory of the pampas — Down of the dwarf thistle 

 — First sight and pleasant memories of the downs — Resolution 

 to write a book — Jennings' Rambles — Sussex in literature — 

 Less favoured than other counties — Minor poets — Hurdis — 

 The Favorite Village — In Bishopstone church — Richard Jefferies 

 — Birds on the beach at Goring — Horses eating sea-weed. 



CHAPTER II 



CHARM OF THE DOWNS 20-31 



Scope and limits of this work — A general description of 

 the downs — Agreeable sensations ; an inquiry into their causes 

 — Gilbert White's speculations — The pleasures of the downs 

 due to a variety of causes — Their shapely human-like curves 

 — Connection between the senses of sight and touch — Effects 

 of flowing outlines — Instinctive delight in wide horizons — The 

 desire to fly — Effect of a series of dome-like forms — The joy 

 of mountains. 



CHAPTER III 



THE LIVING GARMENT 32-58 



The South Downs most agreeable in the hot season — 

 Beauty of the bindweed — Black oxen— The old Sussex breed 

 of cattle — Black oxen in poetry — Suggestion for group of 

 statuary— Black and gold in nature— Turf of the downs- 

 Result of breaking up the turf— A new flora — Variety of 

 colonising plants — Beauty of the chance-made gardens of the 

 downs — Flowers in barren places — Forget-me-not — Viper's 

 bugloss — Effects of blue flowers in masses — A shepherd boy 



r>nin>rr /^ o 



