CHAPTER XIV 



'THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS'— 'THE OPEN AIR.' 



Jefferies lived at West Brighton until at least as late 

 as the end of June, 1884. In September he was at 

 14, Victoria Road, Eltham, a neighbourhood not unlike 

 that of Surbiton, and about as far from London, where he 

 spent less than a year, for in June, 1885, he was lodging 

 at Rehoboth Villa, Jarvis Brook, Rotherfield, Sussex, 

 while a cottage was sought for at Tunbridge Wells ; and 

 a little later he was at ' The Downs,' Crowborough, 

 where he lived until July, 1886, or later. ' The Life 

 of the Fields,' the next volume of essays to ' Nature 

 near London,' was published in 1884, and most of it was 

 written at Brighton. * The Open Air,' published in 1885, 

 was written partly at Brighton, partly (for example, the 

 last four essays) at Eltham. His subjects were by no 

 means all taken from these neighbourhoods. In ' The 

 Field Play,' ' Bits of Oak Bark,' ' The Pageant of Summer,' 

 * Meadow Thoughts,' ' Mind under Water,' and ' Sport 

 and Science,' for example, his thoughts are of Wiltshire, 

 or of some country in which it predominated. In ' By 

 the Exe ' and ' The Water Colley ' he is in Somerset. In 

 several papers he is thinking chiefly of London ; in one of 

 Paris, to which he must have paid a short visit at about 

 this time. These papers, contributed to many different 

 magazines and newspapers, fall, though not, of course, 

 without some reluctance, into three classes. The first 

 consists of lengths of notes, carefuUy wrought in parts, 

 but irregular, almost shapeless, and showing signs of 



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