THE DOWNS IN WINTER 61 



light every ten yards and a licensed house every 

 quarter of a mile." So we separated on a point of 

 incompatibility of artistic perception, and on my 

 way back to Lewes I called to pay my respects to 

 Falmer pond, on whose ice I once skated all day 

 on the fifth day of November. That was the 

 year after Inkerman, and there was only one 

 night's frost. I do hope that the new Lord 

 Chichester will try and restore the old regula- 

 tions under which the men on the estate were 

 able to look on a long frost as a blessing, because 

 they were given possession of the pond to sweep 

 and keep in order, being rewarded by a liberal 

 collection. Besides, the Brighton roughs were 

 kept off and the right people got the money. 



