78 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



Up, up aloft there, pretty nearly all alone, 

 with the steam-engine and the larks, the granite 

 blocks and the last of the swallows, the lovely 

 view and the black-faced sheep, I had time to 

 rest and wonder how the late Mr William Cobbett 

 came to set himself up as a judge of clean windows 

 and pretty faces. Judging from what I know 

 of the male married members of the family, he 

 must have got some of this information at 

 second-hand, and not by looking at the pretty 

 faces. He surprised me at Lewes, did William, 

 because he was, for his day, a very up-to- 

 date journalist, and I wonder at his missing 

 a chance of lugging in gridirons instead of 

 talking about pretty girls. He couldn't well 

 have missed doing so if he had happened along 

 when a Martyrs' Memorial was in course of 

 erection. You see, they used to keep in stock at 

 the Sussex county town gridirons for grilling 

 martyrs (that is where the memorial comes in) ; 

 but holders of the true faith, whichever it might 

 be, were not particular about locality. The 

 religious party boss for the time didn't mind 

 where they burned, so long as they could get a 

 supply of obdurates who would rather be killed 

 than give in to con- or per-version. So far as 

 I can make out, when the Old Faith section was 

 in the chair they served up Protestants hot and 

 hot ; but the Protestants also had their innings 

 now and then, and indicated a difference of 

 opinion which did alter friendship by spatch- 

 cocking or pulling out of joint the opposition, just 

 to show how Christians love one another. 



Seeing how things went, I do marvel that old 

 William missed playing martyrs' gridirons for all 

 they were worth in order to gently lead up to his 



