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102 BYGONE SUSSEX.
interest to the reader, and perhaps lead to a completer investigation of the subject.
Battle.
Battle has associated with it the memory of the great struggle when the fate of England was decided by William's Norman knights. The story of the battle has been recounted many a time and oft. Charles Kingsley has told again the legend of "The Swanneck," the beautiful Edith, wife or mistress, who identified Harold's gashed and gory corpse which even his mother had failed to recognise. The story of the battle has been told in vigorous verse by Mr. Francis T. Palgrave, in his " Visions of England."
Mr. Joseph Ellis has written a humorous sketch of "Ye Battel Daye," the annual meeting of Sussex Archaeological Society, which was held at Battle, 23rd July, 1852 (Caesar in Egypt, 1885, p. 336) Another comic piece is that in which Thomas Hood recounts " an explosion at Mr. Baker's gunpowder mills." After this " Blow up," the indignant neighbours waited upon the proprietor to ask for reparation for the loss of custom and the damages caused by this untoward event. |
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