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A VISIT TO LEWES 169
beneath the turf, were discovered the coffins of the Earl and Countess, now preserved at Southover Church.
In Kipling's verses, " The Land," Hobden's father's father, Hob of the Dene, is spoken of as Bailiff to William of Warenne. There is a touch in this poem which must give the reader an exalting sense of continuity—a sense of our oneness with the past. Warenne had not been long installed in his English manor when the " brook got up no bounds," and threatened to swamp the lands. To Hobden he repaired and asked what was to be done about holding back the water, and Hob—the same Hob I aled with in a Burwash inn—smiled quietly to himself. Hob knew. Said he:
" When you can't hold back the water you must try and save the sile."
So William took his advice, and staked the banks of the watercourse with willow trees, and planks of elm and " immortal oaken knees." To-day if you follow the brook between Willing-ford Bridge and Dudwell Mill, at Burwash, you may still see the faithful fragments of oak set fast in the clay.
From Lewes a good excursion could be made all |
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