as herons and curlews, which could be met with in that expanse of reedy marshland, brackish backwaters, and osier margins occupying the wide stretch of flat oft-flooded plain lying between the western and the eastern ranges of the Downs which border the valley of Ouse. Over all this widespread land and water, on the western side of the river, the Barons of Lewes (from the first earl, William de Warrenne, to the eighth and last, John) could look proudly down from their stronghold upon Lewes hill. Turning northwards, the Weald sloped upwards to the Crowborough heights, and Hamsey, Ditchling, Newick, Cuckfield, and other of their northern manors lay within their gaze, bordering on the eastward upon Isfield, Buxted, and Maresfield, with Lindfield the most northern of the possessions of their neighbouring lord, the archbishop. And over all this country west and east of the river, north and south of the town, the Southdown Foxhounds hunt to-day.

So keen were the old Barons of Lewes on their hunting, and unscrupulous withal, that they not seldom came into contact with the law. Those valuable public records, the Hundred Rolls, give some insight into sporting matters in the beginning of the fourteenth century. Complaints are found therein against Earl Warrenne of preserving so strictly that his warrens were so full of hares and rabbits that nearly all the neighbouring corn was eaten up, the luckless agricultural tenants not being allowed to

erect fences to keep out the swarming game. His chace at Ditchling W&s So strictly watched that, although the king's highway ran through it, many assaults were made upon passengers by his foresters and parkers, the sheriff of the county himself not excepted. The earl was also accused of ousting the canons of Southmalling from their free-chace at Stanmer, and their fishery at Southmalling. He also attempted to appropriate the chace of Robert Aguilon at Elburton, and seized fifty-two of his oxen "on account of the hunting of the hounds of the said Robert there"; and violently resisted the Royal officials who were sent to liberate this illegal distraint.

This neighbourhood has also the interesting association with the sporting predilections of the first Prince of Wales. This lively scion of royalty having been banished from Court for a poaching affray on the Bishop of Chester's territory, betook himself into Sussex. Though he may not have been the first royal personage who hunted over the country of the Southdown Hunt, he is the first who is recorded to have done so. His father, Edward I., certainly hunted in Sussex, for there is a record extant of payment to a certain Walter Bolle "coming to the king with thirteen staghounds" (cerverettis) at the time when that monarch was staying at Bramber. In 1299 the same king was in the country of our hunt, at Uckfield; and if not hunting, was apparently in lively spirits, since his account of expenses there includes twenty shillings

to Arnold his host for damage done by the king to his house and ourtilage. Reverting to his son the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward II., some few particulars of his sport in Sussex have come down to us. Although he was in exile, his royal father did not entirely forget him, for we find the king sending his servant, William de Rude, with nine greyhounds into Sussex. A later gift was that of thirteen hounds sent to the king's son; while on another occasion the same messenger "going by command to the king's son at Lewes "-doubtless on a similar errand, received eight shillings for his expenses. About this time John, Earl of Warrenne, died, and among his possessions was the stud of horses which he kept at Ditchling. The prince, being well acquainted with this stable, which doubtless had afforded him many a mount, was very desirous of purchasing it when the opportunity thus presented itself. Accordingly he communicated his wishes to the executors, asking them to "fix a certain and convenient time when our people and yours may examine the said stud and arrange a price and a day on which payment may be made." Thanks to the good offices of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert de Winchelsey, the sale was satisfactorily accomplished, and Edward's gratitude no

doubt was sincere, though cynics might suspect it to savour somewhat of that definition of it as "a lively sense of favours to come"; for we find, soon after, the prince applying to the primate for the loan of a good stallion from the archiepiscopal stables.

Probably these were the happiest days in the life of this luckless monarch: wherein he coursed the bustards with his gaze - hounds over the smooth green summits of the Downs; hawked the herons and wildfowl along the marshy margins of the Ouse around Malling, Hamsey, Ringmer, and Isfield, to the north of Lewes ; or in the wider expanse on the south, where Iford, Beddingham, Piddinghoe, and Meeching lie along the foot of the Downs. Or when intent on nobler game he chased "the tall deer which the Conqueror loved like a father" in the chace of Cleres on the west side of the river, in the baron's land, or in the "Forest of la Broile," the preserve of the primate. But the time soon came, with the death of his father, when he must assume the responsibilities of royalty, and engage in that sterner "sport of kings" which led him into a more rugged land, where the quarry turned and rent him and his unwieldy pack of Gascons, Flemings, and other foreign "dogs of war," on the disastrous day of Bannockburn.1

"But the marks go deeper than a lowering brow or a cruel mouth. Men may die

and leave behind them monuments save their sin. Of such a case I remember one instance.

"Before my second husband was married to his first wife he lived out yonder, on the Portuguese border, and in the thick of the fever country. I have not seen the place, but it is badly spoken of for a desolate, unchancy land, bad for cattle, and only good to hunters. My second husband was a great hunter, and died, as you know, through having his body crushed by a lion. The people out there are not good Boer stock, but a wild and savage folk, with dark blood in them.

"I only know this story from my second husband, but it took hold of me, as he used to tell it. There was a family in those parts of the name of

Preez. No relation to the Du Preez you know, who are well enough in their way, but Preez simply,-a short name and a bad one. They were big holders of land, with every reason to be rich, but bad farmers, lazy hunters, and deep drinkers. The Kaffirs down there make a drink out of fruit which is very fiery and conquers a man quickly, and these people were always to be seen half drunk, or else stupid from the stuff. Old Preez, the father, in particular, was а terrible man, by all tellings; full three score and ten years of age, but strong, fiery, and full of oaths. My second husband used to say there was something in the look of him that daunted one; for his hair and his beard were white, his face was savagely red, and his eyes were like hot coals. And with it all he had a way of looking on you that made you run from him. When he was down with drink and fever he would cry out in a terrible voice that his mother was а queen's daughter and he was a prince."

"I have heard of the people you speak of," I said. "They are half-Portuguese, and perhaps the old man was not wholly lying."

"Um! Well, prince or not, he married in his youth a

"My second husband told me tales of that family that set my blood freezing. He had his own way of telling stories, and made you see pictures, as it were. Once, he used to say, for a trifle spoken concerning them and their ways, they visited a missionary by night, dragged him from his bed, and crucified him against his door, while his wife clung to the old man's knees and besought the mercy they never gave and never got. Even the wild folk of the country-side were stricken with the horror and impiety of the deed; and it says much for the fear in which the Preez family were held that none molested them or called them to account.

rode, dragging forth women and girls to be looked at like cattle. Many a tall, blackbrowed hussy would have been content to go away with Vasco Preez (such was his unchristian name), but he was not willing to do right by any of them.

"They were returning home from one of these expeditions when they passed a lowly house beside the road with no fence around it. But before the house a girl stood on the grass, with her kapje in her hand, to see the six big men ride by. She was little and slim, and, unlike the maidens of the country, whitish, with a bunch of yellow hair on the top of her head and hanging over her ears. others would have passed her by, judging her unworthy even an insult, but Vasco reined in his horse and shouted a great oath.

The

"The woman for me!' he cried. 'The woman I was looking for! I never knew what I wanted before.'

"The others halted to look, and the girl, frightened, ran into the house. Vasco got down from his horse.

"Fetch the filly out,' shouted the old man. 'Fetch her out and let us see her paces.'

"Vasco walked straight into the little house, while the others waited, laughing. They heard no screams and no fighting, and presently out comes Vasco alone.

"He went over to his horse and mounted. 'There is nothing to wait for,' he said. 'Let us be getting on.'

"But the girl?' oried one of