Kiplings Sussex

CONCLUSION SONG o THE SUSSEX MEN - - - - 235 APPENDIX SUSSEX PROVINCIALISMS ... - 243 INDEX - 249 INTRODUCTION. THERE are probably many thousands of readers of Rudyard Kipling who have at some time or other paused while reading the particular book that happened to be in hand at the moment and askedlnentally Just what sort of place is this village that Kipling mentions What is its life, what are its charms The object of this slight study is to describe briefly these bits of Sussex which have served as a background for so many of Kiplings songs and stories. From Burwash, the home of Kipling, the writer will attempt to carry the reader in imagination, first to the Weald and Marsh, and then to the Downs, concerning which Kipling sings Im just in love with all these three, The Weald and Marsh and the Down countrie Nor I dont know which I love the most, The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast The notes in this book are all based on intimate personal knowledge. Almost every old building, church or out of the way place mentioned by Kipling, has been examined by the writer, in the io INTRODUCTION vast majority of cases during the summer of 1920 and the descriptions given are based upon notes collected during the last twenty years. Warned by Mr. Hilaire Bellocs strictures on the modern Guide Book, I have tried to avoid those remarks which he finds so tedious. It will be recalled that Mr. Belloc has written in his essay, On Getting Respected in Inns For a Guide Book will tell you always what are the principal and most vulgar sights of a town what moun tains are most difficult to climb, and, invariably, the exact distances between one place and another. But these things do not serve the End of Man. The end of man is Happiness, and how much happier are you with such a knowledge Now there are some Guide Books which do make little excursions now and then into the important things, which tell you for instance what kind of cooking you will find in what places, what kind of wine in countries where this beverage is publicly known, and even a few, more daring than the rest, will give a hint or two upon hiring mules, and upon the way that a bargain should be conducted, or how to fight. I have tried to omit all the vulgar sights, and have been daring enough to make little excursions into the things immemorial such as the qualities of old ale, the making of dew-ponds, the singing of old ballads and the universal love of Earth which is the first aroma of lifer INTRODUCTION n Kipling shows us that the real lover is the real topographer, and it is in such poems as A Charm that he moves the heart in no light way Take of English earth as much As either hand may rightly clutch. Lay that earth upon thy heart, And thy sickness shall depart. It is impossible to spend a few weeks in Sussex without being impressed with the air of antiquity which pervades that county, and it seems like a mist half to conceal and half to light up every one of its bostels and valleys... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.