cross has indeed a peculiar right to stand there a symbol of that great reality which alone can turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and of the children to the fathers, binding all the generations in one; for from its steps the same old story has been repeated age after age by friar. Reformer, Puritan, and, latest of all, by an Independent preacher, one George Gilbert, an old soldier, whose earnest appeals resulted in the erection of the ugly little meetinghouse, about whose anniversary we have been speaking.
But we must leave Alfriston, and wend our way homeward, which we will do by the higher road over the downs. The walk, if not so interesting as that along the vale, is productive of finer landscapes and grander views of down scenery. Sometimes the turns and twists of the hills are so sudden, and the declivities so precipitous, that one would suppose oneself on the Yorkshire moors rather than among the gentle scenery of the South Downs. But it—
"Is the hour
When shadow steals o'er nature's loveliness;"
and ere long—
"The moon hath risen on high,
And in the clear blue sky
The golden stars all brightly glow;······
How still the earth! how calm!
What dear and home-like charm
From gentle twilight doth she borrow!
Like to some quiet room,
Where, wrapt in still soft gloom,
We sleep away the daylight's sorrow."
