a maritime county of England, bounded on the N. by Kent and Surrey, E. by Kent, S. by the English Channel, and W. by Hampshire, is of an oblong form, 76 tent, miles wide, and 27 miles in its extreme length. Its area is 1463 square miles, or 936,320 statute acres. Its divisions are six in number, and are locally called rapes or ropes, a term which Sir Francis Palgrave thus explains:—"The Normans were a hard people. Whenever they conquered, and did conquer outright, they went to work like plunderers, dividing the country by measurement—by the rope, as it was termed; measuring out the land amongst themselves, a process which singularly marks the original violence of their character, for in such allotments they neglected all the natural relations which might previously exist amongst the nations whom they conquered." In each of these rapes (áreppti, Icelandic) the Norman lord built, at a convenient point on the sea-coast, a castle or military station; in E. Sussex, in the rapes of Hastings, Lewes, and Pevensey; in W. Sussex, in the rapes of Bramber, Chichester, and Arundel, each, as it were, commanding a "high road to Normandy." These rapes are subdivided into 65 hundreds and 313 parishes, all—except the deaneries of Popham and South Malling, and All Saints, Chichester, which are peculiarities of the see of Canterbury—in the diocese of Chichester.

The population of Sussex, in 1801, amounted to 159,311; in 1811, to 190,083; in 1821, to 233,019; in 1831, to 272,800; in 1851 to 336,844 (165,772 males, 171,072 females). At that period the distribution of the inhabitants was—

| Category | Males | Females | |---------------------------|-------|---------| | Landlords | 408 | 342 | | Farmers and graziers | 3,961 | 239 | | Farm bailiffs | 454 | | | Outdoor labourers | 25,684| 86 | | Indoor labourers | 1,570 | 704 | | Labourers employed in agriculture | 37,880 | 1,877 | | Servants | 2,725 | 12,725 |

The eastern division of Sussex (pop. 225,357, electors 6,401,) returns two members to Parliament. The western division (pop. 111,457, electors 2853,) has the same number of representatives. Brighton, with 4609 electors, returns two members; Hastings, with 1235 electors, returns two; Chichester, with 627 electors, returns two; Lewes, with 697 electors, returns two; Arundel, Sussex, with 196 electors, returns one; Horsham, with 387 electors, returns one; Midhurst, with 429 electors, returns one; Rye, with 426 electors, returns one; and Shoreham, with 1843 electors, returns two representatives to Parliament. The election for East Sussex is held at Lewes; for West Sussex at Chichester.

The principal boroughs and towns of Sussex, with their populations in 1851, are—Brighton, 69,673; Hastings, 33,977; Shoreham, 30,553; Rye, 12,612; Lewes, 9,533; Chichester, 8,662; Horsham, 5,947; East Grinstead, 3,820; Cuckfield, 3,196; Mayfield, 3,055; Arundel, 2,748; Bognor, 1,913; Newhaven, 1,358; Pevensey, 412.

A range of chalk-hills, known as the North Downs, in continuation of the chain which traverses Surrey and Kent, crosses to the north-eastern parts of the county from Tunbridge Wells to Hythe. The South Downs, a range of considerable elevation, 53 miles long, and 4 to 6 miles broad, runs through the entire county, in a line nearly parallel to that of the sea-coast, but broken into valleys by the rivers Arun, Adur, Ouse, and Cuckmere. Some of the heights are noticeable for their elevation. Ditchling Beacon is 858 feet above the sea-level; Firle Beacon, 820 feet; and Chanctonbury Ring, with its crown of fires, about 814 feet; Crowbury Beacon, 804 feet. The northern districts of the county were formerly covered with an almost impervious wood, the famous Andrededles of the Celts; and there is still a general luxuriance of leafiness, which much commends the locality to the sketcher and tourist. How wide-spread was the forest growth, is evidenced by the names of hamlets still in existence, such as Ashurst, Lamberhurst, Wadhurst, Ticehurst, and Crowhurst. The Weald clay in the northern part is of a very tenacious character. It covers an area of about 425,000 acres. Between it and the chalk-range of the Southern Downs lie narrow belts of gault and green sand, where the land is chiefly arable and pasture. The South Downs, and the broad stretches of luxuriant verdure which smile between them and the sea-marge, are eminently beautiful, and offer some of the most attractive "bits" of scenery in this portion of England. In the coombes and dencos which break their rounded outline nestle clumps of ancient but still vigorous trees—ash, oak, and hazel, the white hawthorn and the bright green box; and on their slopes are clustered quiet villages, sleeping in the shadow of tall elms, with perhaps an old gabled manor-house and the gray tower of a venerable church peeping out of the leafy framework. On these Downs are constantly to be observed those circular belts of dark-green turf called "fairy-rings," popularly supposed to be the traces of fairy footsteps—or the pharisees, as the diminutive elves are named by the Sussex shepherds. The star-like gentian and the beautiful orchis are there abundant; the wheatear haunts the sweet thymy grass; and the hill-sides are everywhere dotted with the famous South Down breed of sheep. The south-eastern district, or Forest Ridge, is composed of Hastings sand, and is especially rich in romantic nooks and picturesque corners. Fairlight Down, 600 feet above the sea, commands a prospect of almost unequalled beauty; and the whole country around Hastings and Eastbourne has afforded endless materials to our Hardings, Stanfields, and Copley Fieldings.

In the northern districts of Sussex the climate is mild and genial, though their clayey soils and luxuriant woods incline it to humidity. On the coast it varies considerably. The air of Hastings is too relaxing for delicate persons, while that of Brighton is usually dry and bracing. At Worthing, the climate is so mild that figs are largely cultivated. Rottingdean rejoices in a fresh and strengthening air, free, however, from excessive keenness.

The principal rivers of Sussex are the Cuckmere, the Ouse, the Adur, and the Arun. The Cuckmere rises in the south-eastern Downs—in several streams, which unite near Hellingly—and flows through a pleasant valley, or depression of the hills, into the English Channel at Cuckmere Harbour. The Ouse is a more important river, whose main channel has its source near Slaugham, on the southern boundary of St Leonard's Forest; passes Lindfield, and, increased by numerous tributaries, skirts Stefford Park, running southward through a fertile country-side to Lewes; thence over an extensive flat, as Pennant says, which stretches many miles inland, and is "prettily bounded by extensive risings," proceeds to Newhaven, where its junction with the sea forms a convenient harbour. The Adur, rising in St Leonard's forest, in its brief course, passes ancient Bramber, and flows through a deep gully in the chalk-hills—the "Shoreham Gap"—into the sea at New Shoreham. The Arun is formed by other branches, one of which rises in Surrey; another in the neighbourhood of St Leonard's and Tilgate Forests; and a third, the Rother, rising in Hampshire, after washing the towns of Midhurst and Petworth, unites with the main stream at Pulborough, whence the augmented river flows, with many windings, through Arundel, and across a level country into the English Channel, below Littlehampton. The Arun is a navigable river, famous for its excellent mullets. The name is derived by Horstfeld from arundo, a reed.

The railway communications are important. The London and South Coast line enters the county near the Three Bridges station (where a branch diverges to East Grinstead, and another to Horsham), proceeds southerly to Lewes, and thence to Newhaven. The main line runs on to Brighton. From Lewes the railway is continued to Pevensey and Hastings. There are short branches to Hurstmonceaux and Eastbourne. From Brighton a line proceeds to Portsmouth, in a direction nearly parallel to the sea-coast, touching the important towns of Shoreham, Worthing, Chichester, and Havant. The London and South-Eastern Railway crosses the eastern portions of Sussex to Battle and Hastings, whence it is continued through Winchelsea and Rye into the southern districts of Kent. There is a canal between Arundel and Chichester; and a more important one (see Surrey) connects the Arun navigation with the Wey.

There are now no manufactures in Sussex; but its iron-works in bygone days attained a great celebrity, employing tures and a large number of the inhabitants of the Weald, where the products, strata embodying iron ore are principally found. These iron-works were of great antiquity; certainly known to the Romans, and probably to the Britons. Disused by the Saxons and the early Norman landowners, they rose into repute in the days of the Plantagenets; and in the 16th century the manufacture had assumed such considerable proportions as to excite the indignation of the poet Drayton. "These iron times," he cries, "breed none that mind posterity." Early in the 18th century, when coke took the place of charcoal in the iron manufacture, the trade in Sussex began to decline, and it has now for seventy years been hopelessly extinct.

Sussex, therefore, is a purely agricultural county. The Southdown breed of sheep is widely famous; they have no horns, and their faces and legs are dark-coloured. The wool is fine, and the flesh of excellent flavour. Sussex cows are scarcely less celebrated. They are of a deep-red colour, with small heads, and thin, transparent horns; are not kept for dairy purposes, but for the sake of the meat, always of a superior quality. In the eastern division, wheat and other grain are neglected, and hops are largely grown. The Sussex timber is even now in good repute; and in many parts of the county may yet be noticed elms, oaks, and other forest-trees, of surprising growth.

Much of the prosperity of the county is due to the attractiveness of its sea-coast towns, whither, in the genial places, months of the year, repair by thousands the jaded London citizens as well as the volatile leaders of the world of fashion. Hastings, Eastbourne, Rottingdean, Brighton, Worthing, and Bognor, owe their prosperity in no inconsiderable degree to the perfection of railway communication, which has

"To those in populous city pent Glimpses of wild and beauteous nature lent,"

and created thriving towns in neighbourhoods hitherto unvisited and almost desolate. As many as 100,000 persons have been conveyed to Brighton by excursion-trains in one week.

We have scarcely space even for a glance at the principal historical events associated with the "memorable places" of Sussex. "Hallowed ground," indeed, is trodden by the traveller at almost every step. The Regni held the county before the coming of the Romans, and even after the subjugation of England preserved a qualified independence, under their native kings. Cogidubnus, whom Tacitus speaks of as always faithful to the Roman alliance. Regnum, the modern Chichester, was the capital, and thence to Augusta (or London) ran the great Stane Street, or Stone Street, a famous military highway. Another important road ran along the coast, and united Anderida (Poveshay), through Chichester, with Portus Magnus (Portchester). Ella and his sons were the first Saxons who landed on the Sussex coast (A.D. 477). Their place of disembarkation is said to have been Wittering, near Chichester, which they assaulted and captured, spreading afterwards through the vast Andredæton with fire and sword, and finally establishing the South-Saxe, or Sussex kingdom. Mr Kemble points out the improbability of their settlements here having been very numerous, and among the earliest in England, from the frequency of occurrence in this country of places whose names preserve the termination ing, which always indicates a "mark" or cluster of habitations. The religion of the Saxons did not creep into Sussex, however, until long after Augustine had preached it to the men of Kent. It was introduced by Wilfrid, archbishop of York, who, about A.D. 680, was cast by a storm upon the coast—now bare and level, but then all richly wooded—of the peninsula of Selsey. A miracle attended its advent. Bede tells us that for three years no rain had fallen in "the island of the Sea-Calf," and the drought had produced so great a famine, that very often bands of forty or fifty men would rush to the brink of a neighbouring precipice, and hand-in-hand cast themselves into destruction; but on the very day which witnessed the baptism of the proselytes there fell a soft and pleasurable rain, restoring verdure to the earth, and hope to the heart of man.

The sea-board of Sussex suffered terribly from the ravages of the Danish jars; but it does not appear that they effected any permanent settlement. The coast afterwards formed a portion of the demesnes of the great Earl Godwin, and his greater son, King Harold. Within its limits—on a down covered with heath and furze, and surrounded by dangerous morasses—was fought (Oct. 14, 1066) the memorable battle which overthrew the Saxon dynasty, and eventually resulted in that union of Saxon solidity and Norman enterprise now recognised as distinctive of the English character.

Lewes, on the 13th of May 1264, was the scene of a contest scarcely less important in its results—the sanguinary battle of Lewes, between De Montfort earl of Leicester, and the barons' army, and the royal forces under Henry III. and Prince Edward. The slaughter was terrible, but De Montfort was victorious, and thus the final seal to Magna Chartæ was affixed in blood.

The French fleet, under D'Aumale, made an attack on Brighton in 1545, and landed a body of troops, who were stoutly resisted by the citizens, and compelled to retire. It was at Brighton Charles II. spent the night before his escape from the English shore (Oct. 15, 1651), in a small vessel fitted out by Capt. Nicholas Tattersall. In 1543, the Parliamentarian forces, under Sir William Waller, besieged Chichester for ten days, and, after its surrender, set to work lustily to purify it from "idolatrous images," and remove all "superstitious" decorations. The same leader, later in the year, beleaguered Arundel Castle for seventeen days, and reduced it to a heap of ruins. Off Beachy Head, on the 30th of June 1590, Lord Torrington's Anglo-Dutch fleet of 56 sail was attacked by a French force of 78 ships of war and 56 fireships under Count de Tourville. The combat had no satisfactory results. And here we must pause, referring the reader for fuller historical details to the authorities quoted at the conclusion of this article.

Worthies. At Field Place, near Horsham, on the 4th of August 1792, was born Percy Bysshe Shelley, and here that most psychological of poets wrote the greater part of Queen Mab. Chichester (Dec. 25, 1719) was the birth-place of William Collins, our great English lyrist; and in a house near Chichester Cathedral he died, in 1759. In the church of Horsted Keynes, sleeps the dust of one of the wisest and wisestest of English prelates, Archbishop Leighton, Sutherland, connected with the name of the poet Halley—who to whom it descended from his father—and Huskisson, the statesman, who purchased it of him. John Fletcher, the greatest of the dramatic fraternity of Beaumont and Fletcher, was born at Rye, in 1579. Archbishop Hare is interred in Hurstpierpoint churchyard. At Sheffield Place, Gibbon the historian spent his closing years, and in the adjacent church (Fletching) lie his remains. In a cottage named Lammas, near Salvington, was born the erudite Selden (A.D. 1641), and at the Chichester Free School he received his rudiments of education. Lewes is justly proud of Dr Mantell, the eminent geologist. Gilbert White, the naturalist, has associated his memory with the village of Ringmer and the Sussex downs.

Sussex is rich in antiquities: we can but indicate the more important. Celtic earthworks may be traced at Clasbury, or Cissa's Tye and Byrig, near Vindon; the Devil's Dyke, near Poynings; and Mount objects of Caburn, near Lewes. Barrows, or tumuli, are scattered over the entire range of the South Downs. Roman relics are numerous, and of peculiar interest, especially the ancient walls of Anderida (Poveshay), and the fine villa at Biggin. To the historic student, there is a mine of wealth in Lewes Castle; the ruins of Arundel; and the ruins of Battle Abbey. There is a wide field, too, for ecclesiastical speculation at Petworth, Arundel, St Pancras Priory (Lewes), Michelham, and Wilmington. The most interesting churches are those of St Nicholas, Steyning, Broadwater, Chilping, Bosham, Winchester, and Emsworth. Chichester Cathedral must always be an attractive object to the archaeologist as well as to "the man of taste." The lovers of English fiction will remember that Brambletye House suggested to Horace Smith his best romance, and that Alsworth has transferred the features of Cuckfield Place to the "haunted house" in Rookwood. There is an interesting Elizabethan mansion at Parham, and a manor-house of an earlier date at Crowhurst. Brickwall House is curious in itself, and rejoices in some curious relics of Elizabethan days. Winchester and Rye are not without noteworthy traces of their past importance.

The titles derived from this county are those of the Earls of Honours, Winchester, Sutherland, Chichester, and Sheffield, and the Barons Arundel and Soliers.

We can but name a few of the principal mansions and seats in Chief seats:—Goodwood, the Duke of Richmond; Arundel Castle, Duke of Norfolk; Petworth, Colonel Wyndham (rich in art-treasures of the highest order); Sheffield Place, Earl of Sheffield; Erskine Park, Earl of Abergavenny; Marefield Park, J.V. Shelley, Esq.; Buxted Park, Colonel Vernon Harcourt; Ashburnham Place, Earl of Ashburnham; Heathfield Park, G.E. Towery, Esq.; Bechurst Park, Lord Delaware; Stanmer Park, Earl of Chichester; Kneppe Castle, Sir C.M. Burrell; Parham, Hon. R. Curzon; and Westdown House, Lord Selby.

Horstfeld's History of Sussex; Horstfeld's History of Lewes; Lowen's Contributions to Literature; Lowen's Handbook to Lewes; Pennant's Tour from London to the Isle of Wight; Collections of the Sussex Archaeological Association; Fuller's Worthies; Kemble's Sussex in England; Hussey's Churches of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex; Lyell's Principles of Geology; Dr Mantell, in Brayley's History of Surrey.