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practice in this matter would probably have helped both English teachers and students not a little; yet the subject is not even glanced at in this Report. The subject of 'piece-work' is intimately connected with that of technical education, and English workmen would have gratefully welcomed any light that the Commissioners could have thrown upon it by their extensive inquiries. But this also is passed by, as well as the cognate question referred to aboveviz. as to how far Continental artisans are 'all-round' men, whether, e.g. an engine-fitter would be able to turn, or a turner to file and forge, a carpenter and joiner to undertake hand-railing as well as to cut the bevels geometrically for a hip-roof, &c., or whether the 'division of labour,' and other causes tending to limit a thorough knowledge of their trade, are counteracted by voluntary, or, in the case of apprentices, compulsory attendance at technical classes.

Then there are questions connected with all the hindrances to technical education created by the indifference of employers, the jealousy of workmen, demand for cheapness by customers, and requirements by foremen for quantity rather than quality, and last, but not least, the positive hostility, in many cases, of contractors to workmen who try to do their work in a workmanlike manner. Very curious illustrations might be afforded of the effect of these evil influences on the movement which the Commissioners have so extensively served, and we should have been thankful if they had not altogether ignored it in their Report.

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Other omissions, more or less important, might be mentioned, but enough has been said to provoke further inquiry, and, perhaps, indignant complaint. How was it possible,' the Commissioners may exclaim, that we could traverse every portion of the vast field of investigation during the limited time at our disposal!' True, and we should be the last to complain of these or other omissions had not their attention been pointedly directed to these points by English workmen as among those subjects on which they were specially desirous of gaining information. It is just because no workmen were on the Commission, and could not, therefore, inquire or speak for themselves, we submit that a primary obligation rested on the Commissioners to keep their wants and desires distinctly before them. Firmly convinced, as we are, that no system of technical education is worth establishing unless practical workmen have been consulted at almost every step, we feel bound to protest, not only against the neglect of which we have now ventured to complain, but against the tendency we have too often observed in high quarters, among zealous and disinterested friends of the cause, and notably in the plans and operations of that admirable institution, the City and Guilds of London Institute, to ignore the opinions or decline the counsels of experienced artisans. Had the omissions now pointed out occurred simply from want of time or funds, it would be as unjust as ungrate

ful to complain of them. But it is because they seem to have arisen from this radical error, for which no amount of zeal and energy in other ways can sufficiently compensate, and against whose evil influence in other directions we desire earnestly to plead, that we have spoken plainly and with regret. It is true that the Commissioners, we believe, have widely and willingly accepted the evidence of practical workmen in the United Kingdom, and we trust also on the Continent, which, when it is published, will materially help to fill the gaps lamented in their Report. But why was not this evidence referred to in the Report a little more clearly and decisively? Why were no recommendations' based on it, and no conclusions' drawn from it, in any degree proportionate to the importance which we claim for it? Had they themselves been at all adequately impressed with a sense of that importance, it seems impossible but that they would have given due weight and prominence to the effect which it should have produced on their own minds.

Let us, however, regard what is now granted to us as simply a large and admirable instalment of the information which the great industrial and manufacturing interests of this country-so favoured by nature, so hampered by ignorance-have a right to demand. Let us hope that our ruling powers' will be stimulated or shamed into official action by the sight of what a few public-spirited men have been doing at their own expense for a great movement which requires and deserves, and, on the Continent, receives, the ungrudging liberality of both central and municipal authority; and that two or three competent Government Commissioners will shortly be despatched in various directions to supplement the labours of the recent Royal Commission. For what the gentlemen composing that Commission have done, we tender our heartiest thanks. For what they have failed to do, we entreat them either to supply their omission in a future Report; or, what is rather more reasonable, to assist in inducing the Government to secure inheritors of their energy, zeal, and experience worthy to succeed them, and capable of carrying forward their noble task to its completion.

HENRY SOLLY.

COUNTY CHARACTERISTICS-SUSSEX.

WITH One great foot outstretched into the Channel, Sussex holds the south-eastern corner of England like a warder,

Fixed at its sea-post, with the hills for shield.

The first impression produced by a study of its configuration ishow admirably Nature has formed it for defence; and the extent to which its resources in this respect have been made available is foremost among the memorabilia of its history. At the points where it approaches nearest to the Continent it is guarded by inaccessible cliffs. The low coast-line elsewhere is either fenced by the barrier of hills running at a short distance behind it, or by tracts of marsh. The gaps formed by a few river-channels in the hill-range afford incomparable sites for strongholds, and the original condition of the country inland, which was that of a dense forest, opposed the most formidable obstacle to an invader's progress. At three points only, where its defensive armour is weak-the peninsula of Selsey, the coast between Eastbourne and Hastings, and that between Winchelsea and Rye has invasion ever been successful; but the inviting accessibility of so long a seaboard has exposed it to repeated assaults. The warder's shield especially is dinted with countless marks of onset. The encampments, of which a continuous series occupies the highest points of the South Downs, owe their existing form to the Romans, and their names to the Saxons, as is shown by the common termination bury (byrig, a fortified place), but their origin is almost undoubtedly British. From these heights the Regni (by which name the Celtic inhabitants of Sussex were known to the Romans) must have watched the advance of the invading legions out of Kent, and have sent forth their warriors in vain efforts to repel them. Some of the barrows with which the crests of the hills are studded may contain the bones of these fallen heroes.

Their conquest finally achieved, the Romans seem to have dealt with the Regni so judiciously that they became attached subjects of the empire. The sagacity of the conquerors quickly recognised that

Regnum, the principal town of the tribe (the site of Chichester), commanded one of the points where the coast is naturally defenceless, and they transformed it into a Roman city. The tribal chief, Cogidubnus, was Imperial legate in Britain during the reign of Claudius. An inscription found in 1720 (now preserved at Goodwood) records that he adorned his capital with a temple dedicated to Neptune and Minerva, as patrons of a collegium fabrorum, which is conjectured to have been the guild of ship carpenters belonging to the port. The mosaic pavements and remains of buildings, together with the coins and urns found in different parts of the city, testify to the extent of the Roman settlement. There the great Stane Street, which ran to London, formed a junction with another road that skirted the coast from Anderida (Pevensey) to Portus Magnus (Porchester). The same military discernment which was shown in the adoption of Regnum dictated the choice of Anderida as the site of a second stronghold. Its name was derived from the vast forest (known to the Britons as Coit Andred, the uninhabited wood, and to the Saxons as Andred's Wald) upon the southern edge of which it stood. Like the fortresses of Kent, it was placed under the control of the Count of the Saxon Shore.' 6 The castle, of which the walls are still standing, besides shielding another exposed point of the coast, commanded the inland marshes and the forest behind. On a height in the parish of Pulborough, overlooking the junction of the rivers Arun and Rother, the remains of another castellum are traceable. Confiding in the security thus guaranteed, many wealthy Romans (probably of official rank) fixed their abodes in choice situations of the hills and seaboard. Of one villa discovered at Bignor enough remains to attest the judgment and taste as well as the opulence of its owner. The high ground which he chose for its site abutted on the Stane Street, at a distance of ten miles from Regnum, and lay open to the south-west, facing a group of hills and valleys more picturesquely 'folded' than, perhaps, at any other point of the South Downs. Here, upon an area of some four acres, he planned his house on a grand scale, its chief rooms being ranged round an inner court, having baths and sudatories on one side. The mosaic pavement of the banqueting hall, decorated with Cupids engaged in gladiatorial combat, with dancing nymphs and other graceful designs, is among our best-preserved relics of Roman art. Traces of similar but smaller villas have been found at Hurstpierpoint, Angmering, and elsewhere. The large beds of scoriæ, found in connection with imperial coins and fragments of Samian pottery and glass in various parts of the county, furnish proof that the Romans made ample use of the ironstone wherewith the Weald abounds, and which its then unexhausted woods supplied ready material for smelting.

Upon the withdrawal of the Roman forces from Britain, the atmosphere of civilisation which Sussex had for a while breathed was sud

denly dissipated, and, in common with the rest of the island, it relapsed into barbarism. The Roman settlement there, however, lasted so long that it would not be surprising to find a relic of it more enduring than the memorials above mentioned. The finely shaped heads and stern features of some of the North Sussex peasantry bear no little resemblance to the antique Roman type. It is reasonable to believe this more than a mere coincidence. That the conquerors intermarried with the native women there can be no doubt, and it is easier to understand the retention of so marked a type among dwellers in a rural district than its persistent transmission to townsmen such as the Trasteverini, who are the best-known examples of it.

In A.D. 477 the Saxon marauders effected the incursion which they had long threatened. A horde, commanded by Ella and his sons, landed at Cymenes-ora, identified with Kynor, in the parish of Sidlesham. Having made themselves masters of Regnum, they spread along the coast until they reached Anderida, which they attacked and took, slaying, according to the Saxon Chronicle, all that dwelt therein, nor was there one Briton left.' The settlement of the South Saxons, whose memory is perpetuated in the county name, was thus founded. The families or clans that composed the invading tribe appear to have attached their patronymics to the places ending in ing, which are numerous near the coast; e.g. Angmering, Goring, &c. Cissa, one of Ella's sons, is said to have given his name to the city of Chichester (Cissa's Ceaster) and to the fortification of Cissbury. Though a few Celtic place-names have been retained, such as Glynde, Lewes, &c., the predominance of Teutonic roots in local nomenclature is very large. The speech of the Sussex peasant is as genuinely Saxon as that of his Kentish neighbour.1

The conversion of the South Saxons to Christianity was effected about the year 680 by Wilfrid of York and other priests, who had been shipwrecked at Selsey. Having been welcomed by King Edilwalch, who was already a Christian, the missionaries prevailed upon a few of the chiefs to receive baptism. According to Bede, their acceptance of the rite was immediately followed by a copious fall of rain, which terminated a drought that had lasted for three years and reduced the inhabitants to such straits of famine that they chained themselves together in bands and leapt into the sea. Influenced both by this miracle and by the superior knowledge of Wilfrid, who is said to have taught them the hitherto unknown art of fishing, the people accepted the faith with one accord. Selsey was formed into

It is distinguished by a broad yawning pronunciation of the open vowels, which makes it difficult to understand, and is hardly to be represented in print. Some idea of it may be obtained by trying to follow the rhyme-sequence in the following doggrel triplet, which figures on an alehouse sign :-

I, John Charman,

Will beat half on 'em

With any long-legged man in Warnham.

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