p, whose church is, or was, the counterpart of
Steyning's. These possessions Harold took away, an act that, among
others, decided William, Duke of Normandy, upon his assailing, and
conquering, course. Steyning should be proud. To have brought the
Conqueror over is at least as worthy as to have come over with him, and
far more uncommon.

In Church Street stands Brotherhood Hall, a very charming ancient
building, long used as a Grammar School, flanked by overhanging houses,
which, though less imposing, are often more quaint and ingratiating.
Most of Steyning, indeed, is of the past, and the spirit of antiquity is
visibly present in its streets.

The late Louis Jennings, in his _Rambles among the Hills_, was
fascinated by the placid air of this unambitious town--as an American
might be expected to be in the uncongenial atmosphere of age and
serenity. "One almost expects," he wrote, "to see a fine green moss all
over an inhabitant of Steyning. One day as I passed through the town I
saw a man painting a new sign over a shop, a proceeding that so aroused
my curiosity that I stood for a minute or two to look on. The painter
filled in one letter, gave a huge yawn, looked up and down two or three
times as if he had lost something, and finally descended from his perch
and disappeared. Five weeks later I passed that way again, and it is a
fact that the same man was at work on the same sign. Perhaps when the
reader takes the walk I am about to recommend to his attention--a walk
which comprises some of the finest scenery in Sussex--that sign will be
finished, and the accomplished artist will have begun another; but I
doubt it. There is plenty of time for everything in Steyning." I am told
that Steyning was incensed when this criticism was printed (there was
even talk of an action for libel); but it seems to me that whatever may
have been intended, the words contain more of compliment than censure.
In this hurrying age, it is surely high praise to have one's "wise
passiveness" (as Wordsworth called it) so emphasised. The passage calls
to mind Diogenes requesting, as the greatest of possible boons, that
Alexander the Great would stand aside and not interrupt the sunshine;
only at Steyning would one seek for Diogenes to-day. No commendation of
Steyning in the direction of its enterprise, briskness, smartness, or
any of the other qualities which are now most in fashion, would so
speedily decide a wise man to pitch his tent there as Mr.