ussex":

"In the yere of our lorde god 1545. the 26 day of June, I, Thomas
Gaston, of the pish of Cukefelde, syke in body, hole, and of ppt
[perfect] memorie, ordene and make this my last will and test, in
manr. and forme folling.

Fyrst I bequethe my sowle to Almyghty god or [our] lady St. Mary
and all the holy company of heyvyng, my bodie to be buried in the
church yarde of Cukefeld.

It. (item) to the Mother Church of Chichester 4_d._

It. to the hye alter of Cuckfeld 4_d._

It. I will have at my buryall 5 masses. In lykewise at my monthes
mynd and also at my yerely mynd all the charge of the church set
apart I will have in meate and drynke and to pore people 10_s._ at
every tyme."

The high altar was frequently mentioned favourably in these old wills.
Another Cuckfield testator, in 1539, left to the high altar, "for tythes
and oblacions negligently forgotten, sixpence." The same student of the
_Calendar of Sussex Wills in the District Probate Registry at Lewes,
between 1541 and 1652_, which the British Record Society have just
published, copies the following passage from the will of Gerard Onstye,
in 1568: "To mary my daughter _L_20, the ffeatherbed that I lye upon the
bolsters and coverlete of tapestaye work with a blankett, 4 payres of
shetts that is to say four pares of the best flaxon and other 2 payre of
the best hempen the greate brasse potte that hir mother brought, the
best bord-clothe (table cloth?) a lynnen whelle (_i.e._, spinning-wheel)
that was hir mothers, the chaffing dish that hangeth in the parlor."

In those simple days everything was prized. In one of these Sussex
wills, in 1594, Richard Phearndeane, a labourer, left to his brother
Stephen his best dublett, his best jerkin and his best shoes, and to
Bernard Rosse his white dublett, his leathern dublett and his worst
breeches.

[Sidenote: THE BELLS OF BOLNEY]

Three miles west of Cuckfield is Bolney, just off the London road, a
village in the southern boundary of St. Leonard's Forest, the key to
some very rich country. Before the days of bicycles Bolney was
practically unknown, so retired is it. The church, which has a curious
pinnacled tower nearly 300 years old, is famous for its bells,
concerning whose melody Horsfield gives the following piece of counsel:
"Those who are fond of the silvery tones of bells, may enjoy them to
perfection, by placing themselves on the ma