es a straight new bed has
been cut, under Arundel Park and past the Black Rabbit, making, with the
old curves, the form of the letter B. Burpham lies at the head of the
lower loop of the B, and while there is plenty of water in the loop to
row up with the flood tide and down with the ebb, the straight main
stream diverts nearly all the holiday traffic and leaves Burpham the
most peaceful village within fifty miles of London. The seclusion is the
more complete because the roads from the South end in the village and
there is no approach by road from East or West or North. The Church
contains a Lepers' window, and passengers by the railway can see, to the
right of the red roofs of the village and over the line of low chalk
cliffs, a white path still called the Lepers' Path, which winds away in
to the lonely hollows of the Downs.

"A curious feature of Burpham is a high rampart of earth, running
eastward from the cliff by the river, which according to local tradition
was constructed in the days of the Danish pirates. It is said to be
doubtful whether the rampart was erected by the Saxon villagers for
their own protection, or by the Danes as their first stronghold on the
rising ground after they had sailed up the Arun from Littlehampton. The
fine name of the neighbouring Warningcamp Hill, from which there is a
great outlook over the flat country past Arundel Castle to Chichester
Cathedral and the cliffs of the Isle of Wight, suggests memories of the
same period."

Of the little retiring church of St. Botolph, Hardham, lying among low
meadows between Burpham and Pulborough, I ought also to have spoken, for
it contains perhaps the earliest complete series of mural painting in
England. The church dates from the eleventh century, and the paintings,
says Mr. Philip Mainwaring Johnson, who has studied them with the
greatest care, cannot be much less old. The subjects are the
Annunciation, the Nativity, the appearance of the Star, the Magi
presenting their Gifts, and so forth, with one or two less familiar
themes added, such as Herod conferring with his Counsellors and the
Torments of Hell. There are the remains also of a series of Moralities
drawn from the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and of a series
illustrating the life of St. George. The little church, which perhaps
has every right to call itself the oldest picture gallery in England,
should not be missed by any visitor to Pulborough.

[Sidenote: THE TIPTEERS]

At West Wi