For howsoever fair the land, The time would surely be That brought our Wealden blackbird's note Across the waves to me. And howsoever strong the door, 'Twould never keep at bay The thought of Fulking's violets, The scent of Holmbush hay. And ever when the day was done, And all the sky was still, How I should miss the climbing moon O'er Chanctonbury's hill! [Sidenote: CHANCTONBURY RING] It is Chanctonbury's crown of beeches that lifts it above the other hills. Uncrowned it would be no more noticeable than Fulking Beacon or a score of others; but its dark grove can be seen for many miles. In Wiston House, under the hill, the seat of the Goring family, to whom belong the hill and a large part of the country that it dominates, is an old painting of Chanctonbury before the woods were made, bare as the barest, without either beech or juniper, and the eye does not notice it until all else in the picture has been examined. The planter of Chanctonbury's Ring, in 1760, was Mr. Charles Goring of Wiston, who wrote in extreme old age in 1828 the following lines:-- How oft around thy Ring, sweet Hill, A Boy, I used to play, And form my plans to plant thy top On some auspicious day. How oft among thy broken turf With what delight I trod, With what delight I placed those twigs Beneath thy maiden sod. And then an almost hopeless wish Would creep within my breast, Oh! could I live to see thy top In all its beauty dress'd. That time's arrived; I've had my wish, And lived to eighty-five; I'll thank my God who gave such grace As long as e'er I live. Still when the morning Sun in Spring, Whilst I enjoy my sight, Shall gild thy new-clothed Beech and sides, I'll view thee with delight. Most of the trees on the side of Chanctonbury and its neighbours were self-sown, children of the clumps which Mr. Goring planted. I might add that Mr. Charles Goring was born in 1743, and his son, the present Rev. John Goring, in 1823, when his father was eighty; so that the two lives cover a period of one hundred and sixty years--true Sussex longevity. Wiston House (pronounced Wisson) is a grey Tudor building in the midst of a wide park, immediately under the hill. The lofty hall, dating from Elizabeth's reign, is as it was; much of the remainder of the house was restored in the last century. The park has deer and a lake. The Goring family acquired Wiston by marriage with the Faggs, and a superb portrait of Sir John Fagg, in the manner of Vandyck with a fine flavour of Velasquez, is one of the treasures of the house. [Sidenote: SIR ANTHONY SHIRLEY] Before the Faggs came the Shirleys, a family chiefly famous for the three wonderful brothers, Anthony, Robert, and Thomas.