[Illustration:  THE WESTERN DOWNS.]

Several roads lead north through beautiful country, covered by lonely and unfrequented woodlands, to the Mardens.  West Marden is about five miles from Emsworth and close to the Hampshire border; all the four villages which bear this name are among the most primitive in southern England.  At North Marden is a plain unrestored Norman church, the only one in the immediate vicinity which is worth a visit for its own sake.  Compton, a mile beyond West Marden, has a Transitional Norman church partly rebuilt; this is close to Lady Holt Park, a favourite retreat of Pope; and Up Park, a fine expanse of woodland, where the Carylls once lived; their estates were forfeited for their championship of the Stuarts.  The northern end of the park rises to the edge of the Downs close to Torberry Hill, the last summit in Sussex, though the traveller who is so inclined may, with much advantage to himself, penetrate into the lonely recesses of the Hampshire hills, sacred to the shade of Gilbert White, and, still within the probable limits of the ancient kingdom of Sussex, finish his travels at Butser Hill and Petersfield.

Butser Hill is 889 feet above the sea, and therefore higher than any point of the range within Sussex.  This well-known summit is familiar to all travellers on the Portsmouth road, from which it rises with imposing effect on the west of the pass beyond Petersfield.  Here the South Downs, so called, may be said to end.  The chalk hills are continued right across Hampshire, slowly diminishing in height until they are lost in the great plateau of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.

[Illustration:  HARTING.]

Between a fold of the hills lies picturesque Harting in a most delightful situation; an ideal spot for a restful time away from twentieth-century conditions.  The tourist, if amenable to the simple life, might well make a stay of a few days to explore the lovely country of which this village forms the centre.  The finely placed Early English cruciform church has several interesting monuments to members of former local families, including sixteenth century memorials of the Cowper-Coles.  Here is buried Lord Grey, who was connected with the Rye House Plot.  Notice the embroidery in the reredos, an unusual style; also the fine wooden roof and shorn pillars; the latter detract from the general effect of the interior and have been noticed in other Downland churches on our route.  Quite close to the church are the old village stocks, undoubtedly placed in this position for the sake of convenience, the “court” in more remote districts having been held, in former times, in the church itself.  Harting was for a time the home of Anthony Trollope, and Cardinal Pole was rector here.