The four men; a farrago . te unendingly the same while youyawn and stretch; nay, though you imploreme to cease or attempt to coerce me, yetshall I continue the story until I have com-pleted it. You must know, then, that the king whowas over Sussex at that time being then inthe fortieth year of his age and the twenty-second of his reign, a man not only augustbut universally loved, and one very tender SUSSEX AND KENT 171 to the consumers of malt liquor, but a strictgovernor of brewers (God rest his soul!), asong arose in those parts concerning thetyrant Napoleon and his empty boasting, thatwhen
The four men; a farrago . te unendingly the same while youyawn and stretch; nay, though you imploreme to cease or attempt to coerce me, yetshall I continue the story until I have com-pleted it. You must know, then, that the king whowas over Sussex at that time being then inthe fortieth year of his age and the twenty-second of his reign, a man not only augustbut universally loved, and one very tender SUSSEX AND KENT 171 to the consumers of malt liquor, but a strictgovernor of brewers (God rest his soul!), asong arose in those parts concerning thetyrant Napoleon and his empty boasting, thatwhen he had conquered Prussia, Russia,Bornesia, Holland, all Italy and Spain, hewould challenge the power of Sussex itselfbefore he had done with warfare; and thissong, let me tell you, ran as follows. With this Grizzlebeard, clearing his agedthroat, tunefully carolled out the followingmanly verse in the tune to which all Sussexsongs have been set, without exception, sincethe beginning of time—the tune which is If BonaparteShud zummon dEartTo land on Pevensey Level,I have two sonsWith our three gunsTo blarst un to the de-e-vil. It is, continued Grizzlebeard, when the 172 THE GREAT WAH BETWEEN long-drawn notes of the challenge had diedaway, a very noble and inspiring song,compared with which To the North, MerryBoys, is but music-hall blare, and the Mar-seillaise a shrieking on a penny whistle. Now this song, he continued, being ofits right virtue and glory a hymn that couldnot but spread far among men, travelled allover our county, being known and com-mented on in Lewes in the kings own castle,and eastward all along the beach to Hastings,and beyond that to the banks of Brede andover Brede to Bother, which was in thosedays the boundary of this land; for we hadnot then begun to give laws to East Guild-ford, on the left bank of the river mouth. As luck would have it, it travelled, per-haps in the speech of pedlars, or printed asa broadside and sold from their packs, all
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherindia, bookyear1912
