[Illustration: ARUNDEL CASTLE.]
[Illustration: RUINS OF COWDRAY.]
The little river Arun flows from the South Downs into the sea, and
standing upon its banks is Arundel Castle, which gives the title of earl
to the unfortunate infant son and heir of the Duke of Norfolk, whose
blindness shows that even the greatest wealth and highest rank do not
command all things in this world. A village of two steep streets mounts
up the hill from the river-bank to the castle, which has unusual
interest from its striking position and the long line of its noble
owners--the Fitzalans and Howards. The extensive ramparts surround a
ponderous keep and there are fine views in all directions. This is a
favorite home of the Duke of Norfolk, and is surrounded by an extensive
park. The tombs of his ancestors are in the old parish church of St.
Nicholas, built in the fourteenth century, alongside which the duke has
recently constructed a magnificent Roman Catholic church in Decorated
Gothic at a cost of $500,000. The architect of this church was Mr.
Hansom, who invented for the benefit of London the Hansom cab. Westward
of Arundel is Chichester, distinguished for its cathedral and cross,
the ancient Regnum of the Romans. The cathedral, recently restored, is
peculiar from having five aisles with a long and narrow choir. Here is
buried Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel in the fourteenth century. This
cathedral has a consistory court over the southern porch, reached by a
spiral staircase, from which a sliding door opens into the Lollards'
Dungeon. It has a detached campanile or bell-tower rising on the
north-western side, the only example in England of such an attachment to
a cathedral. The Chichester market-cross, standing at the intersection
of four streets in the centre of the town, is four hundred years old. In
front of Chichester, but nine miles away, the low peninsula of Selsey
Bill projects into the sea and is the resort of innumerable wild-fowl.
Three miles out of town is Goodwood, where the races are held. Goodwood
is the seat of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, who has a fine park, and
a valuable picture-gallery particularly rich in historical portraits. At
Bigner, twelve miles from Chichester over the chalk-downs, are the
remains of an extensive Roman villa, the buildings and pavements having
been exhumed for a space of six hundred by three hundred and fifty feet.
The Rother, a tributary of the Arun, flows down from Midhurst, where are
the ruins of Cowdray, an ancient Tudor stronghold that was burned in
1793, its walls being now finely overgrown with ivy. Dunford House, near
Midhurst, was the estate presented to Richard Cobden by the "Anti-Corn
Law League."