Chichester

“ Each development reveals a fresh crime, and evokes renewed wonder at the miscreant’s resourcefulness. As fertile in the closet as he was ruthless in the camp, Chichester may be regarded as the embodiment of those vices which, amongst the people he oppressed, made a byword of the rule he represented and the creed he sought to spread. ”

“ CHICHESTER CROSS.
Few places in Britain can boast of higher antiquity than the city of Chichester. Its origin is supposed to date back beyond the invasion of Britain by the Romans. It was destroyed towards the close of the fifth century, by Ella, but rebuilt by his son, Cissa, the second king of the South Saxons, who named it after himself, and made it the royal residence and capital of his dominions.
Chichester, as may be expected, is a fertile field for antiquarian research. Its cathedral, churches, and ecclesiastical buildings abound with fine architecture ”

“ Martin sought to retrieve his cigarettes, but Sir Chichester laid them aside upon a high mantelpiece, as if Hillyard were a child and could not reach them.
"No, don't disappoint me, Hillyard! I am sure that you, too, can rise above a temptation. Why should I be the only one?" ”

“ I had always regarded an afternoon in a little cathedral-town as a high order of entertainment, and a morning at Portsmouth had left me in the mood for not missing such an exhibition. The spire of Chichester at a little distance greatly resembles that of Salisbury. It is on a smaller scale, but it tapers upward with a delicate slimness which, like that of its famous rival, makes a picture of the level landscape in which it stands. Unlike the spire of Salisbury, however, it has not at present the charm of antiquity. ”

“ The best thing left to us in Chichester, apart from the Cathedral and its subject buildings, is, I think, St Mary's Hospital, a foundation dating from the time of Henry II., which possesses a noble great hall, and a pretty Decorated chapel, with old stalls, which is still used as an almshouse. It stands upon the site of the first Franciscan house established in Chichester. In 1269 the Friars Minor left this place and moved to the site of the old Castle. There they built the church of which the choir still remains, a lovely work ruined at the dissolution and used as the Guildhall. ”

“ But Chichester is a pleasant old city, though it does not realise impossible dreams; its grey-toned cathedral makes a fine background for its beautiful arched market-cross. I am afraid I admire the market-cross more than the cathedral, for the cathedral is rather interesting than beautiful, whilst the market-cross is wholly beautiful and interesting besides. Never had an architect of lesser structures a more happy inspiration than when designing that graceful cross. ”

“ It is obvious that Chichester played a great part in the Roman administration of South Britain; its port was large, safe and accessible, while it was the first town upon the east of that great group of creeks and harbours which run up out of Spithead and Southampton Water. Throughout the Middle Ages, Bosham, the port of Chichester, maintained its position, while even in the eighteenth century Chichester harbour was sufficiently important to warrant the cutting of the canal which unites the Arun with Chichester Channel. ”

“ Like all cathedral towns Chichester has beautiful gardens, as one may see from the campanile. There are no lawns like the lawns of Bishops, Deans, and Colleges; and few flower beds more luxuriantly stocked. Chichester also has a number of grave, solid houses, such as Miss Austen's characters might have lived in ”

“ Martin Hillyard returned to the hall, and found Sir Chichester with the doctor, a short, rugged Scotsman. Dr. McKerrel was saying:
"There's nothing whatever for me to do, Sir Chichester," he said. "The poor creature must have died somewhere about one o'clock of the morning." He saw Sir Chichester with a start fall once more to reading the paragraph in the Harpoon, and continued with a warmth of admiration, "Eh, but those newspaper fellows are quick! I saw the Harpoon this morning, and it was lucky I did. ”

“ Chichester, subsiding into a lounge chair, and trying to look as if her tea-gown isn't quite new. She has selected this evening in especial to spring it upon her women friends. As a rule people look dowdy after being up all night. Mrs. Chichester is determined she won't. She appears as fresh as the proverbial lark, in an exquisite arrangement of white silk and lace, and a heavenly temper. Her eyes are a little greener than usual.
"You don't look it," says Sir Maurice, who is standing near. He is wondering if Tita will come down. Tita has not put in an appearance all day. ”

“ The principal modern buildings, besides churches and chapels, are the council house, corn exchange, market house, and museum of the Chichester Literary Society. The grammar school was founded in 1497 by Bishop Story. There is a large cattle market, and the town has a considerable agricultural trade, with breweries and tanneries. A canal connects with Chichester Harbour. ”

“ Chichester was much offended at the new project. We learn from Sir Oliver St. John in December, 1614, that Chichester was keeping entire control of the proceedings, although several persons had been named by the Council as his assistants. ”

“ I believe you," exclaimed the baronet. "Upon my honour, that Greenwood ought to be well thrashed!"
"He is an insufferable coxcomb," said Chichester.
"A conceited humbug," added the baronet.
"A self-sufficient fool," remarked Chichester.
"A consummate scoundrel," cried Sir Rupert.
"So he is," observed Chichester.
"But all this will not pay my bill," continued the baronet; "and where to obtain six hundred pounds, the deuce take me if I can tell."
"No—nor I either," said Chichester; "unless we get a couple of horses and ride down towards Hounslow upon a venture." ”

“ Thus Chichester got a shrine of its own, which became exceedingly famous and attracted vast crowds of pilgrims, and thus indirectly brought so much money to the church that great works, such as the transformed Lady Chapel, and the many chapels which the Cathedral boasts, were able to be undertaken.
St Richard of Chichester was not a Sussex man; he was born about 1197, at Droitwich in Worcestershire, and thus gets his name Richard de Wyche. His father, a man well-to-do, died, however, when Richard was very young, and he being only a younger son fell into poverty. ”

“ Shall we add Chichester's discovery of secret lapses in his worshiped rector's life, to the nervous dyspepsia and the sittings? Shall we do that?"
"And Lady Sophia?"
"There's a sunflower type of woman. The rising sun can't escape her inevitable worship."
"The change in Harding may be a natural one. But there is something portentous in the change in Chichester," said Malling. "You know I'm a rather cool hand, and certainly not inclined to easy credulity. But there's something about Chichester which—well, Professor, I'll make a confession to you that isn't a pleasant one for any man to make. ”

“ The butcher burst out into a roar of laughter, which was echoed by several other inmates of the room.
"Who the devil are you?" demanded Chichester, recovering his presence of mind sooner than the baronet; for both were astounded at this unexpected and very embarrassing encounter.
"Upon my honour, the man must be mistaken," murmured Sir Rupert Harborough. ”

“ Butts will, I hope, excuse my not having finished the portrait, I wait for less hurried moments. Our cottage looks more and more beautiful. And though the weather is wet, the air is very mild, much milder than it was in London when we came away. Chichester is a very handsome city, seven miles from us. We can get most conveniences there. The country is not so destitute of accommodations to our wants as I expected it would be. We have had but little time for viewing the country, but what we have seen is most beautiful; and the people are genuine Saxons, handsomer than the people about London. ”

“ Chichester laughed softly, and stepped into the room.
"Salvation, was it, and a new life?" he inquired, "are you the one to be saved, Ronald, or Smivvle here, or both?"
Ronald Barrymaine was dumb, his eyes sought the floor, and his pale cheek became, all at once, suffused with a burning, vivid scarlet.
"I couldn't help but overhear as I came upstairs," pursued
Mr. Chichester pleasantly, "and devilish dark stairs they are—"
"Though excellent for eavesdropping, it appears!" ”

“ But what vexes me as much as all the rest, is to think of the conduct of those two chaps, Chichester and the baronet. They pretended not to know who I was, when I one day stopped them in Regent Street, and wanted to borrow a few pounds of them. The baronet turns round, and says to his pal, 'Who the devil is that fellow?' and Chichester puts up his eye-glass, stares at me through it for five minutes, and says, 'My good man, we never give alms to people unless they have certificates of good character to show.'
"Perhaps you wasn't over swell in your toggery?" said the butcher. ”

“ About a hundred and fifty years later, Youlston, with other manors, was granted to 'John Chichester and Margaret his wife and their heirs for ever, at the annual rent of a rose, at the feast of St John the Baptist.'
Sir John Chichester was among the most zealous Protestants in suppressing the rising that broke out in the West in 1549. After the insurrection was crushed, 'it was declared that the rebels used the church bells in every parish to excite the people. ”

“ J. B. Deane, the brass matrix of a seal, found, five years since, in a field between the two parishes of Cholderton and Newton Toney, on the borders of Hampshire, forty or fifty miles from Chichester. The adjoining parish of Amport, Hants, is a living belonging to the Chapter of Chichester. The seal, which appears by the legend to have belonged to the sub-dean of Chichester, represents an ecclesiastic praying to St. Peter, the patron saint of Chichester cathedral. The most populous parish in Chichester, in which also the close is situated, is the parish of "St. ”

“ When the news of the rebellion of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty [q. v.] , and the burning of Derry, reached Dublin (April 1608) , the lord deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester [see Chichester, Arthur, Lord Chichester of Belfast] , immediately despatched a strong force into the north, under the marshal, Sir Richard Wingfield and Sir Oliver Lambart, ‘in which our noble treasurer,’ wrote Chichester, ‘without my knowledge accompanied them,’ with a troop of horse, ‘and rendered himself eminent by the rapidity with which he followed and subdued O'Dogherty’ (ib. ii. 606, Pref. p. 38) . ”

“ Chichesters of Calverleigh, and Chichesters of Grenofen by Tavistock. What is more, the Chichesters have made their mark in history. Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy of Ireland, was created Baron Chichester of Belfast in 1612; his brother, Sir Edward, had a son who was made first [Pg 773] Earl of Donegal; and the present Marquess of Donegal is a Chichester.
REAR-ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD CHICHESTER, BART.
Sir John Chichester, sergeant-major of the army in Ireland and Governor of Carrickfergus, fell into the hands of Sir James MacDonnell, and was beheaded on a stone in Antrim. ”

“ Chichester is in Sussex, and was anciently the seat of the Regni, a people whose name implies they were followers of re gni or Regina, but the authorities imagine that Chichester, the county town of Sussex, owes its name to a Saxon Cissa, who also bestowed his patronymic on Cissbury Ring, the famous oval entrenchment near Broadwater. At Cissbury Ring, the largest and finest on the South Downs, great numbers of Neolithic relics have been found, and the name may be connoted with Chisbury Camp near Avebury. ”

“ They began to blame themselves. "Poor woman! Poor woman!" Millie Splay whispered in a moan.
Sir Chichester broke the silence.
"But we left Stella here when we went to Harrel," he began, and Hillyard interrupted him.
"There's no doubt that Stella sent the message," he said. "Your car, Mrs. Brown's and Luttrell's, were all used to take us to Harrel. One car remained in your garage—Stella's."
"But there wouldn't be time for that car to reach London." Sir Chichester fought against Hillyard's statement. He did not want to believe it. ”

“ The chief trade is in agricultural products and live stock. There are malting, brewing, and tanning establishments, and manufactures of wooden-ware. The harbor, two miles to the southwest of the city, is a deep inlet of the English Channel, about eight square miles in area, and is connected with Chichester by a canal. Chichester was the Roman Regnum. ”

“ There was some casual conversation, in which Miss Chichester only incidentally joined, and then, possibly through inadvertence, possibly by design, the action of the vestry in demanding the dismissal of the rector was referred to.
“I know you don’t agree with me, Ruth,” said Miss Chichester, “but, in my opinion, we shall never have peace in the parish till that man goes.”
“And in my opinion,” responded Ruth, “we shall never have righteousness nor real happiness in the parish until the church as a body accepts his views. ”

“ The audacious allusion to the Gunpowder Plot gave Chichester a fine opportunity of retort. The powder, he said, had been removed to a safe place; ‘but let it be remembered of what religion they were of that placed the powder in England and gave allowance to that damnable plot, and thought the act meritorious, if it had taken effect, and would have canonised the actors.’ As to the boroughs, he could only stand upon the King’s prerogative, the best choice possible having been made; but disputed elections were for the House of Commons and not for him. ”