When Julius Fabricius,
Sub-Prefect of the Weald,
In the days of Diocletian owned
our Lower River-field,
He called to him Hobdenius - a
Briton of the Clay,
Saying: "What about that
River-piece for layin' in to hay?"And the aged Hobden answered: "I
remember as a lad
My father told your
father that she wanted dreenin' bad.
An' the more that you neglect
her the less you'll get her clean.
Have it jest as
you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd dreen."
So they drained it long and crossways in the lavish
Roman style -
Still we find among the
river-drift their flakes of ancient tile,
And in drouthy middle August,
when the bones of meadows show,
We can trace the lines they
followed sixteen hundred years ago.
Then Julius Fabricius died as
even Prefects do,
And after certain centuries,
Imperial Rome died too.
Then did robbers enter Britain
from across the Northern main
And our Lower River-field was
won by Ogier the Dane.
Well could Ogier work his
war-boat - well could Ogier wield his brand -
Much he knew of foaming
waters - not so much of farming land.
So he called to him a Hobden of
the old unaltered blood,
Saying: "What about that
River-piece; she doesn't look no good?"
And that aged Hobden answered "'Tain't
for me to interfere.
But I've known that bit o'
meadow now for five and fifty year.
Have it jest as
you've a mind to, but I've proved it time on ' time,
If you want to change her nature
you have got to give her lime!"
Ogier sent his wains to Lewes,
twenty hours' solemn walk,
And drew back great abundance of
the cool, grey, healing chalk.
And old Hobden spread it
broadcast, never heeding what was in't.-
Which is why in cleaning
ditches, now and then we find a flint.
Ogier died. His sons grew English - Anglo-Saxon was
their name -
Till out of blossomed Normandy
another pirate came;
For Duke William conquered
England and divided with his men,
And our Lower River-field he
gave to William of Warenne.
But the Brook (you know her
habit) rose one rainy autumn night
And tore down sodden flitches of
the bank to left and right.
So, said William to his Bailiff
as they rode their dripping rounds:
"Hob, what about that
River-bit - the Brook's got up no bounds? "
And that aged Hobden answered:
"'Tain't my business to advise,
But ye might ha' known 'twould
happen from the way the valley lies.
Where ye can't hold back the
water you must try and save the sile.
Hev it jest as
you've a mind to, but, if I was you, I'd spile!"
They spiled along the
water-course with trunks of willow-trees,
And planks of elms behind 'em
and immortal oaken knees.
And when the spates of Autumn
whirl the gravel-beds away
You can see their faithful
fragments, iron-hard in iron clay.
Georgii Quinti Anno Sexto, I,
who own the River-field,
Am fortified with title-deeds,
attested, signed and sealed,
Guaranteeing me, my assigns, my
executors and heirs
All sorts of powers and profits
which - are neither mine nor theirs,
I have rights of chase and
warren, as my dignity requires.
I can fish - but Hobden
tickles - I can shoot - but Hobden wires.
I repair, but he re-opens,
certain gaps which, men allege,
Have been used by every Hobden
since a Hobden swapped a hedge.
Shall I dog his morning progress
o'er the track-betraying dew?
Demand his dinner-basket into
which my pheasant flew?
Confiscate his evening faggot
under which my conies ran,
And summons him to judgment? I
would sooner summons Pan!
His dead are in the
churchyard - thirty generations laid.
Their names were old in history
when Domesday Book was made;
And the passion and the piety
and prowess of his line
Have seeded, rooted, fruited in
some land the Law calls mine.
Not for any beast that burrows,
not for any bird that flies,
Would I lose his large sound
council, miss his keen amending eyes.
He is bailiff, woodman,
wheelwright, field-surveyor, engineer,
And if flagrantly a poacher - 'tain't
for me to interfere.
"Hob, what about that
River-bit?" I turn to him again,
With Fabricius and Ogier and
William of Warenne.
"Hev it jest as
you've a mind to, but"- and here he takes command.
For whoever pays the taxes old
Mus' Hobden owns the land.
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