of the resources placed at his command and want of insight and persistence on the part of Elizabeth and her ministers.
On his return to England, Sussex, who before leaving Ireland had to endure the indignity of an inquiry into his administration instigated by his enemies, threw himself into opposition to the earl of Leicester, especially in regard to the suggested marriage between that nobleman and the queen. He does not appear to have on that account incurred Elizabeth's displeasure, for in 1566 and the following year she employed him in negotiations for bringing about a different matrimonial alliance which he warmly supported, namely, the proposal that she should bestow her hand on the archduke Charles. When this project fell to the ground Sussex returned from Vienna to London in March 1568, and in July he was appointed lord president of the north, a position which threw on him the responsibility of dealing with the rebellion of the earls of Northumberland and Westmorland in the following year. The weakness of the force at his disposal rendered necessary at the outset a caution which engendered some suspicion of his loyalty; and this suspicion was increased by the counsel of moderation which he urged upon the queen; but in 1570 he laid waste the border, invaded Scotland, and raided the country round Dumfries, reducing the rebel leaders to complete submission. In July 1572 Sussex became lord chamberlain, and he was henceforth in frequent attendance on Queen Elizabeth, both in her progresses through the country and at court, until his death on the 9th of June 1583.
The earl of Sussex was one of the great nobles of the Elizabethan period. Though his loyalty was questioned by his enemies, it was as unwavering as his patriotism. He shone as a courtier; he excelled in diplomacy; he was a man of cultivation and even of scholarship, a patron of literature and of the drama on the eve of its blossoming into the glory it became soon after his death. He was twice married: first to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, earl of Southampton; and secondly to Frances, daughter of Sir William Sidney. His second wife was the foundress of Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge, which she endowed by her will, and whose name commemorates the father and the husband of the countess. The earl left no children, and at his death his titles passed to his brother Henry (see Sussex, Earls of).
See P. F. Tytler, England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary (2 vols., London, 1839); Richard Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors (3 vols., London, 1885–1890); Calendar of the Carew MSS.; John Stow, Annales (London, 1631); Charles Henry Cooper, Athenae cantabrigienses, vol. i. (Cambridge, 1858), containing a biography of the earl of Sussex; John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials (Oxford, 1822); Sir Cuthbert Sharpe, Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569 (London, 1840); John Nichols, Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (3 vols., London, 1823); Sir William Dugdale, The Baronage of England (London, 1675). (R. J. M.)
SUSSEX, a southern county of England, bounded N. by
Surrey, N.E. by Kent, S. by the English Channel, and W. by
Hampshire. The area is 1459·2 sq. m. The extreme length
from E. to W. is 78 m., while the breadth never exceeds 28 m.,
but the county is not wholly on the southward slope, for in the
middle northern district it contributes a small drainage area
to the Thames basin, and the river Medway rises in it. A line
of hills known as the Forest Ridges forms the watershed. Its
direction is E.S.E. from the northern part of the county to the
coast at Fairlight Down east of Hastings, and it reaches a height
of about 800 ft. in the neighbourhood of Crowborough. The
salient physical feature of the county, however, is the hill
range called the South Downs (see Downs). Entering in the
west, where its summit is about 10 m. from the sea, it runs east
for some 50 m., gradually approaching the coast, and terminating
in the bold promontory of Beachy Head near Eastbourne. The
average height is about 500 ft., though some summits exceed
700, and Ditchling Beacon is over 800. The portion of the county
north of the South Downs is called the Weald (q.v.). It was
formerly covered with forest, and this part of the county is
still well wooded. About 1660 the total area under forest
was estimated to exceed 200,000 acres, but much wood was
cut to supply the furnaces of the ironworks which formed an
important industry in the county down to the 17th century,
and survived even until the early years of the 19th.
The rivers wholly within the county are small. All rise in the Forest Ridges, and all, except the Rother, which forms part of the boundary with Kent, and falls into the sea below Rye, breach the South Downs. From east to west they are the Cuckmere, rising near Heathfield; the Ouse, Adur and Arun, all rising in the district of St Leonard's Forest, and having at their mouths the ports of Newhaven, Shoreham and Littlehampton respectively. The natural trench known as the Devil's Dike is a point greatly favoured by visitors from Brighton. The coast-line is practically coextensive with the extreme breadth of the county, and its character greatly varies. The sea has done great damage by incursion at some points, and has receded in others, within historic times. Thus what is now marshland or "Levels" round Pevensey was formerly an island-studded bay. In the east Winchelsea and Rye, members of the Cinque Ports, and great medieval towns, are deprived of their standing, the one wholly and the other in part, since a low flat tract interposes between their elevated sites where formerly was a navigable inlet. Yet the total submergence of the site of Old Winchelsea was effected in the 13th century. The site of the ancient cathedral of Selsey is a mile out at sea. Between 1292 and 1340 upwards of 5500 acres were submerged. In the early part of the 14th century Pagham Harbour was formed by a sudden irruption of the sea, devastating 2700 acres, since reclaimed. There is reason to believe that the whole coastline has subsequently been slightly raised. These changes are reflected in the numerous alterations recorded in the course of certain of the rivers near their mouths. Thus the Rother was diverted by a great storm on the 12th of October 1250, before which date it entered the sea 12 m. to the east. The outlet of the Ouse was at Seaford until 1570, and that of the Adur formerly shifted from year to year, ranging east and west over a distance of 2 m. Submerged forests are found off the shore at various points. Long stretches of firm sand, and the mild climate of the coast, sheltered by the hills from north and east winds, have resulted in the growth of numerous watering-places, of which the most popular are Brighton, Hastings, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Seaford, Shoreham, Worthing, Littlehampton and Bognor.
