A bell which has been recast has this exordium: Reader, thou also shall know a resurrection; may it be to eternal life. In Glasgow Cathedral the bell announces its position by: Me audito, venias, doctrinam sanctam ut discas. Four bells at Gravely, Cambridgeshire, are inscribed: Treble 2 3 Tenor God of his marcee heareth us all, O priese the Lord therefore I say. I sound unto the living, when the soule doth part away. Some bells have the letters of the alphabet in quaint old type around the rims instead of a motto. Here is one where the bell and the words appear to have been run together: Hethatwillpurchashonorsgaynemostancient lathersstillmayntayne. When backward rung I tell of fire, At St. Helen's in Worcester is a set of bells which record Marlborough's victories. If would know when we was run, At Strasbourg the Thor or Gate Bell for the opening and shutting of the city gates is inscribed: Dieses Thor Glocke das erste mal schallt, Als man seize huudert acht-zehn zahlt Zu laüten soll iyr Arbeit seyn. (This gate bell was first rung in 1618. Its work shall be to shut out the bad, and keep in the good.) The celebrated bell Roland hangs in the ancient belfry of Ghent: Mynem naem ist Rolant, Als ich clippe dan ist brandt. Als ich mynde dan ist Storm in Vlaenderland. (My name is Roland, when I toll it is for fire, when I swing then it is stormy weather in Flanders.) Then comes a period of self-laudation for the bells. Apparently these bells had never heard the proverb, "Self-praise goes but little ways." Of all the bells in Benet, I am the best, I'll keep my place, no doubt. My treble voice Your hearts rejoice. I mean to make it understood That though I'm little, yet I'm good. Pull on, brave boys, I'm metal to the backbone, I sound aloud from day to day, My sound hath praise and well it may. A better bell than I, cannot be found under the sky. I am the first, although but small, I will be heard above you all. When I begin then all strike in. When you me ring I'll sweetly sing. My sound is good, my shape is neat, I ring to sermon with a lusty boom. My sound is good, which that you hear, I value not who doth me see, These Bilbies were great west country founders, and one of them committed suicide because he could not get Cullompton bells in tune. Now we have a bell with a more realizing sense of its "true inwardness." Mankind like us too oft are found Possessed of naught but empty sound: Sometimes the church magnates come in for a strain of laudation: Squire Arundel the Great, my whole expense did raise, Nor shall our tongue abate to sing his praise. All ye who hear my solemn sound, And sound the praise of Mary Neale. Robert Forman collected the money for casting this bell, I'll surely do my part as well. The great bell of Notre Dame in Paris was baptized by the name of Duke and Duchess of Angouleme in 1816. Chapter IV BELL RINGING Bell ringing is the poetry of steeples. Ben Jonson. The science of bell ringing is called campanology, from campanile, a bell tower. The most beautiful campanile in the world is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are very few bell towers in England, where, rightly or wrongly, the bells are placed in the churches. The ringing is certainly not beneficial to the belfry, racking it most unmercifully. Indeed, in Salisbury Cathedral the bells cannot be rung at all on account of the oscillation of the steeple. The harm done by the long-continued ringing of peals is referred to by the poet Herbert, who writes: "Lord, ringing changes, all our bells hath marr'd, Put them in frame anew, and once begin At Perth one of the Presbyterian rules for ringing reads: "Peals are to be rung at funerals according to the dignity of the deceased, on fewer or more bells; but we forbid them to be |