100 LOCHMABEN BeLLS. 



serve as a pair, and were cast by the same founder ; and it is 

 satisfactory and not a little surprising, considering the troubles 

 and conflicts of the times, that the relationship should have 

 remained undisturbed during so many centuries. 



Regarding the antiquity of the bells, tradition has it that the 

 one inscribed was presented by the Pope to King Robert the 

 Bruce. It cannot be said that the character of the letters or the 

 characteristics of the bell are inconsistent with this view, but 

 another is possible. The Church of Lochmaben, as we have seen, 

 was dedicated to Mary Magdalene ; the bells to the Virgin Mary. 

 In the fifteenth century the bailies of the burgh endowed a chapel 

 within the Church of Lochmaben, under the tutelage of the 

 Virgin, and it may be thought that the parallel dedication of 

 this chapel and the bells suggest or imply a common origin. 



Tradition also avers that the short-waisted bell was stolen by 

 the townsmen from a neighbour, or the "auld enemy," but this 

 is inconsistent with the fact that it is the companion of another 

 which admittedly was honestly come by. What Lochmaben 

 people seem to have done was to recover their own bell from 

 thieves who had stolen it — a version in harmony with the teach- 

 ing of the bells and creditable to the inhabitants of the ancient 

 burgh, which, it is hoped, will be accepted in all time coming. 



The Municipal bell, weighing 2 cwt., is inscribed on the waist, 



EX DONO NOBILISS IMI CAROLI DUCIS QUENSBERRY ET DOVER, 



1757 ; and below WM evans fecit. The note is G. 



In conclusion, I have to recall a few of the more important 

 conclusions arrived at : — Two bells were common in pre-Heforma- 

 tion churches here. These were assorted with a view to musical 

 accord, and it is curions that, as regards the two pairs described, 

 the variation of the notes in each case should be just a minor 

 third. The method followed to attain harmony consisted in 

 varying the proportions of the bells, making them long or short, 

 without, however, varying the weight or the thickness of the 

 metal. 



A new and greatly altered reading of the inscription and date 

 of the short bell of Holy wood has been arrived at; and a connec- 

 tion has been traced between the other bell and the name of one 

 of the commendators of the Abbey, thereby also approximating 

 its date. It has been shown that formerly there were two 

 ancient bells in the church of Kirkmahoe, and how they were dis- 



