By the Rev. W. C. Lutes. 43 



careful step, I sank through the rotten floor of one of its stages, 

 and was preserved from a broken limb, if not an untimely end, by 

 the joists which happened to be less decayed. 



Bells require very constant attention to keep them in proper 

 ringing order. When you consider their enormous weight, the 

 different parts of their gear, the iron and the wood of which it is 

 composed bolted and screwed together; the frame work on which 

 they hang, and in revolving which they violently shake and vibrate ; 

 and then reflect that the iron and the wood are both exposed to 

 continual changes of atmosphere; and that, under one condition 

 of atmosphere, when one of those materials expands, the other 

 contracts, and that then the bells cannot oscillate so easily, you 

 will form some idea of the care and attention they require to keep 

 them in ringing order. Well, suppose screws to get loose, and to 

 remain so during many successive generations of churchwardens, 

 the iron straps to become corroded, thin, weak, and then to snap; 

 the gudgeons to wear away unequally by the friction, and thereby 

 to throw the bells out of the horizontal, you can imagine what the 

 consequences must be. The bells revolve heavily, the frame work 

 shakes and creaks, and the ringers, who have no voice in the vestry, 

 and no power over parish moneys, do what they can to remedy 

 some of the evil, and the very thing they do only increases the 

 mischief. They put wedges between the frame work and the walls 

 of the tower to stop the creaking ; but the result of this is to set 

 the walls shaking, and finally to destroy them. Or, if this does 

 not immediately happen, the clappers of the bells get out of order, 

 and striking the sound-bow suddenly in a fresh place, cause them 

 to crack instantly. 



While upon the subject of Wiltshire bell-lofts, I cannot refrain 

 from expressing another regret. I have been frequently much 

 pained by observing the shameful state of filth and neglect of many 

 of them. Generally speaking the dark winding stone staircases 

 (when they have any) leading to them, are dirty, worn, and diffi- 

 cult to tread, and you have to cork-screw your way up with very 

 card ul slip, and when you have secured your footing, and are 

 beginning to congratulate yourself on having passed every obstacle, 



v, 2 



