528 ANTIQUITIKS 



LETTER IV. 



WE have now taken leave of the inside of the church, 

 and shall pass by a door at the west end of the middle 

 aisle into the belfry. This room is part of a handsome 

 square embattled tower of forty-five feet in height, and 

 of much more modern date than the church ; but old 

 enough to have needed a thorough repair in 178 L, when 

 it was neatly stuccoed at a considerable expense, by a 

 set of workmen who were employed on it for the greatest 

 part of the summer. The old bells, three in number, 

 loud and out of tune, were taken down in 1735, and cast 

 into four ; to which Sir Simeon Stuart, the grandfather 

 of the present baronet, added a fifth at his own expense: 

 and, bestowing it in the name of his favourite daughter 

 Mrs. Mary Stuart, caused it to be cast with the follow- 

 ing motto round it : 



" Clara puella dedit, dixitque mihi esto Maria : 

 1 1 1 ins et laudes nomen ad astra SODO." 



The day of the arrival of this tuneable peal was 

 observed as a high festival by the village, and rendered 

 more joyous, by an order from the donor, that the treble 

 bell should be fixed bottom upward in the ground, and 

 filled with punch, of which all present were permitted 

 to partake. 



The porch of the church, to the south, is modern, and 

 would not be worthy attention did it not shelter a fine 

 sharp Gothic door-way. This is undoubtedly much 

 older than the present fabric ; and, being found in good 

 preservation, was worked into the wall, and is the grand 

 entrance into the church : nor are the folding doors to 

 be passed over in silence; since, from their thick and 

 clumsy structure, and the rude flourished work of their 

 hinges, they may possibly be as ancient as the door- 

 way itself. 



