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 aile 

 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 1781, 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, bestow- 

 ing it in the name of his favourite daughter, Mrs. Mary 

 Stuart, caused it to be cast with the following motto 

 round it : 



" Clara puella dedit, dixitque mihi esto Maria : 

 Illius et laudes nomen ad astra sono." 



The day of the arrival of this tuneable peal was 

 observed as an 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 



