ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 229 



After John Meikle's death, in 1704, his 

 lu^-iri ♦ apprentice, Robert Maxwell, successfully 



^ carried on his traditions. His bells are also 



Success Of* 



found upon the Eastern Border, for example: — 



1715.— At Polwarth Church : 



GIVEN TO THE KIRK OF POLWARTH BY LADY GRISELL KAR, 

 COUNTESS OP MARCHMONT 1697. R.M. FECIT, EDR, 1717. 



1726. — At Greenlaw Church : 



THOMAS BROUNFIELD, HIS GIFT TO THE KIRK OF GREEN- 

 LAW ANNO 1696 AN!) REPOUNDED 1726. R.M. FECIT EDR. 



An excellent sample of Maxwell's skill survives in the 

 small bell at Dunfermline, cast 1728, giving an elaborate 

 representation of a boar hunt. 



On Maxwell's death, John Milne, and various other 

 founders, came to the front. In the Church tower at 

 Lilliesleaf lies an old bell, diameter 16 J inches, inscribed: — 



lOHANNES MILNE EDINBURGO FKCIT J 754. 



The handiwork of these later bellfounders is, however, 

 inferior to the old, and possesses fewer features of interest. 

 Still, every bell, like each individual, has its own romance. 

 Take as a sample two bells whose voices are heard 

 regularly within my own parish. One fills the turret 

 of the small chapel at Hoselaw, built in memory of Thomas 

 Leishman, D.D., President of this Club in 1885. Cast by 

 "Francis Morton, 187S," this bell rang for many years at 

 Craigiebuckler Church near Aberdeen. It next served St. 

 Margaret's, Dundee, and now, is like to end 'its daj^s on the 

 Dry Marches. Another, not ill-toned, bell is suspended 

 from an Elm tree near the mansion-house of Clifton Park, 

 where it daily summons and discharges the workmen on 

 the estate. Tradition said that this bell once woke the 

 echoes in the courtyard of the old castle of Trimleston 

 on Boyne water. More recent enquiry shows that it came 

 from Ballybritain Castle, another of the family estates, in 

 King's County. In any case, this bell is not Scottish, but 

 an Irish immigrant. 



The History of Dead Bells is a theme apart. The 



M t R II custom of ringing a hand- bell at the house 



of a deceased person on and before the day 



