OLD SPANISH BELL. 239 



Mr. Easton says also that after the bell was safely 

 landed here it was stored in the cellar of Samuel Carey, 

 where he often saw it, and that it remained there until 

 1815, when it was purchased by subscription for about 

 $500, and placed where it now is, — the society paying 

 $350, and outsiders the balance; among them a number 

 of Friends, one of whom, Obed Mitchell, is credited 

 with saying that " although Friends did not use bells 

 for religious purposes, yet as they were very useful in 

 giving fire alarms, etc., he would assist in the pur- 

 chase." Some little time after the bell had been in 

 use, the sound of its mellow tones had reached the 

 " Hub " ; and so bewitching were the musical vibrations 

 of this queenly bell(e) of Nantucket, to many of the 

 good people of the renowned " City of Notions," that 

 the agents of the Old South Church negotiated with 

 the agents of the Unitarian Church, saying that 

 they had a very fine clock in their tower, that they 

 had been so unfortunate as to have their bell broken, 

 and wished to know at what price this bell could be 

 procured. The agents of the Unitarian Church re- 

 plied that " they had a very fine bell in their tower, 

 and would like to know at what price the Old South 

 Society would sell their clock." The bell weighs 1,575 

 pounds: the Boston gentlemen offered one dollar a 

 pound for it, and upon finding they could not get it at 

 any price, they asked where it came from; and having 

 ascertained its history, sent to Lisbon to the same 

 foundry and procured that which they now have, — 

 a remarkably good one. 



The following is a translation of the inscription upon 

 the bell, which doubtless gave rise to the story that the 

 bell had been stolen. 



