FULHAM PALACE 
honour Fulham Palace during the prelacy of Fletcher, was a very 
significant sign of her displeasure, all the more so that she was in 
the habit of very frequently coming to a house in the immediate 
neighbourhood. The sensitive bishop must therefore have been 
keenly conscious of the slight deliberately put by the Queen upon 
her quondam chaplain and favourite; nor can we withhold our 
sympathy from him and from his wife, on those numerous occasions 
when they must have listened to the church bells ringing in 
honour of the‘royal visits to a near, and by no means distinguished 
neighbour. 
Reference is elsewhere made in these pages to the custom of ring- 
ing the church bells whenever the reigning sovereign paid a visit 
to a subject, or passed through a district. In popish times, they 
were also rung on many other occasions, and for many additional 
reasons, bells being accredited with all sorts of supernatural 
powers. They were baptized, anointed, exorcised, and blessed 
by the bishop. Evil spirits were supposed to dislike bells, which, 
it was believed, had the power to drive the devils out of the air, 
calm storms and tempests, make fair weather, extinguish sudden 
fires, and raise the dead. Incidentally I may mention that the 
practice of ringing changes on bells is said to be peculiar to this 
country, and therefore—according to Faulkner—“ Britain has been 
called the ringing island.” 
The parish accounts, both of Lambeth and Fulham, record 
frequent payment to bell-ringers of sums varying from 4d. to 5s. 6d. 
In 1603, even so much as 7s.—a large amount in those days—was 
paid to the Lambeth ringers—“ being the proclamation of our noble 
King.” In 1571 1s. is entered as the reward of the ringers “‘ when 
the Queen’s Majestie rode about the fields.” Lysons also tells us 
that when Elizabeth “‘ went through Lambeth to my Lord Cham- 
berlain’s,” they received 2s. 6d.; and 5s. 4d. when she ‘ tooke 
water at Lambeth and went to the Bishop of London’s,” in August, 
1601. This was during the lifetime of Bishop Aylmer. 
There is a tragic significance attaching to the charge of 1s. for 
ringing the bells when the Queen of Scots was put to death, and to 
our minds they must have been “ sweet bells jangled, out of tune, 
and harsh.” But, owing to the constant plots against the Queen 
of England by the friends and supporters of Mary, a large section 
of the nation regarded her continued existence as a menace, not 
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