46 



On Church Bells. 



There appears to have been an extraordinary demand for his 

 bells; and he seems to have been a man of few words, but 

 of great deeds. A man is known by his works, and a man's 

 character and tone of mind may be known in some measure by his 

 words. If we estimate him by his works he was a great man ; and 

 if we take his laconic epigraphs as an index of his heart, his was 

 a trustful, thankful, religious character. "In the Lord do I trust"; 

 "Give thanks to God"; "God be our guide"; "Give alms"; "In 

 God is all my hope and trust"; "Praise God"; "Hope well"; 

 "Serve God"; these are some of his short expressive epigraphs. 

 Associates and assistants are greatly influenced by a master mind. 

 Men's thoughts and characters are moulded on the pattern conti- 

 nually presented to them. Danton, who appears to have been 

 originally associated with Wallis, but in what capacity does not 

 appear, in carrying on the foundry, after the retirement or death 

 of Wallis, seems to have imbibed his joyful thankful spirit. "O 

 be joyful in the Lord"; "Praise God"; "Love God"; "0 praise 

 the Lord"; &c. 



The bells which came from the hands of the Purdues may be 

 classed among the finest and most beautiful that were founded at 

 Salisbury. Your city once possessed a magnificent peal, surpassed 

 by few in the kingdom. Not to mention the unpardonable de- 

 struction of the belfry, an irreparable loss to the county and the 

 lover of Christian art, you have lost one of the finest peals that 

 ever existed in England; and the fine-toned cathedral clock bell, 

 which formed the sixth of that monster peal of eight, hourly, by 

 day and by night, tolls the knell of the departed members of that 

 once united and harmonious family. This peal must have equalled 

 that of St. Saviour's, Southwark, the tenor of which weighs 52 cwt. 

 The cathedral bell, cast in 1661 ; the tenor of St. Edmund's church, 

 which is a larger bell, cast in 1656; the fifth of Great Bedwyn, 

 which for liveliness and clearness of tone is not to be surpassed by 

 any, cast in the same year, were all the handiwork of William 

 Purdue. 



With the deaths of the Purdues end the really great works of 

 this foundry. They had successors, but the giants of the art were 



