By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 



65 



At St. Michael's, Coventry, on the fourth bell is : — 



"I ring at Six to let men know 

 When to and from their work to go." 



On the seventh bell is : — 



"I ring to sermon with a lusty home, 

 That all may come and none may stay at home." 



On the eighth bell is : — 



" I am and have been called the common bell, 

 To ring, when fire breaks out to tell." 



At St. Peter's-le-Bailey, Oxford, four bells were sold towards 

 finishing the tower, and in 1792 a large bell was put up, with this 

 inscription : — 



"With seven more I hope soon to be, 

 For ages joined in harmony." 



But this very reasonable wish has not yet been realized; whereas 

 at St. Lawrence, Reading, when two bells were added to form a 

 peal of ten, on the second we find: — 



"By adding two our notes we'll raise, 

 And sound the good Subscriber's praise." 



Besides curious epigraphs, church bells often bear the names of 

 clergy, churchwardens, city authorities, historical personages, &c, 

 and by these inscriptions points of pedigree may in some cases be 

 established; but it must be remarked that these interesting facts 

 are only derivable from bells of a post- Reformation period. The 

 epigraphs prior to that date are all of a religious character, and 

 are generally in the bad Latin verse of that period; e.g. on the 

 sixth at Aldbourne, and on the eighth in the cathedral, Oxford, we 

 find:— 



" Stella Maria maris succurre piissima nobis." 



A common epigraph of the same period is: — 



4 4 Sum rosa pulsata muridi Maria vocata," 



as at Frowlesworth, Leicestershire, on the second bell ; on the sixth 

 in Gloucester cathedral ; and on the treble at Thorp, near Milton, 



K 



