74 



On Church Bells. 



and forwards, and strike the bell each way, in the same place. If 

 you tie the clapper, and pull it directly towards the striking place, 

 all well and good; but if you pull it sideways from the ground- 

 truck, you strain it and injure it greatly. Yet this is the common 

 mode of chiming in the country, and parishioners wonder why the 

 bells are so soon out of order, and ringers cannot account for the 

 clappers not striking as they used to do. If you must have chiming, 

 the only way to have it without injury to the clappers, is to have 

 a small block fixed in the floor in the direct line of their motion, 

 with a second rope to be used for this purpose only. 



10. Spoliation of church bells. We come now to a sad period 

 in the history of church bells, viz., their spoliation. I mentioned 

 above the rarity of ancient bells in this country. This is to be 

 accounted for by the spoliation of churches in the 16th and 17th 

 centuries. Weever tells us that in St. Paul's churchyard " there 

 was a bell-house with four bells, the greatest in London ; they were 

 called 'Jesus bells/ and belonged to Jesus Chapel: the same had a 

 great spire of timber covered with lead, with the image of St. Paul 

 on the top, which was pulled down by Sir Miles Partridge, Knt. 

 He won it at a cast of dice from King Henry VIII., and then caused 

 the bells to be broken as they hung, and the rest pulled down." 

 Sir Miles was hanged on Tower Hill. 



In the little Sanctuary at Westminster, "King Edward III. 

 erected a clochier and placed therein three bells for the use o St. 

 Stephen's Chapel. About the biggest of them were these words : 



' King Edward made me thirtie thousand weight and three, 

 Take mee down and wey mee and more yu shall fynd me.' 



But these bells being to be taken down in the reign of King 

 Henry ¥111. one writes underneath with a coale: 



' But Henry the eight 

 Will bait me of my weight.' " 



Bells were removed from churches to be cast into cannon, and it is 

 said that they " were exported in such quantities that their farther 

 exportation was prohibited in 1547, lest metal for the same use 

 should be wanting at home." The Duke of Somerset "pretended 

 that one bell was sufficient for summoning the people to prayers, 



