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bable. Mr. Ellacombe does not appear to have seen the bell 
itself. The letters have a strong resemblance to those used 
by Roger Semson, of Ash Priors, who was at work in the 
middle of the 16th century. 
The vine leaf ornament which is observable over the 
inscription suggests an even later date. It was a form of 
decoration frequently used by a family of bellfounders at 
Closworth, one member of which, Thomas Purdue, died in 
1711, aged 90 years. The letters he used strongly resemble 
those employed by Semson. 
Mr. J. A. Picton, F.S.A., who has paid a good deal of 
attention to the history of numerals, writes to me that he is 
inclined to identify the second figure with the gobar figure 
5, though it differs in position, and the last figure with the 
gobar 4. In this case the date would be 1564. Whilst 
agreeing with him in assigning the inscription to the 16th 
or 17tli century, I am unable to solve the riddle of the date 
in a satisfactory manner. It is certainly the most puzzling 
of all those which seem to carry back the use of Arabic 
numerals to a much remoter date than is commonly allowed. 
On this general subject, however, the last word has not yet 
been said. Since the publication of Mr. Pictons memoir 
“ On the Origin and History of the Numerals” in the 
Transactions of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical 
Society , 1874, and of my own paper in the Companion to 
the Almanac , 1875, we have both heard of a MS. of the 
13th century, in which the Arabic figures are freely used. 
It is a treatise on the Astrolabe, by Macha-allab, or Messa- 
hala, and is dated 12/6. This is now one of the treasures of 
the Cambridge University library, where it is marked Ii. 3.3. 
