At the same time there was a feeling that the actual ringing should be properly carried out, which finds vent in the numerous “Ringers’ Rules,” mostly dating from the eighteenth century, which may be seen painted up on the walls of our belfries. They all follow very much on one pattern, and one of the best versions is at Tong, in Shropshire, which may be given as an example—
“If that to Ring you doe come here
You must ring well with hand and eare.
Keep stroak of time and goe not out;
Or else you forfeit out of doubt.
Our law is so concluded here
For every fault a jugg of beer.
If that you Ring with Spurr or Hat
A jugg of beer must pay for that.
If that you take a Rope in hand,
These forfeits you must understand.
Or if that you a Bell ou’r-throw
It must cost Sixpence e’re you goe.
If in this place you sweare or curse,
[Pg 79] Sixpence to pay, pull out your purse:
Come pay the Clerk, it is his fee;
For one that Swears shall not goe free.
These laws are Old, and are not new;
Therefore the Clerk must have his due.”
Geo. Harrison, 1694.
It is satisfactory to note that the rule against swearing was very generally included, though possibly honoured more in the breach than the observance; but it is probable that the objection to wearing a hat was more on the grounds of inconvenience to the ringers than of irreverence.
As late as 1857, the Rev. W. C. Lukis, one of the earliest writers on church bells, complained of his own county, Wiltshire, that “there are sets of men who ring for what they can get, which they consume in drink; but there is very little love for the science or its music; and alas! much irreverence and profanation of the House of God. There is no ‘plucking at the bells’ for recreation and exercise. Church-ringers with us have degenerated into mercenary performers. In more than one parish where there are beautiful bells, I was told that the village youths took no interest whatever in bell-ringing, and had no desire to enter upon change-ringing.”
Although less money is available nowadays for payments to ringers on special occasions, it may be feared that these remarks still hold good to some extent. But in other respects there is undoubted improvement. We do not now hear of “prize-ringing,” or ringing in celebration of a victory in the Derby or in a parliamentary election, and if our ringing-chambers do not always reach a high standard of decency, there is a marked improvement in the character and behaviour of the ringers themselves.
[CHAPTER V]
Uses and Customs of Bells
An old monkish rhyme sums up the ancient uses of bells as follows:—
“Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum;
Defunctos ploro, pestem fugo, festa decoro;
Funera plango, fulgura frango, sabbata pango;
Excito lentos, dissipo ventos, paco cruentos”: