Sacring Bell hung on Rood-Screen, Scarning Church, Norfolk. (See page [88]).
Other founders, like Tobie Norris, already quoted, preferred to use Latin. Another favourite of his is—
NON CLAMOR SED AMOR CANTAT IN AVRE DEI
“The sound that reacheth God above
Is not a clang but voice of love.”
A very beautiful Latin inscription, and most remarkable for the time when it was composed (1651), is on the tenor at Stockton, Salop; it runs in English—
“Glory in the highest to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; William Whitmore, Knight, patron and restorer of this church, now called to the Church triumphant, vowed and designed me for the use of the Church militant.”
More quaint than edifying are the following, found at Thatcham in Berkshire—
| 1. | I AS TREBIL BEGIN |
| 2. | I AS SECOND WIL SING |
| 3. | I AS THIRD WIL RING |
| 4. | I AS FORTH IN MY PLACE |
| 5. | I AS FIFT WILL SOVND |
| 6. | I AS TENNAR HVM ALL ROVND. |
We pass from these to others of the same period, which show a sad falling-off in poetry and sentiment. Early in the seventeenth century the deplorable habit of self-advertisement was begun by the Newcombes of Leicester, who invented the distich—
BE YT KNOWNE TO ALL THAT DOTH ME SEE
THAT NEWCOMBE OF LEICESTER MADE ME.