There is in the abbey church at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, a fire-bell confined exclusively to alarms in case of conflagrations. The motto around the rim or carrel runs thus:—
1652.
Lord, quench this furious flame;
Arise, run, help, put out the same.
The books of the Roman Catholic faith contain a ritual for the baptism of bells, which decrees that they be named and anointed,—a ceremonial which was supposed to insure them against the machinations of evil spirits.
On the largest of three bells placed by Edward III. in the Little Sanctuary, Westminster, are these words:—
King Edward made me thirtie thousand weight and three;
Take me down and wey me, and more you shall find me.
The Great Tom of Oxford was cast after two failures, April 8, 1680, from the metal of an old bell, on which was the following curious inscription, whence its name:—
In Thomæ laude resono bim bom sine fraude.