Quinta in honore Sancti Trinitatis, et omnium Sanctorum.
In the clochier near St. Paul’s stood the four greatest bells in England, called Jesus’s bells; against these sir Miles Partridge staked 100l., and won them of Henry VIII. at a cast of dice.
I conclude with remarking, that the Abbé Cancellieri, of Rome, lately published a work relative to bells, wherein he has inserted a long letter, written by Father Ponyard to M. de Saint Vincens, on the history of bells and steeples. The Abbé wrote this dissertation on the occasion of two bells having been christened, which were to be placed within the tower of the capitol.
I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
Sept. 11.
R. H. E.
R. H. E. “wise and good” as he was, and he was both—he is now no more—would not willingly have misrepresented the doctrines of the Romish church, though he abhorred that hierarchy. It seems, however, that he may be mistaken in affirming, that the Romish church maintains of bells that “they have merit, and pray God for the living and the dead.” His affirmation on this point may be taken in too extensive a sense: It is no doubt a Romish tenet that there is “much virtue in bells,” but the precise degree allowed to them at this period, it would be difficult to determine without the aid of a council.