Church Bells And Their Associations.

replied , that he might thank God whilst on shore , but when on shipboard he was to ascribe his safet y to the good vessel and the skill of those who guided it . As if in judgment , these words had hardly been uttered before a mighty storm arose , in which the vessel was lost , and all on board perished , with the exception of the pilot . This Cornish legend has been enshrined in charmingverse by the late Rev . Richard Stephen HoAvker . We have only space for the concluding lines .-

—Still , when the storm of Bottreaux s waves Is waking in his weedy caves , Those bells the sullen surges hide Peal their deep tones beneath the tide . 1 Come to thy God in time ! Thus saifch the ocean chime ; Stormwhirlwindbillow past

, , , Gome to thy God at last . '" Bells were anciently consecrated before they were raised to their places , each being dedicated to some divine personage , saint , or martyr . The ringing of such bells was considered efficacious in dispersing storms , ancl evil spirits were supposed to be unable to endure their sound . From this supposition , it

is said , arose the custom of ringing "the passing bell . " Bells have their literary associations . The venerable Becle is the- first who makes mention of them , where he tells us that , at the death of St . Thilda , one of the sisters of a distant monastery , as she was sleeping , thought she heard the bell which called to prayers when any of them departed this life . Much has been written by early English authors on the art of bell ringing . The

dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the " Golden Legend , " by Wyukyn de Worde , as follows : — " It is said evill spirytes . that ben in the regyon of thayre cloubte moche when they here the belles rongen ; and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth , and when grete tempeste and outrages of wether happen , to the ende that the fiends and wicked sprytes sholde be abashed ancl fleeand cease of the movynge of tempeste"

Shake-, , speare speaks of the bell in a very fine passage , in which King John , addressing Hubert , says : " If the midnight bell Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth Sound one unto the drowsy races' night . "

Anciently the ringers of the bells had their " Articles of Ringing , " or . " Ringers' Regulations , " and these were often in rhyme . Some lines bearing the former title are upon the walls of the belfry of Dunster Church , Somersetshire , dated 1787 , whilst an example from Hathersage , Derbyshire , is so curious that we transcribe it :

" You gentlemen that hei-e do wish to ring , So that these laws ye keep in ev ' ry thing , Or else , be sure , ye must without delay The penalty thereof to th' ringers pay . First when you do into the bell-house come Look if the ringers have convenient room , For if you be an hindrance unto them

Foui-pence you forfeit to these gentlemen . Next , if you do intend here to ring , With hat and spurs on do not touch a string ; For if you clo your forfeit is for that Just fom-pence , or else you lose your hat . If you a bell turn o ' er , without delay Fom-pence unto the ringers you must pay ; Or if you strike , miscall , or do abuse , For every oath here sworn ere you go hence Unto the poor you must pay twelvepeuce ;