Be faithful to your God and King."

A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth,
Gloucester:--

"Badgworth ringers they are mad,
Because Rigbe made me bad;
But Abel Rudhall you may see
Hath made me better than Rigbe."

Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.
Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:--

1. "When I begin our merry Din
This Band I lead from discord free;
And for the fame of human name,
May every Leader copy Me."

2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found
Possess'd of nought but empty sound."

3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell,
Instruction take and spend the future well."

4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite,
Our merry peals produce delight;
But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
We send forth sad and solemn sounds."

5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range,
Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."

6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
With Glee we give the merry Peal."

7. "Would men like us join and agree
They'd live in tuneful Harmony."

8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
This Belfry King sits on his throne;
And when the merry Bells go round,
Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound;
So in a just and well pois'd State,
Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
One greater Pow'r one greater Tone
Is ceded to improve their own."

A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:--

"Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."
("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.")

Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire,
where a recasted bell states:--

"This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."

The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives,
where a bell is inscribed--

"Arise and go about your business."

The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.
Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed--

"Lord, quench this furious flame:
Arise, run, help put out the same."

Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The passing bell has many
variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a
man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out
of the f