As late as 1857, the Rev. W. C. Lukis, one of the earliest writers on church bells, complained of his own county, Wiltshire, that “there are sets of men who ring for what they can get, which they consume in drink; but there is very little love for the science or its music; and alas! much irreverence and profanation of the House of GOD. There is no ‘plucking at the bells’ for recreation and exercise. Church-ringers with us have degenerated into mercenary performers. In more than one parish where there are beautiful bells, I was told that the village youths took no interest whatever in bell-ringing, and had no desire to enter upon change-ringing.” Although less money is available nowadays for payments to ringers on special occasions, it may be feared that these remarks still hold good to some extent. But in other respects there is undoubted improvement. We do not now hear of “prize-ringing,” or ringing in celebration of a victory in the Derby or in a parliamentary election, and if our ringing-chambers do not always reach a high standard of decency, there is a marked improvement in the character and behaviour of the ringers themselves. CHAPTER V _Uses and Customs of Bells_ An old monkish rhyme sums up the ancient uses of bells as follows:-- “Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum; Defunctos ploro, pestem fugo, festa decoro; Funera plango, fulgura frango, sabbata pango; Excito lentos, dissipo ventos, paco cruentos”: which may be rendered in English:-- “I praise the true God, I call the people, I assemble the clergy; I mourn the departed, I put to flight pestilence, I honour festivals; I knoll for burials, I break the power of the lightning, I mark the sabbaths; I rouse the sluggard, I disperse the winds, I calm the bloodthirsty.” These lines will be familiar to readers of Longfellow’s _Golden Legend_; but some of the uses mentioned belong to a time when bells were thought to have a magic power over the forces of nature, and a category of modern uses embraces many others here ignored. The modern uses of bells naturally fall into two main divisions--religious and secular, or quasi-religious uses. By the former I mean the ringing of bells for divine service, and, in particular, for the festivals of the Church, and their use at weddings, funerals, and other events of life with which the Church is naturally concerned. Other uses, again, though now purely secular, had once a religious meaning, such as the Curfew and Pancake bells. More secular uses are those of the Gleaning bell and the Fire bell, of bells rung for local meetings or festivities, or in commemoration of national events. [Illustration: _Plate 20._ THE GREAT BELL OF TONG CHURCH, SHROPSHIRE. Recast by Taylor, 1892. (See page 49.)]