Of purely secular uses of bells space forbids me to say much. The Gleaning bell used to be rung in many parishes during harvest, morning and evening, to signify to the people when gleaning was allowed. With the decay of agriculture in England this use has almost died out, especially in the midlands, but it is still kept up in corn-growing parts, as in the north of Essex. [Illustration: _Plate 25._ THE OLD CAMPANILE OF KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. Destroyed in the eighteenth century. It contained five large bells. (See page 64.)] Ringing has always been customary--at least since the Reformation--on secular anniversaries, such as the birthday or Coronation Day of the Sovereign, or on the occasion of great victories. It was also very common at one time on Restoration Day (May 29th), and Gunpowder Plot Day (November 5th), but--perhaps since their removal from our Prayer Book--these occasions are becoming more and more ignored. Ringing on November 5th is, however, still common in Warwickshire. Another day on which ringing was often practised was that of the parish feast, usually corresponding with the patronal festival, or day on which the original dedication of the church was honoured. It is or has been a tradition in some places that in cases of fire the church bells should be rung backwards; and elsewhere a bell was specially devoted to this purpose. At S. Mary’s, Warwick, there is a small fire bell dated 1670, which, however, is not now hung; and there is a well-known one at Sherborne, in Dorset, dated 1653, with the inscription: “LORD, quench the furious flame; Arise, run, help, put out the same.” The large and small bells of the Guild Chapel, Stratford-on-Avon, are also intended to be rung in cases of fire. The ringing of daily bells, especially at night, is often accounted for by stories of people who found their way when lost, or were delivered from nocturnal dangers, by hearing the bell of some church. Instances of this are scattered all over the country, and there are the Ashburnham bell at Chelsea, the great bell of Tong in Shropshire, and others which were originally given in commemoration of such events, with the object of keeping up the ringing for the benefit of other wanderers. CHAPTER VI _The Decoration of Bells and their Inscriptions_