Most of us are probably aware that it is usual for bells to bear inscriptions, be it only the date or name of the maker; but few who have not actually examined bells for themselves may have discovered that they are often richly or effectively decorated. We do not as a rule find them as highly ornamented as foreign bells, which often have every available space covered with inscriptions, figures and devices, or borders of ornament; but to some the greater soberness of the English method may seem preferable. Nor is this practice of ornamenting bells confined to the more artistic age before the Reformation. Some of our most richly decorated bells belong to the seventeenth century or even later (see Plate 38); and it is only the character of the ornamentation which is changed. [Illustration: _Plate 26._ THE “BELL HOUSE” IN THE CHURCHYARD AT EAST BERGHOLT, SUFFOLK. (See page 64.)] In point of fact the earliest bells are usually the plainest, and the mediaeval craftsman contented himself with devoting his skill to producing elegant and artistic lettering, beautiful initial crosses, or ingenious foundry marks (Plates 14, 36). The latter were introduced about the end of the fourteenth century, when, as we have seen in an earlier chapter, the guild of braziers or “belleyeteres” were more regularly organized. Those used by Henry Jordan (see page 29) are good examples; as are the shields of the Bury and Norwich foundries (page 30). In the West and North of England such devices are rarer; but badges, such as the Bristol ship, or the Worcester “Royal Heads,” take their place. One or two of the London founders use the symbols of the four Evangelists (Plate 34). A favourite device is the merchant’s mark, a kind of monogram, or the rebus, a pictorial pun on the founder’s name. John Tonne, who worked in Sussex and Essex about 1520-1540, decorated his bells in the French fashion, with large florid crosses, busts and figures, and other devices (Plate 35). Initial crosses are almost invariably found on mediaeval bells, and their variety is endless, from the plainest form of Greek cross to the elaborate specimen shown on Plate 36, which is found in the Midland counties. The words were frequently divided by stops, varying from a simple row of three dots ⠇ to such devices as a wheel, a rosette, or an ornamented oblong panel. Impressions from coins pressed into the mould are by no means uncommon.