A very interesting illustration of these processes is given in the famous bell-founder’s window in the north aisle of York Minster, dating from the fourteenth century, part of which is here reproduced. The window is divided into three lights, each having five compartments, and in each light is a large principal subject surrounded by ornamentation in the form of bells, grotesque animals, and other devices, with two rows of bells hanging in trefoil-headed arches above. In the central compartment of the middle light (Plate 13) the subject is the blessing by an archbishop of the bell-founder, who kneels in a supplicating attitude; in his hands is a scroll inscribed with his name, RICHARD TUNNOC, and under the canopy above the group a bell is suspended. The other two lights have as their main subjects scenes from the actual processes of bell-founding. In the left-hand light (Plate 9) we have the forming of the inner mould or “core,” as already described. One figure is turning it with a handle like that of a grindstone, while another moulds the clay to its proper form with a long crooked tool. The core rests on two trestles, between the legs of which two completed bells are seen; above are a bell and a scroll with the founder’s name. In the right-hand window (Plate 10) are three figures engaged in running the molten metal, which is coloured red. The metal is kept heated in the furnace by means of bellows, worked by two boys, while the chief workman watches the molten stream running into the mould. The next process, in the case of a “ring” of bells, is the tuning which is generally necessary, though sometimes the founder is fortunate enough to turn out what is known as a “maiden peal.” Formerly this was done by chipping the inside of the bell or cutting away the edge of the lip. But it is now more effectively accomplished by a vertical lathe, driven by steam. The modern bell-founder can attain to much greater exactness in this respect, because it is now recognized that there is a regular ratio between the weight of a bell and its diameter, and that a certain size or weight implies a certain musical note. Thus for a ring of eight in the key of F, the weight of the tenor would be 14 cwt., and its diameter at the mouth reckoned at 42 inches, the treble 5 cwt., and its diameter 29 inches. The frames are made separately, and the bells hung on them in the tower with their headstocks already attached[1]; until recently all these fittings were made of wood, and iron or brass were only used for the smaller parts, but it is now the custom of some founders to employ iron frames, and even iron stocks, which may be an improvement in lightness and stability, or for ringing purposes, but are hardly so in appearance. [Illustration: _Plate 5._ _Photo by_] [_J. Glover, Pershore._ LATE NORMAN BELL-TURRET (ABOUT 1180) AT WYRE CHURCH, WORCESTERSHIRE.