In some parts of the country the bells were rung on the fifth of August to celebrate the escape of James I. from the Gowrie Plot; there are charges for ringing on this day to be found in the churchwardens' accounts of Kirton-in-Lindsey at various times during the seventeenth century. In the same parish there was also the custom of ringing what is in some parts of the country known as the "Market Bell," but here it was, and we believe is still, called the "Winter Ringing," because it was only done during the months of November, December, and January, from seven until eight o'clock, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings--on the former night to guide people home who had attended the Gainsborough market, and upon the latter to aid those who had been to Brigg market to find their way back again. This was a useful precaution when the country was unenclosed, as the sound of the bells told people when they were going in the right direction; the same was done in the neighbouring parish of Scotton on the Tuesday night. The custom is still kept up at Kirton-in-Lindsey during November and December, but we believe the bells are not heard upon these two evenings after Christmas, the modern idea being that the ringers are practising for that great festival of the Church. Bells very often had names bestowed upon them; there is one in St. Mark's Church, Lincoln, always spoken of as "Old Kate," and "Great Tom" of Oxford has a world-wide reputation. Many old bells have unfortunately been sold, in some cases to obtain money with which to repair the churches; in others we fear the money merely went into the pocket of the holder of the living, or those of the churchwardens; it was for the former reason that two bells at Cadney were parted with during the last century. A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, in 1849 (p. 158), states that there is reason to believe that, since the death of Edward VI., not less than four hundred bells have, from one cause or another, been lost in Lincolnshire alone. In some parishes the bells are rung at the close of the morning service upon Sunday, and at Harpswell it was, until very lately, the custom to ring a bell at noon if by any chance there should be no morning service. It is popularly said, but on what authority we know not, that this bell was meant to warn those who were preparing dinner that the time for that important meal had nearly arrived. The custom of ringing a bell at the conclusion of the morning service still obtains at Kirkleatham. Inscriptions upon bells are very common, sometimes they are in English, but on the older bells it is more usual to find them in Latin. There is a bell at Alkborough which is believed to be of the early part of the fourteenth century, with the following inscription upon it:-- "Jesu For Yi Moder Sake Save All Ye Sauls That Me Gart Make Amen." At Semperingham, on an early sixteenth bell, there is to be found a very useful piece of advice:--