4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite, Our merry peals produce delight; But when Death goes his dreary Rounds, We send forth sad and solemn sounds." 5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range, Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change." 6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal With Glee we give the merry Peal." 7. "Would men like us join and agree They'd live in tuneful Harmony." 8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone This Belfry King sits on his throne; And when the merry Bells go round, Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound; So in a just and well pois'd State, Where all Degrees possess due Weight, One greater Pow'r one greater Tone Is ceded to improve their own." A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:-- "Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei." ("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.") Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire, where a recasted bell states:-- "This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814." The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives, where a bell is inscribed-- "Arise and go about your business." The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells. Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed-- "Lord, quench this furious flame: Arise, run, help put out the same." Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The passing bell has many variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell, which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes; a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m. The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk, like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the sexton for his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead, Hants, where a bell has the inscription-- "Doctor Nicholas gave five pound To help cast this peal tuneable and sound." And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:--