Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Church Bells : Their Antiquities And Connection With Architecture.
of some of their tools . This foundry came into great note under Stephen Tonne , towards the end of the sixteenth century , many of the largest and best bells in Essex and Suffolk being * of his manufacture . It was afterAvavds removed to Thetford , in Norfolk , and either died out in the middle of the last century , or AA'as reviA'ed again afc DoAA'nham under Thomas Osborn .
The above foundries Avere confined to East Auglia , as Avas also the Sudbury foundry , of somo note in the last century . Much information concerning them , particularly during the early period of their existence , has been gathered by Mr . Lestrange , of Norwich , which he hopes shortly to print . The book will be fully illustrated with specimens of the crosses , stamps , and letterings used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries . Other
ornaments were also common besides the stamps , crosses , and lettering . I have several times met Avith the Evangelistic symbols used as stops betAveen the words . of the inscription ; also the various emblems of saints , sometimes figures of the saints themselves , sometimes a rood Avith
attendant figures of SS . Mary and -John . On the tenor at Minster , iu Thanet , the inscription begins AA'ith a good demi-figure of a priest in eucharistic vestments . Flowers Avere also largely used as borders . I have met wifch a beautiful brodcr of daisies on a bell dedicated to Sfc . Margaret .
Leaving East Auglia Ave find other foundries of early date in other parts of England .,-but having but scanty information concerning them , I will not detain you upon them . There are , however , certain founder ' s marks AA'hich Avere used pretty generally over England , for which a home has not yet been found—possibly they were itinerants . In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was
hardly a large toAvn in England Avifchoufc its foundry . Many of them turned out beautiful bells so far as sound is concerned , but as works of art there is little to say concerning them . The most celebrated founder in the seventeenth centuiy Avas Miles Gray . His head-quarters were at Colchester ,
but he itinerated considerably . The number of his bells yet remaining is marvellous , and not the less remarkable is the exceeding beauty of their tone . There are some tAventy or thirty of his tenors yet in Suffolk , aud that at Lavenham , though in no AA'ay better than several othershas been often
, moulded [ by bell-founders . So great was Gray ' s reputation that the great bell at St . Nicholas , NeAvcasfcle-on-Tyne , called the Mayor ' s Bell , weighing over tAvo tons , AA as sent all the Avay to Colchester to be re-cast by him . Richard Oldfield cast some A'ery fine bells about the same
period , or a- trifle earlier his remaining Avorks are but feAA' —only , so far as I am aAvare of , to be found in Essex and Herts . A kind of lettering Avas adopted by him in A'ery good imitation of fourteenth century work ; his mark was an arrOAV on a shield betAveen his initials , in chief and quatrefoil , and fleur-dc-lys . The only other founder of this
Church Bells : Their Antiquities And Connection With Architecture.
age that I shall mention is Richard Chandlar ; of his Avhereaboufcs I am uncertain , and I have only seen somo dozen of his bells , in Bucks , Herts , and Cambridgeshire , but his tenor bell afc Melbourne , near Cambridge , is one of the finest bells in existence for its Aveight . ( To he continued . )
Masonic Notes And Queries.
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .
rrTIIAGOJIAS . From an article in Putnam's Magazine for December , 185 G , entitled "The Apocalypse of Hasheesh , " the following is taken . I found it amongst my Masonic scraps , and think ifc worthy of reproduction if you can find space for it . —Ex . Ex .
The writer describing an intoxicating A'ision induced by the extract of hemp , called liashecsh , says : " Suddenly there came a sense as of some invisible presence AA'alkiug the dread paths of tho vision with me , yet at a distance as if separated from my side by a long flow of time . Taking courage , I cried , ' Who has ever been here before me , who in years past has shared -with me this unutterable view ? ' In tones
which linger iu my soul to this day , a grand , audible voice responded , ' Pythagoras ! ' In an instant I AA-as calm . I heard the footsteps of that sublime sage ^ echoing upward through the ages , and in celestial light I read my vision unterrified , since it had burst upon his sight before me . For years preA'ious I had
been perplexed Avith his mysterious philosophy . I saw iu him an isolation from universal contemporary miud for which I could not account . When the Ionic school Avas at the height of its dominauce , he stood forth alone , the originator of a system as distinct from ifc as the antipodes of mind . The doctrine of Thales
Avas built up by the uncertain processes of au obscure logic , that of Pythagoras seemed informed by intuition . In his assertions , there had ahvays appeared to me a grave conviction of truth , a consciousness of sincerity , Avhich gave them a great weight with me , though seeing them through the dim refracting medium of tradition and grasping their meaning imperfectly . I now saw the truths Avhich he set forth , in their own
light . I also saAv , as to this day I firmly believe , the source from whence their reA-elation floAved . Tell me not that from Phoenicia he received the wand , at Avhose signal the cohorts ofthe spheres came trooping up before him in revieAv , unveiling the eternal laAV and itineracy of their evolutions , and pouring on his
spiritual ear thafc tremendous music to which the } marched through space . No ! During half a lifetime spent iu Egypt and in Iudia , both motherlands of this nepenthe , doubt not that he quaffed his apocalyptic draught , and awoke , through its terrific quickening , into the consciousness of thafc ever-present and
allpervading harmony : which Ave hear not ahvays , because the coarseness of the daily life hath dulled our ear . ' Tho dim penetralia ofthe Theban Memnonium , or the silent spice groves of the upper Indus may have been the gymnasium of his wrestling Avith the mighty revealer ; a priest or a gymnosophist may haA'e been the first to anoint him Avith palrestric oil , but he conquered alone . On the strange intuitive characteristics of his system , on the spheral music , on the govorn-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Church Bells : Their Antiquities And Connection With Architecture.
of some of their tools . This foundry came into great note under Stephen Tonne , towards the end of the sixteenth century , many of the largest and best bells in Essex and Suffolk being * of his manufacture . It was afterAvavds removed to Thetford , in Norfolk , and either died out in the middle of the last century , or AA'as reviA'ed again afc DoAA'nham under Thomas Osborn .
The above foundries Avere confined to East Auglia , as Avas also the Sudbury foundry , of somo note in the last century . Much information concerning them , particularly during the early period of their existence , has been gathered by Mr . Lestrange , of Norwich , which he hopes shortly to print . The book will be fully illustrated with specimens of the crosses , stamps , and letterings used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries . Other
ornaments were also common besides the stamps , crosses , and lettering . I have several times met Avith the Evangelistic symbols used as stops betAveen the words . of the inscription ; also the various emblems of saints , sometimes figures of the saints themselves , sometimes a rood Avith
attendant figures of SS . Mary and -John . On the tenor at Minster , iu Thanet , the inscription begins AA'ith a good demi-figure of a priest in eucharistic vestments . Flowers Avere also largely used as borders . I have met wifch a beautiful brodcr of daisies on a bell dedicated to Sfc . Margaret .
Leaving East Auglia Ave find other foundries of early date in other parts of England .,-but having but scanty information concerning them , I will not detain you upon them . There are , however , certain founder ' s marks AA'hich Avere used pretty generally over England , for which a home has not yet been found—possibly they were itinerants . In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was
hardly a large toAvn in England Avifchoufc its foundry . Many of them turned out beautiful bells so far as sound is concerned , but as works of art there is little to say concerning them . The most celebrated founder in the seventeenth centuiy Avas Miles Gray . His head-quarters were at Colchester ,
but he itinerated considerably . The number of his bells yet remaining is marvellous , and not the less remarkable is the exceeding beauty of their tone . There are some tAventy or thirty of his tenors yet in Suffolk , aud that at Lavenham , though in no AA'ay better than several othershas been often
, moulded [ by bell-founders . So great was Gray ' s reputation that the great bell at St . Nicholas , NeAvcasfcle-on-Tyne , called the Mayor ' s Bell , weighing over tAvo tons , AA as sent all the Avay to Colchester to be re-cast by him . Richard Oldfield cast some A'ery fine bells about the same
period , or a- trifle earlier his remaining Avorks are but feAA' —only , so far as I am aAvare of , to be found in Essex and Herts . A kind of lettering Avas adopted by him in A'ery good imitation of fourteenth century work ; his mark was an arrOAV on a shield betAveen his initials , in chief and quatrefoil , and fleur-dc-lys . The only other founder of this
Church Bells : Their Antiquities And Connection With Architecture.
age that I shall mention is Richard Chandlar ; of his Avhereaboufcs I am uncertain , and I have only seen somo dozen of his bells , in Bucks , Herts , and Cambridgeshire , but his tenor bell afc Melbourne , near Cambridge , is one of the finest bells in existence for its Aveight . ( To he continued . )
Masonic Notes And Queries.
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .
rrTIIAGOJIAS . From an article in Putnam's Magazine for December , 185 G , entitled "The Apocalypse of Hasheesh , " the following is taken . I found it amongst my Masonic scraps , and think ifc worthy of reproduction if you can find space for it . —Ex . Ex .
The writer describing an intoxicating A'ision induced by the extract of hemp , called liashecsh , says : " Suddenly there came a sense as of some invisible presence AA'alkiug the dread paths of tho vision with me , yet at a distance as if separated from my side by a long flow of time . Taking courage , I cried , ' Who has ever been here before me , who in years past has shared -with me this unutterable view ? ' In tones
which linger iu my soul to this day , a grand , audible voice responded , ' Pythagoras ! ' In an instant I AA-as calm . I heard the footsteps of that sublime sage ^ echoing upward through the ages , and in celestial light I read my vision unterrified , since it had burst upon his sight before me . For years preA'ious I had
been perplexed Avith his mysterious philosophy . I saw iu him an isolation from universal contemporary miud for which I could not account . When the Ionic school Avas at the height of its dominauce , he stood forth alone , the originator of a system as distinct from ifc as the antipodes of mind . The doctrine of Thales
Avas built up by the uncertain processes of au obscure logic , that of Pythagoras seemed informed by intuition . In his assertions , there had ahvays appeared to me a grave conviction of truth , a consciousness of sincerity , Avhich gave them a great weight with me , though seeing them through the dim refracting medium of tradition and grasping their meaning imperfectly . I now saw the truths Avhich he set forth , in their own
light . I also saAv , as to this day I firmly believe , the source from whence their reA-elation floAved . Tell me not that from Phoenicia he received the wand , at Avhose signal the cohorts ofthe spheres came trooping up before him in revieAv , unveiling the eternal laAV and itineracy of their evolutions , and pouring on his
spiritual ear thafc tremendous music to which the } marched through space . No ! During half a lifetime spent iu Egypt and in Iudia , both motherlands of this nepenthe , doubt not that he quaffed his apocalyptic draught , and awoke , through its terrific quickening , into the consciousness of thafc ever-present and
allpervading harmony : which Ave hear not ahvays , because the coarseness of the daily life hath dulled our ear . ' Tho dim penetralia ofthe Theban Memnonium , or the silent spice groves of the upper Indus may have been the gymnasium of his wrestling Avith the mighty revealer ; a priest or a gymnosophist may haA'e been the first to anoint him Avith palrestric oil , but he conquered alone . On the strange intuitive characteristics of his system , on the spheral music , on the govorn-