If “Wm. Chapman deceased” deserved to be commemorated by such a singular
feat, should not the commemoration of the feat itself be commemorated?
Is R. Tape--(_stay_-Tape, though he now be)--_everlasting_ Tape? Will he
not “fall as the leaves do?” Shall “The Sun” itself move to and fro in
the High Street of Bromley, as a sign, for ever? Can the golden
inscription--in honour of “the first Dumb Peal of Grandsire Triples ever
rang in this kingdom”--endure longer than corporation freedoms presented
“in letters of gold,” which are scarcely seen while the enfranchised
worthies live; nor survive them, except with their names, in the
engulfing drawers of the lovers and collectors of hand-writings? The
time must come when the eloquence of the auctioneer shall hardly obtain
for the golden record of the “Bromley Youths” the value of the glass
before it--when it shall increase a broker’s litter, and be of as
little worth to him as Chatterton’s manuscript was to the cheesemonger,
from whose rending fangs it was saved, the other day, by the “Emperor of
Autographs.”
“A Dumb Peal of Grandsire Triples!”--I am no ringer, but I write the
venerable appellation--as I read it--with reverence. There is a solemn
and expressive euphony in the phrase, like that of a well-known sentence
in Homer, descriptive of the billowings and lashings of the sea; which,
the first time I heard it, seemed to me an essay by the father of Greek
poesy towards universal language.
There is a harmony in the pealing of bells which cannot be violated,
without discovery of the infraction by the merest tyro; and in virtue of
the truth in bells, good ringers should be true men. There is, also,
evidence of plainness and sincerity in the very terms of their art: a
poem, “In praise of Ringing,” duly dignifies the practice, and sets
forth some of them--
First, the YOUTHS try _One Single Bell_ to sound;
For, to perfection who can hope to rise,
Or climb the steep of science, but the man
Who builds on steady principles alone,
And method regular. Not he who aims
To plunge at once into the midst of art,
Self-confident and vain:--amazed he stands
Confounded and perplex’d, to find he knows
Least, when he thinks himself the most expert.
* * * * *
In order due to _Rounds_ they next proceed,
And each attunes numerical in turn.
Adepts in this, on _Three Bells_ they essay
Their infant skill. Complete in this, they try
Their strength on _Four_, and, musically bold,
Full four-and-twenty _Changes_ they repeat.
Next, as in practice, gradual they advance
Ascending unto _Five_, they ring a peal
Of _Grandsires_,--pleasing to a tuneful soul!
On they proceed to _Six_. What various peals
Join’d with plain _Bobs_ loud echo thro’ the air,
While ev’ry ear drinks in th’ harmonic sound.
With _Grandsire Triples_ then the steeple shakes--&c.
Next come the musical _Bob-majors_, on eight bells,--_Caters_, on
nine,--
On ten, _Bobs-royal_;--from eleven, _Cinques_
Accompanied with tenor, forth they pour;--
And the _Bob-maximus_ results from twelve!
“Grandsire Triples!” My author says, “Ever since _Grandsire Triples_
have been discovered or practised, 5040 changes manifestly appeared to
view; but”--mark ye his ardent feeling under this--“but--to reach the
lofty summit of this grand climax was a difficulty that many had
encountered, though none succeeded; and those great names, Hardham,
Condell, Anable, &c., who are now recorded on the ancient rolls of fame,
had each exhausted both skill and patience in this grand pursuit to no
other purpose than being convinced, that either the task itself was an
utter impossibility, or, otherwise, that all their united efforts were
unequal to it; and it is possible that this valuable piece of treasure
would at this day have been fast locked up in the barren womb of sterile
obscurity, had not a poor unlettered youth appeared, who no sooner
approached this grand pile, but, as if by magic power, he varied it into
whatever form he pleased, and made it at once subservient to his will!”
It appears that this surprising person was Mr. John Holt “whose
extraordinary abilities must forever excite the astonishment and
admiration of all professors in this art, whether novices or adepts!”
The _first_ perfect peal of “Grandsire Triples” was John Holt’s; “it was
rung at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, on Sunday, the 7th of July, 1751.”
Be it remembered, that it is to commemorate the ringing of the _first_
“complete peal of _Grandsire Triples_ with the bells _muffled_,” by the
“Bromley youths,” that they have placed their golden lines in the “Sun.”
The “Bromley _Youths_!” Why are ringers of all ages called “youths?” Is
it from their continued service in an art, which by reason of
multitudinous “changes” can never be wholly learned?--such, for
instance, as in “the _profession_,” barristers whereof, are, in legal
phraseology, “_apprentices_ of the Law?”
By the by, I have somewhere read, or heard, that one of the ancient
judges, a lover of tintinnabulary pastime, got into a county town
_incog._ the day before he was expected thither to hold the assizes, and
the next morning made one among the “youths” in the belfry, and lustily
assisted in “ringing-in” his own clerk. Certain it is that doctors in
divinity have stripped off their coats to the exercise. “And moreover,”
says the author of the treatise before quoted, “at this time, to our
knowledge, there are several learned and eminent persons, both clergy
and laymen of good estates, that are members of several societies of
ringers, and think themselves very highly favoured that they can arrive
at so great an happiness and honour.”
In the advice to a “youth,” on the management of his bell, he is
recommended to “avoid all ungraceful gestures, and unseemly grimaces,
which, to the judicious eye, are both disagreeable and highly
censurable.”[403] Ringing, then, is a _comely_ exercise; and a lover of
the “music of bells” may, genteelly, do more than “_bid_ them
discourse.” Before the close of all gentlemanly recreation, and other
less innocent vanities, he may assure himself of final commemoration, by
a _muffled_ peal of “Grandsire Triples.” As a loyal subject he dare not
aspire to that which is clearly for kings alone,--_dumb_ “Bobs _Royal_.”
I take it that the emperor of Austria is the only sovereign in Europe,
except his Holiness, who can rightfully claim a _muffled_ “Bob
_Maximus_.”
*
[403] Clavis Campanalogia.
* * * * *