_Risings_, _Fallings_ and _Advantages_ of the Places where you Bowl:
Have your _Wits_ about you to avoid being rookt of your Money: And have
your Understanding about you, to know your best Time and Opportunity for
this Recreation; and finally a studious Care of your Words and Passions,
and then _Bowl_ away, and you may deserve, _Well have you Bowled
indeed_.
But methinks I cannot conclude here, without admiring how aptly a
Bowling-Green is by the Divine _Quarles_ characterized, in the following
Verses, thus.
_Brave pastime, _Readers_, to consume that Day,
Which without Pastime flies too swift away!
See how they Labour, as if Day and Night
Were both too short to serve their loose Delight?
See how their curved _Bodies_ wreath, and skrue
Such Antick shapes as _Proteus_ never knew:
One rapps an Oath, another deals a Curse,
He never better bowl'd, this never worse;
One rubs his itchless Elbow, shruggs and laughs,
The t'other bends his beetle-brows, and chafes;
Sometimes they whoop, sometimes the _Stygian_ Cryes,
Send their black _Santo's_ to the blushing Skies:
Thus mingling Humours in a mad Confusion
They make bad Premisses and worse Conclusion._
Thus much for _Bowling_.
Of Tennis.
This Recreation is of the same Date for its _Antiquity_ of Invention
with _Bowling_, and for the _Violence_ of its Exercise to be preferred
before it. This sport indeed is of so universal an Acceptance, that
Majesty it self is pleased to design it its Recommendation, by tracking
its laborious steps; and _Princes_ and _Lords_ admire it too for the
most proper Recreation, to suit with _Innocence_, and _true Nobility_.
Here the body is briskly exercised more than ordinary, and inured in
_Agility_ and _Nimbleness_; this renders the Limbs flexible and
mettlesom, and adapts them for the most Vigorous Enterprize: It makes
the languid and slothful, _brisk_ and _sprightful_; and rejects
_Effeminacy_ and _Delicacy_, as contemptible and unworthy so Royal and
Noble a Recreation: And so General indeed is the Estimation this
Exercise of _Tennis_ amongst most meets with, that it is reckoned one of
the most absolute Qualifications of a well-bred Gentleman, throughly to
understand this famous Game.
But why should we wonder at the general Love Gentlemen have for this
Recreation, since it must be acknowledged, it challengeth as deserving a
place in the Catalogue of violent Exercises, as any that goes before it
in this Treatise; indeed it may be well rankt among those great
Excellencies of Exercise which rendered the _Lacedemonians_, Famous to
all Posterity for instructing their young Gentlemen and Noblemen in: Nay
for ought I know it is a _derivative Vertue_ which descended to the true
_English_ Gentleman, from that so excellent Method of Education used
amongst the Warlike Nation the _Gothes_: Who (as _Olaus Magnus_ informes
us) amongst the greatest Severities, as _Beatings_ and _Wounds_, _Change
of Heat into sudden Cold_, _lying_ (not on _Downe_ but) upon _Boards_,
_coursely clad_, and _Feeding_ on _Ordinary_, but strong _Food_, used
themselves to the most tedious, wearisome and Violent Exercises, as
_Riding_, _Darting_, _Shooting_, &c. _Wearing heavy Armes_, _Swimming on
Horse-Back and in Armour_; And had they been acquainted with this
Exercise of _Tennis_, would not have omitted that neither: But I shall
not enlarge any further on its _Encomium_, its being the Pastime of the
most knowing and greatest men, shall stop any longer _Eulogies_ my Pen
can make on its Worth and Excellence. All I have to say is, I am
heartily sorry, there are no _Rules_ which fall within the Sphere of
_Demonstration_, to be laid down for my Readers use, for the right
prosecuting this Noble Game: Practice and Experience alone must be his
Information and Direction, and not any Writing may be communicated to
him: Only let me say this.
_Tennis_ and _Baloon_ are Sports which are play'd almost with the same
Instruments; and therefore may be under one and the same Head: The first
is a pastime, used in close or open Courts, by striking a little _Round
Ball_ to and fro, either with the _Palmes_ of the hands (and then is
called _Pila palmaria_ in Latin) or else a _Racket_, made for the
purpose, round with Net or Cat-gut, with a Handle: The other a strong
and moving Sport in the Open Fields with a great Ball of a double
Leather filled with Wind, and so driven to and fro with the strength of
a Mans Arm, armed in a Brace of Wood: And thus much shall suffice to
speak of the _Baloon_ and _Tennis_; only let me desire you, let not this
or any other Pastime disturb your Minds; divert you from the diligent
and careful Prosecution of your own lawful Business; or invite you to
throw away your Time and Money too lavishly and idley; nor engage you in
any Passion; that so you may not offend God, dislike your _Neighbour_,
nor incomode your _Self_ and _Family_ in your Well-being and Felicity;
and then you may recreate your self without Fear, and in this Recreation
observe the ensuing Morality of
The Tennis-Court.
_When as the Hand _at Tennis_ Playes,
And Men to Gaming fall,
_Love_ is the _Court_, _Hope_ is the _House_,
And _Favour_ serves the _Ball_._
_This _Ball_ it self is _due Desert_,
The _Line_ that measure showes
Is _Reason_, whereon _Judgment_ looks
Where Players win and lose._
_The _Tutties_ are _Deceitful Shifts_,
The _Stoppers_, _Jealousy_,
Which hath Sir _Argus_ hundred Eyes,
Wherewith to watch and pry._
_The _Fault_ whereon _Fifteen is lost_,
Is _Want of Wit and Sense_,
And he that brings the _Racket_ in
Is _Double Diligence_._
_But now the _Racket_ is _Free-Will_,
Which makes the _Ball_ rebound,
And noble _Beauty_ is the _Choice_,
And of each Game the _Ground_._
_Then _Racket_ strikes the _Ball_ away,
And there is _Over-sight_,
A _Bandy_ ho! the People cry,
And so the _Ball_ takes flight._
_Now at the length _Good-liking_ proves
_Content_ to be their _Gain_:
Thus in the _Tennis-Court_, _Love is
A Pleasure mixt with Pain_._
Of Ringing.
Since this Recreation of _Ringing_ is become so highly esteemed, for its
excellent _Harmony of Musick_ it affords the _Ear_, for its
_Mathematical Invention_ delighting the _Mind_, and for the _Violence of
its Exercise_ bringing Health to the _Body_, causing it to transpire
plentifully, and by Sweats dissipate and expel those Fuliginous thick
_Vapours_, which _Idleness_, _Effeminacy_ and _Delicacy_ subject men to;
I say for these and sundry other Reasons, I was induced to bring this of
_Ringing_ into the Company of _Exercises_ in this Treatise, that I might
as well recreate you with some health-conducing Pleasure at _home_, as I
have carryed you _abroad_, and there endeavoured to please you in what
Pastime your Inclinations may most peculiarly select.
Whosoever would then become an accurate Master of this excellent Art and
Pleasure, and is very desirous to be esteemed an Elaborate and Ingenious
_Ringer_, and be enrolled amongst that Honoured _Society_ of +Colledge
Youths+; I must beg Leave to instruct him before he enters the
_Bell-free_, in these ensuing short Rules, which he must strictly
observe. _viz._
1. That as all _Musick_ consists in these six plain _Notes_, _La Sol Fa
Mi Re Ut_; so in _Ringing_, a Peal of Bells is Tuned according to these
Principles of Musick: For as each _Bell takes its Denomination from the
Note it Sounds_, by its being flatter or deeper, as, _First_, or Treble,
_Second_, _Third_, _Fourth_, &c. as they are in number to _Ten_ or
_Twelve_ Bells, the Last being called the _Tennor_; So must they
successively strike one after another both _Fore-stroke_ and
_Back-stroke_, in a due Musical Time or Equidistance, to render their
Harmony the more pleasant, and to make the Young Practitioner the better
informed to observe the _Life of Musick_, and indeed of true Ringing,
_Time_; and therefore is called, _Round-Ringing_.
2. As in Musick, so in Ringing there are _three Concords_, so called
from their Melodious Harmony and Agreement, which Principally are these;
_Thirds_, _viz._ 1 3, 2 4. _&c._ _Fifths_ 1 5, 2 6 _&c._ _Eights_ 1 8,
2 9, 3 10 &c. and these are the more pleasant according to the Number of
Bells they are struck on, and as they are struck, whether seperately or
mutually. From hence _Changes_ are made, which is only a Changing place
of one _Note_ with another, so variously, as Musick may be heard a
thousand wayes of Harmony; which being so obvious to common Observation,
I shall not go about to demonstrate; for that if two may be varied two
wayes, surely by the _Rule of Multiplication_, a Man may easily learn
how many times 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 12 Bells Notes may be varied, which
will run almost _ad infinitum_.
3. For the better observing the Ringing of _Changes_ or _Rounds_, these
three things are to be noted.
1. _The Raising true in Peal._
2. _Ringing at a low Compass_; And
3. _Ceasing in true Peal_; All which three are the most essential Parts
to render a Practitioner _Excellent_.
1. For _Raising a Peal of Bells true_, the modern & best Practice
recommends the _swiftest and quickest possible_, every one taking
Assistance to raise his Bell, as its going requires: The _lesser_ Bells
as _Treble_, _&c._ being by main strength _held down_ in their first
Sway (or pull) to get time for the striking of the rest of Larger
Compass; and so continued to be strong pulled till Frame-high, and then
may be slackned: The _Bigger_, as _Tenor_, &c. must be _pincht_ or
checkt over head, that the Notes may be heard to strike roundly and
hansomely. Observe that all the Notes strike round at one Pull: I do not
mean the First; but 'tis according to the Bigness and Weightiness of
your Bells: However in raising a Peal, do not let one _Bell_ strike
before the rest, or miss when the rest do; this is contrary to the
Strict Rules of _true Ringing_: And this is called _Round-Ringing_. Now
if you design to raise a Peal of Bells for _Changes_, you ought to raise
them to a Set-Pull, as the most proper for commanding the Notes, and he
who is not well skilled to manage his Bell at a _Set-Pull_, will be apt
to drop or overturn it, be in a Wood, and fruitlessly toil and moil
himself. Therefore in practising the Setting of a Bell, cast your Eye
about the other Bell-Ropes, during your managing your own, that you may
accustome your selfe to manage it according to the _Change_.
2. For _Ringing at a Low Compass_, is thus observed: By keeping a due
_punctum_ or beat of Time, in the successive striking one after another
of every Bell; the _best Ringer_ being set to the _Treble_, that may
guide and direct the rest of the Notes in their due _Measure_.
3. For _Ceasing a Peal of Bells_; Let them fall gradually from a set
_Peal_, checking them only at Sally, till the low Compass renders it
useless; and when so low, that for want of Compass, they can scarce
strike at Back-stroak; then let the _Treble_-Ringer stamp, as a Signal,
to notify, that the next time they come to strike at the Fore-stroke,
to check them down, to hinder their striking the Back-stroke; yet
Fore-stroke continued, till brought to a neat and gracefull Chime, which
may be the _Finis_ to that _Peal_.
Thus much in short, for _Raising_, _Round-Ringing_, and _Ceasing_ a
_Peal_ of _Bells_; I come next to lead you forth into that spacious
_Field_ of Variety of _Changes_, and present you with Instructions that
may be meerly necessary, for the right Understanding the several kinds
of them.
Now in _Ringing Changes_, two of our best Senses, are to be employed,
_viz._ The _Ear_, and the _Eye_: The _Ear_, Hearing when to make a
_Change_; and the _Eye_ directing the _Bell_ in making it: The _Bells_
being the Object of the Former, and the _Bell-Ropes_ the Object of the
Latter. And to render both the Eye and Ear Usefull in Ringing _Changes_,
these _Five_ things are throughly to be Understood
_First._ Endeavour to distinguish the _Notes_ of a _Peal_ of _Bells_,
one from another while Ringing.
_Secondly_, Learn to apprehend the Places of the _Notes_.
_Thirdly_, Understand the Precendency of _Notes_.
_Fourthly_, How to make a _Change_ in _Ringing_.
_Fifthly_, and _Lastly_. How to Practise the four fore-going Notions in
General.
1. _To know the Notes of a Peal of Bells asunder_ (which is easy in
_Round-Ringing_) in _Changes_ is thus: Get the skill of Tuning them with
your _Voice_, by imitating their Notes while _Ringing_. Or if you are
acquainted, either by your self or Friend, with some _Singing-master_,
or one who has skill in _Singing_, get him to instruct you in the true
Pitch of any _Note_, and aid your distinguishing them; otherwise you may
be puzzled in this, to know which is _Treble_, which _Second_, &c. as in
532641, _&c._
2. To know the Places of the _Notes_, is no way better to be apprehended
than thus: The Practitioner ought to form an _Idea_ in his Head of the
Place of each _Note_, whether in a direct _Line_, or _Obliquely_; and
representing them by a _Figure_ in his mind, see (as it were) by the Eye
of his Understanding each stroke of the _Bell_, as the _Treble_, 1.
_Second_ 2. _Third_ 3. _&c._ so that as the _Ear_ is to direct him, when
to make the Change, so a right Apprehension of the _Motion_ and _Places_
of the _Notes_, ought to be a means to guide his Ear.
3. The Precedency of _Notes_, is of a very Obvious Demonstration; thus:
In Ringing _Changes_, the Fore and Back-stroke, successively following
one another, are properly said to _Lye behind_ one another, according to
their places of striking. Or in short, in 12345. the _Note_ that leads
either at Fore or Back-stroak, is said to _Lye before_ the rest, and the
last to be behind. As the 2 is said to lye behind the 1, so it lyeth
before the 3, as the 3 lyeth behind the 2, so it lyeth before the 4. And
so of as many as are _Rung_.
4. The manner of making a _Change_, is very common, and needs no
particular, but general Rule; That it is made by moving one _Note_ into
anothers place, Up and Down, as Occasion requires; but all usually made
by two _Notes_ standing one next the other, as hereafter may be
Observed.
_Lastly_, In your Ringing _Changes_, these two things (in which consists
the practick part of this Art) are to be rightly considered. _First_,
Readily to know which two _Bells_ are to make the succeeding _Change_.
And _Secondly_, to consider (if you are concern'd in it) what _Bell_ you
are to follow in making it. To understand which the more perfectly, you
must imprint in your memory, the Method of the _Changes_ prick'd in
_Figures_, and to be expert likewise in setting them down divers wayes,
and making any _Figure_ a _Hunt_ at Pleasure; and thus without pausing
or hesitating to consider the Course, you may throughly understand the
Methods; the Four preceding Observations being first perfectly
understood.
There are two wayes of _Ringing Changes_, viz. By _Walking_ them, as the
Artists stile it; or by _Whole-pulls_, or _Half-pulls_: _Walking_ is,
when in one _Change_ the _Bells_ go round, _Four_, _Six_, or _Eight_
times; which is a most incomparable way to improve a young Practitioner,
by giving him time to consider, which two _Bells_ do make the next
succeeding _Change_, and in making it, what _Bell_ each is to follow;
so that by this means (by his industry) he may be capable of Ringing at
_Whole-Pulls_; Which is, when the _Bells_ go round in a Change at fore
and back-stroke; and a new Change is made every time they are pulled
down at Sally: This an Ancient Practice, but is now laid aside, since we
have learnt a more advantageous way of hanging our _Bells_, that we can
manage a _Bell_ with more ease at a Set-Pull than formerly: So that
Ringing at _Half-Pulls_ is now the modern general Practice; that is,
When one Change is made at Fore-Stroke, another at Back-Stroke, _&c._
I have one Thing more to add in these _introductory_ Rules, and that in
short is this: He that Rings the slowest _Hunt_, ought to notify the
_extreme Changes_; which is, when the Leading _Bell_ is pulling down,
that he might make the Change next before the Extreme, he ought to say,
_Extreme_. By this means, betwixt the Warning and the Extreme there will
be one compleat Change.
_Of Changes_, &c.
There are _two kinds of Changes_, viz. _Plain Changes_, and
_Cross-Peals_; which Terms do denote the _Nature_ of them; for as the
first is stiled _Plain_, so are its Methods easy; and as the second is
called _Cross_, so are its Methods cross and intricate: The First have a
general Method, in which all the Notes (except Three) have a direct
_Hunting-Course_, moving gradually under each other, plainly and
uniformly: _Plain_ are likewise termed _single Changes_, because there
is but one single Change made in the striking all the Notes round,
either at fore or back-stroke. But the Second is _various_, each Peal
differing in its Course from all others; and _in Cross-Peals as many
Changes may be made as the Notes will permit_. In short, as to
_Plain-Changes_, I shall not dilate on them here, it being so _plainly_
understood by every one that lately have rung a _Bell_ in peal; All
therefore I shall add is this, That any two Notes that strike next
together may make a Change, which may be done either _single_ or
_double_, as you list. The _single_, by changing Two Notes; and the
_Double_, by changing Four, _i. e._ Two to make one Change, and two
another; which is however called _One double Change_, and not two
Changes; because tis made in striking the Notes of the _Bells_ once
round. For the rest, common Observation and Practice bids me stop here,
and demands a Clearing those dark Intricacies which attend
_Cross-Peals_.
_Of Cross-Peals._
_Art_, being a curious Searcher and Enquirer into the hidden and
abstruse _Arcana_'s of Difficulties, having found out that dark and
remote Corner of Obscurity, wherein the nature of these _Cross-Peals_
lay at first invelopped, has exhibited by its _Proselytes_ the ensuing
Demonstrations of that which before lay mantled up in Doubt: And to
effect this, these _Favourites of Art_ have, like ingenious Architects,
made Order and Method the _Basis_, on which the whole Structure depends:
For in these _Cross-Peals_ we must observe the _prime Movement_, which
sets the whole Frame a going, and that is called the _Hunt_, which hath
_One constant Uniform Motion throughout the Peal_, and different from
that of the other Notes; and indeed by this the whole Course of the Peal
is Steered. This keeps a continual motion through the other Notes,
_i. e._ From Leading, to strike behind, and from thence again to Lead;
which is called one _compleat Course_.
Some Peals upon _five Bells_ consist of _single_ Courses, wherein are
ten Changes, and twelve Courses make the Peal. Others upon Five, consist
of Double Courses, wherein are twenty Changes to every Course, and six
Courses in the Peal.
Upon _six Bells_ there are likewise _single_ and _double_ Courses,
_viz._ Twelve Changes in every single Course, as in _Grandsire Bob_, &c.
and Twenty-four Changes in every Double Course, as in _Colledge Bobs_,
that being the first Change of every Course, wherein the _Hunt_ leaves
Leading: In short, judiciously observe the first Course of any
_Cross-Peal_, and you will soon see the general Method of the whole
Peal: All Courses in Cross-Peals agreeing in these following three
Respects. First, _In the motion of the Hunt_. Secondly, _In the motion
of the rest of the Notes_: And Thirdly, _In making the Changes_. Which
three things being well (to omit Instances of Demonstration) and
narrowly observed, will be very helpful both in pricking and ringing
Courses; the first and third for directing you in Pricking them, and the
first and second in Ringing them.
There is one _Difficulty_ to be removed e're I can come to prick down
those _Peals_ I design to be the Subject of the Discourse of this
_Epitome_, and that is, _How to make the first Changes at the beginning
of each Peal_; I mean to make the _Second_, _Third_, _Fourth_, &c.
_whole Hunts_; and this in short is thus directed: In any _Cross-Peal_
the _Whole Hunt_ may move either up or down at the beginning; and the
Motion of the _Whole Hunt_, in the first Course of each of the following
Peals, will direct the first Motion of any _Cross-hunt_, and by
Consequence of making the first Changes in that Peal. Taking along with
you this Observation.
That whensoever the first Change of any Peal happens to be _single_, it
must be made at the back-stroke, to prevent _cutting Compass_; and the
like when a double Change happens first in a Peal of _Triples and
doubles_: But when it happens, that the first Change is made at the
Back-stroke, then Consequently the Bells at the end of the Peal will
come round at a Fore-stroke Change.
I shall omit speaking to any of the several _Peals_ on _four or five
Bells_; for that in my Opinion little _Musick_ is heard, though much
_practical Observation_ is made, from them; and therefore shall begin
with _Grandsire-Bob_, as having mentioned it but just before in my
general View I made of _Cross-Peals_.
_Grandsire Bob._
_Bob_ Changes take their Name from this, _viz._ When the _Treble_ leads
in the _Second_ and _Third_, and the _Fifth_ and _Sixth_'s places, then
they are called _Bob-Changes_. In Ringing which you are to observe these
Rules, _viz._
Whatsoever Bells you follow when you _Hunt up_, the same Bells in the
same order you must follow in _Hunting down_; as in the Changes here
prickt, where the _Treble_ hunting up _First_ follow _Second_, then
_Fourth_, and then _Sixth_; when it comes behind, _First_ follows
_Second_, in hunting down _Fourth_; and when hunted up follows _Sixth_
in the same Order: The like may be observed in Ringing any other Bell,
with this Difference betwixt the Whole-hunt and the rest, _viz._ Every
time the Whole-hunt leaves the _Treble_'s place, and hunts up, it
followeth different Bells from what it did at its first hunting up.
In the ensuing Peal here prickt are _Eighteen-score_ Changes, wanting
one. It may be Rung with any _Hunts_, and begin the Changes _Triple_ and
_Double_: You may make your Extreme at the first, second, or third
_single Bob_; or the first, second, or third time, that the half and
_quarter-hunts_ dodg behind; the _single_ must be made behind in either
of these.
123456
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214365
241635
426153
462513
645231
654321
563412
536142
351624
315264
132546
135264
312546
321456
234165
243615
426351
462531
645213
654123
561432
516342
153624
156342
513624
531264
352146
325416
234561
243651
426315
462135
641253
614523
165432
_bob._
156423
514632
541362
453126
435216
342561
324651
236415
263145
621354
612534
165243
162534
615243
651423
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342516
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231465
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652413
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341526
314256
132465
134256
312465
321645
236154
263514
625341
652431
564213
546123
451632
415362
143526
_bob._
134562
315426
351246
532164
523614
256341
265431
624513
642153
461235
416325
143652
_bob._
134625
316452
361542
635124
653214
562341
526431
254613
245163
421536
412356
143265
142356
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124536
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156234
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136452
_bob._
163425
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136245
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152436
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145623
_bob._
154632
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_bob._
154326
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153462
_bob._
135426
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162453
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146325
_bob._
164352
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146532
_bob._
164523
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123456
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Thus much for the _Grandsire-Bob_; I shall next collect what _London
Peals_ I think most Harmonious, and agreeable, without troubling my self
to go to _Oxford_, or _Nottingham_, or _Redding_, to enquire after their
different Methods of _Peales_, as indeed needless; and my reason is
this: Because I think the same Rules for _Peales_ that are suitable to
our _London Genius_, may challenge likewise an Acceptance amongst other
_Cities_; provided their _Steeples_ are furnished with as many, and as
good _Bells_, and their _Belfree's_ with as ingenious and elaborate
_Ringers_ as here in _London_.