(Vol. vi., p. 554.; Vol. vii., pp. 454. 603.; Vol. viii., pp. 108. 248.)
Many thanks are due to your correspondent CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A., for his
interesting series of inscriptions on bells. The following are, I think,
sufficiently curious to be added to your collection:--
Rouen Cathedral:
"In the steeple of the great church, in the citie of Roane in Normandy,
is one great bell with the like inscription." [Like, that is, to the
inscription at St. Stephen's, Westminster: see "N. & Q." Vol. viii., p.
108.]
"Je suis George de Ambois,
Qui trente-cinque mille pois;
Mes luis qui me pesera,
Trente-six mille me trouvera."
"I am _George of Ambois_,
Thirtie-five thousand in pois;
But he that shall weigh me,
Thirty-six thousand shall find me."--Weever, _Fun. Mon_., edit. fol.
1631, p. 492.
St. Matthew, Great Milton, Oxfordshire:
1. "I as treble begin.
3. "I was third ring.
8. (Great bell) "I to church the living call, and to the grave do
summons."
Inscription suggested as being suitable for six bells, in the
_Ecclesiologist_ (New Series), vol. i. p. 209.:
1. "Ave Pater, Rex, Creator:
2. Ave Fili, Lux, Salvator:
3. Ave Pax et Charitas.
4. Ave Simplex, Ave Trine;
5. Ave Regnans sine fine,
6. Ave Sancta Trinitas."
Inscriptions are often to be found in Lombardic characters, and on bells of
great antiquity. Can any of your ecclesiological correspondents furnish me
with the date of the earliest known example?