the belles rongen; and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen whan it thondreth, and whan grete tempests and outrages of whether happen; to the ende, that the fiends and wyched spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempeste." The bells in the chapel of St. Margaret were re-cast, and the chimes set, in the year 1716: the expense was defrayed by voluntary subscriptions. The following names are among the list of subscribers: £. s. d. The Right Honble Henry Lord Paget, Earl of Uxbridge The Right Honble Charles Lord Ossulston, Earl of Tankerville 10 10 0 . . 10 10 0 The Right Honble James Bertie, Esq. and Hugh Smithson, Esq. M. P. for the County Inscriptions on the Bells. No. 1. 10 15 0 Dan. Norton gave the cariage of the old and new bells to and from London. R. Phelps made these six Bells 1716. Mic. Browne Mic. Ravis Chappel Wardens. J. Wolfe, M. A. Vicar, J. Jacques, Lecturer of Uxbridge. No. 2. R. Phelps Fecit, 1716. No. 3. The Honourable James Bertie Esq. Member of Parliament for Middlesex, Benefactor. R. P. Fecit, 1716. No. 4. Tho. Mears and Son, of London, Fecit 1808. No. 5. Lord Osulton, Earl of Ankerfield, Benefactor towards these six bells, 1716. No. 6. Lord Paget Earl of Uxbridge Benefactor toward these six bells R. P. Fecit 1716. The very ancient practice of ringing the church bell at eight o'clock in the evening, has existed in England ever since the time of William the Conqueror; who enacted a law, enforced by severe penalties, that, at the ringing of the Curfew bell, all companies should immediately disperse, put out their lights, cover and rake up their fires, and go to bed. The obligation of this law was abolished by king Henry I. but the practice of ringing the bell has continued in many places to the present day, although its history, and the reasons which induced king William to establish it, are to many persons entirely unknown. The word Curfew is derived from two French words couvre, to cover, and feu, fire. It has been disputed by antiquaries whether or not this custom is a proof of the slavery in which William held the conquered English. M. Voltaire says (Univ. Hist. t. i. p. 240) "that the law, far from being tyrannical, was only an ancient police established in all the towns of the north, and which has been long preserved in the convents." He adds this reason for it, "that the houses were all built of wood, and the fear of fire was one of the most important objects of general police." The curfew bell is rung here from Michaelmas to Lady-day at five o'clock in the morning, and again at eight o'clock at night. Fire-Engine. In 1770 a fire engine was purchased by the parish officers: the expense was defrayed by subscription. The proprietors of the Sun Fire Office gave twenty pounds. The total cost was forty-eight pounds, with fourteen pounds for erecting an engine-house, paid out of the church rates. The only fire for many years in this town was at the Town-mill, then the property of Messrs. John and Nicholas Mercer, on the second of April one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, when the mill was entirely destroyed. SECTION 2. MONUMENTS IN THE CHAPEL. On the north side of the altar, is the monument exhibited in the annexed plate, to the memory of" Dame Leonora Bennet," who died in 1638. This monument is supported by columns of the Doric order, with the effigy of the deceased, in a recumbent posture: in front of the table-part of the monument is a very fine circular piece of sculpture, which is intended to represent the aperture of a charnel house. The following is the inscription on the tablet in the centre above the figure: * Here lyeth the body of DAME LEONORA who comming into England after the death Sir John Bennet resided at the Treaty-house, and was the ancestor of the present Earl of Tankerville. *This was Anne of Denmark, Queen to James I. |