practicalguideto00unse_0

37
subscription. The bell is never rung, but tolled or struck on
the outside line with a hammer fixed as a lever, the bell being
stationary: the clapper is not used. The hour at noon
(except Sundays; is daily struck upon this bell, and the last
hour of every dying year. It is also tolled on the death of
royal or illustrious personages.
"In monkish mediaeval times church bells enjoyed peculiar
esteem. They were treated in great measure as voices, and
were inscribed with Latin ejaculations and prayers, such as
' Hail, Mary, full of grace, pray for us
;
'
'
St. Peter, pray for us,*
&c., &c. : their tones swung out into the air would ecstatically
appear to give utterances to the supplications with which they
were inscribed. ... In those old times, pious queens
and gentlewomen threw into the mass of metal that was to be
cast into a
'
bell their gold and silver ornaments. . . . One
of the ancient windows on the north side of the nave of York
Minster is filled with stained glass, which is divided into subjects
representing the various processes of bell- casting, bellcleaning,
and bell-tuning, and has for a border a series of bells,
one below another; proving that the associations with which
bells were regarded rendered them both ecclesiastical and pictorial
in the eyes of the artists of old.'" Chambers's Booh
of Days.
The Bell-window named above is immediately behind the
nave organ.
The Services are
Sundays 10-30 a.m. and 4-0 p.m. in Summer.
10-30 a.m., 4-0 and 6-45 p.m. in Winter.
Week-days... 10-0 a.m. and 4-30 p.m.
Between 9 and 10 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. visitors
are conducted by one of the vergers through the choir and
other places of interest, at a fixed fee of sixpence for each
person. For the ascent to the central-tower, sixpence extra is
charged.
Registry of the Diocese.—The building in the angle
of the nave and south transept, close to the entrance, is the
Registry of the Diocese. Here are preserved ancient ecclesiastical
documents and wills as far back as 1389; and a
register is kept of all wills for the northern district of
England since 1730, up to January 7th, 1858. A copy of
any one can be read on payment of one shilling.