LONDON. [Single Bells, or less than a Peal, of fine tone.]

St. Luke's Old Street. This bell is reckoned a "miracle" in bell-founding. It came out of the casting pit in a different tone from what was intended, (how this happened the writer cannot tell,) and though the weight is only 28 cwt. odd, it has the depth, and nearly the power, of a bell of 40 cwt: the tone is majestic. St. Pancras (New) 34 cwt., very grand; also a good bell at the Old Church, adjoining the pleasing cemetery of St. Giles. It is singular that in neither of the great parishes of Marylebone and St. Pancras is there a single peal of bells. Three parishes at the West End are in the same predicament. A peal has been spoken of for Bloomsbury. Christchurch Newgate Street, only 22 cwt. but very powerful-a melancholy note. Covent Garden, excellent. Episcopal Chapel, Gray's Inn Lane, 17 cwt. good, but absurdly placed. Highgate, powerful, a private gift. Hampstead. In the City, 5 or 6, including St. Mildred's Poultry, and St. Mary Woolnoth. The smaller of two bells at St. Benet's Gracechurch Street, is the only one known to have survived the "fire" in any church burnt. A good bell in the tower (without a church) of St. Martin Orgars (leading out of Thames Street.)

PEALS OF 6.

Westminster Abbey, tenor 36 cwt. pretty good; but it is by no means generally known that these are only the first six of an intended peal of Twelve, the largest of which, in proportion, would probably have weighed full sixty cwt. and would have gone down very low. Whether the tower would

The able Organist, spoken of as being here, has left, and is now at Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square, Islington. There is, however an able one at the

former place. The chanting of the psalms has been dropped, but that of other portions is retained.

+ For this and some other particulars I am indebted to a respectable man, perhaps one of the best Campanalogists in London or England, Mr. Jewson, sexton and steeple keeper of All Hallows Barking, near the Tower.

have sustained them when ringing is a different question. St. Vedast, Foster Lane (Post Office), about 21 cwt. good. St. Catharine Cree, Leadenhall-street, about 20 cwt. St. Andrew Undershaft, just by, wretched. This church, however, does not seem sufficiently known as the largest and handsomest that survived the Fire. St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, very small but good; again, not generally known as the oldest church in London. Many popular mistakes exist on that head. Bow (beyond Mile End), with its venerable tower, 14 cwt. not bad.

PEALS OF 8.

The heaviest tenor is at St. Lawrence Jewry (Guildhall), 36 cwt.; has a fine deep toll. St. George's East, 32 cwt. grand; same weight and key as Stepney and Shoreditch; the 7th rings the curfew, a practice now confined to four or five East-end parishes. It might be restored with great effect at Bow (Cheapside). Spitalfields, now only 8, the peal of 12, with a tenor of 44 cwt. and chimes, having been destroyed by fire tenor 33 cwt. very good, as is the 7th, which rings the curfew. This is done by the tenor at Bishopsgate, 22 cwt., but it is not very effective. St. Andrew's, Holborn, 28 cwt., very good. Aldgate, tenor same weight, also good. Clerkenwell, 24 cwt., very good. Islington, only 16, though usually supposed to be more; but effective. St. George's, Southwark, effective. Trinity Church, Newington; St. Peter's, Walworth; and St. George's, Camberwell; the latter only 13 cwt. but ef and "chattering;" 14 cwt. Rother fective for the weight. Shadwell, small hithe, 18 cwt. Greenwich, 24 cwt., very effective for the weight. Woolwich, good. Christchurch, Surrey, ditto; both probably about 20 cwt.; as also St. John's, Waterloo Road, an excellent tenor. Lambeth; the peal is in a very maimed state, only the first six being usable. The tower may therefore be said, in an unfortunately literal sense, to "keep" the "noiseless tenor." Perhaps archiepiscopal spirit

It struck the writer as singular that at Winchester, where he has heard it was first introduced, the Curfew is not now rung at the Cathedral, or any Parish Church, but at the steeple or turret of the City Hall.

and generosity will do something for this lofty and venerable tower, its close neighbour. May I venture to observe, Mr. Urban, that I think the pleasing epitaph on the Tradescants, in the churchyard, is so little hacknied that it will well bear one more quotation : Pause, traveller, ere thou pass! beneath this

stone

Lies John Tradescant-Grandson, Father, Son.
The first died in his birthe; the other two
Liv'd till they'd travelled art and nature
through,

As by their various wanderings does appear,
By what is scarce in earth, in sea, in air;
Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut)
A world of wonders in one closet shut.
These famous antiquarians, that have been
Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen,
Transplanted now themselves, sleep here.-
And when

Angels shall with their trumps awaken men, And fire shall purge the earth, these hence shall rise,

And change this Garden for a Paradise.

Kensington, 20 cwt. St. Giles in the Fields, light but not bad, 18 cwt. St. Clement Danes: the tenor here, 20 cwt. of deep and good tone, is said, in a life of Dr. Parr, to be 4 feet in diameter, the reason of which is said to be that "the bell is thin." The clock strikes a second time on a small supernumerary bell, as at Trinity college, Cambridge. The peal weighs 4 tons 13 cwt. 2 qrs. 8lbs. and was cast by "William and Philip Wightman, founders to her Majesty," in 1693, and given by Edward Clarke, one of the churchwardens. (Some pleasing painted glass, not unlike that at St. George's East, was put up in this church last spring.) The Chimes here, known as playing the 104th Psalm, are now mute, which must be termed discreditable, as it is understood that there is a bequest for their support. St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, 19 cwt. disagreeably loud; which is said to be owing to their being hung too low. St. Stephen's, Coleman Street; Whitechapel (21 cwt.); both middling. (The south wall of the latter church is out of the perpendicular, and should be attended to in time.) St. Dunstan, Tower, about 20 cwt. indifferent. All Hallows Barking, Tower Hill, about the same weight, but a good peal. I think, Mr. Urban, that the singular circumstance connected with this church is but little known; though, of course, it must have found a place in

several topographical works. On the 4th Jan. 1649, it was "much injured and defaced by a lamentable blow of 27 barrels of gunpowder, at a shipchandler's opposite." Strange that such a quantity should be allowed to be kept in a street! And was rebuilt about 20 years afterwards, i. e. the western half, with the tower (of brick.) It is consequently in two styles; the three eastern arches on each side, with clustered columns, being in a fine style of the latter end of the 14th century; the western ones of mixed, or "debased" style, though not altogether ugly, the deformity being in the abrupt change. The side-aisles are wide, and the internal effect is handsome and airy, with ancient monuments; a heavy brass balustrade of some 200 years old round the Communion Table; some pleasing stained glass, as at St. Dunstan's East, and the very pretty little old church of St. Olave's, Hart Street; and what will do still more good to the heart of the visitor, a good list of those who "deliver the poor that crieth, the fatherless, and him that hath no helper," in a Table of Benefactions.

There is also an excellent peal, tenor 25 cwt. in the fine and lofty tower of Hackney, now divested of a church immediately adjoining; but capable of lasting (though it might be as well strengthened by buttresses on the east) for several centuries.

PEALS OF 10.

The best, of course, in London, or perhaps in England, is St. Mary-leBow-tenor, 534 cwt., most decidedly superior to St. Paul's; weight and key same as the late one at York minster. The next in weight is St. Sepulchre, Snow Hill, 33 cwt. powerful and effective; Stepney, 32 cwt., St. Magnus London Bridge, 24 cwt. very good indeed; Bermondsey New Church, 25 cwt. good. A beautiful little peal, 20 cwt. with Chimes, at St. Dionis, Fenchurch Street. These (the peal) are said to be silent now, through the opposition of one or two neighbours of wealth and influence, which (no weakness of the tower being alleged) must be thoughtto partake of churlishness, if not to prove that Mammon has left "no music in his soul." St. Margaret's И estminster, 25 cwt., rather a thin and "chatter

ing" peal; not so good as it should be for the neighbourhood of the "Palace of Westminster," to which it announces occasions of joy. But when the exterior of this ancient parish church has been improved, with new parapets, windows, &c. (instead of being recklessly swept away,) I think it will be found that the tower would bear a heavier peal. Poplar, about 21 cwt., Fulham, do. The New Church, Cumberwell, will have a peal, with 25 cwt.; Chelsea New Church has one with 224 cwt., good; Streatham; St. John's, Horselydown, probably about 20 cwt., good.

PEALS OF 12.

St. Saviour's (or St. Mary Overy's), tenor 52 cwt., and said to be the heaviest peal in England. The tenth has been recast, this summer; all the rest are, I believe, about five centuries old. From the height of the tower, 150 feet, they have a mellow effect; the tone of the largest (alluded to in Wilson's "City of the Plague,") is certainly fine and full; it has much the sound of brass. The next (now) is St. Michael's, Cornhill, 41 cwt. It struck the writer that on the destruction of the Royal Exchange, the chimes might have been removed with effect to the tower of this, the parish church. The bells in this lofty tower were, about seven years ago, lowered 40 feet the upper story being, notwithstanding the solid appearance of the turrets, slight-not more than 18

inches thick. The sound is of course subdued. St. Bride's tenor I have known variously estimated at from 28 to 34 cwt.; it is probably about 31; the same as St. Martin's-in-theFields, which has a very long reverberation: the ringers at the latter receive a "leg of mutton and trimmings" weekly, from a bequest of the somewhat notorious Nell Gwynne. Yet there have been worse persons than Nelly; especially when it is considered that to her spontaneous and disinterested urging, charity owes Greenwich, if not also Chelsea Hospital, and she died penitent and christian-wise. So let it be believed that it will be said to her, as to another of her class, spoken of by an Apostle as "justified" through an act of mercy, "Thy sins be forgiven thee."

Shoreditch, an excellent ring, scarcely sufficiently appreciated; tenor, powerful for its weight, 32 cwt.; and the peal has a very fine tone when muffled; the Chimes, however, are inferior and out of order: the 11th bell rings the curfew. Cripplegate, tenor about 34 cwt. famous for its Chimes, by far the best in London, which play, every three hours, having seven or eight different tunes, and changing the order on different days. In some notes, in one or two of the melodies, the chimes play the treble and bass on two bells at once; which I am not aware to be the case, though of course it may be so, with any other chimes in England.

THIS ancient mansion has had several names assigned to it, and has been known by the appellations of Plas Mawr (Great Place), Court Mawr (Great Court), and now by that of Plas Gôch (Red Place). They were probably given to it without any consultation of the owners, and have been changed with the veering fancies of popular caprice. It formed the ancient seat of the Bulkeleys, and was their principal residence until they removed to Baron Hill, in the reign of James 1. There is a tradition that one of the Dowager Lady Bulkeleys resided in

this mansion at a much later period, at the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th century, and the internal condition of the building is in sufficient consonance with this supposition.

Before proceeding to describe the mansion, we may state that a small and interesting brass funereal plate commemorative of this family is still preserved on the north side of the chancel in Beaumarais Church, where it no doubt was placed after having been

*This church is a chapel to Llandegvan, and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.