Had it been near an air of antiquated respectability about it. the church it would have been taken for the vicarage; standing where it did, its physiognomy was such that you might have guessed it was the doctor's house, even if the pestle and mortar had not been there as his insignia. There were eight windows and two doors in the front. It consisted of two stories, and was oddly built; the middle part having, something in the Scotch manner, the form of a gable end towards the street. Behind this was a single chimney, tall, and shaped like a pillar. In windy nights the doctor was so often consulted by Mrs. Dove concerning the stability of that chimney, that he accounted it the plague of his life. But it was one of those evils which could not be removed without bringing on a worse, the alternative being whether there should be a tall chimney or a smoky house. And after the Mansionhouse was erected, there was one wind which in spite of the chimney's elevation drove the smoke down— so inconvenient is it sometimes to be fixed near a great neighbour. This unfortunate chimney, being in the middle of the house, served for four apartments; the doctor's study and his bedchamber on the upper floor, the kitchen and the best parlour on the lower; that parlour, yes, reader, that very parlour wherein, as thou canst not have forgotten, Mrs. Dove was making tea for the doctor on that ever memorable afternoon with which our history begins. CHAPTER XXIX. P. I. A HINT OF REMINISCENCE TO THE READER-THE CLOCK OF ST. GEORGE'S A WORD IN HONOUR OF ARCHDEACON MARKHAM. There is a ripe season for everything, and if you slip that or anticipate it, you dim the grace of the matter, be it never so good. As we say by way of proverb that a hasty birth brings forth blind whelps, so a good tale tumbled out before the time is ripe for it, is ungrateful to the hearer.BISHOP HACKETT. THE judicious reader will now have perceived that in the progress of this narrative, which may be truly said to "bear A music in the ordered history It lays before us," we have arrived at that point which determines the scene, and acquaints him with the local habitation of the doc tor. He will perceive also that in our method of narration nothing has been inartificially anticipated; that there have been no premature disclosures, no precipitation, no hurry or impatience on my part; and that on the other hand there has been no unnecessary delay, but that we have regularly and naturally come to this development. The author who un dertakes a task like mine "must nombre al the hole cyrcumstaunce Of hys matter with brevyacion," as an old poet says of the professors of the rhyming art, and must moreover be careful "That he walke not by longe continuance as I have been, oh reader! and as it is my fixed intention still to be. Thou knowest, gentle reader, that I have never wearied thee with idle and worthless words; thou knowest that the old comic writer spake truly when he said, that the man who speaks little says too much, if he says what is not to the point; but that he who speaks well and wisely will never be accused of speaking at too great length, Τὸν μὴ λέγοντα τῶν δεόντων μηδὲ ἕν Μηδ' ἂν σφόδρ ̓ εἴπῃ πολλὰ, καὶ πολὺν χρόνον.* My good readers will remember that, as was duly noticed in our first chapter P. I., the clock of St. George's had just struck five, when Mrs. Dove was pouring out the seventh cup of tea for her husband, and when our history opens. I have some observations to make concerning both the tea and the tea service, which will clear the doctor from any imputation of intemperance in his use of that most pleasant, salutiferous, and domesticizing beverage, but it would disturb the method of my narration were they to be introduced in this place. Here I have something to relate about the clock. Some forty or fifty years ago, a butcher being one of the churchwardens of the year, and fancying himself in that capacity invested with full power to alter and improve anything in or about the church, thought proper to change the position of the clock, and accordingly had it removed to the highest part of the tower, immediately under the battlements. Much beautiful Gothic work was cut away to make room for the three dials, which he placed on three sides of this fine tower; and when he was asked what had induced him thus doubly to disfigure the edifice by misplacing the dials, and destroying so much of the ornamental part, the great and * Philemon. greasy killcow answered, that by fixing the dials so high, he could now stand at his own shop door and see what it was o'clock! That convenience this arrant churchwarden had the satisfaction of enjoying for several years, there being no authority that could call him to account for the insolent mischief he had done. But Archdeacon Markham (to his praise be it spoken) at the end of the last century prevailed on the then churchwardens to remove two of the dials, and restore the architectural ornaments which had been defaced. This was the clock which, with few intervals, measured out by hours the life of Daniel Dove from the seventeenth year of his age, when he first set up his rest within its sound. Perhaps of all the works of man sun dials and church clocks are those which have conveyed most feeling to the human heart; the clock more than the sun dial, because it speaks to the ear as well as to the eye, and by night as well as by day. Our forefathers understood this, and therefore they not only gave a tongue to time, but provided that he should speak often to us, and remind us that the hours are passing. Their quarter-boys and their chimes were designed for this moral purpose, as much as the memento which is so commonly seen upon an old clock face-and so seldom upon a new one. I never hear chimes that they do not remind me of those which were formerly the first sounds I heard in the morning, which used to quicken my step on my way to school, and which announced my release from it, when the same tune methought had always a merrier import. When I remember their tones, life seems to me like a dream, and a train of recollections arises, which if it were allowed to have its course would end in tears. CHAPTER XXX. P. I. THE OLD BELLS RUNG TO A NEW TUNE. If the bell have any sides the clapper will find 'em. BEN JONSON. THAT Same St. George's Church has a peal of eight tunable bells, in the key of E. b.; the first bell weighing seven hundred, one quarter, and fourteen pounds. Tra tutte quante le musiche humane, Gioje del mondo, è 'l suon delle campane; * Agnolo Firenzuola. They were not christened, because they were not Roman Catholic bells; for in Roman Catholic countries church bells are christened with the intention of causing them to be held in greater reverence però ordinò n'un consistoro Un certo di quei buon papi all' antica, Poi si battezzi, e se le ponga il nome, Ne' nome ha l' una Pier, l'altra Maria The bells of St. George's, Doncaster, I say, were not christened, because they were Protestant bells; for distinction's sake, however, we will name them as the bells stand in the dirge of that unfortunate cat whom Johnny Green threw into the well. But it will be better to exhibit their relative weights in figures, so that they may be seen synoptically. Thus then: I cannot but admit that these appellations are not so stately in appearance as those of the peal which the Bishop of Chalons recently baptized, and called a "happy and holy family" in the edifying discourse that he delivered upon the occasion. The first of these was called Marie, to which-or to whom the Duke and Duchess of Danderville (so the newspapers give this name) stood sponsors. "It is you, Marie," said the bishop, "who will have the honour to announce the festivals, and proclaim the glory of the Lord! You appear among us under the most happy auspices, presented by those respectable and illustrious hands to which the practices of piety have been so long familiar. And you, Anne," he pursued, addressing the second bell-" an object worthy of the zeal and piety of our first magistrate, (the pre * Agnolo Firenzuola. fect,) and of her who so nobly shares his solicitude-you shall be charged with the same employment. Your voice shall be joined to Marie's upon important occasions. Ah! what touching lessons will you not give in imitation of her whose name you bear, and whom we reverence as the purest of virgins! You also, Deodate, will take part in this concert, you whom an angel, a newborn infant, has conjointly with me consecrated to the Lord! Speak, Deodate! and let us hear your marvellous accents." This angel and god mother in whose name the third bell was given was Mademoiselle Deodate Boisset, then in the second month of her age, daughter of Viscount Boisset. "And you, Stephanie, crowned with glory," continued the orator, in learned allusion to the Greek word ospavos, 66 'you are not less worthy to mingle your accents with the melody of your sisters. And you lastly, Seraphine and Pudentienne, you will raise your voices in this touching concert, happy all of you in having been presented to the benedictions of the church,.by these noble and generous souls, so praiseworthy for the liveliness of their faith, and the holiness of their example." And then the bishop concluded by calling upon the congregation to join with him in prayer, that the Almighty would be pleased to preserve from all accidents this "happy and holy family of the bells." We have no such sermons from our bishops! The whole ceremony must have been as useful to the bells as it was edifying to the people. Were I called upon to act as sponsor upon such an occasion, I would name my bell Peter Bell, in honour of Mr. Wordsworth. There has been a bull so called, and a bull it was of great merit. But if it were the great bell, then it should be called Andrew, in honour of Dr. Bell; and that bell should call the children to school. There are, I believe, only two bells in England which are known by their Christian names, and they are both called Tom; but Great Tom of Oxford, which happens to be much the smaller of the two, was christened in the feminine gender, being called Mary, in the spirit of catholic and courtly adulation at the commencement of the bloody queen's reign. Tresham the vice chancellor performed the ceremony, and his exclamation when it first summoned him to mass has been recorded: "Oh delicate and sweet harmony! Oh beautiful Mary! how musically she sounds! how strangely she pleaseth my ear!" In spite of this christening, the object of Dr. Tresham's admiration is as decidedly a Tom Bell, as the puss in boots that appeared at a masquerade (Theodore Hook remembers when and where) was a tom cat. Often as the said Tom Bell has been mentioned, there is but one other anecdote recorded of him; it occurred on Thursday, the thirteenth day |