Gents Mag 1829 part 2 p.501

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1829 part 2 p.501
bellringing
	Bellringing London, Nov. Mr. URBAN, THERE is, I am grieved to find, a spirit methodistically set against Fairs, Wakes, Morris-dancing, Maying, Bell-ringing, and all old English sports and pastimes, without distinction. These innocent amusements are worthy of some respect, were it only because they were the delight of our ancestors of the olden time, who were certainly as well meaning and orderly people as their posterity. Being a lover of the noble science of Campanology, and knowing that it is not only healthful and tranquillizing to those who are its students, but has a most enlivening and joyous effect on all who can appreciate the sweet undulating melody, I am concerned to observe a strong desire in some quarters to 'put down' this truly national and Christian recreation. I have rung in many a peal, and can safely say, that I never found my companions ought but good fellows, and had any one of them been in an unpleasant humour when he came to the pull, he never failed to be in good spirits when he retired, nay the village itself became more hilarious as the peal increased in its intricate chimes. England has been for ages justly famous for the art, from which in former times it was denominated 'the Bell-ringing country,' an appellation that I trust it will still continue to deserve, maugre the heartless enemies of tinnulous melody. Meantime I cannot refrain from saying somewhat in defence of this innocent and scientific amusement; for I view the hostility to this appropriate and almost sole use of the steeple, as an insidious attempt on the Church itself. Enemies to this diversion appear, indeed, not to be confined to the present day; for in the curious work entitled 'Campanalogia,' published in the time of Charles II. it is regretted that, 'many malicious aspersions were cast upon this diverting, ingenious, harmless, and healthful art, by partial and extrajudicial persons;' but in this advanced state of society it is discovered that ringing the bells shakes not only the steeple but the whole fabric of the church, and adjacent buildings; and St. Mary le Bow, with her celebrated bells, dear to all natives of the land yhent Cockayne, is silenced without a peal. To be sure the 'rocking of the steeple' may not be very agreeable to its near neighbours. Those sensitive people who are unable to bear a slight vibration are much to be pitied, in being still subjected to the grating noise and heavy incessant rattling of some thousand carriages. Alas! I have heard, when the world had not the light afforded by the high civilization of the present age, that when the tower shook it proved the goodness of the masonry, the walls being well cemented, solid, and all of a piece as it were, but these were old-fashioned notions. I, however, should like to know whether a tower was ever actually pulled down by ringing the bells?
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