The School of Recreation Part 9

1. For _Raising a Peal of Bells true_, the modern & best Practice recommends the _swiftest and quickest possible_, every one taking a.s.sistance to raise his Bell, as its going requires: The _lesser_ Bells as _Treble_, _&c._ being by main strength _held down_ in their first Sway (or pull) to get time for the striking of the rest of Larger Compa.s.s; and so continued to be strong pulled till Frame-high, and then may be slackned: The _Bigger_, as _Tenor_, &c. must be _pincht_ or checkt over head, that the Notes may be heard to strike roundly and hansomely. Observe that all the Notes strike round at one Pull: I do not mean the First; but 'tis according to the Bigness and Weightiness of your Bells: However in raising a Peal, do not let one _Bell_ strike before the rest, or miss when the rest do; this is contrary to the Strict Rules of _true Ringing_: And this is called _Round-Ringing_. Now if you design to raise a Peal of Bells for _Changes_, you ought to raise them to a Set-Pull, as the most proper for commanding the Notes, and he who is not well skilled to manage his Bell at a _Set-Pull_, will be apt to drop or overturn it, be in a Wood, and fruitlessly toil and moil himself. Therefore in practising the Setting of a Bell, cast your Eye about the other Bell-Ropes, during your managing your own, that you may accustome your selfe to manage it according to the _Change_.

2. For _Ringing at a Low Compa.s.s_, is thus observed: By keeping a due _punctum_ or beat of Time, in the successive striking one after another of every Bell; the _best Ringer_ being set to the _Treble_, that may guide and direct the rest of the Notes in their due _Measure_.

3. For _Ceasing a Peal of Bells_; Let them fall gradually from a set _Peal_, checking them only at Sally, till the low Compa.s.s renders it useless; and when so low, that for want of Compa.s.s, they can scarce strike at Back-stroak; then let the _Treble_-Ringer stamp, as a Signal, to notify, that the next time they come to strike at the Fore-stroke, to check them down, to hinder their striking the Back-stroke; yet Fore-stroke continued, till brought to a neat and gracefull Chime, which may be the _Finis_ to that _Peal_.

Thus much in short, for _Raising_, _Round-Ringing_, and _Ceasing_ a _Peal_ of _Bells_; I come next to lead you forth into that s.p.a.cious _Field_ of Variety of _Changes_, and present you with Instructions that may be meerly necessary, for the right Understanding the several kinds of them.

Now in _Ringing Changes_, two of our best Senses, are to be employed, _viz._ The _Ear_, and the _Eye_: The _Ear_, Hearing when to make a _Change_; and the _Eye_ directing the _Bell_ in making it: The _Bells_ being the Object of the Former, and the _Bell-Ropes_ the Object of the Latter. And to render both the Eye and Ear Usefull in Ringing _Changes_, these _Five_ things are throughly to be Understood

_First._ Endeavour to distinguish the _Notes_ of a _Peal_ of _Bells_, one from another while Ringing.

_Secondly_, Learn to apprehend the Places of the _Notes_.

_Thirdly_, Understand the Precendency of _Notes_.

_Fourthly_, How to make a _Change_ in _Ringing_.

_Fifthly_, and _Lastly_. How to Practise the four fore-going Notions in General.

1. _To know the Notes of a Peal of Bells asunder_ (which is easy in _Round-Ringing_) in _Changes_ is thus: Get the skill of Tuning them with your _Voice_, by imitating their Notes while _Ringing_. Or if you are acquainted, either by your self or Friend, with some _Singing-master_, or one who has skill in _Singing_, get him to instruct you in the true Pitch of any _Note_, and aid your distinguis.h.i.+ng them; otherwise you may be puzzled in this, to know which is _Treble_, which _Second_, &c. as in 532641, _&c._

2. To know the Places of the _Notes_, is no way better to be apprehended than thus: The Pract.i.tioner ought to form an _Idea_ in his Head of the Place of each _Note_, whether in a direct _Line_, or _Obliquely_; and representing them by a _Figure_ in his mind, see (as it were) by the Eye of his Understanding each stroke of the _Bell_, as the _Treble_, 1.

_Second_ 2. _Third_ 3. _&c._ so that as the _Ear_ is to direct him, when to make the Change, so a right Apprehension of the _Motion_ and _Places_ of the _Notes_, ought to be a means to guide his Ear.

3. The Precedency of _Notes_, is of a very Obvious Demonstration; thus: In Ringing _Changes_, the Fore and Back-stroke, successively following one another, are properly said to _Lye behind_ one another, according to their places of striking. Or in short, in 12345. the _Note_ that leads either at Fore or Back-stroak, is said to _Lye before_ the rest, and the last to be behind. As the 2 is said to lye behind the 1, so it lyeth before the 3, as the 3 lyeth behind the 2, so it lyeth before the 4. And so of as many as are _Rung_.

4. The manner of making a _Change_, is very common, and needs no particular, but general Rule; That it is made by moving one _Note_ into anothers place, Up and Down, as Occasion requires; but all usually made by two _Notes_ standing one next the other, as hereafter may be Observed.

_Lastly_, In your Ringing _Changes_, these two things (in which consists the practick part of this Art) are to be rightly considered. _First_, Readily to know which two _Bells_ are to make the succeeding _Change_.

And _Secondly_, to consider (if you are concern'd in it) what _Bell_ you are to follow in making it. To understand which the more perfectly, you must imprint in your memory, the Method of the _Changes_ p.r.i.c.k'd in _Figures_, and to be expert likewise in setting them down divers wayes, and making any _Figure_ a _Hunt_ at Pleasure; and thus without pausing or hesitating to consider the Course, you may throughly understand the Methods; the Four preceding Observations being first perfectly understood.

There are two wayes of _Ringing Changes_, viz. By _Walking_ them, as the Artists stile it; or by _Whole-pulls_, or _Half-pulls_: _Walking_ is, when in one _Change_ the _Bells_ go round, _Four_, _Six_, or _Eight_ times; which is a most incomparable way to improve a young Pract.i.tioner, by giving him time to consider, which two _Bells_ do make the next succeeding _Change_, and in making it, what _Bell_ each is to follow; so that by this means (by his industry) he may be capable of Ringing at _Whole-Pulls_; Which is, when the _Bells_ go round in a Change at fore and back-stroke; and a new Change is made every time they are pulled down at Sally: This an Ancient Practice, but is now laid aside, since we have learnt a more advantageous way of hanging our _Bells_, that we can manage a _Bell_ with more ease at a Set-Pull than formerly: So that Ringing at _Half-Pulls_ is now the modern general Practice; that is, When one Change is made at Fore-Stroke, another at Back-Stroke, _&c._

I have one Thing more to add in these _introductory_ Rules, and that in short is this: He that Rings the slowest _Hunt_, ought to notify the _extreme Changes_; which is, when the Leading _Bell_ is pulling down, that he might make the Change next before the Extreme, he ought to say, _Extreme_. By this means, betwixt the Warning and the Extreme there will be one compleat Change.

_Of Changes_, &c.

There are _two kinds of Changes_, viz. _Plain Changes_, and _Cross-Peals_; which Terms do denote the _Nature_ of them; for as the first is stiled _Plain_, so are its Methods easy; and as the second is called _Cross_, so are its Methods cross and intricate: The First have a general Method, in which all the Notes (except Three) have a direct _Hunting-Course_, moving gradually under each other, plainly and uniformly: _Plain_ are likewise termed _single Changes_, because there is but one single Change made in the striking all the Notes round, either at fore or back-stroke. But the Second is _various_, each Peal differing in its Course from all others; and _in Cross-Peals as many Changes may be made as the Notes will permit_. In short, as to _Plain-Changes_, I shall not dilate on them here, it being so _plainly_ understood by every one that lately have rung a _Bell_ in peal; All therefore I shall add is this, That any two Notes that strike next together may make a Change, which may be done either _single_ or _double_, as you list. The _single_, by changing Two Notes; and the _Double_, by changing Four, _i. e._ Two to make one Change, and two another; which is however called _One double Change_, and not two Changes; because tis made in striking the Notes of the _Bells_ once round. For the rest, common Observation and Practice bids me stop here, and demands a Clearing those dark Intricacies which attend _Cross-Peals_.

_Of Cross-Peals._

_Art_, being a curious Searcher and Enquirer into the hidden and abstruse _Arcana_'s of Difficulties, having found out that dark and remote Corner of Obscurity, wherein the nature of these _Cross-Peals_ lay at first invelopped, has exhibited by its _Proselytes_ the ensuing Demonstrations of that which before lay mantled up in Doubt: And to effect this, these _Favourites of Art_ have, like ingenious Architects, made Order and Method the _Basis_, on which the whole Structure depends: For in these _Cross-Peals_ we must observe the _prime Movement_, which sets the whole Frame a going, and that is called the _Hunt_, which hath _One constant Uniform Motion throughout the Peal_, and different from that of the other Notes; and indeed by this the whole Course of the Peal is Steered. This keeps a continual motion through the other Notes, _i. e._ From Leading, to strike behind, and from thence again to Lead; which is called one _compleat Course_.

Some Peals upon _five Bells_ consist of _single_ Courses, wherein are ten Changes, and twelve Courses make the Peal. Others upon Five, consist of Double Courses, wherein are twenty Changes to every Course, and six Courses in the Peal.

Upon _six Bells_ there are likewise _single_ and _double_ Courses, _viz._ Twelve Changes in every single Course, as in _Grandsire Bob_, &c.

and Twenty-four Changes in every Double Course, as in _Colledge Bobs_, that being the first Change of every Course, wherein the _Hunt_ leaves Leading: In short, judiciously observe the first Course of any _Cross-Peal_, and you will soon see the general Method of the whole Peal: All Courses in Cross-Peals agreeing in these following three Respects. First, _In the motion of the Hunt_. Secondly, _In the motion of the rest of the Notes_: And Thirdly, _In making the Changes_. Which three things being well (to omit Instances of Demonstration) and narrowly observed, will be very helpful both in p.r.i.c.king and ringing Courses; the first and third for directing you in p.r.i.c.king them, and the first and second in Ringing them.

There is one _Difficulty_ to be removed e're I can come to p.r.i.c.k down those _Peals_ I design to be the Subject of the Discourse of this _Epitome_, and that is, _How to make the first Changes at the beginning of each Peal_; I mean to make the _Second_, _Third_, _Fourth_, &c.

_whole Hunts_; and this in short is thus directed: In any _Cross-Peal_ the _Whole Hunt_ may move either up or down at the beginning; and the Motion of the _Whole Hunt_, in the first Course of each of the following Peals, will direct the first Motion of any _Cross-hunt_, and by Consequence of making the first Changes in that Peal. Taking along with you this Observation.

That whensoever the first Change of any Peal happens to be _single_, it must be made at the back-stroke, to prevent _cutting Compa.s.s_; and the like when a double Change happens first in a Peal of _Triples and doubles_: But when it happens, that the first Change is made at the Back-stroke, then Consequently the Bells at the end of the Peal will come round at a Fore-stroke Change.

I shall omit speaking to any of the several _Peals_ on _four or five Bells_; for that in my Opinion little _Musick_ is heard, though much _practical Observation_ is made, from them; and therefore shall begin with _Grandsire-Bob_, as having mentioned it but just before in my general View I made of _Cross-Peals_.

_Grandsire Bob._

_Bob_ Changes take their Name from this, _viz._ When the _Treble_ leads in the _Second_ and _Third_, and the _Fifth_ and _Sixth_'s places, then they are called _Bob-Changes_. In Ringing which you are to observe these Rules, _viz._

Whatsoever Bells you follow when you _Hunt up_, the same Bells in the same order you must follow in _Hunting down_; as in the Changes here p.r.i.c.kt, where the _Treble_ hunting up _First_ follow _Second_, then _Fourth_, and then _Sixth_; when it comes behind, _First_ follows _Second_, in hunting down _Fourth_; and when hunted up follows _Sixth_ in the same Order: The like may be observed in Ringing any other Bell, with this Difference betwixt the Whole-hunt and the rest, _viz._ Every time the Whole-hunt leaves the _Treble_'s place, and hunts up, it followeth different Bells from what it did at its first hunting up.

In the ensuing Peal here p.r.i.c.kt are _Eighteen-score_ Changes, wanting one. It may be Rung with any _Hunts_, and begin the Changes _Triple_ and _Double_: You may make your Extreme at the first, second, or third _single Bob_; or the first, second, or third time, that the half and _quarter-hunts_ dodg behind; the _single_ must be made behind in either of these.

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Thus much for the _Grandsire-Bob_; I shall next collect what _London Peals_ I think most Harmonious, and agreeable, without troubling my self to go to _Oxford_, or _Nottingham_, or _Redding_, to enquire after their different Methods of _Peales_, as indeed needless; and my reason is this: Because I think the same Rules for _Peales_ that are suitable to our _London Genius_, may challenge likewise an Acceptance amongst other _Cities_; provided their _Steeples_ are furnished with as many, and as good _Bells_, and their _Belfree's_ with as ingenious and elaborate _Ringers_ as here in _London_.

I shall begin then with _Peales upon Six Bells_, and herein in order, measure out the Delights on _Peals_ from _Six_ to _Eight_ Bells, and setting out early, present you with

_The Morning Exercise._

_Doubles_ and _Singles_. The whole _Hunt_ is the _Treble_, which _Hunteth_ up into the _Second_, _Third_, and _Fourth_ places, lying twice in each; and then lyeth still in the _Sixth_ place, having dodged behind, and makes another, and then _Hunts_ down as it _Hunted_ up, and then leads four times. Observing the manner of its p.r.i.c.king, and its Practice, may excuse any further defining it.

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261534 216543 216534 126543 126534 162543 162534 ------ 164352 164325 _bob._ 163452 163425 ------ 165243 165234 156243 156234 ------ 154326 154362 _bob._ 153426 153462 ------ 152643 152634 125643 125634 ------ 124365 124356 142365 142356 ------ 146532 146523 _bob._ 145632 145623 ------ 143265 143256 134265 134256 ------ 136524 136542 _bob._ 135624 135642 ------ 132465 132456 123465 123456 ------

This will go a 120 _Changes_, and by making _Bobs_, 240, 360, 720.

_A Cure for _Melancholy_._ _Doubles_ and _Singles_.

I should think it needless to explain the method of p.r.i.c.k'd Peales, and give a large Definition of them, when their plain Demonstration might be sufficient; However, as the Old _Phrase_ is, _Because 'tis usual_, something shall be said of this too.

The _Treble_ is the whole _Hunt_, as in the former, and leads four times, and lyeth behind as many, and twice in every other place; the two _Bells_ in the 3d. add 4th. places continue dodging, when the _Treble_ moves out of the 4th. place; untill it comes down there again, and then the two hindmost dodge, till the _Treble_ displaceth them; who maketh every double _Change_, except when it lieth behind, and then the double is on the four first, and on the four last when it leads. Every Single (except when the _Treble_ lies there) is in the 5th. and 6th. places; or if possessed by the _Treble_, then in the 3d. and 4th. places: Every _Bell_ (except the _Treble_) lies four times in the Second place: But enough; a word is enough to the Wise. See it here Deciphered.

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This will go _Six-score Changes_, but by making _bobs_, it will go 240, 360, or 720. The _bob_ is a double _Change_ at the leading of the _Treble_, in which the _Bell_ in the 4th Place lyeth still.

London Nightingale, _Doubles_ and _Singles_.

The Whole-_Hunt_ is the _Treble_, who lyeth four times before, and as many behind, and twice in every other place: The two hind _bells_ continue dodging, when the _Treble_ moves down out of the _Fifth_ place, till he comes there again, the _bell_ in the _Fourth_ place lying still all the while: When the two hind _bells_ aforesaid leave dodging, then the two _First bells_ take their dodging places, till dispossessed again, by the return of the said Hind _bells_ to their dodging; and then they Cease.

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