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<v Speaker 1>Chapter seventeen of Unknown London, written by Walter George Bell.

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<v Speaker 1>This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Janet,

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<v Speaker 1>Chapter seventeen, The Bells of Saint Clement's of late years.

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<v Speaker 1>The famous peal of bells of Saint Clement Danes in

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<v Speaker 1>a strand has been mute. The note of a single

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<v Speaker 1>bell you may hear when the hammer from the clock

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<v Speaker 1>strikes it, proclaiming the hour. That is all London people

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<v Speaker 1>are not observant. Thousand hurry by each working day into

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<v Speaker 1>Fleet Street and beyond, going in and out to business.

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<v Speaker 1>A cockney throng streaked with eleven of visitors from far

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<v Speaker 1>distant quarters of the globe who have been discharged at

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<v Speaker 1>Charing Cross terminus, which aptly has been described as one

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<v Speaker 1>of the gates of the world. Amid the rush of traffic,

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<v Speaker 1>and with the noisy hum of the city all around them,

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<v Speaker 1>probably few have missed the clang of the bells. Up

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<v Speaker 1>in the belfry, the long ropes dangle untouched by any hand. Sorrowfully,

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<v Speaker 1>the rector told me one day, as we passed out

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<v Speaker 1>under the dark tower with its embedded Norman pillars, into

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<v Speaker 1>the blaze of sunlight flooding the strand, that he dare

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<v Speaker 1>not ring the peel for fear of bringing the bells

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<v Speaker 1>down upon the ringer's heads. The reason thereof lies within

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<v Speaker 1>and above the stout oaken frame, which bears the immense

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<v Speaker 1>weight of all this swinging metal that has vibrated over

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<v Speaker 1>the city these many centuries past, with so much melody.

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<v Speaker 1>Might seem to an unskilled eye strong enough to resist

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<v Speaker 1>anything short of the crack of doom. But the plain

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<v Speaker 1>fact is that the constant swing of the bells has

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<v Speaker 1>worked the frame loose, stout as it is. Even more

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<v Speaker 1>strength is needed till a sum of about three hundred

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<v Speaker 1>pounds is available for fixing a new steel frame. The

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<v Speaker 1>belfry must remain silent. Saint Clement's bells belong to no

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<v Speaker 1>single parish, not even to Great London. They have rung

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<v Speaker 1>for untold sentries through the whole realm of nursery Land,

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<v Speaker 1>whose boundaries only the most distant oceans in compass oranges

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<v Speaker 1>and lemons, say the bells of Saint Clement's. Who is

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<v Speaker 1>there alive with English blood in his veins, who does

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<v Speaker 1>not remember the rhyme since earliest childhood, and who wrote

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<v Speaker 1>those lines. Someone has missed immortality by not leaving us

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<v Speaker 1>his name. No one even knows their date. Loftier verse

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<v Speaker 1>has been written than these jingles, But what proportion of

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<v Speaker 1>it will be so enduring? I am prone to suspect

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<v Speaker 1>that they are Elizabethan, a product of that great age,

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<v Speaker 1>of far greater poetry, which has given us so many

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<v Speaker 1>rhymes that live in nursery literature. The catch sayings with

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<v Speaker 1>which our youngest hopefuls seek to entrap their elders forgetting

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<v Speaker 1>that they themselves were once children are for the most

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<v Speaker 1>part of still earlier date. How many Cow's tales would

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<v Speaker 1>it take to reach the moon one if it were

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<v Speaker 1>long enough? That is delightfully familiar. But it has been

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<v Speaker 1>left to learned bibliophiles, graybeards with strained eyes, pouring through

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<v Speaker 1>gold rimmed spectacles over the earliest productions of the English

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<v Speaker 1>printing press, to discover that this little quip was printed

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<v Speaker 1>by one can do a word, Caxton's old assistant in

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<v Speaker 1>is Demande's Joyous, a nursery book issued from the sign

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<v Speaker 1>of the Sona in Fleet Street in the year fifteen ten.

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<v Speaker 1>Four sentries have not blunted its point, and still it

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<v Speaker 1>is potent to produce shouts of infantile laughter. Lend me

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<v Speaker 1>five farthings. Say the bells of Saint Martin's. When will

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<v Speaker 1>you pay me? Say the bells of Old Bailey? When

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<v Speaker 1>I am rich? Say the bells of Shoreditch? When will

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<v Speaker 1>that be? Say the bells of Stepney, Saint Martin's, the

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<v Speaker 1>bells of Old Bailey, Shoreditch, Stepney. They are all identified

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<v Speaker 1>in their proper names and places, And so is the

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<v Speaker 1>big Belle of beau Cheapside, which, with its I'm sure

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know closes The animated conversation between the London

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<v Speaker 1>belfries and the rhyme go soft distractedly. Here comes a

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<v Speaker 1>candle to light you to bed, and here comes a

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<v Speaker 1>chopper to chop off your head. I chop, chop eye.

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<v Speaker 1>Let a disturbing doubt like unto the chopper be admitted.

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<v Speaker 1>What have oranges and lemons, most delectable of foreign fruit,

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<v Speaker 1>to do with Saint Clement Danes, unless it be to

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<v Speaker 1>serve the need of a somewhat halting rhyme. The church

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<v Speaker 1>stands before Temple bar at the gateway of the City

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<v Speaker 1>of London. The association is by no means obvious Saint

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<v Speaker 1>Clement's bells sent their message over Drury Lane, which is

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<v Speaker 1>within the parish, and the Orange Girls of Drury Lane

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<v Speaker 1>have their place in the drama's history. Was not Sweet

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<v Speaker 1>Knell of Old Drury, most famous of all orange girls,

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<v Speaker 1>herself a king's favorite. But to pierce the mystery one

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<v Speaker 1>must go deeper than such superficial explanations. The solution was

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps found by the late Reverend J. Septimus Pennington, whose

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<v Speaker 1>long and devoted labors as rector of Saint Clement Danes

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<v Speaker 1>will never be forgotten. Clement's Inn, now modernized and let

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<v Speaker 1>out for offices and residences, was a lawyer's inn close by,

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<v Speaker 1>and there it was the custom at the new year

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<v Speaker 1>for the servants to go to all the chambers, presenting

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<v Speaker 1>gifts of oranges and lemons to the tenants, while from

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<v Speaker 1>the church belfry there rang a joyous peal. Still the

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<v Speaker 1>question remains whether the custom was older than the rhyme,

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<v Speaker 1>or took birth from it, And as we do not

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<v Speaker 1>know the date of the latter, I cannot undertake to

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<v Speaker 1>sit in judgment. Lawyers of note have been there, just

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<v Speaker 1>as Shallow, you recall, was of Clemens in boasting the

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<v Speaker 1>braggart that often he had heard the chimes at midnight.

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<v Speaker 1>Another city church has claimed the rhyme as its own.

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<v Speaker 1>Saint Clement's Eastcheap stands not far back from the river. Steamboats,

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<v Speaker 1>trailing long lines of smoke behind them, come up the Thames,

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<v Speaker 1>passing to the pool under the raised bascules of Tower Bridge,

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<v Speaker 1>bringing golden oranges resplendent with the sunshine of Spain and

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<v Speaker 1>lemons from Sicily. And no side is more familiar at

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<v Speaker 1>London Bridge than that of the files of men like

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<v Speaker 1>loaded ants, carrying the heavy boxes of fruit from ship

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<v Speaker 1>to shore. But sentiment will continue to associate the nursery

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<v Speaker 1>lines with Saint clement Danes, because, if for no other reason,

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<v Speaker 1>by its unrivaled position, it has become one of the

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<v Speaker 1>best known churches in all London. Who will tell off

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<v Speaker 1>hand where Saint clement E's jeep, the least notable among

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<v Speaker 1>Wren's company of churches, even stands. Ten bells hang in

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<v Speaker 1>the now silent Belfrey, a little lone whorld to itself,

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<v Speaker 1>poised high within four walls, undisturbed by anything which agitates

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<v Speaker 1>the great city below. If ever an owl sought a

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<v Speaker 1>roosting place, wherein to blink and pring himself before setting

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<v Speaker 1>out on nocturnal flights over London. Here I feel sure

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<v Speaker 1>he would be found. The tenor bell, big brother of

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<v Speaker 1>this musical family, weighs twenty four sentim weight. Eight of

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<v Speaker 1>the company were cast by William and Philip Whiteman in

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen ninety three, eleven years after Sir Christopher Wren had raised.

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<v Speaker 1>The present church. Saint Clement Danes, however, is in origin

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<v Speaker 1>one of the oldest churches in the metropolis, the foundation

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<v Speaker 1>taking us far back into the mists of antiquity. There

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<v Speaker 1>was an Anglo Saxon building at this spot when William

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<v Speaker 1>the Conqueror and his host landed near Hastings, and the

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<v Speaker 1>Danes in the name preserves memory of the rule of

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<v Speaker 1>still earlier Alien kings. Saint Clement Danes has long treasured

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<v Speaker 1>the possession of its sanctus bell swung high up in

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<v Speaker 1>the belfry above the chimes. Such a belle is, of

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<v Speaker 1>course a direct link with the early faith and days

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<v Speaker 1>before the Reformation. I feel some contrition in referring to

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<v Speaker 1>this matter at all, some regret in performing an unpleasant task,

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<v Speaker 1>but having assured a society of archaeologists that this is

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<v Speaker 1>an original sanctispell. It is now due from me, with

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<v Speaker 1>fuller information in possession, to say that it is not.

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<v Speaker 1>In earlier times, the Saint's bell played a part of

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<v Speaker 1>no mean importance in the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church.

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<v Speaker 1>At the point in the service where the words occur

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<v Speaker 1>Sanctus Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus du Sabbath, the sanctus was wrung

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<v Speaker 1>and sent its message over the whole of the parish,

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<v Speaker 1>that those who were inevitably absent through sickness or upon

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<v Speaker 1>the bed of death might humbly kneel or bow in

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<v Speaker 1>supplication with their fellow worshipers within the church. Many examples

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<v Speaker 1>of the Sanctus bell, no doubt, survived the Reformation, and

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<v Speaker 1>were hanging in the Belfries when the Great Fire of

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen sixty six swept through London, destroying in its path

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<v Speaker 1>no fewer than eighty seven of the one hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>nine city churches. In that tremulous conflagration, the bells great

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<v Speaker 1>and small were melted into shapeless masses of metal, or,

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<v Speaker 1>falling from great heights, shattered themselves into fragments. Saint Clement

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<v Speaker 1>Danes stood outside the area of the fire which stopped

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<v Speaker 1>in Fleet Street. Its bell tower was safe. Robertus mought

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<v Speaker 1>me fesset is molded in the bell metal in the

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<v Speaker 1>pretty gothic letter with a date. The question turns on

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<v Speaker 1>the date the weathered figures of which have been read

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen thirty eight and fifteen fifty eight. I climbed over

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<v Speaker 1>the silent peel and up an iron ladder to the

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<v Speaker 1>topmast platform, leaving footprints in the dust of London blown

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<v Speaker 1>to this height, to get the testimony of my own eyes,

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<v Speaker 1>and left still undecided. Robert Mott supplies the key. He

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<v Speaker 1>was a belt founder in Whitechapel who is not trading

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<v Speaker 1>in fifteen thirty eight, but was so trading later that century.

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<v Speaker 1>In the year fifteen fifty eight, Elizabeth came to the

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<v Speaker 1>English throne footnote one. Yet to add other complications. Messrs

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<v Speaker 1>Mears and Stainbank, the famous bell founders who carry on

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<v Speaker 1>today in Whitechapel, the business originally established by Robert Mott,

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<v Speaker 1>tell me that from their own examination they find the

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<v Speaker 1>bell was cast in fifteen eighty eight, and having climbed

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<v Speaker 1>the tower again, I agree with them end footnote one,

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<v Speaker 1>and I have imagined the bell sending out its joyous

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<v Speaker 1>sound for the first time, an appeal rung after the

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<v Speaker 1>darkest reign in our history. In Welcome of the Protestant Queen.

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<v Speaker 1>You may from the wide strand catch just a glimpse

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<v Speaker 1>of the bell high overhead, where through the pierced tower

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<v Speaker 1>the flagstaffs bear the weight of streaming bunting. On days

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<v Speaker 1>of festival, each hour is struck upon it by the clock.

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<v Speaker 1>A simple use the same note, silvery clear and penetrating

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<v Speaker 1>that to day it gives out must have been heard

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<v Speaker 1>by Shakespeare, for it rang in Shakespeare's London, by Milton

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<v Speaker 1>when he lived in Saint Bride's passage, Fleet Street, by

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<v Speaker 1>the luckless Lovelace dying in poor Lodgings in Gunpowder Alley,

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<v Speaker 1>by doctor Johnson, who regularly attended worship at this church,

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<v Speaker 1>where his pew is marked by a tablet, by all

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<v Speaker 1>those of the great dead whose ghosts flock through temple bar.

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<v Speaker 1>The clock strikes first on the tenor bell, and then

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<v Speaker 1>a moment later the note is repeated on Mott's bell.

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<v Speaker 1>The arrangement is peculiar to Saint Clement Danes. Perchance, the

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<v Speaker 1>old horologist who made this clock. Wiley in his day,

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<v Speaker 1>determined to give himself two chances of accuracy in time keeping.

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<v Speaker 1>A joyful peal from Saint Clement Dane's Belfrey, standing at

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<v Speaker 1>the very gate of the city, has made a greeting

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<v Speaker 1>to every English sovereign passing through to his coronation at Westminster,

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<v Speaker 1>or returning to honour the city of London with a

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<v Speaker 1>visit with the Belfry mute. It seems as though a

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<v Speaker 1>bit of old London's long history and tradition had passed

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<v Speaker 1>out of it. Wind in the high Tower sweeps across

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<v Speaker 1>the bells. Their note is as true as ever, but

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<v Speaker 1>they hang listlessly, no one daring, because of the shaking frame,

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<v Speaker 1>to give a turn to the wheels which would release

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<v Speaker 1>all this melody. Who will help the rector to give

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<v Speaker 1>back to London the bells of Saint Clement's end of

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<v Speaker 1>Chapter seventeen