8589357118

12 I?op<-Sight.

should elapse bcfore the treble agam saunds at hand-strohe. The sounds of the helis may therefore be represented thus, the mark “ — ” representing the silent interwal, making thirteen intervals in all:—

123456123456—123456123456—123456(23456—12 3456123456-&c.

Giving this pause, after the termination of everyother round, is tcrmed “ giving lead." Tliis “opcn lead," as it is sometimes called, gives a distinctness and finish to ringmg—especially change-ringing—wbich it otherwise Jamentably lacksT

In ringing rounds, the treble, of course, Seads, the second beli follows the treble, the third the second, and so on. The ringers of the bells that thus foJlow one another have for their guide the ropę of the beli that irnmediately precedes theni. Each ringer, therefore, allows the ropę of the beli that he follows just to comrnence its movement before his own is pulled. Of course, the amount of “ start,” if I may use the term, that each ringer has to aliow his neighbour's ropę bas to be regulated by the resulting sounds. Each ringer should therefore count the sounds,and by using his ears as attentivelyas possible endeavour to strike hisown beli in correct time. Should the instructorcaJi his attention to the fact that he is striking too w i de or tooclose, let kim remember that the least possible alteration may make the reąuircd difference. I have known men, w hen told to ciose her in ” at one blow and to “ keep her off” almost irnmediately

* For some rcason or other it is the irwariable custum in Yorkshire to ring 5ix bells without grnng these open leads; indfted, l have hcardeight-bell ringers who did not observe this rule. Thus, alt ho u gh therti are some first-rate companies of six-beJl ringers in this county, tbe i/ery precision of their ringing gives a monotonous sound to the ehanges—a recitation, in fact, without punctuatiorL So firmly is the practice rooled that ne<arly alt Yorkshire ringers (1 pray that the leader will excepl me) eonsider that in ibis matter ihey are right. and that the ringers in all other countics are wrong ; and yet those very men have never heard six bells run# wilh leads, nor have even thought of altempting it.