. London . t toldthem that it was the Ringing Island, and,indeed, they heard afar off a kind of aconfused and oft-repeated noise, thatseemed at a distance not unlike the soundof great, middle-sized, and little bells rungall at once. Commentators have been much exer-cised as to the city which the great Masterof Allegory had in view when he described Flie commentators! As if even a small master ofallegory, much less the great and illustrious Alcofribas Nasier,?could, or would, mean any one town in particular! Onemight as well search for the man whose portrait he paintedand calle
. London . t toldthem that it was the Ringing Island, and,indeed, they heard afar off a kind of aconfused and oft-repeated noise, thatseemed at a distance not unlike the soundof great, middle-sized, and little bells rungall at once. Commentators have been much exer-cised as to the city which the great Masterof Allegory had in view when he described Flie commentators! As if even a small master ofallegory, much less the great and illustrious Alcofribas Nasier,?could, or would, mean any one town in particular! Onemight as well search for the man whose portrait he paintedand called Panurge. He described all towns. For, in truth,every mediaeval city was an lie Sonnante, and the greater,the richer, the more populous, the more powerful was the•city, the louder and the more frequent were the jinglings andthe janglings, the sonorous clang and the melodious peal, the?chimings and the strikings, the music and the jarring of thethousand Bells. They rang all day long; they ran from the. 86 LONDON great Cathedral and from the little Parish Church ; from thestately monaster)-, the nunnery, the College of Priests, theSpital, the Chantry, the Chapel and the Hermitage. Theyrang for Festivals, for Fasts, for Pageants, for Processions, forBirths, Marriages and Funerals; for the election of cityofficers, for Coronations, for Victories and for daily service ;they rang to mark the day and the hour ; they rang in thebaby ; they rang out the passing soul ; they rang for thebride ; they rang in memory of the dead ; they rang forwork to begin and for work to cease ; they rang to exhort, toadmonish, to console. With their ringing the city was never quiet. Four milesout of London, the sound of the Bells rang in the ears of thedowncast prentice boy who sat upon the green slopes ofHighgate: the chimes of Bow struck merrily upon hisear above the tinkling of the sheep bell, the carol of thelark, and the song of the thrush. To him they brought apromise and a hope. What they brough
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbesantwa, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1892
