3-074-900 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Christmas Bell-Ringers, drawn by F. Dadd, 1883. 'The tuneful melody pealing from the venerable tower...[speaks] an implied message of "peace on earth, goodwill to men." Christmas Day and New-Year's Day must be deemed...such occasions as may appropriately be ushered in by the best performance of this kind. In the pleasant scene which our Artist has delineated, the bell-ringers appear to be encouraged by the presence of the Squire and some of his friends, accompanying the Parson, with the churchwarden and the parish clerk, to exert themselves for the general gratification. The costumes of these good people are those which were fashionable in the middle or early part of the last century...The labours of the belfry must be very fatiguing; and it will be observed that the village innkeeper has been sent for to supply a jug of good ale, which, having been first tasted by the gentry, will be dispensed, with discreet moderation, to refresh the actual performers...The drawing must pass, however, as an Illustration of the manners of a former age. With regard to the time-honoured practice of bellringing, its efficacy in awakening the sentiments of attachment to home, and in summoning good folk to religious observances, has been attested by many poets'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.