Ellacombe, and when every local bell history, or
encyclopaedia of any note, give full information both
as to the early use, construction, and form of bells, it is
needless to add another word upon such topics in such a
production "as this; and when, as is the case at the present
time, so many good books are to be so easily obtained, on Change
Ringing and Bells, with examples of the various methods or inter-
changing of positions, by fixed rules or courses, they would at first
sight and thought appear to be subjects, which have been literally
exhausted, and in which no room remains for further attempts at
description in letter-press. However, such is not the fact, for the
young beginner now, especially if no experienced guide can be
secured, to give advice in person, is in the position of a schoolboy
who is called upon to work out a calculation in decimals, before he
clearly understands the rule or the method of pointing, unless he
has the good fortune to find and secure a copy of "Wigram's



Change Ringing Disentangled," or " Troyte's Change Ringing to
Six Bell Work," which with some amount of study, he may in time
get on and become proficient.
The want of something more, as the first steps to ringing, has
been felt and acknowledged by many persons at many times ; and
to supply this want is all that is now attempted— ^ not in any way to
disparage the well-known works of others more skilled in the art of
ringing, but to lead upwards and onwards to those works by short
and easy words and lessons, is the wish of the Author in the
following pages.
NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
