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by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

Inscriptions for a peal of eight bells
Language: English 
Thomas Tremble new made me
Eighteen hundred and fifty-three:
Why he did I fail to see.
I was well toned by William Brine,
Seventeen hundred and twenty-nine.
Now, recast I weakly whine!
Fifteen hundred used to be
My date but since they melted me
'Tis only eighteen fifty-three.
Henry Hopkins got me made
And I summon folk as bade;
Not to much purpose I'm afraid!
I like-wise: for I bang and bid
In commoner metal than I did,
Some of me being stolen and hid.
I, too, since in a mould they flung me.
Drained of my silver and re-hung me,
So that in tin-like tones I tongue me.
In nineteen hundred so 'tis said,
They cut my canon off my head
And made me look scalped, scraped and dead.
I'm the peal's tenor still, but rue it!
Once it took two to swing me through it:
Now I'm re-hung,
One dolt can do it!

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "Inscriptions for a peal of eight bells", appears in Human Shows, Far Phantasies, Songs, and Trifles, first published 1925 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Nicholas Marshall (b. 1942), "Inscriptions for a peal of eight bells", published 1965 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Nicholas Maw (1935 - 2009), "Inscriptions for a peal of eight bells" [ tenor and guitar ], from Six Interiors, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-15
Line count: 25
Word count: 155

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