Sir, - Frank Macdonald's reference (December 4th, in a review of Peter Somerville Large's book about Dublin) to vergers of Christ Church being "imprisoned" for alleged failure to ring the bells merrily enough for the birth of the Prince of Wales in 1688, amplifies an error. As Archbishop William King pointed out shortly after the event in which "officers of Christ Church" were "committed to the stocks", if it were true that the bells were not rung merrily enough, "it was the ringers' fault, not theirs" (The State Of The Protestants In Ireland During The State King James's Government. London, 1692).
The ringers were members of our society of ringers, in existence since 1670. As to a lack of merriness, "no body, apart from his Lordship (the Lord Mayor) could detect any such thing in their ringing", as Archbishop King pointed out. - Yours, etc.,
Ringing Master,
Christ Church Cathedral
Society of Change Ringers,
Dublin.