“ Roby observes that this tradition is an idle and impertinent invention, as the old ladies might each have had her way by building a tower and surmounting it by a spire. But who can say whether, in self-will, one lady would like to see her tower capped, surmounted, and so to speak, extinguished, by the spire of her sister? ”

“ Where each asterisk is marked are the rose, portcullis, and fleur-de-lis. The Lancashire rose and the portcullis (borne by the Countess of Richmond and Derby, as a daughter of the Duke of Somerset) were favourite badges of Henry VII., who, besides the fleur-de-lis of France, being usually quartered at that time in the royal arms of England, had some claim to that bearing as the grandson of Sir Owen Tudor and Catherine of France, relict of Henry V. Henry VII. visited the neighbourhood, at Lathom House, the year before this bell was cast ”