And these bells, Hautclerc, Douce, Clement, Austin, Marie, Gabriel et
John, as they are named in the hexameter, are the famous Osney bells,
which were held to be the finest in England in the days when
bell-founding was a serious art and a solemn rite, when bells were
baptized and anointed, exorcised and blessed by the bishop, so that they
might have power to drive the devil out of the air, to calm tempests, to
extinguish fire, and to recreate even the dead. They are hung within the
Bell-Tower (above the hall-staircase of Christ Church), which Mr Bodley
has built about the wooden structure which contains them, and which he
intended to surmount with a lofty and intricate wooden superstructure.