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From 1605 until early C19th, this bell was rung outside the condemned cell by the bellman of St. Sepulchre's at midnight on the eve of an execution. The bellman gave "12 solemn twoles with double strokes" on the handbell and, having woken the prisoners, he "delivered with an audible voice" a poem concluding with the lines "Examine well yourselves, in time repent / That you may not to eternal flames be sent, / And when St. Sepulchre's Bell in the morning tolls, / The Lord above have mercy on your souls."