The Clerk of Bow Bell

A cockney is said to be anyone born within the sound of Bow bells, though Chambers notes that Stow never mentions the saying. The bell of St Mary-le-Bow was rung every night at nine, and a mercer left property in 1472 to keep it. Stow tells how the apprentices of Cheapside thought the clerk rang it too late and pinned up a rhyme threatening him with a beating, and the clerk answered with a rhyme of his own promising to ring it when they liked.