The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware register., 1824-12-09

times, there will be more weddings the pre-
sent wear and the year to come, than there
has been for many years past.
REFLECTIONS OF, A STUDENT.
There is no man of ordinary scnsibilty
who has not often experienced the pcnsive
feeling and melancholy pleasure which the
twilight of a fine autumnal evening is calcu-
lated to afford. 1t is not the scene itself,
beautiful as it is; it is not the brilliant amber
Of the sky-thc variegated clouds FURNISHED
with the golden rays of the setting sun-the
hills s'blue fading int mist'-the deepening
shades, and calm repose OF nature, that pro-
duce the feelings he experiences. Ihe mind
is, indeed, operated upon by the scene around
him, but the nameless charm OF association
gives to it nearly all its beauty and its power.
The effect of such scene, lovely as it is IN
itself, may be still increased by the sounds
of distant music dying upon the ear, OF the
toll Of far-off bell floating on the breeze.
Goldsmith has described all the fine images
which constitute the beauty OF such scene
with great poetical scnsibility:
Sweet was the sound when, oft, at evenings close
Up yuntler hill the village murinur rose.
/ The swain responsive AS the milk kmaidsung,
The sober herd that iow'd to meet her young,
The noisy geese that gabhled o'er the pool,
The p!a, ful children ins, let loose from school,
The watch dogs voice that bay'd the whispring
wind,
And The oud'laugh that spike the vacant mink
These all in soft confusion sought the shade,
And filed each phuse the nightingale had made
i But the finest addition to such scene is
the sound OF a bell, heard amidst the still
ncssand repose of the twilight hour. Gray
has happily availcd himself of this circum-
stance in his beautiful Elegy, beginning
"Tne curIew tolls the knell of parting day" :"
and also collected together some ofthcir i'm
ages which form the poetry oftwilight:
+ Now fades the glimmering landscape on the nigh
AID all tie air solemn stiffness holds,
: Save where tie bee,le wheels his droning eish
And drowsy tinklnss hull the distant iol'l>.
Collins, too, has struck upon arly the saml
train Of images
:: Now air is hush'd save where The weak ey'd ha
;, 4 i,h short shriil Shrek fits by ON leatheri
wing,
Or where the beetle winds
, His small but sulien horn.
Y The sound of tho bell heard at twiligh
: has also been noticed by Dante, whom Gra!
: has so happily initiated
--squla di lontan',
) Che poja y giomo pianser, che 81 more.
), ----o'er the long vale Ginning soft and slow
The mourntui tones of;w gifts passing bell
d While on the subject of bells, it will no
h be uninteresting to trace their origin an'
:. first introduction into churches.
d BELLS were known as early as the days o
!. Moses, who ordered that the high priest
: should have their blue robes adorned wit
d golden bells, which were worn, according t
: Calmet, to give notice that they were pass
: ing, and about to enter into the sanctuary
: They were also used among the Persians an
IS Greeks in remote ages, and employed to
g various purposes. Their uses were thu
: enumerated at much later period OF TIA
6 world:
: Laudo Deum verum, plcbem voco congrcgo clt
~ rum,
\, Definctos po,t,, pes'em fugo, festa decoro
- Rells were likewise known to the Roman.
f and called by different names, viz. noia, IN.
1t HanabuiuS, camfana, hetasHs, crotal2h
e and siraum. These were however, OF sma
h, dimensions, and not like those used in church
u es at the present day. Durandus thus ent
l. merates the different sorts of bells oclongin
to sacred cdl1CeS, ana their respective ust'
Sc Syuiha, cymbaium, aofa, nolaia, ordou6
as camhana, cemhaaa, and signum. The squi
n la was placed in the refectory, the cymbi
n lum in the cloister, the nola in the choi
,y the nolua in the clock, the campana in til
" campanili, and the signum in the tower
st The nola was invented at Nola, in Campan
AS and is the origin Of our word knoll. II
d, use of the campana, or campanum, as it
to usually called, was denied to the early Chri
n tians, and it's first introduction into churcl
ed es was as late as the commencement OF Il
". seventh century. The curtcw bell, coNuf'
II, fen, is said to have been first established
n England by William the Conqueror "wl
ed appointed, under severe penalties, that,
" the ringing Of the bell at O'Clock IN IL
lie evening, every one should put out the
A lights, cover orrake up their fires, ana go
ks bed.'' The curfew was also used as an
or larm bell in fortified places and IN tronti
nd towns. 1t was law that, after the rnglI
lst ofthis bell, the inhabitants should not be
"a lowed to go out of their houses The pra
a. tice of tolling bell called the passing be
he at the moment a person was expiring, is v
D. nv ancient, and is said to have been adopt'
m for the double purpose Of engaging the pra
| ~ IS u x,,r,rra nv