The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1855-10-27

| But whom he old cathedral boil,
Proclaimed the morning-prayer,
! The white pavillons rose and fell
On the alarmed air.
Down the broad valley fast and far,
The troubled army fed
| CprOse the glorious morning star
The ghastly host was dead
1t is amusing to know, so recently as 1859
the Bishop Of Malta gave orders for all tn.
churches on the Island to bc rung for the
purpose of calming violent gale. Many
| church accounts of ancient and more m0dcrl
date, bear entries of dread, cheese, and beel
provided for the ringers during thundcrings. ,
This reminds us Of the statements regarding
the influence Of bells on storms, recorded OIL
| the bells themselves, and brings us the sam,
time to the subject of inscriptions.
| Vivos Mortuos plango-Fulgu IA FRANCO
call the living-l mourn the dcad-I break tn,
lightning
| This brief and impressive announcement was
| common to very many church bells Of the
middle ages, and it is to be found on the bell
! of the great Minister of Schaffhausen, and or
that Of the church near Luccrne. Another
| and usual one, which is, in fact, but .,
| amplifcation of the first, is this:
Funcra plango-Fulgura FRANCO pango
| Excite lcntos-D ,ssp pc vcntos-Paco cruentos.
| mourn at funeras-I break the lightnngs-I
proclaim the Sabbath
| urge the rdy-l dispense the winds-I ca I'm tn,
turbulent.
On the largest of three bells, placed by I'd.
ward Ill. in the Little Sanctuary, Wesllnin
ster, are these words:
mud three;
Take me down and woy mo, and more you shall
which recalls to us a Cambridge tradition
that the bells Of Kings College Chapel wcr,
taken by Henry Y. from some church in
France after the battle of Agincourt.
On the famous alarm bcll called Roland
in the belfry-towcr of the once powerful city
of Client, is engraved the subjoned inscrip.
| ton, in the old Walloon or Flemish dialect
Mynen nuem is Roland; ais tx klcp is er brand
| and ais TX luy is or vic:orie in het land.
ANGLIcE.. My name is Roland; whea I toll
there is fire. and when ring there is victory in
| the laud.
The books of the Roman Catholic faith
, contain ritual for the baptism Of bells,
which DEGREES that they lie named and a.
non,ed-a ceremonial which was supposed to
insure them agains the Vaccinations of evil
spirits.
The Curfcw Bell is popularity supposed to
have been introduced by the Conqucror, and
imposed as a badge of scrvi,udc upon the ma
ton; but it was really urecaution against
fire, then prevailing throughout Europe, and
only a stricteI observance of the old law was
enforced during the reigns of the two frs,
| Williams. The practice is now more inter
esting to US on account Of the pleasant allu
| sions which 1t has furnished to our poets than
| E,r, IL,
| the custom.
| On plat Of rising ground
| hear the far uG ourfew sound
| Over some wide watcrd shr,
| Swinging slow with solemn roar.
Longfcllow has brief suggestive poem on
the curfcw beginning thus -
S"lemnly mournfully,
Dealing its dole,
The curf-w bell
IL beginning to toll.
Cover the en,bers.
And put out the light;
Tell comes with the morning,
And rest with the night.
Dark grow the windows.
And quench'd is the fire;
Sound fades into silence,
All footsteps retire.
No voice in the chambers,
No sOnnd in the hall,
Sleep and oblivion
Reign over all,
Gray says
The cnrfcw tolls tho kncll Of parting day;
a'sd Dante. is the P,ugdtor,o, makes it wcep
for the day that is dying. In Shakespeare.
Bencdick "hath a heart as sound asa bells"
Hanlet's intcllccts are like sweet bells jan
glcd out of tune" Lady Capulet. on the dis.
oovcry of the dead lovers of Verona, exclaims:
U mo! this sight of deaf is rs a bell
That warns my old age to IL scpulcher!
Swcctcr. gcntlcr. holicr, perhaps, than all
bells, arc those of the vcspcrs in the tar Of
the peasant returning from his toll in the
vincyaId-in the car Of the fisherman paus.
ing upon his oars in the still bav-in the ca r
ofthe traveller weary of the days long plea
sure. Heard under deep Italian sky, laps
ing in with the latest songs of the birds, and
with the shrill note Of the cicada, that >oul d
echoes along the quiet shore beautiful and
melancholy. like voice out of the dim past.
The stanza respecting the Ave Maria,'
says q living critic of rare taste and feeling,
us surely the best IN Don Juan:-
Avc Maria. blessed DO the hour,
The time. the cline. the spot where 7 so oft
Have felt the moment in its fullest power
Sink DER the earth 30 beautiful and soft
While swung the deep bell in the distant tower
Or the faint dying day hymn stole a'oft,
And not n breath crcpt through the osy air,
And yet the forest leaves seem d strrd with pray.
er.
Few readers, VIC trust, arc unacquaintcd
with Schiller's Song Of the Bel: which, an
swering double purpose, depicts with equal
truth and splcndor the casting. completing,
and uses of bell, and the birth, progress
and duties of mans life.
" american genius" says letter from
Russia, rules the hour at St Petersburg. A
legion of accepted war inventions are under
careful trial in the way of exp, rimcnts, be.
sides an iufinite number that have been de-
climd as impracticablc or unsuited to the
present exigencics. The experiments arc
conducted with the silent thoroughncss of
Russian tactics, yet it is known that two, il
not three, motive powers of Yankee origin
are IL course Of scientific test and comparison
One who ought to know, tells me that some
hundred thousand dollars are being expended
IN trying their application to coast defcnccs
a gigantic rocket Tor rocket and shell com.
bintd, has occupied the attention of the en-.
gineers for the last five weeks, and after no
less than seventeen failures. has conc out So
successful that foundry or workship is to be
built immediately for constructing these ter
rble mssiles-the like of which, irntific
officer assures me, has never traversed the
air. This is combination of . late French
with a new Yankee invention. The most
striking of all the plans for next summer 8
work is pnrely Yankee, and novel in all it's