The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-07-17
Church.BellS.

we read in Exodus of the bells and pome-
granates worn on the high priests dress !;
yet large bells, such as our own church.
bells, are never spoken of, even among the
Greeks and Romans. They are supposed
to have been invented by Paulinus, Bishop
AID, whence the Nola and Campania of the
Latinity. They were probably introduced
into England soon after their invention,
for Bede mentions them about the close of
the seventh century.
Bells both ancient and modern, have
been applied to sacred purposes. There
has been much controversy as to what the
ancients called bells, for they have been
called, by both ancients and moderns by
a great variety of names-namely Petasus,
Codon, Nola, Cloca, etc.
The Greeks had BELLS for at Athens the
priest of Proserpine used a bell to call the
people to sacratice but it is not possible
to discover when bells were first used in
Christian churches. In the East, the peo-
pie were informed of the hour of divine
service by means of a rattle, or beating on
custom was long retained. An old author
tells us that the signal for divine worship
was given by trumpet, and lnnoccntus
Ansaldus is of opinion that all signals of
ancients, and bells were not introduced into
churches until the sixth century. Bede
first mentions them $50 AID, and, certainly,
after that period they became common, and
were often made the subject of pious dona-
tons, both here and on the Continent. :.
The Couvre-feu, or Curfew Bell, was
rung every. night, and is supposed to have
been introduced by William l. as a badge
of servitude upon the English; but the
custom prevailed on the Continent long be-
fore his time, and was intended as a pre-
caution against fires, which were very fire.
quent and destructive, as all the houses
were then built of wood. Henry I. is said
to have restored the use of lamps and can
dies at court, in the night, after the ringing
of the curfew, which had been p: oliibited
by his predecessors. At Barking, in Essex,
is still tower which bears the name of fire
bell, or curfew, and i'll many parts of Eng
land the custom of ringing the curfew bell
has been only discontinued within the
memory of many living now. In Longfel-
lows Erangeline we read of the curfew bell ::
canon the bell from the belfry
Rang out the hour of nine, the village cur
few, and straightway
Rose the guests and departed, and silence
reigned in the household
The Passing Bell was SO named because
it was tolled when any one passed from this
life. Hence it was sometimes called the
Soul Bell, and was rung that those who
heard it might pray for the soul of the
dying person. The number of times of
tolling depended upon the rank of the per-
son. 1t is especially mentioned in the ac-
count of the last moments of lady Katha-
rine Grey, who died a prisoner in the Tower,
in 1867. The tolling of the Passing Bell
continued as late as Charles the Second S
time.
began to be disused after the taking of
Constantinople by the Turks, as the latter
forbade the use of bells, lest their sound
should disturb the repose of souls. At
Bordeaux, also, we hear of the people being
deprived of their bells, on account of re-
bellion, and when offered them again they
refused to have them, having learned the
case and convenience of being freed from
the constant din and jangling of bells j..
The tone of a bell depends conformity on
the diameter, the height and the thickness,
the smaller bell yielding the lower note,
other things being equal The shape of
bells is different in different countries, be-
ing more cylindrical, or conical, in one
than another; and having evidently orig-
mated in cymbals, or basins, it is probable
that, from remote ages to the present time,
from fiat circular plate to a figure nearly
approaching cylinder.
Denison says the foreign bells are not
superior to the English, and that long
wasted bells, like the French of rather a
tlower-pot form, are inferior to those whose
external height is not more than quarter
, of their diameter, and more contracted in
the waist. The tone or note of bell can
be altered by cutting, whereas the tone or
quality of the sound is incurable if it is
bad. Bells are made of different substances,
which produce difference in the sound
Glass is one of the most sonorous bodies
of which bells are constructed, but we have
heard of wooden bells in the East, although
throughout Europe they are made of a
compound of copper and tin, called bell
metal, to which silver is said to have been
occasionally added. This, as l have already
said, Mr.. Denison declares to have been a
vulgar error, though many still believe the
old superstition. Modern ll-foumders
say that the composition of bell-metal ought
to be four parts Of copper to one of tim
Enormous furnaces are necessary for the
casting of church. bells, as the whole cast
ing must be made at once but Il descrip-
ton of this is too long a subject for me to
enter upon. The casting of a bell is most
beautifully described in Schiller's Das Lied
ron der Glocke.
Pickpockets.