The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-24


probability is that such miniature chimes
were used to direct and accompany the chant
ing of psalms and hymns. England has
always been renowned for successful efforts
of this kind. A Cambridge printer, Fabian
Stedman, published already in the seven
teenth century a book on ''Change-ringing In
regular peals;" and famous society of col
lege youths, presided over by warmers, used
to travel about the country practising on all
church steeples to which they could obtain
access, and amusing the people by their
strange performances. England became
known abroad as the Ringing Island, and
the art was reduced to strict and useful rules
The Netherlands are, however, now the
real horSe of chimes, of which the first
was there made in 1887 by an artist OF
Aost Nearly every church steeple and
tower there has its set of bells, which ape
nowadays rarely played by hand, but by
means of a regular mechanism, performing
after the manner of clock-work, and yet al
lowing musical artist free access to the key
board The larger cities can by no means boast
of the finest chimes, though Amsterdam
has one of twenty bells, which weigh $4,000
pounds; but the finest and fullest are often
found in smaller places, and the compare
lively insignificant town of Delft boasts of the
largest and most costly chimes in the world.
Miniature chimes of the simplest kind are
finally found in districts where grazing Of
cattle is practised by a people naturally en-
dowed with a Keen appreciation of musical
sounds, as in Thuringia and Switzerland. In
these regions the bells with which the herds
are provided are so attuned that their sounds
harmonize and under all circumstances pro-
duce pleasing accords This has led to the
well-known R0nz des VdcheS, kind of ma
tional song of the SWISS which was said to
exercise such irresistible effects on the minds
of the people, especially when away from
their native mountains, that the French
kings had to prohibit it's being played by
regimental bands, lest their faithful Swiss
guards should sicken and die of homesick-
ness!
Russia holds the foremost rank with regard
to the number and size of her bells. Every
church has its complete set, and Moscow is
said to possess alone seventeen hundred of
Them while single steeple boasts of four
stories, with thirty-seven large bells. Hence
the noise is almost appalling, especially on
holidays, and most especially on Easter-Sun-
day, when every body from the highest to
the lowest, has the right to mount a steeple
and strike the bells as long and as hard as he
chooses. The Church of St John (Joan), in
the ancient city, claims the precedence over
all others in point of number and fabulous
size of its bells, although the accounts are so
extraordinary in some cases as to make it diff
cult to ascertain the truth. 1t is certain, how
ever, that after the city had been burned to
make it useless to the French invaders, one of
the bells called the Big, and weighing l24, 900
pounds, which had fallen to the ground, was
recast at the Emperors bidding, and then
weighed-thanks to considerable additions of
superior bell-metal-144,0 900 pounds. 1t is
twenty y-one feet high, and measures eighteen
feet in diameter, while its outside is orna-
mented with the images of the Imperial
family, and with hdut-relief groups of the Sa-
viour, the Virgin, and st. John. This Is in
all probability the largest bell in use; but its
size is surpassed by one which seems never to
have been hung even. 1t is called Tear R0I0-
hol, the Emperor of Bells, weighs 400, 900
pounds, and measures twenty-five feet and a
half in diameter. Cast in the days of the En-
press Ann, it was for some unaccountable
reason left in the cavity in the ground in
which it had been formed, till the Emperor
Nicholas ordered it to be taken out, and had
it placed on brick foundation at the foot of
the great Joan. England also used to be par
ticulaIly rich in bells till the days when the
converts were destroyed they were then
recklessly disposed of, and scattered all over
the world. 1t is reported that Henry VIII
once wagered hundred pounds and one
of the belfries of London with four of the
largest bells in the city, and that Sir Miles
Partridge, who won the bet, had them melted
down, and sold the valuable bell-metal. Others
were sent to Russia, and many found on their
way grave in the waves. There are, how
ever, numerous bells and sets of bells still in
existence of great size and beauty as the ten
bells of the cathedral at Exeter; the twelve
bells of Southwark, nine of which are over
four hundred years old and the famous
chime of st. Leonard, in Shoreditch, which
Queen Elizabeth enjoyed so much that she
always stopped to listen to their merry ring
ing when they welcomed her on her return
to London. University Church, in Cam
bridge, has set which Handel spoke of ad-
miringly; and Great Tom, of Christ Church
College, Oxford, is known all over England
The largest bells are of recent origin,
and foremost among them are those of St.
Peters, in York Minister, and the famous
hour bell of the new Houses of Parliament
Big Ben, of Westminster-which weighs
33, 600 pounds. The fondness of the com
mon people for their bells is we'll illustrated
by the popular song about London bells:-
Gay go up and gay go down,
Do ring the bells OF London town.
Hafpence and farthings
Say the bells OF ST. Martins.
Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells OF st. Clements.
Pancakes and fritters,
Say the bells OF St. Peters.
Two sticks and an apple,
Say the bells OF Whitechapel.
Kettles and pans,
Say the bells OF st. Annes.
You owe me ten shings
Say the bells OF St. HelenG
When will you pay me?
Say the bells OF Old Bailey.
When grow rich,
Say the bells OF Shoreditch.
Pray when will that be?
StpOnaV