The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-05-21


Bells afe 81 very ankenkokigiA. THEY
are mentioned as worn on the hieR
priests robes EXODUS xviii .33). The
P.rSO III Hhfheafs3 SsX{2A EsaksIOf
ably hung on the brides OF war HOSES
to accustom them to noise.
Bells were used by the Greeks and
Romans IN private houses and In camps
and ga%rrisons. The hour Of bathing at
Rome was announced by the sound
of a bell. The priest Of Proserpine. at
Aysess rpne nlselL 2 eaM Ne PSoRle q
unlentof Porsdknk wssidecoystsd with
bells. Sheep-bells of bronze were used
In ancient Italy, and yet preserved
in the museum Of Naples.
Bells were brought into use for
churches by Paulinus. bishopvof Nola,
in Campania, about the year t40O. They
nre frat mentioned in England by Bede,
toward the end Of the seventh century.
Chimes, or peals OF bells, are of an
cient date, the first chimes introduced
into England having BEEN put NO at
Croyland Abbey, in 960. 49,
In the cathedral of Limerick, ireland,
is a chime of bells about which an az
fecting story Is told. They were made
by an italian for o m~ohAAtefy. An Italy.
A revolution swept the land; he became
a refugee and an exile; the monastery
was destroyed; the bells were carried
oil. SAftermany years of Wandering, le
came to Ireland.' AS the vessel which
carried him sailed along the. placid
Shannon the sunset chiG7es rang out
from the cathedral. and he recorniz, Il
the sweet sounds. They came from he
bells which he had made. H. leaned
against the railing of the deck and lis
tened In silent RAPTURE 10 tho well
known, lo~ng-unhcard music. The boat
reached the wharf; the sailors spoke to
him, then tpuqhedl bitf he tnl9dspd,
His spirit had departed While fistenfng
to the ravishing sounds.
Some writers say THAI the cusson of
christening bells was Introduced by
Pope John XIII, who occupied tile
pontifcal chair from 965 to 972. and who
first ~consecrated a bell in the Lateran
church and gave 1t the name Of John the
Baptist. But ills evidently ofSan older
standing, for there Is an express prohibi
ton of the practice in a oapitular of
Charlemagne, in 7S9.
Pope John TX. ordered bells to be
rung as q defense against thunder and
liRnuiiu8s viz ycuI wv. M tic pclls
Of PopS caiixtns III, to scare away
Halley's comet, which was supposed to
be in some manner identified with Mo-
hammed H., who had just taken Con-
saantinople. The comet left, but MO
hanimed stayeds
1t was an ancient custom to ring bells
for persons about to expire, to notify the
people to pray for them, from which
arose the name of "passing bells" 1t
was supposed that the sound OF the
bells drove away evil spirits. The
( wealthy were induced to bequeath prop
erty for the support of favorite bells,
which were to be rung at their funerals.
During the thirteenth century, large
bells began to be cast. The "Jacque-
line" of Paris, cast in 1900. weighed l5,-
600 pounds; one cast in Paris in l472,
weighed 5000 pounds; the bell OF
Ronen, cast in 1901, weighed over &c.
600 mounds.
The great bell of Moscow, cast by or
der of Empress Anne. in 1874, weighed
1893 tons. 1t remained suspended only
until 1887, when it fell, in consequence
of a fire, and remained partially buried
in the earth until 1887, when it was
raised, and now forms the dome of a
r chapel formed by excavating the earth
underneath. Some deny that, the bell
was ever suspended, while others in
sist that it was, and that, when in mo-
ton, it agitated the air of the surround
ing country for forty miles.
The great bell of Burmah, at a temple
in the environs of Amarapoora, weighs
$50. 900 pounds. Klaprath states that in
an ediice before the great temple oil
Buddah, at Jeddo, is the largest bell in
the world. 1t weighs ], ZOO, 900 pounds,
four times greater than the great bell OF
Moscow, and ffty-six times larger than
the great bell Of Westminster. England.
The finest bell in England was the
great Tom of Lincoln, considerably
older thanS st. Pauls. Its elevation gave
it an horizon Of fftysmiles in every di-
rection. Its note was like the chord OF
A upon a full organ. 1t fell from it,
support and was destroyed.
On the largest of three bells placed by
Edward Ill. in the Little Sanctuary,
Westminster, are these lines:
liking Edward made me thirty Thousand
weight and three;
TAXI me down and weigh me, and more you
shall find me-"
On the famous alarm bell called Ro-
land, in a belfry tower in the once pow
erful city of Client, is engraved the SUBJ
Joined inscription, in the old Walloon or
Flemish dialect:
"My name is Roland; when l toll there ia
fire,
Aud when l ring thcrc is victory in the
land!'