Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-04-15
Bells and Their History.

Bells are OF very ancient origin. Iney
are mentioned as worn on the high
priests robes Exodus xviii 33). The
prophet Zachariah (xvi.20) speaks of
"bells of the horses, (which were prob
ably hung on the brides OF war horses
to accustom them to noise.
Bells were used by the Greeks and
Romans in private houses and in camps
and garrisons. The hour of bathing at
J Rome was announced by the sound
| of a bell. The priest of Proserpine, at
| Athens, rung bell to call the people to
sacrifice. According to Pliny, the mon
ument of Porsenna was decorated with
bells. Sheep-bells of bronze were used
in ancient Italy, and are yet preserved
in the museum of Naples.
Bells were brought into use for
churches by Paulinus, bishop of Nola,
| in Campania. about the year 400. They
are first mentioned in England by Bede,
| toward the end of tie seventh century.
Chimes, or peals of bells, are of an
cient date, the first chimes introduced
| into England having been put up at
Croyland Abbey, in $50.
In the cathedral of Limerick, ireland,
is chime of bells about which an af-
| fecting story is told. They were made
by an Italian for monastery in Italy.
| A revolution swept the land; he became
a refugee and an exile; the monastery
was destroyed; the bells were carried
off. After many years of wandering, he
came to Ireland. As the vessel which
carried him sailed along the placid
| Shannon the sunset chimes rang out
| from the cathedral, and ne recognized
the sweet sounds. Thev came from the
! bells which he had made. He leaned
| - =, In 1Sc
| tened in silent rapture TO the we'll
known, long-unheard music. The boat
reached the wharf; the sailors spoke to
him, then touched him-he was dead.
| His spirit had departed while listening
! to the ravishing sounds.
| Some writers say that the cus.om of
christening bells was introduced by
Pope John XIII, who occupied the
pontifcal chair from 965 to 972, and who
| first consecrated bell in the Lateran
church and gave it the name of John the
Baptist But it is evidently of an older
standing, for there is an express prohibi
tion of the practice in a Capitular of
Charlemagne, in 7S9.
Pope John TX. ordered bells to be
rung as defense against thunder and
| lightning, in the year 900. All the bells
in Europe were rung in 1856, by order
of Pope Calixtus Ill, to scare away
Halley's comet, which was supposed to
be in some manner identified with Mo-
hammed IL, who had just taken Con-
stantinople. The comet left, but NO
hammed stayed.
1t was an ancient custom to ring bells
for persons about to ex pire, to notify the
people to pray for them, from which
arose the name of C passing bells.n 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 ID be rung at their funerals.
During the thirteenth century, large
bells began to be cast. The s. Jacque-
| line of Paris, cast in 1900, weighed l5.-
900 pounds; one cast in Paris in 1472,
weighed $1,000 pounds; the bell of
Rouen, cast in 1901, weighed over 36,-
600 pounds.
The great bell of Moscow. cast by or
der of Empress Anne. in l734, weighed
| 1913, tons. It remained suspended only
until 1877, when it fell, in consequence
Of j fire, and remained partially buried
in the earth until 1887, when it was
raised, and now forms the dome of q
| 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 Burnah, at temple
in the enyirons of Amarapoora, weighs
| 260 600 pounds. Klaprath states that in
an edifce before the great temple of
Buddah, at Jeddo, is the largest bell in
the world. 1t weighs l ZOO, 900 pounds,
four times greater than the great bell of
Moscow, and fifty-six times larger than
| the great bell of West minister, England.
The finest bell in England was The
great Tom of Lincoln, considerably
older than st. Paul's. Its elevation gave
it an horizon of fifty miles in every di-
rection. Its note was like the chord of
A upon full organ 1t fell from its
support and was destroyed.
On the largest of three be}ls placed by
Edward III. in the Little Sanctuary,
| Westminster, are these lines:
" King Edward made me thirty-thousand
weight and three;
Take me down and weigh me, and more you
| shall find me-"
| On the famous alarm bell called Ro-
land, in belfry tower in the once pow
erful city of Ghent, is engraved the sub
JOlH6u luSCllptlOH, LII 1AO Oiu w d14OOH vi
Flemish dialect:
"My name is Roland; when 1 toll there is
fire,
And when I ring there is victory in the
land.'
The bell known as the Liberty bell,
which, on the fourth of July, ITS, an
nounced the signing of the Declaration
of Independence, in Philadelphia, has
upon it the following inscription, taken
from Leviticus, XIV. 10:
Proclaim liberty throughout the
| land, unto all the inhabitants thereof"
The Hollanders exhibit the most en-
thusiastic fondness for bells. Every
church and public building is hung
round with them in endless variety In
amsterdam, not less than a thousand
bells are kept constantly ringing, which
creates a Tin that is almost intolerable