Jan. 13. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



33 



M. Chateaubriand, in vol. iii. of his Genie de 

 Chretienisme, chap. prem. " Des Cloches," has 

 some beautiful remarks on bells. 



Dionysius Bar. Salibi, in the twelfth century, 

 wrote on bells. This is on the authority of Mr. 

 Fletcher, in his Notes on Nineveh. 



Allow me to correct an error in my Note of a 

 bell inscribed " Signis cessandis," &c. (Vol. x., 

 p. 332.). It is at Clapton, not Weston, in Gor- 

 dano. 



The following Notes on bells and ringing may 

 be acceptable to some of the readers of " N. & Q." 



Sermon Bell. — In the injunctions of Edw. VI., 

 quoted from Sparrow's Coll. in Cranmer's Lettefs, 

 by Parker Society, p. 498. : 



"All ringing and knolling of bells shall be utterly for- 

 borne at that time (Litany, Mass, &c.), except one bell 

 in convenient time to be rung or knolled before the ser- 

 mon." 



Bell-ringing on Allhallows Day, at night, with 

 other ceremonies, abolished by a minute of the 

 king's letter to Archbishop Cranmer, 1546. (See 

 the Letter published by Parker Society, p. 414.) 



Easter Bells. — Bells were never rung during the 

 last three days of Passion week (Roccha) ; and on 

 Easter Day no bells could be rung before the bells 

 of the cathedral or mother church were rung. This 

 was settled under Leo X., a.d. 1521, by an order 

 of the Lateran Council. The number of bells in 

 a parish church was limited to three by a decision 

 of Char. Boromeo in the sixteenth century. 



Before the Reformation no layman was allowed 

 to be a ringer ; the isfSce was confined to eccle- 

 siastics, and it is said they were obliged to per- 

 form their office in surplice. If so, it is a proof 

 that in those days there could be nothing but 

 tolling and chiming; for it would be dangerous 

 and difficult to ring in a surplice. And yet, to 

 quote from Fosbroke's Abridgment of Smith's 

 Lives of the Berkeleys, p. 166., there were "good 

 rings of bells formerly, because so much employed 

 in funerals." At the ceremonial of Lady Isable, 

 wife of Mauric Berkely, who died 1520, there is 

 the entry, — 



"Item. Kyngyng daily with all the bells continually, 

 that is to say, — 



At St. Michell's ... xxxiij peles. 



At Trinitie - - - . xxxiij peles. 



At St. John's ... xxxiij peles. 



At Babyllake, because it was so nigh Ivii peles. 



And in the Mother Church the - xxx peles. 



And every pele xiid." 



The peals rung on Christmas Eve or Christmas 

 morning were called "the Virgin chimes." 



The ^^ pardon bell" was silenced by Shaxton, 

 Bishop of Sarum, in 1538, according to Burnet, 

 in his Reformation, book iii. p. 14. : 



" That the bell called the Pardon or Ave Bell, which 

 of longe tyme hathe been used to be tolled three tymes 



after and before divine service, be not hereafter in any 

 part of my diocesse any more tollyd." 



Query, What was the pardon bell ? 



H. T. Ellacombb. 



Clyst St. George. 



I send for insertion a cutting from the old book 

 catalogue of John O'Daly (9. Anglesea Street, 

 Dublin), thinking it may prove an addition to the 

 list of books on the same subject which have al- 

 ready appeared in your pages : 



" 47. Bells. Roccha (A. Fr. Angelo, Episcopo Taga- 

 stensi), de Campanis Commentarius, plates, 4to. vellum, 

 extremely rare, 5/. Romae, 1612. 



" The author of this curious and unique work must be 

 an Irishman ; as there is a portion of it devoted to Irish 

 bells, and to the powerful effect produced by the ringing 

 of bells in expelling demons ; although there are demons 

 that could not be rooted out, had all the bells that ever 

 were manufactured and consecrated been rung at their 

 heels." 



Will some of your readers who may have studied 

 the subject, and have examined this work, give an 

 account of it and its author ? Enivel 



Cushendall, Antrim. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Oji developing long-excited Collodion Plates. — To ascer- 

 tain the limit within which syruped collodion plates will 

 give perfect negatives, I have, during the last three weeks, 

 made a number of experiments with 8^x6^ plates. The 

 mean temperature during that period was 46°, and the 

 mean degree of humidity SSQ. The plates were iodized 

 as usual, immersed in a one-grain nitrate-of-silver bath 

 for a few seconds, drained, and coated with two doses of 

 syrup. It is much better to be a little prodigal of syrup, 

 and make sure work with it ; for if it is repeatedly used 

 there is great risk, in long-excited plates, of the reduction 

 of some of the nitrate of silver it contains, and consequent 

 speckling of the negative. I got perfect negatives with 

 plates kept up to 198 hours ; but, taking the average of 

 eight experiments, I should say that 150 hours is about 

 the limit, after which there is more or less uncertainty. 

 Beyond this time, owing to the hardening of the syrup, 

 and its almost total insolubility in the one-grain bath, 

 the negatives were very defective, the image being ex- 

 tremely faint, and obscured by a veil of indurated syrup, 

 and the plate mottled over with black patches. 



The syrup, after it has been on the plate a short time, 

 consists of two layers ; an outer one, which remains soft 

 and hygrometric for a long time, and is soluble in cold 

 water; and an inner film next the collodion, a compound 

 of syrup and nitrate of silver, which is insoluble in cold 

 water. This is easily proved by washing the plate in a 

 vertical glass bath, when this layer is seen separating in 

 bran-like scales, the water mechanically removing it. 

 This inner layer, after about 150 hours, becomes adherent 

 to the collodion, at first round the margins of the plate, 

 then to the whole surface, covering it as with a varnish 

 which no amount of washing in cold water will remove. 



Seeing, however, that plates kept long beyond th« 

 above periods were still sensitive, yielding images, al- 

 though extremely imperfect, 1 felt satisfied that could 

 the indurated syrup be removed, perfect negatives might 

 stiU be obtained. It occurred to me that steaming the 



