By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 55 



some friction, and I could not convince the workmen that it was 

 tin and not silver which they saw. They knew hetter ; and only 

 wished they could have the bells to extract the precious metal 

 which they contained. It has been stated by those who know much 

 more about this matter than I do, that "silver, if introduced in 

 any large quantity, would injure the sound, being in its nature 

 more like lead, as compared with copper, and therefore incapable 

 of producing the hard, brittle, dense, and vibratory amalgam 

 called bell metal." 1 



It is very certain that ancient bells have a better and more mellow 

 tone than the generality of modern ones. The tenor bell of Ogbourne 

 St. Andrew, which was cast in the 15th century, and weighs about 

 15 cwt., cannot be surpassed for richness and dignity of tone. 

 This superiority is owing no doubt to several causes; — first, to a 

 larger weight of metal than is commonly given now to a bell of 

 the same note ; secondly, to a better admixture of the metals ; and 

 thirdly, probably to the method then adopted of fusing the metals, 

 viz., by a wood fire, which not being so hot as that of coal, does 

 not reduce the inferior parts to a state of fusion, but they are thrown 

 away as scoria or dross. 2 In bell casting, the art is to know when 

 to put in the tin, and to tap or pour the boiling metal into the 

 mould. 



4. Method of casting and of tuning bells. The art of bell-founding 

 and tuning was brought to great perfection by Abraham Rudhall, 

 of Gloucester, whose foundry has passed into the hands of the 

 Messrs. Mears. When the size and proportions of the bell to be 

 cast have been determined, four things have to be prepared — first, 

 the crook ; second, the inner mould or core ; third, the outer mould 

 or cope; and fourth, the crown. 



The crook is a kind of compass formed of wood, and is used for 

 making the moulds. One leg of this instrument is curved to the 

 shape of the inner side of the intended bell, and the other takes 

 the shape of the outer side ; and they are made to revolve round a 



i Bee the excellent little work "The Bell, &c.": by A. Gatty, p. 30. 

 2 See the Koclesiologist, vol. xiv. pp. G3, 297. 



