BELL-HOCK BELLARMIN. 



489 



miles from Arbroath, nearly opposite the mouth of 

 tlie river lay ; Ion. 2 22' W. ; lat. 56 29' N. It is 

 said that, in former ages, the monks of Aberbrothock 

 caused a bell to be suspended on this rock, which 

 was rung by the waves, and warned the mariners of 

 this highly dangerous place. Tradition also says, 

 that the bell was wantonly cut away by a pirate, and 

 that afterwards his vessel, in a stormy night, drifted 

 on the rock, and as a retribution for his crime, he 

 perished with all his crew. Till within the last twenty- 

 five years, the Bell-rock remained undistinguished by 

 any light to scare the mariner from its fatal vicinage. 

 At length a bill was brought into parliament, 1803, 

 by the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses, 

 for the purpose of having a light-house stationed on 

 the reck. On the bill oeing passed in J806, they 

 received a loan of 25,000 from government to assist 

 an accumulated fund of 20,000. Plans were laid 

 before them of different kinds, and they adopted that 

 of Mr Rennie, which was on the principles of the 

 Eddystone Light-house. Operations were commenced 

 in the summer of 1807; and after overcoming 

 almost insurmountable difficulties, the building was 

 completed in October, 1810. In the course of the 

 winter the internal fittings went forward, and on the 

 1st of February, 1811, the beacon was first lighted. 

 The expense of the whole was about j60,000. The 

 construction of the building took place under the 

 direction of Mr Robert Stevenson, civil engineer, 

 Edinburgh, who, in 1824, published an account of it 

 in a 4-to volume. 



The Bell-Rock Light -house is a circular edifice, 

 the foundation-stone of which is nearly on a level 

 with the surface of the sea at low water of ordinary 

 spring tides ; and at high water of these tides, the 

 building is immersed to the height of about fifteen 

 feet. The ground course measures forty-two feet in 

 diameter, and the building diminisUes to a thickness 

 of thirteen feet. The total height is 100 feet, but 

 including the light room, the total height is 115 feet. 

 The building is solid to a height of thirty feet, where 

 the entry door is situate, to which the ascent is by a 

 ladder with wooden steps. Strangers are carried up 

 and down by a chair and crane. At first the walls 

 are seven feet thick, and they diminish to a single 

 foot. From the door-way to the top, there are six 

 flats, each having an apartment, and a communica- 

 tion from one to the other is had by a wooden ladder. 

 The first floor is for holding water, fuel, or other 

 bulky articles ; the second for oil-cisterns, glass, and 

 other light-room stores ; the third is occupied as a 

 kitchen ; the fourth is the bed-room ; the fifth the 

 library, or stranger's room ; and the upper apartment 

 forms the light-room. The floors are of stone. The 

 light-room is covered with a dome roof of copper, 

 terminating in a gilded ball. Round the light-room 

 there is a railed terrace on the outside. The light is 

 from oil, with argand burners placed in the focus of 

 silver plated reflectors, measuring twenty-four inches 

 over the lips, being hollowed to the parabolic curve. 

 That the light may be distinguished from all others 

 on the coast, the reflectors are ranged upon a frame 

 with four faces or sides, which by a train of machinery, 

 is made to revolve upon a perpendicular axis once in 

 six minutes ; moreover, by the interposition of 

 coloured glass between the light and the observer, 

 in the course of every revolution two appearances 

 are produced ; one is the common bright light, and 

 the other is of a red colour. As a further warning 

 to the mariner, in foggy weather, two large bells are 

 tolled day and night Toy the same train ot machinery 

 which moves the lights. The establishment of 

 light-keepers at the Bell-rock, consists of a principal 

 I ight-keeper, a principal assistant, and two other 

 assistants. They each receive salaries varying from 



fifty to sixty guineas, with clothes, and board while 

 at the rock. 



The Bell-Rock Light-house is now one of the 

 most prominent and serviceable .beacons on the Scot- 

 tish shores, and has been the means of preventing 

 innumerable wrecks. In summer it is occasionally 

 visited by parties of pleasure from Leith and other 

 places, when every attention is shown by the keepers. 

 Though perched in a situation the most awful during 

 commotions of the elements, these men feel no alarm 

 for their safety. In cases of very heavy gales blow- 

 ing from particular directions, they mention that they 

 feel the fabric yield or tremble a little ; but nothing 

 to excite any disquietude. In fine weather at low 

 tides they can walk out upon the reef, and indulge 

 in the amusement of fishing for cod, haddocks, and 

 all the other kinds of white fish of these seas, of 

 which there is here great abundance. They keep an 

 album, in which the names and impromptues of 

 visitors are inscribed. On one occasion Sir Walter 

 Scott honoured this Pharos of the Scottish seas with 

 a visit, and left the following beautiful lines : 



Pharos loquitur. 

 Far on the bosom of the deep, 

 O'er those wild shelves my watch I keep 

 A ruddy gem of changeful light, 

 Bound on the dusky brow ot" night : 

 The seaman bids my lustre hail, 

 And scorns to strike his tim'rous sail. 



BELLA, Stefano de la ; an engraver, born at Flo- 

 rence, in 1610. He followed, at first, Callot's man- 

 ner, but soon adopted one of his own. In 1642, he 

 went to Paris, where he was employed by cardinal 

 Richelieu. He returned to Florence, and became 

 the teacher, in drawing, of Cosmo, the son of the 

 great duke, and died in 1GC4. It is said that he en- 

 graved 1400 plates. 



BELLAMY, James, a Flemish poet, was born at 

 Flushing, in the year 1757, and died in 1796. He 

 was twenty-five years old, and followed the trade of 

 a baker, when, in the year 1772, the second secular 

 festival, in commemoration of the foundation of the 

 republic, was celebrated throughout Holland. His 

 genius^ suddenly inflamed by the love of his native 

 land, rendered him a poet, and his first productions 

 met with success. He studied Latin, made himself 

 better acquainted with his mother tongue, and com- 

 posed several pieces of merit sufficient to induce the 

 society of arts at the Hague to incorporate them in 

 their collections. 'He published his patriotic songs 

 under the title Vaderlandse-Gezengen, which secure 

 him a place among the first poets of his nation. B. 

 sung, likewise, the praise of love. The later works 

 of this poet betray a certain melancholy, which ren- 

 ders them still more interesting. A biographical 

 account of him has been written oy G. Kniper. He 

 may be placed by the side of Bilderdyk, Helmers 

 Loots, R. Feyth, &c., as one of the restorers of 

 modern Dutch poetry. 



BELLARMIN, Robert, a cardinal, and celebrated con 

 troversialist of the Roman church, was born at Monte 

 Pulciano, in Tuscany, in 1 542. At the age of eigh- 

 teen, he entered into the college of Jesuits, where 

 he soon distinguished himself; and his reputation 

 caused him to be sent into the Low Countries, to op- 

 pose the progress of the Reformers. He was or- 

 dained a priest, in 1569, by Jansenius, bishop of 

 Ghent, and placed in the theological chair of the 

 university of Louvain. After a residence of seven 

 years, he returned to Italy, and was sent by Sixtus V. 

 to France, as companion to the legate. He was 

 made a cardinal, on account of his learning, by 

 Clement VIII., and, in 1602, created archbishop of 

 Capua. At the elections of Leo XI., and Paul V., 

 he was thought of for the pontificate, and might have 

 been chosen, had he not been a Jesuit. Paul V- 

 3 Q_< 



