404 CIRCLE OF THE HOURS. 



VIII. O'CLOCK P.M. Hour of Curfew Bell. 



Obs. Eight o'clock is distinguished as the hour of Curfew, a 

 word derived from couvre feu, and signifying that the fires were to 

 be generally extinguished at the ringing of a certain bell. This 

 custom, evidently instituted to prevent the occurrence of those dread- 

 ful fires which formerly devastated the thatched towns of our ances- 

 tors, is of very great antiquity, and we believe was not instituted by 

 William of Normandy, as is vulgarly imagined, though severely 

 enforced by him. The eight o'clock bell, so common in many towns 

 both in England and on the Continent, is a remnant of the Curfew. 

 It may be heard at the churches of St. Leonard's Shoreditch, at 

 Spitalfields, and at St. Botolph's Bishopsgate, in London, and in 

 most country towns. We also noticed it at Thun in Switzerland, 

 Milton describes its sullen sound in II Penseroso : 



On a plat of rising- ground 

 I hear the far off Curfew sound, 

 I Over some wide watered shore, 



Swinging slow with sullen roar. 



The following is in Peshall's History of the City of Oxford, page 

 177: "The custom of ringing the bell at Carfax every night at 

 eight o'clock, called Curfew Bell or Coverfire Bell, was by order of 

 King Alfred, the restorer of our University, who ordained that all 

 the inhabitants of Oxford should at the ringing of that bell cover up 

 their fires, and go to bed ; which custom is observed to this day, and 

 the bell as constantly rings at eight as Great Tom tolls at nine. It 

 is also a custom, added to the former, after the ringing and tolling 

 this bell, to let the inhabitants know the day of the month by so 

 many tolls." 



The Curfew is commonly believed to have been of Norman origin. 

 A law was made by William the Conqueror that all people should 

 put out their fires and lights at the eight o'clock bell, and go to bed. 

 See Seymour's edition of Stow's Survey of London, i. 15. The 

 practice of this custom, we are told, to its full extent, was observed 

 during that and the following reign. 



At eight o'clock in summer time children and young persons, on 

 the sound of the Curfew, used to say their prayers before being put 

 to bed, according to the following formula : 



-f/n nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Amen. 



Pater noster qui es in Coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuuni : Adveniat regnum 

 turnn : Fiat voluntas tua, sicat in coelo & in terra. Panem nostrum quoti- 

 dianum da nobis hodife. Et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut & nos dimittimus 

 debitoribus nostris, & ne nos inducas in tentationem. Sed libera nos Si male. 



Amen. 

 Ave, Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus & be- 

 nedictns fructus ventris tni Jesus. 



Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc & ia liora mortis 

 nostrae. 



Credo in Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem coeli & terrae. Et in 

 Jesum Christum, Filiuni ejus unicum, Domiiium nostnini : qui conceptus est 

 deSpiritu sancto, natus ex Maria virgine, passus sub Pontic Pilato, crucifixus, 

 itioituus, Sisepuitus; descendit ad inferos: tertia die resurrexit .i mortuis : 

 ascendit ad ccelos : sedet addexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis : Inde venturus 



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