BELL. 



439 



Bell. Latin verses ; or' was hung in 1258, during the 

 1 ministry of a certain person ; another was cast in 

 1353, after the lightning had destroyed former bells 

 in the preceding year. Bells frequently bear the 

 date, and an apposite legend. In the church of the 

 Jesuits at Rome, there was one brought from Eng- 

 land, which was inscribed Facta fuit A. Bom. 1400, 

 die vi. meruit Septembris ; Sancta Barbara ora pro 

 nobis. Five bells being cast for a parish church in 

 England, each had an inscription in Latin hexame- 

 ters, expressing its name, or that it was to be rung 

 in memory of those individuals whose names were re- 

 corded on them. 



In regard to the superstitious uses of bells, we shall 

 probably find the ringing of them at funerals to have 

 originated in the darkest ages, but with a different 

 view from that in which they are now employed. It 

 has been supposed, and we believe with sarnie justice, 

 that the most ancient bells or cymbals, were made of 

 brass. A certain virtue was conceived to reside in 

 that metal : the knives used in sacrifices were made 

 of it : it entered the- composition of the sacred uten- 

 sils in the temples ; the sound of it put demons to 

 flight, and witches used it in their incantations. 



Omnia trita simul quie sanguine mixta recenti 



Coxerat aere cavo viridi vcrsntu cicuta. Ovid Met. IV. 



Reasoning from the customs of the ancients, that 

 have been transmitted to us in innumerable supersti- 

 tions, which extensive analogies only enable us to re- 

 cognise, we may partly connect the ringing of bells 

 for persons in the agonies of death, with the virtue 

 supposed to reside in the sound of brass. It was to 

 avert the influence of demons. But if the supersti : 

 tions of our ancestors did not originate iH this imagi- 

 nary virtue, while they preserved the practice, it is 

 certain that they believed the mere noise had the 

 same effect ; and as, according to their ideas, evil spi- 

 rits were always hovering around to make a prey of 

 departing souls, the tolling of bells struck them 

 with terror. 



We may trace the practice of tolling bells during 

 funerals to the like source. This has been practi- 

 sed from times of great antiquity ; the bells being 

 muffled for the sake of greater solemnity, in the same 

 way as we see drums muffled in military funerals. 

 Possibly it was also with the view of averting the 

 influence of evil spirits, as the soul was not believed 

 to pass immediately to the regions of light or dark- 

 ness. The efficacy of bells, and of other noises, in 

 putting demons to flight, is recorded among the an- 

 cients ; and from them was widely extended, during 

 the more barbarous ages. An eclipse of the moon, 

 was supposed to be the oppression of evil spirits, and 

 the intelligent Pliny observes, Viri ingentes, inter 

 tjuosfuil Stesicltortis et Pindarus, crediderunt lunam 

 eclipsin et quasi mortem pati ex cantationibvs unde 

 tie id luna pateretur dissono crepitu succurrebant : 

 and the ringing of bells during eclipses, is particular- 

 ly spoken of by Juvenal : 



Verbnrum tanta cadit via 



Tot paritcr pelves, tot tintinnalrula dicas 



Pulsari. Jam nemo tubas, nemo terafatiget 



Una laboranti poterit succurrere luna;. Sat. vi. 



In Italy, this custom was preserved at a much 



later date : for during great tempests, the women 

 assembled, ringing bells, and beating cymbals, in the 

 noise of which, the learned Moresin observes, they con- 

 fided more than in the efficacy of fasting and prayer. 

 On St John's day, the bells were violently rung, and 

 other superstitions practised, to put devils to flight, 

 and avert the effect of storms, which -they raised in 

 the air. 



We are therefore entitled to conclude, that the 

 ringing of bells for persons in the agonies of death, at 

 funerals, and to dispel tempests, has originally had 

 relation to one common object, the expulsion of de- 

 mons. Here also we may seek the consecration, or 

 exorcising of bells, practised in the Roman Catholic 

 churches, and perhaps the cause of naming them 

 after particular saints. In the councils of Cologne 

 it is said, " let bells be blessed, as the trumpets of 

 the church militant, by which the people are assem.- 

 bled to hear the word of God : the clergy to announce 

 his mercy by day, and his truth in their nocturnal 

 vigils : that by their sound, the faithful may be in- 

 vited to prayers, and that the spirit of devotion in 

 them may be increased. The fathers have also main- 

 tained, that demons affrighted by the sound of bells 

 calling Christians to prayers, would flee away ; and 

 when they fled, th persons of the faithful would be 

 secure : that the destruction of lightnings and whirl- 

 winds would be averted, and the spirits of the storm 

 defeated." All these things were promoted by con- 

 secration ; and a credulous bishop narrates several 

 miracles displayed by consecrated bells, which, with- 

 out much difficulty, we can trace to natural causes. 

 Durand, the author of the Rituals of the Roman 

 Churcli, says, " for expiring persons, bells must 

 be tolled, that people may put up their prayers ; 

 this must be done twice for a woman, and thrice 

 for a man : for a clergyman as many times as he had 

 orders : and at the conclusion, a peal of all the bells 

 must be given to distinguish the quality of the per- 

 son, for whom the people are to offer up their pray- 

 ers." An analogous custom is still preserved in the 

 north, of concluding the tolling of the bells, with 

 nine knells for a man, six for a woman, and three 

 for a child. When once fully introduced, it was 

 made the subject of emolument and extortion, and 

 those only who were rich enough to pay for it, en- 

 joyed the benefit of the passing bell. 



Innumerable absurd ceremonies were practised by 

 the Roman Catholics in ringing bells. Each was to 

 be rung for a certain purpose at a certain hour, and 

 so long at a time : When the monks were to undergo 

 discipline in their monasteries, a bell called corrigiun- 

 cula was rung as a signal for the commencement of 

 self-flagellation. They were rung on particular fes- 

 tivals, and muffled or tied upon others. The ringing 

 on Christmas, and in ushering in the new year, pre- 

 served among us, is a remnant of Popish supersti- 

 tions. During three days of the holy week, they 

 were to be tied up, and in their stead boards wore to 

 be beaten with an iron hammer. In the town of New- 

 castle, we have understood the bells are muffled on 

 the 30th of January, though we know not whether 

 in commemoration of the death of Charles I., or as a 

 relic of the older ceremonies of the church. The 

 number of bells was a kind of privilege ; and privation 



Bell. 



