BEL 



441 



Bell, 



3.-.: Rock. 



Dr Clarke to file off the smallest quantity for the 

 purpose of assa^ Lng the metal. It was cast in the 

 year 1653. 



The people of England are said to be peculiarly 

 partial to the ringing of bells, and, to acknowledge 

 the truth, the disagreeable sameness of chiming is 

 found in almost every country town. Paul Neutzner, 

 who travelled in England between 1550, and 1560, 

 says, " they are vastly fond of great noises that fill 

 the ar, such as the firing of cannon, beating of 

 drums, and the ringing of bells : so that it is com- 

 mon for a number of them that have got a glass in 

 their heads, to get up into the belfrey, and ring the 

 bells for hours together, for the sake of exercise." 

 Neutzner's observation tends to prove the strong 

 propensity of mankind to testify their satisfaction by 

 noise ; hence the custom of ringing bells as a mark 

 of rejoicing. 



Hand-bells were first used in religious ceremonies, 

 and then in feats of mimicry and pastime : and even 

 in more modern times, it was considered dexterous 

 to riug a great number at once. The late Mr Joseph 

 Strutt observes, that he saw a man in London ring 

 twelve bells at a time : two were placed on his head, 

 he had two in each hand ; one was affixed to each 

 knee, and two upon each foot ; all of which he mana- 

 ged with great adroitness, and performed a vast va- 

 riety of tunes. 



Music bells, or barillous, are preserved in several 

 parts of Britain ; and in many towns of the continent. 

 They are played by means of keys resembling those 

 of a piano forte, and when well tuned and heard at a 

 distance, the music is not disagreeable. It is not 

 evident when they were first introduced, but they 

 may be of considerable antiquity, the number aug- 

 menting according as alterations were made in music. 

 Prefixed to a manuscript copy of the Psalms, as old 

 as the fourteenth century, is a painting of King 

 David playing with a hammer in each hand, on five 

 bells hung up before him. In the great tower of the 

 cathedral in Antwerp were suspended thirty-three 

 music bells, the largest seven feet wide, and eight 

 feet high, the melody of which is highly celebrated. 



The use of great bells having declined, there is less 

 attention paid to their fabrication. One family in 

 Gloucester, Sir John Hawkins observes, continued 

 casting bells from 168-t to 1774 ; and by a list which 

 they published, the number amounted to 35<H. See 

 Calmet, Disserlatio in Miisica Instrumcnta Hebrwo- 

 rum. Lampe, de Cymbalis Vcterum. Laurentius, 

 VoUectio de Citharcedit Fistulis el Tintinnabulis. 

 Hieronymus Magius de Tintinnabidis. Argelus 

 Roccha, Cofimentarius de Campanis. Moresinus, 

 Papatus seu iepravata religionis origo et incrcmcn- 

 lum. Mersenne, Libri XII. Harmonicorum. Kir- 

 cher, Musurgia. Durandus, Rationale Divinorum 

 OJJiciorum. (c) 



BELL Rock, the name of a rock in the German 

 ocean, formerly called the Scape, and the Inch 

 Cai'E. The word Scape, in reference to this rock, 

 may be considered a corruption of scaup, or scalp, 

 a bed of shell fish ; or as arising from a resem- 

 blance which the rock may at one time hav had to 

 a bee-hive. The term Cape, a headland or promon- 

 tory, applied to a sunk rock, otherwise than by sup- 

 TOL. III. part III. 



BEL 



posing it a wrong pronunciation, seems preposterous, BU R^k* 

 and undeserving of serious attention. . 



To account for Bell Rock, which has now become 

 the prevalent name, it is said that the abbots of the 

 monastery of Aberbrothwick caused a bell to be 

 erected upon it, in such a manner that the tides 

 brought certain machinery into action, which rang 

 the bell, to warn seamen of their approach to the 

 rock. Tradition says, that this apparatus was car- 

 ried away by a Dutchman, who, to complete the 

 story, was afterwards lost upon the rock, with his 

 ship and crew. It would be difficult to conceive any 

 machine of this kind, which, jn such a situation, 

 could have been useful. Its removal in the way re- 

 presented is disgraceful to human, nature, and, be- 

 sides according ill with the proverbial honesty of 

 the Dutch, is incompatible with the veneration which 

 all seamen are known to possess for landmarks. 



The probability rather seems to be, that we are 

 indebted only to traditionary-story for the bell, and 

 that this name took its rise in a more natural way, 

 from the shape of a part of the rock, now removed, 

 to make way for the soke of the lighthouse lately 

 erected upon the rock. Although this rounded part 

 was only about four feet above the general level of 

 the rock, yet, by supposing it the nucleus of a larger 

 mass, it might readily suggest the idea of a bell, and 

 give rise to the Scottish phrase, a bee-scapc. 



Scape is the name found in the oldest sea charts ; 

 Cape, or Inch Cape, in those of more modern date ; 

 and Bell Rock in the charts of the present day, which 

 renders the other names obsolete. 



The Bell Rock may be viewed as directly oppo- Situation, 

 sing the entrance of the firths of Forth and Tay to 

 all vessels from a foreign voyage ; and lying more or 

 less in the way of coasters, as their track may be 

 northward or southward of the island of May. It is 

 situated in W. Long. 2 22', and N. Lat. 56 29', 

 1 1 miles south-west trom the Redhead in Forfarshire, 

 17 miles north-east from the May lighthouse, and 

 30 miles north by east from St Abb's-head, in Ber- 

 wickshire. 



The rock is a red sandstone, apparently of the Nature of 

 same formation with the Redhead in Forfarshire, and 'he stone, 

 similar to the stone at Dunglass, in Berwickshire. In 

 some places it is variegated with stripes of white 

 passing into brown ; it is fine granular, containing 

 minute specks of mica, and is hard and difficult to 

 work. Its angle of inclination with the horizon is 

 about 15, and it dips towards the south-east. The 

 6trata are thick and unequal, strongly connected to- 

 gether, and run in the direction of north-east and 

 south-west. 



The surface of the rock is very rugged, being full Dimension* 

 of cavities, owing to the fracture and overlapping of of the rock ' 

 the strata. It may be described as consisting of an 

 upper and a lower level. The north-east end, which 

 is the higher, is only partially left by the tide at low 

 water of neap tides ; while the south-west, or lower 

 level, appears only in spring tides. Taking the di- 

 mensions of the rock at low water of spring tides, 

 the greatest length of the higher part measures i27 

 feet, and 230 feet in breadth. The greatest length 

 of the reef, or lower part, which the water never 

 wholly leaves, extends 1700 feet from the main rock, 

 3k 



