BEL 



rr'i>^ioHS ceremonies, fiiDuld be adoint-d wiih pomfs;rnnatc3 

 and f^oLi bells iiitcDiiixcd at equal diHanct"!. (See Exodus, 

 xxviii. ^3, 34.) 'Ilie kings of PcrHa arc (aid lo have had 

 the hem of their robes adorned, like tliat of the Jiwifh high- 

 priells, with poTiiegranatts and gold bells. The Arabian 

 priutcflcs wear on their legs lar^c hollow gold rings, filled 

 with fmall flints, which found like bells, when they walk ; 

 and thcfe, with fimilar appiiitenances, give notice that the 

 miflrefs of the hoiife is paffing, fo that the fervants of the 

 tamily may behave with refpeft, and flrangeia may retire to 

 avoid feeing the perfon who advances. Calmcc fiippofea, 

 that it was with feme fuch delign of giving notice that the 

 Jiigh ptiell was palling, that he wore little hells at the hem 

 of his robe ; and it was alfo a kind of p\iblic notice that he 

 was about to enter into the fanftuar)'. In the court of the 

 king of Perfia, no one entered the apartments without fome 

 warning ; and thus the high prieft, when he entered the 

 fanftuary, delired permiflion to enter by the found of his 

 bells, and in fo doing he efcaped the punifhment of death 

 annexed to an indecent intrnllon. Tlie prophet Zachary 

 (ch. xiv. 20.) fpeaks of bells of the horfcs, which were pro- 

 bably hung to the bridles or foreheads of war-horfes, that 

 they might thus be accuftomed to noife. Calmet. 



Among the Greeks, thofe who went the nightly watch 

 roundi in camps or garrifons, carried with them a little bell, 

 which they rang at each centry-box to keep the foldiers ap- 

 pointed to watch awake. A bell-man alfo walked in fune- 

 ral pioccdions, at a dillance before the corpfe, not only to 

 keep off tlie crowd, but to advertife the flamen dialis to 

 keep out of the way, lead he Ihould be polluted by the 

 light, or by the funeral mufic. The prieft of Proferpine at 

 Athens, called " hierophantus," rung a bell to call the peo- 

 ple to facrifice. The hour of bathing, at Rome, was an. 

 nounced by the found of a bell, and hence it has been fup- 

 pofed they were ufed to mark the hours of derotion, and 

 fummon people to church. Servants in the houfes of great 

 men were called up in a morning by the found of bells. Zo- 

 naras informs us, that bells were hung with whips on the 

 triumphal chariots of their viftorious generals, in order to 

 remind them that they were ftill amenable to public juflice. 

 Bells were affixed to the necks of criminals going to exe- 

 cution, to warn perfons to avoid fo ill an omen as the 

 fight of the executioner or condemned criminal, who was 

 devoted and about to be facrificed to the " dii manes." To 

 this fuperftition fome perfons have attributed the cuftom in 

 England of ringing parifh bells, while a malefaftor is on his 

 way to the gallows ; though others have generally fuppofed 

 it was intended as a fignal to all who heard it, admonifh- 

 ing them to pray for the pafTmg foul. Phxdrus mentions 

 bells annexed to the necks of brutes : " Celfa cervice emi- 

 nens, clarumque, coUo ja6tans tintinnabulum." Taking 

 thefe belb away was conftrued by the civil law to be theft ; 

 and if the beaft was thus lofl, the perfon who took away 

 the bells was to make fatisfaftion. Shoep had them tied 

 about their necks, to frighten away wolves, or rather by 

 way. of amulet, or to direct (hepherds where to find their 

 flocks ; and fmce the praftice of bletSng them has been in- 

 troduced, they have been thought to preferve animals from 

 »pidemical diforders. 



The ufes of bells are fummed up in the Latin didich : 

 •• Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum, 

 DefunAos ploro, peftem fugo, fella decoro." 

 To the fame purpofe is the following infcription on bells, 

 mentioned by Weevcr, in his " Funeral Monuments," 

 {.122. 



" Funera plango, fiilgura frango, fabbata pango, 

 Eitcitg koto:, 4iffipo vtatot, pace cruentosr" 



BEL 



The fir(^ bells are faid to have been made about the year 

 400, at Nola, in Campania, whereof St. Paulinas was inade 

 bidiop in 409 ; at kail it is alTcrted, he was the firll who 

 hronght them into ufe in the church. Before his time 

 Chriltians tiiade ufe of rattles, "facra ligna," to call the 

 congregation together; no bells being allowed by govern- 

 ment to a profcribed fed. Hence, it is added, they had 

 their Latin names, NoU, iirll ufcd by Qninftilian, and 

 Campiirid', a term w^hich was adopted in the tim.e of St. Je- 

 rom. But others fay, they take thefe names, not from 

 their being invented in Campania, but becaufe it was here 

 the manner of hanging and balancing them in fleeples, now 

 in ufe, was firft praclifed ; at leaft, that they were hung or: 

 the model of a fort of balance invented or ufcd in Campania. 

 For in Latin writers we find CampanaJlaUra, laxz.j}ed-jard ; 

 and in the Greek xc^^Tan^stv, lor ponderart, to weigh. At 

 firll they were called _/7(;/7/J ; and hence are derived a toe- 

 fa'ml, or torfin. 



Polydore Virgil afcribes the invention of church bells to 

 pope .Sabinian, St. Gregory's fucceflbr ; but this is a mil- 

 take ; for St. Jerom, contemporary with Paulinus, makes 

 mention of one. Pope Sabinian did not invent bells ; but 

 he was the firll who appointed the canonical hours to be 

 diftinguiflied by them. 



We even find mention made of bells in Ovid, Tibullus, 

 Martial, Statins, Manilius, and the Greek authors, under 

 the appellations of tinllnnabula, s.nd fmnJing Irafs. Sueto- 

 nius, Dion, Strabo, Polybius, Jofephus, and others, men- 

 tion them under the names oi ptiafus, tinUnnabulum, aramen- 

 tiim, crotahim, fgmim, &c. But thefe appear to have been 

 no more than baubles, and not like the huge bells in ufe 

 among us. 



Hieronymus Magius, who has a treatife on bells (written 

 when in chains in Turkey, and which is accounted very re- 

 markable, purely from his memory, without the affiftance of 

 any books), makes large bells a modern invention. Indeed, 

 we do not hear of any before the fixth century, when they 

 were applied to eccleliaftical purpofes in fome of the monaf- 

 tic focieties of Caledonia, as they were in thofe of Northum- 

 bria before the conclufion of the 1 7th century ; and they feem 

 to have been ufed from the firft ereftion of parifh churches 

 in this kingdom. In 1610, vi-e are told, Lupus, bifhop of 

 Orleans, being at Sens, then befieged by the army of Clotha- 

 rius, frighted away the beliegers by ringing the bells of St. 

 Stephen's. The firft large bells in England are mentioned by 

 Bede, towards the latter end of that century, or about the 

 year 670. They feem to have been pretty common in the 

 year 816. Ingulphus mentions that Turketulus, abbot of 

 Croyland, who died about the year S70, gave a great bell, 

 to the church of that abbey, which he named Guthlac, 

 and afterwards fix others, all which rang together : and not. 

 long after this time, Kinfcus, archbifhop of York, built a 

 tower of flone to the church of St. John at Beverly, and 

 placed in it two great bells, and at the fame time provided 

 that other churches in his diocefe fhould be furnifhed with., 

 bells. J. Stubbz. Ad. Pont. Ebor. fol. 1700. Mention is 

 alfo made by St. Aldhelm, and WilHam of Malmefbury, of 

 bells given bv St. Dunllan to the churches in the wefl. See 

 Spelm. GlofT. voc. Campana ; and Bingham's Ant. Chrill. 

 Church, book viii. ch. vii. j ij. 



The Greeks are -ifually faid to have been unacquainted 

 with bells till the i..nth century, or about the year 865, 

 when their conftrudion was firll taught them by a Ve- 

 netian. 



Indeed it is not true, that the ufe of bells was entirely 

 unknown in the ancient caftern churches, and that they 

 called the people to church, as at prcfent, with wooden 



mall»tS5 



