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mallets. Leo Allatius, in his DifTertation on the Greek tem- 

 ples, proves the coiUraiy from feveral ancient writers. Itis his 

 opinion that bells firll beij^an to be difiifed among them, 

 after the taking of Conftantinople by the Turks ; who, 

 it feems, prohibited them, left their found fhould diilurb the 

 repofe of fouls, which, according to them, wandered in the 

 air. He adds, that they Hill retain the ufe of bellj in places 

 remote from the intercourfe of the Turks ; particularly, 

 very ancient ones in mount Athos. F. Simon thinks the 

 Turks rather prohibited the Chrillians the ufe uf bells out 

 of political than religious reafuns ; inafmuch as the ringing 

 of bells might ferve as a iignal for the execution of revolts, 

 &c. The city of Bourdeaux was deprived of its bells for 

 rebellion ; and when it was offered to have them reftored, 

 the people refufed it, after having tailed the eafe and con- 

 veniencv of being freed " from the conftant din and jangling 

 of bells'." 



Matthew Paris obferves, that anciently the ufe of bells 

 was prohibited in the time of mourning ; though, at prefent, 

 they make one of the principal ceremonies of mourning. 

 Mabillon adds, that it was an ancient cultom to ring the 

 bells for perfons about to expire, to advertife the people to 

 pray for them ; whence our pafling-bells. The paffing-bell 

 anciently ferved two purpofes : one of which was engaging 

 the prayers of all good people for departing fouls ; and the 

 other was, driving away the evil fpirits which haunted the 

 bed and houfe, and which were ready to feize their prey, or 

 to terrify and moleft the foul in its palfage ; but by the 

 ringing of this bell, it is faid they were kept at a dillance. 

 To this circumftance we may probably afcribe the high price 

 demanded for tolling the largell bell of the church ; which 

 being louder, and heard at a greater di'' ince, might keep 

 thefe evil fpirits more remote, and alfo procure for the dying 

 man a greater number of prayers. 



Lobineau obferves, that the cuftom of ringing bells at 

 the approach of thunder is of fome antiquity ; but that 

 the defign was not fo much to ftiake the air, and fo dif- 

 fipate the thunder, as to call the people to church, to pray 

 that the parifli might be preferved from mifchief by it. 



Whatever occafion fome catholics may have given for the 

 reproach, that they attribute to bells the power of driving 

 away demons, and difpelling ftorms ; it is certain the ancient 

 canons of the church only afcribe this power very remotely 

 to bells. Their meaning feems to be this : Satan fears and 

 flies from the bells, becaufe he knows that bells fummoned 

 good people to church to pray, and he dreads their prayers. 

 It was therefore to prayer, occafioned by the ringing of bells, 

 and not to the bells, that fuch good eftefts were afcribed. 



The cuftom of chriftening or bleffing bells is very ancient. 

 The charge of baptizing bells, alleged by proteftants againft 

 the Roman catholics, has been denied by the latter ; but 

 they allow that they blefs bells with certain ceremonies as 

 they do all other church utenfils ; and that one of the cere- 

 monies is the giving of a name to the bell, ii» order to 

 diftinguilh it from others, or in honour of fome faint. It 

 feems reafonable, therefore, to acquit them of the blame of 

 protlituting baptifm in this cafe, and to charge them merely 

 with confecration and benediftion. Before bells were hung, 

 they were waftied, croffed, blcffed, and named by the bifliop. 

 This is what fome proteftants have called baptizing of them } 

 but others fay, it might be denominated the luftration of 

 them, refembling the luftration of tru pets among the Ro- 

 mans. Cardinal Bona obferves (Rer. Liturg. 1. ii, c. 22.), 

 that the name of fome faint is given to a bell at the time of 

 its confecration, that the people may think themfelves fum- 

 moned to divine fervice by the voice of the faint whofe name 

 tfec bell bears. Some fay that this cuftom was introduced 



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by pope John XIIT. who occupied the pontifical chair from 

 965 to 972, and who firft confecrated a bell in the Lateran 

 church, and gave it the name of John th^ Baptift. But it 

 is evidently of an older Handing ; there beir.g an c.\piefi 

 prohibition of the praftice in a capitular of Charlemagne 

 in 789 : " ut clocae non baptizentur." S^e Hofpiiiian df 

 Origine Tcmplurum, p. 113. where there is a particular 

 account of all the ridiculous ceremonii-s practifed about 

 bells. See Dr. Franklin's Obfervations on confecrated 

 Bells, and the Form in confecrating them. Experiments, 

 Obfervations, kc. p. 487. ed. 1769. 



Nankin, a city of Cliina, was anciently famous for the 

 largenefs of its bells ; but their enormous weitrht having 

 brought down the tower in which they were hung, the 

 whole building fell to ruin, and the bells have ever fmce been 

 difregarded. One of thefe bells is near twelve Englifli feet 

 high, the diameter feven and a half, and its circumference 

 twenty-three ; its figure almoft cyhndric, except for a fwel- 

 ling in the middle, and the thicknefs of the metal about the 

 edges, feven inches. From the dimcnfions of tliis bell, its 

 weight is computed at 50,000 pounds, which is more than.-, 

 double the weight of that at Erfurt, faid by father Kircher 

 to be the greateil bell in the world. Thefe bells were cafi: 

 by the firft emperor of the preceding dynafty, above three 

 hundred years ago. They have each their name, the hanger 

 tchoul, the eater che, the fleeper chmi, the willjf. Father- 

 le Compte adds, that there are feven ether bells in Pckin, 

 call in the reign of Youlo, each of which weighs 1 20,000 

 pounds. But the founds even of their biggcll bells are very 

 poor; being llruck with a wooden iuftead of an iron: 

 clapper. 



The Egyptians have none but wooden bells, except one 

 brought by the Franks into the monafterv- of St. Anthony. 



In the churches of RufTia their bells arc numerous, and 

 diftinguilhed by their enormous fize. They are hung, par- 

 ticularly at Mofcow, in belfreys or fteeples detached from 

 the churches, with gilt or filver cupolas or croffes ; and 

 they do not fwing like our bells, but are fixed immoveably 

 to the beams, and rung by a rope tied to the clapper, and 

 pulled fideways. One of thefe bells in the btifrey of St. 

 Jvan's church at Mofcow, weighs 127,836 Englifli pound?... 

 It has always been etteemed a meritorious aft of religion to 

 prefent a church with bells, and the piety of the donor has- 

 been eftimated by their magnitude. According to this mod;; 

 of eftimation, Boris Godnnof, who gave a bell of 288,000 

 pounds to the cathedral of Mofcow, was the moft pious fo- 

 vereign of Ruflia, until he was furpaffed by the emprefs 

 Anne, at whofe expence a bell was caft, weighing 432,000 

 pounds, which exceeds in fize every bell in the known world. 

 Its dimenfions, as afcertained by Mr. Cox (Travels in Ruf- 

 fia, vol. i. p. 322.), are as follow: the height is 19 feet, 

 the circumference at the bottom 6t, feet i i inches, and its 

 greateft thicknefs 23 inches. The beam to which this vaft 

 machine was faftened, being accidentally burnt by a fire in 

 1737, the bell fell down, and a fragment was broken off 

 towards the bottom, which left an aperture large enough to 

 admit two perfons a-breall without ftooping, . 



The ringing or ftriking of the bells, though it forms no 

 part of divine worlhip, as fome writers have all'erted, fcrves, 

 however, by the number of ftrokes, to inform any perfon 

 without the church what part of the religious fervice is be- 

 ginning within it. Thus, feveral ftrokes are ftruck juft 

 before the mafs ; and this is called " blagoveft," i. e. the 

 agreeable found, as a fummons to the prailss of God. Be- . 

 fore the commencement of the liturgy, it founds three ; and 

 in the middle of it, a few ftrokes are given to the btU, to let 

 the people without know tjiiat the hymn to the holy virgin is 



ROW. 



