B E 
St. Dunflan to the cliurclies in the weft. The number of 
bells ill every church gave occafion to the curious and lin¬ 
gular piece of architecture in the campanile or bell-tower; 
an addition, which is more fufceptible of the grander beau¬ 
ties of architecture than any other part of the edifice, and 
is generally therefore the principle or rudiments ot it. It 
was the conftant appendage to every parifn church ot the 
Saxons, and is actually mentioned as inch in the laws of 
Athelftan. 
The Greek Chriftians are ufttally faid to have been unac¬ 
quainted with bells till the ninth century, when their con- 
ftruftion was firft taught them by a Venetian. Indeed, it 
is not true that the tile of bells was entirely unknown in 
the ancient eartern churches, anti that they called the peo¬ 
ple to church, as at prelent, with wooden mallets. Leo 
Alatius, iu his ditferrarions on the Greek temples, proves 
the contrary from feverai ancient writers. It is his opi¬ 
nion, that bells fir It began to be diluted among them after 
tlie taking of Conftantinople by the Turks; who, it Items, 
prohibited them left their found fhould diftujb the repole 
of fouls, which-, according to them, wander in the air. He 
adds, that they ftill retain the tile of bells in plades re¬ 
mote from the .intercourfe of the Turks; particularly, 
very ancient ones, in mount Athos. - F. Simon thinKS the 
Turks prohibited the Chriftians the ufe of bells, rather 
out of political than religious reafons ; inafmuch as the 
tinging of bells might ferve as a lignal for revolts, &c. 
In the ancient tnonafteries we find fix kinds of bells enu¬ 
merated by Durandtis, viz. Squila, rung in the refectory ; 
cymbalum , in the cloifter; nola, in the choir ; valuta or du- 
fla, in the clock; campana, in the fteeple-; and figuum, in 
the tower. Belethus has much the fame; only that for 
lquilia, he puts tintinnabidum, and places the campana in 
the tower, and campanella in the cloifter. Others place 
the tintinnabulum, or tinniolum, in the refeCtory or dormi- 
tory ; and adds anotlter bell, called corrigivncula, rung at the 
time of giving difcipline, to call the monks to be flogged. 
The cymbalum is fometimes alfo faid to have been rung 
in the cloifter, to call the monks to meat. In the funeral 
monuments of Weever, are the following particulars rela¬ 
ting to bells : “ Bells had frequently thefe infcriptions on 
them : 
“ Funera plango, Fulgura frango, Sabbata pango, 
Excito lentos, Diftipo ventos, Paco cruentos. 
“ In the Little Sanctuary at Weftrnitifter king Edw. 1 II. 
erected a clochier, and placed therein three bells for the ufe 
of St. Stephen’s chapel: about the biggeft of them were 
call in the metal thefe w'ords: . 
“ King Edward made me thirty thoufand weight and three, 
Take me down and wey me, and more you fhall fynd me. 
“ But, thefe bells being taken down in the reign of king 
Henry VIII. one writes underneath with a coal: 
“ Bur Henrv the eight 
Will bait me of my weight.” Ibid, 492. 
This laft dillich alludes to a fact mentioned by Stow in his 
Survey of London, ward of Farringdon Within, to wit, 
that near to St. Paul’s fchool flood a clochier, in which 
were four bells called JeJus’s bells, the greateft in all Eng¬ 
land, againft which Sir Miles Partridge (laked an hundred 
pounds, and won them of king Henry VIII. at a call of 
dice. Neverthelefs it appears that abroad there are bells 
of greater magnitude. In the fteeple at the great church 
at Roan in Normandy is a bell with this inxcription : 
Je fuis George d' Ambois, 
Qui trente cinque mille pois. 
Mes lui que me pefera 
Trente fix mille me trouera. 
I am George of Atnbois, 
Thirtie five thoufand in pois. 
But he that fhall weigh me 
Thirtie fix thoufand (hall find me. Ibid. 
And it is a common tradition that the bells of King’s-col- 
Vol. II. No. 108. 
E L, 869 
lege chapel, in the univerfity of Cambridge, were taken 
by Henry V. from fome church in France, after the bat¬ 
tle of Aginconrt. 1 hey were taken dow n fome years ago, 
and fold to Phelps the bell-founder in Whitechapel. The 
ules of bells w'ere fu turned up in the follow ing diltich, as 
well as that firft-above-mentioned : 
I.audo Deum verum, piebem vooo, conjngo cierum, 
Defunhtos pioro, peftem fugo, fefta decoro. 
Matthew Paris obierves, that anciently tlte ufe of bells 
was prohibited 111 time of mourning; though at pvefent 
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 ; w hence our palling-bells. The paflirtg- 
bell, indeed, was anciently rung for two purpoles : one, 
to befpeak the prayers of all good Chriftians fora loul juft 
departing; the other to drive avvav the evil fpirit s who 
flood at the bed’s foot, and about the houfe, ready to feize 
their prey, or at leaft to moleft and terrify the,foul in its 
paftage: but, by the ringing of that bell (for Durgndus in¬ 
forms 11s, evil fpirits are much afraid of bells), they,were 
kept aloof; and tlte foul, like a hunted hare, gained the 
ftart, or had what is by fportfinen termed law. Hence, 
perhaps, exclufive of the additional labour, w as occafion- 
ed the high price demanded for tolling the greateft bell of 
the church; for, that being louder, the evil fpirits mult 
go farther off to be clear of its found, by which the poor 
foul got lo much the more the ftart of them : befides, be¬ 
ing heard farther oft', it would likewife procure the dying 
man a greater number of prayers. This diflike of fpirits 
to bells is mentioned in the Golden Legend bv W. de 
Worde. “It is laid, the evill fpvrites that ben in the re- 
gyon of thayre, doubte moche when they here the belles 
rongen: and this is the cattle why the belles ben rongen 
whan it thondreth, and whan great tempefte and outrages 
of wether happen, to the ende the feinds and wycked fpi- 
rytes (hold be abalhed and fiee, and ceafeof the movynge 
of tempefte.” Lobinean obierves, that the cuftom of 
ringing bells at the approach of thunder, is of fome anti¬ 
quity; but that the defign was not fb much to (hake the 
air, and fo dilfipate the thunder, as to call the people to 
church to pray that the parifli might be preferved from 
that terrible meteor. 
In 'he Romifh church, bells were baptized and anointed 
cleo C/irifmatis : they were exorcifed, and bleft'ed by the bi- 
fttop ; from a belief, that, when thefe ceremonies were 
performed, they had power to drive the devil out of the 
air, to calm tetnpelis, to extinguifti fire, and to recreate 
even the dead. The ritual tor thefe ceremonies is con¬ 
tained in the Roman pontifical ; w hence the origin of gi¬ 
ving to bells the name of fome faint. In Chauncey’s Hif- 
tory of Hertfordfliire, page 383, is a relation of the bap- 
tifm of a let of bells in Italy w.t'h great ceremony, a ftiort 
time before the writing that book. The bells of the-pa- 
rifh-church of Winnington in Bedford (hire had their names 
caft about the veree of every one in particular, with thefe' 
rhiming hexameters : 
Nomina Campanis haec indita funt quoqtte noftris. 
1. Hoc ft gnu m Petri pulfatur nomine Chrifti. 
2. Nomen Magdalene campana fonat-ntelode. 
3. Sit nomen Domini benedichun femper in eum. 
4. Mnfa Raphaelis fonat auribus Immannuelis. 
3. Sum Rofa pulfata mundique Maria vocata. 
Wcev. Fun. 122. 
By an old chartulary, once in the poireffton of Weever 
the antiquary, it appears, that the bells of the priory of 
Little Dttnmow in Elfex were, anno 1501, new caft, and 
baptized by the following names: 
Prima in honore Sanfti Michaelis Archargeli. 
Secunda in honore S. Johannis Evangelifti. 
Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptifti. 
Qparta in honore Aftumptionis beattc Maria:. 
(Lpinta in honore Sanfti Trinitatis, et-omnium fanflorum, 
Ibid, 633. 
The 
10 M 
