Bells of All Nationsby

Ernest Morris

File 02 – Part one,Chapters I to VII – Pages 1 to 54

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CHAPTER I

Origin and Development

THE ORIGIN OF BELLS TOOK place in those distant days when man began primitively and tentatively to work and to hammer metals. His early impressions would be that malleable copper beaten into a saucer-like shape had a resonancy when struck, which intrigued his rudimentary feeling for music. In the Bronze Age, when the melting and mixing of copper and tin became prevalent, the increase in resonance and tonal power of the cast bronze instrument over the hammered copper one would become apparent ; and we may consider that in the Bronze Age the bell began its career.

The Saucer-shape was probably the earliest form of bell-but the spherical hollow type is also ancient, small in size, with holes here and there, and having a little ball of metal rolling loose therein. These are called crotals-meaning rattle-and of this shape presumably were the golden Bells which were commanded to be made for the adornment of the Ephod of Aaron. 1

In media:val days too, a similar method arose of adorning the vestments of the Christian priesthood. , We have notices of several magnificent robes which were thus dec-orated. Conrad, Abbot of Canterbury, had a cope fringed with one hundred and forty little silver bells ; and fifty-one of silver gilt tinkled round the cope of Lanfranc. Riculfus, Bishop of Soissons, in his will,

1 Exodus xxviii. 33-4 "Upon the hem, pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet; and bells of gold between them round about ; a golden bell and a pome­granate, a golden bell and a pomegranate."

Chap. xxxix, v. 25, records that this command was carried out, "They made bells ofpuie gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates, upon the hem of the robe."

Again in the Apocrypha we are told by Jesus, son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 45 ch. g v. , ) "many golden bells" were placed round about, " that as he went there might be a sound and a noise made that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of the people."

I B

2 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

dated 915, speaks of stoles adorned in a similar manner, and Peterborough Abbey had examples of a like kind.

This form of bell has had very little development, remaining practically stationary through the ages.

They are referred to by the prophet Isaiah, as worn at the feet of the women, and the prophet Zachariah (xiv. 20) mentions the " bells of the horses." Several of the sculptures discovered at Nineveh represent horses with bells hanging from their bridles, or (as is sometimes seen even to-day on the modern cart-horse) fixed on top of their heads. Euripides, lEschylus, and Aristo­phanes are all witnesses on behalf of this usage in Greece. Russian horses frequently carry bells within the arch which surmounts the native horse collar, and in England the horses of the old tram­cars sometimes wore a single bell suspended from their collars.

The ancient Persians had such bells attached to their royal costumes, as in later days the chief men and civil officers of the Germans had them suspended from their garments. In Egypt, Arabia, Persia and other Eastern Countries, girls wore strings of bdls about their ankles, and may be seen in Cairo at the present day. Ladies wore little bells jingling at their girdles ; knights attached them to their armour, and the high curled shoes of the time frequently ended with a bell at the pointed toe. The official jesters at the English Court and elsewhere, always adorned their caps with bells, and the Morris-dancers on May-day in olden times were commonly bedecked with jingling bells.

They were used in the camps and garrisons of the Greeks, were hung in triumphal cars, and sometimes used in the temples. They were also hung on the necks of malefactors on their way to execution, and from this Greek custom-it is said-was derived the Roman one of hanging a bell and a scourge to the Emperor's chariot, that, in the height of his prosperity, he might be admonished against pride, and be mindful of human misery.

Bells were used at Athens by the priests of Proserpine, when inviting the people to sacrifice. The ringing of bells during eclipses is recorded by Juvenal. Pliny 1 says bells were used long before his time, and were called tintinnabula : Strabo tells us that

1 C. Plin, Hist. Natur. i, 36c. I 3·

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 3

market time was announced by their sound, and Romans announced the hour of bathing by tintinnabulum.

Suetorius informs us that Augustus caused one to be hung before the temple of Jupiter. The feast of Osiris is known to have been announced by bells. ..tEschylus and Euripides tell us that Greek warriors had small bells concealed within the hollow oftheir shields, and that when the captains went their rounds of the camp at night, each soldier was required to ring his bell in order to show that he was alert and watchful at his post. In triumphant entries of conquerors, bells were hung on the chariots, and Diodorus Siculus informs us that they were attached to the car which conveyed the body of Alexander from Babylon to Egypt. Plutarch says that when the city of Xanthus was be­sieged, the inhabitants tried to escape by swimming and diving through the river, but a snare was laid for them by nets with small bells attached being spread across the stream under the water. Thus by coming into contact with these artfully contrived nets, the bells jingled, and so led to capture.

The kings of Persia, when administering justice to their subjects, had a bronze bell suspended over their heads, to which a chain was fixed. Every time the bell tolled, the officers in attendance introduced to the presence of the king those who had any complaint to make, or who sought redress at his hands.

Bells appear to have been used in very early times in Hindoo temples, and now high up in the Himalayas, in temples and on prayer wheels, the small musical bell is still to be heard. They have been found in Egypt with very early mummies at Thebes. The Chinese and Japanese pilgrims to the shrines used small spherical bells as votive offerings.

Several ancient manuscripts have pictures which throw light on the use of bells in early times, as, for instance, one from a MS. Missal in the British Museum depicting a performer on a row of three "hand-bells" suspended from an arch, which he strikes with a hammer. Another portrays King David engaged in a similar act with four bells. This is from a MS. Psalter, also in the British Museum, and is the heading for the forty­sixth Psalm. Others give representations of church towers or turrets with bells hanging in them, without wheels or ringing arrangements.

4 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

In the Bayeux tapestry there is a representation of the funeral of Edward the Confessor, in which the corpse is accompanied by two boys, each ringing a pair of hand-bells.

Among the sculptural representations is one of the wonderful figures adorning the facade of the cathedral at Chartres-music striking her little bells with a hammer. Carved on one of the eight sides of the Norman font at Belton, Lincolnshire, is a representation of a Campanarius handling two bell-ropes. The figure shows that he was in Minor orders, and is vested in the camisia, which, according to Hoffman, is either an albe, or, most probably in this case, a soutane, or cassock. On the capital of a 12th century pillar in the Cathedral of Autun, France, is a carving representing a performance on bells. The chief performer seem to have suspended himself upon a trapeze on which hang six or seven bells, two of which he is" ringing with his hands. Another appears through a slit in his tunic, probably fastened to his thigh, and he seems to be going through a kind of jig at the same time. On either side of him is a companion each, of whom is striking the clapper of one of the suspended bells, and one is ringing another he holds in one hand. Another sculptured figure, of the Norman period, may be seen in the church at Stoke Dry, Rutland, where it is carved on one of the columns supporting the chancel arch. It shows a ringer pulling the rope of the bell which is above him. It may be added that bells appear to have been almost universally as well as anciently known. Tribes inhabiting the remotest islands in the midst of the sea, have been found in the possession of bells.

The cauldrons of Dodona, which closely resemble the Indian gong, are known to have been of very ancient origin. Possibly the oldest bells in the world, of which there is any information, may be some Assyrian bells found by Mr. Layard, in the Palace of Nimrod. 1 Such an ancient bell, reputed by authorities to be at least 3,ooo years old, discovered in excavations in the Holy Land, is now in a museum at Berlin. Those taken from tombs of the Peruvians, and some small bells brought by the trading canoes of Indians to Columbus, at Cape Hondorus, show they were known in America before its discovery by Europeans.

1 Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, 1853, p. 177.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 5

Thus we may safely say that the use of bells or their substitutes are " coeval with the earliest periods of which we have detailed records, and coextensive with every race to which the human family has branched out."

Bells have been called by various names. Tintinnabulum for example suggests a small bell, so .called from its tinkling sound. Squilla, a small shrill bell : Petasus, from its resemblance to a broad brimmed hat. The Greeks and Romans are said to have used this particular shaped bell : Codon, from the Greek signifying the open mouth of a trumpet : Nola, which name is derived from the city where church bells were first used in Europe ; and Campana from Campania in Italy, a district in which Nola is situated, now known as Terra de Lavoro. Cam­pana is still the usual Italian word for bell, the French and Germans calling it respectively Cloche and Glocke, words derived from the Teutonic root which also gives us the word cloak, so called from the bell-like shape of the garment. The Portuguese

· call a bell Sino. The English word comes through the old English bellum-to roar or bellow.

It is the instrument of the saucer or basin shape from which the modern church bell has been evolved. The bronze basin was inverted and crowned with a handle wherewith it was held and rung, and later, as its size grew and weight became too great for use in this manner, loops or ears were cast on its head, and it was suspended thereby, and struck with a hammer. Gradually the bell was cast longer in shape, and various curves with different thicknesses .at the lips were essayed through the ages, until in Europe about the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, a contour not very different from the modern conformation was reached, its outstanding feature being the " sound bow " or thick part of the bell where the clapper strikes near the lip. In the East, which was earlier to begin the bellmaking art, like so many others seems to have attained its height many centuries ago, and then to have remained stationary.

The huge bell at Mingoon in Burma, may be taken as an instance, and it can be seen_ at once from photographs that the bell has the early and rudimentary outline without thesoundbow The latter-the soundbow-is not found in any Eastern bells.

The first manner of sounding the hanging bell would be by

6 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

striking it with a hammer or iron clapper, the bell remaining stationary. In the East, however, a wooden beam is frequently used for this purpose, and in the case of large bells the beam is slung in a rope or chain from a support nearby, and actuated something after the manner of that ancient weapon of attack, the battering ram, but without the iron head.

Later on, an inside, instead of an outside clapper would be fitted, which would be pulled to the side of the bell. This re­mains the usual custom of sounding the bells in eastern Europe, those huge bells ofRussia being nearly all chimed in this manner ..

Later still, a headstock or yoke, was fitted across the head of the bell, with gudgeons and bearings, and the bell was hung to this and swung. From its inception, this manner of using the bell was the favourite one in England, and, with the bell thus swinging, Englishmen found it possible gradually to evolve the intricate and wonderful art of "change-ringing" which in England to-day has attained so high a degree of development.

It is not fully known who first introduced large bells into the Christian church-certain it is that, for some considerable time after the Crucifixion, Christians would not advertise their meet­ings and services by these means, owing to the persecutions. So soon as they were able to meet publicly and without fear, they used in. some places, trumpets like the Jews of old. St. Ephrem (c.370) further mentions the signum-a clapper tablet, as the call then used to Holy Communion. 1

The earliest Christian writer who first refers to larger bells as a call to Matins, is thought to be Jerome in the Regula Mona­chorum (c. 422) . 2

Many writers state that Paulin us, Bishop ofNola in Campania, Italy, first used large bells in A.D. 400, but he makes no mention ofbells in a detailed account ofhis churches. Paulinus flourished just after the recognition of the Christian faith by the Emperor Constantine, and was a great patron of the Arts. Another title to the claim is made out for Pope Sabinian us who succeeded St. Gregory in the Papal Chair in 604. Polydore V ergil tells us that he (Sabinianus) appointed the Canonical hours to be rung by the bells. He, however, probably found them already in

1 Parrenesi, xliii. 2 Rocca- De Campanis, Opera Rom111, 1719. Vol. I, p. 156.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 7 partial use, and recognising their beauty and value, encouraged their general adoption. They are mentioned in the Ordo Romanus about this time, as being used to announce Tierce, Mass, and Processions ; and S. Owen, in the life of St. Eloy (c. 650) speaks of the campana. 1 In any case, from about this time notices of the use of bells which must have been more or less of the kind and size now seen in turrets, if not in towers, become increasingly frequent. The Venerable Bede tells of one brought from Italy about 68o, by St. Benedict Biscop, and pLtced in his •newly-built Abbey at Wearmouth, and the same historian speaks of the sound of a bell as being well known at Whitby Abbey at the time of the death of St. Hilda, which was also in 68o. In 63 7 the Christians in Jerusalem were ordered to toll their bells rather than ring them. In the ninth century there were bells tuned in a musical sequence in a tower of Sancta Sophia which was destroyed by the Turks. By the year 750 church bells had become sufficiently common in England, for Egbert, Archbishop of York ( 732-766) to order, in his Exerptions, that the priests should toll them at the appointed hours; and if this was possible in the North, we may be certain that it was even more so in the South, which, from its nearness to the Continent, was even from Cresar's time more familiar with the products of European civilisation than the more remote districts of England. Ingulphus, the chronicler of Croyland Abbey, says, in speaking of a peal of seven bells there in g6o, " nee erat tunc tanta consonantia cam­panarium in tota Anglia ". Thus, in this statement that England had no peal to match it in tone, he distinctly implies that even by that time many churches had something more than a single bell. Indeed, from early times bells were regarded as a necessary adjunct to every church, as is the common practice even to-day. This fact is clearly recognized in the Canons of the Church of England, which specially direct that " parishes must furnish bells and bell-ropes ". Associated in various ways with the ancient ritual of the Church, bells seem to have acquired a kind of sacred character, and for many years in Europe, the bell foundries appear to have been set up in the religious houses, and the castings attended with elaborate ceremonials, the priests,

1 Walcot, Soc. Arch., p. 66.

8 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

Abbots and frequently the Bishops being the Master bell founders. For a long while it was the priest's office to ring bells. At an early period bells were blessed with solemn ceremonies, as , they were consecrated to the duty of calling worshippers to their religious rites. The bells were also washed and named, and it was the custom to have sponsors for them-usually their donors -and this custom is even carried out to this day. An account is on record of the great bell of the Lateran church being named, in the year g68, by Pope John XIII, only for himself, John.

The Croyland bells-mentioned above-were all named. Turketel who was made Abbot of that house about 946, had " one very large bell " cast called Guthlac ; to that his successor Egelric the Elder (who died in 984) added six more-two large ones, which he called Bartholomew and Bettelm; two of medium size, which he named Turketel and Tatwin ; and two small ones to which he gave the names of Peg a and Bega.

St. Dunstan " the chief of Monks " was an expert worker in metals and cast a bell, which formanyyears after his death hung in Canterbury Cathedral ; two bells cast under his direction were at Abingdon, and here also were two more by S. h:thelwold, the founder of that monastery. All these bells unfortunately have long since disappeared. Many ancient bells now existing bear no inscriptions or marks at all, although on some a saint's name appears. Later, the invocation to a saint, or a line of ecclesiastical Latin is inscribed, and sometimes the donor's name is given, and the bellfounder's mark or shield-but seldom his name-nor does the date appear except in very rare cases, until the end of the sixteenth century, when the recording ofthe year of the casting became usual, and founders also inscribed their names. Said to be the oldest dated bell in a Christian church is one at Ingensbach, Lower Bavaria (I I44) inscribed :-

"ANNO MCXLIIII AB INCARNATIONE DOMINI FACTA EST CAMPANA."

Italy provides some ofthe earliest examples of the founder's art. At Pisa are two bells said to be dated I 106 (?) and I 154, and at the famous "leaning tower" there is one dated 1262. Another at Pisa is of 1173, and in the Bargello Museum at Florence is one dated r I84.

The High Priest, with golden bells around the hem of his garment

Ancient " tapping " of small bells. (From " Worms Bible " A.D. II 48)

Oldest bell in the world, found near Babylon. 3,000 years old

Wheel of Sacring Bells- Spain Top Gerona

Bottcm l\1anresa

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 9

In France the oldest bell (formerly at Fontenville and now in Bayeux Museum) bears the date 1202, but this fell in 1858, when it was recast. At Moissac was formerly a bell cast 1273, but this too, was recast in 1845. At Freiborg in the Black Forest, a veteran is still serviceable, having been cast as long ago as 1258. The oldest dated bell in England exists at Claughton near Lancaster. This bell, with the exception of an initial Cross, bears no other inscription beyond the date in Roman letters " Anno Domini 1296 ". Norway possesses a large number of very early bells, and these, like most bells of the period, are '' long waisted ".

In 1902 the lateDr.A. H. Nichols of Boston, U.S.A., published the following unique account of" old dated bells", and with his permission I give it in full.

It is remarkable that there should have been discovered in the year 1898 in the famous mosque of the Karneein at Fez, Morocco, a large bell which I believe to be the oldest but one extant bearing a date. For our knowledge of the discovery of this interesting relic we are indebted to Budget Meekin, of London, author of the delightful volume entitled The Land of the Moors.

It appears that in the course of some repairs being made within this mosque, three large brass chandeliers, which were taken down to be cleaned, proved to be old bells. When this circumstance was reported to Mr. Mel ver MacLeod, the British vice-consul, a Moor able to read European characters was sent to examine the bells. Of these the largest was found to be about four feet in height, and twelve feet in circumference at the rim. About fifteen inches above the rim is cast in bas­relief, in letters three inches deep, an inscription in Roman letters, the transcription of which was given as follows :-MEHT SEMSANTA SPONTANANE VOROE MOEGET

PATRE LIBERACIONEMENT 1219

Between the final T and the initial M there is an ornament resembling a star, knot, or garter. Between the inscription and the rim are, in bas-relief and at equal distances, four devices, viz. : an eagle, a lion, a bull, and another not identified.

This inscription, which appears to have been very imper­fectly copied, I am at a loss to interpret, but the words are clearly mediaeval Spanish, and it may therefore be safely assumed that the bells formed part of the loot of some church or

IO BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

monastery taken by the Moors of Grenada during some of their raids into the conterminous province of Castile during the rgth-rsth centuries. It will be recalled that Grenada, the last stronghold of the Moors, was captured by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, the year of the discovery of America. It is interesting to note that this newly-discovered bell at Fez, which must weigh at least 20 cwt., is considerablv older than that of Duncton, Sussex (I369), which is of foreign manu­facture while but a single bell extant, that of lngensbach, Lower Bavaria, bears an earlier date (I 144). The inscriptions of the other three bells of the mosque were hidden by numerous lamps attached to them, and were therefore not ascertained.

The following list of old dated bells, drawn mainly from Otte's work on campanology, printed in Leipsic in r884, is more complete than any hitherto published.

It is possible that more ancient bells may yet be found in Spain, but in my visits to the towers and campanarios of that country I have found the work of deciphering the inscriptions extremely difficult, the bells being hung in inaccessible arches, and often encased in gudgeon-grease and dirt.

Moreno, in his description of Grenada, published r892, affirms that a bell was recently broken up for recasting, taken from the convent Santa Catalina de Sena, inscribed with the date, r I I 8, and a verse from the Book of Psalms, viz. : " Laudate dominum in cymbalis benesonantibus." In Gilching, Upper Bavaria, is a bell inscribed with the name of its donor, which makes it certain that it was cast between the years I I 62 and I 194·

The stars in this list indicate that the bells may have been recently removed from their respective towers, or perhaps destroyed.

Location. 1. Ingensbach, Lower Bavaria 2. Fez, Morocco, Mosque of Karneein 3· Helfta, near Eisleben 4· Wurzburg, St. Burchard 5· *Iber, near Einbeck .. 6. Minden Cathedral 7· Freiburg, Bade, Cathedral 8. Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), St. Peter g. Moringen, Hanover, Church of the Virgin

Io. Hagenau, St. George I 1. Hagenau, City Tower I2. Braunschweig, Museum

Inscribed Date. I I44 I2I9 I234 I249 I249 1252 1258 1261 1263 1268 1268 1270

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT II

13. Minden, Cathedral 1270 14. Markgroningen, Wurtemberg (t)'VO bells) 1272 15. *Ochtersum, near Esens 1274 16. Wurzburg, St. Peter . . I 275 1 7. Gross-Uhrleben, near Langensalza I 278 I8. *Luhnde, near Hildesheim I278 19. Halberstadt, St. Moritz I28I 20. Muhlhausen, St. Blasius I28I 21. Munden, St. Blasius I28I 22. *Freiburg, Baden, Cathedral I28I 23. *Emden, principal Church . . I 282 24. *Brandenburg, St. Katharine I287 25. Gonna, near Sangerhausen I 290 26. Wilsdruff, Saxony I 290 27. St. Chad's, Claughton, Lancashire I296 28. Cold Ashby, N orthamptonshire 13 I 7 29. South Somercoles, Lincolnshire (two bells) I423 30. Somerby, Lincolnshire (two bells) . . I43I 31. *Fredelsloh I29I 32. Kampen, Holland . . I295 33· Wernigerode, St. Sylvester . . I297 34· Sinzig, Parish Church I 299 35· Pfaffenhofen I 299 36. Duncton, Sussex, England . . 1369

The study of marks, initial crosses, lettering and inscriptions on bells is a most interesting pursuit. Quite true it is that " an old bell, by its inscriptions, medallions and ornaments, relates the history of the past, better than a mutilated stone."

But apart from any historic or antiquarian interest, one can find on such bells, gems of art in illuminating and decoration. These trade . marks, word stops, floral bands and such like, frequently reach a very high artistic level. This is of course mainly true of the mediaeval period, but even in the seventeenth and eighteenth century bellfounders adorned their bells with rich and varied ornamental lettering. On mediaeval btlls we find two variations :-Gothic capitals and black letter " smalls ", sometimes used together and called " mixed Gothic " style. Some of the early London founders used very effective sets of lettering, and special mention must be made of the beautiful and highly ornamented letters on bells of the middle of the fourteenth century London founders . Leicester founders of this period used fine ornamental lettering which was handed down for two centuries. Thomas Potter of Norwich (1404) used a very

12 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

elaborate alphabet in which the letters were filled with grotesque figures and other devices, and a handsome set was used by a Bristol founder about 1450.

Above and below the lettering it is not uncommon to find beautiful ornamental bordering, ranging from a simple fleur-de­lys to most elaborate designs and running arabesques with figures of grotesque men, animals, birds and the like. A further embellishment adopted in mediaeval times was the surmounting of each letter~r more often the initial letter-with a crown, and numerous examples of this style still exist. Later on came the addition of the donor's coat-of-arms, though this form is naturally restricted. However, arms of cities, dioceses, and saints are frequently met with. Continental bells, and those of the Far East, particularly China and Japan, are much more elaborate in decoration than those of England. One mq.y see thereon, not only the inscription, but often intricate and beautiful designs. Symbolic, allegoric, fantastic and heraldic art find a place on these castings. One huge bell in Pekin, weighing over fifty tons and cast over two thousand years before the Christian era, is so beautifully made that its inscription-which consists of all the ancient Chinese lore and shown by many thousand symbols-can be read by a blind man !

Ancient bells rarely have the name of their founder, but a study of the stops, marks or stamps, is often the means of ascer­taining their founder and approximate date. Inscriptions too, varied as time progressed, from the early invocation to some patron saint to pray for us (Ora pro Nobis), or for a blessing on the Church and people; down to the quaint and interesting couplets telling the use of the particular bell thus inscribed, for example:-

" Men's death I tell, by doleful knell." " On Sabbath all, to Church I call."

" I toll the funeral knell, I hail the festal day ;

The fleeting hours I tell, I summon all to pray."

Other bells commemorate some great event of either national or local importance, or-maybe-sing the donor's praise.

0 RIG IN AND DE VEL 0 PM EN T I3

As time went on a much severer style of both lettering and ornament took place, and the plain Roman alphabet with simple lines around the bells, or at most a plain lozenge or key pattern, were used. This, naturally, is speaking very broadly of English bells, for many founders went from the ornamental style to the plain, then suddenly returned to the decorated. Continental bells, however, still retain the highly decorative system, even to the crown staples--or canons, which in themselves comprise some very elaborate forms of cupids, winged lions, grotesque faces, and sometimes fantastic animals or beautifully designed symbolic figures.

CHAPTER II

Blessing qf Bells

Reprinted from a souvenir programme of the blessing of the peal of bells in St. John's Church, Rensselaer, N.Y., on Sunday, May 29th, 1904, by the late Rt. Rev. T. M. A. Burke, the late Very Rev. James E. Duffy,

Rector, assisting. 1

The blessingofbells must be performed by a bishop, or by a priest having the necessary faculties from him. 'l'he bishop begins by reciting, alternately with the clergy present, several of the psalms of King David, wherein is set forth the great mercy of God, and the confidence we have in His power to save us from our enemies. He then rises and blesses the water to be used in the ceremony. The bells are then washed and cleansed with this water, both inside and outside. This is to indicate that the bells are to be clean instruments of a pure and holy religion, and are thus cleansed before they are permitted to send forth a sound in the service of God. From this cere­mony the blessing of a bell is sometimes called its " baptism ", and sponsors are appointed for the bell. The bishop then reads six other psalms, and recites a prayer, in which reference is made to the command given by God to Moses to make trumpets for calling the people together for the sacrifices, and beggmg that at the sound of these bells the devotion of the people may be enkindled ; that all the wiles of the evil spirit may be defeated, that all disturbance of the elements may be calmed ; that the air may be healthful ; and that the spirits of evil may depart through the power of the sign of the cross marked upon the bells.

The bishop then takes the oil of the sick and makes seven signs of the cross on the outside of the bell ; and then signs the inside with four crosses using the holy chrism, reciting at each sign the words : "May this signal (bell), 0 Lord, be sanctified and consecrated. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

1 Reprinted by courtesy of Meneely Bell Co., New York.

BLESSING OF BELLS

and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." This sevenfold unction may have reference to the words of the royal prophet : " Seven times a day I give thee praise, 0 Lord ! " (Ps. 1 18). The four­fold unction with the chrism may be said to denote that the sound of the bell is to go forth to the four points of the compass. He then recites other prayers calling for spiritual and temporal blessings, and protection. Particular stress is laid in all these prayers on the power of the sound of the bells to expel evil spirits and calm disturbances of the elements. This is not a superstition, as we do not attribute such power to the bells themselves : but we hope that God, who frequently makes use of inanimate things to bestow His graces, will be mindful of the prayer of the church and the blessing invoked upon the bells at the time of their consecration, and, at the sound of these bells, protect His people from all harm. The bishop next places a censer with burning incense under each bell to express the devout prayers to which the bells are to call the people. Prayers, in the language of scripture, is likened to the sweet odor of incense.

The ceremony of the blessing is concluded with the reading of the gospel taken from St. Luke (ro: 38-42), which narrates the reception of Christ in the home of Martha and Mary, where the busy Martha complained that Mary did not help her in the work, but sat at the feet of the Saviour hearing His words. Our Lord declared that Mary had chosen the better part. This teaches us that, at the call of the bells, we should leave all our occupations and appear in the house of God, where, like Mary, we may listen to the word of Christ, and offer up our prayers to God.

CHAPTER III

Customs and Usages

FROM EARLIEST TIMES there was no strictly secular use of the bell, neither had the church a monopoly over the instrument. Re­ligious and civil elements were combined in the Angelus, while the church took up the duty of tolling the curfew which was originally a command from the local administration. The antecedent of the clock's chime was the Sexton clocking the bells, which was not superseded by any mechanical device until the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. Not only was tolling done, but tunes were played by hand to announce the hours of the day, and to summon for special occasions.

In North Europe the bells rang for the opening of the city gates ; to announce the beginning and end of various markets ; to proclaim the time when the day's work was over ; and finally as a signal to close the city gates and extinguish lights. They also rang the call to arms ; to announce the arrival and departure of ships ; to summon for fire ; to warn for flood ; and in time of pestilence to call for the dead to be brought out and buried. These services along with· religious usage, have continued down the ages. In the Halletoren ofBruges every night up to August 1914, at the conclusion of each quarter hour chime, the veilleur sounded two notes on the bells to remind citizens that he was watching over the town, and to inform them that all was well. If all was not well he would ring the necessary bell to summon aid : for calling to arms, the storm klok : for combatting fire, the brandklok : and to close the gates, the poortklok. The alarm bell still hangs between the battlements of Tholen, Holland. In France at the outbreak of the 1914 Great War, the tocsin was kept ringing throughout the night as of old. We may recall the lines regarding the alarum bell from Edgar Poe's poem on the Bells :-

I6

Curfew-brass, chased with two groups of St. George and Dragon and repousse with ornamental borders. English-first half r 7th century.

CUSTOMS AND USAGES

" Hear the loud alarum bells ! Brazen bells !

What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells ! In the startled ear of night. How they scream out their affright ! Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek,

Out of tune."

I7

What a vivid picture these verses convey of that terrible signal for civil war at the great French Revolution, the horrors of which defy description. The great bell of St. Mark's, Venice was used for a similar purpose. . " Sound your trumpets, and we will ring our bells ", was the defiant reply of the Chief Magistrate of the Florentine Republic to a German Emperor. We remember, too, the history of the famous Roland of Ghent, whose ominous boom often summoned its citizens to arms. This old bell has indeed played its part in the history of Flanders, and its name Roland, is doubtless taken from the brave follower of Charlemagne. Around the old bell the following haughty legend was inscribed:

" I am Roland, When I toll, it is fire, When I thunder, it is victory."

Its war note, which many a time rang out " in the startled ear of night ", was at last silenced for ever. Charles the Fifth commanded it to be unhung and destroyed when he subdued the doughty and warlike citizens of Ghent. Two other passages of Continental history are incidentally connected with the ringing of the bells. The massacre of the French in Sicily on Easter Tuesday, 1282, commonly called the Sicilian Vespers, is said by many to have been commenced on the ringing of the Vesper bells, which had been agreed upon as a signal. It is not certain, however, if such was the case ; the massacre took place un­questionably at Vesper-time amid the Easter festivities. On the other hand there is no question that the tolling of the bell of St. Germain L' Auxerrois for Matins, or as some say, of a bell in the Louvre, was the signal for the massacre of the Huguenots of Paris on St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572.

c

18 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

A gruesome story in connection with bells is that told about Worcester Cathedral, when, during the Danish invasion a Sanctus bell was stolen by a Dane. He was caught by the inhabitants while trying to carry it away, and, furious with rage they fell upon him and flayed him alive : his skin, when tanned, they nailed upon the inner door of the Cathedral as a warning to the sacrilegious in general and to the marauding Danes in par­ticular.1 A somewhat similar account is given of the strange covering of church doors at Hadstock, Copford, and Castle Hedingham. 2

Time would have been very dull in the old-time monasteries without bells, as it would be at Bruges, Mechlin or Louvain, without their Carillons. At the boom of the tower bell or signum in the early morn, the drowsy monk tumbled out of bed. The squilla reminded him of breakfast : the campanilla recalled him from the cloisters. The Abbot's codon, or handbell, must be instantly obeyed, whilst the large Petasius would be clanged if he failed to hear the codon. The tiniolum meant bed-time, the noctula or dupla called from sleep to prayer. The corrigiuneula or scourging bell summons the ascetic to his flagella tory devotions or prescribed penance : the Nola or choir bell rung at the con­secration of the elements : the Sanctus bell at the " Holy, Holy, Holy ". 3

It is recognised that every church should have at least one bell, and the Rubrics and Canons of the Church give directions as to their uses. The Prayer Book orders that a bell be rung " a convenient time " before a service begins " that the people may come and hear God's Word and pray". In the canons of 1603 the 15th directs that warning of the Litany should be given by " the tolling of a bell ". The 67th orders the Passing Bell and a peal at funerals. The 88th forbids superstitious ringing on unlawful occasions, and similarly the 11 1th warns against" un­timely " ringing.

In pre-Reformation days the ringing of bells was much more general than in later times, the usual number in each church

1 Mr. Salt Brassington, Historic Worcestershire, p. 81. Noake, Monastery and Cathedral rif Worcester, p. 20.

• The Church Treasury rif History, Customs, etc. (Andrewes & Co.). 3 Rev. H. R. Haweis, M.A., Bells & Belfries . Quoted by Gouverneur Morri­

son, p. 74·

CUSTOMS AND USAGES I9

being at least two large and one little, or "Saunce' ' bell : many had three, four or five large bells and sundry hand bells. They rang at the canonical hours, not only to give notice of the services, but to mark the time, thus answering the purpose of a clock : moreover different methods of ringing marked each particular service. Even to-day our public clocks would prove but half their worth should the bells that chime the passing hours be silent. In writing of Plantagenet London, Sir William Besant says:-

" In truth, every city was Ile Sonnante, and the greater, the richer, the more pormlous, the more powerful, was the city, the louder and more frequent were the jinglings and janglings, the sonorous clang, and the melodious peal, the chimings and the strikings, the music and the jarring of the thousand bells. They rang all day long ; they rang from the great Cathedral and from the little Parish Church ; from thestately Monastery, the Nunnery, the College of Priests, the Spital, the Chantry, the Chapel, and the Hermitage. They rang for Festivals, for Fasts, for Pageants, for Processions, for Births, for Marriages, and Funerals : for the election of City Officers, for Corona­tions, for Victories, and for Daily Service : they rang to mark the day and the hour : they rang in the baby : they rang out the passing soul : they rang for the bride : they rang for the memory of the dead : they rang for work to begin and for work to cease : they rang to exhort, to admonish, to console. With their ringings the City was never quiet."

Although regarded as post-Reformation usage, there is evidence that a bell was rung to give notice of sermons in mediaeval times. Even in modern times it was the usual custom, after ringing all the bells for service, to toll the tenor bell a few minutes to denote a sermon was to be preached. Many bells are inscribed with their use, thus-at Wednesbury, Staffs. :-

" I will sound and resound to Thee, 0 Lord, To call Thy people to Thy word."

at Banbury, Oxon, and elsewhere:-

" I ring to sermon with a lusty borne, That all may come, and none stay at home."

20 BELLS OF ·ALL NATIONS

Shakespeare refers to the Sermon bell thus :-

" Prince John. ' My Lord of York, it better show'd with you, When that your flock, assembled by the bell, Encircled you, to hear with reverence Your exposition on the Holy text." 1

The tenor bell at Halesowen, Wares. dated 1707, is inscribed:­

" When 0 sound of bell 0 doth 0 pearce 0 your 0 ear 0 com to 0 the 0 church 0 God's 0 word 0 toO heare 0 "

In some instances this is known as the " Surplice " bell, and is followed by a few strokes on the small " ting-tang " called the "Priests'" bell. This latter is occasionally named the " Tan­tony" bell from Saint Anthony's emblem-a small bell attached to his tan-staff. The small bell at Lichfield Cathedral is so called. These small bells are variously named the "sanctus ", " sa unce ", " sacrament " and occasionally " waggerel " bells, and instances of their use (or the treble in a peal where there is no special bell) at the present day are too numerous to mention. The Sunday mid-day peals are singularly perplexing. In some instances they are rung to announce an afternoon or evening service, in others it is a survival of " knolling of the Aves ". Again it is called the " leaving-off" bell, supposed to warn servants that their master and mistress are leaving church ! In other instances it was named the " Potato " bell, or as at Tingrith, Bedfordshire and elsewhere, the " Pudding " bell. Other places called it the " Oven" bell, while in Buckingham­shire it is the" Dinner " bell.

From time immemorial it has been customary to recognize the great festivals of the church by special peals. Perhaps the · greatest of these is Christmas, and of all times none has been so closely associated in popular fancy as the pealing of bells at this season. The merry music is recognized as essentially a part of the Yuletide festivities. We are occasionally reminded of an olden custom by ringing muffled peals on Innocents Day, otherwise called " Childermasse ".

Ringing out the old year and ringing in the new, by mid­night peals is heard not only in every part of Great Britain, but

1 Henry IV, Act iv, Sc. 2.

CUSTOMS AND USAGES 2!

in Europe, America, Australia and elsewhere. Some places have muffled peals for the former, and a joyous open peal for the latter. Nearly every poet of note has described this custom with feeling, from the late Lord Tennyson, down to many obscure and illiterate writers. Tennyson's In Memoriam for instance, was composed by him on hearing the bells of Waltham Abbey in Essex. Longfellow wrote a well-known poem of'' Peace and Goodwill" during the war between North and South America, and made many other references to bells at Christmas and New Year. Charles Lamb, the most delightful of English essayists has some inspiring comments on the bells at this season, speaking of them as " the music nighest heaven ". Eliza Cook, Thomas Cooper the Chartist, Sir Walter Scott, and a host of others might be quoted.

The " Pancake " bell is still rung in many parishes, and originally was a summons to preparation for the coming solemn season of Lent, during which bell-ringing was restricted. On Easter Day, however, the bells were again liberated and sent forth joyous peals.

In the Inventory of 1552 it is recorded that at Achurch, Northamptonshire, there were" viiJ lyttell belles in a chyme hangynge on a wele ". Presumably this chime of small bells served the same purpose as the Sacring bell, which was rung as the service came to the Elevation of the Host. In some cases it was known as the " Agnus Bell ", the Agnus Dei being sung at this point of the service. There must have been many such wheels of bells in England in mediaeval days, but none are known to exist to-day. The Returns of 1552 for Chetton, Salop, give "Itm. ix litle belles ". Similar rings of ' litle belles ' probably set round a wheel existed at Abden and Aston Bottrill in the same county. At Lindridge in Worcs. the Inventory gives "viij lytle bells upon a wheel " which Mr. Mackenzie Walcott explains as a chime ofSacring bells such as are still used in Spain. At Broken­borough in Wiltshire, " in the tyme of the old lawe (i.e. pre­reformation days) 18little bells hung in the middle of the church, which the pulling of one bell made them all ring, which was done at the elevation oftheHoste". John Baret ofBury S. Edmunds in his Will dated 1463, directs the sexton to " do the chymes goo at ye Sacry. of the Messe ". On the west wall of the south

22 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

transept of Milton Abbey church, Dorset ; and on the north wall of the presbytery of Tewkesbury Abbey, there are little wooden turrets which probably once contained a chime such as those mentioned. At St. Mary, Woolnoth, and St. Matthew, Friday St. London, chimes ofbells are mentioned in ancient Inventories. In" church of our Fathers", we are informed by Dr. Rock that at the celebration of the Mass," as the priest said the Sanctus, the custom was to strike three tolls on a bell, which was hung in a bell-cote between the chancel and the nave, that the rope might fall a short distance from the spot where knelt the youth or person who served at Mass. From the first part of its use this bell got the name of" Saints"" Sanctys "or" Sanctus" bell, and many notices of it are met with in old accompts ". Dr. Rock says that two distinct bells were used, one for the Sanctus and the other for the Elevation. Sometimes they were made of silver, and were called " Sacring " bells. In some churches in Spain there is fitted up a wheel oflittle bells, which, "at the elevation of the Host are rung with all their force,)n the place of the tinkling bell so common on the Continent ". There is one at Toledo, and Mr. Street found another at Barcelona 1 " near the door to the Sacristie, a hexagonal box for the wheel of the bells is fixed against the wall. At Gerona, " against the north wall is a very pretty example of a wheel of bells. This is all of wood corbelled out from the wall, and is rung with a noisy jingle of bells at the elevation of the Host ". At Manresa " in the choir aisle is a wheel of bells in its old case ". But the most remarkable wheel of little bells (about 150 in number) is in the Abbey church of Fulda, in Germany : the wheel has fourteen arms forming a star, 20 feet in diameter, about which the little bells are suspended. It was originally made of gold, but the one now in use, of the same dimensions, is made of brass, and is a very beautiful work of mediaeval art, bearing the date 1515. There is a large pulley at

· each end of the axis from which the arms of the star radiate, where there are silken ropes connected with a sort of tread wheel by which it is put in motion, a person walking inside it.

The old Spanish Missions carried the " lyttell chyme of belles " to South America, and one such wheel is now preserved in the famous collection of bells at the Riverside Inn, California.

1 Mr. Street, Spain, p. 255·

CUSTOMS AND USAGES

Music from this wheel of six bells of modulated tones was fur­nished by an Indian acolyte who turned the wheel during services. A wheel of bells still exists at San Juan Capistrano Mission. In the Victoria and Albert Museum, Kensington, are two richly decorated Italian " Sacring bells " formerly in the far-famed Soulage's collection of Italian Art. The largest is enriched with zones of arabesques in relief, and three shields of arms. Around the upper part is the inscription "Io Jacobus Malhabia MDLXI " : the smaller bell is also richly decorated with arabesque ornaments, acanthus leaf mouldings, etc., and inscribed " Pvlsv meo servvs voco lipo mano fvos ", and dates from 1500. 1 In the same Museum are two other fine Italian bells, one of early sixteenth century bearing the arms of Mus­caglia family of Verona, and other with arms of Rossi of Venice. In the British Museum may be seen a most elaborately decorated silver handbell of the same variety, but of German workmanship.

The triple " Hail Mary " recited in the evening, which is the origin of our modern Angelus, was closely connected with the ringing of a bell. This bell seemingly belonged to Compline which was theoretically said at sundown, though in practice it followed closely upon the afternoon office of Vespers. There can be little doubt that in all except a few exceptional cases, the tolling of the Ave bell was distinct from the ringing of curfew, the former taking place at the end of compline, and perhaps coinciding with the praying for peace, said in the choir ; the latter being the signal for the close of day and for the general bed­time. In · many places both in England and France the curfew bell is still rung, and it may be noted that not only at a relatively late hour varying from 8 to 10, but that the actual peal lasts in most cases for a notable period of time, being prolonged to a hundred strokes and more. Many circumstances point to the conclusion that the ringing of the Angelus in the fourteenth century, and even in the thirteenth century must have been in general use, The number of bells belonging to these centuries which still survive are very small, but among those that do re­main, a proportion bear inscriptions which suggest that they were originally intended to serve as Ave bells. In the first place,

1 These are illwtrated in, Supplement to Church Bells qf Devonshire," by Rev.H.J. Ellacombe, M.A., F.S.A., pp. 503-4-

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

many bear the words "Ave Maria", or, as in the case of a bell at Helfta, near Eisleben in Germany, dated I234, the whole sentence "Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus Tecum". Bells with Ave Maria inscriptions are numerous in England, though here the Angelus bells seem in a very large number of instances to have been dedicated to S. Gabriel. In France the Ave Maria seems to have been the ordinary label for Angelus bells, but in Germany we find the most common inscription of all, even in many thirteenth century examples, the words " 0 Rex Gloria Veni Cum Pace" (0 King of Glory, come with peace), as for instance the bells at Freiburg in the Breisgau, dated I258. ·Moreover in Germany, the Netherlands, and in some parts of France, the Angelus bell was regularly known as the "Peace bell ", and " pro pace schlagen " (to toll for peace) was a phrase popularly used for ringing the Angelus.

Urban II., the Pope who preached the first Crusade (IOg6-I Ioo), is said to have directed that three times a day a bell should be sounded in order that the faithful might recite the Ave Maria and by that prayer beseech God for the recovery of the Holy Land. The custom fell into disuse and was revived by order of Pope Gregory IX (I227-I24I).

The modern Continental observance is usually said to have been begun by Pope John XXII, who directed that the Angelic Salutation should be recited every evening in honour of the incarnation of Christ. The Council of Sens, I 34 7, decreed that the ordinance made by Pope John for the saying of three Ave Marias at the time or hour of curfew should be inviolably observed ; and the statutes of Simon Bishop of Nantes ordain that the parish priests shall at the customary time cause bells to be rung in their churches for the curfew, and shall instruct their parishioners at each ringing to say on bended knee the words of salutation Ave Maria, and thereby they gained ten days of indulgence.

In I 369 the Synod of Bexiere ordained that henceforth at dawn of day three strokes should be struck with the clapper on the larger bell, ' and let everyone hearing it whatever his station of life say three times Paternoster and Ave Maria.'

The mid-day observance was introduced by Pope Calixtus III (1455-I458). 'He gave orders that God should be supplicated every day and that a bell should be rung about noon to give the people notice that they should join in prayer for the Christians against the Turks '.

!=: 8 .....

" Two storey " and " three storey " frames specially designed for small towers

The Bourdon bell of the carillon at Louvain University, Belgium

Clifford Ball at clavier of Bournville Carillon

CUSTOMS AND USAGES 25 Finally the full observance three times a day at morning,

noon and night was ordered by King Louis of France in I 4 72, in order, it is said, to gain assistance against his enemies.

The modern devotion may, therefore, be said to be French in its origin and development, though it was adopted to some extent by other parts of Christendom.

Bells were frequently rung on the Vigil of All Saints or Hallow Mass, and in some instances they were kept going all night ! Churchwarden's accounts of many parishes testify to the repair of bells and fittings preparatory to this ringing. We need only quote one instance, that at Leverton, Lincoln­shire:-

I 524 " I tm payd to Wyllya' Jesson Carpenter for helpyng of ye bellfray agayns halomese .... vd.

I526 Paid to Rodlay ye Wryght for me' dyng ofye bells agayns halomes . . . . . . . iiijd.

St. Hugh's, St. James', St. George's and Lady Day were also occasions of ringing. At Lincoln Cathedral (it is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin) peals were always rung on this day. Before the six Lady Bells were destroyed in I 834, the choristers used to ascend the cathedral rood tower on this day, tie strings to the bell clappers, and chime them thus :~

The peal A-ve- Ma-ri- a-o-ra -pro-no-bis

They used to repeat this for an hour, and finish with the peal in succession.

It is always the usual custom for a clergyman, on entering a new living, to announce his coming by the " Induction " bell, and in some parishes " Visitation " peals are rung, while " Banns " and " Wedding " peals are common. In a few instances we find " Baptism " and " Confirmation " peals. The "Passing" bell is of ancient usage, and many quaint and

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

interesting references could be quoted. It was the intention in tolling this bell, to invoke the prayers of the hearers for a per­son dying, and who was not yet dead. To use an ancient couplet:-

" Come list and harke, the bell doth towle, for some but new departing soule ".

This usage is one of the very earliest to be recorded in England. The Venerable Bede in relating the circumstances of the death of St. Hilda ofStranaeshalch (Whitby) in the year 68o says :-

" This nun on a sudden heard the well-known sound of a bell in the air, which used to awake and call them to prayers when any one of them was taken out of this world 1

The following clause in the " Advertisements for due order " in the 7th year of Queen Elizabeth explains this ringing :-

"Item that when anye Christian bodie is in passing, that the bell be tolled, and that the curate be speciallie called for to comforte the sicke person : and after the time of his passing to ringe no more but one shorte peale ; and one before the buriall, and another shorte peale after the buriall ".

It is curious that while the " Passing " bell is now no longer rung, the " death knell " remains, and in many places it is the custom to announce the sex of the deceased-generally three strokes for a man, two strokes for a woman, three times repeated, and often the age of the departed is tolled by as many strokes on the bell, as years old. Inscriptions on bells for this use are common. Here are one or two:-

" When I toll, Lord save the soul ".

" When you die, aloud I cry ".

" I to the church the living call and to the grave do summon all ".

" Beg ye of God your soul to save Before we call you to the grave ".

1 Bede's Ecclesiastic History, book v. ch. 23, first issued 731 A.D. from the old Abbey atJarrow where he spent his life.

CUSTOMS AND USAGES

Among Celtic people the ancient handbells which, as else­where noted, were so deeply venerated partly as objects im­mediately connected with God's worship, partly as relics of holy men, were usually carried and rung at funerals. To this day, St. Finnan's little bell lies exposed upon the altar of a ruined chapel in one of the Catholic districts of the Highlands of Scot­land. It is used at funerals, but is otherwise left unprotected, being regarded with such deep veneration by all, that no one dares to interfere with it. 1 In many parts of France there were formerly confraternities of handbell ringers who regularly attended funerals, walking at the head of the procession. They also paraded the streets at night and rang to remind people to pray for the holy souls. This happened especially on the Eve of All Saints and Christmas Eve. 2 In Rome the" De Profundis " is rung every evening by the parish churches, one hour after the Ave Maria. Clement XII in 1736 granted an indulgence for this practice and endeavoured to extend it. This custom is observed in many other places, particularly in North America.

The curfew (ignitegium) a warning to extinguish fires and lights, after which all respectable people went home to bed, was possibly of Ecclesiastical origin, but seems to have been rung as a rule by the town bell (campana communiae bancloche) still-in many cases one of the church bells was used for this and similar pur­poses. It was heard in Normandy at an early date, and its use was enforced in England-where it appears to have been in­stituted by King Alfred-by William the Conqueror, probably for the purpose of preventing nocturnal assemblies. The custom prevailed in France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, and probably in all European countries at this early period, and was intended as a precaution against fires, which were then very frequent and fatal, when so many houses were built of wood. Pershall's History of Oxford states :-

" The custom of ringing the bell at Carfax every night at eight o'clock (called Curfew or Cover fire bell) was by order of King Alfred, the restorer of the University, who ordered that all the inhabitants should, at the ringing of this bell,' cover up their fires and retire to bed.' "

1 (See MacDonald, Mordart, Oban, 188g, p. 120.) 1 Morillot, Clochettes, 1 6o seq.

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

Henry, in his History of Britain, tells us that the covering up of their fires was at about sunset in summer, and about eight o'clock at night in winter, and this custom has been carried out in all parts of England, right down to the present time. The writer often (pre-war) rang this bell at St. Martin's Cathedral, Leicester where a bye-law was passed in Eliz. 25 (1583) inflicting a fine on any alehouse-keeper who suffered tradesmen to remain at his house after the curfew had been rung. The ringing of Bow Bell in London at nine o'clock in the evening was also, in 1469, a signal for closing of shops. In some parishes the continuance of this ringing was sought and secured by persons, who, in times when roads were badly defined and crossed open and unenclosed country, lost their way in the gloom of the evening, or darkness of the winter nights, but were enabled to find their way to the village by the welcome sound of the curfew. Many instances of endowments being left by grateful wayfarers thus saved, are recorded in all parts of England. One of the larger bells was generally rung or tolled-thus we are reminded by Gray in his famous Elegy in a country church-yard "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day". Often, too, in many places, the day of the month was tolled by so many strokes on the bell, either before or after the actual ringing of curfew. Endless instances could be quoted of varying diversions of this usage, but in general the original order was faithfully carried out. It is mentioned as a common and approved regulation in most monasteries of North Europe, the intent being to prevent accidents by fire. There is a narrow street in Perth, Scotland, still called " Couvrefeu Row " leading west to Black Friars, where the curfew bell gave warning to the inhabitants to cover their fires and retire to bed. In some cases fires would be put out immediately, but in others the burning embers were covered by a metal shield or cover, which enclosed them and thus prevented risk of fire. In certain places, especially in the North of England, the people rarely let their fires right down, but burned them day and night through­out the year. Some fires, it is said, were never let out for over a century ! These covers were from their usage called " Curfews " and were made of various metals, sometimes beautifully engraved or embossed. In some private collections and in a few museums may be seen examples more or less elaborate in design, and these

CUSTOMS AND USAGES

naturally form objects greatly prized by collectors fortunate enough to possess them.

As in Old England, so in New England, is the curfew still heard. In Boston the nine o'clock bell was rung from time immemorial up to within living memory. This old custom is witnessed by Joseph Josselyn who visited Boston in 1763, and his description says :-

" On the south there is a small but pleasant common, where the gallants a little before sunset walk with their marmalet madams, as we do in Moorsfield, etc., till the nine o'clock bell rings them home to their respective habitations, when presently the constables walk their rounds to see good order is kept, and take up loose people ".

In South America it is called the " Stay" bell, and after it was rung, at ten o'clock, the use of the streets was forbidden by municipal ordinances to the inhabitants of Quito and other Peruvian towns. In 1851, at any rate too, there rang out two bells at Charleston, at eight in summer, at seven and nine in winter. At the first the young children said " good-night" and went to bed : at the second the watch for the night was set, and after that no servant might step outside of his master's house without special permission.

The curfew is well remembered in the famous poem by R. H. Thorpe "Curfew must not ring to-night" and this allegory may be true, for the bell that Bessie-the heroine-prevented from ringing to save her lover's life, still hangs and rings, in Chertsey church.

The " Mote " or " Common " bell was in old times used to call together the people for public meetings, elections and the like. Bells were rung in connection with the manorial courts, and other parochial rites. Gunpowder plot was for many years celebrated by bellringing, and many churchwardens' accounts verify the payments made for this, and also for ringing on Oak Apple Day (May 29). Loyal and Victory peals are common even to-day. May day and Plough Monday' were also cele­brated, and instances are recorded of seed-sowing, harvest, gleaning and barley bells. The villagers of the olden days

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

announced fires by ringing the bells " backwards ". A bell at Sherborne, Dorset, is inscribed :-

"Lord, quench this furious flame, Arise, run, help to put out the same ".

Alas, in these days of rush and speed, many of the old-time customs are dying out. Let us not forget, however, that " whene'er the sweet church bells, ring over hills and dells " they are

" The bells that tell a thousand tales, Sweet tales of olden time ! "

Bells as Warnings. The action of the British Government in reserving the use of church bells as a warning in case of in­vasion during the Great War 1940/43, was not a new idea. As far back as the reign of Edward III a very similar order was issued, only then the ban on ringing was not a total one. One bell and one only was allowed to be used for ordinary purposes in all parishes within 2 I miles of the sea, and it was ordered that if there was an invasion all the bells should be rung as a warn­ing. England was then at war with France and Scotland, and it was the beginning of what is known as the Hundred Years War. For some time French ships made attempts to raid towns on the South Coast. They burnt Southampton, Harwich and Ply­mouth, and did other damage, but a great English naval victory at Sluys destroyed the French Fleet, and afterwards it was the English who invaded France. On November 2oth, 1338, an order was issued to all sheriffs of counties lying on the sea coast, which ran:-

" Because we have understood for certain that our enemies from abroad are daily preparing to invade our realm, in order to commit therein what evil and wickedness they can,-for this reason we have ordained by the advice of our Council, for the more speedy warning of our people of the approaching attacks of the enemy, and for the better avoiding of their malice, that one bell only shall be rung in all churches within a distance of seven leagues from the sea ; and that if peril shall threaten from such hostile attacks, all the bells shall be rung in each of these churches, for the defence of our people, and to give warn­ing for the repulse of our enemies."

..

CUSTOMS AND USAGES

In the twelfth century, movement in war by sea or by land, was far slower than it is to-day, people were much more accustomed to listen for the messages the bells had to give them, and the warning (in conjunction with beacons) was doubtless quite effective.

CHAPTER IV

From Foundry to Tower

THE HISTORICAL ASPECT of the bell-founder's art abounds with interest, but for our present purpose it must suffice to give but the briefest outline of how bells are cast, tuned and hung. As before mentioned, the first bellfounders were monks and other Ecclesiastics, but in due course bellfounding became a regular profession. In earliest times the itinerant bell-founder played no small part in equipping churches with their bells. Wander­ing from place to place and building his furnace on some con­venient spot, he would cast his bells where and when required, sometimes in the churchyard, and even in the church itself !

Even to-day the method of bellfounding is the same. First the bell has to be designed, and it is here that careful consideration has to be given to the accurate setting-out of the curves and thick­nesses which determine to a large extent the harmonious qualities of its tone. Almost as important in this respect is the com­position of the alloy known as "bell-metal", which usually consists of copper and tin in varying proportions of 1 3 to 4· From the completed design the pattern-maker next cuts out the " strickle boards " or templates, by means of which the mould is shaped. These consist of two boards (one for forming the exterior, and the other for the interior of the bell), to which are attached pivots around which the strickles are rotated. The first step in the moulding is the preparation of the " core " and " cope ", in other words-the inner and outer parts of the mould. For the core, a centre of brick-work is set up roughly to shape on an iron base-plate. A rough coat of moulding material called "loam" is applied. This is shaped up by means of the strickle, and several further coats of loam are duly applied, the core being thoroughly dried between each application.

32

Cope and core

Bell on tuning machine

F R 0 M F 0 U N D R Y T 0 T 0 W E R 33

The outer portion of the mould is made in an iron casting called a "bell-case" which roughly resembles the shape of a bell, being necessarily somewhat larger than the bell itself. The " case " is inverted and lined with loam, shaped by the rotation of the second strickle, which is pivoted at its top and bottom points. Here again the mould is dried as successive coats of loam are applied. For both parts of the mould extreme care is taken with the final coat of loam, which is given a suitable " dressing", and any inscriptions or ornamental devices are impressed into the outer portion of the mould before the final drying.

When both cope and core are completed, the cope is carefully lowered over the core, and the two parts securely bolted together. The space between the two parts of the mould now corresponds exactly to the dimensions of the bell about to be cast. The mould is completed by attaching to the top a small iron box in which a basin is formed in sand to receive the molten metal. At the bottom of this basin is a passage to allow the metal to flow through into the mould, while another passage provides for the escape of air and gas as the mould is gradually filled.

All is now ready for the most spectacular part-the actual casting of the bell. In olden days this was often accompanied by much ceremonial, and, as the metal was about to be poured into the mould, rich nobles and other generously-minded folk who were present would throw into the molten metal their vessels of gold and silver. Many a bell is reputed to possess an exceptionally fine tone on this account, but it would be more fair to give credit to the art and skill of the founder, upon whom alone the quality of the tone depended.

The metal, having been melted, is drawn from the furnace into a large cauldron. By means of a crane the molten bell­metal is conveyed to the mould, into which it is gently poured. If the bell is of average size, it is usually allowed a day in which to cool ; but larger ones have to be left a longer time. " Great Paul " the largest bell in England, was eight days " cooling off" before being taken from its mould, being cast on 23rd November, 188r. It is g feet 6£ inches in diameter, and weighs 16 tons 14 cwts. 2 qrs. Iglbs. It was hoisted in the South West tower of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, on Tuesday, May 3oth, 1882, and rung for the first time on June 3rd of that year.

D

34 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

After being cast, the bell is then trimmed, cleaned by sand­blasting, and drilled. It is taken to the tuning machine which is a kind of vertical lathe, and by the removal of a small portion of metal in certain places, the principal note and its harmonies are adjusted. In olden days the tuning of bells was very crude, and the method employed was to chip off certain portions with a sharp pointed hammer. Thus to sharpen the note, the chipping was done on the outside of the rim ; and to flatten it, the inner side of the sound bow was chipped. It is for this reason that many old bells look as though they have had rough usage.

It was no doubt an instinctive feeling for beauty of tone that led those bellfounders of the Middle Ages to an approximation of the present bell-form and, as is usual, Science followed Art, putting its seal upon what an intuitive artistic empiricism had evolved. It was not, however, until the seventeenth century that bellfounders approached the realisation of the founding and tuning of the true harmonic bell, that is, the bell having its sub­sidiary tones in true musical relation to its fundamental note. Marked progress was made at that period, and some good work done by the brothers Francis and Peter Hemony of Amsterdam. The founding of carillons was their chief business, their first being for the Wine House Tower, Zutphen, in 1645, and it was by great misfortune that these bells were destroyed by fire in 1915. Messrs. J. Taylor & Co. ofLoughborough, were commissioned to cast a new carillon of similar size and number for the tower when rebuilt in I 924.

The Hemonys were the most successful exponents of harmoni­ca! tuning before the present day, and they were followed by two Belgian firms-Peter Dumery of Antwerp and the Vanden­Gheyns of Louvain. Apart from these Dutch and Belgian masters, this higher method of tuning was not practised in any country, and their knowledge was apparently lost with them,­to be revived and improved upon in England during the last half~ century. For two centuries the tuning of the harmonics in a bell was a lost art, the ordinary method being to treat the bell as a single note, whereas it has at least five notes that should be in tune with one another- the strike note ; the nominal (octave above the strike note) ; the hum (an octave below) ; the tierce (third) ; and quint (fifth). Thus every bell should be in tune

F R 0 M F 0 U N D R Y T 0 T 0 W E R 35

with itself, and the two chords here given show the tones of a false and true bell :-

False True

Nominal Quint Tierce Strike-Note

The incomparable improvement in tone that this brought about is due in great measure to the efforts of the late Canon Simpson of Fittleworth in Sussex. The Canon devoted a great part of his time to the study of bell-tones, and now after much application and experiment, and the improved methods of machinery employed, it is now possible to tune an extensive range of bells exceeding five chromatic octaves, from twenty-ton bourdons to little bells of a few pounds.

The bells having been thus tuned are ready for their fittings to be fixed. If they are intended for a " swinging peal " in the English fashion, they are provided with headstocks having a wheel on one side, and a " stay" on the other, and nowadays all such bells swing on "ball-bearings". The frames are usually of iron and steel, so constructed that when all the bells are in full revolution, the strain and stress on the tower is reduced to a mtrumum. Thus, while some swing West to East, and vice· versa: others swing North to South and vice-versa, thus counter· balancing the thrust and sway of many tons weight. If, however, the bells are intended for a carillon, then they simply hang " dead ", i.e. they do not swing, but are are clamped to the carry· ing girders, and the bells sounded by the clappers being swung to them by means of wires and levers. This method is also applied to small sets of bells called " chimes ".

CHAPTER V

Bells and Cannon

BELLS AND CANNON-these two subjects seem very contradictory -the first being usually associated with the life and call of the church, the other often is the herald of death and destruction. Far removed though they are, yet often have they been intimately connected.

Bells have frequently been taken as spoils of war, mostly to be broken up and used in making cannon and other munitions. Many instances of this could be quoted, one of the most famous being during the first Great War (1914-18) when the Austrian Government resigned to the melting pot the great bell of S. Stephen's Church, Vienna. This bell had been cast in 1710 at the command of the Emperor Joseph I from the metal of 180 cannon captured from the Turks, and weighed nearly 18 tons. Another great bell, cast from French cannon captured during the Franco-German War, and weighing over 25 tons, was placed in Cologne Cathedral in 1874, and called the "Kaiserglocke ". This was removed during the Great War (1914-18) and melted down for munitions to be used against the French, even as it itself had originally been mainly cast from French cannon. In 1925, however, a new bell was placed in Cologne Cathedral, to replace the last named, and of about the same weight. In the earlier part of the same war, the Russians removed many hundred bells from the war zone, and it is well known that both in Belgium and France, many churches and Hotel-de-Ville's suffered the loss of their bells. Similar losses occurred in Germany and Austria as well. When Louis XIV captured Mons in 1691, a formal treaty was concluded between the council on the one part, and Marshal d'Humieres on the other for the ransom of the carillon. The bells were thus saved at that time, but during the French

36

BELLS AND CANNON 37 invasion in I 793, all were taken but one. This was in accordance with the decree of the National Convention at Paris on July 23rd, I 793, " That there shall be left only one bell in each parish church : that all the others shall be placed at the disposition of the Executive Council which shall provide for taking them to the nearest foundry that they may be there made into cannon ". Many Belgian carillons, including all those belonging to Abbeys, were melted into cannon during the French Revolution period.

At Liversedge, Yorkshire, England, there is a complete ring of eight bells cast from cannon, and the inscription on one of them reads:-

"These eight bells were cast in I8I4 and I8I5 with brass ordnance taken at Genoa."

Another episode of the Great War (I9I4-I8) was when the Germans removed many bells from the churches of South Jutland, and to replace them in I925, an order was given for 44 bells to be cast from the metal of 6o old brass cannon supplied by the Copenhagen Arsenal. 1 At Roverto, Italy, is a bell known as the " Death Bell ", and this was cast from metal from the guns of all nations who participated in the War. It was rung nightly in honour of the dead.

In August, I94I, it was reported by Swedish newspapers that the Germans had ordered (through Terboven-Nazi Governor of Norway) that all bells in Norwegian churches must be dis­mantled and sent to Germany to be melted down. Some of these bells are hundreds of years old.

English bellfounders in mediaeval times did not always merely follow the craft of turning out bells only, for in those days they were not so much in demand as in later times. The founders, therefore, cast pots, lavers, mortars, and even guns. Bell-metal is very similar to what was known as gun-metal before the in­vention of ordnance, first of cast iron, then, as we have it to-day, of steel. In Henry VIII's time the exportation of bells and bell-

1 Eight of these bells were hung in different churches in various parts of the town of Hadersley, and were so admirably cast that although distributed over a wide area, they ring in perfect harmony with one another.

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

metal became a criminal offence. An Act was passed which read:-

" Noe p'son or p'sons shoulde from henceforthe carrye or convey any brasse, copper, Iaten, bellmettall, gunemettall, ne shroffe metall, into anye part or parts beyonde the sea upon payne offorfeyture of the said mettall."

It is possible that the object of this law was to prevent bell-metal being purchased by any unfriendly foreign powers, who might convert it into ordnance to be used against us. There was, of course, huge quantities of bell-metal for disposal after the dis­solution of the monasteries about this time. The Bury bell­founders of the fifteenth century used as their foundry mark, which passed on to successive proprietors, an elaborate shield bearing a crowned bell, the keys of S. Peter, the crossed arrows symbolic of St. Edmund (St Edmundsbury) "and a cannon with ball ". In addition are the letters " H.S." initials of the first founder there who combined the crafts of gunfounding with that of bellfounding. Similarly, other bellfounders An instance of this is shown by the activities of Robert Mot, who founded the now famous Whitechapel Bellfoundry as long ago as 1570, in that he cast cannon for Queen Elizabeth's ships of war, at the

·time of the Spanish Armada. We have an instance of a bell-founder who was unfortunately killed while casting cannon. This was Matthew Bagley, one of a famous family of bellfounders of Northamptonshire, who, migrating to London, acquired the Royal foundry of Philip Wightman. The tragic manner in which he lost his life is thus described in the Flying Post of May 12th, IJI6 :-

"Last Thursday night about nine o'clock a tragical accident happened at the Royal Foundry near Upper Moor­fields, where, when the workmen were casting a cannon, the metal that was running into the mould flew up on a sudden with a great noise and violence, and came down like drops of fire, not only upon all the workmen, but spectators (of whom there were a great number to see the performance.) Several attended from the Tower, particularly Mr. Hall, clerk of the Ordnance, who was so sorely wounded that he dyed next morning. The Master Founder and his son with above twenty others were also very much hurt. 'Tis generally agreed

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS 39

that the said accident was owing to the dampness of the mould".

The WeeklY Journal of the same date further states that " Bagley, the Master founder, has lost his eyes, and his son and sixteen others are desperately wounded." Both father and son died of their injuries as the Register of St. Giles' Church, Cripplega~e shows :-

" 1716 May 22 Matthew Bagley, Founder, killed. ~ 26 Matthew Bagley, jun., killed."

Two old prints (now in the possession of Franz Schilling Sohn, Bellfounders of Apolda, Germany) dated 16g8 show bellfounders in the act of casting cannon, As with other foundries and similar works, during the Great War and the World War, our bell­founders and also foreign bellfounders, converted their works into munition factories.

" Contrasts in the character of Pieter Hemony the celebrated bellfounder, are reflected in the nature of his work. He was profoundly religious, having a chapel in his house, where he heard Mass every day : while he was making carillons at Amsterdam, he was at the same time casting cannons at Zutfen. Thus while Louis XIV was warring against the Low Countries, this Master founder was busy forging mighty engines of destruction to gain victories and gigantic instruments of music to celebrate them."

W. G. Rice, in (Carillons of Belgium & Holland. 1915. P. 93).

CHAPTER VI

Jacks 0' the Clock

No ACCOUNT OF BELLs would be complete without a reference to the "Jacks of the Clock-house", those quaint and picturesque figures which have-for the most part- been carrying on their duties faithfully for maybe two or three centuries, regularly strik­ing their little bells to denote the flight of time. To this day these automata are known as jacquermarts, one theory ascribing the origin to the name Jacque-mart, a clock and lock maker of Lille, who was employed by the Duke of Burgundy in 1442. It may be, however, that the appellation is merely a corruption of Jacco­marchiadus, meaning a man in a suit of armour. During the Middle Ages it was customary to have as sentries, mailed men on the belfries of towers and castles, to give warning of the approach of an enemy, or other untoward event.

The earliest use of the bells as indicators of the flight of time, was probably due to the canonical hours in the Monasteries. Eight times a day the Signum, or tower bell rang out to summon the monks to prayer. At midnight "Matins" was said; at three in the morning, " Lauds " ; at six, " Prime " ; at nine, " Tierce " ; " Sext " followed at noon ; and " Nones " at three : in the afternoon " Vespers " at six ; and the day was closed with " Compline " at nine. Thus every three hours throughout the day and night, the Abbey bell was heard-not only in cell and cloister, but also in the streets of the town, or in the scattered cottages of the hamlet that lay around the religious house.

The very early connection between bells and clocks is, how­ever, clearly indicated by the word for bell in German and in French. The earliest church-bells were not actually sounded mechanically by the horologe', but rung by hand at stated times. In 1354 there is a Continental record of a campanaris or

40

Anton Brees (Antwerp)

"Great George ", the Bourdon Bell of Liverpool Cathedral

York Minster Bell-" Great Peter "

"Hosanna", the Bourdon Bell at Buckfast Abbey, Devon

JACKS 0' THE CLOCK

klokkernist, a man appointed to perform such a task. Before any automaton or puppet struck the bells by machinery a human Jantje or "town Johnnie" would ascend the tower at regular intervals and sound the hours. This person occupied himself in his spare time with sweeping the market place, and was classed among the most menial civil servants.

During the latter half of the fourteenth century the advance made in horology brought the weight-driven clock to a state of development that permitted its use in towers. The time was marked by performing figures, the beating of drums, the crowing of cocks, the blowing of horns, and eventually by the striking of the alarum bells of the town by an elaborate piece of machinery. This meant a much more frequent use of bells, which long before dials were introduced were struck at regular intervals by puppets or Jacks. Clocks in homes were virtually unknown, so that Jacks were regarded as of considerable importance, .and soon won a place in the affection of the people. Examples of Jacks can still be found in the Netherlands at the Stadhuizen of s'Hertogen­bosch and Heusden, and the Waag of Alkmaar where they ride horses, and at thegasthius of Zalt-Bommel where a trumpet is blown.

Existing examples of Jacks which strike bells are less common in the Carillon country ; all the remaining specimens are re­tained as adjuncts to later chimes by popular favour. It is known that they were made in Lille, for a pair manufactured in that city were carried off from Courtrai by the Duke of Burgundy in 1382 as spoils of war, and were placed in the church ofDijon where they played for some time. Jacks in the steeple of Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam strike on plater models of bells, while Cambrai had real jacquemarts called Martin and Martine, operating until the bombardment of rgr8. One of the earliest clocks of this kind was presented about I 340 to the Monastery of Cluny.

In England a favourite device consisted of the mechanical figure of a man, who, equipped with a hammer, or battle axe, struck the hours and quarters on one or more bells. An apt description of such figures says :

" sometimes he appeared in knightly panoply with mace, maul, or axe in hand, ready to proclaim the flight of time upon the sonorous bell which hung near the venerable clock.

42 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

Occasionally he stood forth in state hovering in nudity, his only garment being a wreath of foliage about his loins, and having a goodly club for a weapon. Hence some people called hitn ' Hercules ', while others denominated him ' the Savage ', or ' Wild Man ', the ' Saracen ', the ' Giant ', but everybody knew him by the common appellation of ' Jack of the Clock­house '." 1

The old clock of S. Paul's London, was furnished with Jacks to strike the hours, which are spoken of by Dekker as ' Paul's Jacks', who, writing in the year z6og says "the great dial is your last monument ; where bestow some half of the three-score minutes to observe the sauciness of the Jacks that are above the man in the moon ; the strangeness of their motion will quit your labour ". Paul's Jacks perished with the old Cathedral in the year 1666. From 1671 the Jacks at S. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, to which Cowper alludes in his "Table Talk", formed one of the regular sights of London :-

"When labour and when dullness, club in hand, Like the two figures at S. Dunstan's, stand Beating alternately, in measured time, The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme, Exact and regular the sound will be ; But such mere quarter-strokes are not ~or me."

It appears by the Parish Book that, on May 18th, 167r, Thomas Harrys mad.e an offer to build a new clock with chimes, and to erect two figures of men with pole-axes to strike the quarters. His offer was accepted, with the exception of the chimes, and on Oct. 28th in the same year, at the completion of his task, he was voted the sum of £4 per annum to keep it in repair. These famous giants remained there until 1829 when the figures were sold to the Marquis of Hertford, who erected them outside his villa in Regent's Park. Recendy they were restored to their original place at St. Dunstan's, where they now carry on their work of marking the fleeting hours, as they did in olden days,

Two fine Jacks are to be found in Suffolk : one at South wold, and the other at Blyth burgh, but like many of their kind, these no longer fulfil their original duties. The Southwold figure, known locally as "Jack the Smiter " holds in his left hand a scimitar ;

1 )oU77UJl Brit. Arche. Assocn. XXV, p. 281.

JACKS o' THE CLOCK 43

in the right a battle-axe, with the butt of which he sounded the bell, which depended from a branch that curves forward on the right of the figure. Blyth burgh Jack-now parted from his clock-stands over the partition which forms the vestry, and his sole duty now is to strike on his bell as the clergyman emerges to commence Divine Service.

Minehead, Somerset, also has a Jack, now on the Rood Screen, and two Jacks in Jacobean costume are at Norwich Cathedral but no longer perform their original tasks. Two similarly attired Jacks are at All Saints Church, Leicester, still working in conjunction with the old clock, and may be seen on the south side of the church.

At Carfax, Oxford, a pair of handsome quarter Jacks have a prominent position beneath the clock dial. They swing round and strike their respective bells about two seconds before the chimes sound the quarters. At Christ Church, Bristol, are two old and much prized quarter-jacks, and at Exeter the jacks of St. Mary's Steps, work in conjunction with a curious old clock known as " Matthew the Miller's clock ". Here are three figures, the centre one of which bends forward at every stroke of the hour. The figure is reputed to represent Henry VIII, but is locally known as " Matthew the Miller ", frpm a local worthy of bygone days; hence the saying:-

"_Every hour on Westgate Tower Matthew the Miller nods his head."

The javelin men on either side strike the quarters on the hemi­spherical bells beneath them. At the quaint old Sussex town of Rye are two old quarter-boys, made in 1561 : these sturdy boys are still actively employed.

Wells Cathedral has several Jacks. Above the dial of the ancient clock a representation of a tournament is effected by mounted knights who revolve in opposite directions upon the striking of the hour. Outside the cathedral two more knights strike the quarters upon bells : and yet another quarter-jack, known as "Jack Blandiver" kicks bells with his heels at the quarters. Mr. Howgrave-Graham is of the opinion that Jack Blandiver is probably the earliest example in this country.

Wimborne Minster, Dorset, has, in addition to a very ancient

44 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

clock, a Jack made in 1613 by a carpenter of Blandford at a cost of ten shillings. His " costume " must have undergone a change during the course of his career, since his present one is that of a British Grenadier of about the time of Napoleon. The clock has to be wound every day and this is done when the curfew bell js rung at eight o'clock in the evening. There is a Jack at Abinger Hammer, on the Guildford-Dorking road, who is also " Keeping his stroke " in a very charming setting : while at Merton, Surrey, may be seen a "home-made" robot acting as a town clock. It was made by Mr. J. Berry and is outside a garage in Kingston Road. A figure announces the time every half-hour by raising its arms and striking a bell.

In Western Europe and in Italy are many notable examples, which have been working for centuries. Thus the famous Strassburg clock, first begun in I 352 but reconstructed two or three times since, is a most elaborate and complicated piece of work. The original clock had a small set of chimes composed of several cymbals, and the present clock has four figures repre­senting the four ages of man. These appear at the quarters and strike upon a bell, thus :~at the first quarter, a child strikes it with a rattle; at the second, a youth in the form of a hunter strikes it with an arrow ; at the third quarter the blows are given .by a warrior with his sword ; and at the fourth, an old man produces notes by his crutch. When he has retired the figure of Death appears and strikes the hour with a bone. At Venice, on the Piazzar San Marco, overlooking the blue Adriatic and its unique island city, stands the" Torre del Orologia ",surmounted by a large bell, beside which stand two bronze giants. These figures strike the hours in obedience to the mechanism of an ultramarine and gold clock below them. The original clock was begun as early as 1495, and its successor dates from the early seventeenth century.

An interesting example of some antiquity is at Orvieto, Italy, which has this quaint inscription :-on the figure,

" Da te a me, campana, fuoro pati, Tu per gridare et is per far i fati."

on the bell dated 1351, " Se voi ch'atenza i pati dami piano

Se no io cessiro e clara invano."

JACKS 0' THE CLOCK

A broad translation of this would read :-Jack-" A pact we'll make, bell, you and I,

I to strike, and you to cry." Bell -" You wish me to hold to this pact ?

Then give me power, or vain your act." Other early examples were at Caen and Montargio.

45

In 1401 a large clock with bells was set up in Seville Cathedral, and in 1404 a similar one in Moscow was constructed by Lazare a Servian. The clock at Liibeck was made in 1405 and one at Pavia by G. Visconti a little later. In 1442 Nuremberg had such a clock with figures representing soldiers. Auxerre clock was finished in 1483, and soon after an astronomical clock was erected at Prague ; one at Munich followed. At Calais was a clock whereon two figures attacked each other ·at given times, similar to the one at Lund. These are but a few of the more well known clocks with Jacks. Many other centres had similar ones at later dates, more or less complicated in design. Of recent date-and stated to be the largest in the world~are the giants (twice human size) cast in bronze, which strike three bells placed concentrically and weighing some 2o,ooo lbs., now on a Bank building at Leipzig in Germany. They were erected in 1928. A New York (U.S.A.) example is the group (designed by Antonin Jean Charles) now surmounting the New York Herald building, The specially designed bell was made by the Meneely Bell Co. of Troy, nearby. We also recall the famous figures of Gog and Magog who did duty in Cheapside, London, striking out the hours on their bells, assisted by their subsidiary figures of Father Time and Venus. These two giants were for seventy or more years one of the "Sights of London " , but in 1929 were sold to Mr. Henry Ford who took them to his museum in America, devoted to illustrating the progress of machinery products. The figures were more or less replicas of the huge ones in the Guildhall and were put up in x86o, and remodelled about 1896. The Guildhall pair were carved in 1 708 to replace the ones burned in the Great Fire. There is mention of them as far back as the days of Henry the Fifth, but the origins of Gog and Magog, two terrible giants of ancient England, are lost in legend.

CHAPTER VII

Chimes

THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD "chime" is somewhat obscure, but is undoubtedly connected with the Latin "cymbalum "---old German " Zimbel "-"a bell struck by a hammer". There is very little information as to when chimes were first used, the only records being found in ancient church-wardens' a~counts or similar documents, in which mention is occasionally made of repairs to chiming apparatus. These show that chimes were common in the middle of the fifteenth, and in general use in the sixteenth centuries.

There seems to be no doubt that chimes were first played by hand, and the different hours of the day were originally announced in the same way. Many years B.c. a mechanism was used in connection with the clipsydrae, by which a weight was released at the hour and struck a bell. 1 This is the earliest record of what may be called a" striking clock", although it was many centuries afterwards 'ere a device was invented to play quarter­chimes ; and, later, chime tunes as we are accustomed to hear them.

St. Dunstan who died in g88, we are told, excelled in the psaltery, lyre, and in "touching the cymbals". He is said to have made a set of chimes for Canterbury. Chimes such as these were frequently used with the organ, and Aelred, Abbot of Ruvaulx in the twelfth century, strongly denounced not only the groaning of the bellows, and the roaring of the organ pipes, but the " noise of the cymbals ". Probably the stop known as the cymbal (Zimbel) found in later days on the organ was an attempt to reproduce the brilliancy of the bell chimes.

A treatise by Theophilus, a monk of the eleventh century, 1 Illustrated in Magnus Tintinnabulum.

46

CHIMES 47

is printed by Rimbault in his History of the Pianoforte, which minutely describes the casting and tuning of these little bells. Probably owing to its bell-like effect, the name cymbal was in later times applied to the psaltery, and then to the dulcimer: from the psaltery it passed to the keyed psaltery, the clavi­cymbal or harpsichord.

One of the earliest known mentions of chimes on church bells is in 1432, when Richard Roper was "paid 20d for mending the chymes " of Norwich Cathedral. Later-in 1463-we read of John Baret of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, leaving money in his will to the sexton " so he will ring . . . and do the chimes smite Requiem Eternam, also viijs to keep the clock, take heed to the chimes, wind up the pegs and plummits as often as need be." 1

Chimes are often mentioned in accounts of town parishes from this date, as for instance Ludlow for 1540, and following years. 2

In Abbot Parker's Register at Gloucester Cathedral there is a copy of an agreement made in 1527 between the Abbot and Thomas Loveday, a bellfounder, in which the latter " hath covenanted and bargayned with the Abbot to repayre a chyme going uppon eight bells, and upon two ympnes, that is to say Christe Redempter Omnzum and Chorus .Nova! Hierusalem well tuynable and wokemanly ... " 3 In England at this period, there is no doubt that chimes were played on a small number of bells, as instanced at Durham where before I 593, we read that Bishop Sparke caused to be " maide, a goodly chyme to be sett on iij (three) bells."'

On the ·Continent, however, a large number of bells were used for this purpose. Dunkirk had a carillon of extensive compass in 1437, and Alost in 1487.

Chime mechanism was invented soon after the advent of the weight-driven clock, and with its introduction many devices were introduced to indicate the flight of time, such as performing figures, crowing cocks, etc.

Peter Lightfoot, the ingenious Abbot of Glastonbury, was one of the earliest-if not the earliest-maker of such clocks ( 1335). Soon after this they were made on the Continent, and we read

1 Tymms, Willr and Inventories qf Bury S. Edmunds, p. 28. 2 Shrojls. Arch. Soc. Trans. , grd Ser. , iv, p. 36. 3 Bazeley, R ecords of Glos. Cathedral, i, p. goo. 'Rites qf Durham, Surtees Socy ., 1 gog, p. gg.

BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

of great clocks being erected at Middleburg (1371), Mechlin (1372), and Ghent (1376). There are many reasons for believing that even at this early period, the striking of the hour was pre­ceded by a short chime on the little bells, called then in Flemish " Appeelkins ".

Records of Mons (1382), Tournai (1392), and Ghent (1412) mention such bells.

In all probability the "quarters" were first indicated by a Jack on a single bell, and later by two Jacks on two bells, the notes of which were a 2nd, 3rd, 4th or even 5th apart. Such quarters would be known as "ding-dong" or "ting-tang" quarters, and from their introduction to the present time, have been extensively used. It should be here noted that quarter-chimes and chime tunes as played by the clock, in England consist of melody only ; whereas on the Continent the bells are used a great deal in com­bination, being frequently heard in chords of three, four or more notes. Many of these sounds are redundant, and in most cases bells cannot be heard to better advantage than when played in two or three parts.

An early reference to a chime barrel is given in the church­warden's accounts of St. Martin's, Leicester, for 1546-7 thus :-

"I tm pd for mendynge of the harrell that the chyme goyth wth to the smyth at the west brydge .... xijd." 1

At that time there were five bells only, but in 1585-6 a new" for" (treble or small) bell was added, and is recorded thus :-

" Itm payd to Christopher Needam for braddes to hange the for bell in his frame and for setinge the chime in order .... xijd."

At later dates many such items are found in church accounts in all parts of England, showing the general usage of chime mechanism at this period. With bells limited to three, four or five in number, the " tunes " were naturally very restricted. The following was written for the three bells at North Coates Lincolnshire, by the Rector, Rev. T. R. Matthews-2

1 The author is writing this note (1941) within 100 yards of the West Bridge, Leicester !

2 T. North, Church Bells of Lines., r882, p. 362.

"Great John", the Bourdon Bell in S.W. tower of Beverley Minster

The Olympia Bell in Berlin

CHIMES 49

VILLAGE VESPERS

(Through the day Thy love has spared us.)

For the four bells at Tinwell, Rutland, the following was written by W. S. Haddon in r883 :-ll

To Thy temple I repair.

$it JJJ J IJJ ojjJJj ~I JJ all tf ~~JJ iJJJii2JdJIJJ:II

The old five bells at Hallaton, Leicestershire, for many years pla5'ed this . tune :-

The following lines were written up in the belfry:-

"Old Dunmore's dead, that good old man, We him no more shall see : He made the chimes to play themselves, At six, nine, twelve, and three."

I J. R. Nichols, Bells thro' the Ages, 1928, p. 209.

E

so BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

Of the four-bell chimes, by far the most popular one is that composed by Dr. Crotch in I 793, for Great S. Mary Church, Cambridge. The same chime is frequently erroneously referred to as the Westminster chime, since it was adopt.ed for the House of Parliament about 6o years later. The date 1793 is important, as it contributes to the evidence that the old chime clocks have undergone alteration if they are found to have the " Cambridge Chimes ". Here they are :-

.:=. ~ ; ; J I J.l

.=,:. ~ ;JJI J.iJJ 3 I J.ll Q.~~~~R ' J j J I J II J J J I J.l J J j I J II

HOUR

.=~ ~; JJ I JII;;J I J ]J;J I J.IJ JJ IJIIall At Bow church, Cheapside, London, in I 905 " Whittington" Chimes were fitted to the clock, under the direction of the late Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.

FIRST Q_UARTER HALF HOUR THIRD QUARTER

II FOURTH QUARTER HOUR

CHIMES

There has been a considerable revival of the old custom of having tunes played on bells mechanically for a few minutes at certain times of the day. The old mechanism for this purpose was very simple, consisting of a large barrel or cylinder, two or three feet in diameter, generally made of wood, with strong iron pins screwed into it like a huge musical box barrel.

As this rotated, the pins pulled down levers which lifted hammers on the bells like the common striking part. If there were several tunes on the barrel, either that or the bed of the levers had an endway motion, shifting at the end of each tune, or shifted once a day, by the clock.

More modern examples are of this kind except that the barrel is of cast iron, with a vast number of holes in it, in which pins or short cams are screwed, to play any tunes within the scope of the bells in the tower. Modern improvements are of course being constantly employed, and chimes installed in recent times are operated by mechanism driven either by weights or motor, or played by electro-pneumatic apparatus. Hand Claviers or " Ellacombe" chiming apparatus are also employed.

Chime mechanism as used on the Continent is exactly the same in principle as that explained above, except that it is con­structed on a much larger scale, having much more to do in playing longer pieces of music on greater numbers of bells. The largest chime barrel in the world is that of Bruges, the re­puted weight of which is over 8 tons. It is made of gun metal, and is pierced with 30,500 holes, into which studs or catches are fixed. As the barrel is a permanent part of the machinery the music played can be altered only by re-arrangement of the studs which takes some three or four days to do. For this reason the same tune is often heard for a period of a whole year or more.

At Malines and Bruges, according to the music set on the barrel, anything from 6o,ooo to 8o,ooo notes are played every 24 hours. The drawing weight is over I! tons. In England the uniform plan of playing the quarter-chimes, is to increase their

.length as the hour proceeds, i.e.-the Cambridge quarters-4, 8, 12 and 16 notes. This is not followed to any great extent on the Continent, however. At Bruges and Malines for instance, the

52 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

hour is divided into eight parts, the quarters being divided into half-quarters. The latter consist~ of a short quick flourish of two bars in length. The quarters before and after the hour are com­paratively short and of equal length, about four times as long as the half-quarters. The half-hour is four times as long as the previous quarter. The hour twice as long as the half-hour. The hour to come is struck after the half-hour on a smaller bell than that used for the hour-strike. The chime barrel of Malines was completed in I 734, is 5ft gins. diameter, and contains 16,200

holes into which the studs are fixed. There are go chime­hammers connected with the bells, which are operated by this chime barrel. This following is a specimen of the music it plays.

MALINEs.-HALF QUARTERS.

MALINES.-QUARTER.

Local song of the town ofYpres.

CHIMES 53 MALINES.-HALF-HOUR.

At the New University Library of Louvain the Great Clock which drives the four dials and chimes, and strikes the quarters and hours is wound automatically. The huge weights that usually provide the motive power-rising and falling fifty or sixty feet up and down the tower-are dispensed with and electric motors are employed instead. It is one of the most powerful tower clocks in existence.

Each dial is r 5 feet in diameter and has specially designed stars to take the place of the usual numerals. Thus, there is a bell and a star for each of the States of America.

54 BELLS OF ALL NATIONS

The stars have been made by Captain H. J. Stehli, formerly of the I rth Engineers, Vice-President of the Sintering Machine Company of New York, as his contribution. They are made of aluminium bronze, given by W. H. Bassett, Technical Super­intendent and Metallurgist, of the American Brass Company, Waterbury, Connecticut.

The Clock Chimes have been specially arranged by M. Denyn. The first three-quarters are variations on, and the fourth quarter the refrain of, a popular Flemish air. The hour . is struck on the F sharp Bourdon Bell, an actave below the keynote of the chimes.

~#,: ~ ~ .. @:r;\ ~ ,-,-IJJJ·II ,-,-1 J)Jt I ,.,.lfflJ.II J\!# JJJil .JIJ.pm JtjJJJ.I p3 :J ljlJJJII

@\*: J ;;;I ;:J fl.;:; ljJJJ.I J33J.i :JfJJI JlJJ.I J!Jll @=till The Clock Chimes

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