STORY OF THE BELL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 46, 23 February 1929, Page 7

STORY OF THE BELL.

ROMANTIC INTEREST.

USES OP THE TOCSIN,

BUMSftOTNG THE COUNTRYSIDE,

'He history of bells is full of romantic 'Interest, particularly if one takes into consideration, the lifetime of some of the world's most famous bells. In civilised times they have been intimately associated, not only with all kinds of religious and social uses, but with almost every important historical ■event. They are tolled when the great die, they are used to call the faithful to their devotions, and even the child understands their music, for it is frequently used to advise the school hour or to call to meals. It is not, however, of the minor uses of bells or of the gm-ill hand-"bell that this article intends to deal, but of the world's great hells, which have rung forth on historic occasions in many lands. Bells early summoned soldiers to arms, as well as Christiana to church, they sounded the alarm of Are, and are used in some centres in New Zealand for this purpose to-day, though larger centres have adopted much more modern methods of calling for help in time of need. In far-distant days the rights of burghers to their bells were jealously guarded, and the chief bell, though placed in the cathedral tower, often belonged to the town and not to the chapter. For Instance, the Carolus and St, Mary's bell in the Antwerp tower both belong to the city, while the others are the property of the chapter. The result of this method of ownership meant that he who commanded the bell commanded the town, for by that sound, at a moment's notice, he could rally and concentrate his adherents. For this reason a conqueror commonly acknowledged the political importance of the bells by melting them down, while the cannon of the conquered were in turn melted up to supply the garrison with bells to be used in the suppression of revolt. It will easily be realised from this that many a bloody chapter has been rung on to the pages of history by the tocsin of bells. During Easter, 1282, at the ringing of the Sicilian vespers, eight thousand or more French pebple were massacred in cold blood by John of Procida, who [had thus planned to free Sicily from Charles of Anjou. On August 24, 1571, St. Bartholomew's Day of ignominious memory, the clang of bells ushered in the massacre of the Huguenots of France, to the number, it is 6aid, of more than a hundred thousand. These are two notable instances or organised massacre, but bells have rung alike over slaughtered and ransomed cities all over Europe dn the hour of victory or irreparable loss. At the news of Nelson's triumph and death at Trafalgar, the bells of Chester rang a merry peal alternated with one deep toll, and similar incidents are common to all parts of the civilised world. Old Customs, The antiquity of the bell as a means of assembling people from the surrounding countryside, naturally meant that there were many old customs connected with its use, some of which survive in isolated places to the present day, while others have died out before the onrush of modern civilisation. The best-known and perhaps oldest of these customs is the "curfew," first enforced, though not actually introduced, by William theConqueror in England as a signal that all lights aid fires were to bo extinguished at 8 p.m., probably to prevent nocturnal gatherings of disaffected subjects. In many towns it survived well into the nineteenth century as a signal for closing shops at 8 or 9 o'clock, and it is still kept up in various places as .an old custom. For instance, at Oxford the familiar boom of "Tom's" 101 strokes is still the signal for closing the college gates at 9 o'clock. The largest and 'heaviest bells were always used for curfew purposes, so as to carry the sound as far as possible, as it did to !Milton's ear suggesting the descriptive iines in "II Penseroso": —

Oft oil a plot of rising ground, I hear the far-off curfew sound Over some wide-watered sliore, Swinging slow with sullen roar.

•Gray's allusion in the "Elegy" is too well known to need quoting here, as are also many of tliose of Shakespeare and Milton.

Among secular uses connected with church bells are the "Mote" or ' Common" bell, used for summoning to municipal or other meetings. At St. Marys, Stamford, the bell was tolled for quarter sessions, while the bell at St. Mary s, Oxford, was rung for meetings of Convocation. In some places one of the bells in the church steeple is known as the "Vestry Hell," while the "Pancake Bell," rung on Shrove Tuesday, is still existent in some English villages, lbe "Harvest Bell" and "Seeding Bell" called labourers to their work, tixe "Gleaning Bell" fixed the hours of beginning and leaving off gleaning, thus giving everybody an even chance, the "Oven Bell gave notice that the lord of the manor s oven was ready for his tenants to bake their bread, the "Market Hell" was a signal for selling to begin, and there were many other uses in the past to which bells were put to help the community live a well regulated and orderly life.

Other old customs are naturally connected with the ecclesiastical use of bells, such as the "Passing Bell, rung for the dying, but which is now generally tolled after death. The ancient method indicated the sex of the deceased, viz., two pulls. for a woman and three for a man, and is still quite common in a number of places. There have a»so been the "Sermon Bell" and the "Sacrament Bell," the titles of wluc demonstrate the purpose for which the} were used. The ancient "Sanctus bell hung on the rood screen or in a small hell cot 011 the chancel gable, was sounded three times when the priest said the Tersanctus in the office of jiass. Many of these bells were covered with quaint inscriptions, and generally the) were always named at their birth, sometimes after a saint or holy man or perhaps with the prefix "big" a» « u in " dication of size.

There are quite a number of bells of world-wide renown, while others are more or less celebratcl. The great be

at Moscow, ■ "Tsar Kolokol," which, according to the inscription, was cast in 1733, was in the earth 103 years and was raised by the Emperor Nicholas in 1836. The present bell seems never to have been actually hung or rung, having been cracked in the furnace, and it now stands on a raised platform in the middle of a square. It weighs about 180 tons, is 19 feet 3 inches high, has a total circumference of 60 feet !) inches, and a thickness of 2 feet, while the broken piece alone weighs 11 tons. The second Moscow bell, the largest in the world in actual use, weighs 12S tons.

Of all English bells, the most famous is ''Big Ben," known to those who have visited or lived in London. It is hung in the Westminster clock tower, and weighs 13} tons, while its sonorous notes sounding the hour are broadcast all over the world, the microphone being so placed in the belfry as to make this possible. The microphone is surrounded by cotton wool and is placed in a rubber bladder, this method being adopted to lessen the intense vibration. It is so named in compliment to Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works at the time the bell was cast. Apart from tolling tllo hour it is used for tolling a funeral knell announcing the death of the reigning monarch of England, but for no one else.

Other big and famou3 tells are fife Pagoda Bell, in Upper Burma, weighing SO tons; the great bell of Peking, 5.3 tons; Nanking, 22 tons; Olmutz, 17 tons; Vienna, 17 tons; Notre Dame (Paris), 17 tons; Erfurt, 13 tons; "Great Peter," York Minster, 12} tons; "Great Paul," St. Paul's Cathedral, lfij tons; "Great Tom," at Oxford, 7} tons; "Great Tom," at Lincoln, 5} tons, andthe "Kaiserglocke," Cologne Cathedral, 27} tons. These large bells are either not moved at all, or only slightly swung to enablo_ the clapper to touch their sides, while in some cases they are struck by a hammer or beam from outside.