"BIG BEN"

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 20

"BIG BEN"

OTHER GKEAT BELLS

SOME TRAGIC USES

The history of bells is full of romantic interest,', particularly if one takes Into consideration tho lifetime of soinn of the world's most famous bells. In civilised ; times they have been intii mately, 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 religious ablutions, and even the child understands thoir music, for it ia frequently. usod to advise, tho school hour or to call to meals. It is not, however, of- the minor uses of bells or of the small handrbell that ,this article/intends to deal, but of the ■world's great bells, which havo rung forth on historic occasions in many lands.

Bolls early summoned soldiers to arms, as well as. Christians to church. They sounded the alarm of fire, 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, of tea: belonged to the town and not to the chapter. For instance, tho Carolus and St., ;Mary's bell .in the '.. Antwerp tower both belong to the city, whilo the others-are the property, of the' chapter. The; result of ,this method of ownership meant that he , who. com: roanded the boll commanded the'town, for by that Bound, at a moment's notice, ho could rally" and concentrato his adherents. For this reason a conqueror : commonly, acknowledged the political importance of bells by melting them down, while the cannon of the conquered were/in turn melted up to ■upply .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 people were massacred in cold blood by John of, Procida, who had' thus planned to free Sicily from Charles of Anjou. On 24th August, 1571, St. Batholomew's Day of ignomiaiousTjnemoryy the'clang of bells ushered in the. massacre of the Huguenots oi! Francfi, to the 'number, it ia said, of .mpre.than a hundred thousand. These are two notable instances of organised massacre, but bells have rung alike over slaughtered and ransomed cities all over Europe in the hour of ."victory or irreparable; loss. '. At the news of Nelson's triumphl and death at Trafalgar; the bells of : iChester 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," enforced, though not actually' introduced, by ■' William the Conqueror in England as a signal that all."lights and iires were to be extinguished at,B p.m.,-probably to prevent' nocturnal '.gatherings;' of disaffectedsubjects. I. :In many-.,towns it survived. ■ tvoll• 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 1' the sound; as far- as possible, as it did, to Milton's ear suggesting the descriptivo line's'in-!"Il Penseroso": —

6ft on a-plot of rising ground,1

I hear the far-off curfew sound Over some wide-watered shore. Swinging slow with sullen roar,

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

Among secular., uses connected with church 'bells ■'•are..the "Mote" or "Conmon" bell, used for summoning to municipal or other meetings. At St. Mary's, Stamford,, the boll .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 Bell," while tho "Pancake Boll," rung on Shrove Tuesday, is still existant in some English villages. The "Harvest Bell" and "Seeding Bell" called labourers to their work, the "Gleaning Boll" 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 Bell" was'a'signal-for selling to begin, and, there were many other uses in the past to wjiich bells were put to help the community live a woll rogulatod and orderly life.

Other old customs are naturally coilitected with the ecclesiastical uso of tells, such as the "Passing Bell," rung i'or 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 also been the; "Sermon Bell" and the'"Sacrament Bell," the titles of ■which demonstrate the ■ purpose for ■which they were used. Tho ancient <'Sanctus" bell, hung on the rood screen or in a small bell cot on the chancel gable/ wag sounded three times when •the priest saiil the Tcrsanctus in the office of. Mass. ' Many of those, bells were covered with quaint inscriptions, and generally they were always named jtt their birth, sometimes after a saint or holy mail or porhaps with the prefix as an' indication of size. '. , NOTABLE BELLS. ■ There are quite a number of bells of world-wide renown, while others are more or ■ less celebrated.- The great bell 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 havo 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'lßo tons, is 19 feet 3 inches high, has a total circumference of CO feel; 9 inches, arid 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 128 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, whilo its , sonorous notfey the hour am 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. Jt is so named in compliment to Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works at, the time Hie bell was cast. ' Apart from -tol-Hncr Hie, hour it is nsr-d for tnlline ii- funeral knell announcing the

death of (tho reigning monarch of England, but for no one else.

Other big and famous bells are the Pagoda Bell, in Upper Burma, weighing 80 tons; the great bell of Pckin, 53 tons; Nanking, 22 tons; Oliriutz, 17 tons; Vienna, 17 tons; Notfo Dame (Paris), 17 tons; Erfurt, 13 tons; "Grout Peter,", York Minster, 121 tons; "Great Paul," St. Paul's Cathedral, IGJ tons; "Great Tom," at Oxford, 71 tons; "Great Tom," at Lincoln, 51 tons, and the "Kaiserglockc," Cologne Cathedral, •27J tons. These largo bells arc either not moved at all, ov only slightly swung to enable tho clapper to touch their sides, while in some cases they ai% sfcrnek by a hammer or beam from outside. ,