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OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. I.

OUR Author seems of Opinion, that the Ceremony of tolling a Bell* at the Time of Death, is as antient as the Use of Bells. This is somewhat improbable. It has rather been an After-Invention of Superstition. Thus praying for the Dying was improved upon in praying for the Dead. Bells must have been first used as Signals to convene the People to their public Devotions.

Mr. Bourne has overlooked a Passage in Durand's Ritual that would have been much to his Purpose" When any one is dying, says that Ritualist,

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*The subsequent Etymology of this Word has the Sanction of the learned Sir Henry Spelman: Bell is derived from Pelvis, a Bason for before the Invention of Bells, not only sounding Brass, but Basons also were used instead of them. (Housewives to this Day try the Soundness of their Earthen or China Vases by ringing them with a Finger). Vide Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo.. Mr. Wheatley, in his Illustration of the Liturgy, apologizes for our retaining this Ceremony. "Our Church (says he) in Imita"tion of the Saints in former Ages, calls in the Minister and "others, who are at hand, to assist their Brother in his last Ex"tremity. In order to this she directs that when any one is passing "out of this Life, a Bell should be tolled, &c." It is called from thence the Fassing Bell.

"Verùm aliquo moriente, Campanæ debent pulsari: ut Po"pulus hoc audiens, oret pro illo. Pro muliere quidem, bis, pro "eo quòd ipsa invenit Asperitatem. Primò enim fecit hominem “alienum à Deo, quare secunda dies non habuit Benedictionem. "Pro Viro verò ter pulsatur, quia primò inventa est in Homine "Trinitas: Primò enim formatus est Adain de terra, deinde mu"lier ex Adam, postea Homo creatus est ab Utroque, et ita est ibi Trinitas. (!!!) Si autem Clericus sit, tot ricibus compulsatur, "quot ordines habuit ipse. Ad ultimum verò compulsari debet

"cum

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"Ritualist, Bells must be tolled, that the People may put up their Prayers.-Let this be done "twice for a Woman and thrice for a Man :" (The superstitious Reasons he assigns for these Numbers are too contemptible for Translation) "If for a Clergyman, as many Times as he had "Orders, and at the Conclusion a Peal on all the "Bells, to distinguish the Quality of the Person "for whom the People are to put up their Prayers. "A Bell too must be rung while we are conducting the Corpse to Church, and during the bring

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ing it out of the Church to the Grave." I think this a curious and pertinent Quotation. It seems to account for a Custom still preserved in the North, of making numerous Distinctions at the Conclusion of this Ceremony-nine Knells for a Man, sir for a Woman, and three for a Child, which are without Doubt the Vestiges of this antient Injunction of Popery.

The Quotation our Author gives us from Bede*

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"cum omnibus Campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit oran"dum. Debet etiam compulsari quando ducimus ad Ecclesiam, "et quando de Ecclesia ad Tumulum deportatur."

Vide Durandi Rationale, p. 21. 13. Durand flourished about the End of the 12th Century.

In Ray's Collection of old English Proverbs I find the following Couplet:

When thou dost hear a Toll, or Knell,

Then think upon thy passing Bell.

I have examined this Passage in King Alfred's Saxon Version of Bede: In rendering Campana, I find he has used Cluggan, which properly signifies a Clock (Bellan is in the Margin). Clock is the old German Name for a Bell, and hence the French call one

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is very apposite, as is that from Cassalion's occasional Comment. The latter however appears to no great Advantage as an Antiquary, when he tells ushe could meet with no other Account of this

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Ceremony, than that it was a Custom of the old "Church of England." The Passage above cited from Durand would have informed him from whence it must have been imported into this Kingdom.

It may gratify the, Curiosity of some to peruse the following general Observations on Bells*.-I have not been able to ascertain precisely the Date of this useful Invention. The Antients had some Sort of Bells. I find the Word Tintinnabula, (which we usually render Bells) in Martial, Juvenal, and Suetonius. The Romans were summoned by these (of whatever Size or Form they were) to their hot Baths, and to the Business of public Places.

une Cloche. There were no Clocks in England in Alfred's Time. He is said to have measured his Time by Wax Candles, marked with circular Lines to distinguish the Hours.-I would infer from this, that our Clocks have certainly been so called from the Bells in them.-Mr. Strutt confesses he has not been able to trace the Date of the Invention of Clocks in England.-Stow tells us they were commanded to be set up in Churches in the Year 612. A gross Mistake! and into which our honest Historian must have been led by his misunderstanding the Word Cloca, a Latin Term coined from the old German Name for a Bell. For Clocks therefore read Bells.

* Spelman in his very learned Glossary, verb. Campana, has preserved two Monkish Lines, in which all the antient Offices of Bells seem to be included.

Laudo Deum verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum,
Defunctos ploro, pestem fugo, Festa decoro.

We praise the true God, call the People, convene the Clergy,
Lament the Dead, dispel Pestilence, and grace Festivals.

The

The large kind of Bells now in Use are said to have been invented by Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in Campania, (whence the Latin Name Campana) about the year 400*, and to have heen generally used in Churches about the 600th Year of the Christian Era. Mr. Bingham † however thinks this a vulgar Error. In short, we are left much in the Dark concerning the Antiquities of the earlier Ages of the Church.-Ecclesiastical Writers frequently clash in their Accounts. The Jews used Trumpets for Bells: The Turks permit not the Use of Bells: The Greek Church under them still follow their old Custom of using wooden Boards, or Iron Plates full of holes, which they hold in their Hands, and knock with a Hammer, or Mallet, to call the People together to Church || : China has been remarkably famous for its Bells.Father le Compte tells us, that at Pekin there are

Spelman's Gloss. verb Campana. Trusler's Chronology. + Antiquities of Christ. Church, Vol. I. p. 316.

Josephus.

See Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church. He was an Eye-Witness of this remarkable Custom, which Durand tells us is retained in the Romish Church on the three last Days of the Week preceding Easter. Durandi Rational. p 331. 3.

Bingham informs us of an Invention before Bells for convening religious Assemblies in Monasteries: It was going by Turns to every one's Cell, and with the Knock of a Hammer calling the Monks to Church, The Instrument was called the Night Signal and the wakening Mallet. --In many of the Colleges at Oxford the Bible Clerk knocks at every Room Door with a Key, to waken the Students in the Morning, before he begins to ring the Chapel Bell.— A Vestige it should seem of the ancient monastic Custom.

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seven Bells, each of which weighs one hundred and twenty thousand Pounds.

Baronius informs us, that Pope John XIII. A D. 968, consecrated a very large new-cast Bell in the Lateran Church, and gave it the Name of John. This is the first Instance I met with of what has been since called "the Baptizing of Bells," a Superstition which the Reader may find ridiculed in the Romish Beehive.-The Vestiges of this Custom may be yet traced in England in Tom of Lincoln, and great Tom (" the mighty Tom") at Christ ("the Church, Oxford.

Egelrick, Abbot of Croyland, about the Time of King Edgar, cast a Ring of six Bells, to all which he gave Names, as Bartholomew, Bethhelm, Turketul, &c. The Historian tells us, "his Pre"decessor Turketul had led the way in this Fancy."

The Custom of rejoicing with Bells on high Festivals, Christmas-Day, &c. is derived to us from the Times of Popery. The ringing of Bells on the Arrival of Emperors, Bishops, Abbots, &c. at Places under their own Jurisdiction, was also an old

Cum vero post hæc Johannes Papa in urbem rediisset, contigit primariam Lateranensis Ecclesiæ Campanam miræ magnitudinis recens ære fusam, super Campanile elevari, quam prius idem Pontifex sacris ritibus Deo consecravit atque Johannis nomine nuncupavit. Baronii Annal. a Spondano. A.D. 968, p. 871.

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↑ Romish Beehive, p. 17.

Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. p. 198.

§ Durand tells us, "In festis, quæ ad gratiam pertinent, Campanæ tumultuosius tinniunt et prolixius concrepant." Rational p. 21. 12.

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