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camp at night, each soldier was required to ring his bell, in order to show that he was awake and watchful at his post.

Bells were both Bacchic and mystic, as may be seen by reference to the ancient marbles in the British Museum; and it was from their use in the celebration of the mysteries that Plutarch endeavoured to show that the Jews worshipped Bacchus. In the triumphal entries of conquerors bells have also played important parts. They were hung as emblems and ornaments on the car of the warrior-as on that which conveyed the body of Alexander from Babylon to Egypt, as described by Diodorus Siculus; they were in use in the islands of the Archipelago to announce the opening of the markets, even as now; they were employed, as we learn from Plutarch, to detect and prevent the escape of the unhappy Xanthians. When the city of Xanthus was besieged, some of the inhabitants tried to escape by swimming and diving through the river, but nets with small bells attached were spread across the stream under the water, and by the ringing of the bells each capture was announced.

In later times we find that the garments of the chief men and civil officers among the Germans were decorated with bells. They came, too, in time, to be regarded as the messengers of sorrow as well as of joy and triumph. The criminal had a bell suspended from his neck as he was led away to execution, and its sound announced his speedy death as he walked sadly in his own funeral procession.

The period when large bells first began to be used in churches is uncertain, but by the seventh century they were in pretty general use. At the end of that century, the venerable Bede mentions their existence in English churches. Their introduction has been variously assigned to Paulinus, bishop of Nola, a town of Campania, in Italy, in the year of our Lord, 400; to Pope Sabinianus (A.D. 604), to whom the honour of introducing bells into churches is given; and to various other persons.

Bells have been known under the various names of Tintinnabulum, a little bell so called from its tinkling sound; Petasus, a larger sized bell, so named from its resemblance in shape to a broad-brimmed hat-by this latter instrument it was that the Greeks opened their fish-market, and the Romans invited the public to the bath; the Codon, from the Greek term, signifying the open mouth of a trumpet; Nola, a bell of similar size to the last, and named after the town of its inventor; Squila, a little bell used by the Italians; Dodonai lebetes, the cauldrons of Dodona; and Campana, the true turret bell, so called from the town of its birth-whence Campanolo, a belltower. It is probable that all, except the last, were made of forged metal, and were struck on the outside by a wooden or iron hammer, and that they all, more or less, resembled flat dish-like disks. Indeed, the very word Bell is said to come from the Latin pelvis, a basin or foot-bath; and if this be so, the configuration of ancient bells is at once determined.

In the history of the church of the middle ages the bell had much to do. First, it was christened with all ceremony; then it was employed in the various services of the day, convoking congregations, excommunicating the disobedient and the infidel, and, finally, being tolled at the moment when the spirit passed from out the earthly body. The ceremony of Christian baptism was certainly one of the most curious observances connected with the bell's history. The fused metal was blessed by the priests; and then when the bell was turned out perfect from the mould, it was regularly passed through the ceremonies of baptism. Its sponsors were persons of rank, and the most considerable priest, or even a bishop or archbishop, officiated with all the accompaniments of naming, anointing, sprinkling, robing, &c.

Excommunication by "bell, book, and candle," was long practised. The bell was rung to summon the congregation to this ceremony; the priest read the service from a balcony; and when the anathema was pronounced, the candles were put out, as an emblem of an extinction of hope in the sinner's soul.

The Complin bell it was which summoned the people to the last religious service of the day. The Sanctus bell was

formerly hung in a small turret outside the church, as may still be seen in some of our old churches; it is now merely a small hand-bell, which is rung during the service of the mass, to call the attention of the congregation to its more solemn parts. The Passing bell was so named because it used to be tolled as the spirit passed out of the body.

"Prayers ascend

To heaven in troops at a good man's passing bell,"

says Donne, in allusion to the fact, that at the sound of the passing bell, all who heard it were enjoined to pray for the soul of the dying. From this custom is derived that of tolling the church bell at a funeral.

Everybody has heard of the Couvre feu, or Curfew Bell, which was introduced into this country from France by William the Conqueror. At eight o'clock in the evening it rang out its evening peal, and at the last stroke of the hammer on the metal, all lights and fires were ordered to be put out. We will now enter

THE FOUNDRY,

and describe the modern process of bell-casting. For illustration we will take the establishment of Messrs. Mears, Whitechapel, the oldest, largest, and best known of the kind in London or England. Before we describe the process of casting a bell, it will be as well to inform the reader that bellmetal consists of an amalgam of copper and tin in the proportion of about three parts of copper to one of tin. Mention has been made of the old custom of adding a few gold or silver coins to the metal when in a state of fusion, but it is quite a popular error to suppose that the metal of old bells is of greater value from such a circumstance. The actual value of bell-metal, when formed into bells, is about £6 a cwt., including the cost of production; and when old bells are received in exchange, it is usual for the founder to allow about £4 per ewt. for the metal inclusive of the silver it may or may not contain. There are, of course, various trade secrets as to the exact proportions of the different metals necessary to constitute a first-rate amalgam.

There is no great mystery in the bell-founder's art; but extreme care is necessary, in order to produce a good-toned bell, that all the preliminary operations should be conducted with the greatest exactness. With the aid of our artist, then, we will endeavour to explain the modus operandi observed in founding or casting a bell.

Passing through various yards, in which are stored quantities of old timber, old bell-metal, and a multitude of odds and ends, in the shape of old cannons and great masses of old copper, destined one day for the furnace, we arrive at the

MOULDING-ROOM.

Here a sight presents itself which is at once peculiar and striking. All along the floor are ranged the moulds of future bells. In describing the casting of a bell, it will be necessary to observe, that it is nothing more than a layer of metal which has been run into the space between the mould and its outer covering, and allowed to cool. A glance at the diagram (p. 167) will explain this very readily. Here we have a section of a bell as it lies in the pit during the process of casting. If the reader keep this diagram in his mind's eye, he will have no difficulty in comprehending all that we may have to say on the subject. The various parts of a bell may be described as the body or barrel; the clapper or striker, hanging in the inside; and the ear or cannon on its top or crown, by which it is hung in its chosen position in the tower. The following description, therefore, applies to all bells, large and small, the various modifications in the shape, &c., not interfering with the principle on which it is manufactured.

The first principle to be observed is the construction of the shape or form of the future bell, so as to insure that due harmony in all its parts which shall give to it the proper degree of tone and vibration. Various theories have obtained in different countries, and among the several founders of our own country, as to the best proportions for bells; but the following scale has been proposed, and generally followed as coming nearest to perfection: "Taking the thickness of the sound-bow or brim-that is, the part where the clapper strikes -a bell should measure: in diameter at the mouth, fifteen brims; in height to the shoulder, twelve brims; and in width at the shoulders, seven and a-half brims, or half the width at the mouth." These proportions, however, are very variable,. and depend greatly on the taste, experience, and skill of the founder, an approximation merely being arrived at in these figures.

The size and proportions, then, of the future bell being ascertained, the making of the mould is proceeded with. The outer form of the mould-by which the inner shape of the bell is determined-is made by means of a crook which is made to revolve on the clay, &c., of which the mould is composed. This crook is a kind of double compass formed of wood, one leg of which is cut or curved to the shape of the inner sides of the intended bell. A glance at the engraving (fig. 3) will render this plain to the reader. This crook or compass is made to move on a pivot affixed to a beam above, and its lower and driven into the ground. In the case of very large bells, the mould is perfected in the pit in which they are to be cast. The crook is driven by the hand of the moulder; and the mould being composed of plastic clay, &c., the form of the inner side of the bell is defined by a few revolutions of this simple machine. Thus is formed the core, or inner mould. The cope, or outer mould, is formed in much the same way, except that its inner surface is smoothed to form the outer side of the bell.

The core is first roughly built up of brickwork with a hollow in the centre. It is then plastered over with soft clay, &c., and moulded as described by the action of the crook; and is afterwards dried by means of a fire in the hollow mentioned. When baked sufficiently hard it is covered all over with a composition of tan and grease. On this composition the outer leg of the crook is made again to rotate, and the exact shape of the bell is thus determined. When the whole has been sufficiently dried by the action of the fire in the core, the crown or head-which contains the parts necessary to hold the clapper by which the bell is to be rung-are then fitted on, and the model of the inside of the bell may then be said to be complete. Any device or inscription necessary is then moulded and fixed upon it. Upon this mould the cope, or outer mould, is formed. Having been made of destructible materials, the fac-simile of the bell is easily destroyed, and the space between the core and the cope is, of course, the exact shape of the future bell. The inner and outer moulds being examined, retouched, and otherwise finished off, the cope is fitted over the core (as represented in figure 4) like an extinguisher over a candle, with a vacuum left between them to receive the fused metal. One indispensable precaution is necessary, however, in making the mould, that is, to leave a hole for the escape of the air when the metal is poured in, the failure of which would cause the destruction of the bell in the process of casting. This hole is left in the cap of the mould.

We will suppose all the preliminaries successfully accomplished, and the various moulds ready to receive the melted metal; for, although we have described the working and preparing of only one set of moulds, there are generally some dozens of bells cast on the same day. We step into another large room, and here we witness the actual

OPERATION OF BELL FOUNDING.

The various moulds having been brought into this part of the factory, they are firmly embedded in the earth, and nothing of them is visible but the holes in their caps. On the occasion of the casting of a peal of large bells, the fused metal is carried at once from the furnace to the pit by means of a series of gutters, and when one bell is completed the fiery wave is stopped off and directed to the mouth of another mould. Our artist has very graphically described this scene (fig. 8). The bell-metal being tested and found to be of the right temperature, the furnace doors are opened, and out rushes the liquid

fire, bubbling and boiling in a white heat too fierce to look upon. "Is the bell," says Schiller, in his famous Song of the Bell

"Is the bell in the ground well-bedded?
Is the mould well set and steadied ?
Skill and diligence to pay,
Will it issue fair to-day?

Should the cast not hit,
Should the coping split;

Ah! perhaps while hopes elate us
Now, e'en now, mishaps await us!"

Mishaps, however, seldom happen at Messrs. Mears' foundry, where everything is conducted on sound and scientific principles. As many as a dozen large and many small bells are cast at one melting, and as much as twenty tons of metal consumed. In the Montreal Foundry, so called from the fact that the great bell mentioned below was cast in it, a pit is especially prepared close to the furnace door to prevent the waste or cooling of the metal, on the occasion of any "great cast;" on ordinary occasions, however, the metal is melted in crucibles (as shown in figure 5), and being carried from place to place is poured into moulds just as the poet describes the

process:一

"In the furnace the dry branches crackle; the crucible shines as with gold

As they carry the hot flaming metal in haste from the fire to the mould;

Loud roar the bellows, and louder, the flames as they shrieking escape,

And loud is the song of the workmen who watch o'er the fastfilling shape.

To and fro in the red glaring chamber the proud master anxiously

moves,

And the quick and the skilful he praiseth, and the dull and the sluggard reproves;

And the heart in his bosom expandeth as the thick bubbling metal upswells,

For like to the birth of his children he watcheth the birth of the bells!"

In our day no song of the bell greets the final accomplishment of the successful day's work; but what is much better, the workmen are well paid, intelligent, and contented. Some of the persons in Messrs. Mears' employment have worked in the foundry for more than thirty years.

In the casting of small bells, such as hand and house tintinnabulums, precisely the same process as above described takes place, with only such modifications as their size renders necessary. An ordinary-sized bell takes about twenty-four hours to cool; but a bell like that cast for the Montreal church would not be touchable to the hardest of fingers under about four days. When they are cool they are dug out of their pits, the moulds being destroyed in the process, when they are taken

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