a well known machine ranked by musicians among the musical instruments of percussion.

The constituent parts of a bell are, the body or barrel, the clapper on the inside, and the ear or cannon by which it hangs to a large beam of wood. The matter of which it is usually made is a composition called bell-metal; (See Chemistry, p. 379). The thickness of a bell's edges is usually 1/4 of the diameter, and its height 12 times its thickness. The bell-founders have a diapason, or bell-scale, wherewith they measure the size, thickness, weight, and tone, of their bells. For the method of casting bells, see FOUNDRY.

The sound of a bell is conjectured to consist in a vibratory motion of its parts, much like that of a musical chord. The stroke of the clapper must necessarily change the figure of the bell, and of a round make it oval; but the metal having a great degree of elasticity, that part will return back again which the stroke drove farthest off from the centre, and that even from small matter nearer the centre than before; so that the two parts which before were extremes of the longest diameter, do then become those of the shortest; and thus the external surface of the bell undergoes alternate changes of figure, and by that means gives that tremulous motion to the air in which the sound consists. M. Perrault maintains, that the sound of the same bell, or chord, is a compound of the sounds of the several parts thereof, so that that where the parts are homogeneous, and the dimensions of the figure uniform, there is such a perfect mixture of all these sounds as constitutes one uniform, smooth, even sound; and the contrary circumstances produce harshnesses. This he proves from the bells differing in tone according to the part you strike; and yet strike it anywhere, there is a motion of all the parts. He therefore considers bells as a compound of an infinite number of rings, which according to their different dimensions have different tones, as chords of different lengths have; and when struck, the vibrations of the parts immediately struck determine the tone, being supported by a sufficient number of consonant tones in the other parts.

Bells are observed to be heard further, placed on plains than on hills; and still further in valleys, than on plains: the reason of which will not be difficult to assign, if it be considered that the higher the sonorous body is, the rarer is its medium; consequently, the less impulse it receives, and the less proper vehicle it is to convey it to a distance.

Mr Reamur, in the memoirs of the Paris academy, has the following observation relating to the shape most proper for bells, to give them the loudest and clearest sound. He observes, "that as pots and other vessels more immediately necessary to the service of life were doubtless made before bells, it probably happened that the observing these vessels to have a sound when struck, gave occasion to making bells, intended only for sound, in that form; but that it does not appear that this is the most eligible figure; for lead, a metal which is, in its common state, not at all sonorous, yet becomes greatly so on its being cast into a particular form, and that very different from the common shape of bells. In melting lead for the common occasions of casting in small quantities, it is usually done in an iron ladle; and as the whole is seldom poured out, the remainder, which falls to the bottom of the ladle, cools into a mass of the shape of that bottom. This is consequently a segment of a sphere, thickest in the middle, and thinner towards the edges; nor is the ladle any necessary part of the operation, since if a mass of lead be cast in that form in a mould of earth or sand, in any of these cases it is found to be very sonorous. Now if this shape alone can give sound to a metal which in other forms is perfectly mute, how much more must it necessarily give it to other metals naturally sonorous in whatever form? It should seem, that bells would much better perform their office in this than in any other form; and that it must particularly be a thing of great advantage to the small bells of common house-clocks, which are required to have a shrill note, and yet are not allowed any great size." He adds, "that had our forefathers had opportunities of being acquainted with the sound of metals in this shape, we should probably have had all our bells at present of this form."

The use of bells is very ancient, as well as extensive. We find them among Jews, Greeks, Romans, Christians, and Heathens, variously applied; as on the necks of men, beasts, birds, horses, sheep; but chiefly hung in buildings, either religious, as in churches, temples, and monasteries; or civil, as in houses, markets, baths; or military, as in camps and frontier towns.

Among the Greeks, those who went the nightly rounds in camps or garrisons, carried with them a little bell, which they rang at each sentry-box to see that the soldiers on watch were awake. A codonophorus or bell-man also walked in funeral processions, at a distance before the corps, not only to keep off the crowd, but to advertise the flamme diadis to keep out of the way, for fear of being polluted by the sight, or by the funerary music. The priest of Proserpine at Athens, called hierophantus, rung a bell to call the people to sacrifice.

There were also bells in the houses of great men to call up the servants in a morning. Zonaras affirms, that bells were hung with whips on the triumphal chariots of their victorious generals, to put them in mind that they were still liable to public justice.

Bells were put on the necks of criminals going to execution, that persons might be warned by the noise to get out of the way of so ill an omen as the sight of the hangman, or the condemned criminal, who was devoted and just going to be sacrificed to the divinities.

For bells on the necks of brutes, express mention is made of them in Phaedrus.—Celsa cerevisia eminens, Claramque collo jactans tintinnabulum. Taking these bells away was construed by the civil law, theft; and if the beast was lost by this means, the person who took away the bells was to make satisfaction.

Among the Jews, we find mention in scripture of bells made use of in the temple. Their figure is not known; but they were made of copper, and their sound was sharp and heard to a great distance. The high-priest had a great number of little golden bells hung to the border of his garment, to give notice when he entered into, and when he came out of, the sanctuary, and save him the trouble of knocking at the door. The prophet Zachary speaks of bells hung to the bridles of war-horses, that thereby they might be accustomed to noise.

There are disputes about the number of bells which were intermixed with pomegranates on Aaron's garment. Some will have it only 12, others 50, others raise it to 66, others to 72, and some to 80. The kings of Persia are said to have had the like habit. We may add, that the Arabian ladies who are about the princes person, to serve and divert him, have little gold bells fastened to their legs, neck, and elbows, the motion of which, when they dance, makes an agreeable sort of harmony. The princesses of that country are also said to wear large hollow gold rings, filled with little flints, which sound like bells when they walk. Sometimes also large circles, with little rings, hung round them, produce the same effect. Sometimes they wear a number of flat bobs fixed to the end of their hair, which is matted, and hangs long behind, serving to make a noise as often as they stir, and give notice of the mistress's passing by, that the servants may behave respectfully, and strangers retire, to avoid seeing the person who passes.

As to the origin of church-bells, Mr Whittaker observes, That bells being used, among other purposes, by the Romans to signify the times of bathing, were naturally applied by the Christians of Italy to denote the hours of devotion, and summon the people to church. The first application of them to this purpose is, by Polydore Virgil and others, ascribed to Paulinus bishop of Nola, a city of Campania, about the year 400. Hence, it is said, the names nobile and campana. pana were given them; the one referring to the city, the other to the country. Though others say they took the latter of these names, not from their being invented in Campania, but because it was there the manner of hanging and balancing them, now in use, was first practised; at least that they were hung on the model of a sort of balance invented or used in Campania; for in Latin writers we find campana flatera, for a steel-yard; and in the Greek σκοπάνης, and ponderare, to weigh. In Britain, bells were applied to church-purposes, before the conclusion of the seventh century, in the monastic societies of Northumbria, and as early as the sixth even in those of Caledonia. And they were therefore used from the first erection of parish-churches among us.—Those of France and England appear to have been furnished with several bells. In the time of Clothair II., king of France, and in the year 610, the army of that king was frighted from the siege of the city of Sens, by ringing the bells of St. Stephen's church. The second exception of Egbert, about the year 750, which is adopted in a French Capitulary of 801, commands every priest, at the proper hours, to sound the bells of his church, and then to go through the sacred offices to God. And the council of Enham, in 1041, requires all the mulets for sins to be expended in the reparation of the church, clothing and feeding the minister of God, and the purchase of church vestments, church-books, and church-bells. These were sometimes composed of iron in France; and in England, as formerly at Rome, were frequently made of brass. And as early as the ninth century, there were many cast of a large size and deep note.

Ingulphus mentions, that Turketulus abbot of Croyland, who died about the year 870, gave a great bell to the church of that abbey, which he named Guthlac; and afterwards six others, viz. two which he called Bartholomew and Bettelin, two called Turketul and Tatwin, and two named Pega and Bega, all which rang together; the same author says, Non erat tanta tanta confonantia campanarum in tota Anglia. Not long after, Kincaus archbishop of York gave two great bells to the church of St. John at Beverley, and at the same time provided that other churches in his diocese should be furnished with bells. Mention is made by St. Aldhelm, and William of Malmesbury, of bells given by St. Dunstan to the churches in the west. The number of bells in every church gave occasion to the curious and singular piece of architecture in the campanile or bell-tower; an addition, which is more susceptible of the grander beauties of architecture than any other part of the edifice, and is generally therefore the principle or rudiments of it. It was the constant appendage to every parish-church of the Saxons, and is actually mentioned as such in the laws of Athelstan.

The Greek Christians are usually said to have been unacquainted with bells till the ninth century, when their construction was first taught them by a Venetian. Indeed, it is not true that the use of bells was entirely unknown in the ancient eastern churches, and that they called the people to church, as at present, with wooden mallets. Leo Allatius, in his dissertation on the Greek temples, proves the contrary from several ancient writers. It is his opinion, that bells first began to be used among them, after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks; who, it seems, prohibited them, lest their sound should disturb the repose of souls, which, according to them, wander in the air. He adds, that they still retain the use of bells in places remote from the intercourse of the Turks; particularly, very ancient ones in mount Athos. F. Simon thinks the Turks prohibited the Christians the use of bells, rather out of political than religious reasons; insomuch as the ringing of bells might serve as a signal for the execution of revolts, &c.

In the ancient monasteries, we find five kinds of bells enumerated by Durandus, viz. Squilla, rung in the refectory; cymbalum, in the cloister; nola, in the choir; molula or dupla, in the clock; campana, in the steeple; and sequinum in the tower. Belethus has much the same; only that for squilla he puts tintinnabulum, and places the campana in the tower, and campanella in the cloister. Others place the tintinnabulum or tintinnulum in the refectory or dormitory; and add another bell called corrigula, rung at the time of giving discipline, to call the monks to be flogged. The cymbalum is sometimes also said to have been rung in the cloister, to call the monks to meat.

In the funeral monuments of Weever, are the following particulars relating to bells: 'Bells had frequently their inscriptions on them:

- Fanera plange, Fulgura frangis, Sabbata pange, - Excito leoni, Difficio vectis, Paco cretis.

In the Little Sanctuary at Westminster king Edward III. erected a clochier, and placed therein three bells for the use of St. Stephen's chapel: about the biggest of them were cast in the metal these words: - King Edward made me thirte thousand weight and three. - Take me down and wey mee, and more you shall fynd mee. - But these bells being to be taken down in the reign of king Henry VIII. one writes underneath with a coale: - But Henry the eight - Will haue me of my weight.'

This last dishonour alludes to a fact mentioned by Stow in his survey of London, ward of Farringdon Within, to wit, that near to St. Paul's school stood a clochier, in which were four bells called Jesu's bells, the greatest in all England, against which Sir Miles Partridge staked an hundred pounds, and won them of king Henry VIII. at a cast of dice. Nevertheless it appears that abroad there are bells of greater magnitude. In the steeple of the great church at Roan in Normandy is a bell with this inscription:

It suis George de Ambois, Qui te tuae cinque milia pes, Nisi tu mi faci pereas, Tresce sis milia trecentas. I am George of Ambois, Thrice five thousand in pots: But he that shall weigh me, Thrice six thousand shall find me.

And it is a common tradition that the bells of King's college chapel, in the university of Cambridge, were taken by Henry V. from some church in France, after the battle of Agincourt. They were taken down some years ago, and sold to Phelps the bell-founder in White-Chapel, who melted them down.

The uses of bells were summed up in the following dishonour, as well as that first above-mentioned:

Laude Deum verum, plebem voca, omne clerus, Definitus pere, peccum fuge, folio accres.

Matthew Paris observes, that anciently the use of bells was prohibited in time of mourning; though at present they make one of the principal ceremonies of mourning. Mabillon adds, that it was an ancient custom to ring the bells for persons about to expire, to advertise the people to pray for them; whence our passing-bells. Lobineau observes, that the custom of ringing bells, at the approach of thunder, is of some antiquity; but that the design was not so much to shake the air, and so dissipate the thunder, as to call the people to church, to pray that the parish might be preserved from that terrible meteor.

In the times of Popery, bells were baptized and anointed oleo chrismatici: they were exorcised, and blessed by the bishop; from a belief, that, when these ceremonies were performed, they had power to drive the devil out of the air, to calm tempests, to extinguish fire, and to recreate even the dead. The ritual for these ceremonies is contained in the Roman pontifical; and it was usual in their baptism to give to bells the name of some saint. In Chauney's history of Hertfordshire, page 383, is a relation of the baptism of a set of bells in Italy with great ceremony, a short time before the writing that book. The bells of the parish church of Winnington in Bedfordshire had their names cast about the verge of every one in particular, with these rhyming hexameters:

Nomina Campanis bre iudita, sunt quaeque nostris: 1. Hos figuam Petri pulsatior nomine Christi. 2. Nomina Magdalene campana sunt melodie. 3. Si nonen Dominum beneficium semper in ovum. 4. Musa Raphaelis final auribus immaculatis. 5. Sum Rosa pulchrae manducis Maria vocata.

By an old chartulary, once in the possession of Weever the antiquary, it appears that the bells of the priory of Little Dunmow in Essex were, anno 1501, new cast, and baptized by the following names:

Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangelis. Secunda in honore S. Johannis Evangelistae. Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptistae. Quarta in honore Assumptionis beate Marie. Quinta in honore sancti Trinitatis, et omnium sanctorum. Jo. 633.

The bells of Ofney abbey near Oxford were very famous; their several names were Douce, Clement, Austin, Hauteeter [potius Hauteleri], Gabriel, and John.

Nanking in China was anciently famous for the largeness of its bells; but their enormous weight brought down the tower, the whole building fell to ruin, and the bells have ever lain on the ground. One of these bells is near 12 English feet high, the diameter seven and an half, and its circumference 23; its figure almost cylindric, except for a swelling in the middle; and the thickness of the metal, about the edges, seven inches. From the dimensions of this bell, its weight is computed at 50,000 pounds, which is more than double the weight of that of Erfurt, said by father Kircher to be the greatest bell in the world. These bells were cast by the first emperor of the preceding dynasty, about 300 years ago. They have each their name; the hanger (school), the eater (che), the sleeper (chou), the will (fi). Father le Compte adds, that there are seven other bells in Pekin, cast in the reign of Youlo, each of which weighs 120,000 pounds. But the sounds even of their biggest bells are very poor; being struck with a wooden in lieu of an iron clapper.

The practice of ringing bells in change, or regular peals, is said to be peculiar to England; whence Britain has been termed the ringing island. The custom seems to have commenced in the time of the Saxons, and was common before the conquest. The ringing of bells, tho' a recreation chiefly of the lower sort, is in itself not inconsiderable. The tolling a bell is nothing more than the producing a sound by a stroke of the clapper against the side of the bell, the bell itself being in a pendant position and at rest. In ringing, the bell, by means of a wheel and a rope, is elevated to a perpendicular; in its motion to this situation the clapper strikes forcibly on one side, and in its return downwards on the other side of the bell, producing at each stroke a sound. There are in London several societies of ringers, particularly one known by the name of the College youths: of this it is said Sir Matthew Hale, lord chief justice of the court of King's Bench, was, in his youthful days, a member; and in the life of this learned and upright judge, written by bishop Burnet, some facts are mentioned which favour this relation. In England the practice of ringing is reduced to a science, and peals have been composed which bear the name of the inventors. Some of the most celebrated peals now known were composed about 50 years ago by one Patrick. This man was a maker of barometers: in his advertisements he styled himself Torricellian Operator, from Torricelli, who invented instruments of this kind. In the year 1684, one Abraham Rudhall, of the city of Gloucester, brought the art of bell-founding to great perfection. His descendants in succession have continued the business of casting bells; and by a list published by them, it appears that at Lady-day, 1774, the family, in peals and odd bells, had call to the amount of 3594. The peals of St. Dunstan's in the east, and St Bride's, London, and St Martin's in the Fields, Westminster, are in the number.

The music of bells is altogether melody; but the pleasure arising from it consists in the variety of interchanges, and the various succession and general predominance of the consonances in the sounds produced. Musical authors seem to have written but little upon this subject.

BELL-Animal. See Animalcule, n° 24—28. BELL-Metal. See Chemistry, n° 379. Diving-Bell. See Diving. BELL-Foundry. See Foundry. BELL-Flower, in botany. See Campanula. BELL-Weed, in botany. See Jacea.