fional Comment. The latter however appears to no great Advantage as an Antiquary, when he tells us "he could meet with no other Account of "this Ceremony, than that it was a Cuftom of the "old Church of England." The Paffage above cited from Durand would have informed him from whence it must have been imported into this Kingdom. It may gratify the Curiofity of fome to perufe the following general Observations on Bells*.—I have not been able to ascertain precisely the Date of this useful Invention. The Antients had fome Sort of Bells. I find the Word Tintinnabula, (which we ufually render Bells) in Martial, Juvenal, and Suetonius. The Romans were fummoned by these (of whatever Size or Form they were) to their hot Baths, and to the Business of public Places. The large Kind of Bells now in Ufe are faid to have been invented by Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in Campania, (whence the Latin Name Campana) une Cloche. There were no Clocks in England in Alfred's Time. He is faid to have measured his Time by Wax Candles, marked with circular Lines to diftinguish the Hours.-I would infer from this, that our Clocks have certainly been fo called from the Bells in them.-Mr. Strutt confeffes he has not been able to trace the Date of the Invention of Clocks in England.-Stow tells us they were commanded to be fet up in Churches in the Year 612. A grofs Miftake! and into which our honeft Hiftorian 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 Gloffary, verb. Campana, has preferved two Monkish Lines, in which all the antient Offices of Bells feem to be included. Laudo Deum verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum, We praise the true God, call the People, convene the Clergy, about about the Year 400*, and to have been generally ufed in Churches about the 600th Year of the Christian Æra. Mr. Bingham † however thinks this a vulgar Error. In fhort, we are left much in the Dark concerning the Antiquities of the earlier Ages of the Church.-Ecclefiaftical Writers frequently clafh in their Accounts. The Jews used Trumpets for Bells: The Turks permit not the Ufe of Bells: The Greek Church under them ftill follow their old Cuftom of ufing 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 BellsFather le Compte tells us, that at Pekin there are feven Bells, each of which weighs one hundred and twenty thousand Pounds. Baronius informs us, that Pope John XIII. AD. 968, confecrated a very large new-caft Bell *Spelman's Glofs. verb Campana. Trufler's Chronology. + Antiquities of Chrift. Church, Vol. I. p. 316. Jofephus. ⚫in See Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church. He was an Eye-Witness of this remarkable Cuftom, which Durand tells us is retained in the Romish Church on the three last Days of the Week preceding Eafter. Durandi Rational. p. 331. 3. Bingham informs us of an Invention before Bells for convening religious Affembiies in Monafteries: It was going by Turns to every one's Cell, and with the Knock of a Hammer calling the Monks to Church. The Inftrument 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 Veftige it fhould feem of the antient monaftic Cuftom. ‡‡ Cum vero poft hæc Johannes Papa in urbem rediiffet, contigit primariam Lateranenfis Ecclefiæ Campanam miræ magnitu in the Lateran Church, and gave it the Name of John. This is the firft Inftance I meet with of what has been fince called "the baptizing of Bells," a Superftition which the Reader may find ridiculed in the Romish* Beehive.-The Veftiges of this Cuftom may be yet traced in England in Tom of Lincoln, and great Tom ( the mighty Tom") at Chrift Church, Oxford. Egelrickt, Abbot of Croyland, about the Time of King Edgar, caft a Ring of fix Bells, to all which he gave Names, as Bartholomew, Bethhelm, Turketul, &c. The Hiftorian tells us, "his Predeceffor Tur“ ketul had led the Way in this Fancy." The Custom of rejoicing with Bells on high Feftivals, 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 Jurifdiction, was also an old Cuftom: Whence we feem to have derived the dinis recens ære fufam, fuper Campanile elevari, quam prius idem Pontifex facris ritibus Deo confecravit atque Johannis nomine nuncupavit. Baronii Annal. a Spondano. AD. 968, p. 871. *Romish Beehive, p. 17. + Collier's Ecclefiaftical History, Vol. I. p. 198. Durand tells us, "In feftis, quæ ad gratiam pertinent, Campanæ tumultuofius tinniunt et prolixius concrepant." Rational. P. 21. 12. Campanarum pulfatio in adventu Epifcoporum et Abbatum in Ecclefias, quæ iis fubditæ funt, antiquus mos. Vide Du Cange. Glofs. verb. Campana. Tradit Continuator Nangii. An. 1378. Carolum quartum Imperatorem cùm in Galliam venit, nullo Campanarum fonitu exceptum in Urbibus, quod id fit fignum dominii: "Et eft afsavoir que en "la dite Ville, et femblablement partoutes les autres Villes, ou il 66 a elté, tant en venant à Paris, comme en fon retour, il n'a esté "receu en quelque Eglife à Proceffion, ne Cloches fonnées a fon ve"nir, ne fait aucun figne de quelque domination, &c." lbid. modern modern Compliment of welcoming Perfons of Confequence by a chearful Peal. Durand*, whofe Superftition often makes one fmile, is of Opinion that Devils are much afraid of Bells, and fly away at the Sound of them. That Ritualift would have thought it a Prostitution of the facred Utenfils, had he heard them rung, as they are here with the greatest Impropriety, on winning a long Main at Cock-fighting.-He would perhaps have talked in another Strain, and have represented these aerial Enemies as lending their Affiftance to ring themf. In the populous, commercial Town, from whence I date thefe obfervations, Church Bells have not been confined to ecclefiaftical Uses; they have also with great Propriety been adapted to civil Purpofes:-The tolling of the great Bell of St. Nicholas Church here, is an antient Signal for our Burgeffes to convene on Guild-Days, and on the Day of electing Magiftrates:-Our little Carnival on Pan- · cake Tuesday commences by the fame Signal:A Bell, ufually called the Thief and || Reever Bell, proclaims our two annual Fairs:-A peculiar Kind of Alarm is given by a Bell on Accidents of Fire: * Ut dæmones timentes fugiant-Timent enim auditis Tubis Ecclefiæ militantis, fcilicit campanis; ficut aliquis Tyrannus timet, audiens in Terra fua tubas alicujus potentis regis inimici fui. Durand. Rational. Lib. 1. c. 4. There is a curious Paffage in Fuller's Hiftory of Waltham Abbey, A. D. 1542, the 34th of Henry VIII. relative to the Wages of Bell-ringers. It is preferved from the Church-wardens Account. "Item, paid for ringing at the Prince his coming a Penny." Vidé Pancake-Tuesday in the Appendix. Reever, a Robber. To reeve, to spoil or rob. Speght's Gloffary to Chaucer. A Bell is rung at fix every Morning (except Sundays and Holidays) with a view it should feem of calling up the Artifans to their daily Employment; and we retain also a Veftige of the old Norman Curfew at eight in the evening.Our Bells are muffled on the 30th of January; for which I find no precedent of Antiquity; their found on that occafion is peculiarly plaintive. * Diftinction of Rank is preserved here in the tolling of the Soul-Bell; an high Fee excludes the common People, and appropriates to the Death of Perfons of Confequence the tolling the great Bell of each Church on this Occafion.-With us too (as Durand orders above) a Bell is tolled, and fometimes Chimes are rung, a little before the Burial, and while they are conducting the Corps to Church: They chime or ring too in fome places while the grave is filling up. There feems to be nothing intended by tolling the passing Bell at prefent, but to inform the Neighbourhood of any Perfon's Death, and I am much mistaken if our Author's † very pious Exhortation *William the Conqueror, in the first Year of his Reign, commanded that in every Town and Village, a Bell fhould be rung every Night at eight o'clock, and that all people fhould then put out their Fire and Candle and go to Bed. The ringing of this Bell was called in French, Curfew; i. e. Cover-Fire. Ibid. Mr. Bourne complains in his Preface of the invidious Behaviour of fome of his Townfmen :-It is beneath a Man, confcious of inward Worth, to complain of that which he ought always to defpife.-Pofterity feems to have done him very ample Juftice for their Infults:-A Copy of the Antiquitates Vulgares has of late fetched feven or eight Shillings in London. Many perhaps will think the Purchasers miltook an Accident for |