Church Bells : Their Antiquities And Connection With Architecture.

in one of the newly-printed Record publications , but I haA e unfortunately mislaid the extract giving names and dates ; but the fact is this , a certain Irish bishop , who was also suffragan to the see of Worcester , was sent o \ r er to Tewkesbury to consecrate two new bells for the abbey church in that

town , and the legal term employed for them is " duo magna signa . " The very earliest bells were probably mere sheets of metal curled into a circular shape , and rivetted together at their junction , the top beingflattened in . These were struck on the outside by

a hammer , having no connection with the bell itself . This , of course , produced no very exquisite tone . Once started , bells soon developed into shape and size somewhat analogous to those now in use . The art of working and fusing metals

together ivas a very early invention ; ancl the sister one of melting and casting not long in following . We know that both tin and copper ore were worked in Britain during the Roman occupation of the island , probably still earlier in more civilised Europe . There is no reasonable doubt that a bell , or even

bells , in important places , formed a portion of the furniture of every church , beforo the Norman Conquest . Judging from the vast size of Norman towers , I think it highly probable that church bells had at that time reached their largest dimensions in this country , and also attained a perfection not since surpassed . The fact of no bells of Norman date remaining at the present day , when we consider the 101 different accidents to which such an

instrument is subject is no proof m thc case whatever . Considering tho bell as an instrument of percussion , it is only a cause of wonder that so mairy examples , even of the thirteenth , fourteenth ancl fifteenth centuries , have come down to us uninjured . Thenagainthere are other causes for

, , change besides breakage , fashions as to shape and size , ancl number changed also , just as churches themselves were always more or less under alteration and supposed improvement ; . The lecturer here read a short MS . account of

the bells of Canterbury Cathedral ( Canterbury , A ol . i . p . 91 , No . 453 ) as an example out of many of this constant change ; and though perhaps churches of less note and smaller revenues were

fai r ourable exceptions , still this rule of change remained in a very large percentage . From this account you will see , amongst other things , that bells , as I said before , attained A ery large dimensions in the eleventh and twelfth centuries . They so continued till the Reformation ; soon after

which , the art of change-ringing coming- in , completely overturned the existing order of things . Under the old system bells were few and heavy , dignity of tone and solemnity being the main desideratum , and , as they were only chimed , lightness ivas not an object . Cathedral churches were

not allowed to possess more than five or seven bells , and these often not placed together for simultaneous use ; collegiate and parish churches

not more than three besides the sanctus bell . There is a curious injunction extant relative to the village churches on the coast of Kent ancl Sussex , to thc effect that they should not possess more than one bell each , lest they should present an object of plunder to opposite neighbours ; church

bells not being readily movable like plate , vestments , and lihgter articles . It is curious that to this day the same rule seems in force , for in no other districts in England are there so many onebelled churches as along' that coast , Avhile directly we get a few miles inland , peals of three ancl five are the prevailing number . The oldest bells that have come down to us bear

simply the names of the samts to whom they are dedicated—the tenor , or heaviest bell , usually representing the patron saint of the church ; the others , for the most part , the names of those saints who had altars below ; and I very strongly suspect that each bell was tolled for mass at the altar of its

own dedication . This is a point I should much like to have cleared up by some one learned in Mediceval ritual . At present I ivould only throiv it out as a probability , from the fact that out of a number of such cases which I have examined I

have found a considerable number in favour of the connection between the names of bells and the records of altars so dedicated . At Durham , for instance , there ivere four great bells in the Galilee tower , and four smaller ones in the lantern tower , dedicatedthe largest to St . Cuthbert , another to

, Christ and the Blessed Virgin , a third to St . Margaret , another to St . Benedict , another to St . Michael , another to St . Oswald , another to the Venerable Bede ; all of whom were commemorated either in the nine altars or elsewhere in the church .

I will take one other example . At the church of St . Bartholoinew-the-Greatj Smithfield , now undergoing its interesting restoration , is a little peal of five bells , dating from the close of the fifteenth century . Here the treble is dedicated to the patron saint , the others to St . Ivatherine , St . Anne , St .

John the Baptist , and St . Peter , each dedication ending , as was usual at that period , with an " or a pro nobis . " Possibly there may be documents yet remaining which may connect this peal with some subsidiary altars in that church . If some of you do not mind doing a little chimney-sweep ' s work ,

you will be rewarded for your trouble by personally inspecting these bells ; also a similar peal of three in the adjoining church of St . Bartholomew-the-Less . These are almost the only ancient bells remaining in London . I would recommend yon , however , to send a man up two or three hours beforehand with a broom to remove the soot from

their crosses . The bells of St . Bartholomew-the Less are dedicated to St . Augustine , St . Vincent , St . Michael , the legends being in full : —1 . "Vox Augustini sonat in aure Dei . " 2 . " Vincentius revocat ut canta potia tollat . " 3 . Intonat do cells vox campana Michaelis . " The two smaller ones are by a ivell-known Mediasval manufacturer ,