On all that belongs to the playing of bells in belfries, the inventive genius of Netherlands long since arrived at proficiency. In some of the church-towers of that country, the striking, chiming, and playing of bells is incessant; the tinkling called chimes usually accompanies the striking of the hours, half-hours, and quarters; while the playing of tunes comes in as a special divertisement. In some instances, these tune playing bells are sounded by means of a cylinder, on the principle of a barrel-organ ; but in others, they are played with keys by a musician. The French apply the term ca rams to the tunes played on bells; but in England, it is more usual to give the term carillons to the suites of bells which yield this kind of music. In this last sense, the tower of Les Mattes, a large building at Bruges, is allowed to contain the finest carillons in Europe. There is a set of music-bells of this kind in the steeple of St. Giles's church, Edinburgh. On these, tunes are played for an hour daily at certain seasons by a musi cian, who has a small salary from the civic corporation.
Many of the church-towers in London are provided with peals of bells, the ringing of which is a well-known practice. Eight bells, which form an octave or diatonic scale, make the most perfect peal. The variety of changes or permutations of order that can be rung on a peal, increases enormously with the number of bells: 3 bells allow 6 changes; 4 bells, 24; 12 bells give as many as 479,001,600 changes. The ringing of peals differs entirely from tollin7—a distinction not sufficiently recognized in those places where au ordinary ringing of bells is made to suffice alike for solemn and festive occasions. The merry peal almost amounts to an English national institution. It consists in ringing the peal in moderately quick time, and in a certain order, without interruption, for the space of an hour. Merry peals arc rung at marriages (if ordered), and at other festive events, the ringers being properly paid, according to use and wont. The English appear to be fond of these peals, and the associations which they call up. They actually make bequests to endow periodical peals in their parish church-towers; leaving, for example, so much money to ring a merry peal for an hour on a certain evening of the week, or to commemorate victories, or some other subjects of national rejoicing, in all time coming. One of the most celebrated peals of bells in London is that of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheap side, which form the basis of a proverbial expression meant to mark emphatically a London nativity—" Born within the sound of Bow-bells." Brand speaks of a substantial endowment by a citizen for the ringing of Bow-bells early every morning to wake up the London apprentices. The ringing of bells in token of merriment is an old usage in England, as we learn from Shakespeare: Get thee gone, and dig my grave thyself, And bid the merry bells ring to thy ear, That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Sometimes, in compliment to a newly opened church, efforts are made to furnish its belfry with the proper ,number of bells, and to endow it at once for a weekly merry peal.
It Is common for some of the huMbler class of parishioners to form a company of bell ringers, acting under the authority of the churchwardens. Some endowments for peals embrace a supper, as well as a money payment to the ringers; and of course, in such circumstances, there is little risk of the merry peal falling into desuetude. The conse
quence is, that what with marriages, and other festive celebrations, and as a result of endowments, merry peals are almost constantly going on somewhere in the metropolis—a fine proof, it may be said, of the naturally cheerful and generous temperament of the English, and of their respect for old customs. In Lancashire, the art of playing on bells is cultivated with much enthusiasm and success. The bells are small, and arranged on a movable stand; they are struck by a small instrument which is held in each hand of the performer, and produce a sweet tinkling kind of music.
The custom of hanging bells on die necks of horses. cows, and other animals, was in use by the Romans, and still survives. The bells give notice of approach in the dark, and hung on cows, goats, or sheep, these animals can be easily found in the woods, or on the mountains. The charming noetical allusion of Gray And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds— will be called to remembrance. In sonic parts of England, as many as eight small hells, forming an octave, are attached to the harness of wagon-horses. The attaching of bells in it fanciful manner to riding and sleigh-horses is common in some parts of Europe and America.
The term bell is infused in much of our conversational phraseology. "To bear the bell," is a phrase which we previously attempted to explain. At one period, a silver bell was the prize in horse-races in England, and the winning horse was said to bear away the bell. A less probable explanation is, that the phrase originated in the custom of one of the most forward sheep in a flock carrying a bell. Hence, at least, "bell-wether of the flock," a phrase applied disparagingly to the leader of a party. The old fable, in which a sagacious mouse proposes that a bell shall be hung on the neck of the cat, so that all the mice may be duly warned of her approach, has given rise to the well known-phrase of " belling the cat." Any one who openly and courageously does something to lower the offensive pretensions of a powerful and dangerous person, is said "to bell the cat." The hanging of bells in dwelling-houses, and ringing them by means of wires from the different apartments, is quite a modern invention: for it was not known in England in the reign of queen Anne. Lately, there has been a great improvement in domestic bell hanging. Instead of traversing the apartments, and turning and winding by means of cranks, the wires are carried directly upward in tubes in the walls to the garret: thence from a row of cranks they descend together to their respective bells, which are hung in one of the lower passages. Mere recently, there has been introduced a system of electric bells, which is likely to supersede all others. The arrangement consists of an electro magnet, with its armature fastened at one end by a spring, and terminating at the other in a hammer, by which the bell is struck. The battery may be placed in any part of the building, and as there is no motion in the wires, no cranks or other apparatus are required. Contact is made by pressing a stud, and messages may be sent to any part of the house, by the Morse alphabet, or other code of signals.