Bell ringing

“ This and the beautiful science of bell-ringing consequent on it are peculiar to ourselves. The method of sounding the bells here understood is by a hammer acting on the rim, or by pulling the clapper, as is used with us for chimes, and where the bell frame is weak. This accounts for the much larger bells which are found abroad, and which were never meant to be poised and swung. Owing to the above difference between the Continental and English methods of bell-ringing, it is not easy to express the difference between simpulsare, compulsare, and depulsare. ”

“ Paul Hentzner a German, who visited England in the year 1598, records in his journal: “The people are vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells; so that in London it is common for a number of them that have got a glass in their heads to go up into some belfry, and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise.” This may be exaggeration,—not unusual with travellers. It is, however, a fact that bell-ringing has been a favourite amusement with Englishmen for centuries. ”

“ George, Devon, who from quite a young man has entered deeply and fully into all matters of interest relative to Church Bells and Ringing, and who now supervises that bell-ringing page in the interesting weekly paper called Church Bells, where from time to time much is given which is interesting to all who may wish to become ringers in practice or performance, with good and reliable information as the groundwork upon which they desire to ultimately place their edifice of knowledge of the subject in question. ”

“ To ring, and to ring changes, on either church or musical hand bells, are three very different subjects. In order to ring changes, however, it is absolutely necessary to have a good knowledge of ringing, or the means adopted to make the bells sound in their proper time and place, whether it be in the church tower, on the large swinging bells with ropes, or in the parlour or drawing-room, upon the musical bells, held in the hand or hands. ”

“ The ringing of bells, although a recreation chiefly of the lower sort, is, in itself, not incurious. The tolling of a bell is nothing more than the producing of 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, 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 still in London several societies of ringers. ”

“ A peal, in technical language, is a performance on the bells of more than 5000 changes ; and it occupies the ringers a considerable period of time, generally more than three hours. But a touch or flourish on the bells, which is the ordinary method of notifying any joyful occurrence, is round ringing varied by changes at the option of the ringers, or according to the custom of the belfry. It is usual in the first instance to set the bells ; that is, to throw every bell, with its mouth upward, in a stationary position in the frame. ”

“ There is no ‘plucking at the bells’ for recreation and exercise. Church-ringers with us have degenerated into [Pg 80] mercenary performers. In more than one parish where there are beautiful bells, I was told that the village youths took no interest whatever in bell-ringing, and had no desire to enter upon change-ringing. ”

“ The bell-ringers take themselves with an absurd seriousness, which has not nowadays the least excuse. The exercise may have been accounted a useful and a pious one when bell-ringing was supposed to exorcise devils, or at the very least of it, to remind the faithful that the hour of prayer was come ”

“ And the eternal thought of God, which everywhere exists, but which is nowhere truly comprehended, and which no image or word can ever quite express, assumes form for our senses and becomes intelligible to our hearts only in the resounding circle of the bell. And so thou bringest to us, thou sweet music of bells, a comforting message from without and from within and from above!" The men gaze at me, wondering at my words and surprised that it is possible to say so much about the ringing of church bells, which one may hear every day over in Holdenschlag. ”

“ I started from my chair and listened intently, but the ringing had stopped, and I settled back to the delights of a nervous chill, when again the deathly silence of the night—the wind had quieted in time to allow me the use of this faithful, overworked phrase—was broken by the tintinnabulation of the bell. This time I recognized it as the electric bell operated by a push-button upon the right side of my front door. To rise and rush to the door was the work of a moment. It always is. ”

“ It appears to us quite worth the consideration of the clergy whether the practice of hand-bell ringing would not do much to keep their corps of church ringers together and provide an antidote to the public-house. We find that a medium set of eight hand-bells, forming an octave, can be obtained for from four to five pounds; and the steps of the art present no considerable difficulty, even to rustic intellects. Many a young country curate would find it a pleasant thing to take the post of leader, and call his choir together for hebdomadal practices. ”

“ Every Practitioner, that has judgment to beat his own time, has the advantage of ringing his bell true, whilst the rest of the notes commit faults; for the compass being once fixed, as many bells as do either rise or fall from thence commit errors.
The truest way of raising a peal of bells according to the best of modern practice, is, as quick as may be; every Ringer taking assistance to raise his bell, according as the going of it requires. In raising of them, the lesser bells as the Treble &c. ”

“ The assembly room was decorated with several appropriate devices; and some of the old men, with the greater part of the company, enjoyed themselves to a late hour. [199]
Bell Ringing
and
Hand Bells in Churches. To the Editor of the Every-Day Book.
Sir,—In pp. 161-2, vol. ii., your correspondent H. H. N. N. of Newark, informs us of the custom of ringing a bell at six o’clock in the morning, and eight in the evening; likewise of a set of “hand bells” kept in the church there; and desires to be informed of their use. ”

“ Dost thou not hear the silver bell,
Thro' yonder lime-trees ringing?
'Tis my lady's light gazelle;
To me her love thoughts bringing,—
All the while that silver bell
Around his dark neck ringing. ”

“ Some curious customs remain connected with bell-ringing. In Yorkshire it is customary when there occurs a death in the parish to toll the bell. Three strokes thrice repeated signify an adult male; three strokes twice repeated signify an adult female ”

“ To our poor, racked frames a coal-hod would not have suggested more discomfort. We dragged up our hampers, packed with steamer-rugs and pillows, and my sister sat on hers while I took another turn at the bell. While the maid is answering this bell I shall have plenty of time to tell you what we afterwards discovered the process of bell-ringing in an English hotel to be. ”

“ At all times when it may be desired to produce a good performer upon any musical instrument, it is well that he should understand the instrument itself; for just as the driver who understands his steam engine thoroughly in its parts and details, is the man who can work it best, so is it with the ringer with his bell in the steeple or tower. ”

“ Change ringing on bells, then, is to be accomplished just as all other arts or studies, not by seeking to take the monitor’s place at first, but by taking the lowest place on the lowest form, and by giving attention to every lesson or hint that can be gathered from others, commencing as with the alphabet, and then proceeding to spell or to compose. ”

“ To ring-in rounds, it matters little which bell is taken to perform upon, as each takes its place in proper turn, whether it be first, middle, last, or any other position, which will be very well understood if the new ringer has practised, as he should do, rounds upon hand bells. ”

“ And for this there can be no better plan than to note upon paper the changes which may be made with from 2 to 4 bells, assuming that one, which may be represented by a cross, star, or other mark, is the bell which the student takes to move, vary, or change. Whether he takes the position of 1, 2, or any other number, No. 1, in a ring of church bells, is always that with the highest note, and in this way it will be plain, first, to presume that there are 2 bells, and the reader takes the second, upon which there are, as he knows already as shown, but two changes ”

“ When that has been well digested and understood, then, and not till then, the next or following portion can or should be attempted either as for study or practice, viz.:—
“The bells ring out a merry peal,
Their music on our ear doth steal.” ”

“ I know not how far the pastime of bell-ringing attracted the notice of the opulent in former times; at present it is confined to the lower classes of the people, who are paid by the parish for ringing upon certain holidays. At weddings, as well as upon other festive occurrences, they usually ring the bells in expectance of a pecuniary reward.
X.—HAND-BELLS.
These, which probably first appeared in the religious processions, were afterwards used by the secular musicians, and practised for the sake of pastime. The joculator dancing before the fictitious goat, depicted by the engraving No. ”

“ Ring, bell!
A little baby comes on earth to dwell. Ring, bell!
Sound, bell! Sound! Swell!
Ring for joy and wish her well!
[p184]
May her life tell
No tale of ill-spell!
Ring, bell! Joy, bell! Love, bell! Ring!
* * * * *
‘But I don’t see,’ said King Bellamant, when he had told Queen Belinda all about it, ‘how it was that I came to hear them. The Enchanter of the Ringing Well said that only lovers could hear what the bells had to say, and then only when they were together.’
‘You silly dear boy,’ said Queen Belinda, cuddling the baby princess close under her chin, ‘we are lovers, aren’t we? ”

“ On New Year’s Eve the old year is rung out and the new year in, in many [Pg 92] parishes. Sometimes one bell only is tolled until the clock strikes twelve, in other cases the bells are rung muffled, i.e., with the clappers wrapped round to deaden the sound, these being uncovered at midnight, when a merry “open” peal bursts forth. Either practice is to be preferred to that of ringing consecutively before and after the hour, which obscures the significance of the performance. ”

“ So long as the dome is filled with air the sound of the bell can be heard, but directly the air is pumped out silence results, even though it can be seen that the bell is continuously ringing. As there is no air surrounding the bell there is nothing to convey its vibrations to the ear. ”

“ The ringing of changes is performed, partly by the ear, and partly by the eye; the ear informs when to make a change, the eye directs the pull in the making of it, but then again the ear guides the striking of the note true in its place according to time. So that the ear and eye have each of them its proper object in the ringing of changes, and therefore ought at the same time to be absolutely free from all others whatsoever, the notes of the bells being the object of the ear, and the bell-ropes the object of the eye. ”

“ The ringing of daily bells, especially at night, is often accounted for by stories of people who found their way when lost, or were delivered from nocturnal dangers, by hearing the bell of some church. Instances of this are scattered all over the country, and there are the Ashburnham bell at Chelsea, the great bell of Tong in Shropshire, and others which were originally given in commemoration of such events, with the object of keeping up the ringing for the benefit of other wanderers. ”

“ Bell by John Tonne, a Founder of Henry VIII’s time (1520–1540) . Ornamented in the French fashion. (See page 108) .
“Bells,” he says, “require very constant attention to keep them in ringing order.” Therefore it is not the use of the bells, not even change-ringing of the most violent description, which destroys the bells and endangers the belfries; but simply neglect or carelessness. It must [Pg 142] be borne in mind that bells are enormously heavy, and are yet required to move and revolve with perfect ease, and to be hung with perfect balance and adjustment of all their parts. ”

“ On four Bells, there are Twenty four several Changes, in Ringing of which, there is one Bell called the Hunt, and the other three are Extream Bells; the Hunt moves, and hunts up and down continually, and lies but once in one place, except only when it comes before or behind the Bells, at which time it lies there twice together; it has the same course here, as in the six Changes before set down; two of the Extream Bells makes a Change every time the Hunt comes before or behind them. ”

“ Every bell hunts in a perfect course, until the whole Hunt leads, and then the single is to be made, at which time the bell in seconds place lies there twice (unless the extream is made in second and thirds place) and every single change is made in third and fourths places, except the extreams which are (in this Peal) made by the same rule and after the same manner, as I shewed before in the Six-score call'd Doubles and Singles on five bells. ”

“ Handringers are still common throughout the country—one man with a bell fitted with a clapper, in each hand, ringing but two notes of the tune in his turn. Upright stands of bells without clappers, struck with wands, may often be seen in the streets. Bells for horses, dogs, cows, sheep, &c., have already been alluded to. In Italy and elsewhere they are often made of baked earth; these have a very sweet sound, and cost about a penny. For sledges and harness they are of metal, and worn usually in bunches. ”