Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/245

 BEL

M. 'Perrault, Rainjfant, &c. defend the Modern 'Beer # urging, that the Hops ufed with us, and which theAntients were Strangers to, having a Faculty of purifying the Blood, and removing Obftructions, ferve as a Corrector, and free the Drink from the Inconveniences laid at the door of that of the Ancients. For the Manner of preparing Beer, fee Brewing; for its Qualities, iee Malt-Liquor. The Word comes from the old German, Si ere : Vojjius derives it from the Latin, bibere, to drink; others from the Hebrczv, 'Bar, Corn j others from Bion, a Drink mentioned by tPliny. Beer-Measure.. See Measure. BEGLERBEG, a Turkijb Title for a Governor of a Province, who has under him feveral Sangiacks, or Sub- Governorr,.. There are 28 Seglerbegs in the Ottoman Em- pire. ^Jjins-Seglerbeg is the Baflia of the Sea, or the Ad- miral of the Turks. Beg, in the 'Turk/Jh Language, fig- nifics Lord; $na\ Beglerbeg, otBcglerbcgbi, Lords of Lords. BEGUARD, or Begghart, the Name of an Hereti- cal Sect in Germany, which {prong up towards the End of the 1 3 tli Century. Their Head was one 'Dulcinus. Their -principal Tenets were, that Man, in this Life, might be impeccable; and, that he might arrive to a Degree of Per- fection not to be exceeded; that this State was as happy as Heaven, which when once obtain'd, they were no longer obliged to obferve the Fails of the Church, nor obey their Superiors .5 that every intellectual Creature is feif-happy; that it Hands in need of nothing but the Light of Glory to raife it to the Villon and Enjoyment of God; that none, but the Imperfect, apply themfelves to pra&ife virtuous Acti- ons; that Jefus Cbnft Jhould not be adored in the Eleva- tion of the Hoft, nor the Myfteries of his Incarnation be regarded : They condemned good Works, and ipread abroad impure Doctrines. Thefe Fanaricks, who wore the Habits of Monks, without paying regard to any Rule, or obferving Celibacy, were condemn'd under Pope Clement V. at the Council or Vienna, in 1311.

BECUINES are devout Societies of young Women, efbblifti'd in feveral Parts of Flanders, Ticardy, and Lor- rain. They maintain themfelves by the Work of their own Hands; they lead a middle kind of Life, between the Laick and Religious; but make no Vows. Thefe So- cieties began at Nivelle, in Flanders, JI.tD. 12,26, and foon fpread inro France. Their Habit was particular, but mo- del!; they lived in common, and had Men of great Piety for their Governors. Some of them giving into abfurd Opinions, Pope Clement V. abolilhed their Inititution; up- on which they ceas'd in France : But, John XXII. Suc- ceftor to Clement V. explain'd chat Decree, and declar'd only thofe Societies of the Seguines extinft, who had fallen into Herefy.

BELAY on board a Ship, Signifies the fame as fafien-^ thus they fay, belay the Sheet, or Tack, that is, fatten it to the Kennei, &c.

BELCHING. See Ructation.

BELL, a popular Machine, rank'd by Muficians among the number of Mufical Inflruments of'PerciiJJion. Its Form needs no Defcriprion; its Parts are the Body, or Barrel, the Clapper with-in-fide, and the Far or Cannon, whereby it is hung to a large Beam of Wood 5 its Matter is a Metal compounded of twenty Pounds of Pewter to an hundred of Copper, call'd Bell-Metal. The Thicknefs of its Edges is ufually yx °f the Diameter, and its Height twelve times its Thicknefs. The Bell-Founders have a SDiapafon, or Bell-Scale, wherewith they meafure the Size, Thicknefs, Weight, and Tone of their Bells. The Ufes of Sells are fumni'd up in the Latin Diftich:

Laudo 2)eum vcrum, c Plebem voce, congrego Clerum, %)cfun£tos plvro, e Peftem fvgo, Fefia decoro.

For the Method of Cafting Bells, &c. fee Founder y. Mr. Hanhbee, and others, find by Experiment, the Sound of a Sell {truck under Water, to be a fourth deeper than in the Air : But Merfenne fays, 'tis of the fame Pitch in either Element. Belli are obferv'd to be heard further, placed on Plains, than on Hills; and flill further in Vallies, than on Plains: the Rcafon of which is not difficult to affign, if it be considered, that the higher the fonorous Body is, the rarer is its Medium; confequently,the lef> Impulfe it receives, and the lets proper Vehicle it is to convey it to aDiitance.

The firft Bells are faid to have been made at Nola, in Campania, whereof St. Tazilinus wasBifhop; at leaft, 'tis faid, he was the firft who brought 'em into the Church. And hence, 'tis added, they had their Latin Names, Noltff and Campan<e : But others fay, they take thefe Names, not from their being invented in Campania, but becaufe ■'twas here the manner of hanging and balancing of 'em, now in Ufe, was firit pra&is'd; at lcaft, that they were ballanced and hung on the Model of a Ballance invented or ufed in Campania. For, in Latin Writers we find Cam- fana Statera, for a Counter-poife, and in Greek ^umvi'CtiV, for ponderare, tn load or weigh. Tolydore Virgil afcribes the Invention of Bells to Pope Sabinian, St. Gregory's Succeflor 5

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BEL

but by Miftake; for St. Jerome, Cotemporary with •Pau- linas, makes mention of a Sell. In effect, Pope Sabinian did not invent Sells; but he was the firft who appointed the Canonical Hours to be diftinguifh'd by 'em. We even find mention made of Sells in Ovid, Tibullus, Martial, Statins, and Manillas, and the Greek Authors, under the Titles of Tintinnabula, and Sounding Srafs. Suetonius, Dion, Stralio, 'Polybius, Jofephus, and others, mention 'em under the Names of Tetafus, Tmtinnabulum, JEramen- turn, Crotalum, Signum, &c. But thefe appear to have been little elfe but Baubles, and little like the huge Sells in ufe among us.

Hieronymus Magius, who has a Treatife exprefs on Sells, (wrote, when in Chains, in Turkey, and which is account- ed vety remarkable, purely from his Memory, without the Affiftance of any Books) makes large Sells a modern In- vention. Indeed, we don't hear of any before the fixth Century : In 1J10, we are told, Loup, Bifhop of Orleans, being at Sens, then befieg'd by the Army of Clotbarius, frighted away the Befiegers by ringing the Sells of St. Ste- phen's. The firft large Sells in England are mention'd by Sede towards the latter End of that Century. The Greeks are commonly faid to have been unacquainted with 'em till the ninth Century, when their ConftruCtion was firft taught them by a Venetian. Indeed, 'tis not true that the Ufe of Sells was entirely unknown in the antient Baftern Churches, and that they call'd the People to Church, as at prefent, with wooden Mallets. Leo Allatius, in his TliJJertation of the Greek Temples, proves the contrary from feveral an- tient Writers. 'Tis his Opinion, that Sells firit began to be difufed among 'em, after the taking of Conftantinople by the Turks; who, it feems, prohibited 'em, left their Sounds Ibould ditturb the Repofc of Souls, which, according to them, wander in the Air. He adds, that they flill retain the Ule of Sells in Places remote from the Commerce of the Turks; particularly, very antient ones in Mount Athos: F. Simon thinks the Turks rather prohibited the Chriftians the Ufe of Sells, out of political, than religious Reafons; inafmuch as the Ringing of Sells might ferve as a Signal for the Execution of Revolts, £S?c. See Minaret. The City Sourdcaux was deprived of its Sells for Rebellion; and when 'twas offer 'd to have 'em reftored, the People refus'd it, after hav ng tailed the Eafe and Conveniency of being freed from the conftant Din and Jangling of Sells.

Matthew Varis obferves, that anticntly the Ufe of Sells was prohibited in Time of Mourning; tho at prefent they make one of the principal Ceremonies of Mourning. Mabil- lon adds, that 'twas an antient Cuftom to ring th» Sells for Perfons about to expire, to advertife the People to pray for 'em; whence our Vaffing-Sells. Lobineau obferves, that the Cuftom of ringing Sells, at the Approach of Thunder, is of fome Antiquity; but that the Dcfign was not fo much to make the Air, and fo diffipate the Thunder, as to call the People to Church, to pray the Parifli may be preferved from that terrible Meteor.

The Cuftom of baptizing, or blejjing Sells, is very an- tient. Some fay 'twas introduced by Pope John XIII. in 971; but 'tis evidently of an older Handing; there being an exprefs Prohibition of the Practice in a Capitulary of John XIII. Alcuin fays 'twas eftablifh'd long before Pope John XIII. Yet this is only to be underftood of an Order of that Pope, for reftoring the Practice which had been difufed. See Baptism.

Nankin, a City of China, was antiently famous for the Largenefs of its Sells; but their enormous Weight having brought down the Steeple, the whole Building fell to Ruin, and the Sells have ever fince lain on the Ground. One of thefe Sells is near 12 Englijh Foot high, the Diameter 74, and the Circumference 23; its Figure almoft Cylin- dric, except for a Swelling in the middle; and the Thick- nefs of the Metal about the Edges, feven Inches. From the Dimenfions of this Sell, its Weight is computed at 50000 Pounds, which is mote than double the Weight of that of Erfort, faid by Father Kircher to be the greateft Sell in the World. Thefe Sells were call by the firft Em- peror of the preceding Dynafty, about jco Years ago. They have each their Name, the Hanger Schoui, the Eater Che, the Sleeper Choui, the Will Fi. Father le Compte adds, that there are feven other Sells in Tekin, caft in the Reign of ratio, each of which weighs 120000 Pounds. But the Sounds even of their biggeft Sells, are very poor; being ftruck with a Wooden in lieu of an Iron Clapper. The Egyptians have none but wooden Clocks, except one brought by the Franks into theMonaftery of St. Anthony.. Bell : The Sound of a Sell confifts in a vibratory Mo- tion of the Parts thereof, much like that of a Mufical Chord. The Stroke of the Clapper, 'tis evident, mull change the Figure of the Sell, and of round, make it oval: But the Metal having a great degree of Elafticity, that Patt which the Stroke drove further! from the Centre will fly back again, and that even fomewhat nearer to the Centre than before : So that the two Points which before