Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/515

 BELIZE BELL 495 passed his last days a beggar in the streets of Constantinople has been generally rejected by modern historians, but is accepted by Lord Mahon (Earl Stanhope) in his " Life of Beli- sarius " (London, 1830). BELIZE. See BALIZE. BELK SiAP, a S. E. county of New Hampshire ; area, 387 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 17,681. Win- nepiseogee lake forms its N. E. boundary, Win- nepiseogee river flows for some distance along its southern border, and the Pemigewasset touches it on the west. The surface is uneven, containing many hills and small lakes, and is generally fertile. The Boston, Concord, and Montreal, and the Dover and Winnepiseogee railroads traverse the county. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 20,874 bushels of wheat, 90,687 of Indian corn, 37,837 of oats, 220,705 of potatoes, 36,149 tons of hay, 397,036 Ibs. of butter, 81,298 of cheese, 40,051 of maple sugar, and 38,549 of wool. There were 2,146 horses, 4,640 milch cows, 10,978 other cattle, 10,053 sheep, and 2,676 swine. Capital, Gilford. BELKJfAP, Jeremy, D. D., an American cler- gyman and historian, born in Boston, June 4, 1744, died there, June 20, 1798. He graduated at Harvard college in 1762, and, after teaching school four years, was ordained as pastor of the church in Dover, N. H., in 1767, where he passed 20 years. In 1787 he took the charge of the Federal street church in Boston, which he held till his death. From the age of 15 he kept notes and abstracts of his reading, and a series of interleaved and annotated almanacs, of which curious specimens are preserved. His " History of New Hampshire " was commenced soon after his residence at Dover. The 1st volume appeared at Philadelphia in 1784, the 2d at Boston in 1791, and the 3d in the follow- ing year. Not paying the expenses of pub- lication, the legislature of New Hampshire granted him 50 in its aid. In 1790 he pro- jected the Massachusetts historical society, and in 1792 he published, in successive numbers of the " Columbian Magazine," " The Foresters," a historical apologue. The next year he pub- lished a life of Watts; in 1794 a series of American biographies ; and in 1795 a " Col- lection of Psalms and Hymns," for a long time in use in many of the New England churches, several of which were written by himself. He was also the author of many fugitive pieces, contributions to magazines, sermons, &c. A life of Dr. Belknap, by his granddaughter, with selections from his correspondence, was pub- lished in New York in 1847. BELL (Saxon Mian, to make a hollow sound, to bellow), a hollow metallic vessel, which, by its vibrations when struck, gives forth sounds which vary with its shape, size, and composi- tion. It is an instrument of great antiquity, being spoken of by the old Hebrew writers, as in Exodus xxviii., in which golden bells are prescribed as appendages to the dress of the high priest, that notice may thus be given of his approach to the sanctuary. In very early 84 VOL. H. 32 times the Greeks used bells as signals in their camps and military stations; the tradespeople, according to Plutarch, rang hand bells in the Athenian markets; and they were also prob- ably used in the household, in the same way that we employ them to-day. The Romans at all events seem to have made this use of them ; and by them they also announced the time of bathing. In a still older civilization the feast of Osiris is said to have been announced by the ringing of bells. The ancients fastened bells to the necks of their cattle, a custom which has been perpetuated; and in several less important methods of use, in ornamenta- tion, in the decoration of horses at festivals, &c., they frequently employed them. Bells are said to have been first used for churches about A. D. 400, by St. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, a town in Campania whence the names nola and campana given them in the monkish Latin, and still retained in several European languages. In England and France they were in use as early as the 7th century, and the first parish churches appear to have been fur- nished with their campanile or bell tower, which still continues to be one of their distin- guishing features. Several were used in a sin- gle church, as is still the custom when ar- ranged in chimes, or, as in Roman Catholic countries, without regard to harmony of tones. The church of the abbey of Croyland in Eng- land had one great bell named Guthlac, pre- sented by the abbot Turketulus, who died about the year 870, and subsequently six oth- ers, presented by his successor, Egelric, and named Bartholomew and Betelin, Turketul and Tatwin, Bega and Pega. When all these were rung together, Ingulphns says, "fiebat mira- bilis harmonia, nee erat tune tanta consoncm- tia campanarnm in tota Anglia." The custom of consecrating church bells, still universal among Roman Catholics and not infrequent in Protestant communities, dates back to a very early period. In Charlemagne's capitulary of 787 we find the prohibition " lit eloccie bapti- zentur ; " and in the old liturgies of the Catho- lic church is a form of consecration directing the priests to wash the bell with water, anoint it with oil, and mark it with the sign of the cross, in the name of the Trinity. Names were given to bells as early as the year 968, when the great bell of the Lateran church was named by John XIII., for himself, John. The ancient custom of ringing the passing bell, that those who heard it might pray for the soul that was leaving this world, endured for centuries, and is not yet entirely abandoned; and the ring- ing of the curfew bell a custom introduced into England before the Norman conquest, and common on the continent of Europe from the earliest tunes remained until the 16th century a signal prescribed by law, to warn the citi- zens, as its name (from the French couvre-feu) indicates, to put out the fires which in those days threatened such danger to the thatched and wooden villages. Other early and long