Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/838

BELLOY. even yet held in esteem. In 1772 he was ad- mitted to the French Academy, after the pro- duction of his Gaslon and B(i;iard. This was fol- lowed by Pierre le cruel, which, though it failed at first, was afterwards successfully revived. His collected worlds were published in 1779, edited 1)V his friend Gaillard, who wrote his life. Con- sult .Godefrov. Histoire de la litterature fran- caise, "XVIl'le siecle pofetes" (Paris, 1879).

BELL'-RING'ING. The ringing of bells in changes of regular peals is largely a European practice. It was early brought o a higli degree of proficiency in the Netherlands. In some of the church-towers there the striking, chiming, and playing of bells is incessant, including the playing of regular tunes. In some instances, for' this latter purpose, the bells are sounded by means of a cylinder, on the principle of a barrel organ; in others they are played with keys by a musician. The ringing of bells has also become a distinct art in Great Britain. Aecor<ling to the English method the bell at each pull revolves round a complete circle, and is •under the full command of the ringer. The first known writer on the subject is the author of a book called Tintinnalogia (1668), said by some to have been Fabian Stedman, a Cambridge printer, who printed his changes on slips of paper in a notation of his own invention, and taught them to his company in the tower of Saint Benedict's Church, Cambridge. According to his account there was no idea of change-ringing until the beginning of the Seventeenth Cen- tury, though there certainly seem to be traces of it in the earliest English comedy, Udall's Ifalph Roister Doister (15.5.3). The art made rapid progress, and rings of liells increased from five or six to ten or twelve, the latter being the greatest number ever rung in peal. The variety of changes increases enormously with the increase in the number of bells. Six cluinges can be rung on three bells ; on four, four times as many ; and so on until with twelve bells the enormous num- ber of 479,001,600 different changes can be rung.

Bell-ringing has an interesting system of no- menclature. The simplest peals are those called graiidsire on an odd number of bells, and hob on an even number. Changes on three bells are called rounds: on four, clunifjcs or singles; on five, doubles or (/randsires; on six, bobs minor; on seven, r/randsire triples; on eight, bobs ma- jor; on nine, grandsire caters; on ten, bobs roi/al: on eleven, grandsire cinques; on twelve, iobs maximtis. A bell is set when its moith is turned upwards; at hand stroke when set up so far that only the tuffing or sallic is held by the ringer; at backstroke when rung so far round that the end of the rope is held. The treble bell is the higliest, tiie tenor the lowest of a set. Five thousand changes are a peal; any smaller nunilier constitutes a touch or flourish — i.e. a practice rather than a performance.

It may be interesting to note here that the old-fashioned bell-ringer lias been banished from one of the most notable church-chimes in Amer- ica by those most modern of methods of power- transmission, electricity and compressed air. The chimes of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City consist of 19 bells, weighing from 270 pounds to 6000 pounds, and having a musical range from lower C to upper D, with the accom- panying sharps and flats. These chimes were first plaj-ed on January 1, 1901, from a key- board in the sacristy, by means of a combination of electricity and compressed air, devised and constructed by Mr. H. C. Champ, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The apparatus is described by The En- gineer as follows: ''It is an adaptation of the compressed-air cylinder adopted by the Union Switch and Signal Company. Mr. Champ, in following their idea, constructed 19 bell-engines, corresponding to the number of bells. These bell- engines are bolted to wooden seats, which in turn are bolted on a system of steel beams in- serted in the walls of the north tower. These engines consist in their working parts of a fine grade of bronze composition metal, so as not to rust or corrode. The engines practically consist of three main parts, two cylinders and a piston, which is fitted to a clip hung on the clapper of the bell above it. On the engine there is an adjustable clevis, so that the stroke can be arranged to a nicety, and once so adjusted it cannot change its position. The engines are operated from the sacristy by means of a key- board. A key being depressed, a current of elec- tricity is sent along its wire to the belfry, where, by means of an air-valve operated through an eiectro-magnet. the compressed air is admitted to the bell-engine, and the a^r-pressure delivers the blow, which acts upon the clapper and rings the bell." Consult : Lomax, Bells and Bellringers (London, 1879) ; Ellacombe, Practical Remarks on Belfries and Ringers (London, 1859-60). See Bell.

BELL ROCK, or INCH CAPE. A reef of Old Red Sandstone rocks in the North Sea, 12 miles southeast of Arbroath, Scotland, nearly opposite the mouth of the Tay. The reef is 2000 feet long; at spring-tides part of it is uncovered to the height of 4 feet, and for 100 yards around the sea is onlv 3 fathoms deep. Since 1810 it has been marked by a lighthouse 120 feet high. It was formerly a" fruitful cause of shipwreck, and, according to tradition, the Abbot of Aber- brothock (Arbroath) placed a bell on it in the Twelfth Century. It is the scene of Southey's poem. The Inch Cape Rock (q.v.).

BELLS. A term used on shipboard, and nearly equivalent to the 'o'clock' of ordinary life on land. The day is divided into 6 periods of 4 hours each, beginning at midnight. At half- past twelve 1 bell is struck; at one o'clock 2 bells; at half-past one 3 bells; and so on up to 5 bells at four o'clock. At half-past four it is 1 bell again; at five, 2 bells, and so on up to eight o'clock. Half-past eight is I bell, etc. The 6 periods nearly coincide with the n-atches (see Watch) into which the day is divided, but not exactly, for the 4 hours from four to eight P.M. are divided into dog-watches of 2 hours each.

BELLS, The. (I) The title of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. (2) The name of the drama adapted by Leopold Lewis from Erckmann-Chatrian's Lc Juif polonais, and frequently presented by Sir Henry Irving. It deals with the murder of a Polish Jew by an innkeeper, from whose t.avern he has Just driven oft" in his sleigh. The innkeeper, Mathias, is so haunted by the recollection of his crime that the sound of the sleigh-bells begins to ring in his ears, and eventually drives him mad.