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.
