hundred thousand pounds, never had the
good fortune to be hung up, and therefore
its exact pitch cannot be accurately stated.
In fact it can only have a crazy pitch at
best, seeing that there is a broken gap in it
nearly as large as the side of a small room.
When Dr. Clarke was in Russia, he asked
permission to assay or analyse the metal
of which the bell is composed, to ascertain
whether silver is one of the components,
in accordance with a popular theory; but
his request was not complied with. About
thirty years ago, however, the late
Emperor Nicholas caused an analysis to be
made: when it was found that the metal
consists of about six copper to one tin, with
scarcely any trace of other ingredients. The
bell now forms a sort of roof or dome to a
tiny chapel excavated underneath it, in the
pit where it was originally cast. As to
small bells, the makers are credited with
the observance of certain rules for shape,
size, and thickness, according to the
purpose to which each kind of bell is applied.
In the days when the postman's bell, the
dustman's bell, the muffin bell, and the
crier's bell made a greater clatter in the
streets than they do now, each kind was
said to have a pretty uniform tone or pitch;
and it may be that some such uniformity
is observed in the railway bell, the dock
bell, the ship bell, the ostler's bell, the sheep
bell – though we cannot vouch for it.

As the sound of a bell may be made of
any pitch that the maker pleases, it is
obvious that all the notes for an octave, or for
many octaves, may be produced; and a set
of bells thus becomes a musical instrument.
At Antwerp there is (or was) a set of
thirty-three in the cathedral tower, well
attuned, and giving forth brilliant sounds.
Such sets of bells are called carillons in
many parts of the Continent. They are
played something like a pianoforte. The
player thumps (for mere pressure will not
do) on keys, pellets, or movable pegs; these
keys are connected by bands or rods with
hammers, and the hammers strike the
bells. For the bass notes, the feet tread on
pedals; but the treble notes are played by
hand, the player protecting the edge of the
palm with a leathern shield. Some of the
carillons have as many as fifty bells; and
some are played by clockwork, like the
Apollonicon of former days. The name
carillons is occasionally given to the tunes
played, as well as to the instrument itself.

There are some curious legends about
subterranean bells, invisible bells supposed
to be ringing by some mysterious agency
underground. In a certain parish in
Nottinghamshire, a church is said to have been
swallowed up by an earthquake in the days
longlongago; and those veritable bells, some
of the rustics declare, can be heard ringing
at Christmas. Something similar is claimed
for a Westmoreland parish – provided the
ear be placed near the ground on a Sunday.
In Lancashire, there is another instance,
in which the invisible bells choose Christmas
Eve as their time for playing.

Still more of these curious old beliefs
relate to invisible bells ringing under water.
Once upon a time, a ship was bringing
some church bells to the coast of Cornwall;
the ship was wrecked and all hands lost;
and there are the bells to be heard in the
bay, lifting up their mournful sounds from
the sea whenever a storm is coming on.

A somewhat similar story is told at St.
Ouen's in France; where the fishermen
refuse to go to sea if, on putting the ear
down near the level of the water, they hear
the invisible bells; the sound denotes bad
weather impending. What it is that they
really do hear, possibly a scientific man
might help them to determine; seeing that
there are many peculiar sounds produced
by the wind in certain states of the weather
which a credulous person might believe to
be bell sounds. Many persons, in danger
of drowning, have believed that they heard
the sound of bells while they were under
water. There was a Danish sailor some
years ago, who, after being immersed some
time, and then rescued from imminent
peril, declared that he heard the bells of
Copenhagen just before he lost consciousness.
In another case, an Englishman, in
a somewhat similar predicament, declared
that he had heard sounds as if "all the
bells of heaven were ringing him into para-
dise;" although there was only one church-bell
within half a dozen miles, and that
one cracked. Would not the well-known
efiect called " singing in the ears," when
the head is immersed in water, suffice to
explain these marvels?

BERCK-SUR-MER.

THE United Kingdom has often congra-
tulated itself on being composed of islands
of moderate size. The reasons for this
jubilation have mostly been the protection
from foreign enemies afforded by the sea,
the sustenance and wealth derivable from
fisheries, or the facilities for trading by
cheap water-carriage with all parts of the