pamphlet form: and they soon disappeared. The present edition has been prepared with a hope of amusing the general reader; and if it should turn the attention of the antiquarian into a channel of interesting inquiry, the writer will be glad to have been the means of eliciting a profounder essay on the subject: as he is well aware that he himself has not by his treatment of it. 'borne away the bell" He hopes, however, that he has not become entitled-like the winning horse of old, who bore away the prizebell from the race-ground on his forehead-to have any tintinnabulary appendage as a headornament, on account of his having dwelt so long on the trivial illustrations with which his work has been expanded. THE BELL: ITS ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND USES. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF BELLS. "Mighty things from small beginnings grow." DRYDEN. MANY articles in general use are of very ancient invention, and some of them retain, to a considerable degree, that primitive form in which they were originally constructed. Nor is this difficult to account for, inasmuch as whatever is indispensable to general convenience would be likely to be soon discovered, and being designed for the common purposes of social life, the united ingenuity of men would quickly invest it with a B |