USE AND MANUFACTURE OF BELLS THE employment of sonorous metal in the form of bells, for the purpose of producing musical sounds, is of very great antiquity. We read of it in the Holy Scriptures, where bells are mentioned as being employed in religious ceremonies, and it was ordered by Moses that the lower part of the blue robe of the high priest should be hung with pomegranates and small bells. The same custom is noticed with reference to the kings of Persia; and in many parts of the East, at the present day, the mistress of the house has the lower part of her dress furnished with hollow pieces of metal, containing small stones, and these producing a sound as she moves, warn the domestics of her approach. Bells were used to decorate the heads of the war-horses of the Jews, in order to accustom them to noise. The Greeks and the Romans also used bells on many occasions, religious, civil, and military; in funeral processions, at sacrifices, and to announce the hour of bathing, and of rising in the morning; they were also rung at executions. But although bells were known thus early, the manufacture of them appears to have been confined to those of a small size. The first church bells are supposed to have been cast at Nola, in Campania, in the year 400; but it is not until the beginning of the sixth century that their employment is known to a certainty. From this time, their use in churches rapidly spread in all directions; and at the end of the ninth century, scarcely a church or monastery, of any note, was unprovided with these lively harbingers of religious duties. Among the Roman Catholics, many superstitious notions were attached to the employment and properties of bells. A church bell is noticed by antiquaries, inscribed with the following Latin verses, in which its valuable properties are summed up : Funera plango, fulgura frango, sabbata pango, which may be thus translated,— I strike at a funeral, I disperse the thunder, I announce the sabbath, I excite the lukewarm, I dissipate tempests, I soften the hearts of cruel men. In allusion to another superstition regarding bells, we find in the Golden Legend of Wynken de Worde, one of our early English printers, that, "It is said, the evil spirytes, that ben in the regyon of thayre, doubte moche when they here the belles rongen: and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth, and when grete tempeste and outrages of wether happen, to the end that the feinds and wycked spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempeste." The custom of naming bells and blessing them with certain religious ceremonies exists in the Roman church. Before bells are hung they are washed, crossed, blessed, and named, by the bishop. The Chinese, have been from early times famous for the magnitude of their bells. The city of Nankin formerly possessed some of a very large size, but their weight was so enormous, that they brought down the tower in which they were hung One of these bells is twelve feet in height, and seven in diameter: it is computed to weigh as much as two tons and a half. These bells were cast about three hundred years ago: they are four in number, and are named, the hanger, tchoui; the eater, che; the sleeper, choui; the will, si. A French author mentions seven other bells at Pekin, each of which weighs the enormous weight of six tons. But .some of the bells in Russia exceed even these in weight; one in the church of St. Ivan's at Moscow The largest bells in England are at Christchurch College, Oxford, weighing 17,000 lbs. ; St. Paul's, London, 11,474 lbs.; and the great Tom of Lincoln, 10,854 lbs., the heaviest of these being only onetwentieth the weight of the Russian bell. Although the English have nothing to boast of as to the size of their church bells, when compared with those of other nations, they have practised almost exclusively the art of bell-ringing. From a series of bells of different sizes, properly tuned, so as to produce when struck, the different notes of the gamut, many harmonious effects are obtained. The practice of ringing bells in changes or in regular peals is said to be peculiar to England; the custom seems to have commenced with our Saxon ancestors, and to have been common before the Conquest. The tolling of a bell is nothing more than producing a sound by a stroke of the clapper against the side of the bell, the bell itself being in a pendant position, and at rest; but in ringing, the bell is elevated to a horizontal position, so that, by means of a wheel and rope, the clapper strikes forcibly on one side as it ascends, and on the other side on its return downwards, producing at each stroke a sound. Bell-ringing having been reduced to a science in the process of casting bells, and preparing the metal. this country, has caused great attention to be paid to proportions vary according to the size of the bell, or Bell-metal is composed of tin and copper; but the the judgment of the founder: the usual quantities are 23 lbs. of tin to 100 lbs. of copper. In large bells more copper is added, and sometimes in very small ones a portion of silver is used, which is said to improve the sweetness of the tone materially. The method of casting a large bell is in the first instance to form a core which is to fill the inside of the bell while casting. For this purpose a hole is dug large enough to contain the bell, and to allow a free passage to the workman, during the operation of moulding. In the spot to be occupied by the centre of the mould, a stake is firmly driven into the earth; on the top of this stake is an iron peg, on which the guage or compasses of the moulder revolves; the stake is surrounded, at the lower end, with solid brickwork. This is called the millstone, A great portion of the space to be occupied by the core is filled up with bricks and earth, a hollow chamber being left in the centre, into which in a subsequent part of the process, hot coals are introduced for the purpose of drying the mould. This rough foundation is afterwards covered with successive layers of fine cohesive earth and sand, mixed with horse or hog's dung, the compasses being frequently applied for the purpose of ascertaining the progress of the work, and a moulding-board used to preserve the correct curve. At intervals, as the work proceeds, the mould is frequently dried, and any imperfections which may arise from shrinking are corrected by the moulder, by the addition of fresh compost; and the core is again dried and carefully smoothed over. The core being complete, the model of the bell itself is next formed, by a composition of moulding loam and hair, which is applied to the core by layers, the last being very thin; the last layer is a mixture of wax and grease. The model being thus complete, the shell of the mould is formed; the first layer of this last coating is composed of earth, sifted *See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 7, for a description of this monstrous bell. very fine, and mixed with cow-hair, to make it adhere, and tempered with water to a state of semi-fluidity, when it is poured upon the waxen mould, and readily adapts itself to all its parts, filling in the ornaments, or writing, with which it is marked. Two or three of these coatings having been applied, a fire is again lighted in the core, by which the shell is dried, and the wax, leaving its impression in the sand, melted off. After this other layers of the moulding loam are laid on, a quantity of hemp being spread intermediately, to bind the mass more securely together; the compasses are still employed, in order to secure a degree of equality in the thickness of the shell. When the moulding is completed, and all the parts sufficiently dry, the hollow of the core is filled with sand, through an opening left at the head of the shell. Five or six pieces of wood, two or three feet long, are placed about the mill-stone, and under the lower part of the shell; between these and the mould, wooden wedges are driven to loosen the model and the shell, the latter being lifted off, and the former broken and removed from the core: the shell, after being blackened inside by the burning of straw, to give smoothness to the casting, is lowered exactly over the core; the cap containing the perforations for the rings or ears is affixed, and cuts are made for the escape of air, and admission of the metal, after which the whole is carefully surrounded in the pit with sand, well rammed about the shell. A gutter being made from the furnace, along which the metal, when in a state of fusion, is allowed to flow into the mould in the pit, until it has filled every part. MOULDING A LARGE BELL In Germany, and other parts of the Continent, the casting of a large bell is celebrated as a holiday by all the neighbourhood of the foundry, and is attended with much ceremony. The following extracts are from Lord Leveson Gower's translation of the celebrated "Song of the Bell," of Schiller. We have already alluded to this poem in the Saturday Magazine, and now add a more lengthened extract, embracing the whole of the descriptive part of the subject. Through yonder clay at close of day Like flattery's voice, from yonder tower And all his changeful fate brings down Browner see the mass appearing; And be it tried, To know if yet with favouring sign, The ruder and the weak combine. Lo from the clay asunder parting, * Come, close your ranks, your counsel tell, And now, with many a rope suspending, To rule the azure canopy. Peace be on his earliest voice! THE most necessary talent of a man of conversation, is a good judgment. He that has this in perfection is master of his companion, without letting him see it; and has the same advantage over men of any other qualifications what soever, as one that can see would have over a blind man of ten times his strength.-STEELE. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE. ALTHOUGH a brief account of the Castle of Heidelberg | has already appeared in this work*, yet the great beauty, both picturesque and architectural, of this far-famed ruin, and its long period of historical importance, authorize the insertion of a further description; which, being chiefly drawn from the ancient archives of the place, will embrace a summary of its entire history. In order to commence from the earliest known date, we must relate that the appellation Heidelberg Castle was originally borne by a fortress situated about half a mile above the present magnificent structure, which, both according to tradition, and the nature of the foundations still visible, was built by the Romans as a defence against the native hordes infesting the valley of the Neckar. They were further protected by a wall leading from this fortress down to the river, which, terminating in a tower, controlled any attack by water. This tower, with a portion of the wall, are still discernible in an old building called the Marstall, now used as a lying-in hospital. After the retreat of the Romans, from Germany, this upper fortress was maintained as stronghold, and subsequently became the residence of the earlier Pfalzgrafen, or Palatinate Counts. The first historical notice of these potentates, which can be safely quoted, relates that Conrad von Hohenstaufen, (born 1127,) Duke of Suabia, and halfbrother of Frederic Barbarossa, Emperor of Germany, See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 139. VOL. XII. resided at this fortress, which we will distinguish as the old Castle, and possessing large estates on the Rhine, was created by his brother Pfalzgraf of the Rhine. He added largely to the Castle, built the Benedictine monastery at Schönau, and converted a cloister of the same order, situated at Neuburg, about a mile up the Neckar, into a convent for ladies of rank. (This building still exists under its original name of the Stift Neuburg, and is occupied as a Summer residence by a gentleman of large fortune.) Conrad died at Heidelberg, 1195, leaving an only daughter Agnes, who married Henry of Brunswick, to whom devolved the government. By her he had two children, Henry and Agnes, and residing chiefly on his patrimonial lands, in no way contributed to the prosperity of Heidelberg. His son and successor survived him but three years, dying childless at the age of twenty. Upon this event the Emperor, Frederic the Second, (the Emperors of Germany having, in those times, the arbitration of such matters, and appointing and deposing the lesser powers as they pleased,) nominated Louis the First of Bavaria, of the house of Wittelsbach, successor to the Palatinate lands. The people, however, resisted this choice, took their appointed sovereign prisoner, and only released him at a high ransom. By a marriage of policy between Otho, son of Louis, and Agnes, daughter of the late count, matters were seemingly adjusted, and Louis permitted to reside in comparative peace at the old Castle, but his bloody murder, which 355 day the Rupert building, and which forms one of the most ancient and picturesque portions still remaining. In his regal capacity he resided chiefly at Oppenheim, but was buried at Heidelberg, having equally divided the Palatinate lands among his four sons. took place six years later, in 1231, proves that there | 1401. He built that part of the Castle called to this were still powerful malcontents around him. His son Otho succeeding, the hereditary line was continued. This prince is the first whom we find styled Pfalzgraf and Churfürst—a title derived from the old German word kuren, to choose, and fürst, a prince, and borne as a distinction by those reigning sove. reigns who possessed the privilege of electing the emperors of Germany; we render it fitly by the term Elector. Otho united the Palatinate and Bavarian estates, purchased additional lands, and is supposed to have laid the foundation of the lower Castle, of which this account especially treats. Louis the Third, the Bearded, or Pious, received, as eldest son, Heidelberg for his portion, and may be considered as the founder of the Heidelberg line. He married in 1402, Blanche, daughter of Henry the Fourth of England; the first connexion of this state with our country, to which it has subsequently been so vitally allied. In 1414 and 1417, Louis attended the church convocations at Constance, where John the Twenty-second, the deposed Pope, was committed to his charge, and confined for some time at Heidelberg, and ultimately at Manheim. This Prince contributed much to the progress of the university and improvement of the Castle and town. He completed the fine church of the Holy Ghost in the marketplace, which had been commenced under Rupert the First, and dying in his sixtieth year, was interred within its walls. To him succeeded his son Louis the Fourth, who becoming entangled in some petty wars, died, it is said, of chagrin, in his thirtieth year, leaving an only son, Philip, in the cradle, His brother, Frederic the First, surnamed the Conqueror, was appointed regent to the infant prince, and subsequently reigned conjointly with him. In those times the law of primogeniture was but partially enforced, and in several instances we find brothers This splendid structure stands upon a platform of rock about three hundred feet above the river, originally called the Jettenbühl; from a tradition of one Jetta, a heathen prophetess who dwelt in a chapel upon this site, and to whom, being in high repute for her miracles and oracles, the people flocked from all countries. This personage was seldom visible, but the prophetic words emanated from a window of the chapel, and were caught by the crowd assembled beneath. One of her prophecies which have been handed down to the present generation, testifies that palaces in which kings should reside, should cover her lowly hill, and that numerous buildings should occupy the valley beneath, And truly, if all her peeps into futurity proved as clear-sighted, she duly earned her reputation. Further, the tale goes, that having wandered one day through the woods till she reached a certain fountain, and a cloud, we conclude, being drawn over her prophetic vision, she was sur-wielding the Palatinate sceptre together. Frederic prised by a savage she-wolf, who quickly put an end to the prophetess of the Jettenbühl. The scene of this tragic event still bears the name of the Wolfsbrunnen, or Wolf's Fountain. It lies in a picturesque hollow about a mile from the town, and is to this day resorted to, without any apprehension of a similar fate, by the youth and beauty of Heidelberg, as But to return to the Pfalzgrafen. To Otho succeeded Louis the Severe, who, in his connubial transactions, somewhat resembled our Henry the Eighth, having married three wives, one of whom he beheaded. This count dying in 1295, was succeeded by his son Rudolph the First, whose administration is marked a period of much suffering to the Castle and surrounding dominions. He was driven from his possessions by the Emperor Albert, and is supposed to have died in Austria. The succession, nevertheless, was bestowed upon his son, Adolphus the Simple, who, preferring a life of indolence to the government of broad lands, surrendered the sceptre to his brother Rudolph the Second, not, however, till he had restored the Castle to a habitable condition. Tenth on the line of succession now appears Rupert the First, brother of Rudolph, born 1309, whose name is conspicuous as the author of numerous benefits to the country, and especially as the founder of the Heidelberg university, whose flourishing schools still remain a monument of his enlightened liberality. He it was who first resided regularly at Heidelberg, and added largely to both town and Castle. He died without issue at the advanced age of eighty-one, and the government devolved upon Rupert the Second, son of Adolphus the Simple, who, however, seems to have inherited less of his father's than of his uncle's nature, for we find him seeking the advancement of his people, driving the Jews out of the town, an act considered meritorious in those times, and presenting thirteen of the deserted houses to the university. This Pfalzgraf was succeeded, after a reign of eight years, by his son Rupert the Third, elected, in 1400, King of Rome, and crowned as such at Cologne, in was an excellent Regent; he strengthened and enlarged the Castle, and although engaged in a succession of wars, contrived that they should all conduce to the prosperity and aggrandizement of his states. He was connected in a left-handed marriage with the beautiful Clara Dettin, of Augsburg, and dying in 1476, was buried by his own desire in the dress of a monk, in a Carmelite Cloister he had founded at Heidelberg; leaving Philip the First, or the Sincere, to govern alone. This prince united to a chivalrous nature, a great taste for the politer arts. By his summons, many of the literati of that period resorted to his court, and were detained in the service of the university. In the year 1484, a high tournament was held in the great court of the Castle, to which all the titled and gentle blood, far and near, were bidden. This period calls forth all our liveliest conceptions of chivalrous magnificence, and never, perhaps, was this lordly Castle worthier tenanted than in good Count Philip's time. Tradition still tells of the valour of the knights, the beauty of the dames, and the wine and wassail which flowed around; and, although the great tun* was not then in being, there was, doubtless, as little lack of mouths to drain, as of vessels to contain the produce of the Neckar vineyards. A few years later, the Emperor Maximilian honoured this Pfalzgraf with a visit, and was received with all the pomp of the times. About this period, also, as the story goes, a pike was caught in the royal ponds at Kaiserslautern, weighing 350 lbs. From an inscription upon a ring round its neck, it appeared that it had been placed there in 1230, by the Emperor Frederic the Second; having thus enjoyed the good things of this life during an interval of 267 years and upwards. This is, fortunately, the only instance on record of a fresh-water fish of these majestic dimensions, otherwise a race of sharks weighing twenty-five stone, might have been rather an awkward addition to our annals of natural history. *See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 140. In spite of the hospitality which had been shown to the Emperor, Count Philip was not secured from hostilities; for a year later, on his claiming the Bavarian succession for his son, Maximilian declared him under the ban, and sent a numerous army against the Palatinate. Both the town and Castle, however, were so well manned and fortified, and the inhabitants so devoted to their count, that the enemy only caused a temporary annoyance, and soon evacuated the land. Philip died 1508, and was buried in the church of the Holy Ghost. his taste for architecture; and being furnished with designs from Raphael and Julio Romano, applied them in the erection of that splendid portion, called to this day, Otho Henry's building. This forms the west side of the Tournament Court, and contains the Ritter Saal, or Knight's Hall, and a princely suite of apartments, the façade of which, adorned with colossal figures from Scripture and Pagan history, offers a unique specimen of the florid and gorgeous architecture of those times. All these improvements were effected in the marvellously short space of three years, for we find the death of this spirited sovereign recorded in 1559, who dying without issue, the states devolved to Frederic the Third, of the house of Simmern, also connected by no consanguinity that we can discover, either with his immediate or more remote predecessors. Louis the Fifth succeeded to the government, and pursued his father's plans of improvement. He encouraged learning, protected the university, and greatly added to the size and strength of the Castle. He it was who commenced that formidable bulwark round the entire building, part of which, towards the west, is still standing, a monument of strength. Besides this, the so called Thick-tower, overlooking the town, of which only a section now remains; the square-tower, still in good preservation, the bridge, the bridge-house, the Stückgarten, &e., &c., were all erections of his reign. In 1524, this Elector pro-suits, at any rate we perceive no additions or alteclaimed a trial of cross-bow shooting, at which many German potentates attended. This, however, appears the pretext rather than the object of their meeting; | which was, in reality, to concert some means of arresting the progress of those intestine or peasant wars, which at that time ravaged Germany. In 1537, we read of a tremendous thunderstorm which broke over Heidelberg, when the lightning striking the older Castle above, which had been maintained merely as a fortress and magazine for powder, the whole structure was rent into the air, with an explosion audible for miles around. Nor did the damage end here, for the huge masses of masonry falling on the town and Castle beneath, crushed whole buildings, and occasioned much loss of life and property. Louis the Fifth, dying 1544, was buried in the church of the Holy Ghost, and succeeded by his brother, Frederic the Second. This prince, although he had blamed his predecessor for his expensive love of building, continued, nevertheless, the improvements on a large scale; and among other additions, raised the octagon-tower, which still forms one of the most beautiful features of the ruin. He rendered great services to the Emperor, and was permitted in requital, to bear the Reich's Apfel or imperial crown in his arms, which, after this date, repeatedly occurs in the escutcheons about the Castle. Frederic appears to have been a gay bachelor; he always purposed marrying into some royal family, and for this end entered into successive negotiations with different courts, but did not finally take upon himself the yoke of matrimony till he had completed his 50th year, when his choice fell on Dorothea, daughter of the deposed king of Sweden, by whom he had no children. He died in 1556, and was buried with his forefathers. With him expired the Heidelberg line, and we can discover no connexion either immediate or collateral, with Otho Henry, of the house of Neuburg, who succeeded to the Palatinate states. This prince, although bound by no hereditary ties, proved an excellent parent to his newly acquired dominions, and by the height of architectural splendour to which he raised the Castle, has established a claim on the reverence of all artists and antiquarians. Having, during his youth, visited the Holy Land, and collected a number of Greek and Arabian manuscripts, he presented them to the university, and thereby founded the famous library which was subsequently nearly destroyed during the thirty years war. During his travels in Italy he also cultivated This Prince introduced the Calvinistic doctrines in opposition to those of Luther, which is the first mention we have obtained of religious disputes in the history of the Palatinate. His controversial occupations, probably left him no time for more secular purrations to the Castle recorded in this reign. He died in 1576, and was buried in the church of the Holy Ghost, succeeded by his son Louis the Sixth, who differing on doctrinal points from his father, revived the religion of Luther, and dismissed the entire Calvinistic court. This Elector also appears to have left the Castle as he found it, and dying in 1583, was gathered to his forefathers. He left a young son, but was succeeded by his brother, John Casimir, styled Pfalzgraf and Administrator, who officiated as Regent to the young prince. This former is celebrated as the founder of the first great tun, and of the building containing it. A small chapel in the upper part communicated with the cellar below, a circumstance which savours somewhat of the monkish habits of his predecessors. In this reign, the doctrines of these two reformers again changed places, John Casimir being a zealous disciple of Calvin, and again the court and state were cleared of all obnoxious dependants. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BIBLE FROM THE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ISRAELITES IN THE Egyptians had long been exposed to the ravages |