Rectory, Clyst St. George.
At St. James' Church, Hull, on the occurrence of a death in the parish, a
bell is tolled quickly for about the space of ten minutes; and before
ceasing, nine knells given if the deceased be a man, six if a woman, and
three if a child. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the custom is
now almost peculiar to the north of England; but in ancient times it must
have been very general according to Durandus, who has the following in his
_Rationale_, lib. i. cap. 4. 13.:
"Verum aliquo moriente, campanæ debent pulsari; ut populus hoc audiens,
oret pro illo. Pro muliere quidem bis, pro eo quod invenit
asperitatem.... Pro viro vero ter pulsator.... Si autem clericus sit,
tot vicibus simpulsatur, quot ordines habuit ipse. Ad ultimum vero
compulsari debet cum omnibus campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit
orandum."--Mr. Strutt's _Man. and Cust._, iii. 176.
{131} Also a passage is quoted from an old English Homily, ending with:
"At the deth of a manne three bellis shulde be ronge, as his knyll, in
worscheppe of the Trinetee; and for a womanne, who was the secunde
persone of the Trinetee, two bellis should be rungen."
In addition to the intention of the "passing-bell," afforded by Durandus
above, it has been thought that it was rung to drive away the evil spirits,
supposed to stand at the foot of the bed ready to seize the soul, that it
might "gain start." Wynkyn de Worde, in his _Golden Legend_, speaks of the
dislike of spirits to bells. In alluding to this subject, Wheatly, in his
work on the Book of Common Prayer, chap. xi. sec. viii. 3., says:
"Our Church, in imitation of the Saints of former ages, calls in the
minister, and others who are at hand, to assist their brother in his
last extremity."
The 67th canon enjoins that, "when any one is passing out of this life, a
bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty.
And after the party's death, if it so fall out, there shall be rung _no
more than one short peal_."
Several other quotations might be adduced (vid. Brand's _Antiq._, vol. ii.
pp. 203, 204. from which much of the above has been derived) to show that
"one short peal" was ordered only to be rung after the Reformation: the
custom of signifying the sex of the deceased by a certain number of knells
must be a relic, therefore, of very ancient usage, and unauthorised by the
Church.