Temple.
_Hand-bells at Funerals_ (Vol. ii., p. 478.; Vol. vii., p. 297.).--A few
years ago I happened to arrive at the small sea-port of Roscoff, near the
ancient cathedral town of St. Pol de Leon in Britanny, on the day appointed
for the funeral of one of the members of a family of very old standing in
that neighbourhood. My attention was attracted by a number of boys running
about the streets with small hand-bells, with which they kept up a
perpetual tinkling. On inquiring of a friend of mine, a native of the
place, what this meant, he informed me that it was an old custom in
Britanny--but one which in the present day had almost fallen into
disuse--to send boys round from door to door with bells to announce when a
death had occurred, and to give notice of the day and the hour at which the
funeral was to take place, begging at the same time the prayers of the
faithful for the soul of the deceased. The boys selected for this office
are taken from the most indigent classes, and, on the day of the funeral,
receive cloaks of coarse black cloth as an alms: thus attired, they attend
the funeral procession, tinkling their bells as they go along.