We meet with what is said to be "a true account of Sadler's Well," in a pamphlet published by a physician at the close of the seventeenth century. [874] "The water," says he, "of this well, before the Reformation, was very much famed for several extraordinary cures performed thereby, and was thereupon accounted sacred, and called Holy-well. The priests belonging to the priory of Clerkenwell using to attend there, made the people believe that the virtues of the water proceeded from the efficacy of their prayers; but at the Reformation the well was stopped, upon the supposition that the frequenting of it was altogether superstitious; and so by degrees it grew out of remembrance, and was wholly lost until then found out; when a gentleman named Sadler, who had lately built a new music-house there, and being surveyor of the highways, had employed men to dig gravel in his garden, in the midst whereof they found it stopped up and covered with an arch of stone." [875] After the decease of Sadler, one Francis Forcer, a musician and composer of songs, became occupier of the well and music-room; he was succeeded by his son, who first exhibited there the diversion of rope-dancing and tumbling, [876] which were then performed abroad in the garden. There is now a small theatre appropriated to this purpose, furnished with a stage, scenes, and other decorations proper for the representation of dramatic pieces and pantomimes. The diversions of this place are of various kinds, and form upon the whole a succession of performances very similar to those displayed in former ages by the gleemen, the minstrels, and the jugglers.
VII.—MARY-BONE GARDENS—ORATORIOS.
To the three preceding places of public entertainment, we may add a fourth, not now indeed in existence, but which about thirty years back [877] was held in some degree of estimation, and much frequented; I mean Marybone Gardens; where, in addition to the music and singing, there were burlettas and fireworks exhibited. The site of these gardens is now covered with buildings. There were also other places of smaller note where singing and music were introduced, but none of them of any long continuance; for being much frequented by idle and dissolute persons, they were put down by the magistrates.
The success of these musical assemblies, I presume, first suggested the idea of introducing operas upon the stage, which were contrived at once to please the eye and delight the ear; and this double gratification, generally speaking, was procured at the expense of reason and propriety. Hence, also, we may trace the establishment of oratorios in England. I need not say that this noble species of dramatic music was brought to great perfection by Handel: the oratorios produced by him display in a wonderful manner his powers as a composer of music; and they continue to be received with that enthusiasm of applause which they most justly deserve. Under this title, oratorios, are included several of his serenatas, as Acis and Galatea, Alexander's Feast, &c.; but generally speaking, the subjects of the oratorios are taken from the Scriptures, and therefore they are permitted to be performed on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent when plays are prohibited.
VIII.—BELL-RINGING.
It has been remarked by foreigners that the English are particularly fond of bell-ringing; [878] and indeed most of our churches have a ring of bells in the steeple, partly appropriated to that purpose. These bells are rung upon most occasions of joy and festivity, and sometimes at funerals, when they are muffled, and especially at the funerals of ringers, with a piece of woollen cloth bound about the clapper, and the sounds then emitted by them are exceedingly unmelodious, and well fitted to inspire the mind with melancholy. Ringing of rounds; that is, sounding every bell in succession, from the least to the greatest, and repeating the operation, produces no variety; on the contrary, the reiteration of the same cadences in a short time becomes tiresome: for which reason the ringing of changes has been introduced, wherein the succession of the bells is shifted continually, and by this means a varied combination of different sounds, exceedingly pleasant to the ear, is readily produced. This improvement in the art of ringing is thought to be peculiar to the people of this country. [879] Ringing the bells backwards is sometimes mentioned, and probably consisted in beginning with the largest bell and ending with the least; it appears to have been practised by the ringers as a mark of contempt or disgust.
IX.—ANTIQUITY OF BELL-RINGING.
When bell-ringing first arose in England cannot readily be ascertained. It is said that bells were invented by Paulinas, bishop of Nola, [880] at the commencement of the fifth century. In 680, according to Venerable Bede, they were used in Brittany, and thence perhaps brought into this country. Ingulphus speaks of them as well known in his time, and tells us, "that Turketullus, the first abbot of Croyland, gave six bells to that monastery; that is to say, two great ones, which he named Bartholomew and Betteline; two of a middling size, called Turketulum and Beterine; and two small ones, denominated Pega and Bega; he also caused the greatest bell to be made, called Gudhlac, which was tuned to the other bells, and produced an admirable harmony not to be equalled in England." [881] Turketullus died in 875.
According to the ritual of the Romish church, the bells were not only blessed and exorcised, but baptized as those above mentioned, and anointed with holy oil. [882] After these ceremonies had passed it was believed that the evil spirits lurking in the air might be driven away by their sound. The general use of bells is expressed in the two following Latin lines:
"Laudo Deum verum—plebem voco—congrego clerum—