"The same antiquity, and also the inveteracy of old customs to persist, is strikingly shown by the fact that in some parts of the canton of Tessino, where the common language of the people is Italian, the night watch-call is still in old German."
The apparent universality of the Bellman throughout Europe gives rise to questions that would, I apprehend, extend beyond the object of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" such as, Is pure religion benefited by the engrafting of it upon stocks so familiar as the bellman or watchman? What are the causes that the old ecclesiastic bellman is no longer heard in some countries, whilst in others he continues with little or no variation? Has religion lost or gained by the change?
Dr. Forbes's notice of the Tessino watchman calls up the public crier in England, another class of bellmen, asking for a hearing, with his "O yes! O yes!" Little does he think that he is speaking French.
F. W. J.
Minor Queries.
151. Quotation from Bacon.
—In Lord Campbell's Life of Lord Bacon (Lives of the Lord Chancellors, vol. ii. p. 314.) he gives an extract from Lord Bacon's speech in the House of Commons, on his proposed bill for "Suppressing Abuses in Weights and Measures." In the following sentence there is a word which seems to require explanation:
"The fault of using false weights and measures is grown so intolerable and common, that if you would build churches you shall not need for battlements and halls, other than false weights of lead and brass."
The use of lead for the battlements of churches seems obvious enough: but what can halls mean, unless it be a misprint for bells, for which brass would be required?
PEREGRINUS.