The Curfew.
I hear the far-off curfew sound,
Over some wide-water’d shore,
Swinging slow with sullen roar.
Milton.
That the curfew-bell came in with William the Conqueror is a common, but erroneous, supposition. It is true, that by one of his laws he ordered the people to put out their fires and lights, and go to bed, at the eight-o’clock curfew-bell; but Henry says, in his “History of Great Britain,” that there is sufficient evidence of the curfew having prevailed in different parts of Europe at that period, as a precaution against fires, which were frequent and fatal, when so many houses were built of wood. It is related too, in Peshall’s “History of Oxford,” that Alfred the Great ordered the inhabitants of that city to cover their fires on the ringing of the bell at Carfax every night at eight o’clock; “which custom is observed to this day, and the bell as constantly rings at eight as Great Tom tolls at nine.” Wherever the curfew is now rung in England, it is usually at four in the morning, and eight in the evening, as at Hoddesdon on Shrove Tuesday.
Concerning the curfew, or the instrument used to cover the fire, there is a communication from the late Mr. Francis Grose, the well remembered antiquary, in the “Antiquarian Repertory” (vol. i.) published by Mr. Ed. Jeffery. Mr. Grose enclosed a letter from the Rev. F. Gostling, author of the “Walk through Canterbury,” with a drawing of the utensil, from which an engraving is made in that work, and which is given [here] on account of its singularity. No other representation of the curfew exists.
“This utensil,” says the Antiquarian Repertory, “is called a curfew, or couvre-feu, from its use, which is that of suddenly putting out a fire: the method of applying it was thus;—the wood and embers were raked as close as possible to the back of the hearth, and then the curfew was put over them, the open part placed close to the back of the chimney; by this contrivance, the air being almost totally excluded, the fire was of course extinguished. This curfew is of copper, rivetted together, as solder would have been liable to melt with the heat. It is 10 inches high, 16 inches wide, and 9 inches deep. The Rev. Mr. Gostling, to whom it belongs, says it has been in his family for time immemorial, and was always called the curfew. Some others of this kind are still remaining in Kent and Sussex.” It is proper to add to this account, that T. Row, in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” because no mention is made “of any particular implement for extinguishing the fire in any writer,” is inclined to think “there never was any such.” Mr. Fosbroke in the “Encyclopædia of Antiquities” says, “an instrument of copper presumed to have been made for covering the ashes, but of uncertain use, is engraved.” It is in one of Mr. F.’s plates.
On T. Row’s remark, who is also facetious on the subject, it may be observed, that his inclination to think there never was any such implement, is so far from being warrantable, if the fact be even correct, that it has not been mentioned by any ancient writer, that the fair inference is the converse of T. Row’s inclination. Had he consulted “Johnson’s Dictionary,” he would have found the curfew itself explained as “a cover for a fire; a fire-plate.—Bacon.” So that if Johnson is credible, and his citation of authorities is unquestionable, Bacon, no very modern writer, is authority for the fact that there was such an implement as the curfew.