LA CHANSON DE LA CLOCHE

Page 107. The Song of the Bell, by Schiller, has been called " The Lay of the Life of Man," as it traces man's life from the cradle to the grave. The poem had long been revolved in the author's mind. He made himself familiar with the mechanical process of the casting of a bell by fréquent visits to a bell foundry. The élégant versions of this work made by Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards Earl of EUesmere, and by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton bave long familiarized English readers with its beauties.

For the better compréhension of the poem a brief description of the process of casting a bell in Schiller's time is given.

The furnace of a bell foundry was of large size, as a bell of any dimension, great or small, must be cast ail at once. Close to the furnace, in which the liquid métal seethed, a pit was dug which exceeded in depth the intended height of the bell. In the center of this pit was placed the core, the exact shape and size of the inside of the bell. Upon the core was then fornied the model of the bell. Over the model a thick coating, called the shell, was applied, and between it and the model, as between the model and the core, tan-dust was scattered. When the parts were dry the shell was carefully raised from the model, and the latter removed from the core, thus leaving, when the shell was replaced, an interspace between shell and core, of the exact shape and size of the bell. The pit was then filled with earth, leaving three small orifices into the interspace between shell and core ; one of thèse was to admit the molten métal, the others were air vents. When the métal — a mixture of about four parts of copper to one of tin — had been duly fused in the furnace, it was emitted through an opening at the bottom, flowing in a molten stream through a channel prepared between furnace and pit, and entering the orifice mentioned, filled up the space between shell and core. When the casting was perfectly cool, the pit was cleared of earth, the shell was lifted off the bell, the bell raised from the core and the work was complète.

19. haute demeure: helfry. In some old European towns the man who has charge of the bells lives in the tower together with his family. It is his spécial duty to keep a watch for fires and to ring the alarm.

25. sel alcalin: potash; used in order to quicken the melting process.

Page 108. 10. ce rameau: this wand; i.e. a pièce of clay pipe which becomes vitrified if the meta! is sufficiently heated. This test is not practised at the présent day.

17. leurs cœurs se répondent: i.e. whether heart is in accord with heart.

18. L'illusion est de peu de durée, le repentir étemel: Illusion is hrief, but rcpentance is long.

34. armoires odorantes: fragrant chests. It was the custom to put into the chests and closets mignonette and sweet smelHng lavender sprigs.

Page 109. 9. champs ondoyants de moissons nouvelles: undu-

latin g fields of nezv grain.

" And waves of shadow went over the wheat."

— Tennyson, The Poet's Song.

14. la cassure est déjà dentelée: the fracture is already indentcd. The bell-founder is able to judge from the fracture of the sample, whether or not the proper proportions of tin and copper hâve been used.

Page iio. II. dans sa fuite puissante: in its irrésistible sweep.

" As if they would rend up the earth from its roots, Rush the fiâmes to the sky."

Page III. 2. ses accents solennels: i.e. funeral dirge.

TolHng the church-bells at deaths, or at funerals is still a custom in various parts of the Christian world.

II. Pendant que la cloche se refroidit: While the bell is cooling. For a bell of large size it would require several days for the casting to cool.

14. entend avec joie sonner l'heure du soir: hears with joy the evening bell.

" Those evening bells ! those evening bells ! How many a taie their music tells.