BELL (_Adam_), a wild, north-country outlaw, noted, like Robin Hood, for his skill in archery. His place of residence was Englewood Forest, near Carlisle; and his two comrades were Clym of the Clough [_Clement of the Cliff_] and William of Cloudesly (3 _syl_.). William was married, but the other two were not. When William was captured at Carlisle, and was led to execution, Adam and Clym rescued him, and all three went to London to crave pardon of the king, which, at the queen's intercession, was granted them. They then showed the king specimens of their skill in archery, and the king was so well pleased that he made William a "gentleman of fe," and the two others yeomen of the bedchamber.--Percy, _Reliques_ ("Adam Bell," etc.), I. ii. I. _Bell_. Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Bronté assumed the _noms de plume_ of Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell (first half of the nineteenth century). Currer Bell or Bronté married the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls. She was the author of _Jane Eyre_. It will be observed that the initial letter of both names is in every case preserved throughout--_Acton_ (Anne), _Currer_ (Charlotte), _Ellis_ (Emily), and _Bell_ (Bronté). _Bell_ (_Bessy_). Bessy Bell and Mary Gray were the daughters of two country gentlemen near Perth. When the plague broke out in 1666 they built for themselves a bower in a very romantic spot called Burn Braes, to which they retired, and were supplied with food, etc., by a young man who was in love with both of them. The young man caught the plague, communicated it to the two young ladies, and all three died.--Allan Eamsay, _Bessy Bell and Mary Gray_ (a ballad). _Bell (Peter)_, the subject of a "tale in verse" by Wordsworth. Shelley wrote a burlesque upon it, entitled _Peter Bell the Third._ _Bell (The Old Chapel_) J. G. Saxe's poem under this title is founded upon a legend of a boy, who, wandering in a churchyard, hears a musical articulate murmur from a disused bell hidden by matted grass. Its very name and date concealed Beneath a cankering crust. (1859.) BELL-THE-CAT, sobriquet of Archibald Douglas, great-earl of Angus, who died in 1514. The mice, being much annoyed by the persecutions of a cat, resolved that a bell should be hung about her neck to give notice of her approach. The measure was agreed to in full council, but one of the sager mice inquired, "Who would undertake to bell the cat?" When Lauder told this fable to a council of Scotch nobles, met to declaim against one Cochran, Archibald Douglas started up and exclaimed in thunder, "I will;" and hence the sobriquet referred to.--Sir W. Scott, _Tales of a Grandfather_, xxii. BELLA, sweet girl-cousin, the first love and life-long friend of the hero of _Dream-Life_, by Ik Marvel. Re-visiting his native place after years of foreign travel, he learns that Bella is dead, and goes to her grave, where dry leaves are entangled in the long grass, "giving it a ragged, terrible look" (1851).