There can be no doubt that the ancients were acquainted with large bells, hand-bells, and strung-bells (_grelots_). But we must ascribe to the requirements of Christian worship the first introduction of the bell, properly so called, formed of cast-metal (_campana_ or _nola_, the first having been made, it is said, at Nola), which was employed from the first in summoning the faithful to the public services. In the first instance the bell was merely held in the hand and shaken by some monk or ecclesiastic who stood in front of the church-door, or mounted a raised platform for the purpose. This _tintinnabulum_ (Fig. 173), or portable bell, subsequently passed into the hands of the public criers, the societies of ringers, and those who rang knells for the dead, at a time when most of the churches were provided with _campaniles_ or bell-towers, wherein were hung the parish bells, which daily assumed dimensions of increasing importance. These great bells, of which the _Saufang_ of Cologne (sixth century) is an example (Fig. 174), were at first made of wrought-iron plates laid one over the other, and riveted together. But in the eighth century they began to cast bells of copper and even of silver. One of the most ancient still existing is that in the tower of Bisdomini at Siena (Fig. 175). It bears the date of 1159, and is formed in the shape of a cask, being rather more than a yard high: the sound it produces is very sharp. The combination of several bells of various sizes naturally produced the peal or chime; this at first consisted of an arch of wood or iron whereon were suspended the bells, which the player struck with a small hammer (Fig. 176). The number and classification of the bells becoming subsequently rather more complicated, the hand of the chimer was superseded by a mechanical arrangement. This was the origin of those peals of bells for which there was such a demand in the Middle Ages, and of which certain towns are still so proud. The designations of _cymbalum_ and _flagellum_ were, in the first instance, applied to small hand-chimes; but there were also regular cymbals (_cymbala_ or _acetabula_), spherical or hollowed plates of silver, brass, or copper. Some of these were shaken at the ends of the fingers, or fastened to the knees or feet, so as to be put in motion by the movement of the body. These small cymbals, or _crotales_, were a kind of rattle (_grelots_), causing the dancers to make a noise in their performance, as do the Spanish castanets, which in the sixteenth century were called in France _maronnettes_, and were the same as the _cliquettes_, or snappers, used by lepers in former days. Small strung-bells became so much the fashion at a certain epoch that not only was the harness of horses adorned with them, but they were suspended to the clothes both of men and women, who at the slightest movement made a ringing, tinkling noise, sounding like so many perambulating chimes.