subs. (vagrants’).—A song: ‘a diminutive of BELLOW.’—(HOTTEN).
PHRASES.—TO BEAR THE BELL = to take first place (or foremost rank), to be of the best; TO BEAR (or CARRY AWAY) THE BELL = to win the prize: at races a silver or golden bell was sometimes the object of contention: hence TO DESERVE (or LOSE) THE BELL; BY BELL AND BOOK (or BOOK AND BELL) = an emphatic asseveration: in the Middle Ages (in reference to the service of the Mass); TO CURSE BY BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE = a reference to a form of excommunication which ended, ‘Doe to the book, quench the candle, ring the bell’; to hang (or tie) a bell about a cat’s neck = to ensure warning of approach; TO BELL THE CAT = to undertake a perilous task, to act as ringleader: in both these phrases there is allusion to the fable of the mice and the cats, but see quot. 1888); TO RING ONE’S OWN BELL = to sound one’s own praises, to blow one’s own trumpet; TO BELL A MARBLE = to run away with it, but the action scarcely amounts to actual theft.
c. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 17110.
| Curced in kire þan sal þai be, | |
| wid CANDIL, BOKE, AND BELL. |
c. 1374. CHAUCER, Troylus, iii. 149.
| And, lat see which of yow shal bere the belle | |
| To speke of love aright! |
1377. LANGLAND, Piers Plowman, B. Prol. 168.
| Bugge a BELLE of brasse … | |
| And hangen it vpon ÞE CATTES HALS · þanne here we mowen | |
| where he ritt or rest. |
c. 1400. Ywaine and Gawin, 3023. So bus the do, BY BEL AND BOKE.
c. 1420. The Awntyrs off Arthure, iii. That borne was in Burgoyne, BY BUKE AND BY BELLE.
c. 1460. Towneley Mysteries, 88.
| Of alle the foles I can telle, | |
| From heven unto helle, | |
| Ye thre BERE THE BELLE. |
1470. HARDYNG, Chronicle, lxxxi, xi.
| At the last the Brytons BARE THE BELL, | |
| And had the felde and all the victorye. |
d. 1529. SKELTON, Colin Cloute, 164. Loth to HANG THE BELL ABOUTE THE CATTES NECKE.
1594. BARNFIELD, Aff. Shep., II, xxxix. For pure white the Lilly BEARES THE BELL.
1594. CAREW, Huarte’s Examination of Men’s Wits, xiii. (1596), 215. Iulius Cæsar … BARE AWAY THE BELL … from all other captaines.
1595. SHAKESPEARE, King John, iii. 3. 12. BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE shall not drive me back.
1600. E. FAIRFAX, trans. Jerusalem Delivered, XVII, lxix. When in single fight he LOST THE BELL.
1611. L. BARRY, Ram Alley [DODSLEY].
| I have a Priest will mumble up a marriage, | |
| Without BELL, BOOK, or CANDLE. |
1617–8. ASSHETON, Diary. Said drinking some wyne: soe to a summer game: Sherburne’s mare run, and LOST THE BELL: made merrie.
c. 1619. FOTHERBY, Atheom., I, iv. 4. The follie of the Romanes doth well DESERVE THE BELL.
c. 1604. CAMDEN, Remaines, 348, ‘Epitaphes.’
| Here lyes the man whose horse did GAINE | |
| THE BELL in Race on Salisbury plaine. |
1616. SALTONSHALL, Char., 23. Among the Romans it [a horse race] was an Olympic exercise, and the prize was a garland, but now they BEARE THE BELL AWAY.
1621. BURTON, The Anatomy of Melancholy To Rdr. 49. True merchants, they CARRY AWAY THE BELL from all other nations.
1627. E. F., Hist. Ed. II (1680), 14. Wishing some one would shew undaunted valour to TYE THE BELL ABOUT THE CAT’S NECK.
1680. Sp. Pop., 45. The Fuld-Preachers damned this Bond WITH BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE.
1686. AGLIONBY, Painting Illustrated in Three Dialogues, ‘The Life of Michael Angelo,’ 278. Which GAVE HIM THE BELL above all modern Artists of Rome and elsewhere.
1713. The London and Country Brewer, IV. (1743), 295. A very heady Malt Liquor, which … CARRIES THE BELL, by having the Name of the best Drink for and near.
1762. J. MAN, Buchanan, History of Scotland, XII. 41. 39. Note. Earl Archibald hearing the parable answered sadly, ‘I shall BELL THE CAT, meaning Cochrane, the great and terrible minion.’
1773. T. PENNANT, A Tour in Wales, MDCCLXXIII. A little golden bell was the reward of victory in 1607, at the races near York; whence came the proverb for success of any kind, TO BEAR THE BELL.
1791. DISRAELI, Curiosities of Literature, 169. 2. He would be glad to see who would BELL THE CAT, alluding to the fable.
1817. BYRON, Beppo, x. Venice THE BELL from every city BORE.
1828. SCOTT, The Fair Maid of Perth, I, 155. Hold thy hand, on pain of BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE.
1840. ARNOLD, Life and Correspondence (1844), II, ix. 186. I was willing TO BELL THE CAT, hoping that some who were able might take up what I had begun.
1861. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown at Oxford, I, xii. 232. As nobody was afraid of him, there was no difficulty in finding the man TO BELL THE CAT.
1888. MURRAY, Oxford Dictionary, s.v. BELL THE CAT. In the latter use, there is immediate reference to the story or legend, related by Lindsay of Pitscottie, that when certain of the Scottish barons formed a secret conspiracy to put down the obnoxious favourites of James III. in 1482, a moment of grave suspense followed the inquiry, ‘Who would undertake to enter the royal presence and seize the victims?’ which was terminated by the exclamation of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, ‘I will BELL THE CAT,’ whence his historical appellation of ‘Archibald BELL-THE-CAT.’
