Areskine's recommendation Bell was engaged in the service of the Russian emperor. He left St. Petersburg on 15 July 1715, and proceeded to Moscow, from thence to Cazan, and down the Wolga to Ostracan. The embassy
then sailed down the Caspian Sea to Derbent,
and journeyed by Mongan, Tauris, and Saba
to Ispahan, where they arrived on 14 March
1717. They left that city on 1 Sept., and returned to St. Petersburg on 30 Dec. 1718, after having travelled across the country from Saratoff. On his arrival in the capital Bell found that Dr. Areskine had died about six weeks before; but he had now secured the friendship of the ambassador, and upon hearing that an embassy to China was preparing
he easily obtained an appointment in it
resting part of his travels. His description of the manners, customs, and superstitions of
the inhabitants, and of the Delay-lama and the Chinese wall, deserve particularly to be
noticed. They arrived at Pekin, 'after a tedious journey of exactly sixteen months.'
Bell has left a very full account of occurrences during his residence in the capital of China. The embassy left that city on 2 March 1721, and arrived at Moscow on 6 Jan. 1722. Bell next accompanied an expedition into Persia as far as Derbent, returning thence in December 1722. Soon afterwards he revisited his native country, and returned to St. Petersburg in 1734. In 1737 he was sent to Constantinople by the Russian chancellor, and Mr. Rondean, the British minister at the Russian court. It was his last effort in Russian diplomacy. He afterwards abandoned the public service, and seems to have settled at Constantinople as a merchant. About 1746 he married Mary Peters, a Russian lady, and returned to Scotland, where he spent the latter part of his life on his estate, enjoying the society of his friends. After a long life spent in active beneficence and philanthropic exertions he died at Antermony on 1 July 1780, at the advanced age of eighty-nine.
His only work is 'Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia to various parts of Asia' 1763, in two vols, quarto, printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis of Glasgow, whose beautiful fount of type enhances the value of the book. The 'Quarterly Review' (1817, pp. 464-5) says that Bell wished to obtain literary help in writing his book, and applied to Robertson, who could not help him, but advised him to take 'Gulliver's Travels' for his model. The advice was accepted with the best results.
Besides the Glasgow edition of 1703 the 'Travels ' were published in Dublin 1704, in Edinburgh 1788 and 1806, and they are reprinted in the seventh volume of Pinkerton's 'Collection of Voyages and Travels.' The 'Gentlemans Magazine' of 1763 (p. 392) contains a long extract from the 'Travels,' describing in a graphic manner the reception of the Russian embassy by the Shah of Persia. A French translation of the whole work appeared in Paris, 1766, 8 vols. 12mo.
[Bell's Travels; Quarterly Review; Chamber's Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen.]
BELL, JOHN (1747–1798), artillerist,
was the eldest son of a hatter at Carlisle,
where he was born on 1 March 1747. His father ruined himself in attempts to discover
the longitude. In 1765 Bell joined the artillery. He served at Gilbraltar and afterwards
in England. He was at Southsea in 1782, and was an eye-witness of the foundering of the Royal George. He invented a
plan for destroying the wreck, which was the
same as one carried out by Colonel Pasley
in 1839. He also invented the 'sunproof' for testing the soundness of guns, long in use in the royal arsenal; a 'gyn,' called by his name, and a petard, of which there is a model in the Woolwich laboratory; a crane for descending mines; and a harpoon for taking whales (for the last two of which he received premiums from the Society of Arts); and an apparatus for rescuing shipwrecked mariners, said to be identical with that afterwards devised by Captain Manby. For this he received a premium from the Society of Arts of fifty guineas, and in 1815 the House of
Commons voted 500l. to his daughter (Mrs.
Whitfield) in recognition of the same invention. In 1793 the Duke of Richmond gave him a commission as second-lieutenant in the artillery, and in 1794 he was promoted to a first-lieutenancy. He was employed in a secret
expedition for the destruction of the Dutch
fleet in the Texel, which was abandoned.
He died of apoplexy at Queensborough on 1 June 1798, whilst engaged in fitting out fire-ships.
[United Services Journal, April 1849; Society of Arts' Transactions (1897), vol. xxv., where there is an engraving of his apparatus for wrecks.]
BELL, JOHN (1763–1820), surgeon, was
born in Edinburgh 12 May 1763, being the
second son of the Rev. William Bell, and elder
brother of Sir Charles Bell. He was educated
at the High School of Edinburgh, and early
showed a liking for medical studies. He
became a pupil of Mr. Alexander Wood, an
eminent surgeon in Edinburgh, and, after
attending the lectures and practice of Black,
Cullen, and the second Monro, became a fellow
