BA8ILIUS II. 



BASVAOK. 



AM*. merered the mater part of A< Minor, and in 872 eurix! the 

 ana* of UM empire beyoii' I the Euphrates, where they had not been 

 for a long time, Ho defeat*! ti.e Paulicians, a sect that bad 



established iUelf in Pontus and bad been for many years in a stte of 

 revolt afmiost UM empire. IfcwUiua entered into a treaty of fricu.Uhip 

 with UM Koaeiani of Kiew, aad sent tbeat an arohbUhop, wbo con- 

 voted many of that nation to Christianity, and from that time the 

 Kueuan* be^an to acknowledge the authority of the Greek Church. 

 la 880 the Orceki lo*t Syracuse, which wu taken by the Saraorni 

 after a long siege. Baailiaa died in 886, of wound* which be received 

 from a .Ug while hunting. He left a book of advice addressed to hi* 

 on Lao, which U divided into 60 abort chapter*, containing many 

 good maxima for hia conduct. It hai been publiahcd under the title 

 of 'lUailii Imperatori* KiUorUUonum Capita LXVI. ad Leonem 

 ilium eognooiaitto philoaophum,' Paris, 1584, 4to, by F. Morel ; and 

 aUo at GbUingra, ISmo, 1874, by Jutt Von Dranafeld. Another work 

 by Basiliua, also addressed to Leo, was published by A. Mai in vol. it 

 of his ' Vatican Collections.' 



BASILI'lTS II., emperor of the east, was the son of the Emporor 

 Romanut the younger, and was born in A.D. 958. Upon the death of 

 Romanus in 963, the crown was usurped by Phocas, who, six yean 

 after was put to death by John Zimisoes. Zimisces took the crown 

 for himself, but acknowledged, as his successors, Basilius, ami his 

 younger brother Constantine, who were then miuora. When Zimiscos 

 died in 975, the two brothers were proclaimed emperors. The whole 

 rein of Betilius was one continual warfare against the Saracen*, the 

 BuVnrians, the Slavonians, the Emperor Otho III , and the Ixmgo- 

 bard duke* of Benevrnto. The war against the Bulgarians was the 

 moat obstinate, but it was also the moat successful. It began in 981, 

 and lasted till 1014, when Basilius defeated Samuel, king of the 

 Bulgarian*, and ravaged the country round Philippopolis. Being 

 embarrassed in hU march by 15,000 prisoners whom he had made, 

 Basilius divided them into companies of 100 each, and then caused 

 their eyes to be pulled out, excepting only one man in each company, 

 who was to show bis companions the way. In this manner they 

 returned to King Samuel, wbo was so horrified at the eight that he 

 fell into a swoon and died two days after. In 1019 Basilius had 

 subdued the whole country of the Bulgarians as far as the Danube, 

 when it was made a Greek thema, under a ducal governorship. 

 Wlo<timir, grand-duke of the Russians, married Basilins's sister, after 

 having received baptism in 988, and abolished paganism throughout 

 his dominions. Basilius died in 1025, after a reign of fifty yean. 

 HU brother Constantine, who was nominally hia colleague, but had 

 no power during his brother's life, succeeded him as sole emperor 

 after his death. 



BASING, JOHN, or I >E BASINGSTOKE, who received his name 

 from the place of his nativity in Hampshire, was an extraordinary 

 person for his time. Though the date of his birth does not appear 

 to be Axed, we know that he was alive in the year 1230, and studied 

 not only at Oxford and Paris, after the custom of the age, but also at 

 Athene ; a fact remarked by Leland as uncommon in the history of 

 English scholars at that time, who seldom proceeded farther eastward 

 for the prosecution of their studies, and improvement in learning, 

 than Rome or Venice. Leland says that at his return he brought with 

 him into England various Greek manuscript*, which, together with his 

 proficiency in that tongue, caused Hugh Grossteto, bishop of Lincoln, 

 a peat restorer of that language, to promote him to the archdeaconry 

 of L 



It was upon Rasing's information, a* Matthew Paris tells 

 us, that Orosstete sent to Athens for a Greek manuscript entitled ' The 

 Testament* of the Twelve Patriarchs,' which, when obtained, he trans- 

 lated into Latin. The translation was printed among the ' Orthodoxo- 

 graph*,' foL, Basel, 15J5. Matthew Paris tells us that John de Baaing 

 introduced into England a knowledge of the Greek numeral letters : 

 " This Master John, moreover, brought the Greek numeral figure* 

 into England, together with their symbols, and the knowledge of their 

 import, and explained them to his particular friends. By which 

 figures also letters are represented ; and, what is most remarkable, 

 any number i* represented by a single figure, which is not the case 

 In the Roman numerals, or in ordinary arithmetic." (" De quibus 

 Dffuri* hoe maxim* admirandnm, quod unioa figura quilibet numerus 

 lyisMuUlur, ql non est in Latino vel in Algorumo.") Matt Par., 

 edit 1684, p. 781. The figure* however which are given in facsimile 

 ia the Variant*. Lectione*' (aignat I. on the verso of the leaf) hen 

 opted, ere neither like Greek letters nor the ordinary Arabic numeral*. 



"I -M H 



4 



n. HL ir. v. M. MI. MI L IXp 



r r r r r K LI, 



X. XX. XXX. XU L. LI. LXX. LXXX. XC. 



J iTntlon at Athens, but Matthew Pari* who 



** v lll Jt bout *~ uMUn > WM ** 1 imagining that the 

 Greeks need any such sy.Ua of notation. The onlj manuscript of 



Matthew Pant in whieh these numeral* are found, it the enlarged 

 work in Itone't College Library, Cambridge. Matthew Paris, ia the 

 Variant** Lectionei,' already referred to, observes that the unit*, or 

 ingle numbers, are all designated by lines bearing to the left, from 

 the chief upright lino. Those representing the numbers, from Uiu 

 upwards, have the adjunct-line* bearing to tbe right 



Matthew Paris records the death of John de Baaing under the year 

 1252. His works were 1. ' Doctarum Coneionum Liber Uuu*.' 

 2. ' ParticuUe Sontentiarum per Distinotione*.' 3. 'DonatusGnacorum,' 

 a translation, probably intended to serve for instruction in the Greek 

 tongue, as the Rudiments of Douatus did for the Latin. 4. ' Conoordia 

 Evangeliorum ; ' thi* ia probably the same work which Lelaud calls 

 'Tractatus de Ordine Evangeliorum per annum.' He is said to have 

 written other works, the titles of which ore unknown. 



BASKERVILLE, JOHN, a celebrated printer, was born at Wol- 

 verley, in Worcestershire, in the year 1706. He does not appear to 

 have been brought up to any particular business : in 1726 we find him 

 keeping a writing-school at Birmingham ; a little lator he, at least 

 occasionally, was employed in cutting inscriptions on tombitom-s; 

 and in 1745 he engaged in the japanning business at the same place, by 

 which he acquired considerable wealth. His taste for literature, and 

 the arts connected with it, led him to direct his attention toward* the 

 improvement and perfection of the art of printing. The most obvious 

 improvement to be effected was in the form of the letter*. Mr. Cation, 

 previous to Baakerville's attempts at letter-founding, had cut a variety 

 of matrices of more beautiful shapes than those of the Dutch types 

 which up to his time had been imported into England. Baskerville 

 carried the art to a higher degree of perfection, and even now bis 

 types would in many respects be considered models. By his unceasing 

 efforts the art of printing was raised to a degree of perfection previ- 

 ously unknown in this country ; and so ardently did he prosecute his 

 favourite object, that, according to a letter addressed to Horace Wai- 

 pole, dated November 2, 1762, he manufactured his own ink, promo*, 

 chases, moulds for casting, and all tbe apparatus for printing. 



Baskerville' s printing establishment does not appear to have been 

 profitable to him. It may however be remarked that his works now 

 possess a high value, aud particularly his editions of some of the 

 classics are highly esteemed by bibliographers, not only in this country, 

 but on the continent. From a passage in his letter to Walpole, it 

 would appear that in 1762 he was desirous of withdrawing from the 

 business : " This business of printing," he says, " which I am heartily 

 tired of, and repent I ever attempted." Aft r 1765 little or nothing 

 issued from his press. It is most likely that the typographical im- 

 provement which ho was the means of effecting was not sufficiently 

 appreciated at the time, and that his efforts were not very liberally 

 encouraged. The University of Cambridge, it is true, granted him 

 permission to print the Bible in folio, and two editions of the Book of 

 Common Prayer; but at the same time the University required to bo 

 made a sharer in his profits by a payment of 202. per thousand copies 

 of the Bible, aud 121. 10*. for each thousand of the Prayer Book : to 

 the Stationers' Company he had to pay 32i. for their pcrmi-sion to 

 print the Psalms, without which the Prayer Book would have been 

 incomplete. 



Mr. Kaskervillo was married to the widow of Mr. Eaves ; her maiden 

 name was Ruston. He died without issue, January 8, 1775. He was 

 a man fertile in invention, aud of an active mind. By the constant ' 

 endeavours which he made to attain excellence in each of the various 

 processes connected with the arts of japanning and printing, they were 

 both brought to a more perfect state a result which could scarcely 

 have been expected from the exertions of a single individual -Mr. 

 Baskerville was rather eccentric in his habits and opinions. He caused 

 each panel of his carriage to be painted so as to represent a picturo 

 of his trades ; and in his will he desired to be buried in his garden 

 under a conical building which bad formerly served a* the base of a 

 windmill, but which ho had caused to be converted into a tomb, having 

 an urn ou it* summit This tomb was destroyed during the Birming- 

 ham riot* in 1791. In 1820 some labourers, who were digging for 

 sand on its site, discovered the leaden coflSn which contained hia 

 remains; and in May 1821 it was opened for inspection. The body 

 did not present the u.iual appearance* of decomposition ; the singular 

 state of preservation in which it was found may probably be attributed 

 to the entire exclusion of external air. The shroud was perfect, and 

 a branch of laurel on tbe breast of the corpse was, though faded, entire. 

 The body was permitted to remain for some time uniuterrod, but waa 

 eventually placed in the vaults of Christ church, Birmingham, where 

 it now remains. Mr. Knott of Birmingham has a portrait of Basker- 

 ville in hia possession, from which an engraving has been made for 

 Hansard's Typographia ;' and a fine portrait of Baskerville by Gains- 

 borough is in the po**e**ion of Messrs. Longman, the publishers of 

 Paternoster row. 



(Hansard, Typography; Dibdin, Introduction to the Clauia ; Notei 

 and Qutriet, vol*. iv., v., and viii.) 



BASNAOE. Few families have produced so many individuals of 



literary distinction and moral worth a* the family of Baanage. Many 



I* member* were xcalous and able supporters of Protestantism in 



r . :t ; . > 



1. NICHOLAS BASNAOE, who lived in the middle and latter half of 

 n century, being compelled to leave France on account of hia 



