B A T 



43 



BAT 



usually executed at the most advanced points of a fortress, 

 for the purpose of allowing considerable variation in the di- 

 rection of the artillery towards the right or left ; by which 

 means the reconnoitring parties of the besiegers may be 

 annoyed while at a distance and in motion. 



In the formation of any of the field batteries above men- 

 tioned, while they are beyond the range of the enemy's 

 musketry, they may be executed without cover for the 

 working parties, like any simple breast- work, after the outline 

 has been traced on the ground by the engineers ; but, when 

 the men employed in the work would be much exposed 

 to annoyance from the enemy's fire, it becomes necessary 

 that they should be protected by a mask of gabions. [See 

 GABION.] These being planted on their ljases along the 

 exterior side of the intended trench in front of the battery, 

 form a cover, even while empty, which a musket-ball cannot 

 pierce. Within this line of gabions the excavation is com- 

 menced, and part of the earth obtained from the trench is 

 thrown into and beyond the gabions, till the covering mass 

 is thick enough, if necessary, to be proof against a cannon 

 ball : the men thus work in comparative security to raise 

 the epaulement with earth, which they do generally to the 

 height of about seven feet from the ground, and to the thick- 

 ness of eighteen or twenty feet, not including the breviths 

 of the slopes given to the exterior and interior sides. The 

 exterior slope is generally left with that inclination which 

 earth, when thrown up, naturally assumes, that is at about 

 4 j to the horizon ; but the interior slope being necessarily 

 more steep, in order to allow the guns to be brought close 

 up to it, is retained by a revctement or covering, either of 

 f'lxcinfs [see FASCINHS] or bags of earth. 



The embrasures, or openings in the epaulement, through 

 which the guns are to fire, are, at the neck or interior ex- 

 tremity, about two feet wide, and at the exterior about half 

 the thickness of the epaulement : each of their sides or 

 cheeks has a small declination from a vertical plane, so that 

 the breadth of the opening at top is rather greater than at 

 the bottom, or on what is called the sole of the embrazure, in 

 order that the flame from the muzzle of the gun may be 

 less liable to damage those sides : for the same reason the 

 latter are lined with fascines, or, which is preferred, with 

 gabions, at the neck of the embrazure. The interval be- 

 tween two embrazures is called a merlon ; and the part 

 between the sole and the ground within the battery is called 

 the gettouillere. 



The fiuns rest on platforms, generally of timber, either of 

 a rectangular or dovetailed figure, about fourteen feet long 

 and seven feet wide ; each of these is constructed by em- 

 bedding five steepen/ in the ground, in the direction of its 

 length, and covering them with planks, which are closely 

 fitted to each other, and fastened down by screws. 



Besides the epaulement in front of the battery, a wing is 

 constructed of the same materials on each side, in order to 

 protect the interior from any enfilading fire of the enemy. 

 A magazine is always formed either within or near the rear 

 of the battery, to contain the ammunition for its service ; 

 this is generally a rectangular pit sunk to about three feet 

 below, with sides and a roof of timber rising about as much 

 above, the natural ground : the roof is covered with earth 

 of a thickness which may be capable of resisting the momen- 

 tum of a shell, and the descent to the floor of the magazine 

 is by an inclined plane towards the rear. Traverses, or ele- 

 vations of earth, secured at the sides generally by gabions, 

 are formed at interval* in the interior of the battery, to 

 . ilVil protection for the men against such shot or shells of 

 the enemy as may fall there. 



Howitzer and mortar batteries ore executed nearly in the 

 siimo manner as the others, but the former of these hcM.nn, 

 and the latter never, have embrazures ; the level of their 

 interior is also generally sunk three feet below that of the 

 n itural ground, consequently no trench is required on their 

 exterior to furnish earth, which can be obtained in sufficient 

 quantity from within. 



BATTICALO'A, an island situated near the entrance 

 of an inlet of the sea, on the east coast of Ceylon, 7" 44' 

 :t., 8T 52' E. long. It contains a small fort and gar- 

 rison, and is the head station of the assistant government 

 agent of the district of Batticaloa. The island cannot be 

 approached by ships of any size, as the entrance to the inlet, 

 which extends north and south nearly thirty miles, is closed 

 by a bar, over which the depth of water is only six feet. 

 The country in the immediate neighbourhood of Battiualoa 

 is flat and fertile ; some scattered hills appear in the dis- 



tance, among which two called Friar's Hood and Funnel Hill, 

 serve as excellent landmarks to those who are sailing round 

 the island of Ceylon. It was here that the Dutch admiral 

 Spilbergen landed, in 1602, when a communication was 

 first opened between the King of Candy and Holland. At 

 that time this district was under the immediate rule of a 

 petty prince, who seems to have owed a divided allegiance 

 to the Portuguese and the Candian emperor. 



Batticaloa is also the name of a district of Ceylon, now 

 under the charge of an assistant government agent, com- 

 prising an area of 13,060 square miles, the population of 

 which, according to the census of 1832, amounted to 29,424. 



BATTICE, a commune and market-town in the province 

 of Liege, situated three leagues N.N.W. of Verviers, and 

 bounded on the north hy the communes of Mortier, St. 

 Andre', and Charneux ; on the east by that of Thimister ; 

 on the south by those of Dison, Petit Rechain, Grand Re- 

 chain, and Xhendelesse ; and on the west by Soumagne, 

 Melin, and Bolland. The town has a weekly grain- market 

 which is much frequented, and two fairs are held there on 

 the 15th May and 15th November every year. The coun- 

 try is well watered by numerous small streams. The soil is 

 generally a sandy clay, and in some parts is stony ; it pro- 

 duces rye, barley, spelt-wheat, oats, beans, and trefoil. A 

 considerable quantity of butter and cheese are made and 

 sent away, partly to other districts and partly to foreign 

 countries. Some coal-mines, which are opened in this dis- 

 trict, and cloth-weaving, furnish employment for a consider- 

 able part of the inhabitants. A description of sand is found 

 in one part of the commune, very useful in making cement 

 for plasterer's work. There are three very old castles, those 

 of Crevecoeur, Bosmel, and Xhenemnont ; the two latter 

 are now occupied as fiirm-houses : population 4280. (Meis- 

 ser's Dictionnaire Geo^rapMque de la Province de Liege.) 



BATTLE, or BATTEL, a parish and market-town in 

 the hundred of the same name in the rape of Hastings, 

 county of Sussex. It is fifty-two miles S.E. from London, 

 in a pleasant country, where the land rises in wooded swells 

 The name of the place was antiently Epiton, and acquired 

 the present denomination in consequence of the great 

 battle between the English and Normans, in which the 

 former were defeated, and their king (Harold) killed, on 

 the 14th October, 1066. The Conqueror commenced, in 

 the following year, an abbey upon the site where the battle 

 had raged most fiercely, the high altar of its church being 

 upon the precise spot where, according to some authorities, 

 Harold was killed, or where, as others say, his standard 

 was taken. But as the whole neighbourhood does not afford 

 any other spot equally eligible for such a structure, Mr. 

 Gilpin is of opinion that accident did not determine the pre- 

 cise spot, though it might the general situation of the erection. 

 When the abbey church was finished, the Conqueror made 

 an offering of his sword and coronation robe at the high 

 altar, in which was also deposited the famous roll or table 

 of all the Normans of consequence who attended William 

 to England. Copies of this catalogue have been preserved ; 

 but modern antiquarians in general concur in the opinion 

 of Dugdule, that the list was often falsified and altered by 

 the monks to gratify persons who wished to be considered 

 of Norman extraction. The abbey was dedicated by the 

 founder to St. Martin, and filled, in the first instance, with 

 Benedictine monks from that of Marmontier in Normandy. 

 All the land for a league around the house was given to it, 

 besides various churches and manors in different counties, 

 which were enlarged by royal and private donations in sub- 

 sequent reign*. Its prerogatives and immunities were 

 placed on the same footing with those of Christ Church, 

 Canterburj : the monks and their tenants were exempt from 

 episcopal and other ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; they had the 

 exclusive right of inquest in all murders committed within 

 their lands, the property of all treasure discovered on their 

 estates, the right of free warren, and the church was made 

 a sanctuary in cases of homicide, besides other privileges. 

 The abbot, who was mitred, and a peer in parliament, had 

 also the royal power of pardoning any condemned thief whom 

 he should pass or meet on going to execution. In the reign 

 of Edward III. the abbot obtained the king's leave to fortify 

 the abbey. The Conqueror's intention seems to have been 

 that the foundation should maintain 140 monks, but provision 

 does not appear to have been actually made for more than 

 sixty. At the dissolution of the monastery, in the 26th 

 of Henry VIII., it* income was valued at 880/. 14s. 7%d., 

 according to Dugdale, or 987J. Os. 10K, according to Speed. 



