B A S 





BAT 



Bastinado, was taken by the mob of Paris, and afterwards level- 

 v " ' led with the ground. There were only seven prison- 

 ers found in it ; these were Tavernier, (deranged), 

 Pujade, La Roche, Cnurege, Bechade, (imprison ra 

 on account of a forgery in which they were engaged), 

 Le Comte de Solagcs, (arrested at the request of his 

 father) and White an Englishman, (deranged.) Re- 

 flecting on the memorable atchievement, Mr Cowper 

 breaks out into the following apostrophe, with which 

 ire shall conclude the article : 



Ye horrid towers, the Bbode of broken hearts, 

 Ye dungeons and ye cages of despair. 

 That monarch* have supplied from age to age 

 With music, BOCh as suits their sovereign ears- 

 The sighs and groans of miserable man : 

 There's not an English heart that would not leap 

 To hear that yc are "fallen at hist .' 



Sec Histoire de I'Ancien Gouvcrnemcnt par M. 

 T^e Comte de Boulainvilliers, torn. iii. Memoires 

 de la Porte. La Bustile Devoilec, passim. The 

 History of the Bastile. Essais Historiques, par M. 

 de St Foix ; and Memoires sur la Bastile, par M. 

 Linguet. (h) 



BASTINADO, Bastonado, or Bastonade, a 

 kind of punishment inflicted with a rod, or staff. This 

 mode of punishment was common among most of the 

 ancient countries, and is still practised in many of the 

 eastern nations. In all the provinces of the Ottoman 

 empire, the bastinado is the common punishment for 

 theft, and other delinquencies of a more trivial na- 

 ture. The criminal is stretched on his back upon a 

 board, with his hands tied, and his ankles confined by 

 a wooden machine. The legs are then raised, while 

 two men, one placed on each side, alternately beat the 

 bare soles of the feet, with a rod about the size of a 

 small walking stick. The bastinado is sometimes a 

 very slight punishment, but is inflicted at other times 

 with barbarous cruelty. The number of strokes is 

 specified in the sentence, amounting sometimes to 

 400 or .500 ; but it is usual for some person present 

 to intercede in favour of the offender, before he has 

 received the full number; for the punishment is in- 

 flicted, if not in the judge's presence, at least within 

 liis hearing. This punishment is accompanied like- 

 wise with a kind of fine ; for the person on whom 

 it is inflicted pays so much for every blow, both to 

 him who gives and to him who counts them. In 

 China, the bastinado, though sometimes very smart- 

 ly applied, is the slightest kind of punishment, used 

 only in case of very trivial crimes. It is often in- 

 flicted, by the emperor's direction, on his courtiers, 

 who receive it as a particular mark of his gracious 

 and paternal care, and are afterwards received into 

 authority, and treated with distinguished respect. 

 Every mandarin has the privilege of inflicting this 

 punishment at pleasure, either when he administers 

 public justice, or when any person neglects to greet 

 him with the accustomed salutation. When he sits 

 in judgment, or gives a public audience, a bag, filled 

 with small sticks, lies on a table before him, and he 

 is surrounded by a number of petty officers, provided 

 with the baton, or pan-tsee, employed in bastinading. 

 Taking from his bag one of the little sticks which it 

 contains, he throws it down on the hall, towards the 



culprit whom he wishes to be chastised. His of- 

 ficers seize the criminal, and stretch him at full 

 length, with his belly towards the ground ; he is 

 stripped bare to the heels, and receives fire smart 

 blows from the most athletic of the attendants ; an- 

 other succeeds, and bestows an equal number, if the 

 mandarin pulls forth another small stick from the 

 bg, which is the signal when he wishes the punish- 

 ment to be continued. The person thus chastised 

 then throws himself upon his knees before the judge, 

 inclines his body three times towards the ground, 

 and thanks him for the fatherly charge which he 

 takes of his education. See Guer's Mceurs el Usages 

 des Turcs, vol. ii. p. 162. Russel's Aleppo, vol. i. 

 p. 334. Grosier's China, vol. ii. p. 52. Chantreaux'f 

 Travels in Ilussia, voL i. p. 117. (ft) 



BAT, an animal of the mammalia tribe, an ac- 

 count of which will be found in the article Mamma- 

 lia. The bats in Senegal are eaten by the negroes, 

 and are generally as large as pigeons. Their wings 

 are very long, and they are furnished with five or six 

 pointed hooks, by which they fix themselves toge- 

 ther, and hang like large bundles from the branches 

 of trees. Mr Bolingbroke, in his voyage to Dema- 

 rara, mentions a very singular anecdote of the bats 

 of that country. When the inhabitants are asleep 

 in their hammocks, and their feet accidentally unco- 

 vered, the bats often open the veins of their feet with- 

 out disturbing them, and suck till they are satisfied. 

 When the victim of their attack awakes, he finds him- 

 self faint, and his feet bathed in blood. These ani- 

 mals, make similar attacks upon cattle. See Du- 

 rand's Voyage to Senegal, chap. v. ; and Boling- 

 broke's Voyage to Demerara, chap. xii. See also 

 FapertiHo, mammalia Index, (a-) 



BASTION. See Foutificatiox. 



BATALHA, a small village in Portugal, about 

 60 miles north of Lisbon, where a famous monastery, 

 the place of sepulture of the royal family, is situated. 

 Don John, the first of the name, and tenth king of 

 Portugal, on being attacked by the king of Castile 

 with a powerful and greatly superior army, invoked 

 the protection of the Virgin, vowing to consecrate 

 a magnificent monastery to her honour hould he 

 prove victorious. Having defeated his adversary, 

 and reduced the whole kingdom to tranquillity, la- 

 founded the monastery of Batalha in 1385, which he 

 designed should be the most splendid in all Christen- 

 dom. It was at first endowed for 30 monks, but 

 there are now 44. The architect under whom the 

 monastery was built is said to have been an Irishman, 

 named Hacket ; and, at this day, it is one of the 

 most elegant Gothic edifices in Europe. It is adorn- 

 ed with a profusion of ornaments in the richest taste, 

 some of which are hieroglyphical, or mystical, and 

 inexplicable by the learned. These are particularly 

 conspicuous on the mausoleum of the founder. On 

 the tombs of several illustrious branches of the royal 

 family, interred here during the 15th century, besides 

 figures merely ornamental, is seen the order of the 

 garter, which they had obtained from the sovereigns 

 of England. This monastery was amply endowed, 

 both by foreign princes and those of Portugal. 

 When the emperor of Constantinople, Emanuel Pa. 

 leologus, was at Paris, in 1401, soliciting the assist - 



Bat 

 Batalha. 



