B^EC 



BAG 



the town, and attended upon the Royal 

 Academy, where he received his first in- 

 structions, having never before seen the 

 art of modelling or sculpture regularly 

 performed. In the following year the 

 gold medal for sculpture, the first ever 

 given by the society, was voted to Mr. 

 Bacon. He became an associate of that 

 body in the year 1770, and from this time 

 his reputation was firmly established, and 

 he obtained patronage of the highest 

 rank. It would be needless to attempt 

 an enumeration of the various works by 

 which he attained to the first eminence in 

 a very difficult profession. The efforts of 

 his genius are widely spread, and his 

 name will long live, the pride of the coun- 

 try which gave him birth, andfrom which 

 he had never occasion to travel for the 

 improvement of his talents, or the culti- 

 vation of a fine taste. 



This distinguished artist was suddenly 

 attacked with an inflammation in his bow- 

 els on the 4th of August, 1799, which ter- 

 minated his life in little more than two 

 days. He died August 7th, in the 59th 

 year of his age, leaving behind him a 

 character as great for integrity and virtue 

 as he had obtained in his profession as a 

 sculptor. He had been twice married, 

 and left ten children and a widow, to 

 mourn the loss of a tender father and af- 

 fectionate husband. Cecil's Memoirs of 

 Bacon. 



BACOPA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order Succulents : portulacex, 

 Jussieu. Essential character: corolla with 

 a short tube spreading at top ; stem in- 

 serted into the tube of the corolla ; stig- 

 ma headed; capsule one-celled. There 

 is but one species: viz. the B. aquatica, 

 which is a native of Cayenne, on the bor- 

 ders of rivulets, flowering and bearing 

 fruit in December. The French call it 

 herbe-aux-brulures, on account of its effi- 

 cacy in curing burns. 



BACTRLS, in botany, a genus of plants 

 of the Monoecia Hexandria class and or- 

 der. Natural order of palms. Essential 

 character : male, calyx three-parted ; co- 

 rolla one petalled, three-cleft ; stamina 

 six. Female, calyx one-leaved, three- 

 toothed ; corolla one-petalled, three- 

 toothed ; stigma obscurely three-cleft ; 

 drupe coriaceous. There are two spe- 

 cies, the minor and major, natives of Car- 

 thagena in South America. 



BADGE, in naval architecture, an orna- 

 ment placed on the outside of small ships, 

 very near the stern, containing either a 

 window, or the representation of one. 



BJECKIA, in botany, so named in hon- 



our of Abraham Baeck, the intimate 

 friend of Linnzeus, who received this plant 

 from him ; of the Octandria Monogynia 

 class and order. Natural order Calycan- 

 themje : Onagrae, Jussieu. Essential cha- 

 racter ; calyx funnel-form, five-toothed; 

 corolla five-petalled ; capsule globular, 

 four-celled, crowned. There is one spe- 

 cies, viz. B. frutesceng, a shvub which 

 has the habit of southernwood, with 

 wand-like branches, and opposite short 

 simple twigs. It is a native of China, and 

 called there tiongina. 



B^OBOTRYS, in botany, of the Pen- 

 tandria Monogynia class and order. Es- 

 sential character : corolla tabular, with a 

 five-cleft border : calyx double ; outer 

 two-leaved ; inner one-leafed, bell-shap- 

 ed ; berry globose, one-celled, growing 

 to the calyx ; many seeded. A single 

 species, viz. the B memoralis, native of 

 the Isle of Tanna in the South Seas. 



BAGGAGE, in military affairs, denotes 

 the clothes, tents, utensils of divers sorts, 

 provisions, and other necessaries belong- 

 ing to an army. 



Before a march, the waggons with the 

 baggage are marshalled according to the 

 rank which the several regiments bear in 

 the army ; being sometimes ordered to 

 follow the respective columns of the ar- 

 my, sometimes to follow the artillery, and 

 sometimes to form a column by them- 

 selves. The general's baggage marches 

 first ; and each waggon has a flag shewing 

 the regiment to which it belongs. 



BAGPIPE, a musical instrument of the 

 wind kind, chiefly used in country places, 

 especially in the north : it consists of two 

 principal parts; the first a leathern bag, 

 which blows'up like a foot-ball by means 

 of a port-vent, or little tube fitted to it, 

 and stopped by a vulve.; the other part 

 consists of three pipes or flutes, the first 

 called the great pipe or drone, and the 

 second the little one, which pass the wind 

 out only at the bottom ; the third has a 

 reed, and is played on by compressing the 

 bag under the arm, when full, and open- 

 ing or stopping the holes, which are 

 eight, with the fingers. The little pipe 

 is ordinarily a foot long ; that played on 

 thirteen inches ; and the port-vent six. 



This instrument has been so long a fa- 

 vourite with the natives of Scotland, that 

 it may be considered as a national instru- 

 ment. It is not known when it was in- 

 troduced there, but it has been conjec- 

 tured that the Danes or Norwegians car- 

 ried it into the Hebrides, where it has 

 been known from times immemorial. 



BAGS, sand, in military affairs, filled 

 with earth or sand, to repair breaches, 



