BAS 



BAS 



springes, being purer, whiter, and com- 

 posed of finer grains than the common 

 brine salt. 



BASS, in music, that part of a concert 

 which is most heard, which consists of the 

 gravest and deepest sounds, and which is 

 played on the largest pipes or strings of 

 A common instrument, as of an organ, 

 lute, &c. or an instrument larger than or- 

 dinary, for that purpose, as bass-viols, 

 bassoons, bass-hautboys, &c. The bass 

 is the principal part of a musical compo- 

 sition, and the foundation of harmony ; 

 for which reason it is a maxim among mu- 

 sicians, that when the bass is good, the 

 harmony is seldom bad. 



BASS, counter, is a second or double 

 bass, where there are several in the same 

 concert. 



BASS, figured, is that which, while a 

 certain chord or harmony is continued 

 by the parts above, moves in notes of the 

 same harmony. Thus, if the upper parts 

 consist of C, E, G, (the harmony of C,) 

 and while they are continued, the bass 

 moves from C, the fundamental note of 

 that harmony, to E, another note of the 

 same harmony ; that bass is called a figur- 

 ed harmony. 



BASS, fundamental, is that which forms 

 the tone or natural foundation of the in- 

 cumbent harmony ; and from which, as a 

 lawful source, that harmony is derived : 

 that is, if the harmony consist of the com- 

 mon chord of C, C will be its fundamen- 

 tal bass, because from that note the har- 

 mony is deduced ; and if, while that har- 

 mony is continued, the bass be changed 

 to any other note, it ceases to be funda- 

 mental, because it is no longer the note 

 from which that harmony results and is 

 calculated. 



BASS ground, is that which starts with 

 some subject of its own, and continues 

 to be repeated throughout the movement, 

 while the upper part or parts pursue a 

 separate air, and supply the harmony. 

 This kind of bass is productive of a mono- 

 tonous melody, and has long since been 

 rejected as a restraint upon the imagina- 

 tion. 



BASS thorough, is the art by which har- 

 mony is superaddecl to any proposed bass, 

 and includes the fundamental rules of 

 composition. It is theoretical and prac- 

 tical : the former comprehends the know- 

 ledge of the connection and disposition 

 of the several chords, the latter is conver- 

 sant with the manner of taking the seve- 

 ral chords on an instrument. 



BASSANTIN (JAMES,) a Scotch astro- 

 nomer, of the 16th century, born in the 



reign of James IV. of Scotland. He was 

 a son of the laird of Bassantin, in the 

 Merse. After finishing his education at 

 the University of Glasgow, he travelled 

 through Germany and Italy, and then set- 

 tled in the University of Paris, where he 

 taught mathematics with great applause. 

 Having acquired some property in this 

 employment, he returned to Scotland in 

 1562, where he died six years after. 



From his writings it appears he was no 

 inconsiderable astronomer, for the age 

 he lived in ; but, according to the fashion 

 of the times, he was not a little addicted 

 to judicial astrology. It was doubtless to 

 our author that Sir James Melvil alludes 

 in his memoirs, when he says, that his 

 brother Sir Robert, when he was using 

 his endeavours to reconcile the two 

 queens, Elizabeth and Mary, met with 

 one Bassantin, a man learned in the high 

 sciences, who told hina, "that all his 

 travail would be in vain, for," said he, 

 "they will never meet together; and 

 next, there will never be any thing but 

 dissembling and secret hatred for a while, 

 and at length captivity and utter wreck 

 to our queen from England." He added, 

 that " the kingdom of England at length 

 shall fall, of right, to the crown of Scot- 

 land : but it shal) cost many bloody bat- 

 tles; and the Spaniards shall be helpers, 

 and take a part to themselves for their 

 labour." A prediction in which Bassan- 

 tin partly guessed right, which it is like- 

 ly he was enabled to do, from a judicious 

 consideration of probable circumstances 

 and appearances. 



Bassantin's works are on astronomy, 

 music, and various parts of the mathe- 

 matics. 



BASSET, a game at cards, said to have 

 been invented by a noble Venetian, for 

 which he was banished. The persons 

 concerned in it are, a dealer, or banker, 

 his assistant, who supervises the losing 

 cards, and the punter, or any one who 

 plays against the banker. 



BAS SI A, in botany, so called in honour 

 of Ferdinando Bassi ; a genus of the Do- 

 decandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Dumosae; Sapotas, Jus- 

 sieu. Essential character: calyx four- 

 leaved; corolla eight-cleft; tube inflat- 

 ed ; stamina sixteen ; drupe five-seeded. 

 There are three species, of which B. lon- 

 gi folia is a lofty tree, with the outmost 

 branches recurved, thickish, and cover- 

 ed with a grey down; berry fleshy, 

 milky, with five seeds, one in each cell ; 

 they are oblong, slightly compressed, 

 sometimes acuminate at each end, some- 

 times "only at the base, very smooth, 



