BAT 



BAT 



from side to side, as the bend or scarf 

 does, being in the form of a truncheon. 

 Its use is a note or mark of bastardy. 



BASTONADE, or BASTINADO, a kind 

 of punishment inflicted by beating the of- 

 fender with a stick. This sort of beat- 

 ing, among the ancient Greeks and Ro- 

 mans, was the punishment commonly in- 

 flicted on criminals that were freemen, as 

 that of whipping was on the slaves. We 

 find some instances of this sort of disci- 

 pline among the Hebrews ; and it is a 

 penalty used in the east at this day. 

 BAT. See VESPERTILIO. 

 BAT,*/OW/Z'-, a method of catching birds 

 in the night, by lighting some straw, or 

 torches, near the place where they are 

 at roost ; for upon beating them up, they 

 fly to the flame, where, being amazed, 

 they are easily caught in nets, or beat 

 down with bushes fixed to the end of 

 poles, &c. 



BATH, knights of the, a military order 

 in England, supposed to have been insti- 

 tuted' by Richard II. who limited the 

 number'of knights to four ; however, his 

 successor, Henry IV. increased them to 

 forty-six. Their motto is "Tria juncta 

 in un.>," signifying the three theological 

 Virtues. 



This order received its denomination 

 from a custom of bathing before the 

 knights received the golden spur. They 

 wear a red ribband beltwise, appendant 

 to which is the badge or symbol of the 

 order, which is a sceptre, rose, thistle, 

 and three imperial crowns, conjoined 

 within a circle, upon which circle is the 

 motto, and all of pure gold. Each knight 

 wears a silver star of eight points upon the 

 left breast of his upper garment. 



The order of the bath, after remaining 

 many years extinct, was revived under 

 George the First, by a solemn creation of 

 a great number of knights. 



BATH-CO/, the daughter of a voice. So 

 the Jews call one of their oracles, which 

 is frequently mentioned in their books, 

 especially the Talmud, being a fantastical 

 way of divination, invented by the Jews 

 themselves, not unlike the sortes virgili- 

 anie of the heathens. However, the Jew- 

 ish writers call this a revelation from 

 God's will, which he made to his chosen 

 people, after all verbal prophecies had 

 ceased in Israel. 



BATIS, in botany, a genus of the Dio- 

 ecia Tetrandria class and order. Essential 

 character : male ament four-fold, imbri- 

 cate ; calyx and corolla none. Female 

 ament ovate ; involucre two-leaved; calyx 

 and corolla none ; stigma two-lob ed, ses- 

 sile: berries conjoined, four-seeded. There 



is but one species, viz. B. maritima, a 

 shrub four feet high, with a round ash- 

 coloured stem, much branched ; stigmas 

 white ; fruits yellow or greenish yellow. 

 The plant is salt to the taste, and is burnt 

 for barilla at Carthagena. Native of the 

 Caribbee islands and the neighbouring 

 continent. 



BATMAN, in commerce, a kind of 

 weight used at Smyrna, containing six 

 okes, of four hundred drachms each, 

 which amount to 16 pounds, 6 ounces, 

 and 15 drachms of English weight. 



BATTALION, a small body of infan- 

 try, ranged in form of battle, and ready to 

 engage. 



A battalion usually contains from 5 to 

 800 men ; but the number it consists of 

 is not determined. They are armed with 

 fire-locks (pikes being quite laid aside) 

 swords and bayonets ; and divided into 

 thirteen companies, one of which is gre- 

 nadiers. They are usually drawn up with 

 three men in file, or one before another. 

 Some regiments consist but of one bat- 

 talion, others are divided into four or five. 



BATTEL, a trial by combat, which 

 was anciently allowed by our laws, where 

 the defendant, in an appeal of murder or 

 felony, might fight with the appellant, and 

 make proof thereby, whether he were 

 culpable or innocent. This mode of trial 

 was used also in one civil case, namely, 

 upon an issue joined in a writ of right ; 

 but as the writ of right itself is now dis- 

 used, this course of trial is only matter of 

 speculation. 



BATTEN, a name that workmen give 

 to a scantling of wooden stuff, from two 

 to four inches broad, and about one inch 

 thick; the length is pretty considerable, 

 but undetermined. 



BATTERING, the attacking a place, 

 work, or the like, with heavy artillery. To 

 batter in breach, is to play furiously on a 

 work, as the angle of a half moon, in or- 

 der to demolish and make a gap therein. 

 In this they observe never to fire a piece 

 at the top, but all at the bottom, from 

 three to six feet from the ground. The 

 battery of a camp is usually surrounded 

 with a trench and pallisadoes at the bot- 

 tom, with two redoubts on the wings, or 

 certain places of arms, capable of cover- 

 ing the troops which are appointed for 

 their defence. 



BATTERY, in the military art, a para- 

 pet thrown up to cover the gunners and 

 men employed about the guns from the 

 enemy's shot. This parapet is cut into 

 embrasures for the cannon to fire through. 

 The height f the embrasures, on the in- 



