BAT 



BAX 



side, is about three feet ; but they go 

 sloping lower to the outside. Their 

 wide ness is two or three feet, but open to 

 six or seven on the outside. The mass of 

 earth that is betwixt two embrazures 

 is called the merlon. The platform of a 

 battery is a floor of planks and sleepers, 

 to keep the wheels of the guns from sink- 

 ing into the earth ; and is always made 

 sloping towards the embrazure, both 

 to hinder the reverse, and to facilitate the 

 bringing back of the gun. 



BATTERY, in law, the striking, beat- 

 ing, or offering any violence to another 

 person, for which damages may be re- 

 covered. But if the plaintiff made the 

 first assault, the defendant shall be quit, 

 and the plaintiff amerced to the king for 

 his false suit. Battery is frequently con- 

 founded with assault, though in law they 

 are different offences; for in the trespass 

 for assault and battery, one may be found 

 guilty of assault, yet acquitted of the bat- 

 tery ; there may, therefore, be assault 

 without battery, but battery always im- 

 plies an assault. 



BATTERY. See ELECTRICITY and GAL- 

 VANISM. 



BATTLE, a general engagement be- 

 tween two armies, in acountry sufficiently 

 open for them to encounter in front, and 

 at the same time ; or, at least, for the 

 greater part ofthe line to engage. Other 

 great actions, though of a longer dura- 

 tion, and even attended with a greater 

 slaughter, are only called fights. 



The loss of a battle frequently draws 

 with it that ofthe artillery and baggage ; 

 the consequence of which is, that, as the 

 army beaten cannot again look the enemy 

 in the face till these losses have been re- 

 paired, it is forced to leave the enemy a 

 long time master of the country, and at 

 liberty to execute all their schemes; 

 whereas a great fight lost is rarely attend- 

 ed with the loss of all the artillery, and 

 scarcely ever ofthe baggage. See TAC- 

 TICS. 



BATTLE, naval, the same with a sea- 

 fight, or engagement betweentwo fleets 

 of men of war. Before a naval battle, 

 every squadron usually subdivides itself 

 into three equal divisions, with a reserve 

 of certain ships out of every squadron to 

 bring up their rear. Every one of these, 

 observiiig a due birth and distance, are in 

 the battle to second one another ; and the 

 better to avoid confusion and falling foul 

 of each other, to charge, discharge, and 

 fall off by threes or fives, more or less, 

 as the fleet is greater or smaller. The 

 ships of reserve are instructed either to 



any 

 icm- 



succpur and relieve those that are 

 way in danger, or to supply and put the 

 selves in the place of those that shall be 

 made unserviceable. See TACTICS. 



BAUERA, in botany, a genus ofthe 

 Polyandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Calyx-eight-leafed ; petals eight ; capsule 

 two-celled, two-valved, many-seeded. 

 One species, which is a native of New 

 Holland. 



BAUHINIA, in botany, so called in ho- 

 nour of the two famous botanists, John 

 and Caspar Bauhin, a genus of the De- 

 candria Monogynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Lomentaceae ; Legumino- 

 sx, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx 

 five cleft, deciduous ; petals expanding, 

 oblong, with claws, the upper one more 

 distant, all inserted into the calyx, le- 

 gume. There are 13 species, of which B, 

 aculeata is an erect shrub, the height of a 

 man ; the trunk and branches are very 

 prickly ; leaves roundish ; the two lobes 

 also are roundish and blunt ; the flowers 

 are large, white, and have a scent which 

 is somewhat unpleasant; sometimes the 

 fold of the calyx is entire, not cloven. 

 Mr. Miller says that it rises to the height 

 of sixteen or eighteen feet in Jamaica, 

 where it grows plentifully, and the other 

 sugar islands in America; that the stalks 

 are terminated by several long spikes 

 of yellow flowers, which are succeeded 

 by bordered pods about three inches 

 long, containing two or three swelling 

 seeds ; that these pods are glutinous, and 

 have a strong balsamic scent, as have al- 

 so the leaves when bruised ; and that it 

 is called in America the Indian savin tree, 

 from its strong odour, somewhat resem- 

 bling the common savin. 



BAWDY-Ao?/se, a house of ill fame, to 

 which lewd persons of both sexes resort, 

 and there have criminal conversation. 



The keeping a bawdy-house is a com- 

 mon nuisance, not only on account that it 

 endangers the public peace by drawing 

 together debauched and idle persons,and 

 promoting quarrels, but likewise for its 

 tendency to corrupt the manners of the 

 people. And, therefore, persons convict- 

 ed of keeping bawdy-houses are punish- 

 able by fine and imprisonment ; and to 

 such other punishment as the court, at 

 their discretion, shall inflict. 



BAXTERIANS, in church history, a 

 sect of Christians, who look up to the ce- 

 lebrated Richard Baxter as their founder, 

 and who make the tenets of that worthy- 

 man the foundation of their faith. The 

 object of Baxter was a hopeless cause: it 

 was to reconcile the opinions of Calvin 



