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BIBLES, Irish. Towards the middle of 

 the sixteenth century, Bedell, Bishop of 

 Kilmore, set on foot a translation of the 

 Old Testament into the Irish language ; 

 the New Testament and the Liturgy hav- 

 ing been before translated into that lan- 

 guage. The Bishop appointed one King 

 to execute this work, who, not under- 

 standing the Oriental languages, was 

 obliged to translate it from the English. 

 This work was received by Bedell, who, 

 after having compared the Irish transla- 

 tion with the English, compared the lat- 

 ter with the Hebrew, the LXX. and the 

 Italian version of Diodati. When this 

 work was finished, the bishop would have 

 teen himself at the charge of the impres- 

 sion, but his design was stopped, upon ad- 

 vice given to the LordLieutenantandthe 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, that it would 



Erove a shameful thing for a nation to pub- 

 sh a Bible translated by such a despica- 

 ble hand as King. However, the manu- 

 sciipt was not lost, for it went to press in 

 the year 1685. 



BIBLES, Erse. There is also a version 

 of the Bible in the Gaelic, or Erse lan- 

 guage, published at Edinburgh. 



BIDENS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Syngenesia Polygamia JEqualis class of 

 plants. The compound flower is uniform 

 and tubulose, and the proper one infundi- 

 buliform. The seed is single, obtuse, 

 and crowned with two or more erect and 

 sharp awns. There are 14 species, most 

 of which are herbaceous annuals. Some, 

 however, are shrubs. Leaves generally 

 opposite, some pinnate. Flowers axillary 

 or terminating. B. tripartita is obviously 

 distinguished from B. cernua, drooping 

 water hemp agrimony, by its trifid leaves, 

 a character more to be depended on than 

 the uprightness of its flowers. It is 

 also much more common with us at least. 

 That is generally found in water; this 

 more frequently occurs on the borders of 

 ponds, rivulets, &c. where it flowers in 

 August and September. This plant dyes 

 a deep yellow. The yarn or thread must 

 be first steeped in alum water, then dried 

 and steeped in a decoction of the plant, 

 and afterwards boiled in the decoction. 

 The seeds have been sometimes known to 

 destroy gold-fish, by adhering to their 

 gills and jaws. 



BIENNIAL plants, in botany, such as 

 are of two years duration. Of this kind 

 there are numerous plants, which, being 

 raised one year from seed, generally at- 

 tain perfection in the same year, shooting 

 np stalks, producing 1 flowers, and per- 



fecthig seeds in the following spring or 

 summer, and soon after perish. 



BIGAMY, in law, is where a person 

 marries a second wife, or husband, the 

 first being alive, for which the punish- 

 ment was formerly death, as in cases of 

 felony ; but it is now usually punished 

 with a long imprisonment, or even trans- 

 portation ; and in the case of a spy, em- 

 ployed by government in the year 1794, 

 who was convicted of bigamy, the pun- 

 ishment was the mere residence in the 

 house of the jailer for a very few days. 



BIGNONIA, the trumpet '-jfower, in bo- 

 tany, a genus of the Didynamia Angios- 

 permia class. The flower is monopeta- 

 lous, with a mouth campanulated, and di- 

 vided into five segments : the fruit is a 

 pod with two cells and two valves, con- 

 taining several imbricated, compressed, 

 and winged seeds. There are 27 species, 

 mostly trees and shrubs, inhabitants of 

 the hot climates of the East and West In- 

 dies, and eminently beautiful. Flowers 

 in panicles, large and handsome, of vari- 

 ous colours, red, blue, yellow, or white, 

 The calyx should be observed, whether 

 it be simple or double ; the corolla, whe- 

 ther it be regular or irregular ; the sta- 

 mens, whether they be fertile or barren ; 

 the fruit, whether it be bony or capsular, 

 in form of a silique or ovate. B. catalpa 

 is a deciduous tree, rising with an upright 

 stem, covered with a smooth brown bark, 

 to the height of thirty or forty feet : it 

 sends out many strong lateral branches, 

 having very large heart-shaped leaves on 

 them, placed opposite at every point. 

 The flowers are succeeded by long taper 

 pods ; but these have not yet been pro- 

 duced in England; it is found growing 

 naturally on the back of South Carolina, 

 at a great distance from the English set- 

 tlements. It is now not uncommon in our 

 nurseries and plantations. This tree has 

 a good effect when it stands in the mid- 

 dle of large openings, where it can freely 

 send forth its side branches, and shew it- 

 self to advantage. It flowers in August, 

 and is known in the nurseries by its Indian 

 name Catalpa. 



BILBOES, a punishment at sea, an- 

 swering to the stocks at land. The of- 

 fender is laid in irons or stocks, which 

 are more or less ponderous, according to 

 the quality of the offence of which he is 

 guilty. 



BILDGE of a ship, the bottom of her 

 floor, or the breadth of the place the ship 

 rests on when she is aground. There- 

 fore, bildge -water is that which lies on 

 her floor, and cannot go to the well of 



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