SAC 



E A C 



hioft prominent features. In the fonatas and concertng 

 which he coinpofcd for his own playing, when his hand 

 was feeble, or hiiely to tire, he diverted the attention of 

 the aud'-nce to feme other inftrument ; and he had Abel, 

 Fifcher, Cramer, Crofdill, Cervetto, and other excellent 

 tn\ificians to write for, and take his part, whenever he 

 ■wanted fupport. 



In 1765, he new fct Metaftafio's Adr'inno in Stria, in the 

 performance of which the rich, powerful, and inellifluous 

 voice of Manzoli was afligned the principal part. Theex- 

 peflations of the pnblic the firft night this drama was per- 

 formed, occafioned fuch a crowd at the King's theatre as 

 had been feldom feen there before. It was impofTible fur a 

 third part of the company coUeftcd together on this occalion 

 to obtain places. But whether from heat or inconvenience, 

 the unreafop.ablenefs of expeclafion, the compofer being out 

 ■of fancy, or too anxious to pleafe, the opera failed. Every 

 pne feemed to come out of the theatre dilappointed, and 

 •he drama was performed but two or thr-.e times. > This 

 feemtd matter of great triumph to the Italians, who began 

 to be jealous of the Germanic body of muficians at this 

 time in the kingdom. The fongs were printed by the elder 

 Welcker, and many of them fung atterwards at concerts 

 ■«'ith great applaufe, and found, as detached airs, excellent, 

 though ihey had been unfortunate in tlieir totality. 



Soon after his arrival in England, J. C. Bach and his 

 'Countryman Abel uniting intercfts, opened a fubfcription 

 ■for a weekly concert ; and as their own compofitions were 

 •new and excellent, and the bell performers of all kinds 

 which our capital could fupply enliiled under their banners, 

 'this concert was better patronifed and longer fupported 

 than perhaps any one had ever been in this country ; hav- 

 ing continued for full twenty years with uninterrupted pro- 

 fperity. Bach had not been long in London before he had 

 the honour of being appointed chamber-mufician and mufic- 

 mafter to her majedy ; and his merit feems to have been 

 conftantly well underftood and rovally patronized at St. 

 James's to the end of his life, wliich he terminated, after a 

 fhort illnefs, in 1782. And having much more genius than 

 worldly prudence, he left his widow Mrs. Bach (formerly 

 the fignora Grnfft, firft woman at the opera during the run 

 of Gluck's Orfeo) in very indigent circumftances ; but her 

 majefty finding that (he wiflied to return to her own coun- 

 try, fettled a penfion upon her to enable her to end her 

 days there in eafe and comfort. 



B.\CH, in Geography. See Bat HA. 

 BACHA, in Ornithology, a fpecies of Falco figured in 

 the fifteenth plate of Ee Vaillant's work on tlie birds of Afri- 

 ca. It is about the fize of that kind of falcon which we 

 call the common buzzard; and it naturally belongs to that 

 tribe of rapacious birds. The prevailing colour is a very 

 deep brown, with the lower pails of the body and belly 

 fpottid with white, and a large band of the fame white 

 ■ colour difpofed tranfverfely upon the tail. On the back of 

 the head is a tuft of white feathers, with black tips, that 

 forms a crefl. ; the beak and legs are yellow. The plumage 

 of the female is varied with whitilh and yellow. 



This is a folitary and ferocious creature ; and its chief 

 haunts are the barren mountainous parts of South America. 

 It utters a piercing ci-y, which as it refounds among the 

 rocks is truly lamentable. The rapidity of this bird in flight 

 is rema'.kable ; and its patience when waiting for its prey is 

 not lefs defcrving mention ; it will remain for hours toge- 

 ther in one pofture, and be during that time fo completely 

 immoveable as to be miflaken for a point of tlie rock on 

 which it reds ; but the moment a lizard or any other reptile 

 appcai^s oti which it feeds, it darts down upon it with the 



greateft velocity. Thefe birds build their ncfts in the craggy 

 hollows of the rock ; and the female lays two, or at moil 

 three, eggs at a time. 



BACHAASH, in Geography, a fmall idand among the 

 weftern iflands of Scotland, near the north-call coail of 

 North Vift. 



BACHELERI, La, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Dordogne, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 diftrfcl of Martignac ; four leagues north of Sarlat. 



BACHELOR, or Batchelor, Baccalaureus, in 

 Middle Age Writers, was a denomination given to thofe 

 who had attained to knighthood, but ■were not rich enough, 

 or had not a fufficient number of valfals, to have their ban- 

 ner carried before them in battle ; cr, if they were of the 

 order of bannerets, were not yet of age to difplay their 

 own banner, but obliged to march to war under the banner 

 of another. 



Camden and others define bachelor, a perfon of a middle 

 degree between a knight and an cfquire, of lefs age and 

 Handing than the former, but fuperior to the latter. 



Others will have bachelor to have been a common name 



for all degrees between a mere gentleman and a baron 



Thus we find the lord admiral, when he was neither an earl 

 nor baron, denominated a bachelor. — " Ant it is to wcet, 

 that when the admiral ridcth to affemble a fliippe of war, 

 or other, for the buiinefs and affairs of the realm, if he 

 be a bachelor, he fhall take for his day-wages four lliillings 

 fterling ; if he be an earl or baron, he (liail take wages after 

 his eftate and degree." 



Bachelor was more peculiarh' a title given to a young 

 cavalier, who made his firll campaign, and received the mi- 

 litary girdl'= accordingly. 



Bachelor was alfo a denomination given to him who 

 had overcome another in a tournament, the firll time he 

 ever engaged. 



Bachelors, Knights, m Heraldry. See Knights 5a- 

 chelors. 



Bachelors is alfo ufed in a college fenfe, to denote a 

 perfon pofTeffed of the baccalaureate, which is the firll de-? 

 gree in the liberal arts or fciences. 



The degree of bachelor was firll introduced in the thir- 

 teenth century by pope Gregory IX. but it remains ftill 

 unknown in Italy. At Oxford, before a perfon is entitled 

 to the degree of bachelor of arts, he muft have iludied there 

 four yeard ; three years more to become mafter of arts ; and 

 feven more to commence bachelor of divinity. 



At Cambridge, to commence bachelor of arts, he muft have 

 been admitted near four years, and above three years more 

 before he commence mafter ; and feven more ftill to become 

 bachelor of divinity. He may commence bachelor of law 

 after having ftudicd it fix years. 



At Paris, to pafs bachelor in theology, a perfon nuift 

 have ftudied two years in philofophy and three years in the- 

 ology, and held two afts of examination in the Sorbonne. 

 Bachelors in the canon law are admitted after two years 

 ftudy in the fame, and fuftaining an aft according to the 

 forms. A bachelor of phyfic muft have ftuJied two years 

 in medicine, after having been four years mafter of arts 

 in the univerfity, and having flood an examination ; after 

 which he is inverted with the fur, in order to be liccnfed. 



In the univerfity of Paris, before the foundation of divi- 

 nity-profedorfiiips, thofe who had ftudied divinity fix years 

 were admitied to go through their courfe, whence they 

 were called hcccalarii cur/ores ; and as there were two courfes, 

 the firft employed in explaining the Bible, d'uring three fuc- 

 ceffive years; the fecond, in explaining the mafter of the fen- 

 tences for one year ; thofe who were in their Bible courfe 



were 



