BAG 



were calltd kici-nlnni Biblici ; and tliofe arrived at the fcn- 

 tetices, baccalar'i'i fenlenliari'i ; and, lallly, thofc who had 

 gone through both, were denominated baccalarii fonnuli, or 

 funned bachelors. 



At prefciit, formed bachelor denotes a perfon who has 

 taken the degree regularly after the due courfe of (ludy and 

 exe'xifes, required by the Hatutes ; by wav of oppolition to 

 a current bachelor, who is admitted in the way of giacc, or 

 by diploma. 



We alio find mention of bachelors of the church, liacca- 

 hrii ecckfiir. — The bilhop with his canons and baccalarii, 

 cum confdlo isf covfevfi omnium canoiticorum fuorum l^ baccala- 

 riorum. 



There is Icarce any word whofe origin is more contro- 

 verted among the critics than that of bachelor, baccalarius, 

 or bacccdaurcus : the two different acceptations of the won! 

 literary and militiT)', above recited, have each of them their 

 advocates, who aflcrt each to be the primitive fenfe, and 

 derive the word accordingly. 



Among thofe who liold the military bachelor to be the 

 more ancient, is Cujas, who derives the word from Luccel- 

 lar'nis, a kind of cavalry, anciently in great eileem. Du- 

 Cange deduces it from baccalar'ia, a kind of fees, or 

 farms, confifting of feveral pieces of ground, each whereof 

 contained twelve acres, or as much as two oxen would 

 plough ; the pofTeirors of which baccalaria were called ba- 

 chelors. 



Cafcneuve and Altaferra derive bachelor from baculus, or 

 bacillus, a ftaff, btcaufe the young cavaliers cxercifcd them- 

 felvcs in fighting with Haves. Martinius derives it from 

 bciccalaureus, i. e. baccd laured donatus, in allufion to the an- 

 cient cuilom of crowning poets with laurels, baccis lauri ; 

 as was the cafe with Petrarch at Rome in 1341. Alciat 

 and Vives are of the fame opinion ; nor is this etymology 

 improbable. 



Bachelors, in the livery companies of London, are 

 thofe not yet admitted to the livery. 



Thtfe companies generally confiil of a mailer, two war- 

 <Icn<!, the livery, and the bachelors, who are yet but in ex- 

 pectation of dignity in the company, and have their fundion 

 only in attendance on the mailer and wardens ; they are 

 alfo <:!>!led yeomen. 



Bachelor is alfo a nam.e given in the fix companies of 

 merchants at Paris to the elders, and fuch as having ferved 

 the offices, have a right to be called by the mailers and war- 

 dens to be prcfcnt with them, and alfill them in iome of 

 their funftions, particularly in what relates to the chef d' 

 tcuvres, or maiter-pieces, of fuch as arc candidates lor being 

 admitted mailers. 



Bachelor is alfo particularly ufed for a man not married, 

 or who is yet in a Hate of celibacy. 



The Roman cenfors frequently impofed fines on old ba- 

 chelors. Dion. HalicarnalTeus mentions an old conftitntion, 

 by which all perfons of full age were obliged to marry. 

 But the moll celebrated law of this kind was that made 

 under Aiigullus, called the lex Julia de maritandis ordini/.us, 

 and by Horace (Carm. Secul. v. y.) lex viarita, by which 

 bachelors were made incapable of legacies ot inheritances by 

 will, unlcfs from their near relations. See Papian-Pop- 

 p;ean Lci'W. 



The Rabbins maintain, that, by the laws of Mofes, every 

 perfon, excq)t fome few, is obliged in confcience to marrv- 

 at twenty years of ag^.- : this makes one of their 613 pre- 

 cepts. Hence thofe maxims fo frequent among their ca- 

 fuills ; fuch as, that he who does not take the neeelTary mea- 

 fnres to leave heirs behind him, is not a man, but ought to 

 be reputed a homicide. Lycurgus was not more favourable ; 

 by his laws bachelors are branded with infamy, c.\cludcd 

 Vou IIL 



BAG 



from all ofiices civil and military, and even frotn the (liews 

 and public fports. At certain leads thev were foicd fo 

 appear, to be expofcd to the public derlfion, and led naked 

 round the market-place. At one of their fiafls, the womca 

 led them in this condition to the altars, where they obliged 

 them to make amende hoiionible to nature, accompa.iied w:lli 

 a nuoiber of blows, and ladies with a rod at difcretion. 

 To compkte the affront, they forced them to fiiig certain 

 fonifs ci;mpofed in their own derifion. 



'1 he Chnllian religion is more indulgent to t>e bachelor- 

 ftate : the ancient church recommended it as preferable to, 

 and more perfeCl than the matrimonial flate. 



In the canon law, we find iijunftioiis on bachelors, when 

 arrived at pi:berty, eith.er to marry, or tuin monk and pro- 

 fels chaftity in earnell. 



In Great Britain, taxes have been occafionally levied on 

 bachelors, as by 7 W. III. 1695, which im.p"fed a tax on 

 fuch, after 25 years of age, of 1 2 1. 10 s. fur a duke, and 

 I s. for a common perfon ; and the taxes laid on others have 

 been increafed with regard to bacinlors, as in t lie cafe of 

 the duty on fervaiits by ftat. 25 Geo. HI. c. 43. Set Ser- 



VANTS. 



Bachelors, in Geography, a river of South America, 

 which runs into a bay of the fame name, on the north fide 

 of the Iliaits of Magellan. N. lat. Si" 38'. W. long. 73>> 

 52'- 



BACHER, the name of a chain of Auftrian mountains, 

 in the fouth of Stiria. 



Backer's ToHic Pills, in the MaUris Uedica. See Hel- 

 lerore, and Pills. 



BACHIAN, orBATCHiAN, in Geegraphy, one of the 

 Molucca illands, lying fjiith fiom Machian, and poffelTLd, 

 fince the year 1610, by the Dutch. This is the largeft of 

 the little Moluccas, and is governed by a faltan, who i« 

 likewife fovcreign of Oubi and Ceram, together with Go- 

 ram. This monarch has a penfion from the Dutch, either 

 for the dellruelion or fupply of nutmegs ; but he is other- 

 wife little fubftrvient. Bachian rifes into woody hills, and 

 through the idlcnefs or oppri-iVion of its inhabitants, is fuf- 

 fcred to become wild and dcfert, although by cultivation it 

 is capable ot becoming fertile and prodiifiive, and it was 

 reprefented as formerly producing the btil cloves in the Mo- 

 luccas. On the ihorcs, as in moll of the other ides of this 

 archipelago, there are prodigious rocks of coi-dl, of infinite 

 variety and beauty. Its principal town is Saboiigo ; it is 

 about twelve leagues in circuit, and has a burning moun- 

 tain. It is fituated nearly under the equinoctial in S. lat. 

 0° 25', and E.long. izj'^ 5'. 



BACHINA, in Ancient Geography, an idand of the Me- 

 diterranean fea, near Smjriia, according to Pliny ; called 

 by Livy, Bachium. 



BACHMUT, a town of Ri-flia, m the province of 

 Ekatcrinollav, 104 miles W. N. W. of Azof. N. lat. 48'' 

 25'. E. long. 37^^44', 



BACHO, a rivcr of North Wales, which runs into the 

 Severn near Lanidlos, in Montgomeryiliire. 



BACKOLKZ, or V'onchotsch, a town of Poland, 

 in the Palatinate of Sandomitz, 20 miles (buth of Ra- 

 dom. 



BACHOVIUS, RuNiF.R, '\xi Biography, a German ci- 

 vilian, was born at Cologne, in 1544, and refided at Leip- 

 fic, where he fuffered periecution on account of his religious 

 principles, as he prolefled attachment to the doclrincs of 

 Calvin, rather than to thole of Luther. Compelled not 

 only to refign his public offices, but to quit Leipfic, he with- 

 drew into the Palatinate, and found in the cledor a gene- 

 rous patron. At Heidelberg, he held feveral honourable 

 and lucrative pults till his death in 1614. In a Uicological 

 3 K tiact. 



