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convfnieiitly be done without taking tlie quadrant from the 

 eye, by. wliich an opportunity may be lod for making the 

 oblervation. But thi< dcfeft is eafiiy removed by liav7ng a 

 long index or ruler fitted to the q.ia'drant ; one end movinjr 

 round the centre to which the horizon-vane is fixed, and 

 having the fi>^ht-vane fixed to the other end. Bv this con- 

 trivance the fijht vane may be readily raifcd higlier, or low. 

 ered, by the motion of the index about its centre; and this 

 may be done without taking the inrtrumeut from the eye. 

 See Quadrant. 



BACK-S/jys of a Ship, are ropes be!ongin£f to the main- 

 mail and fore-maft, and the m^lls belonging to the-n, ferv- 

 ing to keep them from pitching forwards, or overboard. 

 See Stays. 



'h:\CV.-Stays, TraveUin^, are ufed in bad weather to fup- 

 port the fore and main-top mails ; they fp'ice into a fpan, 

 round the topni^ift, under the parrel, and let up in the 

 chain, w'th a luff-tackle, to an eye-bolt. They travel up 

 and down the tnp-maft occafionaliy with tricing lines that 

 fplice into a thimtile, on er.ch fide of the fpan, and through 

 blocksftized to the top-mall trelUe-trees, and lead into thetop. 



BACK-/y''or;n, a na-r.e g'ven by Sp',r!finen to a difcafe very 

 Conim.)n among hawks, and called <\\{oJila:i:!er ; which fee. 



BACO, in G'igraphy, the capital of Mindoro, one of 

 the Philippine ifla .ds, where the Alcaide, or governor, re- 

 fides. Its environs are well watered by fprings proceeding 

 from mountains covered with farfapariila. See Mindoro. 



BACOBA, in Botany, a name by which fome authors 

 call the banana tree, or mufafrudu Irev'ior't. Pifo. 



BACOFEN, in Geography, a town of Bohemia, in the 

 circle of Bolcflaw, five miles N. N. E. from Jung Buntzlau. 



BACON, fwine's ftefh, faked, and dried in the chimnev. 

 Writers on this branch ot ceconomics give rules for the 

 hanging, the faking, and curing of bacon, larding with 

 bacon, &c. 



This appears to be in general an extremely improper and 

 Bnwholefome aliment, elpccially for people who do not ufe 

 great exercife; for thofe who do nav almoll cat any thing 

 without injury. Swine's flefh, confidcred as an aliment, is 

 none of the beft ; and when hardened by fait, and dried by 

 fmoke, it is rendered more indigeftible, and in conftquence 

 of that, productive of obftruftions in a very great degree. 

 We may add, that the fat of bacon frequently becomes ran- 

 cid and acrimonious, and often even excoiiatcs the mouth 

 and throat. 



Y^ACQS Sward, denotes the thick outer (Ivin taken off 

 the lard or fat. Old hilforians and law writers Ip.'ak ol 

 the firv'tce of the bacon, a cultom in the manor of Whiche- 

 novre in Stalfordfhire, and priory of Dunmow in EfTex ; in 

 the former of which places, by an ancient ^rnmt of the lord, 

 a flitch of bacon, with half a quarter of wheat, was to be 

 given to every married couple, who could fwear, that havmg 

 been married a year and a day, they would never within that 

 time have once exchanged their mate for any other perfon 

 on earth, however richer, fairer, or the like. But they were 

 to bring two of their neighbours to fwear with them, that 

 they believed they fwore the truth. On this, the lord of 

 another neighbouring manor, of Rudlow, was to find a horfc 

 faddled, and a fack to carry the bounty in, with drums 

 and trumpets, as far as a day's journey out of the manor : all 

 the tenants of the ma :'or being fummoned to attend, and 

 pay fervice to the bacon. Plott's Hill. Staff, c. x. 



The bacon of D.inm;iv, riril credcd under Henry HI. 

 was on much the fame footing ; orly the tenor of tlie oath 

 was, that the part-es had never once repented, or wilhcd 

 thtmfilves unmarried again, lb. c. x. fed. So. 



Bacon, Robert, in Bl^^ra^h, an ilnjjhih divine of the 



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thirteenth century, was bom about the year 1 168, completed 

 his tducatio.i at Paris, ard returning to Oxford, where he 

 had commenced his Ihidies, read lectures in divinity, and be- 

 came a famous preacher. In one cf his fermons, preached 

 at Oxford, in 1233, befc-e Henry III., he reproved the king 

 for his partiality to foreigners, and faithfully informed him, 

 tliat lliis was the principal caife of the difcontci:t which 

 prevniled among his fubjeCts. Such was the imprtflion niadc 

 bv this addrefs, that the king is faid to have difcovertd a 

 d:fp jfition to hfuen to the complaints of his nobles. Bacon 

 was favo-red with the friendfhip and patror^age of Edmu.d 

 Rich, called St. Edmund, arclibilhop of Canter'our\' ; a.d 

 after his deceafe, in 1240, wrote his life. He was alfo the 

 author of feveral commentaries, fermons, and lectures. Some 

 have fuppofcd that he was the brother of the celebrated 

 Roger Bjcon; but as R-obcct died in 1248, at an advanced 

 age, and Roger was not born till the year 1 2 14, it is not 

 probable that they were brothers. Biog. Brit. 



Bacon, Roger, a celebrated Erglilh monk of the Fraricif- 

 can order, was born at Ilchcllerin Somerfct.hire, in the year 

 1214, and at an early age received the rudiments of kaniing 

 and Icience at Oxford, where he profccuted his ftudies with 

 an ardour and fuccefs which fecured to him the patrenage 

 and friendthip of the moll eminent men in that univerfity. 

 In the number of thefe wc may reckon Robert Grouthead, 

 bifhop of Lincoln, to whom he was particularly indebted, 

 and of whom he fpeaks in terms of high commendation ; 

 Edmund Rich, archbifhop of Canterbury ; William Shir- 

 wood, chancellor of Lincoln ; and R'chard Kifhacre, who 

 was a dillinguilhed ledlurer in the fciences bcth at Oxford 

 and at Paris. Having fpent fome years at Oxford in the 

 ftudy of the languages, logic, mathematics, and various 

 branches of philofophy, he removed, according to the cullom 

 of that age, to Paris, where he was dill nguilhed both by his 

 alfijuity and improvement, and where, in token of his ac- 

 knowledged eminence in literature and fciencc, he received 

 the degree of doftor in theology. While he was in France, 

 or foon after his return to England, in the year 1 240, he 

 took the monallic habit in the order of St. Francis, and with 

 a view of purfuing his lludies and refearches with the greater 

 advantage, he fettled at Oxford. Such was the efteem in 

 which he w aj generally held, and fo high were the expecta- 

 tions which his contemporaries entertained of the benefits 

 that would refu't to fcience from the vigour of his mind and 

 the affiduity of his application, that he was enabled, by gene- 

 rous contributions, to colledl books, toconllruct infiruments, 

 and to profecute his experiments, during a courfe of twenty 

 years, at an expence of 2000I., which, confidering the time in 

 which he lived, was a very large fum. His growing fame, 

 however, excited envy ; and the monks of his own i.rdcr in- 

 dull rioullv circulated a report, that he held converfe with 

 evil fpirits, and praiMiled magical arts. His enemies fo far 

 prevailed, that, under a pretence of dangerous innovations, 

 tending to dilhirb the peace of the church, which Bacon 

 was attempting to introduce, he was reltrained from read- 

 ing leilurc- to the young lludeiits in the univcrfitv ; and at 

 length fo clofely confined as to be debarred from all intcr- 

 ciiurfe with his friends, and from receiving a neceflary fupply 

 cf food. The prelates and the monks, lays Bacon himlclf 

 (Epift. ad Ckm. IV.), were afraid left his own writings 

 fhcu'.d extend beyond the limits ef his convent, and be feen 

 by any h fides toemftlves and the pope. But other circum- 

 llances had contributed to excite againll Bacou the fpirit of 

 perfecution. i le had ccnfured ihe clergy, on account both 

 of the'r ignorance and immorality ; he was particularly inti- 

 mate with hilhop Grouthead, who h id written a letter of 

 repioof to pope Innocent IV. and declared 10 his confi- 



dcutial 



