B A L 



B A L 



termed, being formcJ of licwn (lone joined in a very fingn- 

 lar manner, A view and dcfcription of this abbey may be 

 found in Ledwicb's edition of Grofe's Antiquities of Ire- 

 land. The dillance of Bnliinrobe from Dublin is J 20 miles. 

 N. lat. 53° ^' 30". W. long. 9° 6'. 



BALLINTOY, a fmall town on the northern coaft of 

 the county of Antrim, formerly called Belletree, which 

 has a toI-;rably good bay. A vein of coals was dilcovcred 

 here in l 756, which is wrought with fuch efFeft, as not only 

 to fupply a faltwork. here, but others alfo at Portrulh and 

 Colerain. A grant of 2000 pounds was made by parlia- 

 ment in 1758 for improving the harbour. The diHance from 

 Dublin is 150 miles. N. lat. 55^ 14'. W. long. 6"' 12". 



A little to the eadward of ljiilli;itoy, on an abrupt and 

 romantic (hore, is a fmall rocky iQand cal'ed Can-'uk-a-reele. 

 Tiiis rock ie feparatcd from the adjacent land by a chafm 

 full fixty feet in breadth, and of a depth frightful to look 

 at ; at the bottom of which the fea ufually breaks with an 

 uninterrupted roar among the rocks. TIrs ifland is peculi- 

 arly Well fituated for the falmon filliery ; but being inacccfii- 

 ble from the water except at one fpot, and the turbulence 

 of the fea making it difficult to land even here unlefs the 

 weather be extremely calra, the fidiermen have contrived a 

 fingular bri.lge over the abyfs. Two ftrong cables are ex- 

 tended acrofs the gulph by an expert climber, and faften-d 

 firmly into ir<m :ings mortifcd into the rock on each fide. 

 Between thefe ropes, a number of boards about a foot in 

 ireadth are laid in fiicceflion, fupported at intervals by crofs 

 cords ; and thus the pathway is formed, which, though 

 broad enough to bt^ar a man's foot \vith tolerable conveni- 

 ence, does by no means hide from view " the rocks and 

 raging fea beneath ;" which in this fituation exhibit the fa- 

 tal effefts of a fall in very llrong colouring, while the fwing- 

 ing and undulations of the bridge itfelf, and of a fingle 

 hand rope, which fcarcely any degree of tenlion can pre- 

 vent in fo great a length, fugged no very comfortable 

 feelings to perfons of weak nerves. Upon the whole, it is 

 a beautiful bridge in the fcenery of a landlcape, but a 

 frightful one in real life. Hamilton's Letters on the Coaft 

 of Antrim. 



BALLISTA, orBALiST A, in Antiqu'ity, a military engine 

 in ufe among the ancients, fomewhat like our crols-bow, 

 though much larger, more forcible, and more complicated in 

 its form. It was ufed in the befieging cities, to throw in 

 ftoncsand fometiraes darts and javelins ; and received its name 

 from the Greek ^kaXhii, to threw. 



Marcellinus defcribes the ballilla thus : a round iron cy- 

 linder is faftened between two planks, from which reaches 

 a hollow fquare beam pl.HCed crofs-wife, faftened with cords, 

 to which are added fcrews ; at one end of this ftands the 

 engineer, who puts a wooden fhatt with a big head into the 

 cavity of the beam ; this done, two men bend the engine, 

 by drawing fome wheels ; when the top of the head is drawn 

 to the utmoll end of the cords, the fliaft is driven out of 

 the ballifta, &c. According to Vitruvius, the ballilla was 

 made after divers manners, though all ufed to the fame pur- 

 pofe : one fort was framed with levers and bars; another 

 with pullies ; another with a crane ; and others with a 

 toothed wheel. T!ie ballilla was ranked by the ancients in 

 the fling kind ; and its llruclure and effect reduced to the 

 principles of the fling : whence fome writers called it ftmila 

 zni furdibuiiis. Gantherus calls it Ba'earica machina, as a 

 Hing peculiar to the Balearic iflands. 



M. RoUin joined the account of the catapulta and ballifta 

 together (Arts and Sciences, vol. ii. p. 52.), obferving, 

 that though authors dillinguifh them, they alio often con- 

 found them. The ballilla was at firft chiefly ufed for throw- 



8 



ing ftoncs, and the catapulta for lancing darts and arrows ; 

 but by degrees they were confounded and indifferently ap- 

 propriated to both. (Grofe Hid. Eng. Army, vol. i. p. 366.) 

 The ballifta, however, muft have been the heavit-ft and molt 

 difficult to cany ; becaufe there were always a greater num- 

 ber of the catapultae in the army. Livy, in his dcfcription 

 of the fiegc of Carthage, fays there were an hundred and 

 twenty great, and two hundred fm;ill catapultx taken ; with 

 thirty-three great hall:fti, and fifty -two fmall ones. Jofe- 

 phus mentions the fame difference among the Roma-s, who 

 had three hundred catapultx and forty balliila; at the fiege 

 of Jerufalcm. 



Vcgetins fays, that the balliftae difeharged darts with 

 fuch rapidity and violence, that nothing could refift their 

 force. Athen-jcns tells us, that Agefidratus made one of 

 little more than two feet in length, which fliot darts almod 

 five hundred pac s. There were others of much greater 

 force which threw ftones of three hui;dred weight upwards 

 of twenty-five paces. The furprifing effecls of thefe ma- 

 chines are particularly recorded by Jofeplius (Bell. Jud. 

 V. 6.) ; at Jerufalcm, they projefled dones which beat down 

 the battlements, and broke the angles of the towers ; there 

 was no phalanx fo deep, but one ot them would fweep aa 

 who!.: file of it from one end to the other: and a man who 

 ftocd by Jofephus, had his head taken off by a (lone at 

 the diftance of tliree hundred and feventy-five paces. (Rol- 

 lin Arts & Sc. i'. 52, 53.) Tacitus too has recorded more 

 than oneinftance of their force. (Annul, xv. 9. Hid. iv. 23.) 



Among the Saxons, as we have already mentioned ^fee 

 Artillery), great military engines of almoll every kind 

 feem to have b;en unknown ; it is to the middle ages we 

 look for the iiUroduclion of any thing like field artillery. 

 William of Poiftou (p. 201.) fays, that m.r.chines for throw- 

 ing darts and doncs were ufed with great fuccefs at the 

 biittle of Haftings. The darts that were fhot from thefe 

 machines, as well as from, the crofs-bows, were called quar- 

 i-jjs ; an^d were pointed with heavy pieces of fteel like py- 

 ramids, which made them vei-y fliarp and very deftruilive. 

 The balliftae were more frequently ufed in fea fights than in 

 battles on ftiore ; nor was this particularly the cafe in the 

 middle ages ; Livy (xii. 21.) fays, that both fcorpions and 

 balliftx were ufed in a fimilar way by the Tarentines fo long 

 ago as 281. Nor was it in the ancient times alone that 

 the names and properties and' even the ufes of the cata- 

 pulta and ballifta were confounded. In the Latin of the 

 middle ages, ballifta, in lieu of arbaleft, was frequently the 

 term for the crofs-bow ; and catapulta for the fling. 



Ptrrault, in his notes on Vitruvius, gives a contrivance 

 fimilar to tliat of the ballifta, for throwing bombs without 

 gunpowder. 



When the ballifta is painted in Armory, it is reprefented 

 as charged w-ith a done. GuiUira and otlter heraldic writ- 

 ers call it a fweep. 



Bali.ista, in P radical Geometry, the geometrical crofs, 

 called alfo Jacob's Jlaff. See Cross Staff. 



Ballista, or Os Ballijls, is a denomination given by 

 fome anatomifts to the firft bone of the tarfus, otherwife 

 called talus and cjlrngalus. 



BALLISTARII, or Balistarii, in Antiquity, flingers 

 in the ancient armies, or/oldiers whoionglit with the ball'ijlx. 

 There were two kinds of balhftarii milites ; the former cad 

 ftones and other miflivc weapons with the hand, and were 

 called manuballiilarii, ,or lometimes fimply manuballiftoe ; 

 the latter, culled carroballiftas, made ufe of a machine. Some 

 writers fpeak of a third kind called arcuballiftarii, but thefe 

 are bettrr reduced to the fecond. The balliftarii were fcarce 

 heard of before the age of Conftantine. 



Baliftariug 



