B A L 



Baliftariiis in our ancient hiftoiy is to be difTerently ex- 

 plained. .Sometimes it refers to the men v.lio (hot ftones 

 and darts out of crofs-bows ; at otliers to the ofHcerj of the 

 fteel-bow-.-nen, or direftors of the great brakt<; or engines, 

 vith which the wall:; of any place were battered ; and occa- 

 ilonally even to the fiin'rers. (See Kclhain on Doomfd. 

 Book, p. 1 6 1.) Ourkin^rs, fo early as the Conq\ieft, had an 

 ofBcer ililed Arlalijltmus or Bahjlnrhis Regis, and lauds were 

 held in capiteof the king, by tlie fcvvice of piefenting annui 

 ally a crofs-bow-ftrinsr as often as he pa.Ted through a cer- 

 tain difliift. (See Blount's Ten. p. 57. 70. 81.) Walter 

 de Mofely in the thirty-fecond year of king Hen III. held 

 lands in Surry by the ferjeantry of bein-r the king's balida- 

 ri'-is (or crofs-bow-man) in his army for forty days in the 

 year. (Pat. rot in turr. Lond.) And it is not perhaps, 

 improbable, that the infpeftor of the works relating to the 

 baliflae might occafionaliy bear tlie fame title. Such an 

 officer occn-s in the patent rolls of the fame king two years 

 before. (Ibid. 37 Hen. 3. m. 8.) 



BALLISTliS, in Ichthyology. See Balistes. 

 BALLISTEUM, or Balistea, in yliuhpily, a military 

 fong or dance ufed on occafions of victory. 



The lallijlis were a kind of popul-ir ballads compofed by 

 poets of the lower clafs, without much regard to the laws 

 of metre. 



BALLISTIC Pendulum. See PemIjulum. 

 BALLISTICA, Ballistics, is ufed for the art of 

 throwing heavy bodies. F. Merfenuus has publiflied a trea- 

 tife on the proieftion of bodies, under tliis title. 



BALLITORE, in Geography, a fmall poll town in the 

 county of Kildare, in the province of I>einfter, in Ireland, 

 pleafantly fituated m a well planted valley on the banks of 

 the river Gree5, a little on the right of the great road from 

 Dublin to thefouUi. It was chiefly a fettlement of Quakers, 

 but the number of thefe has confiderably decreafcd ; and 

 the aftive part taken by many of the inhabita..ts in the 

 late rebellion, caufed it to be in a great meafure dellroytd. 

 The celebrated Edmund Burke received his early education 

 in this town at the fchool of Mr. Abraham Shakleton, one of 

 the refpcftable clafs above-mentioned ; which fchool was 

 then held in high ellimation, and has been continued by his 

 defcendants of the lame name to the prefent day. Dillance 

 from Dublin twenty-eight miles. N. lat. 53". W. long. 

 6-51'. 



BALLIUM, or Bailev, in ouranc;cnt Mililttry Tadics, 

 was ufed to fignify a certain plot of gronnd within a 

 fortified place. I'he outer ballium wss that which pre- 

 fented itfelf immediately on entering the outer gate of the 

 caftle, where we ufuaily fee a mount of earth to command 

 fome diftant work of the beiiegers. It was feparated by a 

 ftrong embattled wall and towered gate from the ini;er bal- 

 lium, where were commonly the houles and barracks for the 

 garrifon, the chapel, ftables, and hofpital ; and withm which, 

 or at one corner of it, in the early callles, furrounded by a 

 ditch, ilood the keep or dungeon, generally a large fquare 

 tower, fomctimes flanked at its angles witii fmall turrets: 

 this keep was to our old fortrefies, what the citadel is to 

 modern ones, the lall retreat or reduit of the garrifon. (See 

 Grofe HilL of the Eng. Army, ii. 3.) Aiul here may be 

 noticed, that the fmall remains of Oxford calUe exhibit a 

 remai-kable inftance of the double ballium ; in the outer 

 fpace ftands the mount, and at no great dillance from it 

 (though without the caille precinfts), the church of St. 

 Peter in the Bailey ; behind it at a coiifidcrable dillance Hands 

 the ancient Norman keep, in the upper part of which, on the 

 different fides, are round-head arches tilled up with mafonry, 

 whence, as from the lall retreat of the garrifon, the beficgers, 



B A L 



though in pofTe/Tion of the mount, might be annoyed. The 

 Old Baily, or outer fpace near Ludgate in the ancient forti- 

 fication of London, has perhaps a fimilar etymology with 

 St. Peter in the Bailey at Oxford. 



B ALLOC K, in Geography, the name of rocks on the 

 N. W. coafl of the ifland of 11a. 



BALLOGISTAN, a diUda of Hindoflan, in the 

 country of Delhi, bordcnng en the north of Mtwat, and 

 approaching by its eallern limit v.iiliin twenty-four miles of 

 Delhi. It is eighty or ninety r.iilcs long, and from thirty 

 to torty broad. Within the prefent centnr)-, a- d more pro- 

 bably fmcc the rapi 1 d.-cline of the Mogul empire, this ter- 

 ritor)- was fei/rd by the Ballogcs or Balloches, whofc pro- 

 per country adjoins to the weftern bank of the Indiis, oppo- 

 lite to Mo'.iltan. Some tribes nf them are alfo found in 

 Makran. They are rcprefented as a moil favage rate, and 

 appear ta be veiy proper neighbours for the Mcwatti. 

 Tills territory is full of ravines, and difficult of accefj to in- 

 vaders. It has, however, undergone the fate of its neigh- 

 bours, and been fuccefiively tnbntar)' to the Rohilla chief, 

 Nidj-b Dowiah ; to the lats ; and .Nudjufl" Cawn. Weft- 

 ward, it borders on the Seiks. Ren. Mem. Introd. p. 120. 



BALLOON, in ArchitcSuie, is ufed for a round ball, or 

 globe, placed at the top of a pillar, or the like, by wav of 

 acrotcr, or crowning. That on the >op of St. Peter's at 

 Rome is of brafs fuftained by an iron arming within ; and. 

 being at the height of fixty-fevcn fathoms, is above eight. 

 feet in diameter. 



Balloon, in Chemijlry, Ballon Fr. is a large globtilar 

 veffcl, generally of glafs, with a (hort neck, which is em- 

 ployed in a variety of chemical operations, particularly 

 in receiving the produfls of dillillation ; in containing gaffe* 

 for experiments in which heat or combuftion are uftd ; and 

 for feveral other purpofes. Frequently, it is made with more 

 than one orifice. It is larger than the mattrafs, has a (horter 

 neck, and if heated on a fand-batk great care nnift be takea 

 to do it gradually on account ot the greater thickntfs of the 

 glafs. In making the giafs-balloon, it is fin^ply blown, 

 without a burr at the bottom like the mattrafs, whereas 

 the receiver is generally fafliioncd at the neck, and therefore 

 mull have the above impcrfedi:in at the bottom, unlcfs it is 

 afterwards ground ofl". 



Balloon, in French Commerce, denotes a quantity of pa- 

 per, containing twenty-four reams. 



Balloon, Ballon, or Ballot, ilgnifies a certain quantity 

 of glafs-plates, greater or Icfs according to their quality. 

 The balloon of white glafs contains twenty-tive bundles, of 

 fix plates per bundle; but the balloon of coloured glafs 

 confills only of 12 j bundles, each bundle including three 

 plates. 



Balloon alfo denotes a kind of game fomething refera- 

 bling tennis. 



The balloon is played in the open field, with a great 

 round ball of double leather blown up with wind, and thui 

 driven to and from with the ftrength of a man's arm, forti- 

 fied with a brace of wood. 



Balloon, or Balloen, is more particularly, ufed among 

 Voyagers, for the ftatc barges of Siam. 



The balloons are a kind of brigantine, managed with oars, 

 of very odi figures, as ferpents, fea-horfes, &c. but by their 

 fliarpnefs and number of oars, of incredible fwiftnefs. The 

 balloons are faid to be made of a fingle piece of timber, of 

 uncommon length ; they are raifed high, and much decora- 

 ted with carving at head and ftcrn : fome are gilt over, 

 and carrj' 120, or even 150- rowers on each fide. The oara 

 are either plated over with filver, or gilt, or radiated with 

 gold ; a:id the 'dome or canopy in the middle, where the 



company 



