B A S 



he died in 1676, in the 69th year of his age, and was 

 buried in the yard belonging to the cathedral of Durham. 

 He appears to have been learned, aftive, and induftrious, 

 y.ealoudy attached to the church of England, and eminently 

 diftingiiiflicd by his loyalty. His publications were not very 

 numerous : the principal of tliem were his " Deo et Ecclelis 

 Sacrum," or facrilege arraigned and condemned by St. Paul, 

 0.^;ford, 1646, 410. and London, 1668, 8vo ; " The Hiitory 

 of the Engh(h and Scotch Prclhytery," Eond. 1659, 1660, 

 8vo ; " Tlie dead man's real fpcech," a funeral fermon for 

 Dr. Cofm bilhop of Durham, to which is annexed liis life ; 

 Lond, 1673, Hvo; and his " Diatriba de antiqua Ecclefiie 

 Britannia' Libertate," piinted at Bruges by a royal exile 

 in 1656, 8vo, and traiillalcd into Englifn ur.der the 

 title of " The ancient Liberty of the Britannic Church, 

 &LC." Annexed to it is " A Letter, written by Dr. Bafirc 

 to the Hon. fir Richard Brown, refidcnt at Paris for his 

 majefty of Great Britain ; relating his travels and endea- 

 vours to propagate the knowledge of the doftrine and difci- 

 pliue eitablilhed in the Britannic church, among the Greeks, 

 Arabians, &c. ; dated from Pera, near Conftantinople, 20th 

 Jul. 1653." Of this letter fir R. Brown obfervcs, " that 

 he could never read it but as a kind of nine-and-twentieth of 

 the AAs." This book was printed at London in 1 661, 

 fmall 8vo. Biog. Brit. 



BASIS, in the y^ncienl Miific and Poitry, denotes the 

 equability of founds proceeding in the fame tenor. In which 

 fenfe, bafis (lands contradillinguilhedfromar/?^, or elevation, 

 as well as from thtfis, or depreflion. 



Basis, in Arcbitid.urc and Chcmijlry. See Base. 

 Basis, in Oratory, denotes the fourth member of a com- 

 plete exordium, being that which fucceds the apodofis, and 

 prepares the way for the propofition. 



BASKERVILLE, Sir Simon, in Biography, fon of 

 Thomas Balkerville.an apothecary at Exeter, was, at the age 

 ofcighteen years, fcnt to Exeter college, Oxford, where he 

 foon dillinguilhed himfelf by his fuperior ability and indullry, 

 which procured him a ftUowfhip in the college before he 

 had taken his degree of bachelor in arts. In 1606, he was 

 chofen fenior proftor in the univerfity. He now apphed 

 himfelf folely to the fludy of anatomy and phyfic; and in 161 I, 

 »as admitted to the degree of bachelor, and doftor in medi- 

 cine, at the fame time. Having acquired coniiderable re- 

 putation for his ikill in his profeffion, he removed to London, 

 and was chofen fellow, and fome years after, prefident of the 

 college of phyficians there. He had alfo the honour of be- 

 ing appointed phyfician to king James, and afterwards to 

 king Charles the Firll, by whom he was knighted. As his 

 praftice extended with his fame, he acquired fo much wealth 

 as to be called the rich Sir Simon ; which will not be won- 

 dered at, if it be tiue, as was reported of him, that he had 

 100 patients on hia liil at a time. He died July 5th 1641, 

 aged fixty-cight years, and was buried in the cathedral of St. 

 Paul's. It does not appear that he left any manufcripts for 

 publication, or any offspring to inheiit the wealth he had 

 accumulated. Wood's Athenx Oxon. Biograph. Dift. 



Baskerville, John, an ingenious artift, entitled to com- 

 memoration on account of his improvements in printing and 

 type-founding, was born at Woveiley in Worcefterihire, in 

 the year I'C^, and inherited a fmall eftate. Having ac- 

 quired in e?.rly life a flcill and talle for fine writing and cut- 

 ting in rtone, he removed to Birmingham at the age of 

 twenty, where he fettled as a writing-mailer; but he foon 

 direfted his attention to the art of japanning, which he fol- 

 lowed with Angular ingenuity and fuccefs as long as he lived. 

 In 1750 he turned his thoughts to letter-founding, which he 

 purfucd with great labour and expence. An editioa of Vir- 

 2 



B A S 



gil in royal 410. in 1756, was his firll great pcrformaiiee ; 

 which has fince fetched thrice its original price. He^ after- 

 wards printed many of the Latin claffics, and feveral Enghlli 

 ones, in 410. and fmaller fizcs. The paper and ink, as well 

 as the type, were prepared by himfelf; and the beauty of his 

 workma'n'niip was unrivalled. The type was dillinguilhed by 

 a pecuhar finenefs and (harpnefs, which gave the printing a 

 ftrong refemblance to fine print-hand writing ; and the paper 

 had a remarkable gloff, which fet off the type, but not with- 

 out offending the eye. It is obferved, however, that Bailccr- 

 ville's editions are not remarkable for their coiTcdnel's. De- 

 riving little encouragement from bookfellers, he fet up a type- 

 foun'dery for fale, which bufinefs was for fonie time carried 

 on by his widow, after his death in 1775. After many in- 

 effcftvial attempts for the dilpofal of his types and matrices, 

 they were fuifered, not much to the credit of this country, to- 

 be removed to Paris, where they were purthafed by a lite- 

 rary fociety for 3700I. and employed in -a fplendid edition 

 of Voltaire's works. Mr. BalkerviUe was dillinguiflied by 

 the elegance of his tafte in his houfe, and every thing that 

 belonged to him. The pannels of his carriage were elegant 

 pidures, and he was drawn by a beautiful pair of cream- 

 coloured horfcs. He feems to have been inclined to oilenta- 

 tion and Angularity : however, he was polite and hofpitable 

 to llrangers, and ambitions of cultivating acquaintance with 

 ingenious men. He was not conneiSled with any religious 

 fed, and was buried under a maufoleum in his own grounds. 

 Biog. Brit. Gen. Biog. 



BASKET, a kind of veffel made of ofier, wicker, rudies, 

 or the like, of different figures and fizes, according to the 

 purpofe which it is intended to ferve. 



Bafccts have their ufes not only in the csconomical, but 

 military affairs ; at fieges, they make ufe of a fmall bafl:et 

 filled with earth and ranged on the top of the parapet. 



They are about a foot and a half high, as much in dia- 

 meter at top, and eight or ten inches at bottom ; fo that be- 

 ing fet together,^ they leave a fort of embrafures at the 

 bottom, through which the foldiers lire, without expofing 

 themfelves. 



Basket alfo imports a kind of meafure or quantity of cer- 

 tain commodities. 



Basket, corbAUc, in Archite^ure, a kind of vafe, or figured 

 piece of fculpture, in form of a balket, filled with flowers o? 

 fruits, ferving to terminate fome decoration. 



Basket-^j, in Katural H'ljlory, a name given by the Eng- 

 lifti in Nortli America to a very remarkable fidi, fometimes 

 caught in the feas thereabout, though not frequently any 

 where. 



Mr. Hooke, to whom it was referred by the Royal Socie- 

 ty to name it, has called it PiJ'cis echinofleluiris vifiriformis, the 

 body of it refembling an egg-fi(h, or echinus inarinus, and 

 the arms a ftar-fifli, and finally, the dividing of the branches 

 being more like that of the branches of mifletoe than any 

 other natural produdlion we are acquainted with. 



This fifli fpreads itfelf from a pentagonal mouth-piece, or 

 root, in the centre of which the mouth is placed, into five 

 main Hmbs or branches ; and each of thefe, at its firft iffuing 

 out of the body, is divided into two: this makes ten. Each 

 of thefe ten again divides into two, which makes twenty, and 

 fo on, each dividing to the fourteenth time ; at which place 

 they make more than fourfcore thoufand limbs. Thefe are 

 too fmall to be traced farther by the eye, or preferved in car- 

 riage : but it is very probable that even thefe were again di- 

 vided, p'erhaps feveral times. 



The branches between the joints are not all equally of a 

 length, though, for the moft part, they are pretty nearly fo. 

 The arms or branches are never very llrong ; but when they 



are 



I 



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