BAT 



BAT-FOWLING, a method of catching birds In tlie 

 right, by lighting fome ft raw or torchts near the place 

 where they are at rooft ; for, upon beating them up, they 

 fly to the flames, where being amazed they are eai'ily caught 

 in nets, -or beat down with buihes fixed to the end of 

 pole?, &c. 



BATGAN, or B'hatgan, in Geography, a. city of Hin- 

 dolhn, fituate in the extenfive plain of the kingdom of Ne- 

 pal or Napaul, to the ea'.l of Lelit Pattan ; and lo mik-s 

 foiith of Catmandn, the capital of Nepal. It contains 

 about 1 2, coo families, extends towards the eall to the di- 

 ilance of five or fix days' journey, and borders upon another 

 nation, alio independent, called Ciratas, who profcfs no reli- 

 gion. In 1769, the king of Gorka took poficfTion by force 

 of the city of Batgan. See Father Giufcppe's account of 

 the kingdom of Nepal in Afiatic Rcfearches, vol. ii. p. 308. 

 N.lat. 28°. E. long. 85° 12'. 



BATH,acity of .Somerfctniirc in England, is fitiiated in 

 N.lat. 51" 22' 30", W.long. 2"2r30", St the dillanee of 

 107 miles well from London, and 12 call ol Briflol. This 

 ancient and elegant city is fingularly favoiuvd by nature and 

 art, whofe joint co-operations have confpired to give it im- 

 portance and celebrity. The beauty and peculiarity of its 

 fituation are perhaps unequalled by any town in England. 

 Planted originally in the bottom ofa deep and narrow valley, 

 where its hot waters boil up, it continued tor ages to be con- 

 fined to the dimenfions which the Romans had firft marked 

 out ; and till within the lalb century, the ancient Roman 

 walls (inclofing a fpacc of about fifty acres) formed the 

 boundaries of liath. But the fafliion and celebrity which it 

 latterly obtained, induced many builders and ipeculators to 

 extend the ftreets in all diredlions, by additional houfes, 

 which were inftantly occupied upon completion. Built of the 

 fine oolite, or granulated egg-like freeftone, which forms the 

 bafis of the furrounding hills, the houfes are remarkable for 

 their exterior neatnefs and fplendour ; and being raifed over 

 the fides of the broad acclivity of Lanfdovvn (which rifes to 

 the north), in irregular groups of ftreets, fquares, parades, 

 circuftes, andcrcfcents, they prcfent to the eye an appearance 

 equally fingular, magnificent, and beautiful. Nothing, in- 

 deed, can be more pifturefque than the views of this city 

 from various ftations on the furrounding' eminences ; where 

 houfes rife above houfes in progreflivc order, and the more 

 elevated feem to look down with proud fuperiority on the 

 no lefs elegant and extenfive ftruftures below. 



Bath, indent Hi/lory of. Various nam.es have been 

 given to this city at different periods. Its Britifh appella- 

 tion was Caer-Baddon. In Latin, it was called Aqux Solis, 

 Fontes Cahdi, Acliamannnm, Thermae, Badonia, &c. ; and in 

 Saxon, Accmannes.ceaj-tpe, Tfcemanes-bepi, Le-bocVun, 

 &c. Moft of thefe names refer to its fituation, and its 

 fprings or baths. The origin of this place as a fcltlement 

 or town, is loft in the lapfe of ages ; and its early hiftory is 

 enveloped in legendary tales and monkifh fables. The 

 ftrange ftory of Bladud and his leprous pigs isd'fcredned by 



' all rational thinkers, though it firmed a part of the cried 

 of the Bath citizens till within the laft fifty years. " But the 



9 prefer. t gene'ation (obferves Mr. Warner) are wifer and 

 more pr.d' "t than their f ir^faliierb, and rather attentive to 

 the v iu' of tiir fpring.'i than their ori'rjn, have at length for- 

 ccitm 'h'. :;. I'qi'i'y of tlieir difc'jvery, in the agreeable con- 

 ;• -iij-Id ion of the i'lr^^e rents whicii ihcy throw into the cor- 

 I' ra;'0u chells." 



T'lat Bith was one of the principal, if not the moft con- 



.' -!e of the Romr.i ftnt'ons in England, is latisfadlorily 



' y the many arciiiteClural a-,d military antiquities 



■ e been found within its precincts. It is probable that 



BAT 



if Bath wsa not originally built by the Romans, it was at lead 

 reduced under their power, and embcUifiied by their arts, as 

 early as the middle of the firft century ; when, in the leigu 

 of the emperor Claudius, according to Tacitus, about the 

 year 44, the weftern and fouth-weftern parts of this ifiand 

 were completely fubdued by Flavius Vefpafian. Attrae^ed 

 by the medicinal and warm fprings v.hich they found here, 

 and \\'hich aftorded every means of indulging lu tliat prime 

 enjoyment of Roman luxury, the bath, the Roman foldiers 

 fixed in this place one of tlieir principal ftations. " Aquae 

 Sohs," the name by which they dcfignated this delightful 

 refidence, was foon eftabliihed as a colony ; and of courfe 

 became entitled to the privilege, which all the Roman colo- 

 nies enjoyed, of minting its own money. It is to be conjec- 

 tured, alfo, that a military forge, or college of armourers, was 

 erefted here for the fabrication of legionary arm.s, under the 

 authority of a Roman government. In the reign of Adtian, 

 about A. D. 118, the firft detachment of the fecond legion, 

 which had been ilationed here, was joined by a divlfion of 

 the fixth ; anAin that of Severus, a part of the twentieth 

 legion, removed from Devana, or Chefter, had its ftation in 

 Aqure Solis, which was then become the moll capital city in 

 Roman Britain, and the principal, if not the only, place in 

 this part of the ifland, for preparing the legionary arms and 

 enfigns. The form of the city then conftrudled, according 

 to that ufually affected by the Romans, approached to a 

 parallelogram, fwelling out on one fide, fo as to defcribe au 

 outline fomewhat pentagonal, and ftretcbing in length, from 

 eall to weft, about 400 yards^and 380 yards in the broadeft 

 part from north to loath. The wall, which rofe upon the 

 outline of the fettlem.ent, appears, from fubfequent dif- 

 coveries, to have been twenty feet above ground in height, 

 and in thicknefs fixteen feet at the bale, and eight at the 

 fummit. It was ftrengthened with five towers, riling at the 

 angles; and had four portx, or entrances, facing the cardinal 

 points, which were connedled together by two grand ftreets, 

 dividing the city into four parts, and interfering each other 

 at the centre. 



The place thus fortified and ftrengthened for fecurity, was 

 next adorned with- houfes for the olHcers, temples, and thofe 

 magnificent baths, the remains of which were difcovered, in 

 digging to a confiderable depth, in the year 1755. Thefe 

 baths were feated near the centre of the city, betwixt the 

 north and louth gates, on the eallern fide of the great fofle- 

 road. The fudatories, tympanum, fluted-columns, cornices, 

 pilafters, and fculptured ornaments, found here, prove that the 

 buildings were conftruiled from elegant defigns, and of 

 fimilar charatlers to fome ftruftures defcribed by Pliny and 

 Vitruvius. Many altars have alio been found here bearing 

 the infcriptions of UeK Sulini Minervae, Dex Sulinis, &c. 

 concerning which many conjetlures have been adduced. 

 Mr. Warner affirms the goddefs Sulinis to be a local deity ; 

 Mr. Ly fons afferts that the name is of Gothic origin ; whilft 

 Mr. Whitaker more appropriately and happily explains it 

 to be the Britiili charaaerilt'c appellation for Minerva as the 

 tutelary goddefs ot medicine, deriving her influence inmiedi- 

 ately from the fun. This great difpenfer of heat was denomi- 

 nated Sul in the Celtic language. The ancient baths occupied 

 a fpace mealuring 240 feet in length from eall to weft, and 

 120 feet at the broadeft part from north to fouth. (Thefe 

 baths, and remaining fragments, have been particnlaily de- 

 fcribed and illullraced by governor Povvnal and Mr. Warner, 

 in ^publications exprefsly on the fubjeCl ; and the fragments 

 are reprelented and defcribed by Mr. S. Lyfons in a volume 

 lately publifhed.) 



Tlie Romans being eftabliftied here, conftrufted four of 

 their great military roads to communicate between this place 



(Aqux 



