BAT 



make difcovcrit? ; nf which they arc to give an account to 

 the goiieral. See Scou rs. 



liATTEUX, Charles, in Biography, honorary canon 

 of tlie church at Rlicims, which whs his native city, became 

 profclTor of philofophy at tlie Royal College of Paris, and dif- 

 tingiiifliL-d himfclf by 'I'.is judgment, kaniing, and charaaer. 

 He was chofen a me'nsber of the Academy of Infcriptions in 

 1759, and of the French Academy in 1761. His death, 

 wliich happened al Paris in 17S0, is fiippofed to have been 

 accelerated by the cliai^rin ref'ilting from tiic want of luccels 

 of the elementary worits, which he drew up by order of go- 

 Ternaient, for the life of the military fchool. His chief publi- 

 cations, written m French, are the following : " A Trauda- 

 tion ufthe Works of Horace," 2 vol;. l2mo.; " The Morals 

 of Epiftetus, exti-afted from his own writings," iimo. 1758; 

 , " A Courfe of tlie Belles Lettres," 5 vols. 1 imo. 1760 ; to 

 wliich are annexed his treatifes, before publirtied ; " The 

 Fine Arts reduced to a ungle Principle," and " On Oratorical 

 Compofition ;" " Hillory of Primary Caufes," 8vo. 1769; 

 «' The four Poetics of Ariftollc, Horace, Vida, and Boileau, 

 with Traiiflations and Remarks," 2 vols. 8vo. 1771 ; " Ele- 

 ments of Literature, estraAed from the Courfe of Belies 

 I-eltres," 2 vols. izmo. ; " Elementary Courfe for the 

 Ufe of the Military School," 45 vols. i2mo. ; and " Tranf- 

 lations of Ocellus Lucanus, and Timxus Locrenfis." Nouv. 

 Dia. Hill. 



BATTIE, William, in B'tography, bora in Devonfliire, 

 in 1704, received his education at Eton School, whence 

 he went in 1722, to King's College in Cambridge. On 

 the death of his father, his mother moved to Eton, and 

 afterwards to Cambridge, that llie might be near her fon, 

 ind affill in leficiiiiig his cxpences. The Craven Scholarfhip 

 oecoming vacant foon after his admiffion, the Doftor offered 

 himfelf as a candidate, and had the good fortune to be fuc- 

 cefsful. Of the importance this fmall rtipcnd, only 25I. per 

 annum, was to him, we may judge, from v;!iat he fays on 

 the fubjecl, in a letter to a friend. " I (liall now," he fays, 

 •* begin to live agreeably, and have, 1 hope, got through the 

 worlf part of my life." A recoUeftion of the utility of this 

 ftipend to him, it is probable, Bowyer fays, induced him, in 

 the latter part of his life, to found a fimilar fcholarlhip, at 

 the fame univerfity. Purfning his ftudies, in 1 72<), he was 

 made Bachelor, and in 1730, Mailer of Arts ; he was alio 

 now one of the Fellows of the College. In 1729 he pub- 

 liihed 3 fpecimen of an edition of Ilocrates, in one volume 

 8vo. He at firll propofed (ludying the law, and his finances 

 not being equal to the cxpcnce of taking chambers in one of 

 the inns of court, in London, he communicated his intention 

 to two wealthy coufins in the city, of the name of Coleman; 

 but as they declined alfilling him, he turned his mind to the 

 ftudy of medicine, and in 1737, he took the degree of Doc- 

 tor in that facultv. For a (hort lime he praftifcd medicine 

 at Cambridge. Removing thence, he went to rcfide at IJx- 

 bridge,'.vhere,acquiring the confidence of fome of the principal 

 families in the neighbourhood, he foon came into confider- 

 able pradicc. About the year 1739, he married the daugh- 

 ter of Barnham Good, one of the mafttrs of Eton, having 

 kept up an intimacy with the lady from the time of his 

 quitting the fchool. He was now alfo noticed by his rela- 

 tions, the Colcmans, who were fo much gratified by the 

 confequence to which they faw him rifing, that the furvivor 

 ef them left him 30,0001. Continuing a few years longer 

 at Uxbridge, he at length removed to London. In 1745, 

 we find him, Fellow of the College of Phyficians. The 

 fame year lie fpoke the Harveian Oration, which was pub- 

 hlhed the following year. About the fame time he was 

 elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1 749, he com- 



B A T 



pletcd his edition of Ifocrates, which was publiHied in two 

 volumes, Svo. Though this work was not well received by 

 the qrilics, it was always a great favourite with the Doftor. 

 The year follov/ing he experienced a fciious mortification. 

 For taking an adive part in a difpute between the College 

 cf Phyficians ani Dr. Schomberg, and being one of the 

 moil (treimous in oppofing his admifiion as a Fellow, he was 

 held up to ridicule in a fatyrical poem, under the name of 

 the Battiad, in which a ludicrous account is given of t.hc dif- 

 pute, as well as fome feveic iarcafms on his favourite work. 

 The Battiad is fuppoftd to have been the joint produftion 

 of Mofes Mendez, Paul Whitehead, and Dr. Schomberg. 

 It was publilhcd, at the time, in folio, and afterwards, in 

 1776, in a colieelion of hu.norous pieces, in 2 vols. 8vo. 

 Another edition of this colleftion, much enlarged, was 

 printed in 1792, in 4 vols. i2mo. There being at this time 

 but one public afylum in London, for the reception of infane 

 perfons, which had been long found infufiicient to contain 

 all the indigent objcCls labouring under this affiiaion, a 

 fubfcription was fet on foot by feme wealthy and benevolent 

 individuals, to erea another ediiice for the purpofe, on the 

 plan of Bethlehem Hofpital. Tlie fclieme was fo much ap- 

 proved, and fo largely patronized, that in 1751 the managers 

 of the fund were enabled to take, and fit up, a large build- 

 ing on the north fide of Moorfields for the purpofe, and as 

 Dr. Battie had been very aftive in promoting the fubfcrip- 

 tion, he was appointed phyfician to tlie inlUtution, which 

 was called St. Luke's Hofpital. It contained one hundred 

 and ten beds, eighty of which were appropriated to recent 

 cafes, fuch as were fuppofed capable of being relieved, or 

 cured by medical treatment, and thirty for old and incurable 

 cafes. By the good condua of the managers, and the cha- 

 raaer the charity thence acquired, the committee found 

 thcmfelvcs enabled, in 1781, to take a piece of ground, in 

 Old Street, and erea a large and magnilicent building for 

 the rece])tion of the patients, who were removed into it in 

 1786. The new building contains beds for 185 recent 

 and curable patients, and for 120 incurables. The prc- 

 fent phyfician, who was eleaed into the office, in 1 781, 

 is Dr. Samuel F. Simmons. 



In 1757 Dr. Battie publifhed a treatife on Madnefs, 4to. 

 in whicii, having thrown out fome cenfurcs on the medical 

 pia6lice formerly ufed in Bethlehem Hofpital, Dr. John 

 Monro, whofe father was implicated in the cenfurcs, replied, 

 rebutting liis charges, and having hnmoroufly taken for the 

 motto to his remarks, " O major tandem parcas infane mi- 

 nori." The Dr. was afterwards called by the wits. Major 

 Battie. In 1762 he publifhed " Aphorifmi de cognofceiidis 

 et curandis morbis nonnnilis, ad principia animalia accomo- 

 data," taken principally from his Lumleian leaures. In 

 February 1763 he was examined before a committee of the 

 Houfe of Commons, on the (late of the private mad-houfcs 

 in the kingdom, which he fhewed them, from inftances that 

 had fallen under his notice, to be fo ill conduaed, as fome- 

 times to be ufed as prifons for perfons whofe relatives were 

 intereded in getting them out of the way. This gave rife 

 to a fcries of^ regulations, made by the legiflature, witli a 

 view of preventing the continuance of thofe praaiccs ; but 

 they were not completely fiipprtficd until the year 1774, 

 when the power of licenfing private madhoufes was veiled 

 in the college of phyficians. 



As tlie Dnaor had for fevcral years confined his praaice 

 to maniacal cafes, he had now Icifure to indulge his inclina- 

 tion for building, to which he was much attached. Befuies 

 a large houfe, No. 88, Great Ruffel Street, Bloomfhury. for 

 his town lefidencc, he built an elegant villa at Tv\iekenham, 

 lately the refidence of the Coiiatefs Dowager Pawlet. He 



alio 



