BAT 



BAT 



alfo creAcJ a more confiderable houfe on the banks ef the 

 Than^es, at Marlow, in Buckinghamfliire, where he pafTcd 

 much of his leifure time, in the latter part of his hfe. Thefe 

 houfes were built under the immediate infpeftion of the 

 Dotlor, and after his own defigns. He died of a paralytic 

 ftioke, at his houfe in Great Ruflel Street, the 13th of 

 June 1776, aged feventy-two years. Having no male iflue, 

 his great property, upwards of 9o,oool. was divided between 

 his three daughters, of whom the eldeil was manned to cap- 

 tain, afterwards admiral Sir George Young, who fold the 

 houfe at Marlow, called Court Garden, to Richard Daven- 

 port, Efq. an eminent furgeon of Eflex Street, in the Strand, 

 London ; the fecond, to Philip Raflileigh, Efq. a gentle- 

 man of Conuvali ; and the third, to the late Sir John Call, 

 baronet. 



BATTIFOLIUM, or Battifollum, in /lutinuity, a 

 kind of tower or defence, frequently mentioned by Latin 

 hiftorians of the middle age. It feems to have been wood, 

 and to have been erefted on fudden and hafty occafions. 



BATTLE, in Geography,^ fmall market town of England, 

 in a hundred of the fame name, in SufTex, is fituated 6 miles from 

 Haftings, and 56 fouth-eaft from London. It was originally 

 called Epiton ; but the decifive viftorj- at Haftings, gained 

 by William, duke of Normandy, over king Harold, induced 

 the former, when he was fixed on the throne, and founded 

 the abbey, to change the name of the town to that which 

 at prefent it retains. Battle confills of one principal ftreet, 

 indifferently built ; and the parifh church is a neat building, 

 the incumbent of which is ftikd dean of Battle. The in- 

 habitants fupport alfo a charity fchool for forty boys. The 

 gunpowder which is raanufatlurtd here is efteeraed the bell 

 in Europe, and hence called " Battle powder," though 

 the town cannot boaft of any other trade. The neigh- 

 bourhood, however is fo fertile, that an incredible number 

 of large cattle are conftantly lent up to the London 

 markets for fale, efpeoially what are denominated ttall-fcd 

 oxen, which produce the largefl beef in England. Henry I. 

 granted a market to be kept on every " Lord's tfr.y ;" but 

 Anthony, lord Montague, who, about i6co, buiit himfelf 

 a beautiful feat here, obtained an att of pr.,liament to change 

 the market day to Thurfday, as it now continues. Battle 

 is reckoned unhealthy on account of its 'o-.v dirty fituation. 

 Its greateft boaft is the magnificent abbey built by V/illiam 

 the Conqueror, on Heathfield, near the town, in 1067, to 

 compenfate in fome fmall degree for the effufion of blood the 

 year before ; the higheil allar of the fabrickftnnding on ;he 

 very fpot where the body of the brave but unfortunate Ha- 

 rold was found. This abbey was filled with Benediftine 

 monks from Normandy, and endowed with fuch extenfive 

 privileges, that if a conviit were paffing to execution, it was 

 in the abbot's power indantly to releafe him, fhould they 

 meet on the road. At the diffolution its revenues were va- 

 lued at 880 1. 14 s. yd. The ruins of the abbey are very 

 ftately ; and what remains undeftroyed, ferves as a houfe for 

 the family of Wcbiler, and for the purpofts of the town, 

 the gate-houfe being ufed as the hall in which arc held fef- 

 fions and other meetings for this peculiar jurifdiction. From 

 Standard and Tillman hills are vei-y extenfive profpefts. A 

 faft related of abbot Hamo, in 1381, is worth recording ; a 

 body of Frenchmen landing and attacking Rye and Winchel- 

 fea, Hamo raifed whatever force he could colleft, repaired 

 to Winchelfea, and having fortified it as well as he was able, 

 checked the progrcfs of the enemy, till the force of the 

 country was fufficienlly powerful effedlually to repel them. 

 Battle has three fairs, and two hundred and ninety-four 

 houfes, inhabited by 2040 perfons. 



ISattle IJIand. See Bav of St. Louis. 



Battle, a river in New South Wales, which runs N. E. 

 into Salkahawen river, S. E. from Manchefter houfe. 



Battle, or Battel, Wager of, in Law, a fpecies of trial 

 of great antiquity, which had its origin in the mihtary fpirit 

 of our anceftors, blended with fuperflition, and which con» 

 fiftsd in a kind of appeal to Providence, under an apprchen- 

 fion and hope, however prefumptucus and unwarrantable, that 

 heaven would give the victory to him who had the right. 

 Concerning the early hiftory and general prevalence of this 

 mode of trial, fee Combat. This trial, which had been the 

 immemorial practice of all the northern nations, and which 

 had been firft reduced to regular and ftatcd form among the 

 Burgundi, about tKe clofe of the fifth centuq-, and paffed 

 from them to the Franks and Normans, was introduced 

 into England, among other Norman cuftoms, by WilUam the 

 Conqueror ; but it was only ufed in three cafes, one military, 

 one criminal, and the third civil : the firft in the court 

 martial, or court of chivalry and honour ; the fecond in ap- 

 peals of felony ; and the third upon ifiue jiined in a writ of 

 right. In thefe writs of right, the "jus proprietatis" could 

 not often be afcertained without difficulty ; and this mode of 

 determining it was allowed for the fake of fuch claijnants as 

 might have the true right, but yet by the death of witnefles, 

 or other defefl of evidence, be unable to prove it to a jury. 

 Although the writ of right itfelf, and of courfe this mode of 

 trial, be^at prefent much difuf-rd, yet it is ftilllaw and in force, 

 if the parties chuf; to abide by it. 



The lad trial by battel tiiat was waged in the court of 

 common pleas at Weftminflcr, though one afterwards occurs 

 in the court of chivalry in 1 631, and another in the county 

 palatine of Durham in 163'^, was in the 13th year of queen 

 Elizabeth, A. D. 1571 ; and was held m Tothill fields 

 Wefiminfter, " non fine magna juris confultorum perturba- 

 tione," fays fir Henry Spelman, who was himfelf a witnefs 

 of the ceremony. The form of it, defcribed by judge 

 Blackftone, is as follows. 



When the tenant in a writ of right pleads the general 

 iffue, viz. that he hath more right to hold, than the demand- 

 ant hath to recover; and offers to prove it by the body of his 

 champion, which tender is accepted by the demandant ; the 

 tenant in the firft place muft produce his champion, who, by 

 throwing down his glove as a gage or pledge, thus wages or 

 ftipulates battel with the champion of the demandant ; who, 

 by taking up the gage or glove, ftipulates on his part to ac- 

 cept the challenge. The reafon why it is waged by cham- 

 pions, and not by the parties themfelves, in civil aAions, is 

 becaufe, if any party to the fuit dies, the fuit muft abate and 

 be at an end for the prefent ; and therefore no judgment could 

 be given for the lands in queftion, if either of the parties 

 were flain in battel :' and alfo that no perfon might claim an 

 excmprion from this trial, as was allowed in criminal cafes, 

 where the battel was waged in perfon. 



A piece of ground is then in due time fet out, of fixty feet 

 fquare, enclofed with lifts, ^and on one fide a court ereAed 

 for the judges of the court of common pleas, who attend 

 there in their fcarlet robes ; and alfo a bar is prepared for the 

 learned ferjeants at law. When the court fits, which ought 

 to be by fun-rifing, proclamation is made for the parlies, and 

 their champions ; who are introduced by two knights, and 

 'are drtifed in a coat of armour, with red fandals, barelegged 

 from the knee downwards, bareheaded, and with bare arms to 

 the elbows. The weapons allowed them are only batons, or 

 ftaves, of an ell long, and a four-cornered leather target ; fo 

 that death very feldom enfued this civil combat. In the court 

 military- indeed they fought with fword and lance, according 

 to Spelman and Ruftiwcrth ; as likewife in France only vil- 

 leins fought with the buckler and baton, gentlemen armed at 



all , 



