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•of any game. Any number of perfons may play by bavin? 

 balls that are numbered ; but the number feldom exceeds fix, 

 to avoid confufion. The perfon whofe ball is put in, pays 

 fo much to the player according to what is agreed to be 

 played for each hazrird ; and the perfon who niiffes, pays 

 half the price of a hazard to him whofe ball he played at. 

 The only general rule is, not to lay any ball a hazard for 

 the next player, which may be in a great meafure avoided, 

 by always playing upon the next player, and either bring- 

 ing him clofe to the cufliion, or putting him at a diRance 

 from the re(l of the balls. The table, when hazards are 

 played, is always paid for by the hour. 



BILLIAT, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Ain, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 diilrift of Nantua, 2| leagues S. E. of Nantua. 



BILLICHA, in Ancient Geography, a river of Afia in 

 Mefopotamia, which rifes in the mountains of Ofroene, 

 fouth of EdefTa, and purfuing a fouth-eallerly courfe, dif- 

 charges itfelf into the Euphrates, at the town of Nice- 

 phorum. 



13ILLIGHEIM, in Geography, a town of Germany, 

 in the palatinate of the Rhine, 4 miles S. of Landau, and 16 

 S. W. of Spire. 



BILLIGRATZ, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 

 Carniola, 4 leagues N. of Laubach. 



BILLINGEN, a town of the Netherlands, in the duchy 

 of Luxemburg, 20 miles E. of Spa. 



BILLINGSGATE, a fiilr-market of London, kept 

 every day, and the toll of which is apj-ointcd by llat\ite. 

 All perfons buying fifh in this market may fell the fame in 

 any other market by retail, but none but fifh mongers are al- 

 lowed to fell it in (hops : and if any perfun fliall buy any 

 quantity of fifli at Billingfgate for others, or any fifiimonger 

 fhall engrofs in the market, they incur a penalty of 20I. 

 Pifh imported bv foreigners fliall be forfeited, and the veflel 

 &c. 10& II Wil. III. c. 24. I Geo. I. flat. 2. c. 18. 

 § I. &c. 



BILLINGSPORT, a place on the river Delaware, in 

 America, fituate 12 miles below Philadelphia, which was 

 fortified in the late war, for the defence of the channel, and 

 oppofite to which were funk frames of timber, headed with 

 iron fpikes, called chevaux-de-frize, in order to prevent the 

 Britifh (hips from paffing. After the war they were raifed 

 by a curious machine, invented at Philadelphia for this 

 purpofe. 



BILLIS, in Ancient Geography, a fn-.all river of Afia Mi- 

 nor, on the frontiers of Paphlagonia, on the borders of which 

 was fcatcd the town of Teium, mentioned by Sallufl. 



BILLITON, in Geography, one of the Sunda iflands in 

 the Indian ocean, N. E. of the lower part of Sumatra, and 

 E. of Banca. (See Straits of Banca) S. lat. between 

 2° 30'. and 3° 30'. E. long, between 107"^ 45'. and 108° 

 26'. 



BILLOM, a town of France, and principal place of a 

 canton, in the diftrift of Clerm.ont, and department of Puy- 

 de-Dome, 4 leagn.es E. S. E. from Clermont. The town 

 contains 5,1 JO inhabitants, and the canton 13,711. The 

 territorial extent comprehends 115 kiliomctres, and 10 com- 

 munes. N. lat. 45° 43'. E. long. 3° 14'. 



BILLON, BiLLio, in Coinage, a kind of bafe metal, 

 either of geld or filvcr, in whofe mixture copper predomi- 

 nates. 



The word is French, formed according to Menage, from 

 the Latin l^u/Li, or tinllo, LulUon. According to M. Bout- 

 teroue, billon of gold is any gold beneath ftandard, or twenty- 

 one carats ; and billon of filver, all below ten penny-weights. 

 But, according to otheis, and among the reft, M. Boizard, 



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gold and filver beneath the ftandard, as far as twelve carats, 

 and fix penny-weight'', are properly bafe gold and (ilvtr, 

 and all under thofe billon of gold, and billon of lilver, be- 

 caufe copper is the prevailing metal. The writers on numif- 

 matic fcience appropriate the term billon to fignify metals of 

 copper alloyed with a very fmall quantity of (liver. 



BILLS, in Geography, a rock in the Atlantic, near the 

 weft coaft of Ireland, 6 miles N. W. from the ifland of Clare, 

 and d S. S. E. from AchiU-head. 



BILLY, James De, in Biography, was born in 153 J, 

 at Guile in Picardy, and devoting himfelf to (ludy, he en- 

 tered the church, in which he poficffed fome benefices. Af- 

 ter fnhcring confiderably in the civil wars, he retired to 

 Paris, and died in the honfe of his friend Gilbert Genebrard, 

 in 158 1. His works, both in profe and verfe, were nume- 

 rous ; but the mofl valuable are his Latin tranllations of the 

 Greek fathers: fuch are, " S. Gregorii Nazianzeni opera 

 omnia," fol. 1569 and 1583; " Interpretatio Latina 18 

 priorum libri S. Irenai adv. Hasref. capitum," fol. 1577 ; 

 " S. Joh. Damafceni opera," fol. 1577 ; " Ifidori Peluhotas 

 Epiftolse, Gr. & Lat. (3 firft books,^'fol. 1587 ;" and tranl- 

 lations of fome pieces of St. Chi^foltom, infertcd in the Parii 

 editions of his works, in 1581, .Sec. Moreri. 



Billy, in Geography, a town of France in the depart- 

 ment of the Ailier ; 4I leagues N. E. from Gannat. 



BILMA, a defert country in the north of Africa, being 

 a pari of the Great Defert, or Sahara, and a prolongation 

 of the Libyan defert to the S. W. bounded on the N. 

 by the Tibefti mountains, and the defert of Berdoa, on the 

 E. by Kawar or Kuar, on the S. by Bornou, and on the 

 W. by Zegzeg, Agades, Afouda, Ganat, S:c. N. lat. 

 about 23° to 25°. W. long, about 20'^. The fait lake of 

 Du.mboo, the Chelonides Palus of Ptolemy, is faid to be 

 fituated in the defert of Bilma. 



BILOBUS, in Entomology, a fpecies of ScARAB.cus, 

 with two prominent lobes on the thorax ; a fimple horn on 

 the head, and wing-cafes (Iriatcd. Inhabits the fouth of 

 Europe. Fabricius. 



BiLOBUs, a fpecies of Dytiscus, of an oblong-ovate 

 form and black ; mouth, vertical two-lobed fpot, thorax, 

 futural line, bale, and margin of the wing-cafes yellow. 

 Linn. Muf. Lefl<;. 



BiLOBUs, a fpecies of CiM EX (Splnoftis), with an obtufe- 

 dentated thorax ; wing-cafes greyifli or reddifa ; vent with 

 two lobes. Linn. Muf. Leflc. A native of Europe. 



Bhobus, in Ornithology, a fpecies of Charadrius, called 

 the U'attled Plover, by Latham. It is an inhabitant of the 

 coail of the Malabar. The bill and legs are yellow ; frontal 

 (Ivin naked, and pendulous in two point-d lobes ; body above 

 yellowifh grey ; beneath white. Gmelin, See. The crown, 

 band on the tail, and quill feathers are black ; band acrofs 

 the eyes, greater wing-coverts, and fome of the tail feather« 

 at the end white. This is Pl-.ii'ier a lamleaiix of Buff. Hill. 

 Oif. and Pluvicr de la cote de Malabar of PI. cnl. of the 

 fame author. Length nine inches and a half. 



BILOCULAR, in Botany, a ter.Ti applied to a cap>fuk, 

 having two cells. 



BILOIYAR, in Geography, a town of Rufiia, in the 

 government of Simbirflv, on the eafl fide of the Volga, 16 

 miles S.E. of Simblrflc. 



BILS, or BILSIUS, Louis de, of Rotterdam, in Hol- 

 land, in Biography, acquired much fame for a time, about 

 the middle of the"l7th century, for a fuppofed new method 

 of preferving bodies from putvefaclion, and of diffccling them 

 without occafioning an effufion of blood. By his method 

 of preparing the bodies, they were laid to preferve their 

 flexibiUty as well as freedom fro-a putridity for ages ; fo that 

 3 B 2 they 



