an 

 rminin 



BIS 



Iwn.let of Hockerill. At a Oiort dillancc nortli of this town U 

 Had'r.^m parva, which is notL-a from being l!.e buna! place 

 of the Captls, carls of Eficx. DTr..op's Stortford is 30 miles 

 north of l>ondoii. Salmon's Hillory of Hcrtfoidlhiir. 



Bishop's H'altham, a fmall town of Hampniire, 111 Eng- 

 land, derives a part of its name from having been a fait of 

 ihc bifliops of V.'iiichefter, Some of their palace ftiU re- 

 mains at a fmall dillance weft of the town, and the fcite now 

 belongs to the fee. Leland defcribcs it as " a right ample 



d goodly maner place, moted aboute, and a praty brooke 



ining hard by it. It hath been of many bilhops' build- 

 ," The celebrated Will am of ^Vykeham, bifhop of 

 Wiiichefter, rcfided here doring the lall three years of his 

 life, and died in tliis ma:ifi<>n, A. D. 1404, in the 80th 

 year of his age. The hoiife was partly dcmolidicd in the 

 civil wars of^Chniles I. when bifhop Kyrl was in pofRflion. 

 Biftiop's Waltham is noted for its fchools, boih for gentle- 

 men and ladies. It contains lyi houfes, and 1773 inhabi- 

 tants, and has three an-iual fair?. 



About five miles for.th of the to.vn is r/kkham, a village 

 rende.-ed memorable from being the birth-place of the above- 

 named bilhop. See V/ykkkam. 



BISHOPING,in/f6;y:-,7iflAf/7j/>, isa term prob.iWy derived 

 from Bijhop, the name of a'horfe-dtaler, and denoting a 

 trick of the dealers in horfes for making them appear 

 younger than they arc, with a vi;v/ of impofing upon the 

 purchafer. 



This is done by excavating the corner tooth of the inci- 

 fors with a fteel graver or file, and afterwards blackening 

 the cavity with a hot iron. Tiiis mark, or excavation, is 

 deemed by many the criterion of age, and th?f. the horfe is 

 young while this is prefcrved. 



To avoid being impofed upon, the purchafer ftiould con- 

 fidcr the general figure, not only of the corner tooth, but 

 of all the incifor teeth of the upper and lower jaw, for they 

 all undergo a perpetual change of figure by age and 

 wear. 



An incifor tooth of the horfe, at its firft emerging from 

 the jaw, has the vifible part of it flat and covered every 

 T^-licre with enamel ; the outfide (liarp and projcfting higher 

 than the infide, with a conical cavity in the middle, of various 

 depth in ditftient horfes, which renders it of not much value 

 in deciding upon the age ; in fome it is fo fhort as to be obli- 

 terated by the fixth year ; in oth< rs it is fo long as to be found 

 till nine or ten, or later ; it is, therefore, not a certain crite- 

 rion of age : the general figure of the tooth is more to be 

 depended upon in our eftimation. The lateral width of the 

 recent tooth, and its flatnefs, are very remarkable, and can 

 never be imitated ; as this wears away, the toi^h daily in- 

 creafes in its tranfverfe wi;Uh, that is from front to back, and 

 diminifhes in its lateral width, forming, as the wear ad- 

 vances, nearly a triangle ; thefe angles at length by age gra- 

 dually difappear, and the tooth prtfcnts a rounder fiirface 

 on its upper part, and at length the tooth becomes flattened 

 on the fides, and actually wider from front to back than 

 from fidjto fide. For it (liould be recollefttd, that the tooth 

 is formed in its whole extent prcvions to its appearance ex- 

 ternally, and that the jaw is abforbed, to allow of its wear : 

 the enamel, like a fhell, dcfcribing the figure and bour.dary 

 of the tooth, which hollow Ihell is afterwards filled up with 

 bone. A tranfverfe feftion, therefore, of tlie tooth, or a 

 feries of them at different diflances from its point, afTord 

 the exaft figures of the furfaces of the teeth at the various 

 periods of their wear, and allowing for contingencies which 

 occafion the teeth to be worn with more or lefs rapidity, as 

 in crib biters, &c. will afford the trnell criterion* of ao-e, 

 aad render impofition in this way impracticable. 



B I S 



The teeth alio thev pretend, in fome inflances, to excavate 

 on the infide, and to'(h:u-pen with a file : thefe bungling at- 

 tempts, hov.cver, in no way refemblc the natural markings 

 or furface of the tooth, nor could impofe upon any one 

 the lead experienced in obfcrving the teeth. For what we 

 confider the btft indications of the age of horfes, however, 

 we refer the reader to the article Teeth of Horfes. 



BISIiOPRIC, the juriidiclion of a bilhop, or the dU 

 flrift witliin which it is compiifed, called alfo " diocefe," 

 which fee. 



There are twenty-four bifnoprics, and two archbiflioprics, 

 in England and Wales. To the old ones fubiilfing before 

 the times of the Reformation, Henry VIII. by letters pa- 

 tent added fix more biflioprjcs ; viz. thofe of Weftminfter, 

 Cheftcr, Gloceiter, Peterborough, Briftol, and Oxford^ 

 ftat. 34 & 35 Hen. VI 11. cap. 17. Thefe fees were alf 

 fo'-inded in the courfe of the years 1 540, 154I, and 1542. 



The fee of Weftminfter, having never had but one bifcop, 

 was united to that of London, and its biftiop tranflated 

 to Norwich, by Edward VI. in 1550. The remaining 

 biftioprics are comprehended under two provinces, thofe 

 of Canterbury and York. The province of Cantcibury 

 includes tlic following bilhoprics, viz. !. The bifiiopric of 

 London, containing Eilex, Middlefex, and part of Hert- 

 ford, and extending it? jurifdidion to theWeft india iflands. 

 2. Wineheller, compreliending Surry, Hampft^.ire, and the 

 ifles of Wight, Jerfey, Guernfey, and Alderney. 3. Litch- 

 field and Coventry, to which belong Stafford, Derby, and 

 part of Warwick and Shropfhire. 4. Lincoln, comprehend- 

 ing Lincoln, Leicefter, Huntiugd.iii, Bedford, Bucking- 

 ham, and part of Hertford. 5. Ely, containing Camhridgc- 

 ftiire. 6. Sahfbury, to which belong Wilts and Berkdiire. 

 7. Exeter, including Cornwall and Devon. 8. Bath and 

 Wells, comprehending Somerfetftiire. o, Chicheller, to 

 which belongs Suflex. 10. Norwich, containing Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, and a fmall part of Cambridge. J i. Worceller, cont- 

 prehending Worcefter and part of Warwxk. 12. Hercrord, 

 including Hereford and part of Shropftiire. 13. Rochtftcr, 

 to vvhicfi belongs part of Kent. 14. Oxford, including Ox- 

 fordftiire. 15. Peterborough, containing ^Northampton and 

 Rutland. 16. Glouceller, comprehending Glouceftcrfliire. 

 17. Briftol, to which belongs the city of Briftol, part of 

 Gloucefterfliire, and the county of Dorfet. 18. Landafl, 

 comprehending Glamorgan, Monmouth, Brecknock, and 

 Radnor. 19. St. David's, including Pembroke, Cardigan, 

 and Caermarthen. 20. St. Afaph, containing the greateft 

 part of Flint, Denbigh, and Montgomery, and fome part 

 of Shropfliire. 21. Bangor, to which belong the counties 

 of Anglefey, Caernarvon; Merioneth, and part of Denbigh 

 and Montgomery. The province of York comprehends, — 



22. Durham, containing Durham and Northumberland. 



23. Carlifle, including great part of Cumberland and Weft- 

 morekind. 24. Cheiler, to which belong Cheftiire, Lan- 

 cafhire, Richmondfhire, which is part of York, together 

 with part of Cumberland and Wellmorcland. 25. Ifle of 

 Man. The value of thefe fe;s is not eafily afcertained, as 

 it is very different from that which is ftated in the king's 

 books. It is a certain faft, whatever may be the primary 

 occafion of it, that the revenues of the biflioprics are 

 very unequal in value, and that there is alfo a great ine- 

 quality in the patronage appertaining to the diflFerent fees. 

 Adverting to this circumftance, Dr. Watfon, the prefent 

 bifhcjp of Landalf, addrefled a " Letter to his Grace the 

 Archbifhop of Canterbury," printed in 1783, propofuig a 

 fcheme for rendering th'; bilhoprics more equal to each 

 other, with lefpeft to both income and patronage, by an- 

 nexing part of the eftatcs, and pan of the preferments, of 



the 



