B U '. 



eellcnce were called " Ficftas Rcales," are now become 

 ver)' rare. Charlis III. who cndiavoiired to polilh the na- 

 tion, and to dircifl the public attention to ufefiil objefts, 

 wai very dcfirous of fiipprelTiMg a talle from which inconve- 

 niences fpraiig; : but he was too wife to employ violent means 

 for this purpofe. He, however, confined the number of 

 buli-figlits to thofe, the profits of which were applied to 

 fome charitable inllitutions, with a defign of fubllituting to 

 ihefe other funds afterwards. Bull-fights being thus ren- 

 dered lefs frequent, will, perhaps, gradually lole their at- 

 traction, until more favourable circumllances allow the en- 

 tire abolition of them. 



BvuL-ninnin^, denotes a feudal cuftom obtaining in the 

 honour of Tudbury in Stafford(hire, where ancietitly, on 

 the day of the Affumption of our lady, a bull was turned 

 loufe by the lord to the minllrels, who, if they could catch 

 him before he palTed the river Dove, were to have him for 

 their own, or, in lieu thereof, to receive each forty pence ; 

 in conCderation of which cuUom, they pay twenty pence 

 yearly to the faid lord. Plot. Nat. Hilt. Staff. 



Bull and boar. — By the cuftom of fome places, the par- 

 fon is obhged to keep a bull and boar for the ufe of his pn- 

 ridiioners, in confidcration of his having tithes of calves and 

 pigs, &c. I Rol. Abr. 559. 4 Mod. 241. 



BuLL-comfor, in Enlomology. See Scarac/Eus Tvph.ieus. 



BuLL-^sff, in Zoology, a kind of mallifF upon a fmaller 

 fcalc ; with a fomewhat flatter fnout and a greater ferocity 

 of afpeft. The bull-dog is remarkable for the undaunted 

 and lavage pertinacity with which he provokes and conti- 

 nues the fight ; and when he has fixed iiis hite, is with 

 much difficulty difeniragtd from his antagoniil. This is the 

 dog employed in the barbarous divcrfion of bull-bailing. See 

 Canis. 



Bull's eye, in Aftronnmy. See Aldebaran. 



Bull's eye, in Meteorology, a little dark cloud, reddidi 

 in the middle, chiefly appearing about the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; thus denominatird by tlie Portuguefe, who, on the 

 appearance of it, inltantly take down tlieir fails, as know- 

 ing that a terrible florm of thunder, lightning, and whirl- 

 wind, is at hand. 



Bull's eye, in Sea language, denotes a fort of fmall oval 

 block without (heaves, made of hard wood. It is turned in 

 a lathe, has a groove round the outfide, and an oval hole 

 gouged through the middle. Thefe blocks are ufed inftead 

 of blocks and iron thimbles ; but, indeed, they are very fel- 

 dom ufed at all. 



BuLL-/f«<:/?, in Ornithology. See LoxiA Pyrrhula. 



BuLL-/>-«if, in Zoology. See Rana Catesbeiana, and 



OCELLATA. 



BuLL-iay river, in Geography, lies to the eaft of Port 

 Royal, or Kingfton harbour, in Jamaica, between Cane ri- 

 ver and Four-mile wood. 



Bull and cow, rocks near the fouth coall of Newfound- 

 land. N. lat. 46° 55'. W. long. 53° 42'. 



Bull Sand, lies about a league S. W. from the Spurn 

 point, or eaftern entrance of the Humber, on the coall of 

 Yorkfhire, between which and the point is a fine channel of 

 ten or eleven fathoms. 



Bull's harbour and i/land, or Sewee bay, lies on the coaft 

 of South Carolina, in North America, to the fouth-weft 

 from cape Carteret. The entrance of the harbour, which 

 is within the ifland, is at the N. E. end of it, having a 

 fmall idand within that : between them is a paflage, in N. 

 lat. 32° 56'. and W. long. 78° 24'. 



Bull-Am^, in Geography, a cape of Ireland, on the 

 north fide of Dmgle bay in the county of Berry, near three 

 miles S.E. of Diaglc. W. Long. 10° 4'. N. lat. Jj° 6'. 



B U L 



BoLL-/;iW, in Ichthyology, is a trivial Englifh name ap- 

 plied moil commonly to that fmall kind of li!h which we dif- 

 tinguifli farther by the name ot r'mer-luU-htad, [Collitt 

 Gobio Linn.). Another fiih of the fame genus, cottus 

 cataphractus is called - the anned-hull-head ; this lalt 

 lives in the lea. 



BuLL-/ro«.', an Englilli name for a fifli of the falmon 

 kind caught in many of the rivers of England ; it is alfo 

 called the fcurf. .See Salmo Trutta. 



BuLL-r///Zi, in Botanv. See SciRTV s^fuilans. 



BITLLA, in Antiquit^j, a golden ornament, of a globular 

 figure, and generally luppofcd to ha-'e been hollow within, 

 wherein was contained fome amulet, to ferve as a prefervative 

 from witchcraft and envy, hung about the neck by thofe 

 who triumphed among tlie Romans ; and alfo by the chil- 

 dren of the patricians, and even ingenui, as a badge of their 

 hereditary nobility and freedom, by which they might be 

 animated to behave themfelves in a manner worthy of their 

 birth. Authors are divided in their opinions about the form 

 of this ornament, which the Sabine women, in acknowledge- 

 ment of thjt increafe of wealth and power for which Rome 

 was indebted to them, were allowed to hang about the necks 

 of their children. Plutarch (in Romul.) fays, that they 

 refcmbled the little bubbles which are fornied by the drops 

 of rain, when they fall upon running water. Hence it has 

 been inferred, that they were hollow and light ; others 

 think that they were half globes, flat on one fide, and 

 globular on the other. Some have luppofed, that they 

 were originally made in the (hape of a heart, in order to- 

 prompt their wearers to the aequifition of wifdom ; and 

 others fay, they were round, with the figure of a heart 

 engraved on them. The form, in procefs of time, is faid to 

 have varied from a complete circle to that of a fegment. 

 Such was the (hape of the golden bulla lately found at 

 Mancheller ; and as this had no aperture by which an 

 amulet could be introduced, Mr. Whitaker (Hill. Man- 

 cheller, vol. i. p. 79) concludes, that they were not hollow; 

 and he fuppofes, that they were intended at firll rather as 

 amulets than as ornaments ; alleging that they were fre- 

 quently imprefTed with the figure of the fexual parts. As 

 to their origin, it has been affirmed by fome, that they 

 were firfl introduced by Romulus, and that he gave one 

 of them to TuUus Hoftilius, the firfl child bora of the 

 rape of the Sabines. Others afcribe the introduftion of 

 them to Tarquin the elder, who gave a bulla to his fon, 

 at the age of 14, together with the praetexta, becaufe he 

 had killed an enemy ; and hence it was afterwards affumed 

 by other patricians. But Macrobius fays, that Tarquin 

 extended the right of wearing this ornament to all the 

 children of the patricians ; and that accordingly he began 

 with his own. 



The bulla was not allowed to the children of flaves, or 

 even of lilcrti, who, in lieu thereof, wore a leather collar 

 round the neck, much after the manner of the purple firing 

 to which the bulla was hung. But the great vellal, and 

 the Roman ladies, wore a bulla ; the former by way of 

 diflinftion, the latter as a piece of drefs. We may add, 

 that bullae were fometimes allowed to (latues ; whence 

 the phrafe, " ftatuas buUata;." M. Lepidus, having killed 

 an enemy, and faved a citizen, even when a boy, had a 

 " bullated" ftatue erefted to him in the Capitol, in memory 

 of the exploit. The Roman youth laid afide the bulla, 

 together with the " prxtexta," and confecrated it to the 

 Lares, when they arrived at their lifteenth year ; as appears 

 from the fatyrift : 



♦' Cum primum pavido cuflos mihi purpura ceflit, 

 Bullaque fucciodi^ Laribus donata pependit." 



Perf. 



