bal 
B Al 
B A t i97 
but by later writers into twenty-four, are re- 
markable for their splendid colours- 
BALI VO amove ndo, in law, was a writ for 
removing a bailiff from his office, for want of 
having sufficient land in his bailiwick to an- 
swer the king and his people, according to 
the statute "of Westminster, 2 reg. Orig. 78. 
BALLS of fire, in meteorology, are me- 
teors seen passing over countries, and esti- 
mated tv) be at considerable heights in the at- 
mosphere. 
Ball, in the military art, comprehends all 
sorts of bullets for fire-arms, from the cannon 
to the pistol. 
Cannon-balls are of iron ; musquet-balls, 
pistol-balls, &c, are of lead. The experiment 
has been tried of ii'on balls for pistols and fu- 
sees, but they are justly rejected, not only on 
account of their lightness, which prevents 
them from flying strait, but because they are 
apt to furrow the barrel of the pistol. 
Cannon-balls are distinguished by their ca- 
libres thus : 
A 42h 
32 
24 
18 
12 
9 
6 
(pound ball, the dia- 
meter of which is 
2 
1 J 
'6,684 inches 
6,103 
5,547 
5,040 
4,403 
' s 4,000 
3,498 
2,775 
2,423 
1 1,923 
Balls, fire, \ of which there are various 
Balls, light, \ sorts, used for various pur- 
poses. Their composition is mealed powder 
two, saltpetre one and a half, sulphur one, ro- 
sin obt?, turpentine two and a half. Some- 
times they are made of an iron shell, some- 
times ofastone, filled and covered with various 
coat* of the above composition, till it conglo- 
merates to a proper size ; the last coat being 
of grained powder. But the best sort is to 
take thick brown paper, and make a shell the 
size of the mortar, and fill it with a composi- 
tion of an equal quantity of sulphur, pitch, 
rosin, and mealed powder ; which being well 
mixed, and put in warm, will give .a clear 
fire, and burn a considerable time. 
When they are intended to set fire to ma- 
gazines, buildings, &c. the composition must 
be mealed powder ten, saltpetre two, sulphur 
four, and rosin one ; or rather mealed pow- 
der forty-eight, saltpetre thirty-two, sulphur 
sixteen, rosin four, steel or iron tilings two, 
fir-tree saw-dust boiled in saltpetre ley two, 
birch-wood charcoal one, well rammed into a 
shell for that purpose, having various holes 
filled with small barrels, loaded with musket- 
balls ; and, lastly, the whole immerged in 
melted pitch, rosin, and turpentine oil. 
Balls, smoke, are prepared as above, with 
this difference, that they contain five to one 
ot pitch, rosin, and saw-dust. This compo- 
sition is put into shells made for that purpose, 
having four holes to let out the smoke. 
Smoke-balls are thrown out of mortars, and 
continue to smoke from twenty-five to thirty 
minutes. 
Balls, stink, are prepared by a composi- 
tion of mealed powder, rosin, saltpetre, pitch, 
sulphur, rasped horses’ and asses’ hoofs burnt 
in the fire, assafcetida, seraphim-gum or fe- 
rula, and bug or stinking herbs, made up into 
balls, as mentioned of light-bulls, agreeably 
to the size of the mortar out of which you in- 
tend to throw them. 
Balls, poisoned. We are not sure that 
they have ever been used in Europe ; but 
tbe Indians and Africans have always been 
very ingenious at poisoning several sorts of 
warlike stores and instruments. Their com- 
position is mealed powder 4, pitch 6, rosin 3, 
sulphur 5, assafoelida 8, poisonous substances, 
chiefly euphorbia, 12, made into balls as 
above directed. At the commencement ot 
the French revolution, poisoned balls were 
exhibited to the people, as pretended to have 
have been fired by the Austrians, particu- 
larly at the siege of Lisle. They contained 
glass, small pieces of iron, &c. and were said 
to be concocted together by means of a 
greasy composition which was impregnated 
with poisonous matter. In 1792 they were 
deposited in the archives of Paris. 
Balls, red-hot, are fired out of mortars, 
howitzers, or cannon. Use which you will, 
the ball must be made red-hot, which is done 
upon a large coal fire in a square hole made 
in the ground, six feet every way, and four 
or five feet deep. Some make the fire under 
an iron grate, on which the shell or ball is 
laid ; but the best way is to put the ball into 
the middle of a clear burning fire, and when 
red-hot, all the fiery particles, must be swept 
off. Whatever machine you use to throw tne 
red-hot ball out of, it must be elevated ac- 
cording to the distance you intend it shall 
range, and (he charge of powder must be put 
into a flannel cartridge, and a good wadding 
upon that; then a piece of wood of the exact 
diameter of the piece, and about three and a 
half inches thick, to prevent the ball from 
setting fire to the powder; then place the 
ball on the edge of the mortar, &c. with an 
instrument for that purpose, and let it roll of 
itself against the wood, and instantly fire it 
off. Should there be a ditch or parallel be- 
fore such a battery, with soldiers, the wood 
must not be used, as the blast of powder will 
break it to pieces, and its own elasticity pre- 
vent it from dying far ; it would in that case 
either kill or wound your own people : for 
this deficiency the wadding must be double. 
Balls, chain, are two balls linked together 
by a chain of eight or ten inches long, and 
some have been made with a chain of three 
or four feet long ; they are used to destroy 
the palisadoes, wooden bridges, &c. of a for- 
tification; they are also very destructive to 
the rigging of a ship. 
Ball and socket is an instrument made of 
brass, with a perpetual screw, so as to move 
horizontally, vertically, and obliquely ; and 
is generally used for the managing of sur- 
veying instruments, and astronomical instru- 
ments. 
Ball, puff, the English name of the lyco- 
perdon. See Lycoperdon. 
BALLAD generally means a kind of 
song, adapted to the capacity of the lower 
class of people. It has not, however, been 
always confined to low and inferior composi- 
tions. In an old English version of the 
Bible, Solomon’s Song is designated as the 
ballad of ballads. Some have supposed that 
the knowledge of the ballads in common use 
is necessary to a minister of state to learn 
the temper and disposition of the people ; 
and lord Cecil, prime minister to queen Eli- 
zabeth, is said to have made an ample col- 
lection of ballads for this purpose. See Dr, 
Percy’s Collection of old English and Scot- 
ish ballads, and a Dissertation prefixed to 
Dr. Aikin’s Collection of Songs. 
BALLAST, a quantity of stones, gravel, 
or sand, laid in a ship’s hold, to make her 
sink to a certain depth into the water, and sail 
upright, rendering her ol a prodigious 
weight. The ballast is sometimes one-quar- 
ter, one-third, or one-half, of tbe ship’s bur- 
den, according to the difference of the bulk. 
Flat vessels require the most ballast. 
The following table \\ ill exhibit in one 
view the quantity of ballast allowed to ships 
of different sizes : 
Ballast a derived to the follozving ships : 
Guns. 
Tonnage. 
Iron 
Tons. 
Shingle 
Tons. 
110 
2290 
180 
370 
100 
2090 
180 
370 
98 
2110 
3 60 
350 
90 
1870 
160 
350 
80 
1620 
140 
300 
74 
1700 
80 
£70 
64 
1370 
70 
260 
50 
1100 
65 
1-70 
44 
900 
65 
160 
38 
930 
70 
170 
36 
870 
65 
160 
32 
700 
65 
140 
28 
600 
60 
100 
24 
500 
50 
80 
22 
450 
50 
70 
20 
400 
50 
60 
Sloop 
300 
50 
40 
Brig 
160 
30 
15 
Cutter 
— 
20 
t Seldom 
Sloop 
— 
15 
d any. 
The iron ballast is first stored fore and 
aft, from bulk-head to bulk-head ; then the 
shingle ballast is spread and levelled over the 
iron. 
Ships are said to be in ballast when they 
have no other loading. Masters of vessels 
are obliged to declare the quantity of ballast 
they bear, and to unload it at certain places. 
They are prohibited unloading their ballast 
in havens, roads, &c. inattention to which 
has ruined many excellent ports. 
BALLET, a kind of dramatic poem, re- 
presenting some fabulous action or subject 
divided into several acts, in which several per- 
sons appear, and recite things under the 
name of some deity, or other illustrious cha- 
racter. The term is now particularly used 
for a stage dance. 
Ballet is likewise the name given, in 
France, to a whimsical kind of opera, in 
which dancing is a principal part of the per- 
formance. In most of these ballets the se- 
veral acts seem so many different subjects, 
connected only by some general relation fo- 
reign to the action, which the spectator could 
not discover, if it was^ not made known in 
the prologue. 
BALLIAGE, a small duty paid to the city 
of London by aliens and others for certain 
commodities exported by them, which they 
claim by their charter. 
BALL! ST A, in antiquity, a military ma- 
chine used by the antients in besieging ci- 
ties, to throw large stones, darts, and jave- 
lins. 
It resembled our cross-bows, though tuiigh 
larger, and superior in force, 
