BAT 
B A T 
BAT 
inoval ; or if the child be born in the house 
of correction, or in the house of industry, of 
any hundred or district, or in a lying-in hos- 
pital, it shall follow the mother’s settlement. 
1 Sess. Cr. 33. 94. 2 Salk. 474. 13 Geo. Ill, 
c. 29. 20 Geo. III. c. 36. 
Bastard eigne, is a son born before mar- 
riage, whose parents afterwards intermarry, 
and by the civil law he is mulier, or lawful 
issue, but not by the common law. 2 Inst. 99. 
BASTARDY, arms of, in Heraldry, should 
be crossed with a bar, fillet, or traverse from 
left to right. Bastards were formerly not 
1 allowed to carry the arms of their father, and 
• therefore they invented arms for themselves, 
and this is still done by the natural sons of a 
king. 
BASTION, in the modern fortification, a 
huge mass of earth, faced usually with sods, 
I sometimes with brick, and rarely with stone, 
| standing out from a rampart, whereof it is a 
principal part, and is what, in the antient for- 
! tification, is called a bulwark, propugnaculum. 
A bastion consists of two faces and two 
flanks ; the faces include the angle of the 
bastion, and their union makes the outmost 
j or the salient angle, called also the angle of 
I the bastion ; and the union of the two faces 
I to the two Hanks makes the side-angles, call- 
ed also the shoulders or epaules ; and the 
union of the two other ends of the flanks to 
the two curtains makes the angles of the 
Banks. 
In regard to the bastion, the great rule is, 
‘that every part of it be seen and defended 
from some other part : whence mere angles 
are not sufficient, but flanks and faces are ne- 
| cessary. For the proportion of the faces, 
j they are not to be less than 24 Rhineland 
perches, nor more than 30. The flanks of a 
; bastion, in case they stand at the same angle 
tinder the line of defence, are so much the 
better the longer they are ; whence they 
must stand at right angles to the line of de- 
I fence: and the disposition of the flanks makes 
the principal part of fortification, as it is that 
on which the defence chiefly depends, and 
which has introduced the various forms of 
j fortifying. The angle of the bastion must 
be more than 60 degrees, otherwise it will 
be too small to give room for guns, and will 
either render the line of defence too long, or 
the flanks too short ; so that it must be ci- 
ther a right angle or some intermediate one 
i between that and 60 degrees ; for it is dis- 
puted whether or not it should exceed aright 
angle. See Fortification. 
BASTON, or Batoon, in heraldry, a kind 
of bend, having only one third of the usual 
breadth. 
BAT, see Vespertilio. 
Bat, Bate, or Batz, a small copper coin, 
mixed with a little silver, current in several 
cities in Germany: it is worth four crutzers. 
It. is also a coin of Switzerland, current at live 
livres or one hundred sols French money. 
BATCHELOR, in the livery companies 
: of London, are those not yet admitted to the 
livery. 
Batchelors, in the university, are per- 
sons who have taken the first degree in the 
liberal arts and sciences. Before a person 
can be admitted to this degree at Oxford, it | 
I is necessary that he study there four years ; 
three years more may entitle him to the de- 
gree of master of arts; and in seven years 
; more he may commence batchelor of divi- 
Vol. I, 
nity. At Cambridge the degrees are usually 
taken as at Oxford, excepting in law and phy- 
sic, in either of which the batchelor’s degree 
may be taken in six years. In France the 
degree of batchelor of divinity is attained in 
five years’ study, that is, in two years of phi- 
losophy and three of divinity. 
BAT-fowling, a method of catching birds 
in the night, by lighting some straw or torches 
near the place where they are at roost ; for 
upon beating them up they fly to the flame, 
where being amazed, they are easily caught 
in nets, or beaten down with bushes fixed to 
the end of poles, &c. 
BATH, warm, cold, vapour, &c. see Me- 
dicine and Mineral Waters. 
Bath, in Hebrew antiquity, a measure of 
capacity, containing the tenth part of an 
omer, or seven gallons and four pints, as a 
measure for thingsliquid : or three pecks and 
three pints, as a measure for things dry. 
Bath. See Balneum, and Chemistry. 
Bath, knights of, a military order in 
England, supposed to have been instituted 
by Richard the Second, who limited their 
number to four: his successor, however, 
Henry’ IV. increased them to forty-six. 
r I heir motto was tres in uno, signifying the 
three theological virtues. 
This order derived this denomination from 
a custom of bathing before they received the 
golden spur. It is seldom or never conferred 
but at the coronation of kings or the inaugu- 
ration of a prince of Wales or duke of York. 
They wear a red ribband beltwise. 
T he order of the bath, after remaining 
many years extinct, was revived under 
George the First, by a solemn creation of a 
great number of knights. 
BATIS, in botany, a genus of the tetan- 
dria order and dicecia class of plants, the 
characters of which are : of the male the 
amentum is four-ways imbricated, and both 
the calyx and corolla are wanting: of the 
female the amentum is ovate, the involucrum 
diphyllous ; calyx and corolla wanting ; the 
stigma is bilobate and sessile ; the berries 
condunate and four-seeded. There is but 
one species, viz. batis mantiua, a native of 
Jamaica. 
BATMAN, in commerce, a kind of weight 
used at Smyrna, containing six okes of four 
hundred drams each, which amount to six- 
teen pounds, six ounces, and fifteen drams, of 
English weight. 
BATTALION, or Batallion, an unde- 
termined body of infantry in regard to num- 
ber, generally from 600 to 1000 men. The 
companies of grenadiers and light infantry- 
men having been detached from their several 
corps and formed into separate battalions, 
the guards at present consist of nine batta- 
lions. The different companies are likewise 
considerably augmented ; so that it is impos- 
sible to affix any specific standard to their 
complement of men. The royal regiment of 
artillery consists of four battalions. Some- 
times regiments consist each of one battalion; 
but if more numerous, are divided into seve- 
ral battalions, according to their strength ; 
so that every one may come within the num- 
bers mentioned. A battalion in one of our 
| marching regiments consists of 1000 and 
sometimes of 1200 men, officers and non- 
commissioned included. When there arc 
companies of several regiments in a garrison 
to form a battalion, those of the eldest regi- 
1 D d 
209 
ment post themselves on the light, those of 
the second on the left, and so on until the 
youngest fall into the centre. The officers 
take their posts before their companies, from 
the right and left, according to seniority. 
Each battalion is divided into four divisions, 
and each division into two subdivisions, which 
are again divided into sections. The com- 
panies of grenadiers being unequal in all bat- 
talions, their post must be regulated by the 
commanding officer* 
BATTEN, a name that workmen give to 
a scantling of wooden stuff, from two to four 
inches broad, and about one inch thick, tiie 
length undetermined. 
BATTER, a cannonade of heavy ordnance, 
from the first or second parallel of entrench- 
ment, against any fortress or works. 
Batter in breach, implies a heavy can- 
nonade of many pieces directed to one part 
of the revetement from the third parallel. 
BATTERING, in military affairs, implies 
the firing with heavy artillery on some forti- 
fication or strong post possessed by an enemy,, 
in order to demolish the works. 
Batterix G-pieces are large pieces of can- 
non used in battering a fortified town or 
post. 
It is judged by all nations that no less than 
24 or 18 pounders are proper for that use. 
Formerly much larger calibres were used; 
but, as they were so long and heavy, and 
very troublesome to transport and manage, 
they were for a longtime rejected, till adopt- 
ed among the French, who, during the late 
war, have brought 36 and 42 pounders into 
the field. 
Batterin G-train, a train of artillery used 
solely for besieging strong places, inclusive 
of howitzers: all heavy 24, 18, and 12 pound- 
ers, come under this denomination ; as like- 
wise the 13, 10, and 8-inch mortars and how* 
itzers. 
BATTERY, in military affairs, implies 
any place where cannon or mortars are 
mounted, either to attack the forces of the 
enemy, or to batter a fortification: hence 
batteries have various names, agreeable to 
the purposes they are designed for. 
Battery, gun, is a defence made of earth 
faced with green sods or fascines, and some- 
times made of gabions filled with earth: it. 
consists of a breast-work, parapet, or epaule-* 
ment, of IS or 20 feet thick at top, and of 22 
or 24 at the foundation; of a ditch 12 feet 
broad at the bottom, and 18 at the top, and 
7 feet deep. They must be 7\ feet high. 
The embrasures are 2 feet wide within, and 
9 without, sloping a little downward, to de- 
press the metal on occasion. T he distance 
from the centre ot one embrasure to that of 
the other is 18 feet; that is, the guns are 
placed at 18 feet distance from each other; 
consequently the merlins (or that part-of solid 
earth between the embrasures) are 16 feet 
within and 7 without. T he genouilliers (or 
parts of the parapet which cover the carriage 
of the gun) are generally made 2i feet high 
from the platform to the opening of the em- 
brasures; though this height ought lobe re- 
gulated according to the |emi-diameter of the 
wheels of the carriage or the nature of the 
gun. T he platforms are a kind of wooden 
floors, made to prevent the cannon from 
sinking into the ground, and to render the 
working of the guns more easy; and are, 
strictly speaking, a part of the battery. They 
