BAP 
ed bannerets, the second bachelors ; the 
first composed the upper, the second the 
middle nobility. 
The form of the banneret’s creation is 
this ; on a day of battle, the candidate pre- 
sented his flag to the king, or general, who, 
cutting off the train, or skirt thereof, and 
making it a square, returned it again ; the 
proper banner of bannerets, who, from 
hence, are sometimes called knights of the 
square flag. 
The late Sir William Erskine, oh his re- 
turn from the continent in 1764, was made 
a knight banneret, in Hyde Park, by his 
present Majesty, in consequence of his dis- 
tinguished conduct at the battle of Emsdorf. 
But he was not acknowledged as such in this 
country, because the ceremony did not take 
place where the engagement happened. 
Captain Trollope, of the royal navy, is the 
last created knight banneret. 
BANNISTERIA, in botany, a distinct 
genus of plants, according to Linnaaus ; but 
accounted only a species of Clematis by 
other botanists. 
It belongs to the Decandria Trigynia 
class ; its flower consists of five very large, 
orbicular petals ; and its fruit is composed 
of three unilocular capsules, running into 
long aim. 
BANTAM work, a kind of painted or 
carved work, resembling that of Japan, only 
more gaudy. 
Bantam work is of less value among con- 
noisseurs, though sometimes preferred, by 
the unskilful, to .the true Japan work. For- 
merly it was in more use and esteem than 
at present, and the imitation of it much 
practised by our japanners. j 
There are two sorts of Bantam, as well 
as of Japan work ; as, in the latter, some are 
fiat, lying even with the black, and others 
high or embossed, so, in Bantam work, 
some is flat, and others in-cut, or carved 
into the wood, as we find in many large 
screens ; with this difference, that the Japan 
artists work chiefly in gold and other me- 
tals, and the Bantam generally in colours, 
with a small sprinkling of gold here and 
there. 
BAPTISM, in matters of religion, the 
ceremony of washing, by which a person is 
initiated into the Christian church. 
Baptism, in the sea-language, a cere- 
mony in long voyages on board merchant 
ships, practised both on persons and vessels, 
who pass the tropic or line, for the first 
time. The baptizing the vessels is simple, 
and consists only in washing them throngh- 
BAP 
out with sea-water ; that of the passengers 
is more mysterious. The oldest of the crew, 
that has past the tropic or line, comes 
with his face blacked, a grotesque cap on 
his head, and some sea-book in his hand, 
followed by die rest of the seamen dressed 
like himself, eichhavingsome kitchen uten- 
sil in his hand, with drams beating. He 
places himself on a seat on the deck, at the 
foot of the mainmast. At the tribunal of 
this mock magistrate, each passenger not 
yet initiated swears he will take care the 
same ceremony be observed, whenever he 
is in the like circumstances : then by giving 
a little money by way of gratification, he is 
discharged with a little sprinkling of water, 
otherwise he . is heartily drenched with 
streams of water, poured upon him ; and 
the ship-boys are inclosed in a cage, and 
ducked at discretion. The seamen, on the 
baptizing a ship, pretend to a right of cut- 
ting off the break-head, unless redeemed 
by the captain. 
BAPTISTS, or AtmPiEDOBAPTisTS, in 
church history, a considerable sect who are 
distinguished from other Christians by their 
opinions respecting baptism • and who 
maintain that the ordinance must he admi- 
nistered by the immersion of adults, and not 
by the sprinkling of infants. Such they 
say is the meaning of the word fan'll^ : 
they call to their aid a variety of passages 
of scripture, none of which are however so 
decisive as to put the controversy to rest. 
And though it is certain that adults were 
baptized in the earliest periods of the Chris- 
tian system, there is no proof that infants 
were not admitted to the ordinance. It is 
not for us to enter into this controversy, 
which has been cut short by some other 
Christians, who maintain that baptism was 
intended only for the converts to the Chris- 
tian faith, and was not to be repeated upon 
the children of believers. Hence many per- 
sons in the present day do not think it ne- 
cessary to baptize their children, nor ad- 
vise them to submit to it when they have 
attained to years of maturity. As the ordi- 
nance, when conducted with solemnity and 
liberality, is truly impressive, and as it does 
not occur to every one to witness such a 
scene during their lives, we shall extract 
an account of one performed in the neigh- 
bourhood of Cambridge, and which has 
been well described by the late excellent 
Mr. Robinson, whose name will live, when 
the distinction of sects and parties shall be 
obliterated from the Christian church, and 
when the only profession of faith will be 
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