B I L 
diflriCt, in the department cf the Pay de Dome : twelve 
leagues fouth-wed of Roanne, and four ead-fouth-eaffof 
Clermont. Lat.45.43.N. Ion. 21. E. Ferro. 
BIL'LON, f. in the hiftory of coins, a compofition of 
precious and bafe metals, wherein the latter predominates. 
Wherefore gold under twelve carats fine, is called billon of 
gold ; and filvef under fix penny-weight, billon of fiver. 
So little attention was paid formerly to the purity ot gold 
and filver, that the term billon of gold was applied only to 
that which was under twenty-one carats, and billon of fiver 
to that which was lower than ten penny-weight. 
BIL'LOW, f. [bilge, Germ, bolg, Dan. probably of the 
fame original bilig, Sax. a bladder.] A wave fwoln, and 
hollow : 
But, when loud billows lafh the founding fliore, 
The hoarfe rough verfe fhould like the torrent roar. Pope. 
To BIL'LOW, v. n. To fvvell, or roll, as a wave: 
The billowing fnow, and violence of the fliow’r, 
That from the hills difnerfe their dreadful dore, 
And o’er the vales collected ruin pour. Prior. 
BIL'LOWY, adj. Swelling ; turgid ; wavy : 
And whitening down the moffy-tin£tur’d dream, 
Defcends the billowy foam. Thomfon. 
BILLS, a rock in the Atlantic, near the weft coaft of 
Ireland : fix miles north-wed from the ifland of Clare, 
and fix fouth-fouth-eaft of Achil Head. 
BILLY', a town of France, in the department of the 
Allier : two leagues north of Cuffet, and four and a half 
north-eaft of Gannat. 
BILOI' YAR, a town of Ruflia, in the government of 
Simbirk, on the ead fide of the Volga : fixteen miles 
fouth-ead of Simbirk. 
BIL'SAH, a fmall didriCt of Hindoodan, on the Ganges, 
famed all over the ead for its excellent fnuff. 
BIL'SAH, a city of Hindoodan, and capital of the above 
didridt, in the Maiwa country: 114 miles ead of Oudelin, 
and 308 fouth of Delhi. Lat. 23.30.N. long. 77.53. E. 
Greenwich. 
BII/SEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of Wed- 
phalia, and bifhopric of Liege, fituated on the Demer, 
which, although it has the privileges of a city, is not of 
much confideration : fourteen miles north of Liege. Lat. 
50. 53. N. Ion. 22. 59 E. Ferro. 
BIL'SKOI, a town of Siberia, on the Bilaia : ninety 
miles north-wed of Irkutfk. 
BIL'SON (Thomas), bidtop of Wincheder, in which 
city he was born and educated. In 1565, he was admitted 
perpetual fellow of New college, Oxford ; and in 1570 
completed his degrees in arts. He was made bachelor of 
divinity in 1579, and doctor the year following. His firfl 
preferment was that of mader of Wincheder fchool; he 
was next made prebendary, and afterwards warden, of 
Wincheder college. While he held this office he was of 
great fervice to the college in 1584, in faving the reve¬ 
nues, which had like to have been taken from them by 
forgery. In 1596 he was confecrated bifhop of Worceder; 
and about a year after, tranflated to the fee of Wincheder, 
and fworn of queen Elizabeth’s privy council. He was 
one of the principal managers of the Ilampton-court con¬ 
ference in 1604; and the Englidi trandation of the bible 
in the reign of James I. was finally corrected by this pre¬ 
late, and Dr. Miles Smith bidiop of Glouceder. He died 
in 1616; and was buried in Wedminder_abbey, near the 
entrance of St. Edmund’s chapel, on the fouth-fide of the 
monument of Richard II. Several authors who have men¬ 
tioned bidiop Biifon agree in giving him the charadier of 
a learned divine, an able civilian, and an upright man. 
His dyle is in general much more eafy and harmonious 
than that of cotemporary ecclefiadics. His works are, 1. 
Several Latin Poems and Orations. Manufcript, in Ant. 
Wood’s library. 2. The true Difference between Chridian 
Subjection and Unchridian Rebellion. Oxf. 1585, 4to, 
Vol. III. No. 115. 
P I M 45 
Lend. 1586, 8vo. 3. The perpetual Government cf 
Chrid’s Church. I.ond. 1593, 4to. black letter. 4. The 
Ededl of certain Sermons touching the full Redemption of 
Mankind by the Death and Blood of Chrid, &c. I.ond. 
1599, 4to. 5. The Survey of Chrid’s Suffering for Man’s 
Redemption, and of his Defcent to Hades or Hell. Lond. 
1604. fol. 6. A Sermon preached before King James I. 
and his Queen, at their Coronation. Lond. 1603, 8vo. 
B 11 .'STEIN, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 
I.ov er Rhine, and capital of a bailiwick, in the duchy of 
Wedphalia, fituated on a mountain: nineteen miles fouth- 
fouth-ead of Arenfberg, and forty-tw’o ead of Cologne. 
BIL'STON, in Stafforddiire, is one of the larged vil¬ 
lages in England, being more than a mile and a quarter in 
length, and containing near 1000 houfes. It is fituated on 
a rifing ground, upon the great road from London to 
Holyhead, and at a didance of 121 miles from the former 
place. The road from Birmingham to Mancheder and 
Liverpool runs through it; the navigable canal from Bir¬ 
mingham to the Staffordffiire and Worcederfhire canals alfo 
paffes clofe to it. By thefe circumdances, it has a condant 
and aCtive communication with the capital, the wedern 
ports, and the large and numerous towns betwixt them, 
fo judly didinguifhed for their manufactures. By its na¬ 
vigation it has communication with the rivers Merfey, 
Dee, Ribble, Oufe, Trent, Darwent, Severn, Humber, 
Thames, Avon, &c. which navigation, including its 
windings, extends above 500 miles in the counties of Lin¬ 
coln, Nottingham, York, Lancader, Wedmoreland, Chef- 
ter, Warwick, Leiceder, Oxford, Worceder, &c. Here 
are very coniiderable mines of coal, iron-done, quarry- 
done, and clay, all of excellent qualities. The quantity 
of coal got in this townfliip may be conjectured from this 
circumdance, that the works of John Wilkinfon, Efq. 
alone, confume 800 tons per week. Furnaces for fmelt- 
ing iron-ore, forges, and (Fitting-mills, which are worked 
by deam-engines, abound here. 11s manufactures confift 
chiefly of japanned and enamelled goods, and buckle- 
chapes, which are wrought in great perfection. Here is a 
deep orange-coloured land, which is fent for by the artifts 
far and near, to be ufed as a fipaud to cad metals in ; and 
it is alfo noted for a quarry of remarkable dones, lying 
horizontally one under another, twelve beds deep, every 
bed thicker the lower they go; fo that the lowefmod. 
is about a yard thick. The inhabitants make ciderns, 
troughs, &c. of the done; fome of which is curioufly 
dreaked with black. At Bradley, in this townfliip, is a 
remarkable phaenomenon :—A fire in the earth has been 
burning upwards of thirty years, and, notwithdanding va¬ 
rious attempts have been made to extinguifli it, it dill con¬ 
tinues, and has reduced upwards of five acres of land to s 
mere calx. The inhabitants call it a wild-fire. It is in 
fact a bed of coal, which is burning, about four feet thick, 
and about eight or ten yards deep, to which the air has 
free accefs, by reafon of the thick or main coal having 
been dug from under it. The calcined earth, occafioncd 
by the fire, affords a very ufeful material for the repair of 
the roads; and the workmen, in getting this material, 
frequently find large quantities of alum, of a very good 
quality. It is alfo remarkable that the furface, for many 
yards, is, at times, covered with fulphur, in fuch quan¬ 
tities, as to be capable of being collected. It is remark ¬ 
able that this town has neither market nor fair. 
BIME'DIAL LINE, f. is the fum of two medials. 
Euclid reckons two of thefe bimedials, in prob. 38 and 39. 
lib. 10. the fird is when the rectangle is rational, which is 
contained by the two medial lines whole fum makes the 
bimedial; and the fecond when that reCtangle is a medial, 
or contained under two lines that are commenfurable only 
in power. 
BI'MINI, one of the Bahama iflands, on the wed fide 
of the Great Bahama Bank, near the Gulf of Florida. It 
meafures about twenty miles in circumference, and has a 
good harbour. Lat. 25. N. Ion. 79.34.W. Greenwich. 
N BLMPLE- 
