B A C 
upon the cinque point, three upon his qiialre point, the 
fame number upon his trois point, two upon his deuce 
point, and one upon his ace point. A in tin's fituation 
cun prolong it, as aforefaid, by bringing his 15 men home, 
always fecuring fix clofe points till B has entered his two 
men, and brought them upon any certain point; as loon 
as B has gained that point, A will open an ace, deuce, or 
trois, point, or all of them; which done, B hits one of 
them, and A, taking care to have two or three men in B’s 
tables, is ready to hit that man ; and alfo, he being cer¬ 
tain of taking up the other man, has it in his power to 
prolong the hit almoft to any length, provided he takes 
care not to open ftich points as two fours, two fives, or 
two fixes, but always to open the ace, deuce, or trois, 
points, for B to hit him. 
The Laws of backgammon are, r. If a man is taken from 
any point, it mull be played ; if two men are taken from 
it, they mud alfo be played. 2. A man is not fuppofed 
to be played till it is placed upon a point and quitted. 
3. If a player has only fourteen men in play, there is no 
penalty inflidted, becaufe, by his playing with a lei's num¬ 
ber than he is entitled to, he plays to a difadvantage for 
want of the deficient man to make up his tables. 4. If he 
bears any number of men before he has entered a man ta¬ 
ken up, and which of courfe he was obliged to enter, fuch 
men fo borne mud be entered again in the adverfary’s ta¬ 
bles as well as the man taken up. 5.. If he has miflaken 
his throw and played it, and his adverfary has thrown, it 
is not in the choice of either of the players to alter it, un- 
lefs they both agree fo to do. 
BACK-HOUSE,/ [from back and houfe.] The build¬ 
ings behind the chief part of the houfe. 
BACKHUY'SEN (Ludolph), an eminent painter, was 
born at Embden in 1631, and ftttdied under Albert Van 
Everdingen ; but acquired his principal knowledge by fre¬ 
quenting the painting-rooms of different great mailers, and 
obferving their various methods of touching and colour¬ 
ing. His fubjedls were moitly fea-pieces, (hips, and fea- 
ports. He had not practifed long before he became the 
object of general admiration; fo that even his drawings 
were fought after, and feveral of them were bought at one 
one hundred florins each. It was obferved of him, that 
while he was painting, he would not fuffer even his moil 
intimate friends to have accefs to him, left his fancy might 
be difturbed, and the ideas he had formed in his mind be 
interrupted. He ftudied nature attentively in gales, calms, 
ftorms, clouds, rocks, Ikies, lights, and fhadows; and he 
exprefled every fnbjefl with fo correct a pencil, and with 
fuch tranfparency and luftre, as placed him above all the 
artifts of his time in that ftyle, except the younger Van- 
dervelde. It was a frequent cuftom with Backhuyfen to 
go to fea in a ftorm, in order to (tore his mind with grand 
images, direitly copied from nature, of fuch feenes as 
would have filled any other head and heart with terror and 
difmay; and the moment he landed he ran impatiently to 
his palette to fecure thofe incidents of which the traces 
might by delay be obliterated. He perfectly underftood 
the management of the chiaro-fcuro, and by his (kill in 
that part of his art, he gave uncommon force and beauty 
to his objects. His works may eafily be diftinguilhed by 
an obfervant eye, from the freedom and neatnefs of his 
touch; from the clearnefs and natural agitation or quie- 
fcence of the waters; from a peculiar tint in his clouds 
and Ikies; and alfo from the exaff proportions of his 
fhips, and the gracefulnefs of their pofitions. For the 
burgomafters of Amfterdam he painted a large picture, 
with a multitude of vellels, and a view of the city at a 
diftance, for which they gave him thirteen hundred guild¬ 
ers; which pifhire they afterwards prefented to the king 
of France, who placed it in the Louvre. No painter was 
ever more honoured by the vifits of kings and princes than 
Backhuyfen; the king of Prufiia, and the czar Peter the 
Great, were among the number. He was remarkably 
afliduous, and yet it feems aftonilhing to confider the num¬ 
ber of pictures w hich he finifhed, He died in 1709. 
B A C 603 
BACK'ING the sails, in navigation, to arrange them 
in a fituation that will force the fiiip to retreat, or move 
backwards. This is, however, only done in narrow chan¬ 
nels, when a Ihip is carried along (idewife by the tide or 
current, and wants to avoid any thing that may interrupt 
her progrefs, as flioals, veflels at anchor, &c. or in the line 
of battle, when a fliip requires to be placed oppolite ano¬ 
ther with which fhe is engaged. 
B ACK-PAIN'TING, a method of painting mezzotinto 
prints, palled on glafs, with oil-colours. The art conlifts 
chiefly in laying the print upon a piece of crown-glafs, 
of a correfponding fize. In order to do this, the print 
mull be well foaked in clean water, after which it muft be 
laid between four flieets of paper, two over and two un¬ 
der it, that lome of the moifture may be drawn out of it. 
In the mean while, let the glafs upon which the print is 
to be laid be warmed at the fire; then with a brulh, dip¬ 
ped in melted Stralburg turpentine, fpread the turpentine 
fmoothly and evenly on theglafs. Then lay the print up¬ 
on the glafs, rubbing it gently from one end to the other, 
that it may lie clofe. Laftly, with the finger, rub oft 
the paper from the back fide of the print, till nothing can 
be feen but the print, like a thin film left upon the glafs, 
and fet it afide to dry. When it is dry, varnifh it over 
with fome white tranfparent varnifh, that the ftrokes and 
(hades of the print may be feen through it; and it will 
then be fit for painting. The colours neceftary to be ufed 
are merely fuch oil-colours as painters commonly employ. 
All the caution neceftary is, to choofe proper tints, and 
to take care in laying them on not to pafs beyond the li¬ 
mits of the fubjefft you happen to be colouring. This 
procefs, though mere daubing, as far as ingenuity is con¬ 
cerned, is of great advantage to mezzotinto prints; their 
fhades being, on account of their foftnefs, particularly well 
adapted for this kind of back-painting. 
BACK-PIECE, f. [from back and piece."] The piece 
of armour which covers the back.—The morning that he 
was to join battle, his armourer put on his back-piece be¬ 
fore and his breaft-plate behind. Camden. 
BACK-ROOM, f. [from back and room.] A room be¬ 
hind ; not in front.—If you have a fair profpefl back¬ 
wards of gardens, it may be convenient to make back-rooms 
the larger. Moxon. 
BACKS, f. among dealers in leather, denote the 
thickeft and beft tanned hides, ufed chiefly for loles of 
(hoes. 
BACKSI'DE, f [from bach and fde.] The hinder 
part of any thing.—If the quicklilver were rubbed from 
the backfide of the fpeculum, the glafs would caufe the 
fame rings of colours, but more faint; the phenomena de¬ 
pend not upon the quickfilver, unlefs fo far as it inereafes 
the refleflion of the backfde of the glafs. Newton.- —The 
hind part of an animal.—A poor ant carries a grain of 
corn, climbing up a wall with her head downwards and 
her backfide upwards. Addifon. —The yard or ground be¬ 
hind a houfe.—The walk of paftures, fields, commons, 
roads, ftreets, or backfdcs, are of great advantage to all 
forts of land. Mortimer. 
To BACKSLPDE, v.n. [from back and fide.] To fall 
off; to apoftatize : a word only ufed by divines. —Haft thou 
feen that which backjliding llrael hath done ? She is gone 
up upon' every high mountain, and under every green 
tree. Jeremiah. 
BACKSLI'DER,. f An apoftate.—The bachfider in 
heart (hall be filled. Proverbs. 
BACK-STAFF, /. [from back and faff.\ becaufe, hi 
taking an obfervation,. the obferver’s back is turned to¬ 
wards the fun.] An inftrument formerly ufed for taking 
the fun’s altitude at fea. It was fometimes called Davis’s 
quadrant, from its inventor, captain John Davis, a Welch¬ 
man, and a celebrated navigator, who produced it about 
the year 1590. This inftrument confifts of two concen¬ 
tric arches of box-wood, and three vanes : the arch of the 
longer radius is of thirty degrees, and the other fixty de¬ 
grees, making between them ninety degrees, or a quadrant: 
