BAS 
Bashfulness was painted by the ancients as a virgin, 
clothed in white, as a token of cliaftity ; veiled, to fhevv 
that a virtuous woman ought not to expofe her beauty ; in 
her hand a lily, as the emblem of modedy; and (landing 
on a tortoife, to (hew that chafte women fhould not be gi¬ 
ven to rambling. 
BASIA'TIO,/. [from bafio, Lat. to kifs.] Venereal 
connection between the fexes. 
BASIEN'TO, a river of Naples, which runs into the 
gulph of Tarcnto, eight miles ea(l of Bernaldi, in the 
province of Balilicata. 
BAS 1 ER', orBAS.i'RE, (Ifaac,) a learned divine, born 
in the i!le of Jerfey,’in 1607. For fome time he was maf- 
ter of the free-fchool at Guernfey : but afterwards became 
chaplain to Thomas Morton, bifltop of Durham, who gave 
him the reftory of Stanhope, and the vicarage of Egglef- 
cliff’, both in the county of Durham. In July, 1640, he 
had the degree of doftor of divinity conferred upon him 
at Cambridge, by mandate ; and was incorporated in the 
fame at Oxford, and made chaplain to Charles I. On the 
nth of December, 1643, he was inltalled into the feventh 
prebend in the church of Durham, to which he was col¬ 
lated by his generous patron bidtop Morton. But he did 
not long enjoy thefe preferments ; for, in the beginning of 
the civil wars, having his livings fequedered, he refolved 
to go and propagate the doftrine of the Englifh church in 
theead, among the Greeks, Arabians, &c. Leaving there¬ 
fore his family in England, he went fird to Zante, an idand 
near the Morea, where he had good fuccefs in fpreading 
among the Greek inhabitants the doCtrlne of the Englifh 
church, the fum whereof he imparted to them in a Greek 
trandation of our church catechifm. The effed of it was 
fo remarkable, that it drew envy and perfecution upon 
him from the Latins. This occadoned his voluntary re- 
cefs into the Morea, where the metropolitan of- Acbaia 
prevailed upon him to preach twice in Greek, at a meet¬ 
ing of fome of his bifhops and clergy, which was well ta¬ 
ken. From thence, after he had palled through Apulia, 
Naples, and Sicily, again, (in which lad:, at Medina, he of¬ 
ficiated for fome weeks on-board a (hip,) he embarked for 
Syria; and, after fome months flay at Aleppo, where he 
had frequent converfation with the patriarch of Antioch, 
he left a copy of our church catechifm, trandated into 
Arabic, the native language of that place. From Aleppo 
he went to Jerufalem, and fo travelled over all Paledine. 
At Jerufalem he received much honour, both from the 
Greeks and Latins. Returning to Aleppo, he paded over 
the Euphrates, and went into Mefopotamia, where he in¬ 
tended to fend the church catechifm in Turkifn to fome 
of their bifhops, who were moftly Armenians. ThisTurk- 
ifh trandation was procured by the care of SirTho. Ben- 
dydte, the Englifli ambaflador at Conflantinople. After 
his return from Mefopotamia, he wintered at Aleppo, 
where he received feveral courtefies from the conful, Mr. 
Henry Riley. In the beginning of 1653, he departed from 
Aleppo, and came to Conflantinople by land, being 600 
miles, in the company of twenty Turks, who ufed him 
courteoully; the rather, becaule he was by the way phy- 
fician to them and their friends. After his arrival at Con- 
(lantinople, the French Protedants there deiired him to 
be their minifter. And, though he declared to them his 
refolution to officiate according to the Englifh liturgy, yet 
they orderly fubmitted to it, and promifed to fettle on 
him, in three refpofible men’s hands, a competent (tipend. 
Upon the redoration, Dr. Bafier was recalled to England; 
and returning, in the year 1661, he was reftored to his 
preferments and dignities; and made chaplain in ordinary 
to Charles II. He wrote feveral books on divinity. Ha¬ 
ving, for many years after the redoration, quietly enjoyed 
bis large revenues, he died on the 12th of OCtober, in the 
year 1676, and in the fixty-ninth of his age. 
B A'SIL, regal or kingly.] A proper name of 
men. 
Basil (St.) the Great, one of the .mod learned and 
eloquent doctors of the church, was born at Ctefarea in 
3 
BAS 775 
Cappadocia, about the year 328; and went to fiaifli his 
(Indies at Athens, where he contracted a frienddiip with 
St. Gregory Nazianzen. He returned to his native coun¬ 
try in 355, where he taught rhetoric. Some time after, 
he trav’-elled into Syria, Egypt, and Libya, to vifit the mo- 
naderies of thefe countries; and the monadic life fo much 
fuited his difpodtion, that upon his return home he re¬ 
folved to follow it, and he was the fird inditutor thereof 
in Pontus and Cappadocia. His reputation became fo great, 
that, upon the death of Eufebius bifhop of Caefarea, in 
370, he was chofen his fuccedor. It was with fome diffi¬ 
culty that he accepted of this dignity ; and, no fooner was 
he raifed to it, than the emperor Valens begans to perfe- 
cute him becaufe he refufed to embrace the doCtrine of 
the Arians. Bafil had a diare in all the difputes which 
happened in his time in regard to the doctrine of the church ; 
and died the id of January, 379. There have been feve¬ 
ral editions of his works in Greek and Latin. The bed 
is that of father Gamier, in 3 vols. fol. St. Bafil’s dyle- 
is pure and elegant, his expredions are grand and fublime, 
and his thoughts dignified and full of energy. 
Basil, Basle, or Bale, the name of one of the can¬ 
tons of Switzerland, before the irruption of the French, 
the ninth in order, and the fird of thofe called New. It 
is about eight leagues long, and rather more than five 
broad, bounded on the fouth-wed, fonth, and fouth-ead, 
by the cantons of Soleure; on the north-ead by Rhenfel- 
den, one of the fored-towns; and on the north-wed by 
France. This canton is fruitful in corn and wine, and the 
lower parts are fit for padure; but the mountains are ex¬ 
tremely barren. Here are many medicinal fprings and 
baths, and the air is wholefome and temperate. 
Basil, or Bale, (Bilhopric of,) late a principality of 
Germany, in the circle of the Upper Rhine, bounded on 
the north by the Sundgaw, on the weft by France, on the 
fouth and ead by the cantons of Bafil, Berne, and Soleure; 
beginning at the lake Bienne, and eroding mount Jura, it 
reaches almod to the city of Bafil; about twenty-four 
leagues in length, and (ixteen in breadth. A defendve al¬ 
liance was made between the feven Roman Catholic can¬ 
tons and the bifhop of Bafil in 1579, which was folemnly 
renewed in 1655, 1695, and 1712. According to the ma- 
tricula of imperial contributions, as ordered in the year 
1521, thebifiiop ought to furnifh fifteen foot and twohorfe- 
men, or eighty-four florins monthly, at his own choice. 
The ecclefiadical jurifdrCtion extends to the diocefes of' 
Laufanne, Condance, Stra(burgh, Toul, and Befancon, 
and contains fix towns, of which Porentrui, the refidence - 
of the bifhop, and Delemont are the chief, and iyofmall- 
er towns and villages. The fee was fird founded at Augd, 
and from thence removed to Bafil: the bifhop is eleCted 
by the cantons of the church, of which there are eighteen,- 
who ought fo be of noble families, and Germans.- After 
the canons have made their election, and their choice is 
confirmed by the pope, the emperor inveds him in his 
temporalities. The country is fertile, and a great num¬ 
ber of forges are employed in manufactures of iron and 
deel. The militia amount to u,poo, divided into nine 
regiments. 
Basil, the capital of the canton of that name, is the 
larged city in Swiderland, having 22odreets, and fix mar¬ 
ket-places or fquares. Its environs are piCturefque and 
beautiful, confiding of a fine level trad of fields and mea¬ 
dows. The city dands on the banks of the Rhine, over 
which there is a handfome bridge, which divides it into 
the Upper and Lower town. It is thought by fome to 
have rifen on the ruins of the old Augnfta Ratiracorum. 
For its name of Bafilia it is indebted to Julian the Apof- 
tate, who would have it fo called in honour of his mother 
Bafilina. It is fortified with walls, moats, towers, and 
badions, and contains feveral churches, befides the cathe¬ 
dral, which is a fine Gothic dructure; a public granary 
and arfenal; a dately town-houfe, in which is an exquilite 
painting of the fufferings of Chrid, by Holbein; and a 
datue of Munutius Plancus, a Roman general, who, about 
