Part 1
# Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Basso-relievo" to "Bedfordshire": Volume 3, Slice 4 ### By Various
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Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek letters.
(6) The following typographical error has been corrected:
ARTICLE BATHS: "Separate baths used to be of wood, painted; they are now most frequently of metal, painted or lined with porcelain enamel." 'porcelain' amended from 'procelain'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME III, SLICE IV
Basso-relievo to Bedfordshire
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
BASSO-RELIEVO BAY ISLANDS BASS ROCK, THE BAYLE, PIERRE BASSUS, AUFIDIUS BAYLO BASSUS, CAESIUS BAYLY, THOMAS HAYNES BASSUS, CASSIANUS BAYNES, THOMAS SPENCER BASSUS, SALEIUS BAYONET BASSVILLE, JEAN HUGON DE BAYONNE (town of France) BASTAR BAYONNE (New Jersey, U.S.A.) BASTARD BAYOU BASTARNAE BAYREUTH BASTI BAZA BASTIA BAZAAR BASTIAN, ADOLF BAZAINE, ACHILLE FRANCOIS BASTIAT, FREDERIC BAZALGETTE, SIR JOSEPH WILLIAM BASTIDE, JULES BAZARD, AMAND BASTIDE BAZAS BASTIEN-LEPAGE, JULES BAZIGARS BASTILLE BAZIN, RENE BASTINADO BAZIRE, CLAUDE BASTION BDELLIUM BASTWICK, JOHN BEACH BASUTOLAND BEACHY HEAD BAT BEACON BATAC BEACONSFIELD, BENJAMIN DISRAELI BATALA BEACONSFIELD (town of Tasmania) BATALHA BEACONSFIELD (town of South Africa) BATANGAS BEACONSFIELD (town of England) BATARNAY, IMBERT DE BEAD BATAVIA (residency of Java) BEADLE BATAVIA (city of Java) BEAK BATAVIA (New York, U.S.A.) BEAKER BATEMAN, HEZEKIAH LINTHICUM BEALE, DOROTHEA BATEMENT LIGHTS BEAM BATES, HARRY BEAN BATES, HENRY WALTER BEAN-FEAST BATES, JOHN BEAR BATES, JOSHUA BEAR-BAITING and BULL-BAITING BATES, WILLIAM BEARD, WILLIAM HOLBROOK BATESON, THOMAS BEARD BATH, THOMAS THYNNE BEARDSLEY, AUBREY VINCENT BATH, WILLIAM PULTENEY BEARDSTOWN BATH (county of England) BEARER BATH (Maine, U.S.A.) BEARINGS BATH-CHAIR BEAR-LEADER BATHGATE BEARN BATHOLITE BEAS BATHONIAN SERIES BEAT BATHORY, SIGISMUND BEATIFICATION BATHOS BEATON, DAVID BATHS BEATRICE BATHURST, EARLS BEATTIE, JAMES BATHURST BEATUS BATHVILLITE BEAUCAIRE BATHYBIUS BEAUCE BATHYCLES BEAUCHAMP BATLEY BEAUCHAMP, ALPHONSE DE BATON BEAUFORT BATONI, POMPEO GIROLAMO BEAUFORT, FRANCOIS DE VENDOME BATON ROUGE BEAUFORT, HENRY BATRACHIA BEAUFORT, LOUIS DE BATRACHOMYOMACHIA BEAUFORT SCALE BATTA BEAUFORT WEST BATTAGLIA BEAUGENCY BATTAKHIN BEAUHARNAIS BATTALION BEAUHARNAIS, EUGENE DE BATTAMBANG BEAUJEU BATTANNI BEAULIEU BATTAS BEAULY BATTEL BEAUMANOIR BATTEN, SIR WILLIAM BEAUMANOIR, PHILIPPE DE REMI BATTEN BEAUMARCHAIS, PIERRE AUGUSTIN CARON DE BATTENBERG BEAUMARIS BATTER BEAUMONT (English family) BATTERING RAM BEAUMONT, CHRISTOPHE DE BATTERSEA BEAUMONT, SIR JOHN BATTERY BEAUMONT and FLETCHER BATTEUX, CHARLES BEAUMONT (Texas, U.S.A.) BATTHYANY, LOUIS BEAUNE BATTICALOA BEAUREGARD, MARQUIS DE BATTISHILL, JONATHAN BEAUREGARD, PIERRE GUSTAVE TOUTANT BATTLE (town of England) BEAUSOBRE, ISAAC DE BATTLE (military engagement) BEAUVAIS BATTLE ABBEY ROLL BEAUVILLIER BATTLE CREEK BEAUVOIR, ROGER DE BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK BEAUX, CECILIA BATTLEMENT BEAVER (animal) BATTUE BEAVER (part of the helmet) BATTUS BEAVER DAM BATU BEAVER FALLS BATUM BEAWAR BATWA BEBEL, FERDINAND AUGUST BATYPHONE BECCAFICO BAUAN BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO DI PACE BAUBLE BECCARIA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA BAUCHI BECCARIA-BONESANA, CESARE BAUDELAIRE, CHARLES PIERRE BECCLES BAUDIER, MICHEL BECERRA, GASPAR BAUDRILLART, HENRI LEON BECHE-DE-MER BAUDRY, OF BOURGUEIL BECHER, JOHANN JOACHIM BAUDRY, PAUL JACQUES AIME BECHUANA BAUER, BRUNO BECHUANALAND BAUERNFELD, EDUARD VON BECK, CHRISTIAN DANIEL BAUFFREMONT BECK, DAVID BAUHIN, GASPARD BECK, JAKOB SIGISMUND BAULK BECKENHAM BAUMBACH, RUDOLF BECKER, HEINRICH BAUME, ANTOINE BECKER, WILHELM ADOLF BAUMGARTEN, ALEXANDER BECKET, THOMAS BAUMGARTEN, MICHAEL BECKFORD, WILLIAM BAUMGARTEN-CRUSIUS, LUDWIG BECKINGTON, THOMAS BAUR, FERDINAND CHRISTIAN BECKMANN, JOHANN BAUTAIN, LOUIS EUGENE MARIE BECKWITH, JAMES CARROLL BAUTZEN BECKWITH, SIR THOMAS SYDNEY BAUXITE BECKX, PIERRE JEAN BAVAI BECQUE, HENRY FRANCOIS BAVARIA BECQUER, GUSTAVO ADOLFO BAVENO BECQUEREL BAWBEE BED (furniture) BAXTER, ANDREW BED (layer of rock) BAXTER, RICHARD BEDARESI, YEDAIAH BAXTER, ROBERT DUDLEY BEDARIEUX BAXTER, WILLIAM BEDDGELERT BAY BEDDOES, THOMAS BAYAMO BEDDOES, THOMAS LOVELL BAYARD, PIERRE TERRAIL BEDE BAYARD, THOMAS FRANCIS BEDE, CUTHBERT BAYAZID BEDELL, WILLIAM BAYBAY BEDESMAN BAY CITY BEDFORD, EARLS AND DUKES OF BAYEUX BEDFORD (town of England) BAYEUX TAPESTRY, THE BEDFORD (Indiana, U.S.A.) BAYEZID I BEDFORD (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) BAYEZID II BEDFORDSHIRE
BASSO-RELIEVO (Ital. for "low relief"), the term applied to sculpture in which the design projects but slightly from the plane of the background. The relief may not project at all from the original surface of the material, as in the sunken reliefs of the Egyptians, and may be nearly flat, as in the Panathenaic procession of the Parthenon. In the early 19th century the term _basso-relievo_, or "low relief," came to be employed loosely for all forms of relief, the term _mezzo-relievo_ having already dropped out of general use owing to the difficulty of accurate application.
BASS ROCK, THE, a small island in the Firth of Forth, about 2 m. from Canty Bay, Haddingtonshire, Scotland. It is circular in shape, measuring a mile in circumference, and is 350 ft. high. On three sides the cliffs are precipitous, but they shelve towards the S.W., where landing is effected. The Bass Rock is an intrusive mass of phonolitic trachyte or orthophyre. No nepheline has been detected in the rock, but analcite is present in small quantity together with abundant orthoclase and green soda-augite. It bears a close resemblance to the eruptive masses of North Berwick Law and Traprain Law, but is non-porphyritic. It is regarded by Sir A. Geikie as a plug filling an old volcanic vent, from which lava emanated during the Calciferous Sandstone period. It used to be grazed by sheep, of which the mutton was thought to be unusually good, but its principal denizens are sea-birds, chiefly solan geese, which haunt the rock in vast numbers. A lighthouse with a six-flash lantern of 39,000 candle power was opened in 1002. For a considerable distance E. and W. there runs through the rock a tunnel, about 15 ft. high, accessible at low water. St Baldred, whose name has been given to several of the cliffs on the shore of the mainland, occupied a hermitage on the Bass, where he died in 756. In the 14th century the island became the property of the Lauders, called afterwards Lauders of the Bass, from whom it was purchased in 1671 by government, and a castle with dungeons was erected on it, in which many Covenanters were imprisoned. Among them were Alexander Peden (1626-1686), for four years, and John Blackadder (1615-1686), who died there after five years' detention. At the Revolution four young Jacobites captured the Rock, and having been reinforced by a few others, held it for King James from June 1691 to April 1694, only surrendering when threatened by starvation. Thus the island was the last place in Great Britain to submit to William III. Dismantled of its fortifications in 1701, the Bass passed into the ownership of Sir Hew Dalrymple, to whose family it belongs. It is let on annual rental for the feathers, eggs, oil and young of the sea-birds and for the fees of visitors, who reach it usually from Canty Bay and North Berwick.
BASSUS, AUFIDIUS, a Roman historian, who lived in the reign of Tiberius. His work, which probably began with the civil wars or the death of Caesar, was continued by the elder Pliny, who, as he himself tells us, carried it down at least as far as the end of Nero's reign. The _Bellum Germanicum_ of Bassus, which is commended, may have been either a separate work or a section of his general history. The elder Seneca speaks highly of him as an historian, but the fragments preserved in that writer's _Suasoriae_ (vi. 23) relating to the death of Cicero, are characterized by an affected style.
Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, praefatio, 20; Tacitus, _Dialogus de Oratoribus_, 23; Quintilian, _Instit_, x. 1. 103.
BASSUS, CAESIUS, a Roman lyric poet, who lived in the reign of Nero. He was the intimate friend of Persius, who dedicated his sixth satire to him, and whose works he edited (Schol. on Persius, vi. 1). He is said to have lost his life in the eruption of Vesuvius (79). He had a great reputation as a poet; Quintilian (_Instit_, x. 1. 96) goes so far as to say that, with the exception of Horace, he was the only lyric poet worth reading. He is also identified with the author of a treatise _De Metris_, of which considerable fragments, probably of an abbreviated edition, are extant (ed. Keil, 1885). The work was probably originally in verse, and afterwards recast or epitomized in prose form to be used as an instruction book. A worthless and scanty account of some of the metres of Horace (in Keil, _Grammatici Latini_, vi. 305), bearing the title _Ars Caesii Bassi de Metris_ is not by him, but chiefly borrowed by its unknown author from the treatise mentioned above.
BASSUS, CASSIANUS, called SCHOLASTICUS (lawyer), one of the _geoponici_ or writers on agricultural subjects. He lived at the end of the 6th or the beginning of the 7th century A.D. He compiled from earlier writers a collection of agricultural literature (_Geoponica_) which was afterwards revised by an unknown editor and published about the year 950, in the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to whom the work itself has been ascribed. It contains a full list of the authorities drawn upon, and the subjects treated include agriculture, birds, bees, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, fishes and the like.
COMPLETE EDITIONS.--Needham (1704), Niclas (1781), Beckh (1895); see also Gemoll in _Berliner Studien_, i. (1884); Oder in _Rheinisches Museum_, xlv. (1890), xlviii. (1893), and De Raynal in _Annuaire de l'Assoc. pour l'Encouragement des Etudes Grecques_, viii. (1874).
BASSUS, SALEIUS, Roman epic poet, a contemporary of Valerius Flaccus, in the reign of Vespasian. Quintilian credits him with a vigorous and poetical genius (_Instit_, x. 1. 90) and Julius Secundus, one of the speakers in Tacitus _Dialogus de Oratoribus_ (5; see also 9) styles him a perfect poet and most illustrious bard. He was apparently overtaken by poverty, but was generously treated by Vespasian, who made him a present of 500,000 sesterces. Nothing from his works has been preserved; the _Laus Pisonis_, which has been attributed to him, is probably by Titus Calpurnius Siculus (J. Held, _De Saleio Basso_. 1834).
BASSVILLE, or BASSEVILLE, NICOLAS JEAN HUGON DE (d. 1793), French journalist and diplomatist, was born at Abbeville on the 7th of February 1753. He was trained for the priesthood, taught theology in a provincial seminary and then went to Paris. Here in 1784 he published _Elements de mythologie_ and some poems, which brought him into notice. On the recommendation of the prince of Conde he became tutor to two young Americans travelling in Europe. With them he visited Berlin, made the acquaintance there of Mirabeau, and became a member of the Berlin Academy Royal. At the outbreak of the Revolution he turned to journalism, becoming editor of the _Mercure international_. Then, through the Girondist minister Lebrun-Tondu, he entered the diplomatic service, went in May, 1792, as secretary of legation to Naples and was shortly afterwards sent, without official status, to Rome. Here his conduct was anything but diplomatic. He at once announced himself as the protector of the extreme Jacobins in Rome, demanded the expulsion of the French _emigres_ who had taken refuge there, including the "demoiselles Capet," and ordered the _fleur-de-lys_ on the escutcheon of the French embassy to be replaced by a picture of Liberty painted by a French art student. He talked at large of the "purple geese of the Capitol" and met the remonstrances of Cardinal Zelada, the papal secretary of state, with insults. This enraged the Roman populace; a riot broke out on the 13th of January 1793, and Bassville, who was driving with his family to the Corso, was dragged from his carriage and so roughly handled that he died. The affair was magnified in the Convention into a deliberate murder of the "representative of the Republic" by the pope's orders. In 1797 by an article of the treaty of Tolentino the papal government agreed to pay compensation to Bassville's family. Among his writings we may also mention _Memoires historiques, critiques el politiques sur la Revolution de France_ (Paris 1790; English trans. London, 1790).
See F. Masson, _Les Diplomates de la Revolution_ (Paris, 1882); Silvagni, _La Carte e la Societa romana nei secoli XVIII. e XIX._ (Florence, 1881).
BASTAR, a feudatory state of British India, in the Chattisgarh division of the Central Provinces; area, 13,062 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 306,501, showing a decrease of 1% compared with an apparent increase of 58% in the preceding decade. Estimated revenue L22,000; tribute L1100. The eastern part of Bastar is a flat elevated plateau, from 1800 to 2000 ft. above the level of the sea, the centre and N.W. portions are very mountainous, and the southern parts consist of hills and plains. On the plateau there are but few hills; the streams run slowly and the country is a mixture of plain and undulating ground covered by dense _sal_ forests. Principal mountains of the district: (1) a lofty range which separates it from the Sironcha district; (2) a range of equal height called the Bela Dila lying in the centre of the district; (3) a range running N. and S. near Narayanpur; (4) Tangri Dongri range, running E. and W.; (5) Tulsi Dongri, bordering on the Sabari river and the Jaipur state. There is also a small range running from the river Indravati to the Godavari. The Indravati, the Sabari and the Tal or Talper, are the chief rivers of the district; all of them affluents of the Godavari. The soil throughout the greater portion of Bastar consists of light clay, with an admixture of sand, suited for raising rice and wet crops. In the jungles the Marias, who are among the aboriginal tribes of Gond origin, raise kosra (_Panicum italicum_) and other inferior grains. Aboriginal races generally follow the migratory system of tillage, clearing the jungle on selected patches, and after taking crops for two or three years abandoning them for new ground. They do not use the plough; nor do they possess buffaloes, bullocks or cows; their only agricultural implement is a long-handled iron hoe. They are a timid, quiet, docile race, and although addicted to drinking not quarrelsome. They inhabit the densest jungles and are very shy, avoiding contact with strangers, and flying to the hills on the least alarm; but they bear a good character for honesty and truthfulness. They are very scantily dressed, wear a variety of trinkets, with a knife, hatchet, spear, bow and arrows, the only weapons they use. Their hair is generally shaved, excepting a topknot; and when not shaved it gets into a matted, tangled mass, gathered into a knot behind or on the crown. The Marias and the Jhurias are supposed to be a subdivision of the true Gond family. All the aboriginal tribes of Bastar worship the deities of the Hindu pantheon along with their own national goddess Danteswari.
Bastar is divided into two portions--that held by the Raja or chief himself, and that possessed by feudatory chiefs under him. The climate is unhealthy--fever, smallpox, dysentery and rheumatism being the prevailing diseases. Jagdalpur, Bijapur, Madder and Bhupalpatnam are the only places of any note in the dependency, the first (on the Indravati river) being the residence of the raja and the chief people of the state. The principal products are rice, oil-seeds, lac, tussur silk, horns, hides, wax and a little iron. Teak timber is floated down the rivers to the Madras coast. A good road has brought Jagdalpur into connexion with the railway at Raipur.
BASTARD (O. Fr. _bastard_, mod. _batard = fils de bast_, "pack-saddle child," from _bast_, saddle), a person born out of legal wedlock. Amongst the Romans, bastards were classified as _nothi_, children born in concubinage, and _spurii_, those not so born. Both classes had a right of succession to their mother, and the _nothi_, were entitled to support from their father, but had no rights of inheritance from him. Both, however, had in other respects most of the rights of citizenship. The Germanic law was based upon an entirely different principle. It recognized as legitimate only those whose parents were of the same social rank. All others were regarded as bastards, and took the status of the parent of inferior rank. The aim of all the Germanic codes was to preserve purity of race, not to improve morals, for incestuous unions are not censured. The influence of the Germanic law lasted throughout the early feudal period, and bastards were debarred rights of inheritance. In the 13th century the influence of Roman law tended again to modify this severity. An exception was probably made in the case of those whose fathers were of royal blood, in which case it even seems that no stigma was attached to the accident of their birth, nor did they suffer from the usual disabilities as to inheritance which attended those of illegitimate birth (Gregory of Tours, v. 25). Among the Franks we find Theodoric I., a natural son of Clovis, sharing the kingdom with the legitimate sons; Zwentibold, natural son of Arnulf, was created king of Lorraine by his father in 895; and even William the Conqueror actually assumed the appellation of bastard.
In English law a bastard still retains certain disabilities. His rights are only such as he can acquire; for civilly he can inherit nothing, being looked upon as the son of nobody, and sometimes called _filius nullius_, sometimes _filius populi_. This, however, does not hold as to moral purposes, e.g. he cannot marry his mother or bastard sister. Yet he may gain a surname by reputation though he has none by inheritance, and may even be made legitimate and capable of inheriting by the transcendent power of an act of parliament.
For poor-law purposes, all legitimate children take the settlement of their father, but a bastard takes the settlement of its mother. The mother of an illegitimate child is entitled to its custody in preference to the father, and consequently the responsibility of its support falls primarily on her. But the English law has always recognized the principle that to a certain extent the father must share in that responsibility. This, however, was imposed not with the idea of furnishing the woman with a civil remedy, nor to have a penal effect against the man, but solely to prevent the cost of maintenance of the bastard child from falling upon the parish. Indeed, the legislation upon the subject, which dates back to 1576, was until 1845 an intimate part of the poor law. The act of 1576, the basis of English bastardy law, empowered justices to take order for the punishment of the mother and reputed father of every bastard child left to the care of the parish, and to charge the mother and reputed father with the payment of a weekly sum or other needful sustenance. Other acts were passed in 1609 and 1733, enabling the mother of any child chargeable or likely to become chargeable to the parish to secure the apprehension, and even the imprisonment, of the father until he should indemnify the parish, provisions which were made somewhat more stringent by acts passed in 1809 and 1810. In 1832 a commission was appointed to inquire into the operation of the poor laws, and the commissioners in their report gave great attention to the subject of bastardy. They reviewed the various acts from 1576 downwards and gave examples of their operation. The conclusion to which the commissioners came was that the laws "which respect bastardy appear to be pre-eminently unwise," and that they gave rise to many abuses. For example, the weekly payment recovered by the parish was usually transferred to the mother; even in many cases guaranteed. The commissioners recommended that the mother alone should be responsible for the maintenance of the child. "This," they said, "is now the position of a widow, and there can be no reason for giving to vice privileges which we deny to misfortune." Acting on the recommendation of the commissioners the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 endeavoured to discourage the principle of making the putative father contribute by introducing a somewhat cumbersome method of procedure. The trend of public opinion proved against the discouragement of affiliation, and an act of 1839 transferred jurisdiction in affiliation cases from quarter-sessions to petty-sessions. A commission of inquiry on the working of the bastardy acts in 1844 recommended "that affiliation should be facilitated," and, accordingly, by the Bastardy Act of 1845 effect was given to this recommendation by giving the mother an independent civil remedy against the putative father and dissociating the parish altogether from the proceedings. Subsequently, legislation gave the parish the right of attaching, and in some cases suing for, money due from the putative father for the maintenance of the child. The existing law is set out under AFFILIATION.
The incapacities attaching to a bastard consist principally in this, that he cannot be heir to any one; for being _nullius filius_, he is therefore of kin to nobody, and has no ancestor from whom an inheritable blood can be derived. Therefore, if there be no other claimant upon an inheritance than such illegitimate child, it escheats to the lord. And as bastards cannot be heirs themselves, so neither can they have any heirs but those of their own bodies; for as all collateral kindred consists in being derived from the same common ancestor, and as a bastard has no legal ancestor, he can have no collateral kindred, and consequently no legal heirs, except such as claim by a lineal descent from himself. And hence, if a bastard purchase land, and die seised therefor without issue and intestate, the land escheats to the lord of the fee. Originally a bastard was deemed incapable of holy orders, and disqualified by the fact of his birth from holding any dignity in the church; but this doctrine is now obsolete, and in all other respects there is no distinction between a bastard and another man. By the law of Scotland a bastard is not only excluded from his father's succession, because the law knows no father who is not marked out by marriage; and from all heritable succession, whether by the father or mother, because he cannot be pronounced lawful heir by the inquest in terms of the brief; but also from the movable succession of his mother, because he is not her lawful child, and legitimacy is implied in all succession deferred by the law. But a bastard, although he cannot succeed _jure sanguinis_, may succeed by destination, where he is specially called to the succession by entail or testament. In Scotland, as in England, a bastard can have no legal heirs except those of his own body; and hence, failing his lawful issue, the king succeeds to him as last heir. Formerly bastards in Scotland without issue of their own could not make a will, but this disability was removed by a statute of 1835. If bastards or other persons without kindred die intestate without wife or child, their effects go to the king as _ultimus haeres_; but a grant is usually made of them by letters patent, and the grantee becomes entitled to the administration.
According to the common law, which is the law of England, a bastard cannot be divested of his state of illegitimacy, unless by the supreme power of an act of parliament. But in those countries which have followed the Roman or civil law, a bastard's status may be provisional, and he can be made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of his parents. (See LEGITIMACY AND LEGITIMATION; and, for statistics, ILLEGITIMACY.)