pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
BACCHAE, in Antiquity, the priestesses of Bacchus, who celebrated the orgia or mysteries of that god. The word was also used for the ivy crowns or garlands worn by the priests of Bacchus at the Dionysiae festivals.
BACCHANALIA, feasts celebrated in honour of Bacchus by the ancients. The two most remarkable were denominated the greater and lesser. The lesser, called Len(ea, from a word signifying a wine-press, were held in the open field about autumn; the greater, called Dionysia, from one of the names of Bacchus, were celebrated in the city about the spring time.
BACCHIC, something relating to the ceremonies of Bacchus. The celebrated intaglio called Michael Angelo’s ring, is a representation of a Baechic feast.

Bαc(!iiic Song is sometimes used for a chanson a boire, or composition calculated to inspire jollity; but in a more proper sense it is limited to a dithyrambic ode or hymn.
BACCHIUS, a follower of Aristoxenus, supposed by Fabricius to have been tutor to the emperor Marcus Antoninus, and consequently to have lived about A. d. 140. He wrote in Greek a very short introduction to music, in the form of dialogue, which Meibomius has published with a Latin translation. The dialogue was first published in the original by Mersennus, in his commentary on the first six chapters of Genesis.
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BACCHUS, the god of wine, with whose fabulous characteristics and adventures every school-boy is acquainted. This divinity is seldom named in modern times, except as the supposititious patron of sensuality and excess; but he was regarded in a more respectable light by the ancients, who worshipped him in different countries under various appellations. It is natural to suppose that the Greeks and Romans ascribed to the Bacchus whom they worshipped the several -actions and attributes of the many divinities known by that and by other equivalent appellations in different countries. It is evident, however, that antiquity distinguished two divinities by the title of Bacchus, namely, him of Egypt, the son of Ammon, commonly known by the name of Osiris; and the Bacchus of Thebes in Boeotia, the son of Jupiter and Semele.

With regard to the dithyrambics which gave birth to dramatic representations, Dr Burney is of opinion that they are as ancient as the worship of Bacchus in Greece; and there is little doubt that the ceremonies observed at the celebration of his mysteries gave rise to scenic or theatrical representations in that country. Many of the most splendid exhibitions on the stage, both at Athens and at Rome, were performed at the festivals of this divinity; and hence all those who were employed in them, whether in singing, dancing, or reciting, were called servants of Bacchus.
BACCHYLIDES, a famous Greek poet, was the nephew of Simonides, and flourished about 450 years before Christ. He wrote Odes, Hymns, and Epigrams, of which there are some fragments in the first volume of Brunck’s Analecta.
BACCIO, or Baccius, Andrew, a celebrated physician of the sixteenth century, born at St Elpideo. He practised physic at Rome with great reputation, and was first physician to Pope Sixtus V. The most scarce and valuable of his works are the following :—1. De Thermis; 2. De Naturali Vinorum Historia, de Vinis Italiae, et de Conviviis Antiquorum; 3. De Venenis et Antidotis; 4. De Gemmis ac Lapidibus Pretiosis. Baccio, Fra. Bartolomeo, called Bαrtelerni di S. Marco, a celebrated historical and portrait painter, born at Savignano, near Florence, in 1469, was a disciple of Cosumo Roselli; but his principal knowledge of the art was derived from Leonardo da Vinci. He understood the true principles of design better than most masters of his time; and being also a considerable painter in perspective, Raphael had recourse to him, after quitting the school of Perugino, and, under his direction, studied the art of managing and uniting colours, as well as the rules of perspective. Some years after the departure of Raphael from Florence, Baccio visited Rome; and by the observations he made on the antiques and the works of Raphael, which were then the admiration of the whole world, he improved greatly, and manifested his acquired abilities by a picture of St Sebastian, which he finished at his return to Florence. This was so well designed, so naturally and beautifully coloured, and so strongly expressive of suffering and agony, that it was found necessary to remove it from the place where it had been exhibited, in the chapel of a convent, in consequence of the too powerful impression it ιad made on the imaginations of many women who beheld it. Baccio was very laborious, and made nature his perpetual study; his designs were distinguished for correctness and purity, his figures had a great deal of grace, and his colouring was admirable. He is usually accounted the inventor of the .machine called a layman by the artists, and which to this day is in general use among the gentlemen of the pallet and brush. Upon it lie placed his draperies, to observe with greater exactness their natural dependence and more elegant convolutions. Ther-3 is a capital picture of the Ascension, by Baccio, in the Florentine collection. He died in 1517.
BACHA, a city, chief of the bailiwick of the same name, containing 4162 inhabitants. It stands on the river Werra, in the duchy of Saxe Weimar, and contains a population of 1820 persons.
BACHELOR, or Batchelor, a common term for a man not married, or who is yet in a state of celibacy. The Roman censors frequently imposed fines on bachelors. Dionysius of Halicarnassus mentions an old constitution, by which all persons of full age were obliged to marry. But the most celebrated law of this kind was that made under Augustus, called the Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus, by which bachelors were made incapable of taking legacies or inheritances by will, unless from their near relations. By the laws of Lycurgus bachelors were branded with infamy, and excluded from all offices civil and military, nay even from the shows and public sports. At certain feasts they were exposed to public derision, and led round the market-place. In the canon law we find injunctions on bachelors, when arrived at puberty, either to marry, or to turn monks and profess chastity in earnest.

Bachelor was anciently a denomination given to those who had attained to knighthood, but wanted the number of vassals sufficient to entitle them to have their banner carried before them in the field of battle; or who, being of the order of bannerets, were not yet of age to display their own banner, and consequently obliged to march to battle under the banner of another. Bachelor was also a title given to young cavaliers, who having made their first campaign, received the military girdle accordingly; and it further served to distinguish him who had overcome an adversary in a tournament the first time he had ever engaged.

Knights-BΑCHELORS, the most ancient, but the lowest order of knights in England, known by the name of knights only. They are styled knights-bachelors, either, according to some, as denoting their degree, quasi “bas chevaliers;” or, according to others, because this title doesnot descend to their posterity. Knights are called in Latin equites aurati; aurati, from the gilt spurs they wore, and equites, because they always served on horseback; for it is observable that almost all nations call their knights by some appellation derived from a horse.

Bachelors, in universities, are persons who have taken the first degree in the liberal arts and sciences. See Degrees, Academical.
BACHIAN, one of the Molucca islands, about fifty-four miles in length by twenty in breadth, with an isthmus in the centre which widens towards each end. It is separated, by a narrow channel called the Strait of Patientia, from the island of Gilolo. It yields gold dust, sago, fruits, and the best cloves of the Moluccas. The inhabitants are Malay Mahommedans. Long. 127. 33. E. Lat. 1. 0. S.
BACHMUT, a circle in the European Russian government of Catherinoslav. It is very extensive, including within it a very large portion of the steppes, which are destitute of wood and scantily supplied with water, but feed great numbers of sheep and oxen. The chief town, of the same name, contains about 5000 inhabitants, who are great dealers in and breeders of horses. Long. 38. 3. E. Lat. 48. 32. N.
BACKER, or Bakker, Jacob, portrait and historical painter, was born at Harlingen in 1609, but spent the greater part of his life at Amsterdam. He is mentioned as a skilful painter, particularly of portraits, which he executed with boldness, spirit, and grace. He was remarkable for an uncommon readiness of hand and freedom of pencil; while his incredible expedition in his manner of painting appeared even in a half-length portrait of a lady from Haerlem, which was begun and finished in one day, although he adorned the figure with rich drapery and several ornamental jewels. He also painted historical subjects with considerable success; and in that style there is a picture by him of Cimon and Iphigenia, which is accounted an excellent performance. He died in 1651.
BACKERGUNGE, a district in the province of Bengal, a considerable proportion of which, called Boklah, extends along the western bank of the great Ganges, nearly to its mouth, at the island of Rabnabad, which forms the south-east angle of the Bengal Delta. About the year 1584 part of this district was laid waste by an inundation of the ocean, from which it has never yet recovered. The other parts, however, are extremely productive, being fertilized by the inundations of the river, and yielding annually two crops of rice. It is very unhealthy, owing to the damp, and is infested with tigers and uligators of an enormous size; and by the still greater plague of river pirates, who have had their abode there from time immemorial, and plunder, and frequently murder, those who fall into their power, or torture them in order to extort from them a disclosure of their hidden wealth. All the efforts of the British government to suppress this banditti have hitherto failed, although a strong establishment of boats and sepoys is maintained at the town of Backergunge, which is the capital of the district, and the residence of the judge and magistrate. It is 120 miles east of Calcutta. Long. 89. 20. E. Lat. 22. 42. N.
BACKING the Sails, in Navigation, is to arrange them m a situation that will force the ship to move backwards.
BACKSCHISARAI, a city in the European Russian government of Taurida, formerly the capital of the peninsula, and the residence of the khan. It was formerly a place of considerable trade, and in 1793 contained 1560 houses, with 5777 inhabitants. It has, however, greatly declined since the peninsula was transferred to Russia. Long. 38. 39. E. Lat. 44. 39. N.
BACULARIUS, in writers of the middle age, an ecclesiastical apparitor or verger, who carries a staff, baculus, in his hand, as an ensign of his office.
BACONTHORP, John; called the Resolute Doctor, a learned monk, was born towards the end of the thirteenth century, at Baconthorp, a village in Norfolk. He spent the early part of his life in the convent of Blackncy, near Walsingham, in the same county, whence he removed to Oxford, and thereafter to Paris, where, being distinguished for his learning, he obtained degrees in divinity and laws, and was esteemed the principal of the Averroists. In 1329 he returned to England, and was immediately chosen twelfth provincial of the English Carmelites. In 1333 he was sent for to Rome, where, we are told, he first maintained the pope’s sovereign authority in cases of divorce; but this opinion he is understood to have afterwards retracted. He died in London in the year 1346. Leland, Bale, and Pitts, unanimously give him the character of a monk of genius and learning. He wrote, 1. Commentaria, seu Quastiοnes super quatuor libros Sententiarum; and, 2. Compendium Legis Christi, et quodlibeta; both of which passed through several editions.
BACTRIA, or Bactriana, an ancient kingdom of 1sia,. bounded on the west by Margiana, on the north by the river Oxus, on the south by Mount Paropamisus, and on the east by the Asiatic Scythia and the country of the flassagetae. It was a large, fruitful, and well-peopled country, containing, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, a thousand cities, though of these only a few are particularly mentioned by historians, of which that formerly called Maracanda, now Samarcand, is the most considerable.
BAC l’ROPERATA, an ancient appellation given to philosophers by way of contempt, denoting a man with a staff and a budget.
BACCULE, in Fortification, a kind of portcullis or gate, made like a pit-fall with a counterpoise, and supported by two large stakes. It is usually erected before 1 θ corpade guard, not far from the gate of a place.
BADAJOZ, a city, the capital of the province of Es- r emadura, in Spain. It is situated on a plain on the left ank of the Guadiana, is strongly fortified, and contains an arsenal and military academy, a cathedral, five parish 1 churches, twelve religious houses, and five hospitals. The inhabitants are 14,500. In the late war it was twice taken after severe sieges, which injured the prosperity of the city; but it has now recovered from these calamities, and is the seat of a flourishing trade with Portugal. Long. 6. 21. W. Lat. 38. 30. N.
BADAKSHAN, or Buducsnan, a mountainous district, situated to the north of the great Himalaya ridge, which bounds Hindostan on the north. It is about twenty days journey east-south-east of Buckharia, and nearly south of Kokaun. It comprehends the higher valley of the Amoo, which is here called the Jihonor the Jaxartes, togetherwith all the other valleys of its tributary streams, and all the mountains connected with them as far nearly as the sources of that river. The district of Badakshan rises gradually to its level from the lower and northern part of the province of Balkh, which occupies the left bank farther down the river. This country is described as mountainous and well wooded, and the people uncivilized, and even savage in their manners. They live in villages surrounded with gardens, and situated in the little glens and recesses of the hills. The mountainous districts of this province are famed for some of the richest mines of lapis lazuli and of rubies that are known. The former is found in veins, sometimes of considerable thickness, in a gray matrix; and masses of v this stone are occasionally procured capable of being wrought into large slabs. They are carried to Buckharia for sale, and thence to Russia. The rubies are found imbedded in a white earth, in large masses of crystal. Some large and coarse crystals are also found, as well as emeralds, according to the information of Fraser. The chief town is Fyzabad, which is said not to be more than 150 miles from Balkh. There is another town of the same name as the province, and of considerable importance. Mr Fraser could gain little authentic information concerning the people of this remote country, their habits, or the nature of their government. They arc, however, rigid and intolerant Mahommedans, among whom it would be dangerous for any European to reside. (Fraser’s Journey into Khorassan. Elphinstone.)
BADALONA, a town of the province of Catalonia, in Spain, on the sea-coast, 10 miles north-east from Barcelona. It is defended by a castle, and remarkable as the landing place of the archduke Charles of Austria in the war of the succession in 1704. It contains about 2800 inhabitants, mostly seamen and fishermen.
BADEN, a grand duchy. See Germany. Baden, or Baden-Baden, a town in the grand duchy of Baden, celebrated for its medicinal springs, which rise from twenty-six wells of the warmth of from 110° to 118° of Fahrenheit. This is a place of great resort for company in the summer, as well on account of the baths as for the picturesque scenery of the vicinity. The city contains about 3000 resident inhabitants; but the numbers visiting it in the appropriate season very far exceed the regular population. There arc bathing-houses and promenades, conversation and gaming rooms, libraries, and all the other appendages of a fashionable watering place. It is about four miles from the Rhine, in the Black Forest, near an ancient castle with some curious subterranean apartments.

Baden, a city in the canton of Aargau, in Switzerland, which gives its name to a circle around it containing 54 townships, with 42 parish churches, 850 houses, and about 5950 inhabitants. The city is on the river Limmat, and near it are several warm springs of great medicinal celebrity, which induces crowds of visitors to repair to them in the appropriate season. It contains about 1650 resident inhabitants, who depend chiefly upon the annual visitors.
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Baden, a small city in the Austrian province of the Lower Ens, in the circle of Wiener Wald. It is about twelve miles from Vienna, and is the most fashionable summer resort of the inhabitants of that capital. The situation is highly romantic, and the prospects in its vicinity are picturesque and beautiful. There are many warm baths, which are visited for the restoration of health by a great number of patients. Accommodations and amusements are here as amply furnished to the visitors as at the other German Spas. It suffered much by a fire in 1812, but has since been very elegantly rebuilt. The archduke Charles has a residence at this place; and the imperial family are frequently to be seen here in a plain domestic style. The resident inhabitants are about 2300, but the occasional visitors commonly exceed that number. It stands on the rapid river Schwachat, whose water-falls add to the beauties of the walks.
BADENOCH, a district of Inverness-shire in Scotland. (See Inverness-shire.)
BADEN-WEILLER, a town of Germany, belonging to the lower margravate of Baden. Long. 7. 50. E. Lat. 47. 55. N.
BADENS, Francis, historical and portrait painter, born at Antwerp in 1571, died in 1603. His touch was light and spirited, and his colouring warm, in which, indeed, he had the honour of being the first who introduced a good taste among his countrymen.
BADGER. See Mammalia Index.
BADILE, Antonio, historical and portrait painter, born at Verona in 1480, died in 1560. By great study and application he acquired a more extensive knowledge of the true principles of painting than any of his predecessors. He was confessedly a very eminent artist; but he derived greater honour from having had two such disciples as Paolo Veronese and Baptista Zelotti, than from the excellence of his own compositions.
BADIUS, Josse, sometimes called Badius Ascen-sius, from the village of Asche, where he was’ born in 1462, an eminent French printer, whose printing establishment was celebrated under the name of Prelum Ascensianum. He illustrated with notes several of the works which he printed, and was himself the author of several pieces, particularly a life of Thomas a Kempis, and a satire on the follies of women, entitled Navicula Stultarum Mulierum. He died in 1535.
BAETICA, a province of ancient Spain, so called from the famed river Baetis, afterwards Tartessus, now Guadalquivir or the great river. It was bounded on the west by Lusitania, on the south by the Mediterranean and Sinus Gaditanus, and on the north by the Cantabric Sea, now the Bay of Biscay. On the east and north-east its limits cannot be so well ascertained, since they are thought to have been in a continual state of fluctuation, as each petty monarch had an opportunity of encroaching upon his neighbour.
BAETYLIA, anointed stones, worshipped by the Phoenicians, by the Greeks before the time of Cecrops, and by other barbarous nations. They were commonly of a black colour, and consecrated to some god, as Saturn, Jupiter, the Sun. Some are of opinion that the true original of these idols is to be derived from the pillar of stone which Jacob erected at Bethel, and which was afterwards worshipped by the Jews. These hoetylia were the objects of much veneration among the ancient heathens. Many of their idols were in fact no other; and no sort was more common in eastern countries than that of erect oblong stones, hence termed by the Greeks τοιοviς, pillars. In some parts of Egypt they were planted on both sides of the highways. In the temple of Heliogabalus in Syria, there was one said to have fallen from heaven; and in Phrygia there was a black stone, also considered an aerolithe, which the Romans sent for, and received with much ceremony, Scipio Nasica having been at the head of the embassy.
BAEZA, a city of Andalusia in Spain, seated on a high hill three miles from the Guadalquivir. It is the see of a bishop, and has a kind of university founded by John d’Avila. It was taken from the Moors about the end of the fifteenth century. Long. 3. 15. E. Lat. 37. 45. N.
BAFFIN’S BAY, a gulf of North America, separating Greenland from the north-eastern part of America. Davis’ Straits form the lower part or entrance of this bay or gulf.
BAFFO, a town in the island of Cyprus, with a fort built near the site of the ancient Paphos, of which some ruins yet remain, particularly fragments of columns, which probably belonged to the temple of Venus. Long. 32.20. E. Lat. 34. 50. N.
BAGLANA, a large and mountainous district of Hindostan, in the Mahratta territories, province of Aurungabad, through which many fertile plains and valleys are interspersed. It is situated between the 20th and 21st degrees of N. lat.; and the natural strength of the country’s augmented by a number of strong fortresses erected on the summits of lofty mountains. This province was first conquered by the Mahometans in 1296, but they were unable to retain their conquest; and from its natural advantages, and the martial disposition of its natives, it appears never to have been entirely subdued, either by the sovereigns of the Deccan or the Moguls. Aurungzebe w ιth his powerful armies made inroads into this country; but he never obtained more than its nominal subjection, and an irregularly paid tribute. It revolted from the Delhi emperors on the first appearance of the Mahratta chief Sevajee; and it was wholly held by different Mahratta chiefs till 1818. It was partitioned among a variety of leaders, the limits of whose territories frequently fluctuated. It has no towns of any note.
BAGLIVI, George, a celebrated physician of Italy, was a native of Apulia, and born about the year 1668. He studied at Padua, where he became doctor; and then went to Rome, where he was chosen professor of anatomy. He died at Rome in 1706, at the early age of thirty-eight. A collection of his pieces, which are all in the Latin language, was published in 4to in 1704, and has been several times reprinted in the same form. An edition in 2 vols. 8vo was published in 1788.
BAGMUTTY, a river of Hindostan, which has its source in the hills to the north of Catmandoo, the capital of Nepaul, whence it flows in a southerly direction, and joins the Ganges after a course of 300 miles.
BAGNARA, a city of the province of Calabria Ulteriore, in the kingdom of Naples, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It suffered by the earthquake in 1783, when, out of 4938 persons, 3324 perished. The injury has been in a great measure repaired, and it now contains a population of 4000 individuals, who carry on a considerable trade in silk, oil, and wine, and in the fishery.
BAGNAREA, a town of Italy, in St Peter’s patrimony, and in the territory of Orvieta, with a bishop’s see. Long. 12. 10. E. Lat. 42. 36. N.
BAG NERES, an arrondissement of the department of the Upper Pyrenees, in France, 770 square miles in extent, comprehending ten cantons and 202 communes, with a population of 73,630 persons. The capital is the city of Bagnères de Biggore, celebrated for its medicinal springs. It is at the entrance of the beautiful valleys of Medouse and Campan on the Adour, and is much frequented both for health and pleasure. The population is about 6500. Long. 0. Lat. 43. 3. N.
BAGNIALACK, a large town of Turkey in Europe, in the province of Bosnia. Long. 18. 10. E. Lat. 44. 0. N.
BAGNOLAS, a town of Lower Languedoc, now the department of Gard, in France. It has a handsome square, and two fountains which rise in the middle of the town, the waters of which being received in a basin, are conveyed by a canal out of town, and thence to the lands about it. Long. 4. 43. E. Lat. 44. 10. N.