_The Bantam_, a well-known small breed, originally from India, is
chiefly valued for its grotesque figure and delicate flesh.
There has been lately obtained a variety of bantams, extremely small,
and as smooth legged as a game fowl. From their size and delicacy, they
are very convenient, as they may always stand in the place of chickens,
when small ones are not otherwise to be had. They are also particularly
used for sitting upon the eggs of partridges and pheasants, being good
nurses, as well as good layers. Sir John Sebright, M.P. for Herts, is
one of the chief amateurs of this breed. Sir John’s breed are
beautifully striped and variegated.
In addition, there is a South American variety, either from Brazil or
Buenos Ayres, which will roost in trees. They are very beautiful,
partridge-spotted and streaked; the eggs small, and coloured like those
of the pheasant; both the flesh and eggs are fine flavoured and
delicate.—_Moubray._
BAR, _s._ A piece of wood laid across a passage to hinder entrance;
a bolt to fasten a door; any obstacle; a rock or bank at the
entrance of a harbour; anything used for prevention; a moveable
piece of timber used in the menage to teach horses to leap.
BARB, _s._ Anything that grows in the place of the beard; the points
that stand backward in an arrow.
BARB, _s._ A Barbary horse. _Vide_ ARAB and HORSE.
BARB, _v._ To jag arrows and fishing-hooks.
BARBADOES TAR, _s._ A bituminous substance of strong diuretic power.
It is used in chronic coughs, and externally employed in strains
and bruises.
BARBECUE, _s._ A hog dressed whole.
BARBED, _a._ Bearded; jagged with hooks.
BARBEL, _s._ A kind of fish found in rivers.
[Illustration]
The Barbel is one of the coarsest fishes. In England they are deemed the
worst of fresh-water fish, and seldom eaten but by the poorest sort of
people, who sometimes boil them with a piece of bacon to give them a
relish. The roe is very noxious, affecting those unwarily eating it with
a vomiting, purging, and a slight swelling.
The Barbel takes its name from the barbs, or wattels, at his mouth. They
begin to run up the rivers in March and April. When they spawn, they
keep together in companies, making holes in the gravel wherein they cast
it.
The head of the barbel is smooth, the nostrils are near the eyes; it has
a leather mouth, which is placed below; on each corner is a single
beard, and another on each side of the nose; the shape is long, round,
and handsome; the dorsal fin is armed with a remarkably strong spine,
sharply serrated; with which it can inflict a severe wound on the
uncautious handler, and do much damage to the net. The side fin is
straight; the scales are not large, and of a pale gold colour, edged
with black; the belly white, the tail is a little bifurcated, and of a
deep purple. It is sometimes found three feet in length, and weighing
eighteen pounds. According to the accounts in the Elements of Natural
History, it is met with from two to fifteen feet long, grows quickly, is
very tenacious of life, and lives to a great age.
If there be any difference in the taste of their flesh, they are most in
season the latter end of the summer; but in fact they are not worth
noticing, except for the sport the angler derives from the catching of
them, and which, from their being so strong and determined a fish when
hooked, is very great.—_Daniel._
BARGE, _s._ A boat for pleasure; a boat for burthen.
BARGER, _s._ A river-keeper; the manager of a barge.
BARK, _s._ The rind or covering of a tree; a small ship.
BARK, _v._ To strip trees of their bark; to make the noise which a
dog makes.
BARK, PERUVIAN, or CINCHONA, _s._ A tonic and febrifuge medicine.
Its effects upon the horse are trifling; it is useful chiefly in
diabetes. There are three qualities, pale, red, and yellow. The
first is best.
BARK, OAK, _s._ An excellent substitute for Peruvian.
BARLEY, _s._ A grain of which malt is made.
BARM, _s._ Yeast; the ferment put into drink to make it work.
BARN, _s._ A place or house for laying up any sort of grain, hay, or
straw.
BARNACLE, _s._ A kind of shellfish which attaches itself to timber
floating at sea; a bird, _vide_ BERNACLE.
BAROMETER, _s._ A machine for measuring the weight of the
atmosphere, and the variations in it, in order chiefly to
determine the changes of the weather.
_Barometer._—There is no instrument now more generally used for
ascertaining the coming weather than the barometer. It may however be
remarked, that it is more from its rising or falling, than from its
height or lowness that we are to infer fair or foul weather. Generally
speaking, the rising of the mercury presages clear fair weather, and its
falling, foul weather; as rain, snow, high winds, and storms.
In very hot weather, the falling of the mercury indicates thunder.
In winter the rising indicates frost, and in frosty weather, if the
mercury fall three or four divisions, there will follow a thaw; but in a
continued frost, if the mercury rise, it will snow.
When foul weather happens soon after the falling of the mercury, expect
but little of it; and, on the contrary, expect but little fair weather
when it proves fair shortly after the mercury has risen.
In foul weather, when the mercury rises much and high, and so continues
for two or three days before the foul weather is over, then expect a
continuance of fair weather to follow.
In fair weather, when the mercury falls much and low, and thus continues
for two or three days before the rain comes, then expect a great deal of
wet, and probably high winds.
The unsettled motion of the mercury denotes uncertain and changeable
weather.
The words engraved on the register plate of the barometer, it may be
observed, cannot be strictly relied upon to correspond exactly with the
state of the weather; though it will in general agree with them as to
the mercury rising and falling.
When the thermometer and barometer rise together in summer, with rain in
large drops, a wholesome state of the atmosphere is at hand.
A great and sudden rising of the barometer, that is to say, a great
accession of atmospherical pressure, will, in some persons, occasion a
slight temporary difficulty of hearing and tingling in the ears, similar
to that which is experienced in descending from high mountains, or from
the air in balloons.—_Foster._
BARREL, _s._ A round wooden vessel to be stopped close; a vessel
containing liquor; anything hollow, as the barrel of a gun; a
cylinder.
_Barrel-making_ has occupied the attention of gun manufacturers from the
first invention of fire-arms to the present time. Experiments in the
material as well as the construction of barrels, have been extensively
tried by the artists of every country. A gradual and progressive
improvement was the result, until the _slub-barrel_ of the present day
has superseded every other kind, and seems to have reached the utmost
perfection that human ingenuity can accomplish.
The peculiar formation of barrels at different periods, and by different
artists, will be interesting to sportsmen generally.
_Spanish barrels_ have always been held in great esteem, as well on
account of the quality of the iron—which is generally considered the
best in Europe—as because they possess the reputation of being forged
and bored more perfectly than any others. It should be observed,
however, that of the Spanish barrels, those only that are made in the
capital are accounted truly valuable; in consequence of which a great
many have been made at other places, especially in Catalonia and Biscay,
with the names and marks of the Madrid gunsmiths. They are also
counterfeited at Liege, Munich, &c.; and a person must be a good judge
not to be deceived by these spurious barrels.
These barrels were formerly in such high repute, that the price of them
was enormous. Those of Belen, Fernandez, and Bez, sold in France for a
thousand livres, or 43_l._ 15_s._; while the barrels of artists of
lesser name produced three hundred, or 13_l._ sterling.
After the barrels of Madrid, those of Bustindui and St. Olabe, at
Placentia, in Biscay, and of Jean and Clement Pedroesteva, Eudal Pous,
and Martin Marechal, at Barcelona, are the most esteemed; these usually
sell in France for eighty French livres, or 3_l._ 10_s._ sterling.
Almost all the barrels made at Madrid are composed of the old shoes of
horses and mules, collected for the purpose. They are all welded
longitudinally, but instead of being forged in one plate or piece, as in
other countries, they are made, like the English twisted barrels, in
five or six detached portions, which are afterwards welded one to the
end of another, two of them forming the breech or reinforced part of the
barrel. We may form some idea of the very great purity to which the iron
is brought in the course of the operation, when we are told, that to
make a barrel, which, rough from the forge, weighs only six or seven
pounds, they employ a mass of mule-shoe iron, weighing from forty to
forty-five pounds; so that from thirty-four to thirty-eight pounds are
lost in the heatings and hammerings it is made to undergo before it is
forged into a barrel.
Notwithstanding the great reputation of the Spanish barrels, however,
they are little used in France, and still less in England, their awkward
form and their great length and weight being strong objections to them,
especially since they have begun to make their pieces so very light and
short in these countries; and from our own experience of the Spanish
barrels, we are convinced that the avidity with which they are sought
after by some persons, and the extravagant prices that are given for
them, proceed more from a fancied than from any real superiority they
possess over those made in this country.
* * * * *
The Spanish gunsmiths pique themselves upon the very high polish they
give to the inside of their barrels. We have our doubts about the
advantage derived from this, and are still of opinion that if a barrel
is so smooth as not to lead, it is better to take it as it comes from
the hand of the manufacturer, than allow the gunsmith to practise any
farther operation upon it. In support of this opinion, Mons. de Marolles
informs us, that he has seen a barrel rough from the borer throw a
charge of shot deeper into a quire of paper, than another barrel that
was highly polished within, although the length, the bore, and the
charge, were the same in both.
* * * * *
The _canons a ruban_, or _riband barrels_ of the French, very much
resemble the English twisted barrels. The process pursued in their
formation is very troublesome, and seems to possess no countervailing
advantage. A plate of iron about the twelfth part of an inch in
thickness is turned round a mandril, and welded its whole length in the
same manner as a plain barrel: upon this small and light barrel, which
is called lining, a stripe or plate of iron, about an inch in breadth,
and bevelled off at the edges, is rolled in a spiral direction, by means
of successive heats—this spiral is termed the riband, and its thickness
must correspond with the part of the barrel it is to constitute. As a
riband of sufficient length to cover the lining from one end to the
other would be very difficult to manage, it is formed in several pieces,
and so soon as one piece is nearly rolled on, another is welded to the
end of it, and the operation continued until the whole of the lining is
covered. The edges are bevelled so much, that one edge overlaps the
other about a quarter of an inch. When the riband is all rolled on, the
barrel is heated by two or three inches at a time, and the turns of the
spiral united to each other and to the lining, by being welded in the
same manner as a twisted or plain barrel, but requiring more care and
accuracy in the operation. It is afterwards bored, so that almost the
whole of the lining is cut out, and scarcely anything left except the
riband with which it was covered.
* * * * *
_Lazarini Barrels_, so called after the maker, were formerly celebrated
throughout the greatest part of Europe. They were very long, and of a
very small calibre. Lazarini lived at Brescia, about a hundred and fifty
years ago. He did not forge these barrels himself, but he finished them
with great accuracy, and ornamented them in a rich and elegant manner.
At the time, however, when these barrels were in high estimation, there
were numerous counterfeits bearing the name and mark of Cominazzo, and
it requires some acquaintance with the genuine barrels not to be
deceived by the spurious ones. The true Lazarini are now to be found
only in the repositories of the curious.
The vanity of possessing something that is singularly curious, the false
idea that whatever is expensive must necessarily be good, and sometimes,
though rarely, the laudable desire of improvement, have all in their
turns been the causes of a variety of experiments made in the
manufacture of barrels. An artist in London, who wrought a great deal of
Spanish iron, forged barrels from old scythes, from wire, from needles,
and a great many other articles suggested by the whim of the
customers—who made barrels with a lining of steel, and formed others
with a double spiral of steel and iron alternately—confessed after these
numerous trials, that “stub iron wrought into a twisted barrel is
superior to every other.” Whenever steel was employed, he found that the
barrel neither welded nor bored so perfectly as when iron alone was
used.
* * * * *
The _English stub barrels_ are deservedly celebrated for their superior
elegance and strength, as well as for the accuracy with which they throw
their ball or shot. The iron employed in them is formed of stubs, which
are old horse-shoe nails, procured from country farriers, and from poor
people who gain a subsistence by picking them up on the great roads
leading to the metropolis. These are originally formed from the softest,
toughest iron that can be had, and this is still farther purified by the
numerous heatings and hammerings it has undergone in being reduced from
a bar into the size and form of nails. They cost about ten shillings the
hundred weight, and twenty-eight pounds are required to make a single
barrel of the ordinary size. A hoop of iron about an inch broad, or six
or seven inches diameter, is placed perpendicularly, and the stubs,
previously freed from dirt by washing, are neatly piled in it, with
their heads outermost on each side, until the hoop is quite filled and
wedged tight with them, the whole resembling a rough circular cake of
iron. This is put into the fire, until it has acquired a white heat,
when it is hammered either by the strength of the arm, or by the force
of machinery, until it coalesces, and becomes one solid mass of iron.
The hoop is then removed, and the heatings and hammerings repeated,
until the iron, by being thus wrought and kneaded, is freed from every
impurity, and rendered very tough and close in the grain. The workmen
then proceeds to draw it out into pieces of about twenty-four inches in
length, half an inch or more in breadth, and half an inch in thickness.
* * * * *
_Damascus barrels_ are thus described by _Hawker_:—“I saw the process of
making them, the mixture of iron and steel for which is beat out in long
bars, and then, previously to being wound round the anvil, twisted by a
kind of turning lathe, (similar to wringing clothes when wet), and then
beat flat again. Although these are by far the dearest barrels that are
made, yet the price of one in Birmingham is very trifling, viz.:—
Forging £1 10 0
Boring and grinding 0 5 0
Filing and patent breech 0 11 0
Proof 0 1 6
————————
£2 7 6
The stub barrels, which are generally used for best guns, cost about
sixteen shillings each.”
The Damascene barrels are now unfashionable, and never had anything to
recommend them, but as being a pretty novelty.
* * * * *
_On boring of barrels_ there has been much diversity of opinion; and if
Colonel Hawker’s theory be correct, the bore should not be perfectly
cylindrical.
With respect to the common sized guns, which are usually made for the
sports of the field, there are two good ways of boring; the one is, to
leave a cylinder for about three-fourths of the barrel, (always taking
care, however, to preserve a tightness for a little friction just where
the shot first moves), and let the remaining part be gradually relieved
to the muzzle. For instance; suppose a barrel to be two feet eight
inches long, we would say (beginning at the breech end) about six inches
tight, twenty-one inches a cylinder, and the remaining five inches
relieved to the muzzle. All this must be done with the most delicate
possible gradation, and in so small a degree, that even some gun-makers
could scarcely discover it. How natural, then, is it, that many sporting
authors should be so far deceived, as to fancy the best guns are bored a
true cylinder, and therefore, argue in its favour. This relief has the
effect of making the gun shoot as close as it can do, compatibly with
the strength and quickness required, which should, however, be increased
as much as possible by the best constructed breechings.
The other plan is, to make the barrel regularly tighter all the way
down, so that, in firing, the shot goes progressively easier as it
approaches the muzzle. All this relief must be given in a very trifling
degree, because, should the barrel be too much opened in any part, it
would admit of the powder escaping between the wadding and the sides of
the calibre, by which the shooting of the gun would be rendered weak.
For this reason, I should even object to having a hole through the
wadding that covers the powder, which many do to prevent the confined
air from resisting the ramrod.
* * * * *
The imperfections to which a barrel is liable in forging, are of three
kinds, viz., the _chink_, the _crack_, and the _flaw_. The _chink_ is a
solution of continuity running lengthwise of the barrel. The _crack_ is
a solution of continuity more irregular in its form than the chink, and
running in a transverse direction, or across the barrel. The _flaw_
differs from both; it is a small plate or scale, which adheres to the
barrel by a narrow base, from which it spreads out as the head of a nail
does from its shank, and, when separated, leaves a pit or hollow in the
metal.
With regard to the soundness of the barrel, the chink and flaw are of
much greater importance than the crack, as the effort of the powder is
exerted upon the circumference, and not upon the length of the barrel.
In a sword or bow, the very reverse of this takes place, for if a crack,
though but of a slight depth, occurs in either, it will break at that
place, when bent but very little, because the effort is made upon the
fibres disposed longitudinally, whereas, if the fault be a chink, or
even a slight flaw, the sword or bow will not give way. The flaw is much
more frequent than the chink, the latter scarcely ever occurring but in
barrels forged as above, in which the fibres of the metal run
longitudinally. When external and superficial, they are all defects in
point of neatness only, but when situated within the barrel, they are of
material disadvantage, by affording a lodgment to moisture and foulness
that corrode the iron, and thus continually enlarge the excavation,
until the barrel bursts, or becomes dangerous to use.
* * * * *
Colonel Hawker says, “that a barrel may be pretty good, and perfectly
safe, and yet not able to bear the scientific inspection of a first-rate
maker or judge. That is, to hold the barrel up to the window, and
gradually raise it, till the shade from above the window runs along its
surface, by which inspection you will easily discover the most trifling
want of finish.”—_Essay on Shooting._
BASILICON, _s._ An ointment; called also tetrapharmacon. It is now
called ointment of yellow resin; it is a digestive.
BASIN, _s._ A small pond; a part of the sea enclosed in rocks; a
dock for repairing and building ships.
BASKET-HILT, _s._ A hilt of a weapon, so made as to contain the
whole hand.
BASSET, _s._ A game at cards.
BASTARD, _s._ Any thing spurious.
BASTARD, _a._ Spurious, supposititious, adulterate.
BAT, _s._ A heavy stick; an implement used in playing cricket; an
animal having the body of a mouse, and the wings of a bird; not
with feathers, but with a sort of skin which is extended. It
brings forth its young as mice do, and suckles them.
Bats flitting about late in the evening, in spring and autumn—at which
seasons they are most commonly seen—foretel a fine day on the morrow; as
do door-beetles, and some other insects. On the contrary, when bats
return soon to their hiding-places, and send forth loud cries, bad
weather may be expected.—_Foster._
BAT-FOWLING, _s._ Bird-catching in the night time.
This sport we call in England, most commonly bird-batting, and some call
it _low-belling_; and the use of it is to go with a great light of
cressets, or rags of linen dipped in tallow, which will make a good
light; and you must have a pan or plate made like a lantern, to carry
your light in, which must have a great socket to hold the light, and
carry it before you, on your breast, with a bell in your other hand, and
of a great bigness, made in the manner of a cow-bell, but still larger;
and you must ring it always after one order.—If you carry the bell, you
must have two companions with nets, one on each side of you; and what
with the bell, and what with the light, the birds will be so amazed,
that when you come near them, they will turn up their white bellies:
your companions shall then lay their nets quietly upon them, and take
them. But you must continue to ring the bell; for if the sound shall
cease, the other birds, if there be any more near at hand, will rise up
and fly away.—This is an excellent method to catch larks, woodcocks,
partridges, and all other land-birds.—_Burton._
BATH, _s._ A bath is either hot or cold, either of art or nature; a
vessel of hot water, in which another is placed that requires a
softer heat than the naked fire.
BATHE, _v._ To wash in a bath; to supple or soften by the outward
application of warm liquors; to wash with any thing.
Both the warm and the cold bathings of dogs are attended, in many cases,
with the happiest effects. When a _warm bath_ is used for a dog, the
_heat_ should be regulated according to the case. In inflammations it
should be considerable, and in rheumatisms also; but it must be
remembered that, from habit, many persons can bear, without
inconvenience, a heat that would be most distressing to a dog;
consequently, when it is attempted to ascertain the heat by the hand
alone, this circumstance should be considered.
The water bath should come all over the animal, except the head; and
when any one particular part is more especially affected, that part
ought to be rubbed during the bathing, with the hand. The dog being
removed from the water, the utmost care should be observed to avoid his
taking cold by exposure. He should be first rubbed as dry as may be by a
change of cloths, and then be put into a clothes-basket, wrapped up in a
blanket, and there confined till thoroughly dry.
_Cold bathing_ is also, in some instances, very useful, particularly
in the spasmodic twitchings that succeed distemper; and in some other
cases of habitual weakness, as rickets, &c.: but for dogs in health, I
am convinced that bathing is not so salutary as is often
supposed.—_Blaine._
* * * * *
_In Falconry._—Hawks should bathe every five or six days, in a clear
stream, or pool, of water, that is shallow at the edge; but when these
are not at hand, eyesses may be made to bathe in pans sufficiently large
for the purpose.
A moderate quantity of food is to be given to the hawk, before he is
taken to the stream; a creance is to be tied to the leash, and fastened
to the ground; he is then to be unhooded, and placed near the water. The
falconer must then retire to a distance. When the hawk has bathed, he
should be left to plume himself on the beach, as long as he remains
quiet, but he must be cautiously taken up the moment he shows signs of
uneasiness, lest he should _bait in the creance_ with a full crop, which
is always to be prevented by every possible precaution.—_Sebright._
BATOON, _s._ A staff or club.
BATTLE-DOOR, _s._ An instrument with a round handle and a flat
blade, to strike a ball or shuttlecock.
BATTU, _s._ The shooting of preserved game by a numerous company.
Those huntsmen who are so fond of unnecessarily getting blood and
wasting foxes, would doubtless have been much gratified at the hunting
match given by the Prince Esterhazy, Regent of Hungary, upon the signing
the treaty of peace with France—a day’s sport that bids fair to vie, in
point of blood (if the King of Naples’ slaughter be excepted), with any
of those recorded in modern history; as there were killed, 160 deer, 100
wild boars, 300 hares, and 80 foxes. The king had a larger extent, and a
longer period for the exercise of his talents, and it was proved that
during his journey to Vienna, in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia, he
killed 5 bears, 1820 boars, 1960 deer, 1145 does, 1625 roebucks, 1121
rabbits, 13 wolves, 17 badgers, 16,354 hares, and 354 foxes; the monarch
had likewise the pleasure of doing a little in the bird way, by killing,
upon the same expedition, 15,350 pheasants, and 12,335 partridges.
* * * * *
After leaving Lucknow, we directed our course towards Baraeech; our
kafeela consisted of about 40,000 men, and 20,000 beasts, composed of
10,000 soldiers, 1000 cavalry, and near 150 pieces of cannon; 1500
elephants, 3000 hackeries, and an innumerable train of camels, horses,
and bullocks; a great number of ruts, filled with the Nawalis women;
many large and small boats carried on carts, drawn by fifty, forty,
thirty, or twenty bullocks; tigers, leopards, hawks, fighting-cocks,
quails, and nightingales; pigeons, dancing-women, and boys; singers,
players, buffoons, and mountebanks. In short, his excellency had
everything, every object which could please or surprise, cause a smile,
or raise a sneer, attract admiration, fix with wonder, or convulse with
laughter; captivate the eye, lull the ear, or tickle the palate. Above
five hundred coolies were employed to carry his shooting apparatus,
guns, powder, shot, and et ceteras; he had above a thousand
double-barrelled guns, the finest that Manton and Nock could make, and
single-barrels, pistols, swords, and spears, without number.
After a gay scene of every species of oriental amusement and
dissipation, we returned to this place, having killed in our excursion
eight tigers, six elephants, and caught twenty-one. To enumerate the
other kinds of game would require a sheet as ample as the petition which
was presented to Yenghis Khan, and might perhaps be treated by you in
the manner that conqueror treated the petition.—
* * * * *
Ashbridge Castle, Hertfordshire, the seat of the Earl of Bridgewater,
was lately a scene of great gaiety. The sports of the field, on the
three days of the Duke of York’s sojourn, were never before equalled.
The Duke of Wellington’s double-barrelled gun brought down everything
before it. During the last four days, a party of gentlemen killed 623
head of game. Killed from eight guns, in three days, 1093 head of game:—
1st day, 7 guns, 627 shots, 326 killed.
2nd .. 9 .. 956 .. 511 ..
3rd .. 8 .. 388 .. 251 ..
The best shots were, the Duke of York, the Duke of Wellington, Lord
Bridgewater, and Lord Verulam. The Duke of York killed, on the first
day, forty-seven head of game.
* * * * *
In October, 1807, at Up Park, Sussex, the seat of Sir H.
Featherstonhaugh, the extraordinary quantity of five hundred and one
brace of game was shot, from Wednesday morning, the 7th, to Saturday
night, the 10th instant, by a party visiting at the above mansion.
* * * * *
Lord Rendlesham and party killed three thousand seven hundred and
seventy-five head of game, during the last week in the season of 1807.
* * * * *
On the day before one of the annual parties at Clumber broke up, two
sets went out, each consisting of three persons, and a bet was laid
which should kill most game. It was computed that, on an average, each
man of the six got sixty shots; total, three hundred and sixty. The
winning triumvirate killed three birds! The shooters were, Lord Lincoln,
General Philips, Captain (afterwards General) Lascelles, Reverend Mr.
Lascelles, Mr. Cotton, and Lieutenant Colonel Stricland. Here the game
had a complete triumph over their adversaries.—_Daniel_—_Sporting
Anecdotes._