Barson

Base

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Barson, a corruption of "Barston, a village in Warwickshire, lying between Coventry and Solyhull" (PERCY), 2 HENRY IV., v. 3. 89.

Bartholomew boar-pig, 2 HENRY IV., ii. 4. 221.

"The prac

tice of roasting pigs [for sale] at Bartholomew Fair continued until the beginning of the last century, if not later," etc. (REED).

Basan- The hill of, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, iii. 13. 127. From Psalm lxviii. 15.

base, - prison-base, or prison-bars, - a rustic game: I bid the base for Proteus (with a quibble - "I challenge an encounter on behalf of Proteus "), THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, i. 2. 97; lads more like to run The country base, CYMBELINE, v. 3. 20; To bid the wind a base he now prepares, VENUS AND ADONIS, 303. "There is," says Strutt, "a rustic game called base or bars, and in some places prisoner's bars; and as the success of this pastime depends upon the agility of the candidates and their skill in running, I think it may properly enough be introduced here. It was much practised in former times, and some vestiges of the game are still remaining in many parts of the kingdom. The first mention of this sport that I have met with occurs in the Proclamations at the head of the parliamentary proceedings, early in the reign of Edward the Third, where it is spoken of as a childish amusement, and prohibited to be played in the avenues of the palace at Westminster, during the sessions of Parliament, because of the interruption it occasioned to the members and others in passing to and fro as their business required. It is also spoken of by Shakespeare as a game practised by the boys [see the second of the passages above cited]. It was, however, most assuredly played by the men, and especially in Cheshire and other adjoining counties, where formerly it seems to have been in high repute. The performance of this pastime requires two parties of equal number, each

of them having a base or home, as it is usually called, to themselves, at the distance of about twenty or thirty yards. The players then on either side taking hold of hands, extend themselves in length, and opposite to each other, as far as they conveniently can, always remembering that one of them must touch the base; when any one of them quits the hand of his fellow and runs into the field, which is called giving the chase, he is immediately followed by one of his opponents; he again is followed by a second from the former side, and he by a second opponent; and so on alternately, until as many are out as choose to run, every one pursuing the man he first followed, and no other; and if he overtake him near enough to touch him, his party claims one toward their game, and both return home. [Note. It is to be observed, that every person on either side who touches another during the chase, claims one for his party, and when many are out, it frequently happens that many are touched.] They then run forth again and again in like manner, until the number is completed that decides the victory; this number is optional, and I am told rarely exceeds twenty. About thirty years back I saw a grand match at base played in the fields behind Montague-house [Note. Now better known by the name of the British Museum] by twelve gentlemen of Cheshire against twelve of Derbyshire, for a considerable sum of money, which afforded much entertainment to the spectators. In Essex they play this game with the addition of two prisons, which are stakes driven into the ground, parallel with the home boundaries, and about thirty yards from them; and every person who is touched on either side in the chase is sent to one or other of these prisons, where he must remain till the conclusion of the game, if not delivered previously by one of his associates, and this can only be accomplished by touching him, which is a difficult task, requiring the performance of the most skilful players, because the prison belonging to either party is

always much nearer to the base of their opponents than to their own; and if the person sent to relieve his confederate be touched by an antagonist before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner, and stands in equal need of deliverance. The addition of the prisons occasions a considerable degree of variety in the pastime, and is frequently productive of much pleasantry." Sports and Pastimes, etc., p. 71, sec. ed.

base is the slave that pays, HENRY V., ii. 1. 93. This appears to have been a proverbial expression (Compare, in Heywood's Fair Maid of the West, "My motto shall be, Base is the man that paies." Second Part, sig. L 2, ed. 1631). base court, basse-cour, Fr., RICHARD II., iii. 3. 176. baseness-Forced, THE WINTER'S TALE, ii. 3. 78. "Leontes had ordered Antigonus to take up the bastard; Paulina forbids him to touch the Princess under that appellation. Forced is false, uttered with violence to truth" (JOHNSON), - a passage, in which Walker (see note) would make what appears to me an improper alteration.

"Bases, plural noun.

bases A pair of, PERICLES, ii. 1. 159. A kind of embroidered mantle, which hung down from the middle to about the knees, or lower, worn by knights on horseback." Nares's Gloss. (where the word is illustrated by various quotations). In the list of apparel of the Lord Admiral's players, taken 1598, we find, "Item, ij payer of basses, j white, j blewe, of sasnet [sic]." Malone's Shakespeare (by Boswell), vol. iii. p. 316.

Basilisco-like - Knight, knight, good mother, KING JOHN, i. 1. 244. "Falconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of satire on [rather, allude to] a stupid drama of that age, painted in 1599, and called Soliman and Perseda. In this piece there is the character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Basilisco. His pretension to valour is so blown and seen through, that Piston, a buffoon-servant in the play, jumps upon his back, and will not disengage him

till he makes Basilisco swear upon his dudgeon dagger to the contents, and in the terms, he dictates to him; as, for instance:

'Bas. O, I swear, I swear.

Pist. By the contents of this blade,

Bas. By the contents of this blade, —

Pist. I, the aforesaid Basilisco,

Bas. I, the aforesaid Basilisco, - knight, good fellow, knight, knight,

Pist. Knave, good fellow, knave, knave, —

So that, 'tis clear, our poet is sneering at this play [?]; and makes Philip, when his mother calls him knave, throw off that reproach by humourously laying claim to his new dignity of knighthood, as Basilisco arrogantly insists on his title of knight in the passage above quoted” (THEOBALD). The Tragedie of Soliman and Perseda. Wherein is laide open, Loues constancie, Fortunes inconstancie, and Deaths Triumphs, 1599, though a wretched production, was once very popular. It has been attributed to Kyd.

basilisk, an imaginary creature (called also cockatrice), supposed to kill by its very look: sighted like the basilisk, THE WINTER'S TALE, i. 2. 388; come, basilisk, And kill the innocent gazer with thy sight, 2 HENRY VI., iii. 2. 52; I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk, 3 HENRY VI., iii. 3. 187; It is a basilisk unto mine eye, CYMBELINE, ii. 4. 107; Their chiefest prospect murdering basilisks! 2 Henry VI., iii. 2. 324; Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead! RICHARD III., i. 2. 150.

basilisk, a huge piece of ordnance, carrying a ball of very great weight: Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin, 1 HENRY IV., ii. 3. 50; The fatal balls of murdering basilisks, HENRY V., v. 2. 17; but in the second of these passages there is a double allusion, to pieces of ordnance, and to the fabulous creatures named basilisks. See the preceding article.

Bass- Bat-fowling

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bass my trespass — Did, "told it me in a rough bass sound" (JOHNSON), "served as the bass in a concert, to proclaim my trespass in the loudest and fullest tone" (HEATH), THE TEMPEST, iii. 3. 99.

basta, enough (Italian and Spanish), THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, i. 1. 193.

bastard whom the oracle Hath doubtfully pronounced, etc. -A, TIMON OF ATHENS, iv. 3. 120. Alluding to the story of Edipus.

bastard -- Drink brown and white, MEASURE FOR MEASURE,

iii. 2. 3; Score a pint of bastard, 1 HENRY IV., ii. 4. 25; your brown bastard is your only drink, 1 HENRY IV., ii. 4. 70. Bastard was a sweetish wine (approaching to the muscadel wine in flavour, and perhaps made from a bastard species of muscadine grape), which was brought from some of the countries bordering the Mediterranean. There were two sorts, white and brown. See Henderson's History of Ancient and Modern Wines, pp. 290-1.

bat, a large stick, a cudgel, A LOVER'S COMPLAINT, 64; bats, CORIOLANUS, i. 1. 54, 159.

bat-fowling, The Tempest, ii. 1. 176. Is described as follows in Markham's Hunger's Preuention: or, The whole Arte of Fowling by Water and Land, etc.: "Next to the Tramell, I thinke meete to proceed to Batte-fowling, which is likewise a nighty [sic] taking of all sorts of great and small Birdes which rest not on the earth, but on Shrubbes, tal Bushes, Hathorne trees, and other trees, and may fitly and most conueniently be vsed in all woody, rough, and bushy countries, but not in the champaine. For the manner of bat-fowling, it may be vsed either with nettes or without nettes. If you vse it without nettes (which indeede is the most common of the two), you shall then proceede in this manner. First, there shall be one to carry the cresset of fire (as was shewed for the Lowbell), then a certaine number, as two, three, or foure (according to the