BASHAW, BASHA. (See Pacha.) BASHEE ISLANDS; seven islands in the Chinese sea. Three of them are large, and four of them inhabited. The productions are plantains, bananas, pine-apples, sugar-cane, potatoes, yams, and cotton. Their quadrupeds are goats and hogs. The five principal ones are Orange, Grafton, Monmouth, isle of Goats, and Bashee or Bachi. They are S. of Formosa. Their situation is in lon. 122° E., lat. 20° 28 to 20° 55′ N. Two rocks, towards the N., ought, according to Perouse, to be called islets; the least of them being half a league in circumference, and, though not woody, covered with grass. These are situated in lat. 21° 9′ N.

BASHKIRS, or BASHKEERS, are probably of Nogay origin, and sprung from a tribe whom the Bulgarians admitted among themselves; at least, their country is a part of the ancient Bulgaria. They formerly roamed about, under their own princes, in Southern Siberia. To avoid the Siberian khans, they settled in their present territory, extended themselves along the Wolga and the Ural, and submitted to the khan of Kasan. At the time when this state was overthrown by Ivan II, they voluntarily took refuge under the Russian sceptre; but their frequent revolts have prevented their increase, and kept them in a weak condition. In 1770, they consisted of 27,000 families, residing in the governments of Ufa and Perm. They are Mohammedans, mostly armed with bows and arrows, and lances, and live by hunting, breeding of cattle, and keeping of bees. They prepare, from fermented mare's and camel's milk, an in, toxicating beverage, kumiss, which is their favorite drink. They are little civilized.

BASIL, St., called the Great, to distinguish him from other patriarchs of the same name, was born in 329, and made, in 370, bishop of Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, where he died, in 379. He is the most distinguished ecclesiastic among the Grecian patriarchs. His efforts for the regulation of clerical discipline, of the divine service, and of the standing of the clergy; the number of his sermons; the success of his mild treatment of the Arians; and, above all, his endeavors for the promotion of monastic life, for which he prepared vows and rules, observed by himself, and still remaining in force, prove the merits of this holy man. The Greek church

honors him as one of its most illustrious patron saints, and celebrates his festival Jan. 1. His followers are widely extended; there are even some in America.

They lead an ascetic life. The vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, framed by St. Basil, are the rules of all the orders of Christendom, although he is particularly the father of the eastern, as St. Benedict is the patriarch of the western orders.

BASIL, town of. (See Basle.)

BASILICA; a royal abode. In the first centuries of Rome, the basilica were splendid public buildings, of an oblong shape, and four-cornered, commonly adorned with Corinthian columns and statues, where the citizens collected to consult for their common welfare, the merchants exposed their wares, the young orators exercised themselves in declamation, &c. Constantine the Great_gave some basilica to the Christians, in Rome, for their worship. Thence it happened, that the first Christian churches obtained the name of basilica, and afterwards, when new churches were built, they preserved the shape of the ancient basilica. BASILIDES. (See Gnosis.)

BASILISK. The basilisk of the ancients, according to Pliny (lib. 8, cap. 21), was a kind of serpent, found in the African deserts, named Barihiokos, or little king, because its body was marked with bright spots, and those on the head had the appearance of a crown or diadem. It had a very pointed head, with fiery eyes, and was of a dark color, verging to blackness. All other snakes were said to fly from the sound of its hissing; and, instead of trailing along like other serpents, the basilisk raised its body nearly erect, and, as it passed along, killed the herbs and fruits by its touch, and even by its breath! Yet this monster was destroyed by weasels. If these fables had reference to any real animal, it is probable that it was a species somewhat similar to the cobra da capello, or the asp viper. The cobra da capello has a mark on the back of its head, though more like a pair of spectacles than a crown: both it and the asp are accustomed to erect a very considerable part of the body, though not to move forward in this way. It is highly probable that the animal was merely a creature of fiction.-The name of basilisk was arbitrarily applied, by Seba, Linné and subsequent naturalists, to a genus of saurian or lizard-like reptiles, distinguished by trenchant crests, supported by long, spinous processes of the vertebræ, extending along the back, or at least upon a part of the tail. These crests are scaly, like the rest of the skin. Two species of basilisk are known-the hooded and the Amboyna basilisks. These

of Alcudia, received, as a reward for this treaty of peace, the title of prince of peace.

Basle, council of. This council was announced at the council of Constance, and convoked by pope Martin V, and his successor, Eugenius IV. It commenced its sittings, Dec. 14, 1431, under the presidency of the cardinal legate Juliano Casarini of St. Angelo. The objects of its deliberations were to extirpate heresies (that of the Hussites in particular), to unite all Christian nations under the Catholic church, to put a stop to wars between Christian princes, and to reform the church. But its first steps to wards a peaceable reconciliation with the Hussites, against whom Juliano had unsuccessfully published a crusade, were displeasing to the pope, who authorized the cardinal legate to dissolve the council. That body opposed the pretensions of the pope, with severe animadversions on his deceitful conduct, and his neglect of the welfare of the church, and, notwithstanding his repeated orders to remove to Italy, continued its deliberations under the protection of the emperor Sigismund, of the German princes, and of France. In order to secure itself against the attacks of Eugenius IV, it re-enacted the decrees of the council of Constance concerning the power of a general council (in matters of faith, of schism, and of reformation) to command the pope, as well as all Christendom, and to punish the disobedience of the clergy, and even of the pope, by virtue of its judicial character as the representative of the universal church. It likewise pronounced all the doings and remonstrances of the pope against its proceedings of no force, and began a formal process against him, after he had issued a bull for its dissolution; appointed him, term after term, to appear before its tribunal, and exercised, as much as possible, the papal prerogatives in France and Germany. Meanwhile, it concluded, in the name of the church, a peace with the Hussites (whose deputies appeared, Jan. 6, 1433, with 300 horse, in Basle), by which the use of the cup in the communion was granted to them. This peace was ratified, Nov. 20, 1433, by the Calixtines, the most powerful, and finally prevailing party of the Hussites. The council deviated on this point, indeed, from the decrees of the council of Constance, but was obliged so to do, in order to assist its most faithful protector, the emperor Sigismund, to the acquisition of Bohemia by this compromise with the

Hussites, who were not to be subdued by force. The emperor, in return, effected the reconciliation of the council with Eugenius IV, who, urged by an insurrection in the papal territory, and by the fear of losing all authority in Germany and France, solemnly confirmed its decrees in a bull, dictated by the council, and accepted at the 16th session (Feb. 5, 1434.). Proud of this victory over the pope, it attempted to interfere in the quarrels of the German princes; but was reminded by Sigismund, who protested against its intermeddling in the affairs of the crown, of its proper point-the reformation of the church. Towards the limitation of the power of the pope, in concordance with the ancient constitution of the church, it had already made an important step in the 12th session (July 14, 1434), by depriving him of the disposal of the prebends of cathedral and collegiate churches, which had been obtained by his predecessors; by restoring to the chapters the free election of their officers, and by obliging the pope to confirm them gratuitously. It proceeded to the reformation of the clergy, by ordaining that the clergymen who maintained concubines, and the prelates who received money for permitting it, should be punished; that the excommunicated should not incur the penalties of their sentence before its publication; that interdicts should never be granted at the request of single individuals, and that repeated appeals should not be allowed on account of their complaints (20th session, Jan. 22, 1436); that the annates, the sums paid for the pallia, &c. should be regarded as simoniacal, and should not, under any pretext, be demanded or paid in future; that the divine service, the mass and the canonical hours should be regularly observed by the clergy of each class; that disturbances of public worship should be prevented by a good ecclesiastical police; that the feast of fools, and all irreverent celebrations customary in the church about Christmas, should be abolished (21st session, June 9, 1435). In the 23d session (March 25, 1436), the form of election, the confession of faith, and the official oath of each pope, by which he bound himself to obey the decrees of the council, and the annual repetition of the same, were provided for; all preferment of the relations of a pope was forbidden, and the college of cardinals was limited to 24 prelates and doctors of all nations, who should be elected by the free votes of the college, should be entitled to half of the revenues of the

states of the church, should watch over the pope, and always sign his bulls. They granted him only the right to dispose of the prebends belonging to the diocese of Rome, and abolished the investiture of church preferments in reversion. The French clergy in vain endeavored to accomplish these salutary measures, to which the pope was constantly opposed. General councils had always been an object of aversion to the popes, and often been prevented by them from assembling, on account of their limitations of the papal power; and the proceedings of the council of Basle must have exasperated, to the highest degree, an obstinate man, like Eugenius IV. He continually remonstrated with the sovereigns against the decrees of the council, and made active preparations for uniting the oppressed Greeks with the Roman church, in order to effect its dissolution. The Greeks, not being acquainted with this dispute, had addressed the pope and the council at the same time. Each endeavored to snatch the glory of effecting this union from the hands of the other; both sent galleys to bring the deputies of the Greeks to the place of negotiation, and each appointed different places for this purpose, according to the different interests of each. But the galleys of the council, detained through the intrigues of the papal agents, did not succeed; and the papal vessels conveyed the Greeks to Ferrara. The papal legate at Basle, the archbishop of Tarentum, published an order in the name of the council, to which he had clandestinely attached its seal. By this order, in compliance with the wish of Eugenius, Udina or Florence was appointed for the place of negotiation. This fraud broke all the ties which had hitherto restrained the council from further attacks upon the pope. In the 26th session (Jan. 31, 1437), it again summoned him to appear, on account of his disobedience of its decrees, declared him guilty of contumacy, and, after Eugenius had opened his counter-synod at Ferrara, decreed his suspension from the papal chair, in the 31st session (Jan. 24, 1438). In the same session, it forbade appeal to Rome, without resort to the intermediate jurisdictions, left to the papal disposition but 1 out of 10 and 2 out of 50 prebends of a church, and destined the third part of all canonries which might become vacant to men who had taken regular degrees. The removal of Eugenius, however, seemed, on account of the strength of his party, so impracticable, that some

prelates, who, till then, had been the boldest and most influential speakers in the council (e. g., the cardinal legate Juliano, and the great canon Nicolaus of Cusa, archdeacon of Liege, with the most of the Italians), left Basle, and went over to the party of Eugenius. The archbishop of Arles, cardinal Louis Allemand, a man of superior spirit, courage and eloquence, was now made first president of the council, and directed its proceedings with much vigor. Although its number was diminished, its most powerful protector, the emperor Sigismund, deceased, and its authority doubted by several princes and nations, on account of its open rupture with the pope; yet, in the 33d session (May 16, 1439), after violent debates, in which the archbishop of Palermo, Ńic. Tudeschi (known, under the name of Panormitanus, as the greatest canon of his time), who was the delegate of the king of Arragon and Sicily, took the part of the pope, it declared Eugenius, on account of his obstinate disobedience of its decrees, a heretic, and formally deposed him, in the following session, as guilty of simony, perjury, violation of the laws of the church, and bad administration in his office. At this session (the 34th, June 25, 1439), only two of the Spanish and Italian members were present; but the president adopted a spirited and effectual method for obtaining the decree. He ordered the holy relics, which existed in Basle, to be placed in the seats of the absent bishops, and produced such a strong excitement in the council, which still consisted of 400, for the most part French and German prelates, priests and doctors, that it unanimously consented to the deposition of Eugenius. Notwithstanding the plague, then raging in Basle, which continually diminished its number, it proceeded, in a regular conclave (Nov. 17 of the same year), to elect the duke Amadeus of Savoy to the papal chair. This prince then lived in retirement at Ripaglia, on the lake of Geneva, and seemed particularly qualified for the office, on account of his piety, his riches and his connexions. Felix V-this was the name he adopted-was acknowledged by only a few princes, cities and universities. The chief powers, France and Germany, assented to the decrees of the council for the reformation of the church, but they chose to remain neutral in the contest with Eugenius. Meanwhile he acquired new credit by the union concluded with the Greek deputies at Florence (but afterwards rejected by the Greek church) and

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the friendship of the emperor Frederic III. The council, on the other hand, denounced by Eugenius, and deserted by its protectors, gradually declined under its feeble pope, and, consulting only appearances and the personal safety of its members, held its 45th and last session May 16, 1443, after an inaction of three years, interrupted only by a few insignificant decrees. At this session, the place of meeting was changed to Lausanne. Here some prelates remained together under the cardinal Louis Allemand, until 1449, when, after the death of Eugenius and the resignation of Felix V, they gladly accepted the amnesty offered by the new pope, Nicholas V, and pronounced the council closed. The decrees of the council of Basle are admitted into none of the Roman collections, and are considered of no authority by the Roman lawyers. They are regarded, however, as of authority in points of canon law, in France and Germany, as their regulations for the reformation of the church have been adopted in the pragmatic sanctions of both countries, and, as far as they regard clerical discipline, have been actually enforced. Some later concordats have modified the application of them, but never formally and entirely annulled them. (See Germany, and Gallican Church.) No general council has ever issued more just and suitable decrees for the reformation of the papal government, and of clerical discipline; none has done more to restore the authority of the bishops, which the imperious pretensions of the popes had almost annihilated, and, consequently, the ancient apostolical constitution of the church; but the canonists, who almost entirely conducted it, could not disengage themselves from the idea of the universality of the episcopal character of the pope; and, proceeding on these premises, their strongest measures for restricting his power were incomplete, and all their attempts at reformation consequently useless. If this council had accomplished its chief object-the conversion of the papal monarchy into a hierarchical aristocracy-many sources of complaint against the papal despotism would, indeed, have been removed, but the reformation of Luther, in the 16th century, would not have been prevented.

BASQUES, BASKS, VASCONES (vasc, from vassoc, that is, man), BISCAYANS; the name of the Cantabri (Gascons), a people in Spain, near the Pyrenees. They are probably descendants of the ancient Iberi, who occupied Spain before the Celts.

(See W. von Humboldt's Etymol. histor. geogr. Inquiries respecting the first Inbabitants of Spain.) They settled, at the end of the 6th century, on the north side of the Pyrenees, between those mountains and the Garonne. After long struggles, they submitted to the kings of the Franks. Under the Carlovingian race, they elected their own dukes; but, after the extinction of that family, they fell under the dominion of Aquitania, in the 11th century, and with it under that of France, in 1453. They preserve their ancient language and former manners, their national dances, &c. They are very good seamen, and were the first Europeans who engaged in the whale-fishery, which they have, however, long since relinquished. They occupy, in Spain, the provinces of Biscay, Guipuzcoa and Alava, (3000 square miles, 188,000 inhabitants); in France, the departments of the Upper and Lower Pyrenees, Arriège and Upper Garonne (about 70,000 inhabitants).—See the Alphabet of the Primitive Language of Spain, &c., extracted from de Erro, by George W Erving, Boston, 1829.

BASS (from the Italian basso, deep, low); the lowest part in the harmony of a musical composition. It is the most important of all the parts, the foundation of the harmony, and the support of the whole composition.-Figured bass is a bass which, while a certain chord or harmony is continued by the parts above, moves in notes of the same harmony. For example, if the upper parts consist of C, E, G (the common chord or harmony of C), and, while they are continued, the bass moves from C, the fundamental note of that harmony, to E, another note of the same harmony, that bass is called a figured bass.-Fundamental bass is that bass which forms the tone or natural foundation of the harmony, and from which that harmony is derived. To explain this by an example:-if the harmony consist of the common chord of C, C will be its fundamental bass, because from that note the harmony is deduced; and if, while that harmony is continued, the bass be changed to any other note, it ceases to be fundamental, because it is no longer the note from which that harmony results, and is calculated.-Ground bass is a bass which starts with some subject of its own, and continues to be repeated throughout the movement, while the upper part or parts pursue a separate air, and supply the harmony. This kind of bass was greatly in fashion half a century ago, but has long since been rejected as