exchanges of merchandise are directly effected, but the comparative value of the merchandise is determined by a money-standard. This is clearly not barter. The Indian corn measure of value is something like the animal measure which formerly existed in this country, when certain values being affixed to cattle and slaves, they became an instrument of exchange, under the name of living money. Amongst the northern nations skins used to be a standard of value: the word raha, which signifies money in the Esthonian language, has not lost its primitive signification of skins amongst the Laplanders. When nations come to use any standard of value, whether skins, as in northern Europe, or dhourra (pounded millet, Sorghum vulgare), as in Nubia, or shells, as in parts of India, their transactions gradually lose the character of barter. If wages are paid in articles of consumption, as in some mining districts of England, the transaction is called truck; -troc is the French for barter.

The exchanges of a civilised people amongst themselves, or with other countries, are principally carried on by bills of exchange: the actual money-payment in a country by no means represents the amount of its commercial transactions. If any sudden convulsion arise which interrupts the confidence upon which credit is founded, bills of exchange cease to be negotiable, and exchangers demand money-payments. The coin of a commercial country being insufficient to represent its transactions, barter would be the natural consequence if such a disastrous state of things were to continue. Thus, when Mr. Huskisson declared in 1825 that the panic of that year placed this country "within forty-eight hours of barter," he meant that the credit of the state would have been so reduced, that its notes would not have been received, or its coin, except for its intrinsic value as an article of exchange; and that the bills of individuals would have been in the same case. Barter, in this case, would be a backward movement toward

uncivilisation.

BARTHOLOMEW, HOSPITAL OF ST. [HOSPITALS.]
BARYTA, BARYTES. [BARIUM.]

BA'RYTON, or BARITONE, from Bapùs, heavy, grave, and rovòs, tone, the male voice, the compass of which is between that of the tenor and the base. Dr. Bennati, in his 'Recherches sur la Mécanisme de la Voix Humaine,' applies a new term, baritenor, to this voice, which is much to be preferred to the above, for that, according to its etymological meaning, would seem to imply a low rather than a high base.

BARYTON is the name of an instrument similar to the viol da Gamba [VIOL DA GAMBA], invented in 1700, but now entirely disused. Haydn composed no less than 163 pieces for the baryton, or baritono, which was the favourite instrument of his patron, Prince Nicola Esterhazy.

BASCINET, BASINET, or BASNET, was a light helmet, so called from its resemblance to a basin. It was introduced about the time of Edward I. and replaced the chapet-de-fer, being worn commonly with the nasal, which however disappears after this reign.

Finchet, says Grose (it should be Fauchet, 'Origines des Chevaliers, Armoiries, et Héraux, 8vo, Paris, 1606, p. 42 b.), supposes the bascinet to have been a lighter sort of helmet that did not cover the face, and says he finds that the knights often exchanged their helmets for bascinets when much fatigued, and wishing to ease and refresh themselves, at a time when they could not with propriety go unarmed. An example of this kind, copied from a brass in Minster Church, Sheppey, of the time of Edward II. is appended. Bascinets were worn in the reigns of Edwards II. and III. and Richard II. by most of the English infantry, as may be repeatedly seen in the rolls of Parliament and other public records.

In the reign of Richard II. a novelty in the form of the bascinet was introduced: it was then furnished with a species of moveable visor, a ventaille, bavière, or visière, as it was indifferently called, of which an example, copied from Sir S. Meyrick's 'Engraved Illustrations of Ancient Arms and Armour,' is given below, together with one when it had resumed its simpler form, of the time of Henry V. copied from one in Sir S. Meyrick's collection. The form is

Visored Bascinet, temp. Rich. II. Bascinet, temp. Henry V. tending to that of the sallet, or German headpiece, which came into use in the next reign. The knob on the top is intended to hold the

panache or plume, which was introduced as a crest in the time of Henry V. (Grose, Treatise on Ancient Armour; Meyrick, Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour; Planché, History of British Costume.) BASE. The name base is applied in chemistry to those elements or groups of elements which combine with halogens or with acids to form, in inorganic chemistry, salts, or, in organic chemistry, bodies analogous to salts.

As it appears that every two elements may combine together, it follows that the basicity of an element is nothing absolute, but wholly relative to the other element or elements present. Thus, in one binary compound an element may be basic to another element, while in another compound the first element may be halogenous to a third. This being the case even with binary compounds, bodies which contain more than two elements show this ambiguity to a greater extent; for in such cases a body which is basic to a second may, when combined with a third, form a compound which is halogenous to a fourth. There are no separate terms for compound bases and simple or elementary ones, corresponding to the terms halogen and acid, employed in distinguishing simple and complex base-combiners.

But although no absolute line of demarcation between basic bodies and acids or halogens exists, yet in compounds resulting from the union of the two, it is generally possible to determine which function is exercised by each of the elements or groups of elements. This can only be done by analogy: by comparing such compounds with others, the functions of whose constituents are assumed as known. Thus, if in hydrochloric acid (HCl) we admit the hydrogen to be basic, then when zinc dissolves in hydrochloric acid, the zinc, in the chloride of zinc formed, must occupy the same position and perform the same function towards the chlorine, as did the hydrogen which it has expelled-that is, it must be basic. Again, on treating nitrate of silver with the so-formed chloride of zinc, the silver displaces the zinc to form chloride of silver, and the zinc the silver to form nitrate of zinc. Hence, the silver of chloride of silver stands in the same relation to the chlorine as that which was maintained by the zinc, and therefore also by the hydrogen; it is therefore basic. Moreover, the formation of nitrate of zinc shows that in this latter body the zinc and nitric acid are related to one another in the same manner as the silver and chlorine in the chloride of silver, the two metals having simply changed places.

By insisting upon the symmetry of the recompositions which occur in analogous interchanges, some chemists have been led to the symbolisations AgNO, and ZnNO, (mutatis mutandis for other oxygen salts), instead of those usually employed, AgONO, and ZnONO,. [SALT.]

The electrolysis of compound bodies by a voltaic current furnishes us with a comparison between the unknown functions of the constituents of one compound, and those of another in which such functions are admitted as known. If a piece of zinc and one of copper be immersed in a vessel (1) of hydrochloric acid, the zinc alone decompores the acid, evolving hydrogen. On attaching by metallic wires the two plates in (1) with two platinum plates immersed in a second vessel (2) of hydrochloric acid, chlorine is liberated at the platinum plate connected with the copper, hydrogen at that connected with the zinc. If now, instead of hydrochloric acid, we place in vessel (2) another compound liquid and find that it is decomposed, it is clear that the constituents which appear at the two platinum plates are related to one another, as are the chlorine and hydrogen of the hydrochloric acid. On the electrolysis of a compound body, therefore, the substance which separates at the plate in connection with the copper is halogenous or acid, that at the plate connected with the zinc, basic. Since now the plate connected with the zinc is the negative, and the one connected with the copper the positive pole, the terms electropositive and electro-negative may, from the voltaic point of view, be substituted for basic, and halogenous or acid. Since dilute sulphuric acid is the acid most usually employed to be decomposed in the exciting cell, the products of decomposition in the decomposing cell are strictly the analogues of the products of the decomposition of dilute sulphuric acid when placed in the same decomposing cell; these are hydrogen and oxygen. But whatever acid be employed in the exciting cell, the same electrolytical products appear at the two poles in the decomposition cell, when the same substance is decomposed.

The determination by electrolysis of the relative basicity of the elements of a compound, is sometimes complicated by secondary recompositions effected by the re-actions of those separated elements upon the original body decomposed, sometimes wholly frustrated by the resistance to the passage of the current.

If metallic copper be placed in a cold solution of chloride of gold, the whole of the gold may be deposited in the metallic state, and its place be taken by the copper, chloride of copper being formed. If metallic iron be placed in the so-formed chloride of copper, copper is deposited and chloride of iron produced. Hence under these conditions copper is more basic than gold, and iron more basic than copper towards chlorine. When metals are compared in this way with one another in regard to their basicity, almost the same order is found to prevail whatever electro-negative constituent is present, and it is therefore possible to construct a list of the metals arranged according to their basicity. Thus in the following table the most strongly basic

Such a list, however, does not give the relative basic positions of these elements with infallibility. The physical conditions under which the elements are present, and the nature of the possible compounds which may result, influence their order. Thus, although sodium may decompose the oxide of iron at one temperature, iron decomposes the oxide of sodium at a higher one. For further information on this subject, see CHEMICAL AFFINITY.

Those salts which do not result from the direct combination of a halogen with a metal, but from the union of compounds of the nonmetallic elements with metals, are usually supposed to contain the metals in combination with a portion of the non-metallic constituents of the salt. In such cases the group containing the metal is the base. The bases resulting from the union of oxygen with the metals have been most fully examined. Sulphur, selenium, and a few other nonmetallic elements, also form bases when combined with metals. According to the solubility of the metallic oxides in water the metals which they contain are called the metals of the alkalies, of the alkaline earths, and of the heavy metals. The oxides of potassium and sodium are accordingly alkalis; those of barium, strontium, calcium, magnesium, the alkaline earths; while the remaining oxides, those of the heavy metals are almost absolutely insoluble. Metals may be basic when in combination with a certain proportion of oxygen, and acid when combined with a larger quantity. This is the case with iron, manganese, chromium, and others. Sometimes one and the same stage of oxidation of a metal may be basic to an acid, and acid towards a base such are the oxides of aluminium, zinc, and tin. Antimony and arsenic, which occupy an intermediate position between the metallic and non-metallic elements, combine directly with chlorine as bases, while their oxides form well defined acids.

:

The same two semi-metals in combination with sulphur play the part of acids, not only to the oxides but to the sulphides of the alkalies, giving rise thereby to the salts of sulphur bases alluded to above, Thus the ter- and penta-sulphides of arsenic and antimony combine with the sulphides of potassium, sodium, and ammonium, giving rise to sulphur salts, of which sulpharseniate of sulphide of potassium may be taken as an example. Gold, platinum, and tin, in combination with sulphur, also act as sulphur acids towards the oxides and sulphides of the alkalis.

A metallic chloride may be regarded as playing the part of a base, as for instance, the potassio-chloride of platinum, KCl Pt Cl2, in which the chloride of potassium is the base, and the chloride of platinum In all cases of double salts, indeed, whether resulting from the union of two binary compounds, or of two oxygen salts, we may consider the one salt as the base, and the other as the acid, as seen in the following

the acid.

formulæ :

KCl Mg Cl; KOSO, HOSO,; KOSO, MOSO,. Different quantities of the same base may combine with the same acid, and form well defined salts. The phosphates furnish the most complete example of this. If the phosphate of soda and ammonia (2NH,O, Na OPO,), be heated to redness, all the ammonia is expelled, and monobasic phosphate of soda (NaO PO,) is left. If ordinary phosphate of soda (HO 2NaO PO,) be heated, water is expelled and bibasic phosphate of soda remains. If ordinary phosphate of soda be treated with caustic soda, tribasic phosphate of soda (3 NaO, PO,) separates out on evaporation. Hence phosphoric acid may combine with soda, or soda with phosphoric acid in these proportions, related to one another by weights, as 1, 2, and 3. Phosphoric acid is on this account called polybasic. Antimonic and arsenic acids have also the power of combining with bases in different proportions. Some other acids combine with two, and others again with one or two proportions of base. Among the oxides of the heavy metals, oxide of lead is pre-eminent in possessing the power of uniting in various quantities with acids to form salts which contain more than one basic molecule for every acid one present. [ACIDS, SALTS.]

The non-metallic group ammonia (NH), in combination with water as the oxide of the quasi metal ammonium (NH), combines with oxygen acids to form salts, in the same manner as do the oxides of the metals proper. Moreover, not only do the hydrochlorate of ammonia, or chloride of ammonium, iodide of ammonium, sulphide of ammonium, &c., present the strongest analogies to the chlorides, iodides, &c., of the metals proper, but such binary salts of ammonium as combine with salts of the met is either binary or oxygen, exhibit

the same analogies; thus:

NH,O.
NH,ONO,.

NH OSO,, MOSO..

NH Cl, PtCl..

etc.

Analogous to

ко.
KONO,.
KOSO, MOSO..
KCl, PtCl2.

etc.

At present however, the basic nature of such inorganic substitutionammonias has not been sufficiently studied to be discussed here, Descriptions of the organic representatives of these substitution products of ammonia, where organic molecules replace one or more atoms of hydrogen, will be found under the heads ORGANIC BASE,

AMIDES.

BASE, or BASS, a name sometimes given to the violoncello. BASE, in music, from Báois (basis), the base or foundation, the lowest part, whether vocal or instrumental. This word is frequently written bass, but the etymology, and more especially the pronunciation, are decidedly in favour of the orthography here adopted, which is sanctioned by Dr. Johnson and other high authorities. "The base," says Rousseau, "is the most important of parts--the whole harmony is founded on it: hence it is a maxim with musicians, that when the base is good the harmony is rarely otherwise." M. Subzer adopts this opinion; and we do not differ from two such able writers, without important is meant that which can least be dispensed with, then both But if by the words most having duly considered the question. assuredly are in error, for the highest part, or melody, is unquestionably the most essential. It is the theme, the subject, without which stood that we are not speaking of instrumental accompaniments, such the other parts, however numerous, are unintelligible. It being underas violin, flute, &c., which, in the score, are frequently above the highest voice part or melody. In composition in two parts, the tyro finds it more difficult to write a correct base than a tolerable melody, but to the sound musician the subject and intermediate parts require more thought than the base.

BASE IN ARCHITECTURE. [COLUMN]
BASE CLEFT. [CLEFT.]

BASE, CONTINUED. [CONTINUED BASE.]
BASE, DOUBLE. [DOUBLE BASE.]

BASE FEE. [ESTATE; RECOVERY; TENANT-IN-TAIL.]
BASE, FIGURED. [FIGURED BASE.]

BASE, FUNDAMENTAL. [FUNDAMENTAL BASE.]
BASE, GROUND. [GROUND BASE.]
BASE LINE. [GEODESY.]

BASE, THOROUGH. [THOROUGH BASE.]

BASE VOICE, the lowest male voice, the usual compass of which is from G or F below the base staff to D or E above it; but some few voices exceed the limits here assigned, and must be considered as exceptions to the rule. Handel, in the aria ' Fra l'ombre,' in his opera of Sosarmes,' exacts from the singer a compass of two octaves-from F above the staff to F below; and Purcell, in his anthem They that go down to the sea in ships,' altogether mistaking the meaning of the word 'down,' and in a wretched endeavour to express descent, writes for the base a run of notes from D above to D below the staff. BASEL, COUNCIL OF. [COUNCILS.]

BASEMENT, in Architecture, is the lowest story of a building, forming the base of a private house or public edifice. This feature of a building should possess externally the character of strength; and, accordingly, in the designs of Palladio, and the other great masters of the Italian school, we find that the basement has a massive appearance, capable of sustaining the order or orders which are often placed above it. In edifices used as dwellings the basement is high; but in churches and other public buildings it is usually kept low. Some basements are as high in proportion as the floor or story placed above it, while others are not more than a third or a half of the height. The proportions of basements vary according to the conveniences required in the lower story, or to the importance attached to the floor or floors which they may support. Sir William Chambers, in his Treatise on Civil Architecture, gives rules for the proportions of the parts forming the characteristic features of the basement, but at the same time he admits that "the proportions of these basements are not fixed," but depend chiefly on the nature of the apartments forming the ground-floor. "In Italy," he says, " where the summer habitations are very frequently on that floor, the basements are sometimes very high. At the palace of the Porti, in Vicenza, the height is equal to that of the order placed thereon; and at the Thiene, in the same city, its height exceeds twothirds of that of the order, although it be almost of a sufficient elevation to contain two stories; but at the Villa Capra and at the Loco Arsieri, both near Vicenza, the basement is only half the height of the order, because in both these the ground-floor consists of nothing but offices." These four works enumerated present different proportions, and are all from the designs of Palladio. The true principle is that the proportions of a basement should not be regulated by any rigid rule, but that it be made higher or lower according to the purpose it In the edifices of is intended to subserve in the general design. antiquity the basement is usually low, and intended to support an order of columns. The monuments of Lysicrates and Philopappus at

instead of the band.

In the beautiful palaces of Rome and Florence the basements are finely proportioned. For geometrical representations of these buildings we refer to the architectural work of MM. Percier et Lafontaine, entitled 'Palais de Rome et de Florence.' The published designs of Palladio, Vignola, and Scamozzi, may also be consulted with advantage by the student in architecture. BASHA. [PASHA.]

BASIL, MONKS OF ST. When St. Basil, bishop of Cæsarea, retired into Pontus, about the year 358, for the convenience of himself and his followers, he founded a monastery, to which he gave a written rule for its regulation, the first of the kind that had appeared, and which was soon adopted in numerous other monasteries. This rule shortly spread itself over the East, and, according to the generality of writers, was not very long in passing to the West. Those who adopted it styled themselves of the order of St. Basil; and St. Basil's Rule was, in fact, the parent of that which was afterwards framed by St. Benedict. (See Schlosser's remarks on Basil, 'Universalhistorische Uebersicht,' &c., 3 th. 3 abth.)

Dom Alphonso Clavel, the Spanish annalist of this order ('Antiguedad de la Relig. y Regl. de S. Basilio,' c. viii. § 2), says that Basil's Rule was approved and confirmed by Pope Liberius in the same year in which it was written and published, A.D. 363; afterwards by several other popes; and was, in a later age of the Church, revised by Pope Gregory XIII., who, about 1573, united the religious of this order in Italy, Spain, and Sicily into one congregation. The abridgment of this Rule made by Cardinal Bessarion, during the pontificate of Eugene IV., and approved by Gregory XIII., was also confirmed by Popes Clement VIII. Paul V. and Alexander VII.

Moréri gives 1057 as the date when the order was introduced in the West. St. Saviour, at Messina, is now considered as its chief monastery in the West. The monks of St. Basil in Spain follow the Greek, those of Italy the Latin ritual. The Greek monks are chiefly of this order, which exists to a great extent in Russia; though in that country, if we may rely on Dr. King, the monks have deviated from their original Rule. He says, "Basil is generally looked upon as the founder of the order of monks which exists in Russia, though, in truth

their Rules, at least those they observe at present, are taken from several different persons; as Ephraim of Edessa, Gregory, Chrysostom," &c. (See Hist. des Ordres Monastiques,' 4to, Par. 1714, tom. i. pp. 175-238, where engravings will be found of the dresses worn by both monks and nuns of this order in the respective countries; Moréri, 'Dictionnaire Historique,' fol. Par. 1759, tom. ii. p. 154; King, Rites and Ceremonies of the Greek Church in Russia,' 4to, Lond. 1772, p. 365; Rodolph, 'Hospiniani de Monach,' lib. iii.)

The order of St. Basil was never, that we know of, introduced into England; though Sir Roger Twysden, in his 'Rise of the Monastic State,' p. 5 (as quoted by Tanner, Pref. to Notit. Monast.' p. li.), says, "The monks of Bangor were not unlike the order of Basil, if not of it." The genuine history of the monastery of Bangor, however, in its earliest period, cannot now be traced upon authority which can be relied on.

BASILICA (βασιλικά, βασιλικός νόμος). This term denotes a collection or digest of the Corpus Juris' of Justinian, translated from the original Latin into the Greek language. This work was commenced and brought to its present state during the latter part of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th centuries, under the superintendence of the Greek emperors of Constantinople. The design of reducing the laws of Justinian into one Greek book from the several Latin collections in which they were known in the Western Empire, is said to have been originally formed, and was certainly in part executed, by Basil I., called the Macedonian, whose reign commenced A.D. 867, and ended in 886, and from whom the book derives its name. Basil's death occurred before the completion of the work; and all that was effected in his time was a kind of Preface, or Introduction, which was called Пpóxe Twv vouwv, and consisted of forty heads, or titles. Leo VI., surnamed the Philosopher, who succeeded his father Basil as emperor of Constantinople, brought the collection considerably nearer to its present form. Under his direction it was distributed into six general heads, each of which was subdivided into ten titles; from which circumstance it is entitled in some manuscripts 'EEáßißos (the Six-Book), and in others 'EENKOVTάBIBAOS (the Sixty-Book). The Basilica were however finally reduced into their present form by Constantine VII., commonly called Constantine Porphyrogeneta, the son of Leo the Philosopher, in the early part of the 10th century, and were published under the

title Basilica repetitæ prælectionis.' From that time the book was commonly used as a code of jurisprudence in the Eastern Empire, whilst it still retains its value in our own day, as a treatise explanatory of Justinian's collection of law.

The Basilica contains the code, digests, institutes, and novella of the 'Corpus Juris;' and in the latter divisions are inserted some of the later edicts of Justinian himself, of the subsequent emperors of Constantinople, and of Basil the Macedonian in particular; and also a few extracts from the fathers, and decrees of early councils of the Church.

The Greek translation of the Roman law was, in all probability, not made expressly for this work, as the four books containing the institutions of Justinian are known to have been in existence in the Greek language previous to the time of Basil the Macedonian.

Hervetus first published, in Latin only, in 1557, four complete books of the Basilica (lib. 45-48), and two books (28, 29) incomplete. A splendid edition of the Basilica, accompanied by a Latin translation and several valuable scholia, and prepared from a collation of various manuscripts in the Vatican and the Bibliothèque du Roi, was published at Paris by Fabrot, in 1647, 7 vols. fol., to which is prefixed a Report to Pope Urban VIII. upon the history of the Basilica, by Joseph Maria Suarez; but this edition only contains thirty-three books complete, and ten others incomplete. Reitz, in 1752, added four books (49-52), following those of Hervetus; but both editions together only contain thirty-six books complete, and seven with considerable lacunæ in them. Cujacius undoubtedly possessed the Greek text of Book 53-59 inclusive; and the manuscript is possibly still extant, or it must have been lost a long time ago. [CUJACIUS, BIOG. DIV.] A new edition has been published since 1835, at Leipzig, by Professor Heimbach of Jena, in which are comprehended the various readings obtained by the collation of several manuscripts not examined by Fabrot. For a history of the Basilica, see Heimbach's treatise De Basilicorum origine fontibus, scholiis, atque nova editione adornandâ ; see also 'Thémis ou Bibliothèque du Juris Consulte,' vols. viii., ix., and x., for some observations upon the use made by Cujacius of the Basilica. Those readers of the Post Justinianean Law who may be prosecuting inquiries into the history and text of the Basilica, will do well to refer to Haubold's 'Manuale Basilicorum,' which, in addition to an accurate enumeration of the books and titles, contains abundant references to parallel passages, as well as to the works of modern civilians.

BASILICA, from the Greek Bariλikh, literally signifies a royal residence: but we have no account of any royal residence being specially called by that name; nor have we any description of Greek edifices called Basilica, which may be supposed to have furnished the model of the Roman basilica. The name, indeed, is Greek, and it is highly probable that the building itself was framed on a Greek model, though the fact does not appear to be capable of direct proof. The building at Athens, called the Barixetos Eroà, or Royal Portico, seems to have been pretty much like a Roman Basilica, as to the purposes for which it was used. This edifice, which is mentioned by Demosthenes (Against Aristogeiton,' chap. 6), contained the court of the Archon Basileus [ARCHON]; and the Areopagus occasionally held their sittings there. (See also Pausanias, i. 3.)

The Romans gave the name of Basilica to those public buildings with spacious halls, often surrounded with wide porticoes, many of which were built at different times in the various fora of Rome. They were usually called after the person who caused them to be built, as the Basilica Emiliana, Porcia, &c. (Livy, xxxix. 44.) At the time of the conflagration recorded in Livy (xxvi. 27), B.C. 210, there were no basilica then built. We read in the Bellum Alexandrinum' (cap. 52) that the basilica was used in the Spanish provinces at the date (B.C. 47) to which that work refers.

of the columns. At the end of the central part of the interior a raised platform formed the tribunal for a magistrate. The term testudo, as its name implies, is strictly the roof of the central part; but the term is also extended to signify the whole of the central space, which corresponds to what we call the nave of a church; the porticoes correspond to the aisles.

The basilica was not only used as a hall for the administration of justice, but afforded also convenient shelter to the merchants who transacted business there. Vitruvius, who constructed a basilica at the Julian colony at Fanum, informs us that it ought to be built "on the warmest side of the forum, that those whose affairs called them there might confer together without being incommoded by the weather." "The breadth," he says, "is not to be made less than the third, nor more than half, the length, unless the nature of the place opposes the proportion, and obliges the symmetry to be different; but if the basilica has too much length, chalcidica are made at the ends [CHALCIDICUM], as in the basilica of Julia Aquiliana." (Newton's Translation.')

The size and proportions of these edifices varied according to circumstances. The following proportions are given by Vitruvius for the various parts of this structure. The columns of the basilica (by which Vitruvius means the columns engaged in the wall) are to be made as high as the porticus is broad; the porticus is to be as wide as the third part of the space in the middle. The columns of the upper gallery must be one-fourth less than the lower. The pluteum (continued pedestal) must be made one-fourth less in height than the upper columns, and be placed between the upper and lower columns, that those who walk above may not be seen by the merchants; from which circumstance it would appear that the upper gallery was intended for a purpose distinct from the uses of the lower gallery. It is probable that in the upper gallery some kinds of handicraft were carried on.

The dimensions of the basilica built by Vitruvius at Fanum were as follow: the testudo 120 Roman feet long, and 60 broad; the porticus between the walls and columns of the testudo, 20 feet broad; the height of the columns of the testudo, including their capitals, 50 feet, and the diameter 5 feet. Behind these were parastaticæ, or small piers, 20 feet high, 24 feet broad, and 14 foot thick, to sustain the

TESTUDO.

Copper Coin of Trajan, from the British Museum, representing on the reverse the façade of the Basilica Ulpia.

The principal feature of the Basilica was a large roofed building, supported on columns. The roof, which was called the testudo, rose high above the other part of the structure, which consisted of two galleries, called porticus, placed one above the other, and round the internal sides of the central building. The porticus was covered with a lean-to roof, the upper part of which commenced below the capitals of the columns which supported the testudo. The light was admitted between the spaces formed by the under line of the architrave of the testudo, the upper line of the lean-to roof, and the perpendicular lines

B, Lower portico; c, Upper ditto; A, A, Parastaticæ.
(Drawn according to the dimensions given by Vitruvius.)

beams intended to bear the floor of the gallery. Over these were other parastaticæ, 18 feet high, 2 feet broad, and 1 foot thick, which supported the lean-to roofs. The remaining space between the beams, which were laid over the upper parastaticæ, and the architrave of the columns of the testudo, was open to the light. In the basilica at Fanum, the

testudo was supported by eighteen columns, four at each end, six on one side, and four on the other, the two centre columns being omitted on this side, that the view of the pronaos of a temple to Augustus might be seen. The tribunal in this building was in the form of a curved recess, 46 feet wide, and 15 feet deep. To this information Vitruvius adds the proportions of the timbers of the roof.

It is probable that Rome possessed basilica in all the different fora of the city. Of these the Basilica of Trajan, which formed a part of the Forum Trajanum [FORUM], is the only one of which there are considerable remains left. Its width was about 180 feet, its length at least double the width. It is represented on the reverse of the medal which we have given above. Another basilica, of the Corinthian order, was discovered on the Palatine Hill. A large edifice in the Forum, called the Temple of Peace, has also been named the basilica of Constantine.

The Emperors Gordian, in their magnificent country residences built on the Via Prænestina, had three basilica, 100 feet in length. Two famous basilicæ, Æmilia and Fulvia, were built at Præneste

respect, it may be compared to a very ancient Greek edifice at Pæstum, which has been generally considered a basilica. This building is an inclosure of columns, without any internal or external walls, and divided in the centre by an order of columns, with another above it. A basilica which was discovered some years since at Otricoli, had a curvilinear recess or hemicycle adorned with statues, which were removed to the museum of the Vatican.

The most perfect basilica of antiquity, and which best corresponds with the building described by Vitruvius, exists in Pompeii, constructed on the south-west, and consequently the warm side of the Forum. This edifice is 220 feet by 80. The testudo rose to the height of about 60 feet, judging from the diameter of the portions of the columns still remaining. These columns are twenty-eight in number, four of which are placed at each end, and the rest on each side of the testudo; they are curiously constructed of brick, and covered with stucco. At the farthest end is the tribunal, raised on a platform, to which the ascent on each side is by a flight of stairs. Under the platform are rooms, conjectured to have been used as temporary prisons for criminals; and in the floor of this platform are circular holes, communicating with the rooms below. On each side of the tribunal are two small square rooms, which, as the Basilica is very long in its proportion, may be considered a part cut off to form Chalcidica. Small engaged columns are attached to the walls inclosing the porticus, on which one end of the beams of the floor were placed, the other being either inserted in the shafts of the brick-columns, or supported on wooden parastaticæ set against their backs, in the manner described by Vitruvius. In the angles the small columns are clustered thus after the manner of Gothic shafts. This arose probably from the circumstance of the beams of the floor of the upper porticus being placed diagonally at the angles, in this manner

and it is most likely that the under side of the floor was left exposed, as is still the case in the dwellings of Italy, and not covered with lath and plaster, as is the custom in England. The columns being clustered in the angles gave an appearance of strength.

The light, most probably, was admitted in the manner mentioned by Vitruvius; but, in addition, there were windows at the back of the tribunal, which perhaps were at one time glazed, as glass for windows was in common use at Pompeii. The stone door-jambs are remarkable for a large groove, in which we may conjecture that the wooden doorframes were fixed. The doors appear to have folded, as the marks left on the sill from the opening and shutting still remain. The order of the small engaged columns is Corinthian, and the style very similar to that of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, and, like that edifice, this Basilica was covered with a fine marble stucco. The most singular decoration is observed in the rusticated plastering of the interior, where the rustics are painted in every variety of colour. The order of the testudo is unknown, as there are no remains of the capitals. It is probable that the columns, from their height, were never covered with the ashes of Vesuvius, which circumstance enabled the inhabitants to remove them.

The early Christian churches of Rome may be considered as the best resemblances of the Roman Basilicæ. In some of them are still found many of the characteristics of the ancient Basilicæ. We give the following list of existing Basilican churches, or parts of churches, at Rome, with their dates (some known, others conjectural), from Bunsen's work on the Basilica of Rome, referred to below S. Pietro, about 330; S. Paolo, 386; Sta. Sabina, 425; Sta. Maria Maggiore, 432; S. Pietro ad Vincula, 442; S. Lorenzo, 580; Sta. Balbina, 600; St. 'Agnese, 625; Quattro Coronati, 625; S. Giorgio in Velabro, 682; S. Chrisogogno, 730; S. Giovanni a Porta Latina, Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Vicenzo alle Tre Fontane, S. Lorenzo. (the nave), SS. Nereo ed Achille,-all about the close of the 8th century; Sta. Prassede, and Sta. Maria in Dominica, in the first quarter of the 9th century; S. Martino ai Monti, 850; Sta. Clemente, 870; S. Nicolo in Carcere, and S. Bartolomeo in Isola, end of 9th century; S. Giovanni in Laterano, 910; Sta. Maria in Trastevere, 1135; Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, 1144; Sta. Maria in Ara Coeli; Sta. Maria sopra Minerva (noteworthy as a Gothic basilica), 1370; S. Agostino, 1480.

The Marquess Galiani remarks, that the first churches were looked upon as tribunals in which the bishops, &c., administered penance to the guilty and the Eucharist to the absolved. We may therefore observe, in accounting for the resemblance which the early Christian churches bear to the ancient Basilica, that nothing could appear at first sight more appropriate than the idea of imitating a tribunal of justice in the construction of the new churches, in which the bishops and priests were to administer a kind of spiritual justice. This remark is well supported by the fact of the bishop's throne being placed in the apsis, or arched recess corresponding to the curved recess or hemicycle, as it was called, of the ancient Basilica. [APSE.] It would seem, in fact, that the obvious convenience of the Basilica led the early Christians to convert the ancient Basilica into churches, and in their new churches to adopt the principles of that form of building, as these