edifices were both light and spacious, and better adapted to the ceremonies of the new religion than the temples of the Pagans. Constantine has the reputation of having erected the first of these Christian Basilica, which was built on the site of his own palace of Lateran, on Mount Cælius. Shortly afterwards he built the Basilica of St. Peter, on the site of the Circus of Nero; and finally commenced a Interior View of the Basilica of t. 'Agnese at Rome, from a work on Roman Church Basilica by I. G. G., Roma, 1823 and 1824. afterwards partly restored upon the old plan. The section of this edifice, across the nave, shows the form of the testudo with the inclined roofs of the porticus; and in the spaces between the under side of the roof of the testudo and the upper line of the roof of the porticus, are formed the windows of the church. The other Basilica we have not space to notice; but the church of St. 'Agnese exemplifies the peculiar character of the ancient Basilica in so striking a manner, that we give a representation of it, which will illustrate the description of Vitruvius. with. In England the osier or willow is chiefly used for this purpose; and many of the specimens produced are exceedingly elegant. The willow twigs or other materials are prepared in various ways, according to the costliness of the basket to be made; and the manufacture consists in a kind of interlacing, very simple in its character, and requiring the aid of but few tools. Any of our excellent blind asylums, where industrial pursuits are carried on, will afford a pleasing exemplification of the ease with which basket-making can be carried on by blind A very large per-centage of the baskets bought by the middle and working classes in London, are made by poor persons, whose wives and children hawk them about the streets for sale. It is precisely one of those trades likely to put on such a commercial aspect-easy to learn, and requiring little or no capital to carry it on. persons. Foreign baskets are imported to the value of 30,000l. to 40,000. annually. Since the period of the Great Exhibition in 1851, Swiss baskets of very light construction, carved in white wood, have become well known in this country. In this view will be easily recognised the galleries (porticus) running round three sides of the building, and interrupted by the recess forming the tribunal. In the upper gallery is the pluteum, or continued pedestal, inclosing the same. The nave corresponds to the testudo; the apsis of the church to the hemicycle of the ancient buildings: the only difference is in the manner of piercing the walls for windows, and in the omission of the large columns of the testudo, the two orders of columns standing in the places of the ancient parastaticæ. It is probable that the construction of the roof of the ancient Basilica was exposed, as it is shown here, and as was the invariable practice in almost all the church Basilica of Rome. These Basilica are built from the old materials of other edifices, and the parts are put together without much regard to symmetry, so that there are often Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite capitals, placed on shafts of columns of various diameters, with portions of entablatures above them, which originally belonged to dissimilar edifices. Santa Maria in Trastevere is an example of these incongruities here also the throne in the apsis has an antique form, very similar to the hemicycles of the Street of Tombs at Pompeii. The Roman church Basilica in their complete form consisted of an atrium, or entrance-court, in the centre of which was the baptismal basin or font; a colonnade, called the narthex, devoted to the use of penitents or catechumen; a nave (naris, or gremium), where the people assembled to worship; a choir, or chancel, appropriated to the singers and inferior clergy, and in which were the ambones or pulpits; and a sanctuary, or bema, in the centre of which was placed the high altar under a canopy, or baldachin [BALDACHIN], and at the back of which was the apsis [APSIS], in which was the throne of the bishop. The Roman church Basilica are remarkable for their mosaic decorations. [MOSAIC.] The pavements of many of them are enriched with the most elaborate patterns made of the hardest marbles. The arched head of the apsis is often decorated with the figures of saints or apostles upon a gold ground, the whole mosaic being formed of glass tessera; but the most sumptuous mosaics are those of St. Peter's, of modern execution, which represent so truly the great works of the best Italian painters, that none but a practised eye can detect the difference. The general form of the nave, aisles, and apsis of our ancient cathe-grammarians, their language existed before the building of the Tower drals and churches, as well as in those of the Continent, is evidently borrowed from the Italian church Basilica. The nave corresponds to the testudo, and the side aisles to the porticus; the windows of the nave, which externally are seen above the lean-to roof of the aisles, correspond to the opening between the upper part of the columns of the testudo. Modern Basilica exist at the present day in Italy, applied, as the ancient were, to civil purposes. Palladio gives the name of Basilica to such public buildings, many of which are found in the Italian towns. Part of the Basilica of the present day serve as the palaces of the magistrates, and in them they administer justice, while the lower parts are occupied by merchants, &c. Speaking of these edifices, Palladio says, "Our modern basilicæ differ from the ancient in this, that while theirs were on the ground-floor, ours are elevated on arches, and the parts beneath the arches are used as shops, prisons, and for other public purposes. Another difference is, that the ancient had porticoes only in the interior; the moderns, on the contrary, either have none, or have them on the exterior." There is an example of such a Basilica at Padua, and another at Brescia; but the most celebrated is that at Vicenza, the exterior of which is after the design of Palladio. The body of the building is supposed by Vincenzio Scamozzi to have been erected during the reign and by the command of Theodoric the Goth. This Basilica is 162 feet long by 63 wide; the curved roof is of wood, covered with lead; the great hall is 25 feet 10 inches above the ground-floor, and is supported on piers. This edifice, which reflects great credit on the skill of Palladio, is called at Vicenza "Il Palazzo della Ragione." The architect himself, though a modest man, was so well satisfied with his own performance, that he expressed an opinion that this construction was equal to any Basilica of antiquity. In England the town-hall, and in France the Palais de Justice, correspond, in some respects, to the modern Italian Basilica. (Vitruvius; Nardini's Rome; Nolli's Plan of Rome, with the Fragments of the Ancient Plan; A Series of Geometrical Plans and Sections, and Perspective Views of the Roman Church Basilica, by I. G. G., Roma, 1823-24; Eustace's Class. Tour; Plan of Pompeii, by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; Marquess Galiani's Translation of Vitruvius; Life of Palladio, by M. Quatremère de Quincy; Notizie sulla Antichita e Belle Arti, Roma; Bunsen, Die Basiliken des Christlichen Roms (with the Illustrations of Gutensohn and Knapp); Mazois, Pompeii, vol. iii.; Ferguson, Handbook of Architecture.) BASKETS. Baskets have been made from the earliest ages, in most countries where pliant willows, reeds, or grasses are to be met, BASQUE LANGUAGE. This language, Léngua Bascongada, called also by the Spaniards Bascuence and Vizcaino, and by the French Basque, is spoken by the people who inhabit the Basque provinces, and part of Spanish and French Navarre. The people call themselves Euscaldunac, their country Euscalerria, and their language Euscara, or Escuara. The latter word is derived, according to Larramendi, from escuco, free, and era, mode or manner. But this is perhaps hardly satisfactory. The elementary syllable in all these words is Euse or Esc, which appears in the forms Vesc and Osc in such names of places as Vesci and Osca, &c.: the true meaning of this element seems doubtful. Balbi, in his 'Atlas Ethnographique,' places the Euscara in the first family of the European languages, and classes it with the Celtic; which opinion, however, few philologists have hitherto adopted. The Jesuit Beovide, quoted by Abate Hervas, says, that having examined the Celtic Dictionary of Leibnitz, he found only two words common to both languages. But upon this we may remark, that the Jesuit must have looked very carelessly not to have found a larger number: if he had carried his inquiries no farther than the numerals to 20 inclusive, he ought to have arrived at a different result. The Basque language is certainly generally supposed to be totally different from all the European languages; an assertion from which entire assent may be reasonably withheld for the present. It is also loosely said to bear some affinity, if not in its roots, at least in its construction, to some of the Asiatic tongues. We may consider the Celta and Iberi as two historically distinct nations, without at the same time assuming, what we can never prove, that they do not descend from one common stock. If we are to believe the Basque of Babel, and was brought to Spain by Tubal. Setting aside such extravagances, it may be remarked that the testimonies adduced to prove that the Basque language was spoken by all, or nearly all, the primitive inhabitants of the peninsula, are so numerous and conclusive as to amount almost to a demonstration. The etymology of the words denoting the ancient names of mountains, rivers, and towns in almost every part of the peninsula, is one of the strongest proofs. The word España is purely Basque, according to Astarloa, and means lip or extremity: W. Humboldt, however, disputes this explanation, and apparently with good reason. The river Ebro may be derived from ibai-ero, a foamy river, or from urbero, a warm river; Carpetania is derived from gara-be, with the Latin termination tania, and means the place at the foot of the hills. The examples of words in which the first element appears to be Basque are perhaps the most striking: such is acha, aitza, a rock, which in names of places assumes the form asta. Modern names which contain the element are, Asteguieta, Astobeza, Astorga, &c. In Spanish names mentioned by Roman writers the element asta also occurs, as in Asta, Astigi, Asta-pa (a dwelling at the foot of a rock), Astures, Asturica, and the river Ast-ura (rock-water). (See Humboldt's 'Inquiries respecting the first Inhabitants of Spain,' p. 23.) The word briga, which occurs at the termination of some ancient Spanish names of places, but which appears much more frequently in Gaul, is considered by Humboldt not to be a Basque word. The explanation of this word by Astarloa may serve to show how cautious we should be in following those who have written on this language. Bri, vri and uri, he says, mean a peopled place; the termination ga is negative, so that briga means a place without inhabitants, or a place without a town, or a wild population: hence the words bergante in Spanish, and brigand in French; but as briga is always the termination of the name of a town or inhabited place, we must suppose that the word briga, in course of time, got a meaning exactly contrary to its primary meaning. Such an hypothesis, as Humboldt remarks, scarcely needs confutation. It is All the radicals in the language are significative, even the names of the letters of the alphabet. The Basques write as they speak, and the sound of their letters, whether vowels or consonants, is fixed. said that aspirated and guttural sounds did not exist originally in the language. Even at the present day the Basque people give to the z a much softer sound than the rest of the Spaniards. According to d'Iharce Bidassouet, quoted by Balbi, the names of the alphabetical characters, nouns, pronouns, and adverbs, may be converted into verbs. The Basque language possesses a great variety of terminations. have been produced in an improved state twelve years later by M. Lotz of Presburg; and subsequently, in its present perfect condition, by the brothers, Anthony and John Stadler, of the imperial Austrian chapel. The basset-horn is longer than the clarinet, and the bell end is wider. On account of its length, the tube, which consists of five pieces, is bent inwards, forming a very obtuse angle. The scale of this instrument embraces nearly four octaves,-from c the second space in the base, to G in altissimo, including every semitone; but its real notes, in relation to its use in the orchestra, are from F below the Besides terminations equivalent to all those existing in English, it has The relation of the speaker to the person spoken to is also expressed by particular terminations. These relations are with regard to sex and dignity. Thus there are five different terminations; namely, masculine and feminine, from an inferior to a superior, and vice versû, and also between equals. The syntax is very simple, and subject to fixed rules. In every sentence the substantive is placed first, next the article, then the adjective, next the adverb, followed by the verb, and lastly the object, with the preposition affixed to it. Example: Seme oquer bat-ec emond-eus-cuz ardura-one ec; the literal meaning-" son-crooked-one, givenus-has-to, cares-these;" which means, a bad son has caused these troubles to us. This order is that in which, generally speaking, an illiterate Basque places the words when he attempts to speak Spanish, for which reason the Spaniards call concordancia Vizcaina a bad construction. The Basque is divided into three dialects, not much differing from one another; namely, the Guipuzcoan, the Vizcaino, and the Labortan. The first is the purest, and is spoken in Guipuzcoa; the second, in Vizcaya and Alava; and the Labortan in the French and Spanish Navarre. The only Basque books are grammars and dictionaries, the Bible, books of devotion, proverbs, and songs. In 1824, a very interesting work appeared at Donostian (San Sebastian), upon the ancient usages, dances, games, and songs (of which many still exist, most of them possessing a slow and monotonous character, but with considerable power) of the Guipuzcoans, published by Iztueta, the title of which is Guipuzcoaco dantza, gogoangarrien, condaira, edo istoria beren,' &c. The same author published, in 1826, another work, entitled 'The very Ancient Melodies of Viscaya,' &c. This work contains thirty-six airs to as many dances, with their respective words. M. Duhalde, a learned philologist of the Basque nation, has published a work in which he has compared and contrasted the variations found in the different literary productions of the Basque provinces. Le Compte Garat also published, in 1835, Fragments inédit. de Littérature Basque,' collected by him. The best grammars are those of Lécluse in French, and Larramendi in Spanish. The latter author published also a dictionary in Spanish, Latin, and Basque, which is considered the best. Whoever wishes to investigate the very curious structure of the Basque language will derive great assistance from the labours of Lécluse, professor of Greek and Hebrew literature at Toulouse, who published a short dissertation upon the language in 1826, and also his grammar in the same year. Lécluse, in 1828, put forth a proposal for publishing a dictionary of the Basque, Spanish, and French, which it is much to be regretted did not meet with the encouragement which such a work merited. The following are among the recent works on the Basque language which may be serviceable to the student: the new editions of Larramendi's Dictionary (2 vols. fol., San Sebastian, 1853-4), and Grammar (8vo, San Seb., 1853); S. H. Blanc's' Grammaire de la Langue Basque, d'apres celle du P. M. de Larramendi,' 8vo, Lyon, 1854; J. B. Archer's 'Grammaire Basque-Française, à l'usage du Pays-Basques,' 12mo, Bayonne, 1854; A. Oihenart's 'Proverbes Basques, suivies des Poésiès Basques,' 2nd ed., Bord., 1847; and the Histories of the Early Usages, Language, &c., of the Basque People' (founded on the work of Iztueta), by Chaho (Bayonne, 1850) and Baudrimont, 8vo, Paris, 1854. BASSET-HORN, a musical instrument, which, notwithstanding its name, is a clarinet [CLARINET] of enlarged dimensions and extended scale, said to have been invented in Germany in 1770, but known to ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. I. to c, the second leger line The basset-horn takes an intermediate place between the clarinet and bassoon, and, on account of its vast compass, may perform the functions of both. Its capabilities and beauty are strikingly displayed in Mozart's 'Requiem'; and in the aria, Non più di fiore,' in his 'Clemenza di Tito'; as well as in other works of the same great composer, who well understood its value. The Italian name for this instrument, and that by which it is generally designated in scores, is corno bassetto, or rather low horn, the termination etto being a diminutive. The unfitness of this term must at once be obvious: but, unhappily, musical nomenclature abounds in obscurities and contradictions. BASSIC ACID. [STEARIC ACID.] BASSO DI CA'MERA, a double-base, or contrabasso, reduced in size and power, but not in compass, and thus adapted to small or private rooms. The dimensions of the body of this instrument are as follows :— Length Width above. Width below Depth under the bridge Length of strings from bridge to nut. It has four strings; two of gut and two covered with silver wire, all proportionably thicker than those of the violoncello, and tuned in 5ths, to the same literal notes as the violin, but two octaves lower than the latter. Example: 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. Hence, and by referring to the article DOUBLE-BASE, it will be seen that this new instrument has a great advantage, in respect to compass, over the other; and in quality of tone it is far superior in chamber music, though neither powerful enough nor designed to supersede, or even to be used as a substitute for, the double-base in the full orchestra. BASSO-RILIEVO. [ALTO-RILIEVO.] BASSOON, a musical instrument of the pneumatic kind, blown through a reed. It consists of four pieces, or tubes of wood, bound together, and pierced for ventages, of a brass craned neck, in which the reed is inserted, and of several keys. The whole length of the tubes is 6 feet, but by doubling up, this is reduced to four. It may be considered as a bass oboe [OBоE]; and its compass is from B flat below the base staff, to B flat in the treble staff. This instrument is used in every kind of music, the richness of its tone and the extent of its scale rendering it invaluable to the composer. Handel seems to have been the first who gave importance to it, and in the air Thou didst blow,' in the oratorio of 'Israel in Egypt,' exhibited its qualities in so advantageous a manner, that it immediately afterwards began to assume a rank in the orchestra which it has ever since retained. The bassoon was invented as early as the year 1539, three years after Luscinius had published his 'Musurgia,' who consequently does not mention the instrument. Mersenne describes it and all its varieties; but a long time elapsed before it came into use. The word is derived from the Italian bassone, which is now rarely used. The common Italian term is fagotto, a fagot, or bundle of sticks, because the tubes of which the instrument is composed are bound together. The Italian word fagotto is always employed in musical scores. The brass bassoon, with a new system of holes and keys, which excited some attention at the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851, as the invention of M. Sax, was claimed by Mr. Cornelius Ward of London, who had previously taken out a patent for it in France. BASSOON, DOUBLE, a bassoon of increased dimensions, the scale of which is an octave below that of the ordinary bassoon. The doublebassoon was introduced at the commemoration of Handel in 1784, but not having been found to answer the intended purpose, it fell into disuse, the serpent [SERPENT] well supplying its place. BASSORIN. [GUM.] BASTARD. The conjectures of etymologists on the origin of this 3 R word are various and unsatisfactory. Its root has been sought in several languages-the Greek, Saxon, German, Welsh, Icelandic, and Persian. For the grounds on which the pretensions of all these languages are respectively supported, we refer the curious to the glossaries of Ducange and Spelman, the more recent one of Boucher, and to the notes on the title Bastard' in Bacon's Abridgment.' Among English writers it is applied to a child not born in lawful wedlock, and as such he is technically distinguished from a mulier (filius mulicratus), who is the legitimate offspring of a mulier or married woman. Our ancestors very early adopted strict notions on the subject of legitimacy; and when the prelates of the 13th century were desirous of establishing in this country the rule of the canon law, by which children born bastards are legitimated upon the subsequent intermarriage of their parents, the barons assembled at Merton (1235) replied by the celebrated declaration, "that they would not consent to change the laws of England hitherto used and approved." It has been observed, that this sturdy repugnance to innovation was the more disinterested, inasmuch as the lax morality of those days must probably have made the proposition not altogether unpalatable to many to whom it was addressed. The opposition therefore seems to have been prompted by a jealousy of ecclesiastical influence, which was at that time ever watchful to extend the authority of the church by engrafting on our jurisprudence the principles of the canon law. On another point our ancestors were less reasonable; for it was very early received for law, not only that the fact of birth after marriage was essential to legitimacy, but that it was conclusive of it. Hence it was long a maxim that nothing but physical or natural impossibility, such as the continued absence of the husband beyond seas, &c., could prevent the child so born from being held legitimate, or justify an inquiry into the real paternity. Their liberality in the case of posthumous children was also remarkable; for in the case of the Countess of Gloucester, in the reign of Edward II., a child born one year and seven months after the death of the duke was pronounced legitimate; a degree of indulgence only exceeded by the complaisance of Mr. Sergeant Rolfe, in the reign of Henry VI., who was of opinion that a widow might give birth to a child at the distance of seven years after her husband's decease without wrong to her reputation. (Coke upon Littleton, 123, b. note by Mr. Hargrave; Rolle's 'Abridgment'-Bastard; Le Marchant's' Preface to the case of the Banbury Peerage.') The law now stands on a more reasonable footing, and the fact of birth during marriage, or within a competent time after the husband's death, is now held to be only a strong presumption of legitimacy, capable of being repelled by satisfactory evidence to the contrary. Another curious position of doubtful authority is also found in our old text writers; namely, that where a widow marries again so soon after her husband's decease that a child born afterwards may reasonably be supposed to be the child of either husband, then the child, upon attaining to years of discretion, shall be at liberty to choose which of the two shall be accounted his father. It was to obviate this embarrassing state of things, that the civil law prescribed an annum luctus,' or year of grief, during which the widow was prohibited from contracting a second marriage; and our own law provided the now obsolete proceeding on a writ de ventre inspiciendo. The legal incapacities under which an illegitimate child labours by the law of England are few, and are chiefly confined to the cases of inheritance and succession. He is regarded for most purposes as the son of nobody, and is therefore heir-at-law to none of his reputed ancestors. He is entitled to no distributive share of the personal property of his parents, if they die intestate; and even under a will he can only take where he is distinctly pointed out in it as an object of the testator's bounty, and not under the general description of 'son,' 'daughter,' or 'child,' by which legitimate children alone are presumed to be designated. He may however acquire property himself, and thus become the founder of a fresh inheritance, though none of his lineal descendants can claim through him the property of his reputed relations. If he dies without wife, issue, or will, his lands and goods escheat to the crown, or lord of the fee. In the former event, it is usual for the crown to resign its claim to the greater part of the property on the petition of some of his nearest quasi kindred. Strictly speaking, a bastard has no surname until he has acquired one by reputation, and in the meantime he is properly called by that of his mother. father from all liability to the support of the child. The proposal was supported by arguments not devoid of plausibility, and is said to be sanctioned by the favourable experience of other countries; it was however strenuously opposed in both Houses of Parliament, and was eventually so modified as to leave the law nearly as it stood before. ('Report of the Commissioners,' pp. 165, 343, 8vo. ed.; stat. 4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 85.) The proceedings to affiliate a child are now, except in certain cases, exclusively at the instance of the mother (7 & 8 Vict. c. 101; 8 Vict. c. 10), who is bound in any case to maintain the child, and in case of neglect to do so, may be punished as a rogue and a vagabond. (5 Geo. IV. c. 83.) The civilians and canonists distinguish illegitimate children into four or five classes not recognised in the English law; it may however be worth while to remark, that the familiar term natural, applied by us to all children born out of wedlock, is in that classification confined to those only who are the offspring of unmarried parents living in concubinage, and who labour under no legal impediment to intermarriage. Children of the last-mentioned class are, by the civil and canon law, capable of legitimation by the subsequent union of the parents, or by other acts which it is needless here to particularise. (Heineccius, 'Syntag.' y. i., p. 159; Ridley's 'View,' &c., p. 350, ed. 1675; Godolphin's Repertorium Canonicum,' cap. 35.) By the Athenian law (passed in the archonship of Eucleides, B.C. 403), as quoted by Demosthenes (Against Macartatus,' cap. 12), illegitimate children were cut out from all inheritance and succession; nor could a man who had legitimate male offspring leave his property to other persons, and consequently not to his illegitimate children. A previous law of Pericles (Life' by Plutarch, cap. 37) declared that those only were legitimate and Athenian citizens who were born of two Athenian parents. This law, which was repealed or violated in favour of a son of Pericles, was re-enacted in the archonship of Eucleides. (Athenæus, xiii. 577; Demosthenes ‘Against Eubulides,' cap. 10.) The repute in which spurious children have been held has varied in different ages and countries. In some they have been subjected to a degree of opprobrium which was inconsistent with justice; in others, the distinction between base and legitimate birth appears to have been but faintly recognised, and the child of unlicensed love has avowed his origin with an indifference which argued neither a sense of shame nor a feeling of inferiority. When the Conqueror commenced his missive to the Earl of Bretagne by the words, "I, William, surnamed the Bastard," he can have felt no desire to conceal the obliquity of his descent, and little fear that his title wouid be defeated by it. Accordingly, history presents us with many instances in which the succession not only to property, but to kingdoms, has been successfully claimed by the spurious issue of the ancestor. It is however very improbable that, in any state of society where the institution of marriage has prevailed, children born in concubinage and in lawful wedlock should ever have been regarded by the law with exactly equal favour. (Ducange, Glossary,' tit. 'Bastardus.') Those who may be curious to learn what fanciful writers have urged in proof of the superior mental and physical endowments of illegitimate issue, may refer to Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy,' vol. ii. p. 16 (ed. 1821); Pasquier Recherches,' chap. 'De quelques memorables bâtards;' and Pontus Heuterus 'de Liberâ Hominis Nativitate.' See also Shakspere's King Lear,' act. 1, scene 2; and the observations of Dr. Elliotson in his edition of Blumenbach's 'Physiology,' in notes to chap. 40. BASTARDY. Under the act of Elizabeth and later acts of parliament, down to the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834, the usual practice was for the mother to apply for relief to the parish officers, by whom she was carried before the magistrates in petty session to be interrogated respecting the paternity of the child. An order of affiliation was then made, and the reputed father was ordered to contribute a weekly payment, or was bound to indemnify the parish against the future expenses of maintenance. "In form, the proceeding was against the putative father for the indemnification of the parish; but in substance it was a proceeding of the mother against the putative father, the benefit of which accrued to her, and to which the parish was little more than a nominal party, except when it made good the father's default. It was in truth an action of the mother against the putative father, for a contribution towards the expenses of their common child, in which by a fiction of law, the parish was plaintiff." ("On the law concerning the maintenance of bastards, by the Poor Law Comthe Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry (1834) recommended that the mother of a bastard should be rendered liable for its maintenance, but that she should be exempted from the punishment under 30th Geo. III. c. 51, and that all enactments charging the putative father should be repealed. The Bill for amending the Poor Law, brought in in 1834, as it ultimately passed (4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76, ss. 72-76), enacted that the parish might still apply for an order upon the putative father, but this was to be done at the quarter sessions instead of the petty sessions; and corroborative evidence was required; and other difficulties and onerous conditions were thrown in the way, which showed that" the object of the legislature was to impede rather than encourage the applications to quarter sessions." The number of bastards affiliated in England and Wales, in the years ending The first English statute which provides for the maintenance of ille-missioners,' Parl. paper, No. 31, session 1834.) In this state of things gitimate children is the 18th of Elizabeth, cap. 3, which confers on justices of the peace the power of punishing the parents, and of requiring from one or both of them a weekly or other payment for their support. Under this and later Acts of Parliament, the usual practice was for the mother to apply for relief to the parish officers, by whom she was carried before certain magistrates to be interrogated respecting the paternity of the child. An order of filiation was then made, and the male adjudged to be the reputed father, and ordered to contribute a weekly payment, or to indemnify the parish against the future expenses of maintenance. (Blackst. Com.,' Mr. Kerr's ed., vol. i. p. 480, et seq.) The commissioners appointed in 1832 to inquire into the administration of the Poor-Laws, recommended the exemption of the reputed respectively 25th of March, 1835 and 1836, was 12,381 and 9686. The practice of affiliation was therefore rapidly diminishing under the Poor Law Amendment Act, but it was alleged that the putative father was not punished, while the consequences fell solely upon the woman. In 1839, therefore, an act was passed (2 & 3 Vict. c. 85) which transferred the power of making orders in bastardy from the quarter sessions to any two justices in petty sessions, and facilitated instead of discouraged affiliations. Payments by putative fathers under orders in bastardy, were, under 2 & 3 Vict. c. 85, "limited to the cost of the relief actually given; they have been made bonâ fide to the parish, and therefore the parish has not been a purely formal party to the proceeding, and a mere screen to the woman.' (Report of Poor Law Commissioners, Jan. 31st, 1844.) The law respecting bastardy has been still more recently the subject of legislation, and by 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, the principle of charging the putative father is totally different from that of any previous law on the subject. "Formerly the remedy was intended exclusively for the parish: now the mother alone can obtain it. . . . . . Formerly the chargeability of the child, either in fact or in prospect, was the ground of the remedy: now the actual or probable chargeability of the child is made wholly immaterial." (Official Circular,' No. 39, Oct. 1, 1844.) The officers of all parishes and unions are deprived of the power of applying for orders of affiliation with regard to illegitimate children, and the mother alone is entitled to apply, at the petty sessions, for such order; but in case of the death or incapacity of the mother, the guardians of unions, or if there are no guardians the overseers, may enforce an order although they cannot apply for one, and payments are to be made to some person appointed by the justices to have the custody of the child, and not to the parish officers; and such person is to receive the child on the condition that it is not to be chargeable. Parish officers are guilty of misdemeanour for endeavouring to promote the marriage of a mother of a bastard, by threats or promises respecting any application to be made for maintenance. The mother of a bastard may summon the putative father before the petty sessions within twelve months after the birth of the child, for the purpose of affiliation, or at any time on proof of money having been paid to her in respect of such child. The justices may then make an order on the putative father for maintenance of the child and other costs, and enforce the same by distress and commitment; but not more than thirteen weeks' arrears can be claimed. The sum paid for maintenance is to be paid to the mother, and if she neglect or desert her offspring she may be punished under the Vagrant Act (5 Geo. IV. c. 83). While unmarried or a widow, the mother is liable for the maintenance of the child until it is sixteen. Any person having the care of a bastard child under an order of maintenance, who maltreats it, or misapplies moneys paid by the putative father for its support, is liable to a penalty of 107. on conviction before two justices. The putative father may appeal to the quarter sessions, as under the old law. The stat. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 10, contains forms, and regulates the proceedings at petty sessions and on appeal. All orders for the maintenance of a bastard cease after it has attained the age of thirteen, or on the marriage of the mother. In the Savings Bank Act (7 & 8 Vict. c. 83) there is a clause under which the deposits of illegitimate persons who die intestate may be paid to their heirs, as if they had been legitimate; but in other respects the law relating to the succession and inheritance of bastards remains the same. By 6 Will. IV. c. 22, the incapacity of bastards in England to dispose of their moveable estates by will was removed. The late Mr. Rickman was the first who attempted to ascertain the number of illegitimate births in England. During the progress of the census of 1831, he obtained from the ministers of churches and chapels the number of bastards born in their parishes or chapelries in 1830. The number returned was 20,039. Under the Registration Act (6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 86) no specific reference is made to illegitimate children, but the penalty for making a false statement combined with the local knowledge of the registrars, in most cases prevents such children being registered as born in wedlock. Still there is no doubt that the registrar's returns will give something less than the real number of illegitimate children born. Of the births which escape the vigilance of the registrars, it is most probable that the proportion of those which are illegitimate is greater than in the total registered births. Still-born children are not registered in England, and here again the proportion is higher for illegitimate births than for births in wedlock. In Saxony the proportion of still-born children to 10,000 illegitimate births is 616, in 10,000 other births 464. Whatever may be the number of illegitimate births as they appear on the face of the register, it may safely be assumed that they are below the actual number. If the mortality of illegitimate children were the same as that of children born in wedlock, the number of illegitimate persons living would exceed one million for England and Wales. It is both a social and political evil when so large a proportion of persons exist in any society with ties of a different nature from those of the majority of the population. The condition of an illegitimate child is very frequently a hard one from the moment of its birth. BASTARDY. The Scottish law of bastardy differs considerably from the English, chiefly in consequence of its having adopted much of the Roman and pontifical doctrines of marriage and legitimacy. Thus, in England, in the case of a sentence of nullity of a marriage, the issue born during the cohabitation are bastards. But agreeably to the judgment of the canons, 'Decret. Greg.,' lib. iv. tit. 17, c. 14, the Scottish writers, having regard to the bona fides of the parties, incline to a different opinion, in favorem prolis; and it will be recollected that when Secretary Lethington proposed to Mary Queen of Scots a divorce from Darnley, James Earl of Bothwell, to quiet her fears for her son, "allegit the exampill of himself, that he ceissit not to succeid to his father's heritage, without any difficultie, albeit thair was divorce betwixt him and his mother." The point has not, however, received a judicial determination, and cannot therefore be regarded as settled, though of the tendency of the law there can be little doubt. Even in the case of a marriage where one of the parties is, unknown to the other, already married to another person, still in life, the weight of authority inclines strongly to the side of the legitimacy of the offspring, in favour of the bona fides of one of the parents. Of course, the issue of every legal marriage is lawful, and therefore the children not only of marriages regularly solemnised, but also of every union acknowledged by the law as a marriage, are alike legitimate. The same may be said of children legitimated by the subsequent intermarriage of their parents; but the situation of these is, as we shall immediately see, somewhat anomalous. The Scottish law has adopted two species of legitimation, which, in the language of the civil law, it calls legitimation per subsequens matrimonium, and legitimation per rescriptum principis. The former of these was introduced into the Roman jurisprudence by a constitution of the Emperor Constantine the Great, but did not become a permanent method of legitimation till the time of Justinian. It was afterwards adopted by the Roman pontiffs and disseminated by the ecclesiastics throughout Europe. At the parliament of Merton, however, the doctrine met with a repulse from the barons of England; but though the English law was preserved inviolate, yet the ecclesiastics did not cease to press the point among the people, and to this day we may remark traces of the custom in some of the remoter districts of the island. The doctrine was certainly no part of the ancient common law of Scotland any more than of England; but it is now settled law there, and its rise and establishment are unquestionably to be referred to the influence of the canon and civil laws in that country. The principle on which the doctrine rests was once supposed to be a fiction of law, that the marriage of the parents related back to their child's birth. If the parents could not then have legally married, or if a mid impediment intervened between the birth and the marriage, it was thought that the fiction was excluded, and that the previous issue would not be legitimated by marriage. But in one of these cases this theory has been overruled, and it has been decided that an intervening marriage of one of the parties to another person does not prevent the subsequent marriage of the two parents from legitimating their children born previously in bastardy. The sole restriction now admitted is that which was established simultaneously with the first introduction of the principle in the civil law, namely, that the parents must have been capable of contracting marriage with each other at the time of the birth of the offspring. It is not, however, decided whether, in the case of an intervening marriage of the father to another woman, by whom he has issue, the subsequent legitimation of bastards whom he had prior to that marriage will give them the rights of primogeniture over its issue. It is thought it would not, although, in the general case, a child legitimated takes precedence of its full brothers and sisters born in subsequent wedlock. If the father is domiciled in a country which does not admit the doctrine, legitimation will not follow from subsequent marriage; but the circumstance of the marriage taking place in such a country will not prevent legitimation from taking effect, if the father is domiciled in Scotland. In England the judges have held, that a child born in Scotland before marriage, and legitimated in Scotland by subsequent marriage, though in point of fact the first-born son, and in status and condition, by comity, legitimate in England, will not succeed to land in England. Legitimation per rescriptum principis proceeds on a less abstract and more generally-acknowledged principle than the preceding. Though, therefore, it is said to have been invented by Justinian, and copied by one of the popes of Rome, yet concessions in the nature of letters of legitimation are not peculiar to the Roman law. The form of these letters seems to have been borrowed by the Scots immediately from the old French jurisprudence: their clauses are usually very ample, capacitating the grantee for all honours and offices whatsoever, and to do all acts in judgment or outwith, and, in short, imparting to him all the public rights of lawful children and natural-born subjects, together with a cession of the crown's rights by reason of bastardy; but as the crown cannot affect the rights of third persons without their consent, letters of legitimation do not carry a right of inheritance to the prejudice of lawful issue. As, in the Mosaic law, a bastard was debarred from the congregation, so, according to the canons, he is, in strictness, incapable of holy orders; and, indeed, it has been the policy of most nations to incapacitate bastards in divers ways, that if men will not be deterred from immorality by a sense of the injury accruing to themselves, they may by a consideration of the evils resulting to their offspring. But whatever may be the operation of those incapacities, they are felt by all to be wrongs inflicted on the innocent; and as Justinian properly observed, when he made legitimation per subsequens matrimonium a |