the king’s right to levy impositions was limited by the statute of 1370–1371, advanced a principle still more dangerous to constitutional liberty. “The statute of the 45 Edward III. cap. 4,” he said, “which hath been so much urged, that no new imposition shall be imposed upon wool-fells, wool or leather, but only the custom and subsidy granted to the king—this extends only to the king himself and shall not bind his successors, for it is a principal part of the crown of England, which the king cannot diminish.”
See State Trials (ed. 1779), xi. pp. 30-32; excerpts in G. W. Prothero, Statutes and Constitutional Documents (Clarendon Press, 1894); G. B. Adams and H. Morse Stephens, Select Documents of Eng. Const. Hist. (New York, 1901); cf. T. P. Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist. (London, 1905), p. 393. (W. A. P.)
BATES, JOSHUA (1788–1864), American financier, was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on the 10th of October 1788, of an old Massachusetts family prominent in colonial affairs. After several winters’ schooling in his native town, he entered the counting-house of William Gray & Son in Boston. In 1809 he began business on his own account, but failed during the War of 1812 and again became associated with the Grays, then the largest shipowners in America, by whom a few years later he was sent to London in charge of their European business. There he came into relations with the Barings, and in 1826 formed a partnership with John, a son of Sir Thomas Baring. Two years later both partners were admitted to the firm of Baring Brothers & Company, of which Bates eventually became senior partner, occupying in consequence an influential position in the British financial world. In 1853–1854 he acted with rare impartiality and justice as umpire of the international commission appointed to settle claims growing out of the War of 1812. In 1852–1855 he contributed $100,000 in books and in cash for a public library in Boston, the money to be invested and the annual income to be applied to the purchase of books. Upon his death the “upper hall,” or main reference-room (opened in 1861) in the building erected in 1858 by the order of the library trustees, was named Bates Hall; and upon the opening of the new building in 1895 this name was transferred to its principal reading-room, one of the finest library halls in the world. During the Civil War Bates’s sympathies were strongly with the Union, and besides aiding the United States government fiscal agents in various ways, he used his influence to prevent the raising of loans for the Confederacy. He died in London on the 24th of September 1864.
See Memorial of Joshua Bates (Boston, 1865).
BATES, WILLIAM (1625–1699), English nonconformist divine, was born in London in November 1625. He was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and removed thence to King’s College in 1644. Of Presbyterian belief, he held the rich living of St Dunstan’s-in-the-West, London. He was one of the commissioners at the conference in the Savoy, for reviewing the public liturgy, and was concerned in drawing up the exceptions to the Book of Common Prayer. Notwithstanding this he was appointed chaplain to Charles II., and was offered the deanery of Lichfield and Coventry, but he came out in 1662 as one of the 2000 ejected ministers. Bates was of an amiable character, and enjoyed the friendship of the lord-keeper Bridgeman, the lord-chancellor Finch, the earl of Nottingham and Archbishop Tillotson. With other moderate churchmen he made several efforts towards a comprehensive settlement, but the bishops were uncompromising. He addressed William and Mary on their accession in behalf of the dissenters. After some years of pastoral service at Hackney he died there on the 14th of July 1699. Bates published Select Lives of Illustrious and Pious Persons in Latin; and after his death all his works, except this, were printed in 1 vol. fol.; again in 1723; and in 4 vols. 8vo in 1815. They treat of practical theology and include Considerations on the Existence of God and the Immortality of the Soul (1676), Four Last Things (1691), Spiritual Perfection (1699).
BATESON (Batson or Betson), THOMAS, an English writer of madrigals in the early 17th century. He is said to have been organist of Chester cathedral in 1599, and is believed to have been the first musical graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. He is known to have written church music, but his fame rests on his madrigals, which give him an important place among Elizabethan composers. He published a set of madrigals in 1604 and a second set in 1618, and both collections have been reprinted in recent years. He died in 1630.
BATH, THOMAS THYNNE, 1st Marquess of (1734–1796), English politician, was the elder son of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth (1710–1751), and the great-grandnephew of Thomas Thynne (c. 1640–1714), the friend of Bishop Ken, who was created Baron Thynne and Viscount Weymouth in 1682. His mother was Louisa (d. 1736), daughter of John Carteret, 1st Earl Granville, and a descendant of the family of Granville who held the earldom of Bath from 1661 to 1711. The Thynnes are descended from Sir John Thynne, the builder of Longleat, the splendid seat of the family in Wiltshire. Sir John, owed his wealth and position to the favour of his master, the protector Somerset; he was comptroller of the household of the princess Elizabeth, and was a person of some importance after the princess became queen. He died in April 1580. Another famous member of this family was Thomas Thynne (1648–1682), called on account of his wealth “Tom of Ten Thousand.” He is celebrated by Dryden as Issachar in Absalom and Achitophel, and was murdered in London by some Swedes in February 1682.
Born on the 13th of September 1734, Thomas Thynne succeeded, his father as 3rd Viscount Weymouth in January 1751, and was lord-lieutenant of Ireland for a short time during 1765, although he never visited that country. Having, however, become prominent in English politics he was appointed secretary of state for the northern department in January 1768; he acted with great promptitude during the unrest caused by John Wilkes and the Middlesex election of 1768. He was then attacked and libelled by Wilkes, who was consequently expelled from the House of Commons. Before the close of 1768 he was transferred, from the northern to the southern department, but he resigned in December 1770 in the midst of the dispute with Spain over the possession of the Falkland Islands. In November 1775 Weymouth returned to his former office of secretary for the southern department, undertaking in addition the duties attached to the northern department for a few months in 1779, but he resigned both positions in the autumn of this year. In 1789 he was created marquess of Bath, and he died on the 19th of November 1796. Weymouth was a man of considerable ability especially as a speaker, but according to more modern standards his habits were very coarse, resembling those of his friend and frequent companion, Charles James Fox. Horace Walpole refers frequently to his idleness and his drunkenness, and in early life at least “his great fortune he had damaged by such profuse play, that his house was often full of bailiffs.” He married Elizabeth (d. 1825), daughter of William Bentinck, 2nd duke of Portland, by whom he had three sons and ten daughters. His eldest son Thomas (1765–1837) succeeded to his titles, while the two younger ones, George (1770–1838) and John (1772–1849), succeeded in turn to the barony of Carteret of Hawnes, which came to them from their uncle, Henry Frederick Thynne (1735–1826). Weymouth’s great-grandson, John Alexander, 4th marquess of Bath (1831–1896), the author of Observations on Bulgarian affairs (1880), was succeeded as 5th marquess by his son Thomas Henry (b. 1862).
See B. Botfield, Stemmata Botevilliana (1858).
BATH, WILLIAM PULTENEY, 1st Earl of (1684–1764), generally known by the surname of Pulteney, English politician, descended from an ancient family of Leicestershire, was the son of William Pulteney by his first wife, Mary Floyd, and was born in April 1684. The boy was sent to Westminster school, and from it proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford, matriculating the 31st of October 1700. At these institutions he acquired his deep classical knowledge. On leaving Oxford he made the usual tour on the continent. In 1705 he was brought into parliament by Henry Guy (secretary of the treasury, 1679–1688, and June 1691 to February 1695) for the Yorkshire borough of Hedon, and at his death on the 23rd of February 1710 inherited an estate of
