B A S
Bafim ire made either with clay, cement, or lead; but they are moft ufually made with clay. In the making them this way, the diameter niuft be made four feet longer on each fide than the bafon is to be. This will be taken up by the walls and clay. For the fame rcafonj it muft be dug two feet deeper than the intended depth of the water ; becaufe it is to be laid over eighteen inches thick with clay, and fix inches with gravel and paving. The wall is to be made with fhards, rubbifb, or flints, with the natural earth for mortar; and the clay muft be well worked, and trod firmly down with the naked feet. The way of making them with cement is, to allow one foot nine inches every way for the work ; then cut the banks per- pendicularly, and raife a wall of mafonry a foot thick, made of pebble-ftones, or the like, laid in mortar of lime and fand : die bottom is then to be covered to the fame thicknefs ; and then the folid lining of the cement is to be backed up againft the walls, and over the bottom. This is to he made of fmall flints in beds of mortar made of lime and cement. When this folid is eight inches thick, it muft be plaftcred over the whole furface with cement well lifted before it be mixed with the lime ; and wjth this it is to be wrought over fmooth with a trowel. The proportion of this cement fliould be two-thirds of the cement or powdered tile to one-third of lime ; and this cement has the property of hardening fo under water, that it will become like ftone or marble, and will not be fubject to decay of a Ions; time.
After the finiihing, the bafon fliould, for four five days, be anointed over very often with oil, or bullocks blood, to keep it from flawing or cracking in the drying; and after this, the water fliould be let in as foon as may be. The leaded bafons are made with walls a foot thick, and a bot- tom of half a foot. Thefe muft be of rub.ble-ftones cemented with, plafter ; for the lime- would injure and eat the lead. The {heets of. lead are to be fpread over thefe walls and bottom, and learned with folder, Thefe bafons, however, are but little in ufe-now, from the expence of making thern^ and the danger of the lead's being ftolen.
The wafte-pipes of fountains ought always to be made large enough, for fear of choaking. When the wafie water is to be carried off into common fewers, it may be carried away in drains, or earthen pipes ;^ but, when it is to ferve for bafom that lie bolow it, it is- to be conveyed in leaden ones. vid. Miller's Gard. Ditf. Bason of the Sea. See the article Sea.
BASSAD, or Besd, an Arabian name for the purple fucus of the Greeks, ufed by the women to paint their cheeks, and by the dyers about cloaths. It has been fo far mifunderftood by late authors as to be interpreted by the word coral ; but the error of this is evident, fince coral has none of thefe proper- ties. See the article Margina. BASSE, in ichthyology, the Englifh name of the fea-wolf, the lupus pifcis of authors. The Greeks have called this labrax; and fomc of the later writers, as Paulus Jovius, and others, fpigola. It is properly a fpecies of pearch, and is diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of the pearch with thirteen rays in the fecond fin of the back, and fourteen in the pinna auri. See the articles Perca and Lupus Marimis. Basse-CW, in building, a court feparated from the principal one, and deftined for the ftables, coach-houfes, and Hvery- fervants. Daviler, Archit. P. 2. p. 414. Basse-Cow of a country-feat, is the yard, or place where the
cattle, fowls, &c. are kept. ■ That where ftrange creatures of divers forts are kept for enrio- fity, is called by the French menagerie. The Romans gave the name vivarium to that place, where beafts were kept for the public fhews. Basse, in the middle-age writers^ denotes a collar for cart- horfes made of flags.
Hence alfo the round, matted cufhion of flags, ufed for kneel- ing in churches, is called bajfe ; in Kent, a trujh. Kenn. Glofi". Paroch. Antiq. in voc. BASSET, orBASSETTE, a game with cards.
The perfons concerned in baffet, are, i°. The iailkur, banker. or dealer, who keeps the bank.
1°. The croupier, who is his afiiftant, and ftands by to fuper- vife the loftng cards.
3 . The punter, poute, or fetter, that is, any one who plays againft the banker.
Befides thefe, there arc other terms ufed in this game, as, 4 . The faffe, or face, which is the firft card turned up by the tailleur belonging to the pack ; by which he gains half the va- lue of the money laid down on every card of that fort by the punters.
5 . The couch, or firft money which every punter puts on each card ; each perfon that plays, having a book of thirteen feveral cards before him, on which he may lay his money, more oriels, at dtfcretionv
6°. The paro/i, which is, wheri a punter having won the firft ftake, and having a mind to purfue bis good fortune, crooks the corner of Ins card, and lets his prize lie, aiming at zfept ci le va.
-j°. The maffe, when having won the firft ftake, the printer is willing to venture more money on the fame card. 8°, The pay s when the punter having won the firft ftake, be
B A S
it a fluffing, half-crown, guinea, or whatever he laid down on his card, and not caring to hazard the paroli, leaves oft' or goes the pay; in which cafe, if the card turn up wrong' he lofcs nothing, having won the couch before ; whereas if It turn right, he, by this adventure, wons double the money flaked. 9°. The alpiewy much the fame with paroli, and ufed when a couch is won by turning up, or crooking the corner of the winning card;
io°. Sept et le va, the firft great chance or prize, when the punter having won the couch, makes a paroli, and goes on to a fecond chance; fo that if his winning card turns up again, it comes to fept et le va, which is feven times as much as he laid down on his card.
1 1°. guinze et le va is the next higher prize, when the punter having won the former, is refolved to pufh his fortune, and lay his money a fecond time on the fame card, by crooking an- other corner; in which cafe, if it come up, he wins fifteen times the money he laid down.
1 2°. Trent et le va is the next higher prize, when the punter crooking the fourth corner of his winning card, if it turn up, he wins thirty-three times the money he firft flaked. 13°. Scixant et le va is the higheft prize, and entitles the win- ner to fixty-feven times his firft money, which, if it were confiderable,-ftands a chance to break the bank : but the bank flands many chances firft of breaking the punter. This can- not be won, but by the tailleur's dealing the cards over again. The rules of the game of buffet are as follow : The banker holds a pack of fifty-two cards, and having fhuf- fled them, he turns the whole pack at once, fo as to difcover the laft card ; after which he lays down all the cards by cou- ples.
The punter has his book of thirteen cards in his hand, from the king to the ace ; out of thefe he takes one card, or more, at pleafure, upon which he lays a ftake.
The punter may, at his choice, either lay down his ftake be- fore the pack is turned, or immediately after it is turned, or after any number of couples are down.
Suppofing the punter to lay down his ftake after the pack is turned, and calling i, 2, 3, 4, 5, & c . the places of thofe cards which follow the card in view, either immediately after the pack is turned, or after any number of couples are drawn. Then,
If the card, upon which the punter has laid a ftake, comes out in any odd place, except the firft, he wins a ftake equal to his own.
If the card, upon which the punter has laid a ftake, comes out in any even place, except the fecond, he lofes his ftake. If the card of the punter comes out in the firft place, he nei- ther wins nor lofes ; but takes his own flake again. If the card of the punter comes out in the fecond place, he- does not lofe his whole flake, but only one half; and this is the cafe in which the punter is faid to be faced. When the punter choofes to come in after any number of cou- ples are down, if bis card happens to be but once in the pack, and is the laft of all, there is an exception from the general rule ; for tho' it comes out in an odd place, which fhould en- title him to win a ftake equal to his own, yet he neither wins nor lofes from that circumflance, but takes back his own ftake.
This game has been the object of mathematical calculations: Mr. De Moivre folves this problem : To eftimate at baffet the lofs of the punter under any circumftance of cards remaining in the ftock when he lays bis ftake, and of any number of times that his card is repeated in the flock. From his folution he has formed a table, ihewing the feveral lofles of the punter in whatfoever circumftances he may happen to be. See Doclr. of Chances, p. 63.
From this table it appears, 1 . That the fewer cards are in the flock, the greater is the lofs of the punter. 2. That the leaft lofs of the punter, under the fame circumftances of cards re- maining in the flock, is when bis card is but twice in it ; the next greater when but three times ; ftill greater when four times : and the greateft when but once.
The gain of the banker, upon all the money adventured at i&baffet, is 13 s. ^i.percent. De Moivre, Doctr. of Chances, P- 93-
The game of baffet is faid to have been invented by a noble Venetian, who, on account thereof, was banifhed Venice. It was firft introduced fnto France by fignior Juftiiiiani, am- baflador of that republic in 1674. Severe laws were made againft it under Louis XIV. ■ ; to elude which, they difguifed baffet under the name of pour & centre, that is, for and againft, which occafioned new arrets and prohibitions of parliament b „' — ["Dift. de Tfev. T. I. p. 903. b Vid. De Marre, Traite de Police, 1. 3. T. 4. c. 6.
BASSETING, in the coal mines, denotes the rife of the vein of coal towards the furface of the earth, till it come within two' or three feet of the furface itfelf. Phtt, Nat. Hift. Stafford. c - 3- §• 36- .
This is alfo called by the workmen enping, and ftands oppofecJ to dipping, which is the defcent of the vein to fuch a depth,- that it is rarely, if ever, followed to the .end.
BASSO Relievos (Cycl.) make part of the furniture of antiqua- ries. Thofe of the 'I rajan and Antonine columns have been
copied!
