Theodore Petre, the biographer of the Carthusians. If the statement of Maurice Chauncy, a contemporary of Batmanson's, that his successor Houghton, who was executed for refusing the oath of supremacy, died on 4 May 1535, ‘in the fifth year of his priorate,’ be correct, Batmanson must have resigned the office some months before his death. The character given of him varies with the opinions of the writer. Pits and Petre speak of his great learning and angelic life, while Bale calls him supercilious and arrogant, and fond of quarrelling, though he allows that he was a clear writer. The only incident of his rule that has come down to us shows him in a favourable light. One of his monks was so affected by the solitary life that he was on the point of committing suicide when the prior discharged him from the order.
The following is a list of his works: 1. ‘In Cantica Canticorum,’ lib. i. 2. ‘In Salamonis Proverbia,’ lib. i. 3. ‘In Evangelium illud “Missus est,”’ lib. i. 4. ‘De Christo duodenni, Homilia una (Cum factus esset Jesus annorum duodecim).’ 5. ‘Institutiones Novitiorum,’ lib. i. 6. ‘De Contemptu Mundi,’ lib. i. 7. ‘De unica Magdalena, contra Fabrum Stabulensem,’ lib. i. 8. ‘Contra annotationes Erasmi Rotterdami,’ lib. i. 9. ‘Contra quædam Scripta Martini Lutheri,’ lib. i. 10. ‘Retractatio quorundam Scriptorum suorum,’ lib. i. None of these appear to exist in print, or in any of the more important collections of manuscripts in England.
[Petreius's Bibliotheca Cartusiana, 157; Chancæus, De Vitæ Ratione et Martyrio xviij Carthusianorum, ii. 51, 83; Erasmi Epist. xii. 20; Cal. of State Papers, Hen. VIII; Pits, De Scriptoribus Angliæ, 1531; Bale's Scriptorum Illustrium Majoris Brytanniæ Cent. ix. n. 14, xi. n. 95; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 60.]
BATT, ANTHONY (d. 1651), was a Benedictine monk, who resided for some years in the English monastery of his order at Dieulwart, in Lorraine. Weldon (Chronological Notes) says his death occurred 12 Jan. 1651, and adds that ‘he was a great promoter and practiser of regular discipline, a famous translator of many pious books into English. He wrote a most curious hand, and spent much of his time at La Celle, where there is a Catechism of a large size, which he composed at the instance of some of the fathers in the mission.’ His published works are: 1. ‘A Heavenly Treasure of Confortable Meditations and Prayers written by S. Augustin, Bishop of Hyppon. In three severall Treatises of his Meditations, Soliloquies, and Manual,’ translation, St. Omer, 1624, 12mo. 2. ‘A Hive of Sacred Honie-Combes, containing most sweet and heavenly counsel, taken out of the workes of the mellifluous doctor S. Bernard, abbot of Clareual,’ Douay, 1631, 8vo. 3. ‘A Rule of Good Life,’ translated from St. Bernard, Douay, 1633, 16mo. 4. ‘Thesaurus absconditus in Agro Dominico inventus, in duas partes; 1° Precationes, 2° Meditationes,’ Paris, 1641, 12mo.
[Oliver's History of the Catholic Religion in Cornwall, 506; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Weldon's Chronological Notes, 188, append. 15.]
BATT, WILLIAM, M.D. (1744–1812), was born at Collingbourne, in Wiltshire, on 18 June 1744, and was for some time a student at Oxford University. He then attended courses of medical instruction in the London schools, after which he went to Montpellier, where he took his doctor's degree in 1770. His name also appears, under date 5 Oct. 1771, among the students who studied at Leyden. On completing his studies he returned to England, but on account of his health he subsequently removed to Genoa, where he obtained an extensive medical practice, and in 1774 was appointed professor of chemistry in the university. Previous to this the study of chemistry in the university of Genoa had been much neglected, but soon after his appointment the lectures were thronged with pupils. He also made a special study of botany, and gathered an extensive collection of rare plants. His wide and varied acquirements and his public spirit won him the general esteem of his fellow-citizens, which was greatly increased by his self-sacrificing attentions to the sick during the severe epidemic of 1800. He resigned his professorship in 1787 on account of a prolonged visit to England. He died at Genoa on 9 Feb. 1812. He was the author of a considerable number of treatises on medical subjects, the principal of which are: ‘Pharmacopea,’ 1787; ‘Storia della epidemia che fece strage in Genova all' epoca del blocco,’ 1800; ‘Reflessioni sulla febbre degli spedali,’ 1800; ‘Considerazioni sull' innesto della vaccina,’ 1801; ‘Alcuni dettagli sulla febbre gialla,’ 1804; ‘Memoria sulla Scarlattina perniciosa,’ 1807; and ‘Storia di una epidemia che regnò in Genova nel 1808,’ 1809. A large number of his papers are in the ‘Transactions of the Medical Society of Genoa.’
[Celesia's Continuation of Isnardi's Storia della Università di Genova, 2nd part (1867), pp. 19–22; Peacock's Index to English-speaking students who have graduated at Leyden, p. 7; Brit. Mus. Catalogue.]
BATTEL, ANDREW (fl. 1589–1614), traveller, was born in Essex about 1565. On
