BATHOS, an anti-climax, being a sudden descent from the sublime to the commonplace.

BATH`URST (8), the capital of British Gambia, at the mouth of the river Gambia, in Western Africa; inhabited chiefly by negroes; exports palm-oil, ivory, gold dust, &c.

BATHURST (10), the principal town on the western slopes of New South Wales, second to Sydney, with gold mines in the neighbourhood, and in a fertile wheat-growing district.

BATHURST, a district in Upper Canada, on the Ottawa, a thriving place and an agricultural centre.

BATHYB`IUS, (i. e. living matter in the deep), substance of a slimy nature found at great sea depth, over-hastily presumed to be organic, proved by recent investigation to be inorganic, and of no avail to the evolutionist.

BATLEY (28), a manufacturing town in the W. Riding of Yorkshire, 8 m.  SW. of Leeds; a busy place.

BATN-EL-HAJAR, a stony tract in the Nubian Desert, near the third cataract of the Nile.

BATON-ROUGE (10), a city on the E. bank of the Mississippi, 130 m. above New Orleans, and capital of the state of Louisiana; originally a French settlement.

BATON-SINISTER, a bend-sinister like a marshal’s baton, an indication of illegitimacy.

BATOUM` (10), a town in Transcaucasia, on the E. of the Black Sea; a place of some antiquity; recently ceded by Turkey to Russia, but only as a mere trading port; has an excellent harbour, and has improved under Russian rule.

BATRACHOMYOMACHIA, a mock-heroic poem, “The Battle of the Frogs and Mice,” falsely ascribed to Homer.

BATTAS, a Malay race, native to Sumatra, now much reduced in numbers, and driven into the interior.

BATTERSEA, a suburb of London, on the Surrey side of the Thames, opposite Chelsea, and connected with it by a bridge; with a park 185 acres in extent; of plain and recent growth; till lately a quite rural spot.

BATTHYA`NI, COUNT, an Hungarian patriot, who fought hard to see his country reinstated in its ancient administrative independence, but failed in his efforts; was arrested, tried for high treason by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, to the horror, at the time, of the civilised world (1809-1849).

BATTLE, a market-town in Sussex, near Hastings, so called from the battle of Senlac, in which William the Conqueror defeated Harold in 1066.

BATTLE OF THE SPURS, (a) an engagement at Courtrai in 1302 where the burghers of the town beat the knighthood of France, and the spurs of 4000 knights were collected after the battle; (b) an engagement at Guinegate, 1513, in which Henry VIII. made the French forces take to their spurs; OF THE BARRIERS (see BARRIERS); OF THE BOOKS, a satire by Swift on a literary controversy of the time; OF THE STANDARD, a battle in 1138, in which the English, with a high-mounted crucifix for a standard, beat the Scots at Northallerton.

BATTUE, method of killing game after crowding them by cries and beating them towards the sportsmen.