where the grosser air begins. This lower dominion is ruled by a second and inferior a/D^wv, the God of the Jews, who also had produced a son; and their seat is called the Hebdomad. Meanwhile, the third sonship, which is truly the spiritual element in the elect, is tied to matter, and is in need of deliverance. Freedom is given by the truth, i.e., by a knowledge of the true system of things, and it is given by a series of illuminations. First the mind of the son of the Great Archon is enlightened, and he instructs his father, who learns with fear and repentance that there is a sphere of being higher than his own. The light then passes to the son of the Archon of the Hebdomad, who likewise instructs his father. Finally, the mind of Jesus is illuminated, and he instructs those of mankind who are able to receive the truth. There are thus three great stages in the world s religious history, each being an advance on its predecessor. These periods are the Ante-Jewish, the Jewish, and the Christian. All the souls capable of receiving the light ascend upwards, while their bodies return to the primeval chaos; the minds of all others are shrouded in eternal night, the darkness of ignorance. For the relation of Basilides to other Gnostics, and for the interpretation of
his intensely symbolic expressions, see Gnostics.
The earlier accounts of Basilides, such as those of Neander, Baur (in the Christliche Gnosis), and Matter, were based for the most part on I reuse us. The discovery of the Philosophoumena threw unexpected light on the subject, and the later expositions generally follow Hippolytus as the exponent of the original system of Basilides. Hilgemeld still retains the older view. Full information is to be i ound in Baur, Kirchcngeschiclde, i.; Lipsius, Gnosticism/us; Uhlhorn, Das Basilidcanische System; Mansel, Gnostic Heresies.
BASILISK,—[ Greek ] of the Greeks, and Tsepha (cockatrice) of the Hebrews,—a name applied by the ancients to a horrid monster of their own imagination, to which they attributed the most malignant powers and an equally fiendish appearance. The term is now applied, owing to a certain fanciful resemblance, to a genus of Lizards belonging to the family Iguanidce, the species of which are characterized by the presence of a membranous bag on the crown of the head, which they can distend or contract at will, and of a fin-like ridge along the back and part of the tail. Both appendages are admirably adapted for aiding the basilisk in swimming, while they do not impede its movements on land, its mode of life being partly aquatic, partly arboreal. The Mitred Basilisk occurs in Guiana, the Hooded Basilisk in Amboyna.
BASINGSTOKE, a market and borough town in the county of Hants, 45 miles from London. It occupies a pleasant situation, and has a good trade in corn and malt, which has been greatly facilitated by the canal which joins the rivers Wey and Thames. The parish church, St Michael s, is a spacious and hand some structure, dating from the reign of Henry VIII. In the neigh bourhood is Basing House, remark able for its defence by the marquis of Winchester against the Parliamentary forces in 1645. Population in 1871, 5574.
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BASKERVILLE, John, a celebrated printer, and the introducer of many improvements in type-founding, was born at Wolverley in Worcestershire in 170G, and died in 1775. About the age of twenty he became a writing- master at Birmingham, and he seems to have had a great talent for caligraphy and carving in stone. While at Birmingham his attention was attracted tc the business of japanning, which he took up with great zeal. He made some important improvements in the process, and gained a considerable fortune. About the year 1750 he began to make experiments in type-founding, and soon succeeded in producing types much superior in distinctness and elegance to any that had hitherto been employed. He then set up a printing-house, and published his first work, a Virgil in royal quarto. Horace, Terence, Catullus, and others were also printed by him. These books are admirable specimens of typography ; and Baskerville is deservedly ranked among the foremost of those who have advanced the art of printing. He did not print many works, as the sale did not meet his expectations; after 1765, indeed, he seems to have put forth very little. Specimens from the Baskerville press are not easily had, and are of considerable value.
BASKET, a utensil made of twigs, rushes, or strips of wood, as well as of a variety of other materials, interwoven together, and used for holding or carrying any commodity. Modern ingenuity has applied many substances before unthought of to the construction of baskets, such as iron and even glass. But wicker-work being the oldest as well as the most universal invention, it alone will be treated of in the present article. The process of interweaving twigs,, seeds, or leaves, is practised among the rudest nations of the world ; and as it is one of the most universal of arts,, so also does it rank among the most ancient industries, being probably the origin of all the textile arts of the world. A bundle of rushes spread out may be compared to the warp of a web, and the application of others across it to the woof, also an early discovery; for basket-work is literally a web of the coarsest materials. The ancient Britons appear to have excelled in the art of basket-making, and their baskets were highly prized in Rome as we learn from Martial (xiv. 99):—
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" Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis; Sed me jam mavult dicere Bonia suam." Among many uncivilized tribes at the present day baskets of a superior order are made and applied to various useful purposes. The North American Indians prepare strong water-tight " Wattape" baskets from the roots of a species of Abies, and these they frequently adorn with very pretty patterns made from the dyed quills of their native porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum. The Indians of South America weave baskets equally useful from the fronds of the Carnahuba and other palms. The Kaffres and Hottentots of South Africa are similarly skilful in using the Ilala reed and the roots of plants ; while the tribes of central Africa and the Abyssinians display great adroitness in the art of basket-weaving.
to the fabrication of those simple and useful utensils from which its name is derived. Of old, the shields of soldiers were fashioned of wicker-work, either plain or covered with hides ; and the like has been witnessed among modern savages. In Britain the shields of the ancient warriors, and also their huts, even up to the so-called palaces of the Saxon monarchs, were made of wicker-work ; and their boats of the same -material, covered with the skins of animals, attracted the notice of the Romans. Herodotus mentions boats of this kind on the Tigris and Euphrates, but with this difference, that the former seem to have been of the ordinary figure of a boat, whereas the latter were round and were covered with bitumen. Boats of this shape, about 71 feet in diameter, are used at the present day on these rivers ; and boats of analogous construction are employed in crossing the rivers of India which have not a rapid current. Nothing can be more expeditious or more simple than the fabrication and materials of these vessels, if _ they merit that name. One may be made by six men in as many hours, only two substances, hides and bamboo, almost always accessible, being used. Window screens,
perambulators, chairs, etc., are now largely made of basket-