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y contribution or tax, which has sometimes been illegally exacted by arbitrary kings of England, and falsely represented as a gratuity.

of Byzantium or Constantinople, varying in weight and value, usually (those current in England) between a sovereign and a half sovereign. There were also white or silver bezants. [Written also besant, byzant, etc.]

ges claimed by a people. Such was the declaration presented by the Lords and Commons of England to the Prince and Princess of Orange in 1688, and enacted in Parliament after they became king and queen. In America, a bill or declaration of rights is prefixed to most of the constitutions of the several States. -- Bill o…

or common birch (B. alba) (also called silver birch and lady birch); the dwarf birch (B. glandulosa); the paper or canoe birch (B. papyracea); the yellow birch (B. lutea); the black or cherry birch (B. lenta).

compiled in the twelfth century, containing a description of the court of exchequer of England, an official statement of the revenues of the crown, etc.

Any Friday on which a public disaster has occurred, as: In England, December 6, 1745, when the news of the landing of the Pretender reached London, or May 11, 1866, when a financial panic commenced. In the United States, September 24, 1869, and September 18, 1873, on which financial panics began.

ecies of bramble (Rubus); also, the plant itself. Rubus fruticosus is the blackberry of England; R. villosus and R. Canadensis are the high blackberry and low blackberry of the United States. There are also other kinds.

In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agelæus phoeniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See Redwing.

The tautog of New England (Tautoga).

A certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, or moss troopers, to be by them protected from pillage. Sir W. Scott.

A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence. Nares.

ings; happy; highly favored. All generations shall call me blessed. Luke i. 48. Towards England's blessed shore. Shak.

A variety of clay ironstone, in Staffordshire, England, used for making tools.

A hand stained with the blood of a deer, which, in the old forest laws of England, was sufficient evidence of a man's trespass in the forest against venison. Jacob.

ied by a discharge of blood; a disease, called sweating sickness, formerly prevalent in England and other countries.

sed for floor cloths, to cover carpets, etc.; -- so called from the town of Bocking, in England, where it was first made.

A glandular organ of bivalve mollusca, serving in part as a kidney.

hen disturbed, it makes an explosive discharge of a pungent and acrid vapor from its anal glands. The name is applied to other related species, as the B. displosor, which can produce ten or twelve explosions successively. The common American species is B. fumans.

A store where books are kept for sale; -- called in England a bookseller's shop.

ence. -- The Border, The Borders, specifically, the frontier districts of Scotland and England which lie adjacent. -- Over the border, across the boundary line or frontier.