A species confounded by British naturalists with the white-throat. (Vide Montagu.)
The babillard does not appear to be a plentiful species in this country, and is confined to the western parts of the kingdom, from Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, in both which counties we have found them, and is probably in part of Somersetshire, but not in Devonshire or Cornwall. Selby even doubts its existence; but Sweet has kept them in a cage for years.
In some seasons it is very plentiful about London; at other times much scarcer. I am confident I have seen it in Ayrshire, and at Musselburgh Haugh, near Edinburgh.—Rennie.
Back, s. The hinder part of the body; the outer part of the hand when it is shut; the rear; the place behind; the part of any thing out of sight; the thick part of any tool, opposed to the edge.
Back, v. To mount a horse; to break a horse; to place upon the back; to maintain; to support; to bet on.
Backgammon, s. A play or game with dice and tables.
The game of tables is better known at present by the name of Backgammon. This pastime is said to have been discovered about the tenth century, and the name derived from two Welsh words signifying “little battle.” But the derivation may be found nearer home. The words are perfectly Saxon, as Bac, or Bæc, and Zamen, that is, Back Game; so denominated because the performance consists in the players bringing their men back from their antagonist’s tables into their own; or because the pieces are sometimes taken up and obliged to go back, that is, re-enter at the table they came from.
The most material circumstances in which the game differed, at this remote period, from the present method of playing it, was, first, in having three dice instead of two, or reckoning a certain number for the third; and secondly, in placing all the men within the antagonist’s table, which, says an ancient writer, must be put upon his ace point. There is also another game upon the tables, called Paume Carie, which is played with two dice, and requires four players, that is, two on either side; or six, and then three are opposed to three. The same authority then speaks of a third game, called Ludus Lombardorum, the Game of Lombardy, and thus played: he who sits on the side marked 13—24 has his men at 6, and his antagonist has his men at 19; which is changing the ace point in the English game for the size point: and this alteration probably shortened the game. He mentions the five following variations by name only; the Imperial game, the Provincial game, the games called Baralie, Mylys, and Faylis.
At the commencement of the last century, backgammon was a very favourite amusement, and pursued at leisure times by most persons of opulence, and especially by the clergy; which occasioned Dean Swift, when writing to a friend of his in the country, sarcastically to ask the following question: “In what esteem are you with the vicar of the parish: can you play with him at backgammon?” But of late years this pastime is become unfashionable, and of course not so much practised.