Bastard
a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child. By the civil and canon laws, and by the law of Scotland (as well as some States of the United States), a bastard becomes legitimate by the intermarriage of the parents at any future time. But, by the laws of England, a child, to be legiti- BASTIA mate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage; it does not require that the child shall be begotten in wedlock, but it is indispensable that it should be born after marriage, no matter how short the time, the law presuming it to be the child of the husband. The only incapacity of a bastard is that he cannot be heir or next of kin to anyone save his own issue. In England the maintenance of a bastard in the first instance devolves on the mother, while in Scotland it is a joint burden upon both parents. The mother is entitled to the custody of the child in preference to the father.
BASTILLE Charles V., between 1370 and 1383, by Hugo Aubroit, Provost of Paris, at Porte St. Antoine, as a defense against the English. Afterward it was provided with vast bulwarks and ditches. On each of its longer sides the Bastille had four towers, of five stories each, over which there ran a gallery, which was armed with cannon. It was partly in these towers, and partly in cellars under the level of the ground, that the prisons were situated. The Bastille was capable of containing 70 to 80 prisoners. On July 14, 1789, it was surrounded by an armed mob enraged by the reactionary policy of the court. The garrison con- THE BASTILLE