BASTARD, in respect of artillery, is applied to those pieces which are of an unusual or illegitimate make or proportion. These are of two kinds, long and short, according as the defect is on the redundant or defective side. The long bastards again, are either common or uncommon. To the common kind belong the double culverin extraordinary, half culverin extraordinary, quarter culverin extraordinary, falcon extraordinary, &c. The ordinary bastard culverin carries a ball of eight pounds.
BASTARDS is also an appellation given to a kind of faction or troop of banditti who rose in Guienne about the beginning of the fourteenth century, and joining with some English parties, ravaged the country, and set fire to the towns.—Mezeray supposes them to have consisted of the natural sons of the nobility of Guienne, who being excluded the right of inheriting from their fathers, put themselves at the head of robbers and plunderers to maintain themselves.
BASTARD Flower-fence. See ADENANTHERA.—The flowers of this plant bruised and steeped in milk are said to be gently anodyne; for which purpose they are often given in the West Indies to quiet very young children. The leaves are used instead of senna in Barbadoes and the Leeward islands. In Jamaica, the plant is called senna.