BASINGSTOKE, a t. in the n. of Hampshire, 46 m. w.s.w. of London. It is a place of much activity. being situated at the junction of five main roads to London from the s. and w. of England. The country around is fertile and wooded. The chief trade is in corn, malt, coal, and timber. Near the town is a tract of 108 acres, on which every householder has the right of pasturage. There is also, not far from the town, an ancient camp, surrounded by an irregular oval embankment, 1100 yards in circum ference, with an entrance on the e. and w. sides. Basing House castle, belonging to the marquis of Winchester, long withstood the forces of the commonwealth, but Crom well at last took it by storm, and burned it to the ground in 10-15. Pop. '71, 5574.
BASKERVILLE,Joirs. a celebrated English printer and letter-founder, was b. in 1706 at Wolverley. in Worcestershire lie became a writing-master in Birmingham. and afterwards carried on the business of japanning there with success. He 17o0 to nuikc laborioial And costly experiments in. letter founding, and succeeded
in making types which have scarcely yet been excelled. He printed an edition of Virgil, at Birmingham, in 1755, which was followed by other Latin classics, a few Eng lish and Italian authors, and a New Testament (Oxf. 1763), much admired as speci mens of printing, although not otherwise possessing high merit. His services to the art of printing met with little encouragement and no requital. He d. in 1775. lie was a man of obliging disposition, but of a gloomy temperament, and condemned all religious service as superstition. Baskerville was buried in a tomb of masonry in the shape of a cone, under a windmill, in his garden; but the ground becoming, valuable for building purposes, his remains were exhumed in the summer of 1821, and deposited in the vaults of Christ church, in the neighborhood of the spot where they were origin ally interred. Baskerville editions of works are now prized by persons of taste.