Part 82 (1/2)
BORROWDALE, a valley in the Lake District, W. c.u.mberland, celebrated for its beautiful scenery.
BORTHWICK CASTLE, a ruined peel tower, 13 m. SE. of Edinburgh, where Queen Mary and Bothwell spent four days together in June 1567.
BORY DE SAINT-VINCENT, JEAN BAPTISTE, a French traveller and naturalist (1780-1846).
BOSCAWEN, EDWARD, a British admiral, known from his fearlessness as ”Old Dreadnought”; distinguished himself in engagements at Puerto Bello, Cathagena, Cape Finisterre, and the Bay of Lagos, where, after a ”sea hunt” of 24 hours, he wrecked and ruined a fine French fleet, eager to elude his grasp (1711-1761).
BOSCOVICH, ROGER JOSEPH, an Italian mathematician and astronomer, born at Ragusa; entered the Order of the Jesuits; was professor in Pavia, and afterwards at Milan; discovered the equator of the sun and the period of its rotation; advocated the molecular theory of physics, with which his name is a.s.sociated; died insane (1701-1787).
BOSIO, BARON, a celebrated Italian sculptor; patronised in France (1769-1845).
BOSNA-SERAI (38), capital of Bosnia, and seat of authority.
BOSNIA (1,200), a province in NW. of the Balkan Peninsula, under Austria-Hungary; the inhabitants of Servian nationality.
BOS'PHORUS (Ox-ford), a channel 17 m. long and from 3 to m. broad, and about 30 fathoms deep, strongly defended by forts, extending from the Sea of Marmora to the Black Sea; subject to Turkey. It derives its name from the channel which, according to the Greek myth, Zeus, in the form of an ox, crossed into Europe with Europa on his back.
BOS'QUET, PIERRE FRANcOIS JOSEPH, a marshal of France, distinguished in Algiers and the Crimea; was wounded at the storming of the Malakoff (1810-1861).
BOS'SUET, JACQUES BeNIGNE, bishop of Meaux, born at Dijon, surnamed the ”Eagle of Meaux,” of the see of which he became bishop; one of the greatest of French pulpit orators, and one of the ablest defenders of the doctrines of the Catholic Church; the great aim of his life the conversion of Protestants back to the Catholic faith; took a leading part in establis.h.i.+ng the rights of the Gallican clergy, or rather of the Crown, as against the claims of the Pope; proved himself more a time-server than a bold, outspoken champion of the truth; conceived a violent dislike to Madame Guyon, and to Fenelon for his defence of her and her Quietists; and he is not clear of the guilt of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; wrote largely; his ”Discourse on Universal History”
is on approved lines, and the first attempt at a philosophy of history; his Funeral Orations are monuments of the most sublime eloquence; while his ”Politique founded on Holy Scripture” is a defence of the divine right of kings. ”Bossuet,” says Professor Saintsbury, ”was more of a speaker than a writer. His excellence lies in his wonderful survey and grasp of the subject, in the contagious enthusiasm and energy with which he attacks his point, and in his inexhaustible metaphors and comparisons.... Though he is always aiming at the sublime, he scarcely ever oversteps it, or falls into the bombastic or ridiculous.... The most unfortunate incident of his life was his controversy with Fenelon”
(1627-1704).
BOSSUT, CHARLES, French mathematician, born near Lyons, _confrere_ of the Encyclopaedists; his chief work ”L'Histoire Generale des Mathematiques”; edited Pascal's works (1730-1814).
BOSTON (19), a Lincolns.h.i.+re seaport, on the Witham, 30 m. SE. of Lincoln; exports coal, machinery, corn, and wool, and imports timber and general goods. There is a large cattle and sheep market, also canvas and sail-cloth works. Fox, the martyrologist, was a native. It has a s.p.a.cious church, which is a conspicuous landmark and beacon at sea.
BOSTON (561), on Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, is the capital of Ma.s.sachusetts and the chief city of New England, one of the best-built and best-appointed cities of the Union. With an excellent harbour and eight converging railways it is an emporium of trade, and very wealthy. Sugar, wool, hides, and chemicals are imported; farm produce, cattle, cotton, and tobacco exported; boot and shoe making is one of many varied industries. The many educational inst.i.tutions and its interest in literature and art have won for it the t.i.tle of American Athens. Among famous natives were Franklin, Poe, and Emerson; while most American men of letters have been a.s.sociated with it. The Boston riots of 1770 and 1773 were the heralds of the revolution, and the first battle was fought at Bunker Hill, not far off, now included in it.
BOSTON, THOMAS, a Scottish divine, born at Duns, educated at Edinburgh, became minister of Ettrick; author of the ”Fourfold State,” a popular exposition of Calvinism, and ”The Crook in the Lot,” both at one time much read and studied by the pious Presbyterian burghers and peasantry of Scotland; the former an account of the state of man, first in innocence, second as fallen, third as redeemed, and fourth as in glory. He was a shrewd man and a quaint writer; exercised a great influence on the religious views of the most pious-minded of his countrymen (1676-1732).
BOSTON TEA-PARTY, the insurgent American colonists who, disguised as Indians, boarded, on Dec. 16, 1773, three English s.h.i.+ps laden with tea, and hurled several hundred chests of it into Boston harbour, ”making it black with unexpected tea.”
BOSWELL, JAMES, the biographer of Johnson, born at Edinburgh, showed early a penchant for writing and an admiration for literary men; fell in with Johnson on a visit to London in 1763, and conceived for him the most devoted regard; made a tour with him to the Hebrides in 1773, the ”Journal” of which he afterwards published; settled in London, and was called to the English bar; succeeded, in 1782, to his father's estate, Auchinleck, in Ayrs.h.i.+re, with an income of 1600 a year. Johnson dying in 1784, Boswell's ”Life” of him appeared five years after, a work unique in biography, and such as no man could have written who was not a hero-wors.h.i.+pper to the backbone. He succ.u.mbed in the end to intemperate habits, aggravated by the death of his wife (1740-1795).