for the further prosecution of his studies. In Rome, his assiduity and consequent improvement were conspicuous. He examined minutely, and copied carefully, the remains of ancient sculpture, and the master-pieces of modern painting. He returned to Paris, and, in the works he was employed to execute in that metropolis, displayed the proficiency he had made by the powers of his own fancy, and the opportunities he had had of forming his taste upon the models of excellence left by his predecessors. In 1736 he was appointed designer to the academy of Belles Lettres; in 1744 he was admitted into the academy of painting; and in two years afterwards he was made professor. He died in 1762, possessed of a considerable fortune, and enjoying a character highly respectable. His works for the decoration of Paris were, the Fountain in the Rue de Grenelle, Fauxbourg St. Germaine, and the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. BOUCHE OF COURT, the privilege of having meat and drink at court scot-free. The word is also written bowge, bouge, and budge. The French long used the phrase, avoir bouche á la cour; that is, to have table or diet at court. This privilege was sometimes only extended to bread, beer, and wine and was anciently used in the houses of noblemen, as well as in the king's court. Thomas earl of Lancaster retained Sir John de Ewre, to serve him with ten men at arms in time of war, allowing them bouge of court, with livery of hay and oats, horse shoes and nails. : BOUCHET (John), a French poet and historian who flourished in the sixteenth century. The best of his writings are his Annals of Aquitaine, and his Chaplet des Princes. He died in 1555. BOVEY COAL, an inflammable fossil found in England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, &c. Its color is brown or brownish-black, and of a laminar structure. It is composed of wood, penetrated by bitumen; and frequently contains pyrites, alum, and vitriol. By distillation it yields an ill-smelling liquor, mixed with volatile alkali and oil, part of which is soluble in alcohol, and part insoluble, being of a mineral nature. BOUFFLERS (Louis Francis), duke of Boufflers, a peer and marshal of France, was born in 1644. He distinguished himself by his valor and conduct in several sieges and battles, and had the command of the right wing when the French were defeated at the bloody battle of Malplaquet. He also gained extraordinary honor by the defence of Lille in 1708. The siege lasted four months, and when at length obliged to submit, prince Eugene observed to Boufflers: I am very vain in having taken Lille, but I should still prefer the glory of having defended it like you.' The king of France rewarded him for this service, by creating him a peer of France, and giving him the reversion of the government of Flanders to his son. He was as distinguished for nobleness of character and munificence as for bravery and military skill, and not only rejected with indignation a proposal to assassinate prince Eugene during the siege of Lille, but threatened to confine the person who had ventured to make the observation. It is related in the continuation of the History of Eng land, by Rapin, that when king William took Namur in 1695, he made Boufflers prisoner, in violation of the articles of capitulation. On his remonstrance against this conduct, he was answered that it was in the way of reprisal, because of the French having detained the garrisons of Dixmude and Deinse in the same manner. 'In that case,' replied the marshal, my garrison ought to be arrested, and not I.' Sir,' he was answered, you are valued at more than 10,000 men. He died at Fontainebleau in 1711. BOUFFLERS (Marshal), the son of the duke, is famous for having been the deliverer of Genoa, where he died. BOUGAINVILLE (Louis Antony de), was born at Paris on the 11th of November, 1729. He was the son of a notary, and descended from an ancient family in Picardy. While at college he was distinguished by an ardent desire for knowledge. A professor one day explaining the phases of the moon, and its various positions, quoted two Latin verses respecting them. Young Bougainville was bold enough to consider them as of an inferior kind; and being challenged to make better, he answered almost instantly, it is said, by four verses far more accurate, and more instructive. On leaving college he was admitted an advocate in the parliament, and enrolled himself in the musqueteers. Chance made him a neighbour to Clairaut and d'Alembert, and he attached himself warmly to these two geometricians; he visited them often; and at the age of twenty-five produced the first part of his Integral Calculus, to serve as a continuation of De l'Hopital's Infinitesimals. With that candour which was always one of the most striking traits in his character, he declared in his preface, that nothing in the whole work was his own but the arrangement. The committee of the Academy, however, observed, that by clearly explaining the methods of the various geometricians, he had made them his own. In 1755 he was made a major, and visiting London as secretary to the French embassy, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Next year he accompanied general Montcalm to Canada, with the title of captain of dragoons. Before he embarked he put to press the second part of his Integral Calculus, having requested his friend Bezout to read the proof sheets. Immediately on his arrival in America he marched at the head of a detachment amidst ice and snow, and through almost impenetrable forests, to the extremity of lake Sacrament, where he burnt an English flotilla under the guns of the fort which protected it. In 1758 a detachment of 5000 French troops was pursued several days by an army of 20,000 English. Bougainville inspired his fellow-soldiers with resolution to wait for the enemy; they fortified their position in less than twenty-four hours, and compelled the English to fall back with a loss of 6000 men. Bougainville was wounded on this occasion in the head by a musket ball. The French governor despairing, however, of saving the colony, if he did not receive reinforcements, our hero was sent to France to solicit them, and returned with the rank of colonel and the cross of St. Louis. Montcalm. placed him at the head of the grenadiers and volunteers, to cover the retreat of the army, which was forced to fall back on Quebec. He performed this important service with his usual intrepidity and skill. But the death of the general hastened the loss of the colony; and Bougainville returned to France. He now followed M. Choiseul de Stainville into Germany, where he again signalised himself, and his bravery was rewarded with the gift of two pieces of brass cannon. During the peace that ensued, the favorable situation of the Falkland Islands gave rise to the idea of forming an establishment there, and the French court patronising the undertaking in 1763, Bougainville offered to commence it at his own expense. In concert with two of his relatives he fitted out two ships at St. Maloes, and embarked some families, with whom he reached the islands called the Malouines on April 3d, 1764. They were inhabited; but no violence or injustice attended his occupation of them. An abundant pasturage, fishery, and birds, which at first permitted themselves to be taken with the hand, secured the means of subsistence; but no wood for fuel or erecting houses was to be procured. The foundations of a fort however were laid; and in the centre an obelisk erected, with the hemistich, Tibi serviat ultima Thule,' inscribed under a portrait of the French king: another inscription exhibited the line in Horace, Conamur tenues grandia.' When these first labors were over, Bougainville returned to France, leaving the government of the colony to one of his relations. Next year he returned with a supply of provisions, and new inhabitants. An excursion to the straits of Magellan procured him wood for the purposes of building, and 10,000 young forest and fruit trees. An alliance was concluded with the Patagonians; most kinds of the grain cultivated in Europe were naturalised, and cultivated with success; the multiplication of the cattle was a matter of certainty, and the number of the inhabitants rapidly increased from 80 to But though these acquisitions did not satisfy the active mind of the founder, they had alarmed the Spaniards, and complaints had been made by them to the French government. Bougainville was therefore ordered to deliver up his possession, and the court of Spain agreed to pay him for his works, and to refund his expenditure. As a farther consolation, the court of France appointed him to make a voyage round the world. The command of the frigate la Boudeuse, and a store-ship, the Etoile, was given him, and Commerçon, the naturalist, and Veron, as astronomer, embarked with him, at his request, to examine the new methods of finding the longitude. This expedition justly places Bougainville in the foremost rank of enterprising seamen. The dreadful weather he encountered rendered all his astronomical attempts useless. Upon his return France was at peace. A wandering and agitated life had now blunted his taste for the mathematics, and for a time he gave himself up to enjoyments which the bustle of his early life had not permitted him to share: but his active mind was soon again employed in the service of his country, and when France declared for America, he successively commanded the French ships Bienaimé, Languedoc, Guerrier, and Auguste, under 150. admirals Piquet, D'Estaing, and De Grasse. At the request of D'Estaing he was appointed chef d'escadre, and the same year received the rank of field-marshal. He commanded the van at the memorable battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, and beat off the English van, obtaining the honorable testimony of count de Grasse to his having contributed more than any other person to the victory. On the disastrous 12th of April, when the commander-in-chief was reproached with being more occupied with the safety of his own ship than with that of the squadron, and the squadron with not supporting their commanderin-chief, Bougainville, who commanded the rearguard, did all that could be expected of him: by a bold manœuvre he saved the Northumberland; and although the Auguste, which he commanded, was one of the most roughly handled of the whole fleet, he collected and conducted to St. Eustatia the remains of the shattered squadron. The peace which secured the independence of America, again restored M. de Bougainville to the pursuit of the sciences. The Academy conferred upon him the title of honorary member. Lagrange, on giving his vote, observed. To you I was indebted for being received into the Academy, since your works opened to me the career which I pursued.' About this period he conceived the project of tracing the icy regions of the north, and penetrating to the pole. A distinguished astronomer offered to accompany him, and the route was sketched. The French ministry, however, did not accede to his terms, and the Royal Society of London, solicited the use of his plans. He transmitted them immediately, pointing out the route which he would take. Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, preferred another (one also of Bougainville's suggesting), but could not proceed further than eighty degrees. When a spirit of insubordination broke out in the French navy, and in the Brest fleet in particular, M. de Bougainville, by his reputation, his courage, and his firmness, mixed with the most amiable qualities, seemed to be the only man capable of recalling the seamen to their duty. But his exertions were unavailing; the flames of Jacobinism had spread too far, and he retired from the service in disgust. In 1791 his name was put upon the list of viceadmirals. This distinction redoubled his attachment to his prince, now almost totally abandoned. From the massacres of 1792 he escaped as if by a miracle, and took refuge on his estate in Normandy, where he found his two picces of cannon, the only recompense which he had received for forty years' service. On the restoration of order he was appointed to the Board of Longitude; but whether he did not think matters sufficiently settled, or the care which it was necessary to take of his fortune prohibited him from leaving his estate, he sent in his resignation, and was succeeded by count Fleurieu. When the Institute was formed, M. de Bougainville was nominated to a seat at the Board of Navigation and Geography. As president of the Class of Sciences, it was his duty to deliver to Napoleon the reports of that department, and he acquitted himself with great dignity. As a senator, his pecuniary circumstances were made perfectly easy; and although old age was coming on, he possessed all the fire and vivacity of youth. He was still desirous of partaking in some hazardous maritime enterprise; and when his friends mentioned his age, he replied, that Nestor was not altogether useless in an army which boasted such heroes as Achilles, Ajax, and Diomed. Although his temperance and sobriety were great, and strong hopes were entertained of prolonged existence, he died on the 31st of August, 1811, after an illness of ten days. BOUGAINVILLE'S ISLAND, an island of the South Pacific Ocean, in the sixth degree of south latitude, and 156th of east longitude. A narrow strait separates it on the north from the island of Bouka, and on this side it is very low; other parts contain mountains separated by considerable plains, and covered with wood. The western coast is rocky and dangerous, and the island thinly inhabited. BOUGE', to bilge or bulge. See BILGE. To swell out; something swelling or bellying out. Which ancor cast, we soone the same forsooke, And cut it off, for feare lest thereupon Our shippe should bowge. Gascoigne. BOUGEANT (William Hyacinth), a famous Jesuit, who first taught the learned languages at Caen and Nevers, and afterwards settled at the college of Paris, where he employed himself in writing several works, particularly, 1. Curious Observations on all parts of Natural Philosophy, extracted from the best authors; 2. An History of the Wars and Negociations which preceded the Treaty of Westphalia, &c. He died in 1743. BOUGH, or Ang.-Sax. bug-an, to bow. The branch of tree, so called Bow. For I have called on thee in the still night, Startled the slumbering birds from the hush'd boughs BOUGHS, GREEN, anciently made a part of the decoration of altars and temples, especially on festival occasions. Oaken boughs were offered to Jupiter; those of laurel to Apollo; of olive to Minerva; myrtle to Venus; ivy to Bacchus ; pine to Pan; and cypress to Pluto. Our country youth commemorate the preservation of Charles II. in an oak, after the battle of Worcester, by wearing oak boughs, gilding the apples, &c. BOUGHT', or From the Anglo-Saxon, BOUT'. bugan, to bow, to bend, to turn. Folds or involutions are bouts; a twist; a link; a knot; a curve; a flexure. His huge long tail wound up in hundred folds, Whose wreathed boughts whenever he unfolds, And thick entangled knots adown does slack. Faerie Queene. The flexure of the joints is not the same in elephants as in other quadrupeds, but nearer unto those of a man; the bought of the fore-legs not directly backward, but laterally, and somewhat inward. Brown's Vulgar Errours. Immortal verse, Milton. Such as the melting soul may pierce, In notes, with many a winding bought Of linked sweetness, long drawn out. BOUGHT, the past tense, and past participle of the verb to buy. Great riches have sold more men than they have bought. Bacon. The chief were those who not for empire fought, But with their blood their country's safety bought, Pope. BOUGIE; Fr. a wax candle; an instrument that is introduced into the urethra for removing obstructions. Different compositions are used. The old method of making them up was as follows having spread any quantity of the linen rag with the composition that is chosen for the purpose, cut it into slips from six to ten inches long, and from half an inch to an inch broad; then roll them on a glazed tile or marble into the form of a wax candle; and as the end of the bougie that is to be entered first into the urethra should be somewhat smaller than the rest, cut the slips a little tapering. When the bougies are rolled up, that side must be outward on which the plaster is spread. Bougies are likewise formed of catgut, which are well calculated to pass through an aperture which takes a winding sort of direction, a case in which the common bougie very frequently fails. M. Daran and others attributed the action of the bougies to the composition they made use of in forming them, but, apparently, as much of their efficacy is owing to the compression they make on the affected part, as to any other principle; and, as bougies of very different compositions succeed equally well, in curing the same disorders in the urethra, it is plain that they do not act by means of any peculiar qualities in their composition. Catgut involved in elastic gum makes the best bouge; the gum defends the catgut from the moisture of the urethra, and renders the bougie pliant in all its parts, whilst a very suitable degree of firmness results from the intermixture of the catgut. The caustic bougie differs from the ordinary one in having a thin roll of caustic in its middle, which destroys the stricture, or any part it comes in contact with. The practice of keeping the bougie in for several hours together has been relinquished of late years, on account of the injury supposed to be done by it to the musculi acceleratores. It is now the practice to wear a bougie only for a few minutes at a time. BOUGUER (John), a good French mathematician, and professor royal of hydrography, was author of a Complete Treatise on Navigation. He died in 1713. BOUGUER (Peter), a celebrated French mathematician born at Croisic in 1698, was the son of the professor. He learned mathematics from his father, and became a proficient in the science while he was yet a child. Being sent early to the Jesuits' college at Vannes, he instructed the regent in mathematics, at eleven years of age. At thirteen he had a public contest with a professor of mathematics, upon an erroneous proposition he had advanced, and gained so complete a victory over him that he left the country. At fifteen, upon his father's death, he was, after a public examination, appointed to succeed him in his professorship. In 1727 he obtained the prize given by the Academy of Sciences for the best way of masting ships; in 1729 another for the best manner of observing at sea the height of the stars; and in 1731 a third prize for the most advantageous way of observing the declination of the magnetic needle. In 1730 he was removed to Havre. In 1731 he was appointed geometrician to the Academy, and in 1735 pensionerastronomer when he was also sent along with Messrs. Godin, Condamine, and Jussieu, on the commission to South America, to determine the measure of the degrees of the meridian and the figure of the earth. In this laborious business, of ten years' duration, chiefly among the lofty Cordillera mountains, he determined several other new points, besides the main object; particularly respecting, 1. the expansion and contraction of metals, &c. by heat and cold; 2. the refraction of the atmosphere by the tops of the mountains; 3. the density of the air at different heights; 4. the effect of the mountains upon the plummet; 5. a method of rectifying the errors committed by navigators in determining their route; and 6. a new construction of the log for measuring a ship's way, &c. He died 15th August, 1758, aged sixty. His chief works are, 1. The Figure of the Earth, determined by the Observations made in South America, 1749, 4to. 2. Treatise on Navigation and Pilotage, 1752, 4to. abridged by La Caille, in one vol. 8vo. 1768. 3. Treatise on Ships, 4to. 1756; and 4. On the Gradation of Light, 1729 and 1760, 4to. He wrote also a vast number of important papers, inserted in the Memoirs of the Academy, cf which Dr. Hutton gives a complete list in his Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, pp. 219, 220. BOUHOURS (Dominic), a celebrated French critic, born at Paris 1628. He was entered into the society of Jesuits at the age of sixteen; and was appointed to read lectures upon polite literature in the college of Clermont at Paris, where he had studied: but was so incessantly attacked with the head-ache, that he could not pursue the destined task. He afterwards undertook the education of two sons of the duke of Longueville, which he discharged with great applause. The duke had such a regard for Bouhours, that he wished to die in his arms; and the Account of the pious christian death of this great personage was the first work which Bouhours gave to the public. He was sent to Dunkirk to the popish refugees from England; and in the midst of his missionary occupations found means to compose and publish books. Among these were Entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugene, Dialogues between Aristus and Eugenius; a critical work concerning the French language. It was printed five times at Paris, twice at Grenoble, at Lyons, Brussels, Amsterdam, Leyden, &c. and embroiled him in quarrels with a great many censors; with Menage in particular, who however lived in friendship with him both before and after. This piece recommended Bouhours so effectually to the celebrated minister, Colbert, that he trusted him with the education of his son, the marquis of Segnelai. He wrote afterwards several other works, the chief of which are, 1. Remarks and Doubts upon the French Language: 2. Dialogues upon the Art of thinking well in Works of Genius; 3. The Life of St. Ignatius; 4. The Art of Pleasing in Conversation; 5. The Life of St. Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies and of Japan. This last work was translated from the French into English by Mr. Dryden, and published at London in 1688, with a dedication prefixed to the queen of James II. BOVILLE; from bos, an ox, because cattle were supposed subject to it; the scientific name for the measles. BOUILLE (Marquis de), was a lieutenantgeneral in the army of Louis XVI. and knight of the order of St. Esprit. He was born in Auvergne, and connected by birth with the family of La Fayette. During the American war he commanded in the French Windward Islands, and returning to Europe, was made governor of Mentz at about the breaking out of the Revolution. Here he first distinguished himself as a staunch royalist, and drew on himself in consequence the marked displeasure of the Jacobins. On the king's unfortunate flight to Varennes, Bouillé advanced with a strong force to receive him, but from some mismanagement was too late: upon finding that the royal party was captured, he addressed a letter to the National Assembly from Luxembourg, menacing them with summary vengeance should any attempt be made on the life of the king. This threat however, only served to accelerate the event, and Bouillé himself was sentenced to death par contumace. Bouille, on the death of his unhappy prince, proceeded to Vienna, and afterwards to Sweden; he also served for a while in the emigrant army under the prince of Condé, but on the final failure of the royal cause retired to England, where in 1797 he published his Memoirs of the Revolution, 8vo. He died in London, Nov. 14th, 1824. BOUILLON, a duchy of the Netherlands, situated between the grand duchy of Luxembourg and the principality of Liege. It lies in the woody and mountainous tract called the Ardenncs, to the department of which name it for the most part belonged while in the French empire, is about eighteen miles long, and nine broad, and comprises the towns and villages of Bouillon, Miruart, St. Hubert, Rochefort, Logne, and Hiergues. Though so small a state it has been at different times the subject of much litigation. Godfrey, general of the first crusade, and king of Jerusalem, mortgaged it when a principality, to the bishopric of Liege, in the year 1096, for the sum of 1500 silver marks, on condition that, if he returned, the estate was to be restored; otherwise to remain attached to the diocese. He died in the Holy Land without issue, so that his estate remained in the possession of the see of Liege until 1483, when it was ceded to the count of Mark. Charles V., however, restored it to its former owners. The French family of La Tour d'Auvergne, descendants of the count of Mark, brought forward at different periods pretensions to the duchy, which they relinquished in 1641, on receiving an indemnity of £15,000 sterling. But the bishop of Liege having taken part against France in the war of 1672, Louis XIV. put the family of La Tour d'Auvergne in possession. The title of prince of Bouillon was therefore assumed in 1792, with the consent of his Majesty, by Philip d'Auvergne, captain in the British navy, and he continued to bear it till his death, which happened in 1816. The congress, which met at Vienna in 1815, appointed commissioners to investigate the comparative claims of this nobleman and prince Charles of Rohan. They decided in favor of the latter, who now possesses it. BOUILLON, the chief town in the duchy, is situated in a hilly district, near the junction of the Semois with the Maese. It contains a population of about 2000 individuals, and has a castle standing upon a high rock. The French took it so long ago as 1676. In 1794 the Austrian general Beaulieu took the town after an obstinate resistance, and compelled a party of French troops to take refuge in the castle: but on the approach of a French army, he was obliged to retreat in the direction of Namur. Bouillon is distant from Namur about fifty miles towards the south-east. BOUILLON, in the menage, a lump or excrescence of flesh, that grows either upon or just by the frush, insomuch that the frush shoots out like a lump of flesh, and makes the horse halt; and this is called the flesh blowing upon the frush. BOUIN, an island of France, off the coast of Brittany, in a bay formed by the shores of that province and those of Poitou. It is separated from the coast of Brittany by a narrow channel, and included in the department of Vendee. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in fishing and making salt. It contains a sma!! town of the same name. BOVIUM, in ancient geography, a town of the Silures, in Britain, fifteen miles south of Isca Silurum, or Caer-leon, in Monmouthshire, now called Cowbridge, or according to Baudrand, Bangor in Caernarvonshire. BOVIUS (Thomas), one of those empirics that rose in Italy about the middle of the sixteenth century, when the proper rules of philosophising were unknown, when the boundaries of science and quackery were undefined, and when men, instead of consulting nature, and learning her secrets from experiment, pretended to derive their knowledge from the efficacy of a charm, or the intercourse of a familiar spirit. He had a tutelar genius which he called Zephyriel. He contrived a preparation of mercury and gold dissolved in aqua regia, that he called Hercules; and this Hercules was an overmatch for plague, pestilence, and many other giant distempers. He cured epilepsy with antimony, and suppressed menses with hellebore. He performed an exploit upon a patient as great as any of the twelve labors, expelling a tape-worm from his body that measured fifty yards in length. He prepared aurum potabile, with which among other nostrums he restored to health no less than 7000 patients. He entertained a great contempt for all regular physicians, as probably unable to use so quick despatch as himself; and, like Dr. Sangrado, took every opportunity of reprobating their practice and extolling his own. however, more scrupulous in the period and method of bleeding than the aforesaid eminent practitioner, as he believed that a knowledge of astrology was necessary for performing this operation, and that it could be resorted to with success only in certain aspects of the planets. As his life was a struggle against what he thought the ignorance and obstinacy of the professors of the medical art, so his works are filled with satire and abuse. The titles they bear, which are the following, are a sufficient indication of the nature of their contents: Flagello contra de Medici communi detti Razionali; Fulmine contro de Medici putatitii Razionali; Confusione de Medici sosisti e de Claudio Gelli. This whip and thunderbolt' for the doctors have now lost their terrors, and our quacks in the present day are more dreadful to their patients than their opponents. He was, BOVIS, in entomology, a species of pediculus, with which cattle are infested. Eight transverse ferruginous lines on the abdomen; also a species of oestrus, the wings of which are brown, the abdomen black, white at the base, and fulvous at the tip. BOUJEIAH, or BUGIA, a considerable fortified sea-port in the eastern part of Algiers, situated on the declivity of a mountain, and upon the ruins of a large city, probably the ancient Saldo. A castle, on the summit of a hill, commands the town and harbour, besides which there are two others built at the lower part of the hill. Breaches yet appear in the walls, which were made by Sir Edward Spragg, in 1671, when he destroyed seven vessels in this harbour. Here is a small iron manufactory, and an export trade in oil and wax. Eighty miles east from Algiers. |