the common term in English till the end of the 17th century; this sense survives in Scotland, especially as applied to the cap known as a “glengarry.” The “bonnet” of a ship’s sail now means an additional piece laced on to the bottom, but it seems to have formerly meant a piece laced to the top, the term “to vail the bonnet” being found at the beginning of the 16th century to mean “strike sail” (from the Fr. avaler), to let down. In modern times “bonnet” has come to be used of a type of head-covering for women, differentiated from “hat” by fitting closely to the head and often having no brim, but varying considerably in shape according to the period and fashion. The term, by a natural extension, is also applied to certain protective devices, as in a steam-engine or safety-lamp, or in slang use to a gambler’s accomplice, a decoy.
BONNEVAL, CLAUDE ALÉXANDRE, Comte de (1675–1747), French adventurer, known also as Ahmed Pasha, was the descendant of an old family of Limousin. He was born on the 14th of July 1675, and at the age of thirteen joined the Royal Marine Corps. After three years he entered the army, in which he rose to the command of a regiment. He served in the Italian campaigns under Catinat, Villeroi and Vendôme, and in the Netherlands under Luxemburg, giving proofs of indomitable courage and great military ability. His insolent bearing towards the minister of war was made matter for a court-martial (1704). He was condemned to death, but saved himself by flight to Germany. Through the influence of Prince Eugene he obtained a general’s command in the Austrian army, and fought with great bravery and distinction against France, and afterwards against Turkey. He was present at Malplaquet, and was severely wounded at Peterwardein. The proceedings against him in France were then allowed to drop, and he visited Paris, and married a daughter of Marshal de Biron. He returned, however, after a short time to the Austrian army, and fought with distinction at Belgrade. He might now have risen to the highest rank, had he not made himself disagreeable to Prince Eugene, who sent him as master of the ordnance to the Low Countries. There his ungovernable temper led him into a quarrel with the marquis de Prié, Eugene’s deputy governor in the Netherlands, who answered his challenge by placing him in confinement. A court-martial was again held upon him, and he was condemned to death; but the emperor commuted the sentence to one year’s imprisonment and banishment. Bonneval, soon after his release, offered his services to the Turkish government, professed the Mahommedan faith, and took the name of Ahmed. He was made a pasha, and appointed to organize and command the artillery. He rendered valuable services to the sultan in his war with Russia, and with the famous Nadir Shah. As a reward he received the governorship of Chios, but he soon fell under the suspicion of the Porte, and was banished for a time to the shores of the Black Sea. He was meditating a return to Europe and Christianity when he died at Constantinople on the 23rd of March 1747.
The Memoirs published under his name are spurious. See Prince de Ligne, Mémoire sur le comte de Bonneval (Paris, 1817); and A. Vandal, Le Pacha Bonneval (Paris, 1885).
BONNEVILLE, BENJAMIN L. E. (1795–1878), American military engineer and explorer, was born in France about 1795. He emigrated to the United States in early youth, and graduated at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1815. He was engaged in the construction of military roads in the south-west, and became a captain of infantry in 1825. In 1831–1836, having obtained leave of absence from the army, he conducted, largely on his own responsibility, an exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, proceeding up the Platte river through parts of the later states of Colorado and Wyoming into the Great Salt Lake basin and thence into California. After being absolutely cut off from civilization for several years, and having his name struck from the army list, he returned with an interesting and valuable account of his adventures, which was edited and amplified by Washington Irving and published under the title The Rocky Mountains: or Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Far West; from the Journal of Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville of the Army of the United States (2 vols., 1837), subsequent editions bearing the title The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West. Bonneville became a major in 1845, and was breveted lieutenant-colonel for gallantry in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco during the Mexican War. He became a colonel in 1855, commanded the Gila river expedition against the Apaches in 1857, and from 1858 to 1861 commanded the department of New Mexico. He was retired in 1861, but served during the Civil War as recruiting officer and commandant of barracks at St Louis, Missouri, receiving the brevet rank of brigadier-general in 1865. He died at Fort Smith, Arkansas, on the 12th of June 1878. The extinct glacial lake which once covered what is now north-western Utah has been named in his honour.
BONNEY, THOMAS GEORGE (1833– ), English geologist, eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Bonney, master of the grammar school at Rugeley, was born in that town on the 27th of July 1833. Educated at Uppingham and St John’s College, Cambridge, he graduated as 12th wrangler in 1856, and was ordained in the following year. From 1856 to 1861 he was mathematical master at Westminster school, and geology was pursued by him only as a recreation, mainly in Alpine regions. In 1868 he was appointed tutor at St John’s College and lecturer in geology. His attention was specially directed to the study of the igneous and metamorphic rocks in Alpine regions and in various parts of England, in the Lizard, at Salcombe, in Charnwood Forest, in Wales and the Scottish Highlands. In 1877 he was chosen professor of geology in University College, London. He became secretary and afterwards president of the Geological Society (1884–1886), secretary of the British Association (1881–1885), president of the Mineralogical Society and of the Alpine Club. He was also in 1887 appointed honorary canon of Manchester. His purely scientific works are: Cambridgeshire Geology (1875); The Story of our Planet (1893); Charles Lyell and Modern Geology (1895); Ice Work, Past and Present (1896); Volcanoes (1899). In addition to many papers published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society and Geological Magazine, he wrote several popular works on Alpine Regions, on English and Welsh scenery, as well as on theological subjects.
See Geological Magazine for September 1901 (with bibliography).
BONNIER, ANGE ELISABETH LOUIS ANTOINE (1749–1799), French diplomatist, was a member of the Legislative Assembly and of the Convention, where he voted with the majority. During the Directory he was charged with diplomatic missions, first to Lille and then to the congress of Rastadt (October 1797), where the negotiations dragged wearily along and were finally broken. On the 28th of April 1799 the plenipotentiaries on leaving Rastadt were assailed at the gates of the town by Hungarian hussars, probably charged to secure their papers. Bonnier and one of his colleagues, Claude Roberjot, were killed. The other, Jean Debry, was wounded.
See Huefer, Der Rastadtergesandtenmord (Bonn, 1896).
BONNIVET, GUILLAUME GOUFFIER, Seigneur de (c. 1488–1525), French soldier, was the younger brother of Artus Gouffier, seigneur de Boisy, tutor of Francis I. of France. Bonnivet was brought up with Francis, and after the young king’s accession he became one of the most powerful of the royal favourites. In 1515 he was made admiral of France. In the imperial election of 1519 he superintended the candidature of Francis, and spent vast sums of money in his efforts to secure the votes of the electors, but without success. He was the implacable enemy of the constable de Bourbon and contributed to his downfall. In command of the army of Navarre in 1521, he occupied Fuenterrabia and was probably responsible for its non-restoration and for the consequent renewal of hostilities. He succeeded Marshal Lautrec in 1523 in the command of the army of Italy and entered the Milanese, but was defeated and forced to effect a disastrous retreat, in which the chevalier Bayard perished. He was one of the principal commanders of the army which Francis led into Italy at the end of 1524, and died at the battle of Pavia on the 24th of February 1525. Brantôme says that it was at Bonnivet’s suggestion that the battle
