is by French critics considered the best of Boileau s works. It has furnished the model for the Rape of the Lock, but the English poem is superior in richness of imagination and subtilty of invention. The fifth and sixth cautos, after wards added by Boileau, rather detract from the beauty of the poem ; the last canto in particular is quite unworthy of his genius. In the same year which saw the Art Poetiyue and the Lutrin was published his translation of Louginus On the Sullime, to which were afterwards added certain critical reflections. His later publications were chiefly occasional poems, in which his better powers did not shine. He died 13th March 1711. Boileau was extremely delicate in youth, and his constitution seems never to have been very strong. He was a man of warm and kindly feelings, honest, outspoken, and benevolent. Many anecdotes are told of his frankness of speech at court, and of his generous actions. He holds a well-defined place in French literature, as the first who reduced its versification to rule and who taught the value of workmanship for its own sake. His influence on English literature, through Pope and his contemporaries, was not less strong, though less durable. Editions of Boileau s works are very numerous. Perhaps the best is that published by Gamier in I860, (Euvrcs completes, with copious notes, an essay by Sainte-Beuve,
and Bolceana.BOILER. See Steam Engine.
BOIS-LE-DUC, 's Hertogenbosch, or 's Bosch, a city of Holland, capital of the province of North Brabant, 28 miles S.S.E. of Utrecht. It stands at the confluence of the Dommel and the Aa, and is strongly fortified, being defended by a citadel and two forts. The city is handsome and well built, and is intersected by several canals. It contains seven churches, among which is that of St John, founded in the beginning of the 14th century, and one of the finest ecclesiastical edifices in Holland. It has also a handsome town-hall, surmounted by a tower containing a fine set of chimes, a court-house, Government buildings (formerly a Jesuit monastery), an episcopal palace, an orphan asylum, a grammar school (once attended by Erasmus), a prison, two hospitals, an arsenal, and barracks. The trade of Bois-le-Duc is very considerable ; it has several dis tilleries, breweries, and glass-works, and manufactures linen, needles, cutlery, <fcc. It is the seat of a vicar-general, and has tribunals of primary instance and commerce. Originally a hunting-lodge of the Brabant dukes, sHer- togcnbosch, or " Duke s Wood," gradually increased, and in 1184 was raised to the rank of a town and surrounded with walla. In 1453 it was greatly enlarged. Successive attempts made by the Netherlands in 1585, 1594, 1G01, and 1603 to get possession of the town were futile; but at length, in 1629, it was captured after a five months siege. In 1794 it was taken by the French, and in 1814 by the Prussians. Population in 1869, 24,395.
BOISSARD, Jean Jacques, a classical antiquary and Latin poet, was born at Besangon in 1528. He studied at Louvain ; but, disgusted by the severity of his master, he secretly left that seminary, and after traversing a great part of Germany reached Italy, where he remained several years, and was often reduced to great straits. His residence in Italy developed in his mind a taste for antiquities, and he soon formed a collection of the most curious monuments of Rome and its vicinity. He then visited the islands of the Archipelago, with the intention of travelling through Greece, but a severe illness obliged him to return to Rome. Here he resumed his favourite pursuits with great ardour, and having completed his collection, returned to his native country ; but not being permitted to profess publicly the Protestant religion, which he had embraced some time before, he withdrew to Met/:, where he died, October 30, 1GO. His works are—
1. Poemata, Epigrammatum libri trcs, Elegiac libri ires, Epistola- rnm libri ires, Basel, 1574 ; 2. EmUcmata, Metz, 1584 ; 3. Iconcs Virorum Illustriiim, 1597, sqq.; 4. Vita et Icones Sultanorum Tur- cic.oriim, &c., Frankfort, 1596; 5. Theatrum Vitcc Humance, Metz, 1596 ; 6. Romance Urbis Topographic ct Antiquitatum, quibus sue- cinde et brcviter dcscribunlur omnia qucc turn publice quum privatim videntiir animadversions digna, partes VI., Frankfort, 1597-1602, folio, six volumes in three, with plates, and now very rare ; 7. Iconcs et Vitce Virorum Illustrium, Frankfort, 1592 to 1599 ; 8. Parnassus Biceps, Frankfort, 1601 ; 9. De Divinatione et Magicit, Fra stigiis, Oppenheim and Hanau, rare and curious ; 10. Habitus Variarum Gentium, Metz, 1581, ornamented with seventy illuminated figures.
BOISSONADE, Jean François, French classical scholar, was born at Paris, 12th August 1774. In 1792 he entered the public service during the administration of General Dumouriez. Driven from it in 1795, he was restored by Lucien Bonaparte, during whose time of office he served as secretary to the prefecture of the Upper Marne. He then definitively resigned public employment and devoted himself to the study of Greek, for which he had always a strong inclination. In 1 809 he was named professor of Greek at the faculty of letters at Paris, though he did not assume the title till the death of Larcher, who held the chair, in 1812. In 1828 he succeeded Gail in the chair of Greek at the College de France. He also held the offices of librarian of the Bibliotheque du Roi, and perpetual secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions. He died 12th September 1857. Boissonade s works consist mainly of editions of several less known classical writers, such as Philostratus, Marinus, Eunapius, Aristasnetus. Perhaps his most widely known editions are those of Babrius (1844), and of Tzetzes (1851). The Anecdota Grccca, 5 vols. (1829-33), and Anecdota Nova (1844) contain many interesting and comparatively unknown writings. Boissonade was a contributor to the Journal des Debats and other critical journals, and a selection of bis papers has been published by M. Colincamp, Critique litteraire sous le premier Empire, 2 vols., 1863.
end of volume third.
neill and company, printers, edinburgh.
