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by some to be spurious); L'Ameto ossia Nimfale d'Ameto, a mixed composition, partly in prose, and partly in verse; I Corbaccio, ossia Laberinto d'Amore, a pungent satire against a lady who had offended him; and, finally, Origine, vita e Costumi di Dante Alighieri, a work interesting for the characteristic traits which it records; and his Commento sopra la Commedia di Dante, which, however, is carried no farther than the 17th canto of Dante's Hell. His Latin works are, De Genealogia Deorum, Libri xv; De Montium, Lacuum, Sylvarum, Fluviorum, Stagnorum et Marium Nominibus Liber; De Casibus Virorum et Feminarum illustrium, Libri iv; De claris Mulieribus; and Ecloga.-A new critical edition of the Decameron, with a historical literary commentary, and the life of B., was published at Paris, 1823, in 5 vols.-In the ducal library at Florence, among the manuscripts collected by the celebrated Magliabecchi, prof. Ciampi lately discovered a memorandum-book of B., containing a record of his studies, and some curious circumstances relating to himself and a number of his distinguished contemporaries. It has been published.

BOCCAGE, Marie Anne du, a celebrated French poetess, member of the academies of Rome, Bologna, Padua, Lyons and Rouen, was born in Rouen, 1710, died 1802. She was educated in Paris, in a nunnery, where she discovered a love of poetry. She became the wife of a receiver of taxes in Dieppe, who died soon after the marriage, leaving her a youthful widow. She concealed her talents, however, till the charms of youth were past, and first published her productions in 1746. The first was a poem on the mutual influence of the fine arts and sciences. This gained the prize from the academy of Rouen. She next attempted an imitation of Paradise Lost, in six cantos; then, of the Death of Abel; next, a tragedy, the Amazons; and a poem in 10 cantos, called the Columbiad. Madame du Boccage was praised by her contemporaries with an extravagance, for which only her sex and the charms of her person can account. Forma Venus, arte Minerva, was the motto of her admirers, among whom were Voltaire, Fontenelle, and Clairaut. She was always surrounded by distinguished men, and extolled in a multitude of poems, which, if collected, would fill several volumes. There is a great deal of entertaining matter in the letters which she wrote on her travels in England and Holland, and in which one

may plainly see the impression she made upon her contemporaries. Her works have been translated into English, Spanish, German and Italian.

BOCCHERINI, Luigi, a celebrated composer of instrumental music, was born in 1740, at Lucca, and received from the abbot Vanucci, music-master of the archbishop, his first instruction in music and on the violoncello. He further improved himself in the art at Rome, and afterwards went, with Filippo Manfredi, his friend and countryman, to Spain, where he was loaded with honors and presents by the king, and was appointed by the academy to furnish nine pieces of his composition annually, which he continued to do till his death, in 1805. The king of Prussia, Frederic William II, who was a great lover of the violoncello, and admired B.'s compositions, settled upon him a considerable pension, on condition of his sending him yearly some of his quartets and quintets. The compositions which B. has published himself consist of symphonies, sextets, quintets, quatuors, trios, duets and sonatas for the violin, violoncello and piano-forte. He never composed any thing for the theatre, and of church compositions we find but one, his Stabat Mater. The adagios of B. excited the admiration of the connoisseurs, and the despair of the composers of his time. He may be regarded as the precursor of Haydn, as he was the first who wrote instrumental quartets, of which all the parts are obligato, and determined the true character of this species of music. His melodies are more highly esteemed in France and Spain than in Germany.

BOCCHETTA; a narrow pass of the Apennines, leading from Lombardy to Genoa, It is defended by three fortifications. In the Austrian war of succession (1746 and 1747), and in the French war, towards the end of the 18th century, it was the scene of several important events.

BOCHICA was the founder of the Indian empire of Cundinamarca. The inhabitants of the valley of Bogotá had a tradition, at the period of the Spanish conquest, that, in remote times, their ancestors, the Muisca Indians, lived without agriculture, laws or religion. At length there appeared among them a venerable old man, of foreign aspect, dress and manners, who taught them the arts of life, and reclaimed them from their savage condition. He was known by three names-Bochica, Nemqueteba and Zuhe. Accompanying him was a beautiful female, named Chia, who, unlike the wife of Manco Ca

pac, prided herself in thwarting her husband's beneficent purposes. Making the river of Bogotá to overflow by magic, she deluged the whole valley, and reduced the inhabitants to the necessity of fleeing to the mountains for safety. Hereupon Bochica expelled the malevolent Chia from the earth, and she became the moon. Then, tearing asunder the rocks of Tequendama, he gave the waters an exit by these celebrated falls, and freed the valley of Bogotá from inundation. Introducing the worship of the sun, and persuading the inhabitants to cultivate the soil, he laid the foundations of a state, which held the same rank, in this part of America, which Peru did farther to the south. The institutions of this people very strikingly resembled those of the incas, and perhaps had a common origin; but, at the time of the conquest of South America, they constituted a distinct people, and possessed a distinct religion. (See Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Muisca; Compagnoni, America, xix, 107). Böckн, Augustus, one of the greatest philologists of our times, was born at Carlsruhe, 1785, studied at Halle, and, in 1811, became professor of classical literature at Berlin. Two works will immortalize the name of B. with the students of ancient literature; first, his edition of Pindar, which he announced to the public by his Specimen Emendationum in Pindari Carmina (1810), and by Observationes Critica in Pindari, Prim., Olymp., Carm. (1811; the large Leipsic edition, 18111821, is in 3 vols., 4to.). A new arrangement of the Pindaric measures is here proposed, founded on deep and extensive researches into the music of the Greeks. Even those who entirely reject the hypotheses of this philologist cannot but acknowledge his erudition, and admire his acuteness. The other work, to which we have alluded, is on the Political Economy of the Athenians (4 books, Berlin, 1817, 2 vols.). No work has hitherto appeared in Germany, which throws so much light on the political life and public administration of any ancient people, as this of B. It has furnished new means for illustrating the Attic orators and historians. B. has added to this work 21 inscriptions. Of late years, he has been busily engaged in preparing a work under the patronage of the Berlin academy of science, of which he is a member, called Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum, of which the first volume appeared, in 1825, at Berlin, in folio. The smaller writings of this author relate chiefly to Plato (of whose works he promised, some time since, to

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give a new edition), and to the Platonic philosophers.

BODE, John Elert, an astronomer, born at Hamburg, 1747, early discovered an inclination for mathematical science, in which his father, and, afterwards, the famous J. G. Büsch, instructed him. He gave the first public proof of his knowledge by a short work on the solar eclipse of Aug. 5, 1766. The approbation which this received encouraged him to greater labors, and in 1768 appeared his Introduction to the Knowledge of the Starry Heavens (9th ed. 1822); a familiar treatise on astronomy, which has done much for the extension of correct views upon the subject, and continues to do so, as it has kept pace, in its successive editions, with the progress of the science. In 1772, the Berlin academy chose him their astronomer, and, ten years afterwards, he was made a member of that institution. His best works are his Astronomical Almanac (commencing 1774)—a work indispensable to every astronomer; and his large Celestial Atlas (Himmelsatlas), in 20 sheets, in which the industrious editor has given a catalogue of 17,240 stars (12,000 more than in any former charts). B. was released in 1825, at his own wish, from his duties in the academy of science, and the observatory in Berlin. His place was filled by professor Encke, formerly astronomer at Gotha.

BODIN, Jean, a political writer of the 16th century, was born in 1530 or 1529, at Angers; studied law at Toulouse; delivered lectures on jurisprudence there, and afterwards went to Paris and practised. Being unsuccessful in his profession, he turned his talents to literary labors; was invited by Henry III to his court; and afterwards travelled with the king's brother Francis, duke of Alençon and Anjou, to Flanders and England, where he had the gratification of hearing lectures, in Cambridge, on his work De la République (originally written in French, but afterwards translated, by B. himself, into Latin). When the duke died, he went to Laon, married there, obtained a judicial office, and was sent, by the third estate in Vermandois, 1576, as deputy, to the estates of Blois. Here he defended the rights of the people, and the liberty of conscience. His conduct made him many enemies at court. He also prevailed on the city of Laon to declare itself for the league, in 1589, representing to the people, that the rising of so many towns and par liaments, in favor of the duke of Guise, was not a rebellion, but rather a powerful

political revolution. He afterwards, however, submitted to Henry IV. He died, 1596, at Laon, of the plague. His great work is that entitled De la République, in which he gave the first complete essay towards a scientific treatise on politics, and, guided by his own experience, sought to strike out a middle course between the advocates of monarchy and democracy. His Démonomanie, and his Theatrum Universæ Naturæ (Lyons, 1596), show how superstition and learning were united in his character; but the charge of atheism, which is grounded particularly on a work entitled Heptaplomeron, proceeds from the religious indifference which was noticed in him by his contemporaries.

BODLEIAN LIBRARY. (See Libraries.) BODLEY, Sir Thomas; the founder of the Bodleian library at Oxford. He was born at Exeter, in 1544, and educated partly at Geneva, whither his parents, who were Protestants, had retired in the reign of queen Mary. On the accession of Elizabeth, they returned home, and he completed his studies at Magdalen college, Oxford. He afterwards became a fellow of Merton college, and read lectures on the Greek language and philosophy. He went to the continent in 1576, and spent four years in travelling. He was afterwards employed in various embassies to Denmark, Germany, France and Holland. In 1597, he returned home, and dedicated the remainder of his life to the reëstablishment and augmentation of the public library at Oxford. This he accomplished, procuring books and manuscripts himself, both at home and abroad, at a great expense, and, by his influence and persuasions, inducing his friends and acquaintance to assist in his undertaking. Sir Robert Cotton, sir Henry Savile, and Thomas Allen, the mathematician, were among the principal contributors on this occasion. The library was so much augmented, that sir Thomas B., who was knighted at the accession of James I, was induced to erect an additional structure for the reception of the increasing quantity of valuable books and manuscripts. He died in London, 1612, and was interred in the chapel of Merton college, in the university. He bequeathed nearly the whole of his property to the support and augmentation of the library, which has been so much enriched by subsequent benefactions, that it is, at present, one of the most magnificent institutions of the kind in Europe. (See Reliquiæ Bodleitinæ, London, 1703.)

BODMER, John Jacob; a celebrated Ger

man poet and scholar, born at Greifensee, near Zurich, July 19, 1698. Although he produced nothing remarkable of his own in poetry, he helped to open the way for the new German literature in this department. He was the antagonist of Gottsched, in Leipsic, who aspired to be the literary dictator of the day, and had embraced the French theory of taste, while B. inclined to the English. He has the honor of having had Klopstock and Wieland among his scholars. B. was, for a long time, professor of history in Switzerland. He was a copious and indefatigable writer, entertained many incorrect views, but was of service, as we have already said, to the German literature, which was then in a low and barbarous state. He died at Zürich, 1783.

BODONI, Giambatista, superintendent of the royal press at Parma, chief printer of his Catholic majesty, member of several academies of Italy, knight of several high orders, was born, 1740, at Saluzzo, in Piedmont, where his father owned a printing establishment. He began, while yet a boy, to employ himself in engraving on wood. His labors meeting with success, he went, in 1758, to Rome, and was made compositor for the press of the Propaganda. By the advice of the superintendent, he made himself acquainted with the Oriental languages, in order to qualify himself for the kind of printing required in them. He thereby enabled himself to be of great service to this press by restoring and putting in place the types of several Oriental alphabets, which had fallen into disorder. The infant don Ferdinand, about 1766, had, with a view of diffusing knowledge, established a printing-house in Parma, after the model of those in Paris, Madrid and Turin. B. was placed at the head of this establishment, which he made the first of the kind in Europe, and gained the reputation of having far surpassed all the splendid and beautiful productions of his predecessors in the art. The beauty of his type, ink and paper, as well as the whole management of the technical part of the work, leaves nothing for us to wish; but the intrinsic value of his editions is seldom equal to their outward splendor. His Homer is a truly admirable and magnificent work; indeed, his Greek letters are the most perfect imitations that have been attempted, in modern times, of Greek manuscript. His splendid editions of Greek, Latin, Italian and French classics are highly prized. He died at Padua, Nov. 29, 1813.

BOECE. (See Boëthius.)

BOEHME, or BOEHM, Jacob; one of the most renowned mystics of modern times; born, in 1575, at Altseidenberg, a village in Upper Lusatia, near Görlitz; was the son of poor peasants; remained to his 10th year without instruction, and employed in tending cattle. The beautiful and sublime objects of nature kindled his imagination, and inspired him with a profound piety. Raised by contemplation above his circumstances, and undisturbed by exterior influences, a strong sense of the spiritual, particularly of the mysterious, was awakened in him, and he saw in all the workings of nature upon his mind a revelation of God, and even imagined himself favored by divine inspirations. The education which he received at school, though very imperfect, consisting only of writing, spelling and reading the Bible, supplied new food for the excited mind of the boy. He became afterwards a shoemaker; and this sedentary life seems to have strengthened his contemplative habits. He was much interested in the disputes which prevailed on the subject of Cryptocalvinism in Saxony; though he never took a personal part in sectarian controversies, and knew no higher delight than to elevate himself, undisturbed, to the contemplation of the infinite. B. withdrew himself more and more from the world. If we take into view his retirement, his piety, his rich and lively imagination, his imperfect education, his philosophical desire for truth, together with his abundance of ideas, and his delusion in considering many of those ideas as immediate communications of the Deity, we have the sources of his doctrine and his works. His writings are very unequal, but always display a profound feeling, and must be judged with indulgence for the causes just mentioned. In 1594, B. became a master shoemaker in Görlitz, married, and continued a shoemaker during his life. Several visions and raptures, that is, moments of strong enthusiasm, led him to take the pen. His first work appeared in 1616, and was called Aurora. It contains his revelations on God, man and nature. This gave rise to a prosecution against him; but he was acquitted, and called upon, from all sides, to continue writing. He did not, however, resume his pen until 1619. One of his most important works is, Description of the three Principles of the Divine Being. His works contain profound and lofty ideas, mingled with many absurd and confused no

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tions. He died, after several prosecutions and acquittals, in 1624. Abraham von Frankenberg (who died in 1652), his biographer and admirer, has also published and explained his writings. The first col lection of them was made in Holland, in 1675, by Henry Betke; a more complete one, in 1682, by Gichtel (10 vols., Amsterdam); from whom the followers of B., a religious sect highly valued for their silent, virtuous and benevolent life, have received the name Gichtelians. Another edition appeared in Amsterdam, in 1730, under the title Theologia revelata, 2 vols. 4to.; the most complete, in 6 vols. In England, also, B.'s writings have found many admirers. William Law published an English translation of them, 2 vols., 4to. A sect, taking their name from B., was likewise formed in England, and in 1697, Jane Leade, an enthusiastic admirer of his, established a particular society for the explanation of his writings, under the name of the Philadelphists. It is said that such a society still exists. John Pordage, an English physician, is also well known as a commentator on B.

BEOTIA; a country of ancient Greece, bounded N. by Phocis and the country of the Opuntian Locrians; E. by the Euripus, or strait of Euboea; S. by Attica and Megaris; and W. by the Alcyonian sea and Phocis; but the boundaries were not always the same. In the north, it is mountainous and cold, and the air is pure and healthy, but the soil is less fertile than that of the other portion, which, however, is infested by unhealthy vapors. The mountainous part in the north was called, in earlier times, Aonia. Among its mountains are several remarkable in history and mythology: Helicon (now Sagara), the mountain of the Sphinx, the Taumessus, Libethrus and Petrachus.-The chief occupation of the inhabitants was agriculture and the raising of cattle. It was first occupied by Pelasgian tribes. In the time of Boeotus (son of Itonus and grandson of Amphictyon, from whom it is said to have derived its name), these were subject to the Hellenists. It was divided into small states, until Cadmus the Phoenician founded the government of Thebes. In later times, all Greece worshipped the Hercules of Thebes. After the death of the Theban king Xanthus, most of the cities of B. formed a kind of republic, of which Thebes was the chief city. Epaminondas and Pelopidas raised Thebes, for a short time, to the rank of the most powerful states of Greece. In B. are several celebrated ancient battle

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fields, the former glory of which has been increased by late events, namely, Platæa (now the village Kokla), where Pausanias and Aristides established the liberty of Greece by their victory over the 300,000 Persians under Mardonius; Leuctra (now the village Parapogia), where Epaminondas checked the ambitious Spartans; Coronea, where the Spartan Agesilaus defeated the Thebans; and Chæronea (now Capranu), where Philip founded the Macedonian greatness on the ruins of Grecian liberty. Near Tanagra, the birthplace of Corinna (q. v.), the best wine was produced; here, also, cocks were bred, of remarkable size, beauty and courage, with which the Grecian cities, passionately fond of cock-fighting, were supplied. Refinement and cultivation of mind never made such progress in B. as in Attica. The Boeotians were vigorous, but slow and heavy. Several Thebans, however, were worthy disciples of Socrates, and Epaminondas distinguished himself as much in philosophy as by his military talents. The people were particularly fond of music, and excelled in it. They had also some great poets and artists. Hesiod, Pindar, the poetess Corinna, and Plutarch, were Boeotians.

BOERHAAVE, Hermann, one of the most celebrated physicians of the 18th century, was born, Dec. 13, 1668, at Woorhout, near Leyden, and received from his father a liberal education. Before he was 11 years old, he was well acquainted with Latin and Greek. An obstinate ulcer on his left thigh, which, for 7 years, resisted all medical remedies, was the means of directing his thoughts and inclinations to the study of medicine. In 1682, he was sent to Leyden to study theology. Here he gave, at the age of 20, the first public proof of his learning and eloquence. He pronounced an academic oration before Gronovius, with whom he studied Greek, Quâ probatur, bene intellectam a Cicerone, et confutatam esse Sententiam Epicuri de summo Bono (Leyden, 1690, 4to.) In this, B. attacked the doctrine of Spinoza with so much talent, that the city rewarded him with a gold medal. In 1689, he received the degree of doctor of philosophy, and maintained an inaugural dissertation, De Distinctione Mentis a Corpore (Leyden, 1690). He now commenced, at the age of 22, the study of medicine. Drelincourt was his first and only teacher. From him he received only a little instruction; and it is worthy of notice, that B. learned by his own solitary study a science on which

he was afterwards to exert so importan an influence. He first studied anatomy, but rather in the works then in vogue, of Vesale, Bartholin, &c., than in the dissecting room. He was present, indeed, at most of the dissections of Nuck, but still the want of a practical study of anatomy is evident in all his writings. The influence which he had in improving anatomy, notwithstanding the defect we have noticed, must be traced to the close connexion of this mechanical science with physiology and medicine. As, in these last, he made use of mechanical illustrations, his example induced the anatomists to apply themselves to an accurate study of the forms of the organs, as may be noticed in all the anatomists of that time-Santorini, Morgagni, Valsalva, Winslow, Albinus, &c. After this preliminary study, which, in fact, is the groundwork of medical science, B. read all the works, ancient and modern, on medicine, in the order of time, proceeding from his contemporaries to Hippocrates, with whose superior excellence and correct method he was forcibly struck in this course of reading. He also studied botany and chemistry, and, although still preparing himself for the clerical profession, was made, in 1693, doctor of medicine at Harderwick. His dissertation was De Utilitate explorandorum Excrementorum in Egris, ut Signorum. After his return to Leyden, some doubts being raised as to his orthodoxy, he finally determined to follow the profession of medicine. In 1701, the university of Leyden chose him, on the death of Drelincourt, to deliver lectures on the theory of medicine; on which occasion, he pronounced his dissertation De commendando Studio Hippocratico. In this, with an enthusiasm excited by the study of Hippocrates, he demonstrates the correctness of the method pursued by that great man, and establishes its exclusive superiority: it had been well if he himself had never deviated from it. B. now began to develope those great and peculiar excellences, which make him a pattern to all who undertake the office of instruction. Pupils crowded from all quarters to hear him. In 1703, he delivered another dissertation, De Usu Ratiocinii mechanici in Medicina, Leyden, 1703. In this, he began to deviate from the Hippocratic method, and to introduce the first principles of a defective system, to which his eminent talents gave afterwards exclusive currency. In 1709, the university of Leyden was at length enabled to reward