tain a sufficiency of food throughout the summer without molesting the harvest of the farmer; until the ripening of the latest crops of oats and barley, when, in their autumnal and changed dress, hardly known now as the same species, they sometimes show their taste for plunder, and flock together like the greedy and predatory blackbirds.' The song of the male generally ceases about the first week in July, and about the same time his variegated dress, which, from a resemblance in its colours to that of the quadruped, obtained for it the name of 'skunk-bird' among the Cree Indians, is exchanged for the sombre hues of the plumage of the female. The author above quoted thus describes the autumnal migration : About the middle of August, in congregating numbers, divested already of all selective attachment, vast foraging parties enter New York and Pennsylvania on their way to the south. Here, along the shores of the large rivers, lined with floating fields of the wild rice (Zizania), they find an abundant means of subsistence during their short stay; and as their flesh, now fat, is little inferior to that of the European ortolan, the reed, or rice-birds, as they are then called in their sparrow dress, form a favourite sport for gunners of all descriptions, who turn out on the occasion, and commit prodigious havock among the almost silent and greedy roosting throng. The markets are then filled with this delicious game, and the pursuit, both for success and amusement, along the picturesque and reedy shores of the Delaware and other rivers, is second to none but that of railshooting. As soon as the cool nights of October commence, and as the wild rice crops begin to fail, the reed-birds take their departure from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in their further progress through the southern States they swarm in the rice-fields; and before the crop is gathered they have already made their appearance in the islands of Cuba and Jamaica, where they also feed on the seeds of the Guinea grass (Sorghum), becoming so fat as to deserve the name of butter-birds," and are in high esteem for the table.' Catesby, under the name of Carolina ortolan, gives the following interesting account of the rice-bird, from which it appears that the damage done to the farmer by this comparatively weak agent is very great: 'In the beginning of September, while the grain of rice is yet soft and milky, innumerable flights of these birds arrive from some remote parts, to the great detriment of the inhabitants. In 1724 an inhabitant near Ashley river had forty acres of rice so devoured by them, that he was in doubt whether what they had left was worth the expense of gathering in. They are esteemed in Carolina the greatest delicacy of all other birds. When they first arrive they are lean, but in a few days become so excessive fat that they fly sluggishly and with difficulty; and when shot frequently burst with the fall. They continue about three weeks, and retire by the time the rice first begins to harden. There is somewhat so singular and extraordinary in this bird that I cannot pass it over without notice. In September, when they arrive in infinite swarms to devour the rice, they are all hens, not being accompanied with any cock. Observing them to be all feathered alike, I imagined they were young of both sexes not perfected in their colours; but by opening some scores prepared for the spit, I found them to be all females, and, that I might leave no room for doubt, repeated the search often on many of them, but could never find a cock at that time of the year. Early in the spring both cocks and hens make a transient visit together, at which time I made the like search as before, and both sexes were plainly distinguishable. . . . . In September, 1725, lying upon the deck of a sloop in a bay at Andros Island, I and the company with me heard three nights successively flights of these birds (their note being plainly distinguishable from others) passing over our heads northerly, which is their direct way from Cuba to Carolina, from which I conceive, after partaking of the earlier crop of rice at Cuba, they travel over sea to Carolina for the same intent, the rice there being at that time fit for them.' It is evident that Catesby was not aware of the change of the plumage of the adult male at the termination of the breeding season, but it is singular that he should never have met with a cock among the scores which he opened in the autumn. Is it not possible that some temporary separation of the sexes may take place in Carolina at that time, as it does in the case of the chaffinch with us in the winter? It appears, from Bartram's account quoted by Nuttall, that the males frequently arrive in the spring before the females, and we know that there is a temporary separation of the sexes among other birds besides the chaffinch. This separation of the sexes,' says Selby, speaking of the last-mentioned bird, 'I am induced to believe, takes place in many other species, with respect to their migratory movements, as I have before remarked in the account of the snow-bunting. This appears also to be the case with the woodcock, having observed that the first flight of these birds (which seldom remains longer than for a few days to recruit, and then passes southward) consists chiefly of females; whilst, on the contrary, the subsequent and latest flights (which continue with us) are principally composed of males.' Dr. Richardson says that the 54th parallel, which it reaches in June, appears to be the most northern limit of the bob-o-link, and gives a description of a male in its nuptial dress, which was killed on the Saskatchewan in that month in the year 1827. Swainson places it as a genus of his third sub-family, Agelaine, in the third, or aberrant group of his Sturnide. Grassy meadows are the spots usually selected by the bird for its nest, which is made on the ground, generally in some slightly depressed spot, of withered grass, so carelessly bedded together as scarcely to be distinguishable from the neighbouring parts of the field. Here five or six eggs of purplish-white, blotched all over with purplish, and spotted with brown round the larger end, are laid. The length of the bob-o-link is about seven inches and a half. The male in his nuptial dress has the head, forepart of the back, shoulders, wings, tail, and the whole of the under plumage black, going off in the middle of the back to greyish; scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts white; there is a large patch of ochreous yellow on the nape and back of the neck; bill bluish-black, which in the female, young male, and adult male in his autumnal dress, is pale flesh-colour; the feathers of the tail are sharp at the end, like a woodpecker's; legs brown. The female, whose plumage the adult male assumes after the breeding season, has the back streaked with brownishblack, not unlike that of a lark, according to Catesby, and the whole under parts of a dirty yellow. The young males resemble the females. BOBROV, SEMEN SERGEEVITCH, a Russian poet of some distinction, who commenced his literary career about 1784. His most important, if not most extensive work is the Khersonida,' a poem descriptive of the wild scenery, natural history, and antiquities of the Taurida. In this production, which first appeared in 1803, and was afterwards corrected and enlarged, there is much originality both of subject and manner, and it is further remarkable for being written in blank verse, a form before unknown to Russian poetry. Besides containing many very animated pictures of nature in the mountainous regions of the Tauridan peninsula, there are many lyrical passages of great vigour, which, while they relieve the sameness of landscape description, breathe a powerful moral strain, and are replete with elevated sentiment and religious fervour. Some of the episodical parts are of a dramatic cast, being thrown into the form of dialogue, and along with these may be classed the narrative of the aged Shereef Omar, in the course of which he relates the history of the Taurida from the fabulous ages of Greece. One or two short extracts from this poem are translated in the first volume of Bowring's Russian Anthology,' but being mere fragments, they convey no idea of the general subject or plan. By the author himself it is termed a lyrico-epic' poem, which has misled Bowring himself, who elsewhere calls it an epic, at the same time intimating that it bears a resemblance to Lalla Rookh,' whereas there exists not the slightest analogy between the two compositions, except it be that the Khersonida' has a certain oriental colouring of style and expression. Bobrov was gifted with much imagination and feeling, but in aiming at energy and loftiness he was occasionally inflated in his language. He was exceedingly well read in English poetry, to which he is perhaps in some measure indebted for the best characteristics of his own. He died at St. Petersburg in 1810. BOCAGE, LE, a district in Normandy, between the rivers Vire and Orne, of which the town of Vire (population, in 1832, 7500 for the town, 8043 for the whole commune) was the capital: it now forms part of the department of Calvados. The inhabitants are distinguished by the inferiority of their stature to that of the inhabitants of the plain of Caen, who are their neighbours, by the paleness of their paration of the ch. This sepe of the last-mer s place in many y movements, e snow-bunting oodcock, having =(which seldom -cruit, and ther les; whilst, hts (which coles.' allel, which thern limit d ale in its pup hewan in that d sub family, is Sturmde ected by the generally in so carelessly le from the six eggs of and spotted complexion and the liveliness of their look, by their attachment to their native soil, and their willingness to labour. The women share with the men the toils of field labour; they are lean, but robust in their bodily frame, and fruitful in bearing children. Civilization makes little progress among the inhabitants of this district, and the dress of both sexes has undergone little change for ages past. The animals, like the men, are distinguished by their small size; not merely the domestic animals, cows, horses, and sheep, but even the wild animals, hares, rabbits, and partridges. The large fowls of the neighbouring district of the Vallée d'Auge degenerate if transferred to Le Bocage. The district yields little grain except oats, rye, and buck wheat, but there is some good pasture land. It contains wood; and some iron is wrought here. (Malte-Brun; Expilly.) BOCCA, the Italian word for 'mouth,' is used by the Italians either in the singular or in the plural bocche,' to designate the mouths of rivers, as Bocca d' Arno,' the mouth of the Arno, or the narrow straits leading into a bay, as Bocche di Cattaro,' the entrance into the Bay of Cattaro in Albania. By an analogous figure, the narrow pass in the Apennines on the old road from Piedmont to Genoa is called 'la Bocchetta,' the little mouth. But the word Bocca is more frequently used with reference to sea than land. The Spaniards use the word Boca with only one c, according to their orthoepy, to designate similar narrow entrances of rivers or bays: Boca Chica,' i. e. the little mouth, is the entrance into the harbour of Carthagena in South America. Boca del Drago,' the dragon's mouth, is the straits leading from the north into the gulf of Paria, between the island of Trinidad and the mainland of Cumana. Bocca Tigre is the name given by Europeans to the entrance of the river of Canton in China. BOCCA'CCIO, GIOVANNI, born in 1313, was the son of Boccaccio di Chellino, a merchant of Certaldo in the Val d Elsa in the territory of Florence. His mother was a French woman whom his father had become acquainted with during a visit to Paris; but whether he was born at Paris or Florence is not ascertained. He studied at Florence under the grammarian Giovanni da Strada until he was ten years of age, when his father apprenticed him to a merchant, with whom he went to Paris, where he spent six years. On his return to Florence, having expressed a dislike of mercantile pursuits, his father set him to study the canon law. After some years passed in this study, he was sent to Naples, where he became acquainted with several learned men about the court of King Robert, who was a patron of learning. Boccaccio says that the sight of Virgil's tomb near Naples determined his literary vocation for life, and that he then renounced all other pursuits. read his works to the queen, and at her desire, as it appears, he wrote his Decamerone,' a hundred tales, ten of which are supposed to be told every afternoon of ten successive days by a society of seven young women and three young men, who, having fled from the plague which afflicted Florence in 1348, had retired to a country-house some distance from the town. Most of the stories turn upon love-intrigues; they are full of humour and admirably told, but the details are often very licentious. Several of the tales however are unexceptionable, and are even moral. Some of the subjects of these tales are taken from older works, but most of them are original. (See Manni, Storia del Decamerone) While at Naples Boccaccio amused himself with writing in the Neapolitan dialect, in which there is extant a hu morous letter addressed by him to Francesco de Bardi, a Florentine merchant, in the year 1349. It appears that Boccaccio went from Naples to Calabria, and some say also to Sicily, either for the purpose of studying Greek, or in order to collect MSS. for his library. He seems also to have been acquainted with the Monk Barlaam, who was well versed in Greek. During his researches he visited Monte Casino, where he found the library in a sad state of dilapidation, through the neglect of the monks. (See Benvenuto da Imola's Commentary on Dante, Paradiso, c. xxii.) About the year 1350 Boccaccio returned to Florence, where, by the death of his father, he had become possessed of his inheritance, which he spent in travelling and in purchasing MSS. chiefly of the Greek and Latin classics. What MSS. he could not purchase he contrived to copy. His merits being now known and appreciated by his countrymen, he was employed by the state in several offices and missions. He was sent several times to Romagna, to the lords of Ravenna and Forlì, and afterwards on a mission to Louis of Bavaria, Marquis of Brandenburg in Germany, and again to Pope Innocent VI. In 1351 he was sent to Petrarch, who was then at Padua, to communicate to him the revocation of the sentence of exile passed against his father during the factions of 1302, as well as the restoration of his paternal property, which had been confiscated. Petrarch was at the same time invited to come and dwell in his paternal country, but he declined the invitation. In 1355 Boccaccio wrote 'Il Corbaccio, ossia il Labirinto di Amore,' a kind of satire against women, full of indecent passages. It is said that he wrote it to revenge himself on a certain widow who had slighted his addresses. His Fiammetta appears to have died at Naples some time before. In 1360, having induced the Florentines to found a chair of Greek literature in their university, he repaired to Venice for a professor, and brought home with him Leontius Pilatus,- a native of Calabria, who wished to pass himself off for a Greek, as Petrarch says. (Epistola Senil. lib. iii. 6.) Pilatus was a learned but uncouth man. Boccaccio lodged him in his own house, and treated him with great kindness notwithstanding his repulsive manners and bad temper. Three years after Leontius left Florence and went to Venice, and afterwards to Constantinople. On his return to Italy he was killed by lightning on board ship. Boccaccio learned Greek from Pilatus, who made for his pupil's use a Latin translation of Homer: a copy of this translation, made by Niccolò Niccoli, still exists in the Benedictine Library at Florence. (Tiraboschi, Storia, vol. v. lib. iii. cap. 1.) This translation by Pilatus has been ignorantly attributed to Petrarch. Petrarch only bespoke a copy of it, which Boccaccio sent him. (See Hody, de Græcis Illus tribus, London, 1742.) It seems however that there was an older Latin translation of part at least of Homer's poems previous to that of Pilatus. In 1341, on Easter-eve, as he was attending service in the church of San Lorenzo, he was struck by the appearance of a beautiful young lady, with whom he fell deeply in love. His friend Petrarch fell in love with Laura in the same manner, by seeing her in the church of Sainte Claire in Avignon during the holy week of the year 1327. [See PETRARCA.] The object of Boccaccio's admiration proved to be Mary, of the family of Aquino, and a presumed daughter of King Robert of Naples. Boccaccio's attachment was returned; and to please his mistress he wrote I Filocopo, a romance in prose, at the beginning of which he relates the history of their love, and afterwards La Teseide, a poem in ottava rima on the fabulous adventures of Theseus. This was the first romantic and chivalrous poem in the Italian language. The metre of the ottava rima he probably took from some of the Provençal poets who lived before him. (See Crescimbeni, Commentarii, lib. iii.) Chaucer borrowed from the 'Teseide' his 'Knighte's Tale, afterwards remodelled by Dryden under the name of 'Palamon In 1361 a great change took place in Boccaccio's moral and Arcite. Boccaccio dedicated the Teseide' to his Fiam- conduct. His life had till then been irregular, and most of metta, the name which he gave to his mistress Mary. his writings licentious, but in that year Father Ciani, a CarIn 1342 Boccaccio was recalled home by his father, but thusían monk, came to him and stated that Father Petroni in 1344 he returned to Naples, where he remained for of Siena of the same order, who had died shortly before in several years. He there wrote the Amorosa Fiammetta, odour of sanctity, had commissioned him to exhort Bocin which he describes the pangs of absence from a beloved caccio to forego his profane studies, reform his loose life, object. He also wrote Il Filostrato, a poem in ottava and prepare for death. To prove the truth of his misrima, and 'L'Amorosa Visione,' a poem in terza rima, of sion, Ciani told Boccaccio several circumstances, known which the initial letters of the first line of each terzina only to Boccaccio and Petrarch. Boccaccio wrote immebeing placed in succession together by way of acrostic, com-diately in great agitation to his friend Petrarch, expressing pose two sonnets and a canzone in praise of his mistress, his resolution to quit the world and shut himself up in a and this is the only way in which he has called her by her Carthusian convent. Petrarch's answer, which is anong real name 'Mirja. At this time he frequented the court of his Latin epistles, is remarkable for its sound and clear Queen Joanna, who had succeeded her father Robert. He sense. Without ascribing much weight to the myste classics, and in giving an impulse to the study of them. Boccaccio wrote several works in Latin: De Genealogia Deorum; De Montium, Sylvarum, Lacuum, Fluviorum, Stagnorum et Marium Nominibus, Liber; De Casibus Virorum et Fœminarum illustrium; De Claris Mulieribus, and 16 Ecloga, in which he alludes, under the veil of allegory, to the events of his time. He gave the key to the real names of the persons and places to his confessor, Frà Martino da Signa, and Manni gives an abstract of this key in his Storia del Decamerone. Boccaccio's Italian works have been published together, carefully corrected from the best existing MSS., in 17 vols. 8vo., Florence, 1827-34. With regard to the Decamerone, the MS. of it by Mannelli, Boccaccio's godson, who wrote it about 1384, and which is preserved in the Laurentian library at Florence, has served as a text to most editions. See Count Baldelli, Vita di Giovanni Boccaccio, Florence, 1806; and Mazzuchelli, Scrittori d'Italia. BOCCAGE. MARIE ANNE LEPAGE, married to Fiquet du Boccage, was a French poetess of the last century, so highly esteemed by her contemporaries, that she was received as a member of the academies of Rome, Bologna, Padua, Lyons, and Rouen. She was born in Rouen in 1710, and educated in a convent at Paris, where, at this early age, she was distinguished for talent and a poetic turn. Her literary taste she however sedulously concealed during the rious circumstances of the monk's communication, he exhorted his friend to listen to the warning, so far as to adopt a new and regular course of life, which he might do without shutting himself up in a convent, and without giving up his studies and his books. This letter calmed the excited imagination of Boccaccio, who from that time became an altered man. His studies took a more serious turn, and he devoted part of his time to the perusal of the Scriptures. It was soon after this that he wrote to Mainardo de Cavalcanti, marshal of Sicily, imploring him not to allow his Decameron to be perused by the females of his family, who, though they might by education and honourable principles be above temptation, yet could not but have their minds tainted by such obscene stories. And as an apology for himself, he stated that it was a work of his youth, and that he had written it in great measure in compliance with the will of the powerful, majori coactus imperio, alluding probably to Queen Joanna's request. It is remarkable that he did not forward his Decameron to Petrarch, as he used to do his other works, and it was only by accident that Petrarch saw a copy of it several years after it had been in circulation. Petrarch mentioned this to him in one of his letters, saying that he supposed it was one of his juvenile productions. He however praised the description of the plague and the story of Griselda. In 1362 Boccaccio went to Naples at the request of Ac-years in which her youth and beauty sufficed to attract uniciajuoli, the seneschal of the kingdom, a proud pompous man, with whose behaviour and mode of living he soon became disgusted, as he afterwards stated in his letter to the prior of Santi Apostoli. He left Naples (1363) for Venice, where he spent three months with Petrarch. After his return to Florence, he was sent by the republic to Pope Urban V., then at Avignon, and again to the same pope at Rome in 1367. At this period of his life he appears to have been distressed in his circumstances, and to have received occasional assistance from his kind friend Petrarch, who also, on his death-bed, left him by will fifty golden florins to buy him a winter pelisse to protect him from cold while in his study at night,' adding, that if he did no more for Boccaccio, it was only through want of means. The lasting friendship between these two men is a very pleasing feature of their character. About the year 1370 we find Boccaccio again at Naples, and afterwards for a short time in the convent of Santo Stefano in Calabria. In 1372 he went to Florence, and then left it for Naples. In 1373 he returned to Florence, where he was appointed to lecture on Dante's Commedia, and to explain and comment upon the obscure passages of that poem. He wrote a commentary on the Inferno which is much esteemed, and also a life of Dante, which is not looked upon as very accurate. A disorder in the stomach, aggravated by intense application, obliged him to give up his lectureship in the following year, when he retired to his paternal house at Certaldo, where he made his will, leaving his little property to his two nephews, except his library, which he bequeathed to his confessor, Father Martin of Signa, an Augustine friar, and after his death, to the convent of Santo Spirito at Florence, for the use of students. A fire which occurred in the convent a century after destroyed this valuable collection, the work of Boccaccio's whole life. After lingering for several months, Boccaccio died at Certaldo on the 21st December, 1375, at the age of sixty-two, sixteen months after the death of his friend Petrarch. He was buried in the church of St. James and St. Michael at Certaldo, and a modest epitaph composed by himself was placed over his tomb. In 1503, a cenotaph with his bust in marble was raised to his memory against the side wall of the church. This cenotaph still exists, but his grave was opened in 1783, and his skull taken out, not through fanaticism as Byron has assumed (Childe Harold, canto iv.), but through a mis-interpretation of the ordinance of Leopold against burials within the churches. (See Esame storico del Sepolcro di Messer Giovanni Boccaccio, Colle, 1827.) Boccaccio's house at Certaldo has been repaired by the present owner. Boccaccio may be considered as the father of Italian prose. The merits of his Decameron with regard to language have been perhaps exaggerated, but still it has the merit of being the earliest prose work written in pure Italian. (See Foscolo, Discorso Storico sul Testo del Decamerone, and also Journal of Education,' No. x., On the Study of the Italian Language.) Boccaccio and Petrarch were the revivers of classical literature in Italy. They spared neither labour nor money in recovering the Greek and Latin versal admiration, influenced probably by the habits of French women of rank and fashion of that epoch, who devoted their youth to coquetry, the period of middle life to cleverness or its reputation, and their old age to devotion. In the year 1746 Madame du Boccage first appeared as an author, and her poem, entitled 'Prix alternatif entre les Belles Lettres et les Sciences,' gained the first prize given by the then recently founded Rouen Academy. She was from this time surrounded, courted, and eulogized by all the distinguished literati of France. Fontenelle called her his daughter; Voltaire placed a crown of laurel on her head, saying it was the only thing wanting to her dress; and the words forma Venus arte Minerva were assigned her as a motto. But although so highly extolled, her productions display little real genius, and little that can command the admiration of posterity. Their chief merit seems to be easy and correct versification. Her poetical works consist of an imitation of Paradise Lost,' another of Gesner's Death of Abel,' Les Amazones, a tragedy (which was acted eleven times), 'La Colombiade, an epic poem, and several small pieces. The Colombiade,' as her most ambitious attempt, was that upon which her fame chiefly rested, though now it is probably never read Her works ran through four editions between the years 1749 and 1770, and were translated into English, German, Spanish, and Italian. Her prose letters, written during her travels through England, Holland, and Italy, which were little thought of at the time, will probably be valued long after her poetry is forgotten. Madame du Boccage survived her admiring contemporaries, and with them her exaggerated reputation. She died at the age of ninety-two, in the year 1802. (Allgemeine Deutsche Real Encyclopædie; Biographie Universelle; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary; Bouterweck, Geschichte der Neuern Poesie und Beredsamkeit.) BOCCALI'NI, TRAJA'NO, born at Loreto in 1556, studied at Rome, and afterwards applied himself to the profession of the law. He was employed by the Court of Rome in several administrative offices, and Gregory XIII. sent him as governor to Benevento. He was weil acquainted with the politics of the different courts in his time, and wrote satirical comments upon them, in which he was particularly vehement against the Court of Spain, in that age the preponderating power in Europe. Like Balzac, he depicts in strong colours the ambitious dark policy of that cabinet, and its oppressive sway over Naples, Sicily, and Lombardy. (See BALZAC.) His principal work is I Ragguagli di Parnaso, in which Apollo is supposed to sit in judgment and hear the charges and complaints of princes, warriors, and authors. This work made him many enemies. He also wrote La Pietra del Paragone Politico, which he left in MS. in the hands of a friend. In this work, which is a kind of continuation of the other, he especially attacks Spanish despotism. It was published after his death in 1652, and translated into English by Henry Earl of Monmouth, with the title Politick Touchstone, London, 1674. Boccalini also wrote commentaries upon Tacitus, Osservazioni sugli Annali di Cornelio Tacito, in which he deve family, although he did not enjoy such splendid titles as many of his relations. He was the son of a Protestant minister, and himself minister of a persecuted religious body. Etienne Seigneur de Menillet, son of Jean Bochart II., married Marie Blot, and had among other children Marc, Président aux Enquêtes du Parlement de Paris, who died childless; and Renè, minister of the reformed religion at Rouen, who married Esther du Moulin, sister of the famous Petrus Molinæus, or Pierre du Moulin, by whom he had Samuel, the subject of this notice, who was born in the year 1599. lopes his views of antient politics, and makes frequent comparisons between them and the events of his own time. Spain is frequently alluded to in them. These commentaries, which also extend to the life of Agricola, were published in two volumes, 4to., 1678, under the title of La Bi lancia politica di tutte le Opere di Trajano Boccalini, with notes by Louis du May. The notes are written with greater freedom than the text, especially on religious subjects, for which reason the work was put in the Index of forbidden books. The work contains, besides the commentaries, a number of letters on historical and political subjects, pretended to be written by Boccalini, and collected and published by Gregorio Leti, but which, it is believed, were written by Boccalini's son and by Leti himself conjointly. Owing to his invectives against Spain, Boccalini, being afraid of the power of that government, took refuge at Venice, the only Italian state that kept itself comparatively independent of Spanish influence. He did not live there much more than one year, and died on the 16th November, 1613. It was said that he was murdered in his lodgings and in his own bed, by several hired assassins, who beat him to death with bags filled with sand. This however is disbelieved by Mazzuchelli, Zeno, Tiraboschi, and other Italian critics, who give several reasons for their dissent from this story. In the registers of the parish of Santa Maria Formosa, in which Boccalini died, it is stated that he died of the colic accompanied by fever. This statement in the registers however is but weak evidence against the alleged crime. BOCCANE'RA, SIMO'NE, the first doge of Genoa, was elected by popular acclamation in 1339. Until that time the republic had been governed by two capitani chosen from among the patrician families, between whom frequent disputes occurred, they being divided into the factions of Guelphs and Guibelines. These disputes often terminated in bloodshed, banishment, and confiscation of property. The citizens of Genoa, tired of this, appointed a doge, or elective supreme magistrate, after the example of Venice. It was resolved at the same time that the doge should be chosen from among the private citizens, and not from any of the patrician families. The doges were appointed for life; but they were often driven from office by civil commotions. Boccanera himself was driven away in 1344, but returned some years after, and was reinstated. His son Battista was elected doge in 1400, but was soon after beheaded. The institution of the doges for life lasted till 1528. [See DOGE.] BOCCHERINI, LUIGI, a name too familiar in modern musical history to be omitted here; yet, well as he was known, and highly and deservedly as he was valued, during the latter part of the last century and the commencement of the present, his compositions have already fallen into neglect, and it is not unlikely that in a few years they will be entirely forgotten. He was born at Lucca, in 1740. His first instructions in music were from the Abbé Van-derived their name from vypaxos, pugil, one who fights nucci, and he subsequently studied composition generally, and the violoncello particularly, at Rome, whither his father, a performer on the contra-basso, sent him to finish his professional education. Some time afterwards, Charles IV. of Spain, a great connoisseur in music, engaged Boccherini as court composer, and during many years he lived in the sunshine of royal favour; but indiscreetly wounding the vanity of the royal dilettante, he was dismissed from his envied situation. About the same time Lucien Bonaparte, then ambassador at Madrid, took him under his protection, and settled on him a pension of a thousand crowns, on condition of his supplying him with six quintets every year. This seasonable appointment was willingly accepted, and the composer continued to reside in the Spanish capital till his death, which took place in 1806. When Samuel Bochart was thirteen years old he composed forty-four Greek verses, which Thomas Dempster, or Demsterus, under whom he studied the classics at Paris, prefixed to his 'Corpus Antiquitatum Romanarum,' in 1612. At that time Samuel Bochart probably lived with his uncle, Pierre du Moulin, at Paris. It is said that he read at an early age not merely the Hebrew Bible, but also the rabbinical commentators. Soon afterwards he studied philosophy at Sedan under the professor D. J. Smith, and defended his theses with great applause in 1615. These theses he dedicated, in some good verses, to his grandfather, Joachim du Moulin, who was pastor at Orleans, and to his uncle, Pierre du Moulin, then pastor at Paris. Several other specimens of his ready and elegant versification are still extant. He studied divinity probably at Saumur, under Caméro, or Caméron; and the Syriac, Chaldee, and Arabic under Capel. When Caméron escaped from the civil commotions to London in 1621, Bochart followed him and attended his private instructions. He went with Caméron to see King James I. dine. There he heard a reader, who read the 27th chapter of Ezekiel, in order to furnish the king with some matter for conversation at dinner. The king asked why, in v. 11, according to the versions of Aquila and the Vulgate, the Pygmæi were said to be watchmen over the towers of Tyre? One of the royal guests replied, that the name Pygmæi originated from the Greek xvs (peekhus), a cubit, and he proved from Ctesias that the stature of the greatest of these dwarfs was two cubits, but of most of them only half a cubit. They said that these dwarfs were chosen for the defence of the towers of Tyre, in order to show the uncommon strength of the fortifications, which were so well constructed that no defenders were needed: other guests observed that the Pygmæi, in their constant warfare with the cranes, became especially wakeful and apt for town-defence: others proved that the Pygmæi were, according to Ctesias, good marksmen: others observed that the Hebrew text had Gammadim, which signifies fortes, audaces (strong, bold), and that these Gammadim were, according to Pliny, a warlike nation of Phoenicia, who enlisted in the military service of Tyre. Caméro being asked his opinion, observed, that the Pygmæi, in Ez. xxvii. 11, were warriors or combatants, who Boccherini produced little else besides quintets for two violins, viola, and two violoncellos, which are remarkable for sweetness, not boldness, of harmony, and gracefulness of melody; and, what renders them unlike all other compositions of the kind, he most commonly assigns the principal part to the first violoncello. Of these he composed no less than ninety-three, which were published after his decease by Janet and Cotelle. But the more elaborate, and undoubtedly the superior works of the same class, by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, have completely superseded those of Boccherini, which are now rarely, if ever, heard. BOCHART, SAMUEL, of the family de Bochart Champigny, de la branche de Menillet, became by his great learning the most distinguished member of his illustrious with his wvyun, fist; which word is related to the Latin pugnare and pugna, with which Caméro compared the Latin manus militaris and the Greek Sparxep, the French homme de main and the English armstrong. The king was pleased with Caméron's explanation, who was about to confirm his observations still more, when the king's fool, whose name was Armstrong, cast himself at Caméron's feet, thanking him for having proved the antiquity of the name of Armstrong by the holy authority of the prophet. About this time Bochart visited Oxford, where he requested, in Latin, one of the dignitaries to show him a comfortable seat from which he might behold the taking of degrees. The doctor, who understood only the English pronunciation of Latin, replied, that the university was then rather poor, and that he could not offer much money, but he would help him with a little viaticum, which Bochart of course declined. After a short stay in England, Bochart went, towards the close of the year 1621, to Leyden, where he studied Hebrew and Arabic under Thomas Erpenius, and divinity under A. Rivetus, who had also married a sister of P. du Moulin. Rivetus dedicated his Catholicus Orthodoxus' to Bochart. It is said that Bochart learned the Ethiopic from Job. Ludolf. Having finished his studies at Leyden, Bochart returned home. His father was then dead, but his mother still survived. He was soon invited by the Protestants at Caen to accept among them the office of pastor, and he became a zealous and popular preacher, admired even by Roman Catholics. During the siege of Rochelle, a number of VOL. V.-F In 1661, having come to an agreement with a London bookseller for the Hierozoicon, which is the best of his works, he obtained the assistance of Stephanus Morinus in his ministerial functions, in order that he might devote his time to the completion of it. Morinus was afterwards his biographer, and it is from his treatise, De clarissimo Bocharto et omnibus ejus scriptis, that we derive our information. Bochart died suddenly of apoplexy on the 16th of May, 1661, whilst speaking in an assembly of the academicians at Caen. To this death the elegant epitaph by M. de Brieux alludes: Popish controversialists went about in order to dispute with | during his absence, and of which he became one of the most Protestant ministers, and to entrap them by unguarded ex- distinguished members. In the Royal Library at Stockpressions. The famous Vero, or Verin, or Veron, who had holm he had found many Oriental sources of information been trained by the Jesuits, was now travelling through for his Hierozoicon; and he induced his young compaFrance with the title of Doctor in academia ardentium, nion Huet to employ his leisure in editing the Commenwith a diploma from the king, and with a New Testament taries of Origen, from a codex in the royal library at Stockin Latin of his own fabrication, in which he had expressed holm. After Bochart's return he had a lively debate with Acts xiii. 2, Xerovpyoúvtwv dè åvtwv, by the Latin missifi- Huet (afterwards bishop of Avranches) for having omitted in cantibus ipsis, whilst they were making masses. By this his Origeniana' the passage on St. Matthew, kai rò ȧyıalótext Verin supported the apostolical origin of the mass. On μένον βρῶμα διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως κατ' αυτὸ τὸ ὑλικὸν εἰς the fourth day of September, 1629, he urged Bochart to a τὴν κοιλίαν χωρεῖ καὶ εἰς ἀφεδρῶνα ἐκβάλλεται. Huet said public disputation, which took place in the castle in the that he had overlooked it. presence of a large assembly of nobility and gentry, and lasted from the 22nd of September to the 3rd of October. Sometimes the Duke of Longueville, viceroy of Normandy, himself attended. In nine sessions Bochart and Veron debated on the accuracy of the French version, the faults of the Vulgate, images, traditions, intercession of the saints, good works, mass, presbyters, forbidden food, celibacy, certainty of salvation, authority of the Bible, the church, supremacy of St. Peter, power of the pope, the virgin, saints, rekes, free will, merits, vows, abstinences, justification, purgatory, limbus, prayers for the dead, number of sacraments, eucharist, æquivoca, &c. It was agreed that the minutes of this disputation should be written down by a Popish as well as by a Protestant reporter, who were to read their notes at the conclusion of every session in the presence of the whole assembly, after which they were to be signed by the president and by the two disputants, and then printed. Veron, observing that Bochart had gained more general approbation than himself, left without having terminated the disputation. Bochart enriched his 'Actes de la conference tenue à Caen entre Samuel Bochart, et Jean Baillehache, et Francois Verin, et Isaak le Conte, Saum. 1630, 2 vols. 8vo., with several additions from the fathers, which prove that he was well versed in this branch of learning Having begun to expound Genesis to his congregation, he composed and wrote in a fine handwriting a set of sermons, which, after his death, came into the possession of his grandson, le Sieur de Coleville, senator in the parliament of Rouen, who was the son of his only daughter. These popular expositions, which terminate with Gen. xl. 18, led him to write the following works:- De Paradiso terrestri Geographia Sacra, seu Phaleg, et Canaan; Hierozoicon, on the animals mentioned in the Bible. He wrote also some dissertations on the plants and gems mentioned in the Bible, but of these merely fragments remain. The Phaleg and the Canaan were published A. D. 1646. The famous printer, Joannes Jannonius, of Sedan, was invited to Caen to superintend the printing; nevertheless many errors were committed. The approbation with which 'Phaleg and Canaan' were received by the learned induced Bochart to bestow all his energy upon the 'Hierozoicon,' but two circumstances occasioned delay. Dr. Morley, then chaplain to King Charles II. of England, prevailed on Bochart to write a letter on Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, in order to pacify the minds of the English about the time of the convention of Breda. This Lettre à Morley, dated March 1650, is reprinted in Bochart's work under the title Epistola qua respondetur ad tres quæstiones: 1. De Presbyteratu et Episcopatu; HI. De provocatione a judiciis ecclesiasticis; III. De jure et potestate Regum.' In 1652 Bochart was invited by an autograph letter of Christina, Queen of Sweden, to come to Stockholm, where she had surrounded herself with learned men. Bochart was accompanied by Huetius, or Huet. They visited on their journey through Holland the learned of those days, as Heinsius at Leyden, and the famous Anna Maria à Schurmann, then at Utrecht. They passed through Hamburg and Copenhagen to Stockholm, where they were well received by the queen, but Bochart was much annoyed by the levity of the courtiers. He had been invited on the recommendation of Vossius, but before he arrived a certain physician whose real name was Michon, but who called himself after a learned uncle Bourdelot, had succeeded in persuading Christina that learning was injurious to health, and not ladylike. Bourdelot had been recommended to the queen by Salmasius, but, as he had no learning himself, he felt uncomfortable at court, and endeavoured to supplant Vossius, Bochart, and the other learned men who had assembled at Stockholm. Bochart returned in 1653 to Caen, where he was welcomed by the members of the academy, which had been founded Scilicet hæc cuique est data sors æquissima, talis His mind was cheerful, and his body well proportioned, Such is the esteem in which the works of Bochart are still held, nearly 200 years since their publication, that Gesenius has proposed to the students in the Theological Seminary at Halle in Saxony, as a subject for a prize essay for the present year, 1835, an eulogium 'De vita et meritis Bocharti. By this prize, it is the object of Gesenius to induce the students to peruse diligently Bochart's volumes, which are full of learning. (See the Dictionaries of Moreri and Bayle; also the Vita by Morinus; Pet. Dan. Huetii Episcopi Abrincensis Commentarius de rebus, &c.) BOCHART, MATTHIEU, Protestant minister at Alençon in the seventeenth century, published a Traité contre les Reliques, and a Traité contre le sucrifice de la Messe. Judicial proceedings were commenced against him for having given in this treatise the forbidden title of pastors to Protestant ministers. He published also, Dialogue sur les difficultés que les Missionaires font aux Protestans de France. This dialogue on the tolerance of Lutheran errors induced the Elector Palatine to try if he could unite the two reformed churches in Germany, viz., the Lutherans and the Calvinists, and accordingly he advocated their union in the assembly of Protestant princes at Francfort. Upon hearing this, Matthieu Bochart published his Diallacticon' i. e. a conciliatory treatise, 1662, which he dedicated to the Elector Palatine. It contains the plan of this projected union. Matthieu has been sometimes confounded with his more learned cousin Samuel, of whom we have just spoken. BOCHNIA, a province or circle in the north-western part of the Austrian kingdom of Galicia; bounded on the north by Poland, and on the north-west by the territory of the republic of Cracow; containing, according to Kipferling, an area of about 1040 square miles, which will make it nearly equal to that of Cheshire. It lies between 49° 46′ and 50° 14' N. lat., and 19° 50' and 20° 59' E. long. The greater part of Bochnia has an undulating surface; but in the southern districts, a branch of the Carpathians gives the country a mountainous character. In this direction are those extensive forests and rich mineral resources which make the regions about the towns of Bochnia and Wieliczka so valuable to the Austrian crown. This province has the advantage of being skirted on the north by the 1 1 di m or th Po In he |