335 B.C., when the house of Pindar alone was left standing, and all the inhabitants were either killed or sold as slaves.-Strabo. BOGS. Commonly the remains of fallen forests, covered with peat and loose soil. Moving bogs are slips of land carried to lower levels by accumulated water. Acts relating to Ireland, for their drainage, passed, March, 1830. The bog-land of Ireland has been estimated at 3,000,000 acres; that of Scotland, at upwards of 2,000,000; and that of England, at near 1,000,000 of acres. : BOH, a fierce barbarian general, son of Odin, lived 60 B. C. The exclamation of his name petrified his enemies, and is yet used to frighten children. BOHEMIA. This country was originally governed by dukes the title of king was obtained from the emperor Henry IV. The kings at first held their territory of the Empire, but they at length threw off the yoke: the crown was elective till it came into the house of Austria, in which it is now hereditary.-See Germany. John Huss and Jerome of Prague, two of . 1437 of Bohemia, on the death of Podiebrad 1471 The emperor Ferdinand I. marries Anne, sister of Louis the late king, and obtains the crown. . 1041 1527 1284 Winceslas IV. becoming odious for his 1305 Silesia is made a province of Bohemia . 1310 1346 BOILING OF LIQUIDS. Liquids first ascertained by Dr. Hooke not to be increased in heat after they have once begun to boil; and that a fire, if made fiercer, can only make them boil more rapidly, but without adding a degree to their heat, A.D. 1683. The following have been ascertained to be the boiling points of certain liquids : BOILING TO DEATH. A capital punishment in England, by statute 23 Henry VIII. 1532. This act was occasioned by seventeen persons having been poisoned by Rouse, the bishop of Rochester's cook, when the offence of poisoning was made treason, and it was enacted to be punished by boiling the criminal to death! Margaret Davie, a young woman, suffered in the same manner for a similar crime, in 1541. BOIS-LE-DUC, Battle of, between the British and the French republican army, in which the British were defeated, forced to abandon their position, and to retreat to Schyndel, Sept. 14, 1794. This place was captured by the French Oct. 6 following: it surrendered to the Prussian army, under Bulow, in 1814. BOLOGNA. Distinguished for its many rare and magnificent specimens of architecture. Its ancient and celebrated university was founded by Theodosius, A.D. 433. Pope Julius II., after besieging and taking Bologna, made his triumphal entry into it with a pomp and magnificence by no means fitting (as Erasmus observes) for the vicegerent of the meek Redeemer, Nov. 10, 1506. Here, in the church of St. Patronius, which is remarkable for its pavement, Cassini drew his meridian line, at the close of the seventeenth century. Taken by the French, 1796; by the Austrians, 1799; again by the French, after the battle of Marengo, in 1800; restored to the pope in 1815. BOMBAY, INDIA. Given as part of the marriage-portion of the princess Catherine of Portugal, on her marriage with Charles II. 1661. Granted by William III. to our East India Company in 1688, and it now forms one of the three presidencies. An awful fire raged here, and a number of lives were lost, Feb. 27, 1803.-See India. BOMBS, invented at Venlo, in 1495, but according to some authorities near a century after. They came into general use in 1634, having been previously used only in the Dutch and Spanish armies. Bomb-vessels were invented in France, in 1681.— Voltaire. The Shrapnel shell is a bomb filled with balls, and a lighted fuse to make it explode before it reaches the enemy; a thirteen-inch bomb-shell weighs 198 lbs. BONDAGE, OR VILLANAGE, was enforced under William I. A villain in ancient times meant a peasant enslaved by his lord. A release from this species of servitude was ordered on the manors of Elizabeth, in 1574. See Villanage. BONE. "Give him a bone to pick," took its rise from a custom at marriage feasts, among the poor in Sicily, when the bride's father, at supper, gave the bridegroom a bone, saying, "Pick this bone, for you have undertaken to pick one more difficult." To bone him is a vulgar phrase for seize or arrest. To make no bones is to make no scruple.-Bishop Hall. BONE-SETTING. This branch of the art of surgery cannot be said to have been practised scientifically until 1620, before which time it was rather imperfectly understood.-Bell. The celebrity obtained by a practitioner at Paris, about 1600, led to the general study of bone-setting as a science. Freind's Hist. of Physic. BONES. The art of softening bones was discovered about A.D. 1688, and they were used in the manufacture of cutlery, and for various other purposes immediately afterwards. The declared value of the bones of cattle and of other animals, and of fish (exclusive of whale-fins) imported into the United Kingdom from Russia, Prussia, Holland, Denmark, &c., amounts annually to nearly 200,0007. BONHOMMES. These were hermits of simple and gentle lives who made their appearance in France about the year 1257; and they came to England in 1283. The prior of the order was called Le bon homme, by Louis VI., and hence they derived their name.-Du Fresnoy. BOOKS. Ancient books were originally boards, or the inner bark of trees; and bark is still used by some nations, as are also skins, for which latter parchment was substituted. Papyrus, an Egyptian plant, was adopted in that country. Books whose leaves were vellum, were invented by Attalus, king of Pergamus, about 198 B.C., at which time books were in volumes or rolls. The MSS. in Herculaneum consist of papyrus, rolled and charred, and matted together by the fire, and are about nine inches long, and one, two, or three inches in diameter, each being a separate treatise. The Pentateuch of Moses, and the history of Job, are the most ancient in the world; and in profane literature, the poems of Homer, though the names of others still more ancient are preserved. BOOKS, PRICES OF. Jerome states that he had ruined himself by buying a copy of the works of Origen. A large estate was given for one on cosmography, by Alfred, about A.D. 872. The Roman de la Rose was sold for above 301.; and a Homily was exchanged for 200 sheep and five quarters of wheat; and they usually fetched double or treble their weight in gold. They sold at prices varying from 107. to 407. each, in 1400. In our own times, the value of some volumes is very great. Α copy of Macklin's Bible, ornamented by Mr. Tomkins, has been declared worth 500 guineas.-Butler. A yet more superb copy is at present insured in a London office for 3,0001.—Times. Il Decamerone of Boccaccio, edition of 1471, was bought at the duke of Roxburgh's sale by the duke of Marlborough for 22607., June 17, 1812.-Phillips. BOOKS, PRINTED. The first printed books were trifling hymns and psalters, and being printed only on one side, the leaves were pasted back to back. The first printing was, as a book, the Book of Psalms, by Faust and Schæffer, his son-in-law, August 14, 1457. Several works were printed many years before; but as the inventors kept the secret to themselves, they sold their first printed works as manuscripts. This gave rise to an adventure that brought calamity on Faust; he began in 1450 an edition of the Bible, which was finished in 1460. See article Devil and Dr. Faustus. The second printed was Cicero de Officiis, 1466.—Blair. The first book printed in England was The Game and Play of the Chesse, by Caxton, 1474. The first in Dublin was the Liturgy, in 1550. The first classical work printed in Russia was Corn. Nepotis Vitæ, in 1762. Lucian's Dialogues was the first Greek book printed in America (at Philadelphia), 1789. Books of astronomy and geometry were all destroyed in England as being infected with magic, 6 Edward VI. 1552. -Stowe's Chronicles. BOOK-BINDING. The book of St. Cuthbert, the earliest ornamented book, is supposed to have been bound about A.D. 650. A Latin Psalter in oak boards was bound in the ninth century. A MS. copy of the Four Evangelists, the book on which our kings from Henry I. to Edward VI. took their coronation oath, was bound in oaken boards, nearly an inch thick, A.D. 1100. Velvet was the covering in the fourteenth century; and silk soon after. Vellum was introduced early in the fifteenth century; it was stamped and ornamented about 1510. Leather came into use about the same time. Cloth binding superseded the common boards, generally, about 1831. Caout chouc, or India-rubber backs to account-books and large volumes introduced 1841. BOOK-KEEPING. The system by double-entry, called originally Italian book-keeping, was taken from the course of algebra which was published by Burgo, at Venice, then a great commercial state, in the fifteenth century. It was made known in England by James Peele, who published his Book-keeping in 1569.-Anderson. BOOTS. They are said to have been the invention of the Carians, and were made of iron, brass, or leather; of the last material some time after their invention, boots were known to the Greeks, for Homer mentions them about 907 B.c. BORAX. Known to the ancients. It is used in soldering, brazing, and casting gold and other metals, and was called chrysocolla. It is also used in medicine, and in composing fucus, or a wash or paint for the ladies.-Pardon. Borax is naturally produced in the mountains of Thibet; and was brought to Europe from India about 1713. It has lately been found in Saxony. BORODINO OR MOSKWA, BATTLE OF, one of the most sanguinary in the records of the world, fought Sept. 7, 1812, between the French and Russians; commanded on the one side by Napoleon, and on the other by Kutusoff, 240,000 men being engaged. Each party claimed the victory, because the loss of the other was so immense; but it was rather in favour of Napoleon, for the Russians subsequently retreated, leaving Moscow to its fate. The road being thus left open, the French entered Moscow, Sept. 14, with little opposition. But a signal reverse of fortune now took place, which preserved the Russian empire from ruin, and paved the way to the downfall of the French military power over Europe. See Moscow. BOROUGH. Anciently a company of ten families living together. The term has been applied to such towns as send members to parliament, since the election of burgesses in the reign of Henry III. 1265. Burgesses were first admitted into the Scottish parliament by Robert Bruce, 1326-and into the Irish, 1365. BOROUGH ENGLISH. This was an ancient tenure by which the younger son inherits. Its origin is thus explained: in feudal times the lord is said to have claimed the privilege of spending the first night with the vassal's bride, and on such occasions the land was made to descend to the next son, in consequence of the supposed illegitimacy of the elder. This kind of tenure is mentioned as occurring A.D. 834. It existed in Scotland, but was abolished by Malcolm III. in 1062. BOROUGH-BRIDGE, BATTLE OF, between the earls of Hertford and Lancaster and Edward II. The latter, at the head of 30,000 men, pressed Lancaster so closely, that he had not time to collect his troops together in sufficient force, and being defeated and made prisoner, was led, mounted on a lean horse, to an eminence near Pontefract or Pomfret, with great indignity, and beheaded by a Londoner, 1322.Goldsmith. BOSCOBEL. Here Charles II. concealed himself in the renowned oak, after the battle of Worcester, in which Cromwell defeated the Scots army that had marched into England to reinstate him on the throne, Sept. 3, 1651. The streets were strewed with the dead; the whole Scots army was either killed or taken prisoners, and Charles escaped with great difficulty into France.-Goldsmith. BOSPHORUS, now called Circassia. The history of this kingdom is involved in obscurity, though it continued for 530 years. It was named Cimmerian, from the Cimmeri, who dwelt on its borders. The descendants of Archeanactes of Mytilene settled in this country, but they were dispossessed by Spartacus, in 438 B.C. Mithridates is conducted a prisoner to Rome, by order of the emperor Claudius, and his kingdom is soon afterwards made a province of the empire. The strait of the Bosphorus was closed by the Turks, Sept. 8, 1828. It was blockaded by the Russian squadron under admiral Greig, Dec. 31, same year. See Dardanelles. BOSTON, AMERICA. Here originated that resistance to the British authorities which led to American independence. The act of parliament laying duties on tea, paper, colours, &c. passed June 1767, and it so excited the indignation of the citizens of Boston, that they destroyed several hundreds of chests of tea, Nov. 1773. Boston was proscribed in consequence, and the port shut by the English parliament, until restitution should be made to the East India company for the tea that had been lost, March 25, 1774. The town was besieged by the British next year, and 400 houses were destroyed. Battle between the royalists and independent troops, in which the latter were defeated in June 1775. The city was evacuated by the king's troops, April, 1776. BOSWORTH FIELD, BATTLE OF, the thirteenth and last between the houses of York and Lancaster, in which Richard III. was defeated by the earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., the former being slain, Aug. 22, 1485. The crown of Richard was found in a hawthorn bush, on the plain where the battle was fought, and Henry was so impatient to be crowned, that he had the ceremony performed on the spot with that very crown. In the civil contests between the "Roses," many of the most ancient families in the kingdom were entirely extinguished, and no less than 100,000 human beings lost their lives. BOTANY. Aristotle is considered the founder of the philosophy of botany. The Historia Plantarum of Theophrastus, written about 320 B.C. Authors on botany are numerous from the earlier ages of the world, to the close of the 15th century, G when the science became better understood. The study was advanced by Fuchsius, Bock, Bauhin, Cæsalpinus, and others, between 1535 and 1600.—Melchior Adam. The system and arrangement of Linnæus, the first botanist of modern times, made known about 1750. Jussieu's system, in 1758. At the time of Linnæus's death, A.D. 1778, the species of plants actually described amounted in number to 11,800. The number of species of all denominations now recorded cannot fall short of 100,000. BOTANY BAY, originally fixed on for a colony of convicts from Great Britain. The first governor, Phillips, who sailed from England in May, 1787, arrived at the settlement in Jan. 1788. The bay had been discovered by captain Cook in 1770, and the place took its name from the great variety of herbs which abounded on the shore. The colony was fixed at Port Jackson, about thirteen miles to the north of the bay. See New South Wales and Transportation. BOTTLE-CONJUROR. The famous imposition of this charlatan occurred at the old Haymarket theatre, Jan. 16, 1748; he had announced that he would jump into a quart bottle, and so imposed upon the credulous multitude, that the theatre was besieged by 10,000 persons, anxious to gain admittance and witness the feat. object of filling the house was accomplished; but the duped crowd (who really expected to see the man enter the quart bottle), in the storm of their indignation, nearly pulled the whole edifice down. The BOTTLES, of glass, were first made in England, about 1558.-See Glass. The art of making glass bottles and drinking glasses was known to the Romans at least before 79 A.D., for these articles and other vessels have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. A bottle which contained two hogsheads was blown, we are told, at Leith, in Scotland, in January, 1747-8. BOULOGNE, FRANCE. Taken by the British in 1542, but restored to France upon the peace, 1550. Lord Nelson attacked Boulogne, disabling ten vessels, and sinking five, Aug. 3, 1801. In another attempt he was repulsed with great loss, and captain Parker of the Medusa and two-thirds of his crew were killed, Aug. 15 following. Again, in Oct. 3, 1804, when the catamaran project for destroying the flotilla failed, Congreve-rockets were used in another attack, and they set the town on fire, Oct. 8, 1806. Prince Louis Napoleon made a descent here with about fifty followers, Aug. 6, 1840.-See next article, and France. BOULOGNE FLOTILLA. This celebrated armament against England excited much attention for some years, but the grand demonstration was made in 1804. In that year, Buonaparte had assembled 160,000 men and 10,000 horses, and a flotilla of 1300 vessels and 17,000 sailors to invade England. The coasts of Kent and Sussex were covered with martello towers and lines of defence; and nearly half the adult population of Britain was formed into volunteer corps. It is supposed that this French armament served merely for a demonstration, and that Buonaparte never seriously intended the invasion.-See Flotilla. BOUNTIES. They were first granted on the exportation of British commodities-a new principle introduced into commerce by the British parliament. The first bounties granted on corn, were in 1688. First legally granted in England for raising naval stores in America, 1703. Bounties have been granted on sail-cloth, linen, and other goods.-Elements of Commerce. BOUNTY, MUTINEERS OF THE SHIP. Memorable mutiny on board the Bounty, armed ship returning from Otaheite, with bread-fruit. The mutineers put their captain, Bligh, and nineteen men into an open boat, near Annamooka, one of the Friendly Islands, April 28, 1789, and they reached the Island of Timor, south of the Moluccas, in June, after a perilous voyage of nearly 4000 miles, in which their preservation was next to miraculous. The mutineers were tried Sept. 15, 1792, when six were condemned, of whom three were executed. See Pitcairn's Island. BOURBON, HOUSE OF. Anthony de Bourbon was the chief of the branch of Bourbon, so called from a fief of that name which fell to them by marriage with the heiress of the estate. Henry IV. of France and Navarre, justly styled the Great, was son of Anthony, and came to the throne in 1589. The crown of Spain was settled on a younger branch of this family, and guaranteed by the peace of Utrecht, 1713.-Rapin. The Bourbon Family Compact took place, 1761. The Bourbons were expelled France, 1791, and were restored, 1814. Re-expelled, and again |