The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 78

BOEHME, JACOB, a celebrated German mystic, born at Gorlitz; of an imaginatively meditative turn from boyhood as a neat-herd, and afterwards in his stall as a shoemaker; spent his whole life in meditation on divine things; saw in the Bible a revelation of these as in no other book; seemed to have eyes given him to see visions of these things himself, for which he felt he had no organ to express, and which he conveyed to others in mystical, apocalyptical speech; a thinker very fascinating to all minds of the seer cla.s.s. He was subject to persecution, as all of his stamp are, by the men of the letter, and bore up with the meekness which all men of his elevation of character ever do--"quiet, gentle, and modest," as they all are to the very core, in his way of thinking; and his philosophy would seem to have antic.i.p.ated the secret of Hegel, who acknowledges him as one of the fathers of German philosophy. He left writings which embody a scheme of mystical theology, setting forth the trinity in unity of the Hegelian system, that is, viewing the divine as it is in itself, as it comes out in nature, and as it returns to itself in the human soul (1575-1624).

BOEHMER, a German historian, born at Frankfort; author of works on the Carlovingian period of history (1795-1863).

BOEO'TIA, a country of ancient Greece, N. of the Gulf of Corinth; the natives, though brave, were mere tillers of the soil under a heavy atmosphere, innocent of culture, and regarded as boors and dullards by the educated cla.s.ses of Greece, and particularly of Athens, and yet Hesiod, Pindar, and Plutarch were natives of Boeotia.

BOERHAAVE, a great physician, born near Leyden, and son of a pastor; ultimately professor of Medicine and Botany there, as well as of Chemistry; chairs of which he filled and adorned with the greatest distinction; his reputation spread over Europe, and even as far as China--a letter from which bore the simple address, "To M. Boerhaave, Europe," and found him; his system was adopted by the profession, and patients from far and wide came to consult him--among others, Pope Benedict VIII. and Peter the Great; his character was as n.o.ble as his abilities were great; his princ.i.p.al works were "Inst.i.tutiones Medicae,"

"Aphorismi de Cognoscendis et Curandis Morbis," "Libellus de Materia Medica," and "Inst.i.tutiones Chemicae" (1668-1738).

BOERS (i. e. peasants engaged in tillage), Dutch colonists of an independent republican temper, who in the 17th century squatted in S.

Africa; gave themselves to agriculture and cattle-rearing; settled at length in the Transvaal in a self-governed community by themselves.

BOeTHIUS, ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS, a Roman statesman, born at Rome, of Consular rank, a profoundly learned man, held the highest offices, Consul among others, under Theodoric the Goth; his integrity and opposition to injustice procured him enemies, who accused him of treason; he was cast into prison, and finally put to death; wrote in prison his "De Consolatione Philosophiae," in five parts, employing verse and prose alternately, which King Alfred translated into Anglo-Saxon; he was canonised as a martyr, and his influence was great during the Middle Ages (470-524).

BOEUF, FRONT DE, a character in "Ivanhoe."

BOGATZKY, KARL HEINRICH VON, religious writer; wrote hymns and an autobiography; is best known as the author of the "Golden Treasury"

(1690-1744).

BOGDANOVITCH, a Russian poet, called by his countrymen the "Russian Anacreon"; his best-known poem "Psyche" (1743-1803).

BOGERMANN, JOHANN, Dutch divine, translated the Bible into Dutch, and was President of the Synod of Dort (1576-1633).

BOGOTA' (100), capital of the United State of Colombia, situated on a remarkable, almost mountain-encircled, plateau, on the river Bogota, 65 m. SE. of its port, Honda, the highest navigable point of the Magdalena, is 8600 ft. above sea-level, and has a spring-like climate. It is regularly built, with innumerable churches, a mint, university, library, and observatory, and several schools. Though the country is fertile and the mountains rich in coal, iron, salt, and precious metals, its situation and the want of a railway hinder trade.

BOG-TROTTER, a name given to the Scottish moss-troopers, now to certain Irish for their agility in escaping over bogs.

BOGUE, DAVID, born in Berwicks.h.i.+re, a Congregational minister; one of the founders of the London Foreign Missionary, the Foreign Bible, and the Religious Tract Societies (1750-1825).

BOHEMIA (5,843), the most northerly province in Austria, two-thirds the size of Scotland; is encircled by mountains, and drained by the upper Elbe and its tributaries. The Erzgebirge separate it from Saxony; the Riesengebirge, from Prussia; the Bohmerwald, from Bavaria; and the Moravian Mountains, from Moravia. The mineral wealth is varied and great, including coal, the most useful metals, silver, sulphur, and porcelain clay. The climate is mild in the valleys, the soil fertile; flax and hops the chief products; forests are extensive. Dyeing, calico-printing, linen and woollen manufactures, are the chief industries. The gla.s.sware is widely celebrated; there are iron-works and sugar-refineries. The transit trade is very valuable. The people are mostly Czechs, of the Slavonic race, Roman Catholics in religion; there is a large and influential German minority of about two millions, with whom the Czechs, who are twice as numerous, do not amalgamate; the former being riled at the official use of the Czech language, and the latter agitating for the elevation of the province to the same status as that of Hungary.

Education is better than elsewhere in Austria; there is a university at Prague, the capital. In the 16th century the crown was united with the Austrian, but in 1608 religious questions led to the election of the Protestant Frederick V. This was followed by the Thirty Years' War, the extermination of the Protestants, and the restoration of the Austrian House.

BOHEMIAN, name given to one who lives by his wits and shuns conventionality.

BOHEMIAN BRETHREN, a fraternity of an extreme sect of the Hussites, organised as United Brethren in 1455; broken up in the Thirty Years' War, met in secret, and were invited, under the name of Moravians or Herrnhuters, by Count Zinzendorf to settle on his estate.

BOHEMOND, first prince of Antioch, son of Robert Guiscard; set out on the first crusade; besieged and took Antioch; was besieged in turn by the Saracens, and imprisoned for two years; liberated, he collected troops and recaptured the city (1056-1111).

BOHLEN, VON, a German Orientalist, professor at Konigsberg (1796-1840).

BONN, HENRY GEORGE, an enterprising publisher, a German, born in London; issued a series of works identified with his name (1796-1884).

BoHTLINGK, OTTO, Sanskrit scholar, a German, born in St. Petersburg; author, among other works, of a Sanskrit dictionary in 7 vols.; _b_.1815.

BOIARDO, MATTEO MARIA, Count of Scandiano, surnamed the "Flower of Chivalry"; an Italian poet, courtier, diplomatist, and statesman; author of "Orlando Innamorato" (1456), the model of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso,"

which eclipsed it (1434-1494).

BOIELDIEU, ADRIEN FRANcOIS, a distinguished French musical composer of operas; author of the "Calife de Bagdad," "Telemaque," and "La Dame Blanche," reckoned his masterpiece; called the French Mozart (1775-1834).

BOIGNE, COUNT DE, a French soldier of fortune, born at Chambery; served under France, Russia, East India Company, and the prince of the Mahrattas, to whom he rendered signal service; ama.s.sed wealth, which he dealt out generously and for the benefit of his country (1751-1830).

BOII, an ancient people of Gaul, occupying territory between the Allier and the Loire.

BOILEAU, NICOLAS (surnamed Despreaux, to distinguish him from his brother), poet and critic, born in Paris; brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, a.s.sociating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Moliere; author of "Satires" and "Epistles," "L'Art Poetique," "Le Lutrin," &c., in which he attached and employed his wit against the bad taste of his time; did much to reform French poetry, as Pascal did to reform the prose, and was for long the law-giver of Parna.s.sus; was an imitator of Pope, but especially of Horace (1636-1711).

BOISARD, a French fabulist of remarkable fecundity (1743-1831).

BOIS-GUILLEBERT, a French economist, cousin of Vauban; advocate of free trade; _d_. 1714.

BOIS-LE-DUC (27), capital of North Brabant, 45 m. SE. of Amsterdam, and with a fine cathedral; seat of an archbishop.

BOISMONT, THE ABBe, one of the best French pulpit orators of the 18th century (1715-1786).

BOISROBERT, THE ABBe, a French poet, one of the first members of the French Academy; patronised by Richelieu (1592-1662).

BOISSONADE, JEAN FRANcOIS, a French Greek scholar; for a time carried away by the revolutionary movement, but abandoned politics for letters (1774-1857).