BOISSERKE, SULPIZ. 



BOJARDO, MATTEO MARIA. 



him a priory in Brittany. Boisrobert forthwith qualified himself for 

 the etmlii*<i"'' profession, took holy orders, and not long afterward* 

 was provided with a canonry at Rouen. His reputation for wit and 

 humour soon afterwards reached the ear of Cardinal Richelieu, to 

 whom Boisrobert was of course introduced. The Canlinal was no less 

 gratified by his conversation than the pope bad been, aud not only 

 became his patron, but made him hi* companion at dinner, and more 

 especially after dinner. Boisrobert in a brief period received sub- 

 stantial proofs of the cardinal's favour, by gifts of the abbey of 

 Chatillon-sur-Seine and the priory of Fertc'-sur-Aube, to which were 

 added the titles of king's almoner and counsellor of state, with letter* 

 of nobility. 



Boisrobert's time was afterwards chiefly spent in entertaining the 

 cardinal, attending the theatres, and writing comedies, trogi-comedies, 

 tragedies, verses, and novels, none of which are worthy of being 

 quoted. His chief merit wss perhaps that of having induced Cardinal 

 Richelieu to establish the Acaddmie Francaise. He died at Paris, 

 March SO, 1662. Boisrobert seems to have been an ecclesiastic of 

 loose conduct ai well as lively conversation, and to have died at the 

 a.-e of seventy without any apparent change of mind or improvement 

 of manners. 



BOISSERKE, SULPIZ, was born at Cologne, in 1783. Sulpiz, his 

 brother Melchior, and hi* friend Jean-Baptiste Bertram, in 1803 formed 

 the design of making a collection of the paintings of the early German 

 masters. They took separate routes. Boisseree himself travelled along 

 the banks of the Rhine, and in 1814 was at Heidelberg, on the Neckar, 

 where he made some valuable purchases. They at first united their 

 acquisitions at Cologne, but afterwards transferred them to Stuttgart, 

 where the King of Wurtemburg made them a grant of a spacious 

 building for the reception of the painting*, which wen named the 

 Boisseroe Collection. The whole were arranged in three historical 

 divisions, the first consisting of the school of Cologne in the 14th 

 century, the second of the works of John Van Eyck and bis disciples 

 of the early part of the 15th century, and the third of the paintings 

 of the latter part of the 15th century and commencement of the 16th. 

 The collection was purchased in 1827 by Ludwig I., king of Bavaria, 

 for 120,000 tha'.ers (about 12,3501.), and transferred to Munich, where 

 Sulpiz, bis brother Melchior, and his friend Bertram, established them- 

 selves. Sulpiz himself in 1835 received the appointment of conservator 

 of the works of plastic art of Bavaria. In 1814 an old parchment 

 roll had been found, which among other architectural drawings con- 

 tained an elevation of the portal and north tower of the facade of 

 Cologne Cathedral, well drawn and in good preservation, and m 1816 

 Snlpiz Boisseroe discovered at Paris the drawing of the other tower, 

 also an elevation, in less perfect condition than the other drawing, but 

 sufficient for an architect s purpose. The restoration of the cathedral 

 in accordance with these drawings was commenced in 1824 ; the first 

 work* being confined to the repairs and renewal of the building us it 

 stood. Sulpiz BoUserce published at Paris and Stuttgart, 1823-32, a 

 magnificent work in royal folio, consisting of views, plan*, and details 

 of the Cathedral of Cologne, with restorations after the original plan, 

 and inquiries into the architecture of ancient cathedrals. In 1842 the 

 King of Prussia laid the first stone for the commencement of those 

 parts of the structure which remained unfinished or bad not been 

 commenced, and great progress has since been made towards the 

 completion of this splendid structure under the direction of Zwerner. 



Boisseroe also published ' Die Denkmale der Baukunst am Nieder- 

 rliein, vom 7-13 Jahrbundert' (' The Monuments of Architecture of 

 the Lower Rhine, from the 7th to the 13th century '), Munich, royal 

 folio, 1830-33; also, at Munich, 1832-39, 'A Series of Lithographic 

 Drawing* of the Boisseree Collection of Ancient Paintings, with 

 Biographical notices of the old German masters whose works are 

 included in it' 



(Omttnatioru-Urito* ; ffonrel/t Biographic I'nirtrteUc.) 

 BOISSONADE, JEAN-FRANCOIS, was born at Paris, August 12, 

 1774. Towards the end of the year 1792 Boissonade entered into the 

 public service under the ministry of General Dumouriez ; he w*s 

 expelled from the administration in 1795, but was restored in 1801 

 by l.ueiea Bonaparte, who was then minister of the interior, and who 

 made him secretery-grneral of the prefecture of the Haute-Marue. 

 When Lucirn retired from the public service, Boisionade retired also; 

 and thenceforward devoted himself to literature, which had indeed 

 previously occupied nearly all his leisure hours. He bsd from the 

 yer 1802 contributed numerous articles to the periodicals of the 

 day. In 1809 he was appointed professor of the Greek language and 

 literature in the Academic de Pan*, but assumed only the title of 

 ssvUnt-profesoor, resigning the title of professor to Larcher, who 

 retained it till l.is death in 1812. Boiasonade then succeeded him, 

 and also supplied hi* place in the Acadcmie dea Inscriptions et Belles- 

 Lettrw. On the death of J. B. Gail in 1828 Boinonade wai appointed 

 ntofsssur of Greek in the College de Franc*. Other situations of 

 hoDoar and emolument were afterwards offered to him, but he declined 

 to accept any of them. 



M. Bosisonade occupied considerable portion of hi* time in the 

 critical eramlnstion of Greek writer* previously unedited, and pub- 

 lUhed a very lane number of work* and fragments of works by 

 PMls.llus, Proclus, Tiberias the Rhetorician, HoUtentiu*, Hero- 

 diaoue, Kooapiot, AmUenetus, and several others. 



In the period from 1823 to 1826 Boissonade published in 24 rols. 

 32mo, a 'Sylloge Poetarum Qrteoornm,' and in consequence of the 

 discovery in 1839, in a monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, of a 

 manuscript which contained a large number of the lost Fables of 

 Babrius, Boissouade published ' Babrii FabuUo lambiosg,' 8vo, Paris, 

 1844. [BABIUUS.] 



Boisionade contributed to the edition of 'Athennms' by Schweig- 

 haoser, to the ' Euripides ' of Mattliiac, aud to the edition of Stephens'* 

 'Thesaurus Qracae Lingue,' which was printed and published in 

 London by Valpy. He also wrote several articles for Valpy's ' Classical 

 Journal,' and he gave hi* assistance to the Paris edition of Stephens's 

 ' Thesaurus,' printed by Uidot. M. Boissonade has been au indefatigable 

 labourer not only in Greek but also in modern literature, having, for 

 instance, published collections of the unedited letters of Voltaire, of 

 the works of Parny, and baring furnished a large number of the lives 

 in the ' Biographie Universelle.' 



(\ourclle Biographie I'nirtrtdlt.) 



BOISTK, PIERRE-CLAUDE VICTOIRE, a French lexicographer, 

 was born in 1765 at Paris, and died April 24, 1824, at Ivry-sur-Seine. 

 He at first studied law, but left it early for literature, in which his 

 favourite subjects of investigation related to the origin and structure 

 of languages, especially that of his native country. His great work is ( 

 the ' Dictionnaire Universel de la Laugua Fraucaue.' The first edition 

 was published at Paris in 1800, 1 vol. Svo; the second edition in 1803 

 in 2 vols. Svo; the seventh edition in 1834 in 1 vol. 4 to. It is a very 

 complete and valuable work, somewhat on the plan of Johnson's large 

 ' English Dictionary,' with examples and authorities illustrative of the 

 definition*, but more compressed than those of Johnson. It has in 

 addition vocabularies of scientific words, and treatises on French 

 grammar, on synonymous words, on tropes and figures of speech, and 

 on French versification. Boiste published in 1 801 a sort of prose epic, 

 called ' L'Unirers d(<livr<5,' in which he describes the creation and 

 primitive history of the human race : it has sunk into oblivion. He 

 wrote also a work on the ' Principles of Grammar,' Svo, 1820, and a 

 ' Dictionnaire de Geographic Uuiveracllc, Ancieunc et Moderne,' 1 vol. 

 Svo, which was published in the same year. 



BOJAUDO, MATTE'O MAIU'A, Count of Scaudiano, was born at 

 Scaudiano in 1434, of a noble and ancient family. His ancestors were 

 lords of Kubiera, a small town between Reggio and Modeiia, but they 

 exchanged this fief for that of Scaudiano, the feudal castle of which 

 lies at the foot of the Apennines, seven miles south of Reggio. Bojardo 

 was the con of Giovanni, count of Scandiano, and of Lucia Strozzi of 

 Ferrara, sister to Tito Vespasiano Strozzi, who, as well as his son 

 Krcolc, were known as Latin poets of considerable celebrity in their 

 time. Young Bojardo studied philosophy, medicine, and law at the 

 University of Ferrara, and he made himself well acquainted with the 

 Latin and Greek languages. After completing his etudie.1 he became 

 attached to the court of his sovereign. Duke Borso d'Kste, and was 

 one of the noblemen who accompanied that prince to Rome in 1471, 

 when Pope Paul II. gave Borso the investiture of the dukedom of 

 Ferrara. After Bono's death, which occurred in the Fame year, 

 Bojardo enjoyed the friendship of his brother and successor, Duke 

 Ercole I. lu 1472 Bojardo married Taddea, daughter of the Count 

 Novellara of the house of Gonzaga. In 1475 he went to meet and 

 escort to Ferrara Ercole's bride, Eleonora, daughter of King Ferdinand 

 of Naples. In 1478 he was made governor of K ggio, and in 1481 

 governor of Modeua, which place he held till 1487, when he resumed 

 his former station of governor of Reggio. He died at Reggio, 20th of 

 December 1494, and was buried in the church of Scan liana. His 

 administration is recorded to have been equitable and mild ; he was 

 averse to severe punishments, and especially to that of death. Bojardo 

 was a wealthy noble, who had a small court of hU own at his castle of 

 Scandiano, aud the tone of his poetry bespeaks his independence aud 

 lofty bearing. He was a favourable specimen of the later generations 

 of the feudal barons of Italy, before French invasion and Spanish 

 conquests transformed them into servile courtiers. 



Bojardo wrote a comedy, ' II Timoue,' which is partly taken from 

 Lucian's ' Timon.' He also translated into Italian the ' Golden Ass ' 

 of Apuleius, and Lucian's dialogue of ' Lucius or the Asa.' He like- 

 wise translated Herodotus and Xenophon's ' Cyroptodia,' but the latter 

 has never been printed. Bojardo wrote many lyrical pieces of con- 

 siderable poetical merit, which were published after his death : 

 ' Sonctti e Canzoni,' 4 to, lieggio, 1499. He also wrote some Latin as 

 well as Italian eclogues, which were published for the first time, 

 together with a selection of his lyrics aud the ' Timoue,' under the 

 title of 'Poesie di Matteo Maria IJojurdo,' 8vo, Modena, 1820. But 

 the work for which he is best known is the 'Orlando Innamorato,' a 

 romantic poem in ottava rima, in sixty-nine canto*. Bojardo took for 

 hi* subject the fabulous wars of Charlemagne against the Sai 

 the theuie of many an old legend and romance, but he placed the 

 scene in France and under the walls of Paris, which he represents as 

 besieged l>y two hosts of infidels, one from Spain and another which 

 had landed in the south of France from Africa. He adopted Orlando, 

 the lioland of the French romances, for his hero ; but while others 

 had represented him as the champion of Christendom, passionless and 

 above frailty, Bojardo make* him fall in love with Angelica, a consum- 

 mate coquette, who bad come all the way from the farthest Asia 

 to low dissension among the Christians. By these means Bojardo 



