BONNET, CHARLES. 



BONONCINI, GIOVANNI. 



oath of supremacy being tendered, and his refusal to Uke it, be 

 was deprived a Mcood time of his bishopric and indicted for a pr.e- 

 munire. He neaped the penaltiei attached to this charge, but he 

 was confined for the reet of hit life to the Manhalsea, where he died 

 on September 5th, 1669. The public acto of Bonner's Ufa sufficiently 

 bow the character of the man; and whatever palliation may be 

 offered, there can be little doubt that he well merited the popular 

 abhorrence which attached to bin name. But Burnett'i assertion that 

 he little nndentood divinity, but was a great master of the canon 

 law, wherein he was excelled by very few in his time, is evidently 

 inaccurate. He wa no doubt a matter both of the canon law and of 

 scholastic divinity. 



BONNET, CHARLES, was born March 13, 1720, at Geneva, where 

 he died, June 20, 1793. He was descended from a family of French 

 Proteotanta, who had left their native country in 1572, in order to 

 eeeape from the religious persecutions of that period. Bonnet's Brat 

 studios were applied to the science of jurisprudence, but the perusal 

 of the works of Reaumur and other contemporary naturalists pro- 

 duced in his mind so decided a preference for the investigations of 

 natural history, that he relinquished the legal profession, for which he 

 bad been destined by his family. 



The discoveries of Trembley on the animal functions and modes of 

 reproduction of the polypes named Hydra-, led Bonnet into similar 

 investigations with respect to insects, the results of which he pub- 

 lished in his ' Traito d'Insectologie,' 2 vols. Paris, 1745. In this work 

 bis inquiries are especially directed to the processes of respiration in 

 caterpillars and butterflies, and to the peculiar formation of the tape- 

 worm. Bonnet's early education had sufficiently qualified him for the 

 performance of political duties, so that in 1 752 he waa elected a member 

 of the council of state of the republic of Geneva, a situation which 

 he retained till 1768. After the publication of bis work on insects, 

 his inquiries were directed to the processes of the nourishment, 

 respiration, and growth of plants, and his discoveries were made public 

 iu his 'Recherches BUT 1'Usage des Feuillea daus les Plautes,' 4 to. 

 Leyden, 1754. About this time his sight bad become impaired, and 

 be was consequently obliged to refrain from those minute examina- 

 tions into animal and vegetable organisation to which be had been BO 

 long accustomed. He then retired to an estate which be possessed on 

 the banks of the Lake of Geneva, where with his wife and in the 

 society of literary men, by whom he was frequently visited, he passed 

 the remainder of his life. 



Bonnet, from the time when his sight became weak, seems to have 

 employed his thoughts chiefly on subjects relating to the connection 

 between the mental and corporeal organisation of man and also of the 

 lower animals. In 1755 he published bis ' Essai de Psycologie, ou 

 Considerations sur les Operations de 1'Ame ; ' in 1760 an 'Essai 

 Analytique snr les Facultes de 1'Ame;' in 1762 'Considerations sur 

 les Corps Organises: ' in 1761 the ' Contemplation de la Nature ; ' in 

 1769 'Idees sur 1'EUt Futur des Etres Vivants, ou Paliugoneaie 

 Philosopbique ; ' and in 1773 his ' Recherches Philosophises sur les 

 Preuves du ChristUnisme.' He also published an edition of his 

 collected works, ' (Kuvres d'Histoire Naturelle et des Philosophic,' 

 8 vols. 4to, and 18 vols. 12mo, Neufcbatel, 1779-1788. An account of 

 his life and works was given by Trembley in 1794, ' Mcmoire pour 

 rervir h 1'Histoire de la Vie et des Onvrages de Charles Bonnet, 8vo, 

 Bern. 



BONNIVARD, FRANCOIS DE, wa* born in 1496, at Seysnel, in 

 the French district of Bugc, now included in the department of Aiu. 

 He studied at Turin, and while yet a young man ' received from his 

 uncle, by resignation, the priory of St. Victor, situated close to the 

 wall uf the city of Geneva, and which had lands of considerable 

 value attached to it. Bonnivard was of liberal opinions, and decidedly 

 opposed to feudal oppression, and he adopted the republic of Geneva 

 a* bis country. At that time there were disputes between the 

 republic and Charles III., duke of Savoy, in consequence of the 

 1'riuco-Biahop of Geneva having ceded to the duko the siguiorial 

 rights which were annexed to his bishopric. The duke in 1519 

 entered Geneva with an army, and Bonnivard, who had been con 

 spicuous in his support of the rights of the republic, endeavoured to 

 make bis ncape Into Switzerland. He was however arrested, and 

 delivered to the duke, by whom he was detained two years a prisoner 

 at Orolce. After his release he continued to be active in support ol 

 the principles of the republic, snd in his opposition to the claims ol 

 the duke. But he was again unfortunate, for in 1530, while travelling 

 on the Jura, be was not only plundered by robbers, but they placed 

 him again in the power of the duke. He was then immured iu tin 

 dungeon of the Chateau-de-Chillou, a fortified castle at the eastern end 

 of the Lake of Geneva, where he was kept in close confinement during 

 six years. Tba Swiss cantons of Bern and Freiberg were at that time 

 in alliance with the republic of Geneva, and the Bernese, having 

 occupied the canton of Vaud, obtained possession also of the Chateau 

 de-Chillon, and released Bonnivard. On the fact of Bonnivard's 

 imprisonment here, and certain traditions of the residents in the 

 ti' inity, Lord Byron founded his short narrative poem of ' Thi 

 Prisoner of Chilloo.' The additional circumstance of two of the 

 brothers of Bonnirard having been imprisoned with him, has no 

 foundation except in the imagination of the poet. The description ,. 

 their suffering* and death, which forms the most affecting part of the 



narrative, was probably suggested by Dante's Count Ugolino and hi* 

 two sons. Bonnivard returned to Geneva, and continued to reside 

 there till his death in 1570. He wrote a history of Geneva, made the 

 republic heir to his ecclesiastical possessions, and left an extensive 

 collection of books, which formed the foundation of the public library 

 of the republic. 



BONNYCASTLE, JOHN, professor of mathematics at the Royal 

 Military Academy, Woolwich, was born at Whitchurch in Bucking- 

 hamshire, and came early to London, where he married at the age of 

 nineteen. His wife dying soon after their marriage, he became tutor 

 to the sons of a nobleman, after which he resided at Euston in North- 

 mptonshire, till he obtained a place at the Woolwich Academy, whera 

 le finally became a professor, and where ho died May 15, 1821. He U 

 tated to have been a good scholar, and much attached to poetry, 

 >articularly to that of Shakspere. 



Bonnycastle is known by a large number of excellent elementary 

 works, which, being still on sale, it is not necessary to unum 

 iia 'Guide to Arithmetic' has long bad a grt circulation. Hi. 

 realises on mensuration and astronomy arc ve i y good of their kind ; 

 >ut his 'Elements of Algebra' (not the abridgu int, but the work in 

 wo volumes, 8vo, 1813) is a very excellent peritrmance, and shows 

 ;reat knowledge of the state of the science. He does not enter much 

 nto principles, but his management of the mechanism of algebra, and 

 lis almost singular felicity in separating the most striking and powerful 

 arts from the rest, render his work very useful to the reader. 



Bonnycastle passes for the translator of Bossut's ' History of Mathe- 

 matics,' but a correspondent of the ' Gentleman's Magazine' for 1821 

 p. 482) states, as of his own knowledge, that Bonnycastle only wrote 

 be preface, and added the list of mathematicians at the end, the 

 translation being by Mr. T. 0. Churchill. His name however H 

 prefixed to the work. 



BONOMI', JOSEPH, an Italian architect who practised iu England, 

 was born at Home in 1739, and studied architecture under the Marcheso 

 Teodoli. In 1767 he was invited to England by the brothers Adam, 

 and was for many years employed by them as an assistant and archi- 

 tectural draftsman. The acquaintance which he formed in London 

 with Angelica Kauflman, then in the zeuith of her fame, led to hii 

 marrying her cousin and ward, Rosa Florini, iu 1775. When Angelica 

 returned to Italy, after her marriage with /.ucchi ths painter, she 

 induced Bouomi to do the same, and he left England iu 17>3, liking 

 with him his family of three young children ; but he did not remain 

 n Italy above a year. About five years after his return, iu November 

 1789, he was elected an Associate of the Koyal Academy, but was 

 never raised to the rank of R.A., although Sir Joshua Key 

 interested himself very warmly in his behalf, and did all he coul.l to 

 obtain for him the professorship of perspective : the feeling excited 

 by his influence on behalf of Bonomi led to Heyuolds's tempo- 

 rary resignation of his presidency of the Academy. Bonomi .lie I 

 March 9, 1808, leaving a widow and six children, the eldest of whom 

 bos acquired notice as an architect ; and another foil, who has visited 

 Egypt, has obtained considerable distinction by bis writings ou 

 Egyptian antiquities. 



Bouomi' s chief professional works are, additions and alterations at 

 Langley Hall, Kent, 1790 ; the chapel of the Spanish embassy, near 

 Manchester-square, London, 1792 ; Eastwell House, Kent, 1793 ; the 

 pyramidal mausoleum in Blickling Park, Norfolk, 1791 ; Longford 

 Hall, Salop; mansion at Laverstoke, Hants, 1797; the splendid man- 

 sion at Roseneath in Dumbartonshire, for the Duke of Argyll, 1S03, 

 which last, though left incomplete, is his most celebrated work, but is 

 rather remarkable for its peculiarities than for any high architect.ui-.il 

 or artietic merits. Bonomi also made designs for the new wcr, 

 St. Peter's at Rome, of which edifice bo bad been appointed honorary 

 architect in 1804. 



BONONCI'NI, GIOVANNI, a musical composer whose name oncu 

 rivalled Handel's, but is now chiefly known through the medium of 

 Swift's epigram, appears to have been born about the year 1660 at 

 Bologna, where his father, Giovanni Maria, followed the profo.-iou of 

 music, and in 1673 published a book, 'II Musico Practice,' from which 

 we are inclined to infer that he was neither a very sound musician nor 

 possessed of much good sense. 



When the Italian Opera, under the title of the ' Corporation of tho 

 Royal Academy of Music,' was established in London by a party of 

 nobility and gentry, who subscribed 50,OOOJ. for the purpose, to which 

 George I. as patron contributed 10002., the managers engaged H.m.l. 1 

 (then living at Cannons), Bouonciui (who waa sent for from Home), 

 and Artosti (who came from Bologna), to compose for the theatre. 

 Handel's productions displayed every great quality ; Bononcini's were 

 marked by tenderness and elegance, but wanted invention and vigour; 

 Ariosti seems to have been a good musician without genius, whoso 

 name would soon have been consigned to oblivion but for his con- 

 nection with the other two. The first new work presented by the 

 academy was 'Muzio Scajvola,' of which Ariosti, the senior of the 

 three, furnished the first act, Bouoncini the second, and Handel, as 

 youngest of the party, the third. The comparative merits of thu two 

 last composers were judged, not by critical rules, but party feelings. 

 Handel was patronised by the king, his rival had the support of the 

 Marlborough family : Handel was the favourite of the Tories, Bonon- 

 cini of the Whigs. The public generally however were on the side of 



