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BORQOONONE, JACOPO CORTE3I. 



BORROUEO, ST. CHARLES. 



to her hr Betnbo. Bembo continued to correspond with the Duchees 

 of KsU lone after be bad toft Kerrara, and till 1517. Lucrenia was the 

 mother of three von* by Alfonso, who bad a high opinion of her, and 

 intrusted her with the care of the government while he waa abaeot in 

 the fiVld, in which capacity ahe aeem to have conducted benelf so aa 

 to Rain general approbation. In the Utter yean of her life aho became 

 nor* rigid in her mannera and more avaiduoun in the practice of 

 deration and charitable works. In abort, her behaviour after aha 

 became Ducheaa of Ferrara affords no grounds for centure. Her 

 former conduct, while at Rome with her father, baa been the subject 

 of much obloquy, which seems to rest however chiefly on infereneea 

 from her living in a flagitious court, where ahe witnessed the moat 

 profligate scew*. Still there is no individual charge substantiated 

 against her. (Sea the ' Dissertation ' of Itoecoe referred to above.) 

 Of any participation in the murder of her huaband, or in any of her 

 brother'a atroeioaa deeds, alie baa never been accuaed. At Ferrara the 

 waa highly praiaed by Stroxzi, Tibaldeo, Arioato, and other poU of 

 the court Bembo dedicated hia ' Aaolani' to her, and Aldo Manuzio, 

 in the dedication prefixed to hia edition of Strozzi'a work*, speaks of 

 her aa an accompliabed princesa and a liberal patroneu of hia art ; the 

 biatoriana Oiraldi, Sardi, and Libanori, mention her in tertna of the 

 higbeat commendation. All tbia can hardly be mere flattery, for even 

 flattery from ao many different writers could not have been lavished 

 on a person ao profligate and debased aa she haa been represented. A 

 drama full of horrible but gratuitous fictions concerning her life was 

 published and performed at Paris in 1833, under the title of ' Lucrece 

 Borgia. 1 Lucrexia died at Ferrara in 1523. 



John, duke of Uandia, left a sou who perpetuated the family of Borgia. 

 On* of hia descendant* waa canoniaed aa St Francis de Borgia. Another 

 Borgia was viceroy of Peru, and died in 1658. Lastly. Cardinal Stefano 

 Borgia (prefect of Propaganda), a learned and amiable man, who died 

 in 1804, while accompanying Pius VII. on hia journey to Paris. The 

 Muaeum Borgia at VeUetri, rich in Egyptian and Mexican antiquities, 

 belonged to this cardinal. He has left several learned works, among 

 others a ' History of Beneveoto,' in S vola. 4 to ; 'De Cruce Veliterna 

 Commentarii,' Roma, 1780 ; ' Baaairilievi in terra cotta dipinti in varij 

 colon trovati nella cittu di Velletri,' Roma, 1785 ; 'Storia della citta 

 di Tadino ;' ' De Cruce Vaticana,' Ac. 



BOKQOGNO'NE, JA'COPO CORTE'SI, called from hia place of 



birth Borgognone, was born in 1621 in the city of St Hippolite in 

 Burgundy (ItaL Borgogna). His father, Giovanni Cortesi, was a painter 

 of sacred subjects, and very successful in his way. Owing to an acci- 



dental temptation, Jacopo went into the army for three yean ; after 

 which be returned to his art, and studied at Bologna, where Guido, 

 then at the height of hia fame, waa residing. Quido, happening to see 

 a picture of his in a window, inquired into hia circumstances, and took 

 him home with him, which, during the remaining six months that he 

 stayed in Bologna, afforded him a fine opportunity of improving his 

 colouring. Here be occasionally aaw Albano. from whom, among other 

 things, be learned this maxim, " That a painter, before setting to work 

 upon any subject, thouH recal to mind something which he had seen 

 in reality;" a aaying which Jacopo kept constantly in view. Borgognone 

 subsequently realised a handaome independence, and visited hia native 

 country for three years ; then returned to Italy, and painted for a con- 

 aiderable time in Florence with great reputation. But he bad early in 

 life imbibed a passion for the monastic life from frequent association 

 with members of the religious order*. In 1656 be conceived himself 

 under a call to renounce the vanities of the world, and accordingly 

 betook himself to Rome, where be begged to be admitted iuto the 

 Order of Jesus, and waa received aa a novice. During bis noviciate he 

 paii.ted, at the suggestion of hia fellow-monks, pictures of sacred 

 subjects. In such esteem waa he held by the community to which he 

 belonged that the second year of noviciate waa dispenaed with, and he 

 never gave bis order reason to repent of their confidence. Hia 

 religious profession however did not make him idle, and he painted 

 a vigorously a* ever. He died of apoplexy, November 14th, 1676. 



Borgognone painted with great facility and rapidity ; hia pictures 

 eoMeqoently an very numerous. His execution was in dashing etrokca, 

 the colour laid on thick, and batter suited therefore to a distant than 

 a close view a manner which haa been ascribed to his living with 

 Ouido, and to his seeing the works of Paolo Veronese when at Veuicc ; 

 but U sufficiently explained by bis early habits of study and practice. 

 His pictures have excellences corresponding to the peculiarity of his 

 They are chiefly of battle-piece* and the like ; and there U in 

 them a freedom of design, a force and suddenness in the action, a 

 unity of competition, with a moat natural variety in the accidents, 

 which se*m to convey to the gallery-visitor the impression of a real 



i. .- i : i. 



Jacopo bad a brother, Ocouiuio CORTni, also called Borgognone, 

 a painter of merit, who sometimes amiated bis brother in his paintings, 

 but he never attained the same eminence. He waa a pupil of Pietio 

 da Cortona, hut chiefly formed hia atyto a/Ur that of Carlo Maratta. 



BORLASE, WILLIAM, waa born at Pendeen, in the parish of St. 

 Just in Cornwall, February 2nd 1696, where bis family had been 

 ettled from the reign of King William Rufu. He was placed early 

 at M-hool at Penxance, where his master used to aay "be could learn, 

 but did not; ' and waa thence removed in 17OT to Plymouth, under 

 the car* of the Rev. Mr. Bedford. In March 1713 he was entered 



of Exeter College, Oxford. He was ordained priest in 1720. In 1 7 - J 

 he waa presented to the rectory of Ludgvan in Cornwall. In 1724 he 

 waa married to Anne, eldest surviving daughter and coheir of the 

 Rev. William Smith; and in 1732 he waa presented by Lord Chan- 

 cellor King to the vicarage of St Just, his native pari-.li, where his 

 father bad considerable property. 



At Ludgvan, a retired but delightful situation, Mr. Borlaae soon 

 recommended himself aa a clergyman, a gentleman, and a man of 

 learning. The parish of Ludgvan contained rich copper-works, abound- 

 ing with mineral fossils, which Mr. Borlase collected from time to t inn ; 

 and bis collection increasing by degrees, he was encouraged to study 

 the natural history of his native couuty. While engaged ill this 

 design, his attention became strongly directed to the numerous monu- 

 ments of remote antiquity in several ports of Cornwall, which had till 

 then been nearly neglected. Enlarging his plan, be determined to 

 gain as accurate an acquaintance as possible with the religion an 

 toms of the ancient Britons, to which he was encouraged by several 

 gentlemen of bis neighbourhood, who were lovers of British antiqui t i> .-*, 

 and by the antiquarians of other parts of England. 



In 1 750, being at London, be waa admitted a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society, into which he had been choaen the year before, after having 

 communicated a paper on the nature and properties of spar and 

 sparry productioui!, particularly on the spars or crystals found in the 

 Cornish mines, printed in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' vol. xvi. 

 p. 260. His next memoir was an account of the great alterations 

 which the islands of Scilly have undergone since the time of the 

 ancients who mention them, as to their number, extent, and position. 

 (' Phil. Trans.,' vol. xlviii. p. 65.) Various other communications from 

 him, some relating to the antiquities, some to the natural history of 

 his native couuty, appear iu the ' Philosophical Transactions' between 

 the years 1752 aud 1771. 



The antiquities of Cornwall were published at Oxford in February 

 1753, under the title of 'Observations on the Antiquities, Historical 

 and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall,' folio, Oxford, 1754. It 

 passed through a second edition at London iu 1769. At the request 

 of Dr. Lyttelton, president of the Society of Antiquaries, aud after- 

 wards bishop of Carlisle, his memoir on the Scilly Islands was pub- 

 lished iu au enlarged form ns a distinct treatise, entitled ' Observ 

 on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly, and tlinr 

 importance to the trade of Great Britain ; ' iu a Letter to the Rev. 

 Charles Lyttelton, LL.D., dean of Exeter, 4 to, Oxford, 1756. 



Hr. Borlase printed at the Oxford press hia ' Natural History of 

 Cornwall,' for which he had been many years making collections : it 

 was published in folio in April 1758. He presented a variety of fossil* 

 and remains of antiquity, which he had described in his works, to the 

 Ashmolean Museum, to which he continued to send everything curious 

 that fell in his way. In 1766 the University of Oxford conferred ")" n 

 him the degree of LL.D. by diploma. 



Dr. Borlase was diligent in his pastoral duties and the study of the 

 Scriptures. He made a paraphrase of the book of Job aud the books 

 of Solomon, and wrote some other pieces of a religion* kind. He 

 occupied himself in superintending his parish, and particularly tlie 

 improvement of the high roads, which were more numerous than in 

 any parish in Cornwall. The belles-lettres and painting also oc> 

 part, of his leisure time. The correction and enlargement of hia 

 'History of Cornwall* for a second edition engaged a portion of his 

 time ; and when this was completed ho minutely revised his ' Natural 

 History.' His ' Private Thoughts concerning the Creation and Deluge,' 

 after being sent to the printer, were recalled when a few pages wen- 

 printed, chiefly owing to his severe illness in January 1771. From 

 this time his health began to decline. He died August 31st 177-, iu 

 bis 77th year. 



Dr. Borlase corresponded with many of the most eminent men of 

 bis time. Nichols, who, in his ' Literary Anecdotes of the Kight. <-nth 

 Century,' voL v., haa printed Dr. Borlase's Life of Himself, with addi- 

 tions, Bays that there is still extant a large collection of letters written 

 to Dr. Borlaae by Pope, whom be furnished with the greatest part of the 

 materials for forming bis grotto at Twickenham, consisting of such 

 curious fossils as the county of Cornwall abounds with. 



BORROMK'O, ST. CHARLES, son of Oilberto Borromeo, Count 

 of Arena, Lord of Am.-hi< ri, Ac., and of Mnrghcrita du' Medici, sinter 

 to Pope Pius IV., was bora at Arena iu October 1538. He studied at 

 Pavia under Alciati, and took his doctor's degree at twenty-two years 

 of age. Shortly after, his uncle Pius IV. called him to Rome, and 

 made him a cardinal and archbishop of Milan. Borromeo established 

 an academy in the Vatican for the promotion of learning, and he 

 published its conferences, under the name of 'Nodes Vatican:' .' 1U> 

 urged the pope to hasten the termination of the Council of Trent; 

 and upon iU conclusion in 1563, be was commissioned to draw up au 

 exposition of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, as sanc- 

 tioned by that council. This exposition ia known by the name of 

 'Catechismus Tridentinus.' After the death of Pius IV., iu 15C5, 

 Cardinal Borromeo went to his diocese, where be devoted I/: 

 entirely to bis episcopal dutic*. He reformed hia expensive style of 

 living, and employed the greater part of his revenues in charitable 

 purposes. He alo enforced a reform in the clergy, especially among 

 the monastic order*. The monks called Umiliati gave most scand.d 

 by their openly licentious conduct; and P-orromeo having exerted 



