BOUTERWEK, FRIEDRICH. 



BOWLES, REV. WILLIAM LISLR. 



man hiiutelf rank high among those who owe their immortality to 

 it., ir connection with the colossus of bis (Be. Napoleon, who know 

 the men be dealt with, described him at St. Helena a* a man who had 

 talenU and other good qualities, but who waa BO inordinately greedy 

 of money, that be could not eren write the word 'million*' without a 

 kin. I of nervous agitation, and fidgrtting in bis chair. 



{Rioyrapitu UnirtrttUe; Bourrienne, Memoin of A'apo/m ; and the 

 Life of Bmurriauu by Dr. Memes, prefixed to the English translation 

 of the Memoir* published in * Constable's Miscellany,' 1831.) 



BOUTERWEK, FRIEDRICH, a German metaphysician, professor 

 of moral philosophy at the University of Quttingen, is chiefly esteemed 

 for his History of Modern Literature.' He was born in the year 

 1766, at an iron foundry near Qoalar, and completed his studies at 

 Gottingen. He was educated for the law, but was diverted from his 

 legal pursuit! by the charms of lighter literature. At an early age be 

 published several poems and a novel, ' Graf Donamar,' which is said 

 to give a good picture of German life ; but at the age of twenty-five, 

 being struck with a sense of the insufficiency of such occupation ss 

 the business of life, he devoted himself to metaphysics as a disciple 

 of the then reigning masters, Kant and Jacobi. He was appointed to 

 tbe cbair of moral philosophy at Gottingen in 1797. In bis lectures 

 mid in bis metaphysical writings, he has ably expounded the doctrines 

 of the above-named philosophers. His literary reputation rests upon 

 his ' Geschichte der Neuern Poc'sie und B-redramkcit,' in 12 volumes 

 Svo, published in 1801. This work contains separate critical histories 

 of the belles-lettres of Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, England, and 

 Germany, from the revival of letters to tbe close of tbe 18th century. 

 The best parts of the work are those on English and German litera- 

 ture. Portions of Bouterwek's work have been translated into French 

 ami English. Professor Bouterwek died on the 8th of August, 1828. 

 (AUffomeme Deuticlit Real Encyclopedic ; GackicMe der Keucrn Poftie 

 laid JSertdtaml'dt.) 



BOWDICH, THOMAS EDWARD, was born in 1790 at Bristol, 

 where bis {ather was a merchant. He was admitted while still very 

 young a junior partner in his father's house, when he married ; but, 

 after a struggle of some yearn, both with his own inclinations and with 

 want of success, be entered himself at Oxford, where be only remained 

 for a very short time. By the interest of his uncle, Mr. J. Hope Smith, 

 tbe govcrnor-in-chief of the settlements belonging to tbe African 

 Company, be obtained a writership in that service, and proceeded to 

 Cape Coast Castle in 1814. About two years afterwards he returned 

 for a abort time to England, when he was appointed by the Company 

 to conduct a mission to the king of the Ashantees ; but on his arrival 

 at Cape Coast Castle it was thought by his uncle and the council there 

 that he was too young to go as the head of the mission, and Mr. James, 

 the governor of the fort of Accra, was put in his place. While the 

 paity was at Coomarsie, the capital of Aahantee, Mr. Bowdich, with 

 the concurrence of the other subordinate members of tbe mission, 

 superseded Mr. James, and took the management of the negociation 

 into his own bands. His conduct was approved by the authorities 

 at Cape Coast Castle ; but it* propriety has since been strongly ques- 

 tioned by Mr. Dupuia, 'Journal of a Residence in Aahantee,' 4to, 1824. 

 After returning from this embassy Mr. Bowdich again visited England ; 

 and in 1819 he published at London, in a 4to volume, his account of 

 the remarkable people among whom he bad been, under the title of 

 'A Miwion to Aahantee.' Soon after the publication of this work, 

 which was read with great avidity, the author proceeded to Paris, and 

 in that city he appears to have resided for some years, prosecuting his 

 studio, principally in tbe mathematical and natural sciences, which he 

 had neglected in his youth. He now also published a pamphlet in 

 exposure of the system pursued by the African Company in the 

 management of their possessions, which is understood to have induced 

 the govrruoirnt to take these settlements into its own hands. This 

 was followed by a translation, with notes, from the French, of a 

 'Treatise on Taxidermy,' to which be did not put his name. He after- 

 ward* published the following work*: 'A Translation of Travels, 

 by Mollien, to the Source* of the Senegal and Gambia ; ' an Appendix to 

 the above, tinder the title of 'British and French Ex|ditinn to 

 Teembo, with Remarks on Civilization,' Ac. ; an ' Essay on the Geo- 

 graphy of North- Western Africa;' an 'Essay on the Superstitions, 

 Customs, and Art* common to the Antient Egyptians, Abyssinian*, 

 and Aahanteei;' three works, illustrated with lithographic figure*, on 

 Mammalia, on Bird*, and on Shells ; a Memoir, entitled ' The Contra 

 diction* in Park's last Journal Explained;' and a 'Mathematical 

 Investigation, with Original Formula;, for ascertaining the Longitude 

 of tbe Sea by Eclipse* of the Moon.' With tbe assistance of a friend, 

 and the money be had realised by bis publications, Mr. IV.w.li. h, in 

 August 1823, set out for Africa, in pursuance of a wish which he had 

 constantly oberi-bed of devoting himself to the exploration of that 

 continent. H had only however reached tbe mouth of the Gambia, 

 accompanied by his wife, when he was attacked by fever, under which, 

 attar several partial recoveries, he expired on the 10th of January, 

 1824. In the same year was published from his papers (Svo, London,) 

 'An Account of the Discoveries of the Portuguese in Angola and 

 Mozambique,' tho material* of which he had principally collected at 

 Lisbon on his last journey; and in 1825 hi* widow, afterward* Mrs. 

 Lee, published in 4to, 'Excursions in Madeira and Porto Santo, Ac., 

 by the late T. E. Bowdicb, E*q.; to which are added a Narrative of 



Mr. Bowdich's last Voyage to Africa; Remarks on tho Cape de V :>.- 

 Island* ; and a Description of the English Settlements on the River 

 Gambia; by Mrs. Bowdich.' 



BOWDIT CH, NATHANIEL, was born at Salem, in Massachusetts, 

 in 1773. His ancestors belonged to the west of England. His father 

 waa a poor working cooper. At ten years of age Nathaniel was taken 

 by his father into tbe shop, and afterwords apprenticed to a ship- 

 chandler. But an inclination for arithmetic and mathematics devel- 

 oped itself early, and was cultivated with all the energy of his 

 character. In 1788 he was able to calculate an almanac for thu yi nr 

 1790. He taught himself the elements of geometry and algebra, and 

 was taught navigation by an old British xailor. He also taught him- 

 self Latin that ho might read the ' Principia ' of Newton, which he 

 had done by the age of twenty-one. At different times of his life he 

 also learnt, with little assistance, most of the European language* : 

 his plan was to take the New Testament and a dictionary, and begin 

 to translate, writing down the original ; and in this way he is said to 

 have left specimens of his attention to twenty-five languages or 

 dialects. 



When he had reached the age of twenty-five, be took to a sen-faring 

 life, and made four long voyages as clerk or supercargo, and one as 

 master. Himself an excellent navigator, he taught every one on 

 board his ship how to find a ship's place, and on one occasion had 

 twelve seamen, being all his crew, every one of whom could take a 

 lunar observation. He edited three editions of the celebrated work 

 on navigation by John Hamilton Moore ; but at last he had corrected 

 so many errors, and made so many changes, that he thought himsflf 

 justified in publishing it under his own name, as 'The new American 

 Practical Navigator.' In this form it went through eight editions, 

 and became very well known. His maritime life ended in 1804. in 

 1798 be married, but lost his wife before the end of the year. II. 

 married again in 1800; his second wife died in 1 834, leaving a grown-up 

 family. To tbe memory of this lady Dr. Bowditch dedicated his trans- 

 lation of the ' Mecanique Celeste.' After giving up seafaring pursuits 

 he was engaged for many years in connection with the business of 

 Assurance Companies. He died at Boston, March 16, 1838. 



Dr. Bowditch is the author of a good many papers on astronomical 

 subject* in the ' Transactions of the American Academy.' But the 

 work which will carry his name down in Europe, and which entitl 

 him to be considered as tho lirst great promoter of mathematical 

 analysis in the United States, it his translation of the ' Mecanique 

 Ci'lesto ' of Laplace, with a commentary. 



Four volumes of this work, corresponding to the first four volumes 

 of the original, appeared in 1829, 1832, 1834, and 1839. The fourth 

 volume was published posthumously. 



Tbe commentary has considerable value ; not only as giving the 

 reader of Laplace more recent views and simplifications, and bringing 

 the results of extensive reading to bear upon the text, but also an a 

 real and effective running explanation of the innumerable steps in tho 

 process of calculation which Laplace omits. Bowditch says, " I never 

 come across one of Laplace's ' thus it plainly appears,' without 

 feeling sure that I have got hours of hard study before me to fill up 

 tbe chasm, and find out and show how ' it plainly appears.' " There is 

 much in the work which a mathematician of higher pretensions woul.l 

 not have thought it needful to publish, but the fulness of tho expla- 

 nations render* the work of great value to student*. Considered as 

 the work of a self-taught man, closely engaged in professional busi- 

 ness, Dr. Bowditch'* translation of Laplace is a remarkable production. 

 Dr. Bowditch bequeathed his library to the state of Massachusetts 

 and it formed tho commencement of a public library, named after him 

 at Boston. 



(Life of Dr. Bovditch, by his son, prefixed to the fourth and 

 posthumous volume of bis translation of thn ' Mdcanique Celeste ; ' 

 Pickering ; Young; D. A. White, Eulogy on the Life and Character of 

 Nathaniel Bovditch.) 



BOWLES, REV. WILLIAM LISLE, a man of some importance a* 

 an English poet, but of still greater importance from the peculiar 

 position he occupied in the history of English poetry, was born at 

 King's Button, on the borders of Northamptonshire, on the 24th of 

 September 1762. His father was vicar of the parish in which he was 

 born; his grandfather, Dr. Bowles, also a clergyman in the name 

 neighbourhood, was of a Wiltshire family. His mother was one of 

 the daughters of the Rev. Dr. Richard Grey, author of ' Memoria 

 Technics,' and other works. When the boy was seven years old, bis 

 father was appointed to the living of Uphill in Somersetshire; and one 

 of his earliest recollection* was the journey of the whole family, con- 

 sixting of the vicar, his wife, and seven children, with two maid- 

 snrvsnta, in two lumbering chaUei, preceded by a rustic in livery, on 

 their way far westward to the new parish. In 1776, at the age of 

 fourteen, he was sent to Winchester school, where hi* master was 

 Dr. Joseph Warton. He was one of Warton's favourite pupils, and he 

 himself expresses his obligations to Warton for the kindly care with 

 which he instructed him in the principle* of literary taste and 

 criticism. It was probably on the recommendation of Joseph Warton 

 that, on leaving Winchester School in 1782, after rising to be cenior 

 boy, Bowles ohoae Trinity College, Oxford, a* the place of his farther 

 education. Thomas Warton, Joseph's more distinguished brother, 

 was then senior fellow of that college. Among hi* contemporaries at 



