BOIGNE BOI LE AU. 



587 



Orlando Innamorato (Scandiano, 1496) is continued to 

 the 79th canto, but not completed. He immortalized 

 the names of his own peasants, and the charms of the 

 scenery at Scandiano, in the persons of his heroes 

 and his descriptions of the beauties of nature. In 

 language and versification, he has been since sur- 

 passed by Ariosto, whom he equalled in invention, 

 grace, and skilful conduct ,of complicated episodes. 

 Domenichi, Berni, and Agostini new modelled and 

 continued the work of B. without improving it. One 

 continuation, only, will never be forgotten the im- 

 mortal Orlando of Ariosto. In some of his works, B. 

 was led, by the spirit of his times, to a close imitation 

 of the ancients; e.g., in his Capitoli ; also, in a 

 comedy borrowed from Lucian's Timon ; and in his 

 Latin eclogues and translations of Herodotus and 

 Apuleius. In his sonnets and canzoni (first printed 

 at Reggio, 1499), he has displayed great talents as a 

 lyric poet. 



BOIGNE, Count, was born at Chambery, in 1751. 

 In 1768, when seventeen years old, he left his coun- 

 try, and entered the French army, in which he served 

 for five years, then went into the Russian service, 

 was taken prisoner, at the siege of Tenedos, by the 

 Turks, and, after his release, if ft the Russian army. 

 From 1778 to 1782, he served in the forces of the 

 East India company, and fought against Hyder Ali. 

 Being neglected as a foreigner, he took service with 

 the rajah of Jaypur. He led, in 1784, to Mahajee 

 Scindiah, the celebrated prince of the Mahrattas, 

 two battalions, disciplined in the European manner, 

 and was of the greatest service to this prince during 

 his campaigns against the Mongols and Rajpoots. 

 From 1788 to 1790, he was engaged in commerce at 

 Lucknow ; but, at the invitation of Scindiah, he put 

 himself again at the head of an army of that prince, 

 and completely routed his enemies. The prince 

 1 leaped honours and riches on him. For the support 

 of the army organized by him, he had the govern- 

 ment of the country between Muttra and Delhi, 

 which yielded an annual revenue of five millions and 

 a half rupees (above half a million pounds sterling), 

 of which he was allowed to retain two per cent., 

 besides his salary, which amounted to 6000 rupees a 

 month. The army organized by him, consisted, in 

 1793, of 22,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry. After 

 the deatli of Scindiah, in 1794, Boigne also served 

 his grand-nephew; but, in 1795, the state of his 

 health obliged him to leave India. He went to Eng- 

 land, whither he had remitted his fortune, and thence 

 to his own country. He settled, in 1799, at Cham- 

 bery, where he did much good in a variety of ways, 

 spending much money in founding hospitals for the 

 aged and sick, and for travellers, in the construction 

 of roads, streets, &c., and other scientific and orna- 

 mental purposes. The king of Sardinia made him 

 count ; the king of France gave him the cross of the 

 legion of honour. He diea June 21, 1830, leaving 

 between fifteen and eighteen millions of francs to his 

 son, and above three millions in benefactions of va- 

 rious sorts. The story, that Tippoo Saib was given 

 up by him is utterly false, because he had been al- 

 ready for three years in Europe, when this prince 

 perished in his capital- See Memoire sur la Carriers 

 Militaire et Pacifique de M. le General Comte de 

 Boigne (Chambery, 1829), a work of much interest 

 in respect to the history of the Mahrattas during the 

 last half of the eighteenth century, for which Boigne's 

 son furnished the materials to the author. 



BOIL ; to heat a fluid until it bubbles and becomes 

 changed into vapour. If the requisite heat is applied 

 a sufficient time, bubbles continually arise, until the 

 fluid is entirely consumed. A singular circumstance 

 is to be remarked, that the fluid, in open vessels, 

 when it has once begun to boil, receives no increase 



of hrat, even from the hottest fire. The reason is 

 this, that the additional caloric goes to form steam, 

 and ascends with it into the air. The steam itself, 

 when formed, may be raised to a much higher degree 

 of temperature. During the period of boiling, the 

 surface of the fluid exhibits a violent undulating mo- 

 tion, and the stratum of air immediately over it is 

 filled with vapour. The noise which accompanies 

 boiling, arises, without doubt, from the displacing of 

 the steam-bubbles, and varies very much with the 

 nature and situation of the vessel. The vaporization 

 of fluids is, very probably, nothing more than a me- 

 chanical union of caloric with the fluid. The degree 

 of heat at which different fluids boil is very different. 

 Spirits boil at the lowest temperature; pure water 

 next; at a still higher temperature, the fixed oils. 

 The degree of heat at which a fluid boils is called its 

 boiling point. This is used as one of the fixed points 

 in the graduation of thermometers. This point is 

 uniform only in case of complete boiling, and under 

 a uniform pressure of the atmosphere. The influence 

 of this pressure appears from experiments. In an 

 exhausted receiver, the heat of the human hand is 

 sufficient to make water boil ; while, on the contrary, 

 in Papin's digester, where the confinement prevents 

 evaporation, it may be heated to 300 or 400 degrees 

 without boiling. Under the common pressure of the 

 atmosphere, the boiling point of rain-water is 212* 

 Fahrenheit; that of alcohol, 174; that of mercury, 

 660 ; that of ether, 98. From the experiments of 

 professor Robinson, it appears, that in a vacuum, all 

 liquids boil about 145 lower than in the open air, 

 under a pressure of thirty inches of mercury ; water, 

 therefore, would boil in a vacuum at 67. Ether 

 may be made to boil at the common temperature, by 

 merely exhausting the air from the vessel in which it 

 is contained. 



BOILEATT, Despreaux Nicholas, an eminent French 

 poet, was born in 1636, at Crosne, near Paris, com- 

 menced his studies in the college d'Harcourt, and con- 

 tinued them in the college de Beauvais. Even in his 

 early youth, he read with ardour the great poets of an 

 tiquity, and tried his own powers in a tragedy, though 

 with little success. After liaving completed his acade- 

 mical studies, he entered upon the career of the law ; 

 but soon left it from disinclination, tried some other 

 pursuits, and resolved, finally, to devote himself entire- 

 ly to belles-lettres. His first satire, Les Adieux d Parts, 

 made known his talents. In 1666, he published seven 

 satires, with an introduction, addressed to the king. 

 They met with extraordinary applause ; for no one, 

 before him, had written with such elegance of versi- 

 fication. But in this, and in the purity of his lan- 

 guage, and the clearness with which he sets forth his 

 luminous principles, consists their chief merit; novel, 

 profound, original ideas, we should look for in vain, 

 though the pieces are not destitute of graceful touches 

 and delicate strokes. They are unequal in merit. 

 The satires Stir ('Equivoque and Sur I'Homme have 

 undeniable defects. That on women, which lie wrote 

 at a more advanced age, is monotonous, and deficient 

 in humour. His epistles, in which he is the successful 

 rival of Horace, are more esteemed at the present 

 day. They display a graceful versification, a natural 

 and sustained style, vigorous and well connected 

 ideas. These were followed by his Art Poetique, in 

 which he describes, with precision and taste, all the 

 different kinds of poetry (with the exception of the 

 apologue), and lays down rules for them. In regu- 

 larity of plan, happy transitions, and continued ele- 

 gance of style, this poem is superior to the Ars Poe- 

 tica of Horace. It was long regarded, not only in 

 France, but also in foreign countries, as a poetical 

 code, and has every where had a favourable influence, 

 as it inculcates purity and regularity, and subjects all 



