626 



BOOTES BOUACIC ACID. 



periodical niins ; and the climate is, in general, mo- 

 ut rite, calculated to bring forth both European and 

 Asiatic fruits and vegetables. Thus we find the 

 trees and shrubs of Northern Europe, in sight of the 

 large fon-sts, and a rank vegetation of plants strictly 

 tropical. The Deb Itajuh, who resides at Tassisudon, 

 is the prince of the country, Imt is tributary to the 

 grand lama of Thibet. The inhabitants are robust, 

 naive, and ferocious. They have the Tartar features. 

 They are of the Boodh religion, and leave most of 

 tin- .'alxiur to the women. Their houses are, in ge- 

 neral, of only one story, but the palace of the rajah 

 is a lofiy pile. From the precipitous nature of the 

 country, they are obliged to use numerous bridges, 

 many of which are constructed with ropes and iron 

 chains. B. produces a hardy breed of horses, about 

 thirteen hands high, called tangans. A caravan is 

 sent annually by (.he prince Deb Rajah, who is the 

 only merchant in the dominions, to Kungpore, in 

 Bengal. The goods which are carried by the tangans 

 are coarse woollen cloths, cow-tails from Thibet, 

 bees-wax, ivory, musk, gold dust, silver ingots, with 

 silks, tea, paper, and knives from China, with which 

 13. lias a close intercourse. The current coin is the 

 Narainy rupee of Couch Behar, worth about twenty 

 cents. The customs of the inhabitants resemble those 

 of the Birmans or inhabitants of Ava, more than they 

 dotlioseof their nearer neighbours ot Thibet or Assam. 



BOOTES ; a northern constellation, called, also, by 

 the Greeks, Arctophylax, and, by the English, 

 Charles's /fain. Arcturus was placed, by the an- 

 cients, on his breast ; by the moderns, on the skirt 

 of his coat Fable relates that Philomelus, son of 

 Ceres and Jasion, having been robbed by his brother 

 Plutus, invented the plough, yoked two bulls to it, 

 and thus supported himself by cultivating the ground. 

 ( eres, to reward his ingenuity, transferred him, with 

 his cattle, under the name of Bootes, to the heavens. 



BOOTH, Barton, an actor of great celebrity in the 

 reigns of queen Anne and George I., was born in 

 1 G3 1 , and placed, under doctor Busby, at Westminster 

 school. An early attachment for the drama was fos- 

 tered by the applause he met with while performing 

 a part in one of Terence's plays, at the annual exhi- 

 bition in that seminary. He eloped from school at 

 the age of seventeen, and joined Ashbury's company 

 of strolling players, with whom he went to Dublin. 

 After performing three years in the Irish capital with 

 great applause, Fie returned, in 1701, to London, and, 

 engaging with Betterton, met with similar success. 

 On the death of that manager, he joined the Drury 

 lane company, and, on the production of Cato, in 

 1712, raised his reputation as a tragedian to the high- 

 est pitch, by his performance of the principal charac- 

 ter. It was on this occasion that lord Bolingbroke 

 presented him from the stage-box with fifty guineas 

 an example which was immediately followed by 

 (hat nobleman's political opponents. Declamation, 

 rather than passion, appears to have been his forte, 

 though Cibber speaks of his Othello as his finest 

 character. He became a patentee and manager of 

 the theatre in 1713, in conjunction with Wilks, Cib- 

 ber, and Doggett, and died May, 1733. He was 

 buried in Westminster abbey, where there is a monu- 

 ment to his memory. He was the author of Dido 

 and ^neas, a mask, various songs, &c., and the 

 translator of several odes of Horace. 



BORA, Catharine von, wife of Luther, was born in 

 1499. Her birth-place is not knuwn, and of her 

 parents we only know that her mother, Anna, was 

 descended from one of the most ancient families of 

 Germany, that of HugewiU (Haugewito). The daugh- 

 ter took the veil, very early, in the nunnery of 

 Nimptschen, near Grimma. Notwithstanding her 

 devout disposition, she soon felt very unliappy in her 



situation, and, as her relations would not listen to 

 her, applied, with eight other nuns, to Luther, whose 

 fame had reached them. Luther giiined over a citi- 

 zen of Torgau, by the name of Leonard Koppe, who, 

 in union with some other citizens, undertook to de- 

 liver the nine nuns from their convent. This w;is 

 done the night after Good Friday, April 4, 152o. 

 He brought them to Torgau, and from thence to 

 Wittenberg, where Luther provided them a decent, 

 abode. At the same time, to anticipate the charges 

 of his enemies, he published a letter to Koppe., in 

 which he frankly confessed that he was the author of 

 this enterprise, and had persuaded Koppe U> its e.\e 

 cut ion; that he hnd done MI in the confident hope 

 that Jesus Christ, who had restored his gospel, and 

 destroyed the kingdom of Antichrist, would be their 

 protector, though it might cost them even their lives. 

 He also exhorted the parents and relations of the nine 

 virgins to admit them again into their houses. Some 

 of them were received by citizens of Witteobefg ; 

 others, who were not yet too old, Luther advised to 

 marry. Among the latter was Catharine, whom 

 Philip Reichenbach, at that time mayoi of the city, 

 had taken into his house. Luther proposed to her 

 (by his friend Nicholas von Amsdorf, minister in Wit- 

 tenberg) doctor Kaspar Glass and others-ill marriage. 

 She declined these proposals, but declared her wil- 

 lingness to bestow her hand on Nicholas von Ams- 

 dorf, or on Luther himself. Luther, who, in 1524, 

 had laid aside the cowl, was not averse to matrimony, 

 yet appeai-s to have been led to the resolution of 

 marrying by reason rather than by passion. Besides, 

 he was not then favourably inclined towards Catha- 

 rine, because he suspected her of worldly vanity. 

 He says, however, that he found in her a pious and 

 faithful wife. There could be no want of disadvan- 

 tageous rumours on this occasion, some of them as 

 shameful as they were unfounded. The domestic- 

 peace of the pair was also drawn into question, and 

 Catharine, in particular, was accused of being peevish 

 and domineering, so that her husband was often 

 obliged to correct her. Although this last story is 

 without foundation, yet Luther seems not to have 

 been fully satisfied with her; for he speaks with 

 great sincerity of the sufferings, as well as of the 

 happiness, of his marriage. When, after Luther's 

 death, in 1547, Charles V. entered Wittenberg in 

 triumph, Catharine saw herself obliged to leave this 

 place, and to remove to Leipsic, where she was com- 

 pelled to take boarders for her support. She after- 

 wards returned to Wittenberg, and lived there till 

 1552, in want When the plague broke out in this 

 place, and the university was removed to Torgau, 

 she went thither also, arrived there sick, and died 

 soon after (Dec. 27, 1552). In the church of Torgau 

 her tomb-stone is still to be seen, on which is her 

 image, of the natural size. 



BORACIC ACID, uncombined, exists in several small 

 lakes in Tuscany, at Volcano, one of the Lipari is- 

 lands, and in the hot springs near Sasso, in the Flo- 

 rentine territory, from whose waters it is deposited 

 by natural evaporation. It is easily obtained also 

 from borax, a native salt, composed of this acid and 

 soda, by dissolving it in boiling water, and gradually 

 adding sulphuric acid to engage the soda : the boracic 

 acid is in this manner set at liberty, and is deposited 

 in crystals on the cooling of the liquid: these, when 

 washed with cold water and dried, are perfectly pure. 

 In this state, it presents the form of brilliant, white, 

 hexagonal scales, soft and greasy to the touch, i.r.d 

 having a specific gravity of 1*479. Its taste, when 

 first taken into the mouth, is sourish ; afterwards it 

 becomes bitter, and finally leaves a sweetish impression 

 upon the tongue. It is slightly soluble in water, and 

 much more so in alcohol, to which, when burning, 



