B I 



638 



lietho- 



B O I 



la Geographic Commcrcante. Encyclopedic 

 dique. Ricsbeck's Trawh, vol. ii. (#) 



BOHUS, or Bah is, a province of Sweden, bound- 

 ed on the north by Norway, on the west by the 

 Schagger-rack, and on the south and cast by West 

 Gothland. It extends about 100 miles from north 

 to south, and about 20 from east to west. The 

 country is productive, and watered by rivers and 

 lakes, which produce plenty of fish. Wood, fish, 

 pitch, tallow, hides, and lime, are its principal articles 

 for exportation. 



This province takes its name from a fortified island 

 situated at the southern extremity of the province, 

 and encircled by two branches of the Gotha. The 

 fortress, which is built on a rock, was erected in 

 1 309. Its situation is strong, and it is garrisoned by 

 100 men. (J) 



BOKHAR. See Bucharia. 



BOIL See Caesar, Belt. Gall. lib. i. cap. 28 ; 

 lib. vii. cap. 17. Univers. Hint. vol. xi. p. 212 ; 

 vol. xii. p. 42, 14*, 280, 345, 348, 452 ; vol. xiii. 

 p. 161,517 (N.) ; vol. xvii. p. 595; vol. xix. p. 471 ; 

 and Bohemia, p. 635. (ui) 



BOILEAU, Nicolas, (Sieur Despreaux), one 

 of the most able poets whom France has produced. 

 He lived during the reign of Louis XIV. and rose 

 to a high distinction in the cluster of wits, whose co- 

 existence has ranked that period among the golden 

 ages of literature. He was born in 1636 ; and his 

 various works were successively offered to the pub- 

 lic, between 1666 and 1707. He sprung, according 

 to his own information, from a race of lawyers [Fits 

 d'un pere Greffier,ne d'ayeux Avocats,) and was the 

 youngest of three brothers, all of whom were ambi- 

 tious of writing for the public. The oldest, an ad- 

 vocate, produced a life of Epictetus, and a transla- 

 tion of his philosophy from the abridged view of it 

 supplied by Arrian. He also composed occasional 

 verses, of which a collection was published after his 

 death. Jacques, the second brother, was Dean of 

 the Faculty of Divinity in Paris, and a voluminous 

 author on ecclesiastical subjects. We shall mention 

 the titles of two of his works, for the amusement of 

 those, whose more rational faith will tempt them to 

 smile at the trifles, to which the dignitaries of the 

 Gallic church attached a serious importance. One 

 treatise of the Dean was, De tactibus impudicis, dans 

 Icquel il prouvc que ces sorles d'attouchemens sont des 

 pechez mortals : and another, De re vestiariti homi- 

 ?us sacri, dans lequel il pretend qu'il est asscz indif- 

 fcrens aux Ecclesiastiques de porter des habits trop 

 longs ou trop courts. Nicolas having finished his 

 academical course at the college of Beauvais, engaged, 

 by the persuasion of his father, in the study of law ; 

 a study, to the repu'sive inelegance of which, both 

 France and England are indebted for some of their 

 favourite poets. By apprising a youth of the mental 

 exertions most uncongenial to his taste, it leads him, 

 by that species of association resulting from contra- 

 riety, to those in which he delights ; while a profes- 

 sion less hostile to the play of imagination, might 

 have occupied him sufficiently to prevent the disco- 

 very. Boileau, however, proceeded far enough to be 

 called to the bar. On quitting it, he became a stu- 

 dent of theology, at the Sorbonne ; but was again 



disgusted, and says that here he found Chicanery Bilaii. 

 had only shifted her dress. After this repetition of 

 disappointment, he resolved to indulge his literary 

 propensities, without the interruption even of a lite- 

 rary profession, though he humorously acknow- 

 ledges that his relations were displeased with the re- 

 solution : < 



Lafamille en jmlit. et vit en fremUaant 

 Duni la Poudre du Greffe vn pocte naitsant. 

 On vit avec korreur une muse ejfrem'e 

 Dormir chet un GreJJier la grasse matinee. 



To poetry, in which he had both delighted and ex- 

 celled at Beauvais, he now returned with fresh avit 

 dity; and it may be presumed that, even as a poet, 

 he reaped some advantage from his two unsuccessful 

 experiments tu alter.his destination. They had ac- 

 quainted him with characters and topics, at which 

 the satirist has frequent occasion to glance, and his 

 acquaintance with which enabled him to sharpen the 

 poignancy, and enrich the humour of his principal 

 production. In" France, as in Britain, the public 

 taste was, at this period, extremely vicious, and au- 

 thors had become popular, by exposing whose faults, 

 and thus obliquely correcting their admirers, Boileau 

 began to prepare the latter for a favourable recep- 

 tion of his own attempts to resist the graceful sim- 

 plicity of the ancients. In this application of his 

 talenra we perceive their early vigour; for to out- 

 run the judgment of our age, to resist the current of 

 fashion, and to reject the support of popular deci- 

 sions, are the efforts of no ordinary mind, nor is ge- 

 nius less manifest in leading back from error, than in 

 leading forward to truth. The Satires of Boileau, 

 which he wrote with this design, being admired in 

 manuscript, and surreptitiously printed, an accurate 

 edition of them was published by himself in 1666. 

 Their appearance enraged the host of minor poets, 

 who loudly complained of the introduction of their 

 names ; but these complaints only served to aggra- 

 vate their sentence, by provoking Boileau to a se- 

 vere and sarcastic apology in his 9th satire. His in- 

 dependence, however, was more conspicuous in the 

 affairs of literature, than in those of life : for Horace 

 was not more profuse of incense to Augustus, than 

 Boileau to Louis, who was then the darling of For- 

 tune, and therefore the idol of subjects, to whose 

 national egotism, success is virtue. To that prince he 

 addressed two epistles, on his different achievements 

 and also an ode on the surrender of Namur, which 

 shews that its author had misjudged his powers, 

 when he attempted to follow Horace into the higher 

 regions of Parnassus. 



Of hi3 Lutrin, which he says, in the original pre- 

 face, was the first attempt of any French writer in 

 heroic comic poetry, four cantos were published in 

 1674, and two more added in i683. Boileau at first 

 was anxious to conceal the origin of this masterly 

 production. In his preface he misled the reader, by 

 a false account of it ; but, in 1683, he threw off the 

 disguise, and acknowledged that the poem was found- 

 ed on a quarrel between the treasurer and chanter of 

 the Holy Chapel at Paris, about the position of a 

 reading desk. His next publications were the Art 

 of Poetry, and a translation of Longinus, with notes; 

 which exhibit' much critical penetration and sagacity. 



