B O C 



B O C 



Bocat was alio called " Bekaa," which fee. Sec alfo 

 Bai.bec. 



BOCAUD, JoHW, in Biography, born at Montpellier, 

 where he received his education. In 1540, he was made 

 doctor; and in 1544, on the death of Denis Fontenon, 

 proftflor of medicine in the univerfity there; an oflice he is 

 faid to have filled with diltingui(hed honour to the time of 

 his death, which happened in 1558. We have or.ly one 

 work publillied by this writer; " Tabulae curationnm et in- 

 dicationum ex prolixo Galeni methcdo, in fumma rerum 

 capita contraftre," fol. Lyons. Haller. Bib. Med. Prad. 

 Elcy.D^a. Hill. Med. 



BOCCA, in Geography, a town of Italy, in the duchy of 

 Mantua, in the Comtsfezza, 5 miles N.N.E. of Sabionetta. 



BoccA Tigris, a name given by foreigners to the river 

 Pe-ki;ing of China, near its difcharge into the fouthern fea 

 of Cliiiia. Ste Pe kiaxg. 



BocCA, in Glafs-mahing, the round hple in the working 

 furnace, by which the metal is taken out of tht great pots, 

 and by wh'ch the pots are p-.it into the furnace. This i^ to 

 be (topped with a cover made of earth and brick, and rc- 

 moveable at pleafure, to prefcrve the eyes of the workmen 

 from the violence of the heat. 



BOCCACCI. or B0CC.1CCINO, Camillo, in Biography, 

 a painter of hiftoiy and portrait, was born at Cremona in 

 151 1 ; and, having receive,! inftruftions in the art of painting 

 from his f^t! er, removed to Rome, and aflumtd the Roman 

 talte. His application was indefatigable, and his improve- 

 ment fo obfervahle, that he was immediately etnployed in 

 fcveral noble wtuks for the churches and convents. He died 

 young in i ^46, when he was making rapid progrefs towards 

 very high perfedtion. Piikington. 



EOCCACCINI, Anthony, a furgeon of Comachio, a 

 town in Ferrara, flouriflied in the early part of the lait cen- 

 tury. Reviving the practice of Magatus, in the cure of 

 wounds and ulcers, which had fallen into difufe, he admitted 

 no oily or greafy applications in the treatment of them, nor 

 made ufe of tents or i.jeftions in the cure of abfcefles, which, 

 by irritating the parts, prevented, he faid, their union, and 

 frequently occaiioncd the orifices to become callous. His 

 works, illuftrating his practice, are " Cinque difinganni 

 Chirurgici, perla cura delleferite," Venice, 1713, 8vo. treat- 

 ing of the cure of gun-fhot wounds ; "Cinque difinganni Chi- 

 rurgici, per la cira dtlle ulcere," Ven. 1714, Svo. with ob- 

 fervations explaining and defending thedoftrine of Magatus. 

 Haller. Bib. Chirurg. Eloy. Diet. Hift. Med. 



BOCCACIO, or Boccace, John, an eminent Itahan 

 winter, and one of the reftorers of literature in Europe, was 

 born of parents in low condition at Certaldo in Tufcany, in 

 13 Ij. Declining tliat meri:antile occupation for which he 

 was originally dtfigned, and in which he fpent fome of his 

 earlier years, he devoted fome time to the ftudy of the canon 

 law ; but as foon as he had an opportunity of choofing for 

 himfelf, he purfued a courfe of literature ; and with this 

 view fought inftruAion from the beft matters, and at Flo- 

 rence put himlelf under the tuition of Leonzio Pilato for 

 the Greek language. Befides the advantage he derived in 

 furniihing his mind with ilores of literature, and in culti- 

 vating a good tafte, from coviverfation with the moll learned 

 men of his age, and from coUefting and copying the mod ap- 

 prove-l Greek and Latin writers of antiquity, ht: was parti- 

 cularly indebted for his progrefs in learning, and for his fu- 

 tnrt reputation, to the inilrudlion and patronage of Petrarch, 

 who was eminently ufeful to him both by his advice and by 

 fiipplying iiim with money for aiding the proftcution of his 

 ftudies, when his own patrimony was exhaulled. By a dili- 

 gent improvement of thefe advantages, he acquired fuch repu- 



tation, that the republic of Florence conferred upon him the 

 honour of citizenfhip, and employed him in a variety of 

 public tranfaftions. Among other important comrriffions 

 v.'ith which he was entrufted, that of negotiating the return 

 of his friend Petrarch to Florence was particularly agreeable 

 to him. But though his mefiage to this purpofe did not 

 fucceed, it afforded him an opportunity of cftablidilng a 

 more intimate and confidential correfpordence vvith this pa- 

 tron of his youth. In 1353, two years after his vifit to 

 Petrarch, he was fev.t to pope Innocent VI. at Avignon. 

 At this time he lived freely, and devoted himfelf chiefly to 

 poetry and compofitions of a lighter kind. During his ram- 

 bles in Italy, he vifited Naples, as fome have faid, in the 

 year 1 J41, where he was favourably received by king Robert, 

 and where he refided for fome time. Here he fell in love 

 with a young perfon whom he calls Fiametta, and who is 

 commonly fuppofed to have been the natural daughter of 

 Robert. In 1359, he had a conference with Petrarch at 

 Milan, the refult of which was his indulging more ferious 

 refleftions than he had hitherto done ; and having received 

 an admonition in 1361, that his life would not be of long 

 continuance, and that he would foon abandon poetry, his 

 mind was fo impreffed that he immediately determined to 

 relinquidi his poetical lucubrations, and even tl.e perufal of 

 profane authors, and, againll the counfel and remonflrance 

 of Peti-nrch, to part with his library. About this time he 

 affumed the clerical habit, and adopted a plan of conduft 

 more guarded and regular than that of his palt life. In 

 1362 or i,j6,3, he again vifited Naples ; and, without making 

 any long Itay there, went to Venice, and paffed three months 

 with his frie:.d Petrarch. He was again deputed by his 

 countrymen as anibaffador to pope Urban V. at Avignon ; 

 and in 1367 he attended the pontiff under the fame cha- 

 racter at Rome. A public le<5ture on the " Coinedia" o^ 

 Dante, having been inllituted at Florence, he commenced 

 his expofitions of that author in Odtober, 1373 ; but, pre- 

 ferring the retirement of Certaldo, his native place, towards 

 the clofe of his life, he died there in December i ^ 75. Boc- 

 cacio was a voluminous writer both in profe and verfe. His 

 works in Latin were, a mythological trtatife in 15 books, 

 " De Genealogia Deorum," Bafil, 15 ;2, fol. efteemed ex- 

 cellent at the time when it was written, but long fincefuper- 

 feded by more valuable publications of a fimilar kind ; to this 

 was annexed a " Treatiie on Mountains, Rivers, Seas, 

 Lakes, &c. ;" with refpedt to both thefe he has been charged 

 with plagiarifm ; " An Abridgement of the Roman Hif- 

 rory," from Romulus to the year of Rome 724, with a pa- 

 rallel of the feven kings of Rome and of the emperors to 

 Nero inclufively, Cologn. 1534, Svo. ; an hillorical trea- 

 tife, in nine books, entitled " De Cafihus virorum et fcsmi- 

 narum illuftrium," beginning with Adam, and terminating 

 with John king of France taken priloner by the Enghlh 

 at the battle of Poictiers, in 13J6, which work was tranf- 

 lated into Italian, Spanilli, French, and Englifli, printed 

 at Augfturgh, in 1544, and in French at Lyons, in 1483, 

 and at PariS, in 15;!^, by Claudius Vitart, under the title of 

 "Traitcdcs Mefaventures des Perfonnagcs fignalez," Svo. ; 

 and another book " De claris mulieribus." He alfo wrote 

 in Latin a number of eclogues. In Italian poetry, his com- 

 pofitions were the " Thtfeide," in 12 books; the " Filo- 

 itrato ;" the " Ninfale Fiofelano," &c. &c. But though 

 he was reckoned one of the three princes of the poets of 

 that age, he is ran&d only as the third of the triumvirate, 

 precedency being affigned to Dante and Petrarch. It is 

 faid, that he was duly fenfible of his inferiority ; and that, 

 after having fcen the ibnnets and fongs of Petrarch, he deter- 

 mined to throw his own into the fire. His profe works, 



which 



