B O R 



the town of Bormio ; and from thcii" decifion an appeal lay 

 to the fyndicate of the Grifous. 



The mtmbcrs of thtfe councils were chofcn annually by 

 the affL-mbly of the pt-ople. In the choice of the two re- 

 gents, fixperfons k'letted in a peculiar manner by the reji[ent 

 lall in oflTije and t!ie treafnrer, chofe fix n;eir,bers of the af- 

 fcmbly, three fro.ti the dilliicl of Bormio, and three from 

 the vallies, who appointed lix candidates; the names were 

 then thrown into lix bacjs, and bal'oted for ; and the two, who 

 . had the greateil number of ballots, were repjents, who re- 

 mained in office only four months. The revenue of the 

 country amounted in one year to 22:1. 14s. 4d. ; and the 

 average expences to 212I. 2S. 2d. The expences and re- 

 ceipts are fubmitted, when the regents retire from ulfiee, to 

 the council ot fixteen, and cannot pafs without their appro- 

 bation. 



The county of Bormio is about 15 miles in lengtli, and 

 •J4 in breadth ; and the inhabitant.', are eflimated at about 

 14,000. The mounfiinous parts produce only pallurage 

 and wood ; the lower dillrift about Bormio yields corn, but 

 not fuffieient for domellic confumption. The inhabitants 

 export cattle, a fniall quantity of cheefe, andiron, o tained 

 from the mines of Freli, in the valley of Ptdii^ofo, wrought 

 at the expence and for the profit of a private perfon, who 

 pays to the community a fmall annurd rent. The honey 

 produced in Bormio is eileemed excellent. Wine is imported 

 from the Valtclinc, corn from the Tyrol, corn and rice from 

 Milan, linen from Bergamo and Appenzel, and cloth from 

 Germany. The air is cool, but pure and healthy. The 

 ellabliflied religion is the Roman catholic ; and the exercife 

 of every other worfhip is prohibited. Spiritual affairs are 

 under the jurifdittion of the bifhop of Coire, who has a 

 vicar's court at Bormio, in which all ecclefiallical caufes arc 

 tried. The priefts have peculiar privileges, which are ex- 

 tended even to thofe who wear a clerical drefs. Molt of the 

 peafants poffcfs a fmall portion of land, and, in confequence 

 of the freedom of the government, are happier than the peo- 

 ple of the Valteline and Chiavenna. Coxe's Travels, 

 vol. iii. 



Bormio, the capital of the county of the fame name, is 

 fituattd at the foot of the mountains, clofe to the torrent 

 Fredolfo, which falls at a finall diftance into the Adda. It 

 contains about 1000 inhabitants, but has a defolate appear- 

 ance ; the houfes are of plallered ftone, of which fome few 

 make a tolerable figure, amidil many with paper windows ; 

 and feveral, hke the Italian cottages, have only wooden 

 window (butters. The palazzo, or town-houfe, contains a 

 fulte of wretched rooms for the refidence of the podeila, a 

 chamber for the courts of judicature, and an apartment 

 where the rcprefentatives of the people affemble. In one of 

 the rooms is an engine of torture, which, in defiance of 

 common fenfe as well as humanity, is ft.ill ufed in thefe 

 countries to force confeffion. The archives are kept in an 

 apartment, the door of which has feveral keys ; fo that all 

 the magiftrates, who are entrulled with them, mull be pre- 

 fcnt, whenever it is opened. The moll important of the 

 papers kept in thi^fe archives, is the charter, by which the 

 Grifons confirm, in the moil ample manner, the immunities 

 granted to this country by the dukes of Milan ; it was palfed 

 in the diet of Iluntz, under Paul, bifliop of Coire, in 1513, 

 the vear fucceeding that in which the Grifons annexed Bor- 

 mio to their dominions. Many circnmllances have concurred 

 to deler the Grifons from infringing this charter ; the two 

 principal are, the filuation of Bormio on the confines of the 

 Tyrol, whence they might receive affillance from the houfe 

 of Anilria ; and the fpint of freedom which dillinguifhes the 

 inhabitants, who have watched with a jealous eye the flight- 



B O R 



eft advances of encroachment, and never failed to remonftrate 

 with great unanimity and rtfolution, whenever the podefta 

 has difcovered the lead inclination to exceed the bounds of 

 his authority. About a mile from the town are the baths 

 of St. Martin Mclina, recommended for rhtmnalic com- 

 plaints, &c. N. lat. 46^ 17'. E. long. ie° ii', 



BORN, Ignatius, Baron., in Bio^ralihy, an eminent mi- 

 neralogill and philologer, was born of a noble family at 

 CarKburg, in Tranfylvania, December 26lh, 174J. Hav- 

 ing Ihiditd in the college of the Jefuits at Vienna, he entered 

 into this fociety, but continued a member only one year and 

 a half. At Prague he lludied tlie law ; and, after an exten- 

 five tour 011 the continent, lie devoted hinifelf to natural 

 hillory and mining; and, in 1770, was admitted into the 

 department of the inines and mint of that city. At this pe- 

 riod he vifited th(!-principal mining dillridls of Himg;n-y and 

 Traniylvania, and kept up a correfpondence with the cele- 

 brated Ferber, who afterwards publirtied his letters. In this 

 journey he very nearly loll his life, and did permanent injury 

 to liis health, by dcfcending into a mine at Felfo-Banya, 

 which was full of arfenieal vapours that had been raifed by 

 the heat employed to detach the ore. Upon liis return to 

 Prague, he publiihed, in 1 771, a fmall work of the Jefuit 

 Pada, on the machinery ufed in mines; and, in 177.;, he 

 printed his " Lithophylacium Bornianum," or catalogue of 

 his colletlion of foffils, which he afterwards fold to Mr. 

 Grcville for one thoufand pounds. His reputation, as a 

 miticralogill, was now generally known ; and he was ad- 

 mitted into various learned focieties, among which were 

 thofe of Stockholm, Vienna, Padua, and London. Un- 

 confined to one branch of fludy, he engaged in various plans 

 for the advancement of literature and fcience in Bohemia. 

 He took a part in the work entitled " Portraits of learned 

 men and artifts of Bohemia and Moravia ;" he engaged in 

 the " Afta Literaria Bohemix et Moravis ;" and in 1775, 

 he laid the foundation of a private literary fociety in Prague, 

 which has publilhed feveral volumes of Memoirs. In 1776, 

 he was fummoned by the emprefs Maria Therefa to Vienna, 

 to arrange the imperial colledlion of natural hillory ; and, two 

 years after, he publilhed, with the aiTutance of the emprefs, 

 the " Conchology" of it. But it was difconlinued on the ac- 

 ceflion of the emperor Jofeph. Born was appointed to in- 

 ftrutt the archduchefs Maria Anna in natural hillory ; and, 

 as a recompence for his fervices, the office of counfellor of 

 the mines and mint was conferred upon him in 1779, which 

 obliged him to refide conllantly at Vienna. However, he 

 felt leverely the confequences of the injury lie had fuftained 

 at Fello-Banya ; fo that he became a martyr to the moll ex- 

 cruciating cohcs : and in one of his attacks he fwallowed 

 inch a quantity of opium as threw him into a lethargy for 

 twenty-four hours. The diforder then fixed in his leg:i and 

 feet, and he became lame; for the reft of his life. Nevtr- 

 thelefs, his mind was vigorous and aftive, and he entered 

 with zeal into every meafnre that was calculated to enlarge 

 the boundaries of fcience, and to enlighten and improve man- 

 kind. Rellrifted, under an arbitrary governm.'rnt, from free 

 difcufilons on the fubjefts of religion and politics, he con- 

 necied himfclf with the fociety of free-mafons, and united 

 with others of a fimilar turn of mind, in carrying on a kind 

 of ma{l<ed attack upon fuperllition and various kinds of 

 error. Born was alfo a member of the new fociety of the 

 " lUuminati," whofe views at firll were dirtded to the im- 

 provement of mankind, and not to the dellrnition of fociety. 

 During the reign of popery and arbitrary power, we may 

 reafonably fuppofe, that their projcdls o£ reform were Icl's 

 hollile to rcligiun and government in general, than wliat hss 

 btci) charged uj-ou their principks, fince they have been al- 

 lied 



