BOS 



the Eg)-p»'a"» ! ^"^ '^'' '*'^">' ^^'** <ieiioiiiiiiated «' Dufarts" 

 by ihc Nabatxjn Ar.il.i in llic vicinity of l}o!»ra. Accord- 

 inj>lv, the inhabitants of this city engraved a figure of their 

 god Dufarti oji their medals at Boltra. There was aKo a 

 temple of tl»c Roddefs Urania, which was engraved on a me- 

 dal of Scptimiiis Scvcrun, and alio on one of the cinprcfs 

 Mammxa. The woilhip of Jupiter Aminon, and of Sera- 

 pii, was alfo admitted into holUa, and tlicy received from 

 the Greeks that of liipiter Puis or Amicus. 'Hie citizens 

 of bollra regarded Urania as t':e tutelar deity of their city. 

 The D;ifariaii games, which were firll discovered on medals 

 under the icign of i!ie ciiipcrjr I'hil'p, were clchnitcd at 

 Bollra ill honour of Dnfares, the bacchiis of the Arabians. 

 Wliui Arobia was divided, after the coiupull of it by 'I'ra- 

 pn, Baftra was appointed the iBotropolii of that part which 

 retained the name of Arabia ; and its billnjp afterwards be- 

 came the m^ropolitan of the ecclL-liallical province. See 

 BOSRA. — Another town of the fame name, but Icls cele- 

 brated, is mentioued among the Moabite cities, in Jer. 

 ch. xlviii. V. 24. 



BOSTRYCHITES Lapis, derived from (?o,-;vx'C^. ^ 

 foU the ha}r in braitli, in N.itural Hijlory, a name given by 

 fome to a ilone fuppofed to contain women's hair included 

 in it : fome hav:- uuderllood by it, thoff piecv: of cryftal 

 which have accidental foiiinelTes in them, relenibling hair, 

 or pieces of hair, caufed by earthy or metalline matter ; 

 others call by this name thofc German agates, which contain 

 cither the confervx or other capillary wat^r plants, or other 

 foulnefles running into their form ; the firft of thefe very 

 frequently have the conferva of great length, and varioufly 

 undulated and turned about, fo as very elegantly to reprefent 

 a loofely flowing lock of hair. 



BosTRYCHiTES is alfo a name given by fome authors to 

 a fpecics of pyrites, whofe irradiations were fuppofed to 

 imitate hair. 



BOSTRICHUS, in Entomology, a genus of Coleopte- 

 rous infcAs dillinguifhed by having the antennx clavated ; 

 the club folid ; thorax convex, with a (liglit margin ; head 

 inflefted, and conceaK-d under the thorax. Gmel. Fabr. &c. 

 The fpccies of this genus are capucinus, flavicornis, elonga- 

 tu3, typographus, chalcographus, polygraphus, microgra- 

 p!ui?, bidentatns, fcolytus, crenatiis, pygmzns, ligniperda, 

 piniperda, tcUaceus, varius, vittatus, minutus, maculatus, 

 bifafciatus, linibatus, fufcus, and pilofns ; which fee. 



BOSUI.S, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Aveiron ; .^i leagues N. E. of Rhodtz. 



BOSWELL, James, in Bw^raphy, fon of Alexander 

 Bofwell, lord Auchinleck, one of the judges in the fupreme 

 court of fcflion, and jiilUciary in Scotland, was bom at Edin- 

 burgh, OA. 2y, 1 -40, and received the firft rudiments of 

 education in that cily. He afterwards lludied civil law in 

 the univerfitics of Edinh\irgli and Glafgow j and during his 

 refidence in thcfe cities, he formed an intimate acquaintance 

 with fome Enghlh fludents, which produced a predilection 

 for their manners, that contributed in a great degree to his 

 future habits and attachments. Ambitious, in early life, of 

 diftinguilhing himfelf by his literary talents, he was fo for- 

 tunate as to obtain the patronage of the late lord Somerviile, 

 of which he always retained a grateful remembrance. In 

 1760, he vilitcd London, to which he became much attached, 

 and where he fixed his principal refidence. Here he enjoyed 

 the advantage of cultivating an acquaintance with feveral 

 perfons of literary charafter, to whom he recommended 

 himfelf by his attention, and by the urbanity of his manners. 

 Although his fa^ther had intended him for the profefTion of 

 the law, his own inclination led him to with for a commiffion 

 in the army ; but he gnve up this objeA in deference to lord 



BOS 



Anchinkck's perfualion, and at his defire returned to Scot- 

 land ; and renewing his attention to the law, purfued a 

 courfe of regular inllruaion, and palTtd Ins trials as a civilian 

 at Edinbi!r.jh. In compliance with his Other's wiihes, he 

 attended the Icaurcs of an excellent civilian at Utrecht, in | 

 the winter of 1762 ; and afterwards obtained permifTion to j 

 make his grand tour of Europe. During his winter's rtfi- ^ 

 dence at Utrecht, hevifitcd feveral parts of the Netherlands, 

 and then commencing his projefted travels, he palTcd from 

 Utrecht to Germany, and puiiued his route through Swit- 

 zeiland to Geneva ; from hence he crolTed the Alps inta 

 Italy, paying his refpeds in the courfe of his journey to 

 \'oltairt at Ecrney, and to RoulTeau in the wilds of Ncuf- 

 chatel. In Italv, he aflociated with lord Mountlluait, to 

 whom he afterwards dedicated his " Thefcs Juridica;." 

 From Italy he failed to Corfica, and, tiavcrfing the ifland, he 

 obtained the friendlhlp of I'afcal de Paoli, in whofe palace 

 he rtfided during his ilsy. From Coiiica he went to Paris; 

 and returning to Scotland in 1766, he loon after became an 

 advocate at the bar in that country. In the famous 

 Douglas caufe, which was at that time a fubjedl of dif- 

 cuflion, he publi(hed a pamplilet entitled " The ElFence of 

 the Douglas Caufe," which contributed to hio popularity. 

 In 176S, appealed his "Account of Corfica, with memcirs 

 of general Paoli," which was highly fpoken of by Dr, 

 Johnfon, and tianflated into the German, Dutch, Italian, 

 and French languages. His prologue, written in the winter 

 of this year, on occafion of opening the theatre royal at 

 Edinburgh by David Rofs, efq. was flattering to the author, 

 and beneficial to the manager, as it fecured to the latter the 

 uninterrupted poffcffion of his patent till his death in Sept. 

 1790. In the celebration of the Shakfpeare jubilee at 

 Stratford upon Avon, in 17*^9, Mr. Bofwell took a confpi- 

 cuous part, appearing at the mafquerade exhibited on that 

 occafion, under the charader of an armed Corfican chief. 

 In 1783, he publiihed his Ltter to the people of Scotland, 

 which, according to the opinion given of it by Dr. Johnfon, 

 in a letter to the author, " contains very confideiable know- 

 ledge of hiftoiy and the conllitution, very properly produced 

 anti applied." As this letter was fanftioned by the appro- 

 bation of Mr. Pitt, it was foon followed by another, in 

 which Mr. Bofwell difplayed hii ufual energy and political 

 talents. In 1785, he publiihed " A Journal of his Tour to 

 the Hebrides," with Dr. Johnfon ; and in the lame year he 

 removed to London, where he was called to the Englifh 

 bar. But his profeffion feeins to have been lels the objeft of 

 his attention than the " Life of Dr. Johnfon," for which he 

 had been colltfting materials from the commencement of his 

 acquaintance with him in the year 176J, to the time of his 

 death, and which was publiihed in 2 vols. 4to. in 1791. 

 Few perfons can be fuppoled to be better qualified for this un- 

 dertaking than Mr. Bolwell ; for he had known, and he had 

 familiarly, and alnioll daily, convericd with Dr. Jolinfon for 

 more than twenty of the lalt years of his life ; during which, 

 he was happy in the kind regard and nnrefervcd confidence 

 of his venerable friend, who, as we are informed by Mr. B. 

 himfelf, was fully apprized of his biographical intention, 

 and manifeiled no dilapprobation of it. Of this work, which 

 of courle became very popular, it will be fuihcient to obfcrve, 

 that it exhibits a faithful hilloiy of Johnfon's life, exempli- 

 fied in a variety of anecdotes, that rendered it equally in- 

 llruftive and entertaining. The lall hteraiy performance of 

 Mr. Bofwell was the preparation of a fecond edition of this 

 work. Mr. Bofwell combined, with confiderable intelledual 

 powers, a gay and adive difpofition ; and he often expe- 

 rienced an unaccountable depreflion of fpirits. In one of his 

 gloomy intervals he compoftd a feries of cfiays under the 



title 



