B O U 



diflricl of Pont-AuJemer, and i; leagues E. of it. The 

 town contains 86o, and tlic canton 1 1,237 inhabitants ; the 

 territory includes 107^ kiliomclres, and 24 communes. 



BOURGUKBUS, a town of France, in the department 

 of Calvados, and chief pLice of a canton, in the dillrid of 

 Caen; containing 405 inhabitants; the population of the 

 canton is ';,3')i ; and the extent of the territory compre- 

 hends 147A kihometres, and 30 communes. 



BOURGUEIL, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Indre and Loire, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 

 tria of Chinon ; 7^ leagues W. of Tours. The town con- 

 tains 2Sio, and tlie canton 14,969 inhabitants ; tiie terri- 

 torv includes I4:i kiliometres, and 7 communes. 



BOURGU£T,LE\vis,in5;V''A'-y''Wasl)ornatNimesin 

 1678. and remoing with his family, who were proteltants, 

 to SwilTerland, on the revocation of the cdid of Nantes, he 

 piirfucd his (Indies at Zurich. Here he dillinguilhed him- 

 ielf by his apphcaliou to theology, the languages, mathe- 

 matics, law, antiquities, medals, and more particularly na- 

 tural hiftory. His attention was more efpecially duefted to 

 geology, for the cultivation of which his fituation among 

 the Swifs mountains was peculiarly favourable. He after- 

 wards fettled at Neufchatel, and here became profefTor of 

 philofophy and mathematics. In 1729 he printed, in 

 French, " Philofophical letters on the formation of falts and 

 cryftals, and on the generation and organic mechanifm of 

 plants and animals," &c. izmo. In the preceding year he 

 had undertaken, with the aflillance of learned colleagues, a 

 periodical work, entitled " 13ibliot\jeque Italiqiie," printed 

 at Geneva, and extended to 16 vols. Svo. which was elleem- 

 ed a judicious and ufcful performance. Bourget had many 

 literar)' connedions, and was a member of feveral learned 

 focieties. Many of his papers were publifiied in the " Jour- 

 nal Helvetique." He died in 1742. Moreri. 



BOURGUIGNOTTE, a defenfive weapon wherewith 

 to cover the head ; being a kind of calk, open before, and 

 proof againft either pike or mulket ; its name arofe from the 

 Bourgiiignons, who firll introduced it. 



BOURGUIGNONS. See Burgundians. 



BOURI, in Ichthyology, the Arabic name of Miipl cepha- 

 lus, Linn. 



BOURIGNON, Antoinette de la Porte, in Bio- 

 graphy, an enthufiail of a wild imagination and turbulent 

 difpolltion, was born at Lide in Flanders, in ifil6. Under 

 a pretence of a divine infpiration and commifTion, flie en- 

 gaged in i-eviviag the true fpirit of Chriftianity, which Ihe 

 reprcfented as extinguifhed by theological animofities and 

 debates. Her own temper, however, was very different from 

 that truly Chrillian fpirit which (he profelTtd to rouze and 

 reanimate. Adverfe to marriage, though urged to it by her 

 family, which was opulent, (he eloped in order to avoid their 

 perfuafions; and, after a variety of adventures, became 

 governefs of an hofpital in her native town, and affumed the 

 order and habit of St. Auguftin. Here, however, her 

 relllefi and overbearing temper occafioned fuch diilurbances, 

 that, in confequence of the interference of the magillrates, 

 (he was obliged to remove to Ghent. One of her converts, 

 named Chrillian Bartholomew de Cordt, who had been a 

 J.-infenill and pried of the oratory at Mechlin, was owner 

 of part of an illand in HoUlein, called Noordftrandt. Of 

 this patron of her fanaticifm (he bought an edate in this 

 idand, and determined to fettle there with her difciplesr 

 In the mean while (he refided at Amfterdam, and made 

 many profelytes. She alfo wrote feveral books, and parti- 

 cularly one, er;titltd, " The 1-ight of the World," in which 

 (he profeffes to explain her myftical principles. Molheim 

 fuggefts, that an attentive reader of her works will perceive, 



B O U 



that her intdled mull have been in a difordered ftate ; that 

 mod of her divine eft'ufions were borrowed from the produc- 

 tions of the Mvilics ; and that, by the intemperance wf her 

 imagination, Pne has given an additicnal air of abfurdity and 

 extravagance to the tenets nhicli (lie had derived from thofe 

 pompous enthufialls. The predominant principle of her 

 works is this : " that the Chrillian religion conliih neither 

 in knowledcc nor pradtice, but in a certain internal fecliiig 

 and divine impulfc, that arifcs immediately from coinmunion 

 with the Deity." Upon the death of De Cordt, w!io made 

 this female fanatic his heircfs, (he left Holland in 1671, 

 with a view of fettling at Nocrdilrandt ; but (he difcouragcd 

 many of her difciples from attending her, under an appre- 

 henlion that their attachment was felfilh, and that they 

 withed to obtain a fubliftence at her expence. She wrote 

 in French, Dutch, and German, with great facility ; and 

 printed her numerous works in a prefi, which (he had fet 

 up in her own houfe. Such, however, were both her prin- 

 ciples and temper, that they expofed her to a variety of pro- 

 fccutions, which difquietcd her mind, and made it necellary 

 for her frequently to change her abode. At length (he 

 obtained the diredion of an hofpital in Eaft Frielland, 

 where her time was devoted to the Icrvice of the poor, 

 whild (he retained htr money under a notion, that (lie could 

 find none that were deferving objeds of her bounty. After 

 a life of viciiTitude and vexation, and fuffcring many infults 

 on account of her religious fancies, (lie ended her days at 

 Franeker, in 1680. Whilil (lie lived her followers were 

 few in number; but after her death, her writings were the 

 means of multiplying her profelytes, who were dillinguilhed 

 by the appellation of " Bourignonids." Amongll thele 

 a Cartefian, of a bold and penetrating genius, whofe name 

 was Peter Poiret, took the lead ; and he drelTed out in an 

 artful manner, and reduced to a kind of fydem, the wild and 

 incoherent fancies of Bourignon, in a large work, entitled, 

 " L'Oeconomie Divine, ou Sydeme Univerfel," which was 

 publifhed, both in French and Latin, at Amderdam, in 

 1686, in 7 vols. Svo. In Scotland her notions occafioned a 

 controverfy, in which Dr. Cockburn didinguidied himfclf 

 as the opponent of the Bourignonids. Gen. Dift. Modi. 

 Eccl. Hid. vol. V. p. 514, &c. Svo. 



BOUllMONT, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Upper Marne, and chief place of a can- 

 ton, in the didricl ot Chaumont, and 6 leagues E. N.E. 

 from it, feated ou a deep mountain ; the popultition of the 

 town is edimated at 107 1, and of the canton at 10,370; 

 the tcrritorv includes 2721- kiliometres, and 26 communes. 

 N. lat. 48°'i2'. E. long. 5^ 32'. 



BOURN, a market town of Lincolnfhire, in England, 

 ftands on the fouthern fide of the county, near the borders 

 of Rutlandfhire, at the didance of 97 miles north fi. ui 

 London. Here have been a cadle and a priory, but both 

 are paitly dellroyed. The outworks, ditches, and fome 

 fragments of the former are left to commemorate the 

 fpot; and as the fortified area includes about eight acres of 

 land, we may prefume that it was a place of conliderable 

 drength and importance. " Very large irregular works," fays 

 Mr. Gough, " are on the north and well fides between the 

 two ditches; the earth raifed about 20 yards in length, and 10 

 in breadth, and a ditch between every one of thefe pointing to 

 the grand moat." Thefe works are faid to have been formed 

 by Oliver Cromwell, when he attacked the town. Some 

 of our ancient hidorians have dated that S. Edmund, king 

 of the Ead Angles, was crowned at Bourn ; but this is con- 

 futed by Ml. Gougii, who places the fcene of that event at 

 Buers in Suffolk ; indeed this callle does not appear to be 

 coniicfted with any public event till the time of the Dani(h 



invafions. 



