BOW 



or the ancient Greek and Roman money," wl.ich was 

 frint d m the PhUofoplucal T,-anfaa,ons ; and Mr Bovv 

 v"r pnbMicd, "Remarks," on thjs d.fltrtaUon xvhich he 

 Ltcnded as an appendix to Mr. Clarke's trcaffe on corns. 

 Th,"e fmall tvafts^vcre pnblilhed by hnn m I773> ""^^- '>'= 

 title of " Sclet-t Difcourfes; i. of the corre pondence ot 

 Hebrew months with the Jnl.an, from the Latn. o 

 p ofelTor Michaehs ; 2. of the Sabbat.cal years, frcnr the 

 r . . Inrl - of the years of jubilee, from an anonymoiiS 

 : te in Maifon's HiLire Cri-lique de la Republiqne des 

 retrre "" ^"'i '" ^"4. 1'=^ correfted a new edit.on of 

 Sch'velius's Greek le(:,con to .-hich he added a number 

 of new words, collected in the courle of h.s ftud, s. Of 

 bs critical ll<i!l in the learned languages he left m M... 

 ^^nv evidences, which appear u, the addaums made by 

 i" L tKp lexicons of Hederic and of Buxtorf, the Latin 

 ^:: s'"f Faber :,°d"of Littleton, and the Engliih dia,ona,-y 

 of BaUey ; and alio in the correftions and enlargements ot 

 LeitS " Critica Sacra," and Dugard s "Lexicon G.^a 

 T ifamenti alphabetici.m ;" together with Ins notes on Mid- 

 dle oX Life of Cicero, Duncan's and Bladen's Cxfar, Bheo- 

 c t ° Hole, and Pope, £nd an allonifl.ing number of cnti- 

 « is on the Old'and New Te-lament. In_i77+ was 

 Dubhihed " The origin of Printing, in two cffays : i . i he 

 fubl a ce of Dr. Middleton's dhleitHtion on the oni^in of 

 lubltance^ TTno-lnid " Mr. Mecrman's account of the 

 PSn' f £t1t H^iL, and its progre^ to Men,. ; 

 with occaf.onal remarks, and an appendix." Of this work 

 thfovi^inal idea was Mr. Bowyer's ; but it was completed 

 by m" Nichols. A fecond edition of this ^vork, which 

 ^L weil received both at home and abroad, was pubhfhed, 

 with very confiderable improvements, m 1776.. In 1,77, 

 r 1 r ,1 1,U literary career, with a new edition of Dr. 

 BeiS's "DiEutLnon the epiftles of Phalaris," with' 

 add iional notes and remarks by hmfelf and others. On 

 Sis occahon he was much indebted to the friendly affill- 

 ance of Dr. Salter, late mailer of the charte.-houfc, and 



^ M?. Bowycr had been always fubjed to a bj-- -lie 

 and for the laa ten years of his hfe he was afdifted with 

 the palfy and the ilone : and yet he retained, to a gre 

 decree a remarkable cheerfulnefs of d. polit.on ; and his 

 Sit s, though fomewhat impaired, enabled him to derive 

 .re" fat^^sfadion from the converfation of his literary friends, 

 'Lp.rfu a cottrfe of inceflant reading, which was his 

 prineip 1 amufement, and to corred the learned work , 

 efp c ally the Greek books, which were printed at his prefs. 

 Xt inl few weeks before his death he funk under his 

 rna adies and the progrefs of decay, and ^^ength termin ted 



Srn^IkoVd'l'mple'rviieiKe 'of his talents and learning 

 honoured with the friendlhip and pa ronage of 



and he was honoured with the triendihip ana patro „ _ 

 ^any of the moll diiUngnin.ed ornaments ot the age in 

 which he lived. As a learned printer he had no rival fo 

 more than half a century ; and he was no lefs diftmguimed 

 by hil moral quaUties than by h- mental abihties and lu- 

 rary attainments. Of his regard to re igion, both m he 

 pr ciples and pvadice of tt, his whole ^^^'^ f-^^^ «; 

 cueilionable evidence; his . probity was ^"flexible ; die 

 pramptitude with which he relieved every fpec.es of d.f- 

 ^fs marked the benevolence of his mind : an^ ^- ;"°f J^ 

 in endeavouring to conceal hisbenefad.onsrefleas g.eat ho- 

 "ou on his meLry. Although his ^f ™T -cauons and 

 natural temper induced him to feclude himfelf veiy much 



"om the world, and from -'"--t/'^V^s^u'eS^ 

 befides men of letters, he was reckoned to P°ff^f^ /V^";" 

 lent takut for difcriminating the real charaders of man- 



BOX 



kind. Li the decline of his life, and in his tcllamcntary 

 arrangements, he feenis to have been influenced by a regard 

 to two Treat objefts ; one was to repay the benefadlions 

 which ha'd been conferred on his father at a time when lie 

 peculiarly needed affiilance, and in this refpeft he manit- 

 felled a very amiable diipolition ; his other objeiS was to 

 be himfelf a benefactor to the meritorious in his own pro- 

 feffiun. A tranfcript of his will, if our limits would admit 

 of it, would bear ample teilimony to the laudable views by 

 which he was aftuated ; and we huve been induced to en- 

 large in our account of him from real rcfpeft to his memory. 

 Alter liberally providing for his only furviving fon, by his 

 firll wife, (for he was twice mairied,) and allotting various 

 bequefts to his relations, executors, private friends, and his 

 father's benefaftors ; he appropriated feveral funis to " the 

 benefit of printing," particularly with a view to the relief of 

 aged printers, compofitors or prelTmen, and to the encou- 

 ra"-emeiit of the journeyman compofitor, whom he particu- 

 larly dcfcribes, and who is required to be capable of reading 

 and conftrning L?tin, and at leall of reading Greek fluently 

 with accents: thefe latter bequefts he committed to the 

 diredion and difpofal of the mafter, wardens, and afiillants 

 of the company of llationeis. Mr. Bowyer was buried, 

 ai-reeably to hisown dlredion, at Low-I^ayton, in Effex, 

 and a neat monument was ereded, at the expcnce of his 

 fucceffor Mr. J. Nichols, to his father's memory and his 

 own, upon which is a Latin infcription written by himfelf. 

 A bull of him is placed in Stationers' hall, with an En- 

 glirti infcription annexed to it, in his own words ; and be- 

 iides this there are alfo a good portrait of his father, and 

 another of his patron Mr. Nelfon ; all prtfented to the 

 company by Mr. Nichols. Biographical and literary anec- 

 dotes of William Bowyer, printer, F. S. A., and of many 

 of his learned friends," by John Nichols, his apprentice, 

 partner, and fucceffor. 4to. 1782. 



BOWYERS, artificers whofe bufinefs is to make 



In which fenfe, bowyers ftand dillinguifhed from fletchers 

 who made arrows. 



The bowyers' company was incorporated in 1620, and 

 confills of a mafter, two wardens, twelve affiftants, and 

 thirty on the livery. See Comp.^ny. 



BOX, in its moft general acceptation, is ufed to denote a 

 cafe for holding things ; of which there are feveral kinds, 

 as a falve-box, pyxis unguentarta, that ufed by furgeons to 



carry with them. , . , r r . 1 



Box is fometimes alfo ufed for a kind of mealure, thougli 

 variable according to the commodity. Tlius the box of 

 quicklllver contains from one to two hundred weight ; of 

 prunellas, about fourteen hundred ; of rings for keys, two 

 grofs, &c. 



Bo.K, in Botany. See Boxus. 



Box, JJ'ikdii. See MvRsiNE. 



Box, coach, a place under the coachman's_ feat, wherein 

 he puts what may be wanted for the fervice of the coach or 



hories. ,, , • 1 ■ t 



Box, dice, a narrow deep cornet, channelled within, where- 

 in the dice are ftiaken and thrown.- This anlwers to what 

 the Romans called /n//7/w ,• whence crepitaitlcs frililli, and, 

 in Senecca, nfunante fritillo. The fame author alfo ufes 

 cncuterc fritiUum figuratively for playing. Behdes the 

 fritilliis, the Romans, for greater fecurity, had another kind 

 of dice-box, called pyrgus, and fometimes liirriciila. It was 

 placed immoveable in the middle of the table, being perfo- 

 rated or open at both ends, and channelled alfo within : 

 over the top was put a kind of funnel, into which the dice 

 were caft out of the frililhs ; whence defcending, they fell 

 through tke bottom on the table ; by which all pradd.ng 



