BOY 



BOXING H iilfo ul'cJ for ihe tapping of a tree, to make 

 it MtlJ Its juice. 



Tlic boxinc; of maple is pcrformcil by ninking a VirL- with 

 en »x or cliiiiil into tlie fide of tbe tree, ahout a foot from 

 tlic grouiiH ; out of it flows a bqnor from whitli fiigar is 

 mr.de. Phil. Tranf. N"' J64. See Mafue, Dlkldixq- 

 liiitCH, and Sap. 



BOXMEER, in Gfn^rnfih, a town of Germany, fitu- 

 .Jte on the well lide of ibc Nlt-ufe, on the frontiers of the 

 diichv of Giieldrcs: 8 leaguis E. of Dois-le-Duc, and 4 

 S. S.' W. of Clevc». 



DOXTKHUDE, a town of Geniiany, in the circle of 

 Lower Saxony, and duchy of IVenicn, L-ated on the river 

 Eike or EITi:, navigallc for boats to the Elbe. It is fub- 

 jert to tlie Danes ; 14 miles W. of Hamburg. N. lat. 3.;' 



40'. E. ioil^r. if" \ :;'. 



BO.XTEi,, a town of Bi-abant, featcd on the Dommel, 

 and furni'hfd with Unices; 5 miles S. of l)oib-le-duc. N. 

 lat. i^i" ,!o'. E. long. [," Tj'. 



BOY-BisHOP, in jlnllquity. See Bishop, 

 Bov, Si. in Geo;;raphy, a town of Spain iu the province 

 of Catalonia ; 6 miles 6. W. of Barcelona. 



BOYAR, or BoiAR, a tern nfed for a Rufiian lord, or 

 grandee. According to Bccman, boyars are wliat, in 

 other countries, are called the upper nobility : he adds, 

 that the cy.ar of Miifcovy, iu his diplomas, names boyars 

 before waywodes. 



It hasnot yet been fatisfaftorily determined, what the 

 ancient boyars were ; whence they derived their delcent ; 

 and how they maintained their dignity ; and whether this 

 dignity was conferred by the fovercign ; whether it attached 

 to birth, or whether it fprung from tlie rank and import- 

 ance which they brought with them into the country. If 

 we confider them as the privy counfcUors of the fovereign, 

 then their precedence arifes merely from their office, or 

 ihey mull have pofTefled it by their birth. But it has been 

 likewife affirmed, that the boyars, now in general the moil 

 confidcrable of the Ruffian nobility, came from abroad, were 

 fprung frbm foreign anceftors, and brought their nobility 

 into the empire with them. However, future refearches are 

 necelfary for obtaining fatisfailion, with regard to thefe 

 quellions. During the Tartarian and Mongolian fovereign- 

 tv, no trace of them is found ; and even during the reign 

 of czar Ivan VaffiUicvitch I. no fuch title appears, though 

 it fecms to have arifen at that time, or very foon after it : 

 for, under the c/.ar Ivan VaffiUievitch II., the boyars had 

 already endeavoured to colleft a confiderable force ; but 

 were much overawed by that monarch. In the fuc- 

 ceeding period of dillraftioii, occafioned by the afpiring 

 views of the patriarch and his fuperior clergy, the boyars 

 feized the favourable opportunity of extending their power. 

 It is alfo probable, that perfons of refpeftable birth from 

 other countries, who occupied high ftations in Ruffia, and 

 on this account, as well as from the privileges biought 

 with thetn, enjoyed great authority ; and hence all 

 boyars, i. e. the fuperior officers, might take occafion to 

 alTume a confequence, which they afterwards, as opportu- 

 nities occurred, endeavoured to enlarge. Although the 

 boyars are always mentioned in hi(loi-y as peifons of diftinc- 

 tion, yet the fame hiftory alio informs us, that they re- 

 ceived their dignity from the fovereign alone, that it was 

 entirely perfonal, and that it was not tranfmitted bv 

 inheritance from lather to fon. Accordingly, it depended 

 on the will of the monarch, whether he would have many 

 or few boyars: and, therefore, they can never be con- 

 fidered as native privileged deputies of the people, nor as 

 perfons who could rellcain the power of tte fovereign, or 



BOY 



refill him in the undue exertions of it. In lome cafes, 

 however, they «fur])ed an authority to which they had no 

 jiill pracnfions, aiid th.cn brought great diltrels upon the 

 empire. At the drasviiig up of the uloflicnic, or old law 

 of the land, they, as well as the clergy, were confulied ; 

 but probably only as privy counfellors, under which d'-f- 

 cription they were generally noticed in the ukaflcs. How- 

 ever, in order to prevent any further ufurpation and mif- 

 takes, an order was iifued in 1701 by Peter I., that they 

 fliould no lo!iger be mentioned at all in the iikalTes. T'l-oin 

 the authority they pofTed'ed, and with a natural defire of 

 extending it, it may be reafonably prefutned, that they 

 took a lead in the eleftions of the fovereign princes, if they 

 were not the prime managers of them ; tlity without doubt 

 thought themfelves the full perfonages after tlie fovereign and 

 tlie privileged reprefentatives of the people, erpccially of all 

 the rcll of the nobility ; and this fetms to be the reafon why 

 the latter are not named among the eleftors. 1'he boyars, in 

 early times, when wars were frequent, belides having a fliare in 

 the eleftion, were commanders of the army, as well as the 

 minifters and counfellors of the prince. The direfting 

 fenate in the Ruffian government, inftituted by the em- 

 peror Peter I. about the year l/ii, and raifed to the rank 

 of the fiipreme college of the empire, confilted at firll of 

 9 boyars ; and feems to have been created in the place of 

 tiie old boyars. The boyars before his tim.e fat at the helm 

 of ihite in the capital, and officiated as viceroys in the pro- 

 vinces, deciding, commanding, and afting, according to 

 their own humours. But he abrogated the court of boyars, 

 called " Boyar(l<oi dvor," which had lutherto conllituttd 

 the miniftry of the czar or tzar, and without whofe confcnt 

 nothing could be enafted, infomuch, that all the decrees of 

 government began with thefe words, " By command of 

 the tzar, and with the approbation of the boyars ;" and 

 fubllituted the fenate in its room. Writers are not agreed 

 as to the precife meaning of the word " boyar" or " boy- 

 arin." In the didlionaries it is made to denote a lord, a 

 perfon of quality, or a nobleman. Sometimes it peculiarly 

 denotes a loldier. In the Ruffian language, " boyarin" fig- 

 nifies a gentleman, a perfon of diftinflion, or a mailer of 

 a family : and the Ruffian peafant ufually (lyles his noble- 

 man, even though he has neither rank nor ellatc, boyarin, 

 or contraftcdly, barin, and his fpoufe, boyarina. Hence 

 the tadv-fevviee, performed br the^boors to their lord, is 

 called " boyavfehtfchina." Tooke s view of the Ruffian 

 empire, vol. ii. 



BOYAU, in Fortlficat'ton, a branch of the trenches; be- 

 ing a ditch covered with a parapet, which forms a commu- 

 nication between two trenches ; it runs parallel to the de- 

 fenfive works of the body of the place, and ferves as a line 

 of contravallation, to hinder the fallies of the befieged, and 

 alfo to ftcure the miners. When it is a line or cut, that 

 runs from the trenches to cover fome fpot of ground, it is 

 drawn fo that it may not be enfiladed, that is, that the 

 {hot from the town may not fcour along it. 



BOYCE, Dr. William, in Biography, organift and 

 eompofer to his majefty, was a mufician to whom our choral 

 fervice is greatly indebted, not only for his own excellent 

 choral works, but for the well felefted, correiSl, and fplendid 

 edition of our cathedral mufic, which he publifficd in three 

 volumes large folio, upon the plan, and at the recom- 

 mendation of his mailer and predeceflbr, Dr. Greei.e, to 

 whom he ferved an appreiiticefhip. 



This eminent profcitor (Boycc) was born at Joyner's hall, 

 m the city, of which his father was houfekeeper, and with 

 whom he refided during celibacy. When he became a family- 

 man, his rclidencc was iu Chancery-lane, to the end of the 

 1 reign 



