B O I 
fort called St. Antoine, towards Brabant. It has alfo a 
cattle named Papcn Brie/, which the States General or¬ 
dered to be built in the lad century, to be check on the 
Roman Catholics, who were more numerous than the re¬ 
formed. It has four gates, Vaucherpoorte, towards Breda; 
Hintemmpoorte, towards Grave and Nimeguen; Orter- 
poorte, towards Bommcl and Utrecht; and St. John’s 
Gate, towards Heufden. Its fortifications are regular, 
and the walls are flanked with feven baltions ; the ap¬ 
proach to it by land is on caufeways; by water at three 
gates or avenues called the Boom, the Grand Hekel, and 
the Petit Hekel. The cathedral, which is dedicated to St. 
John the Evangelift, is one of the mod beautiful ftruc- 
tures in the Low Countries, erected in 1366, by John 
d’Ackel, bifltop of Liege ; it had a wooden tower, fup- 
orted by lour Hone pillars, whofe height was fucl.i as to 
e feen from Antwerp ; this was deftroyed by lightning 
in July, 1584. Befides the cathedral, there were four 
Other parifli churches, only one of which is now appro¬ 
priated to divine worfivip, viz. that of St. Catherine, the 
others being employed as vvarehoufes, or in meaner ufes. 
Before it was in poffeflion of the Protellants, there were 
fixteen monafteries ; that of the Jefuits is now the gover¬ 
nor’s palace. This city fullered confiderably in the fix- 
teenth century, during the religious wars. The Dutch 
made themfelves mailers of it in 1629; the place being 
inverted the latter end of April, capitulation was figned 
the 14th of September, and the garrifon marched out 
three days after, with their governor, the comte de Grob- 
bendonck, and many of the principal citizens ; the reli¬ 
gious carrying away with them.the miraculous image of 
the Virgin, which was at firft placed in the parifli church 
of St. Geri, at Brulfels, by order of the infanta Ifabella 
Claire Eugene, but removed in the year 1641 to that of 
of St. James de Cauberge, by diredlion of cardinal Fer¬ 
dinand, brother to Philip IV. king of Spain, then gover¬ 
nor of the Netherlands. Pope Paul IV. founded a bifliop- 
ric at Bois-le-Duc, in 1559, which had jurifdidtion over 
ten cities, and one hundred and eighty-nine villages, be¬ 
ing about twenty leagues in length and ten in breadth ; 
the principal revenue of this bifliop, who was fuffragan 
of the archbilhop of Malines, arofe from the abbey of 
Tongerlo. The diftridt of Bois-le-Duc, which is called 
Mavory, is lituated between Holland and Guelderland, 
having Holland to the north, Upper Guelderland and the 
duchy of Cleves to the eaft, the quarter of Antwerp to 
the weft, and the bilhopric of Liege to the fouth. It is 
divided into five final 1 diftridts, to wit, Campine, Pais de 
Cuyck, Maeflant, Oofterwyck, and Peeland ; and com¬ 
prehends one hundred and two villages, fome of which 
are very confiderable; and three cities, Bois-le-Duc, 
Helmont, and Eyndhoven. On the 14th of Sept. 1794, 
an engagement took place near Bois-le-Duc, between the 
Britilh forces and the French revolutionary army, in 
which the latter were victorious ; and on the 9th of Octo¬ 
ber following, the town was taken by the French. It is 
eighteen miles eaft-north-eaft of Breda, and forty-two fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Amfterdam. Lat. 51.42. N. Ion. 22. 45. E. 
Ferro. 
BOISMOR AND' (the abbe Chiron de), born at Qmm- 
per about 1680, was long a jefuit, and died at Paris in 
1740, under the cilice and the cowl, after having been 
one of the greateft fwearers and gamefters in France. Af¬ 
ter having emptied his purfe at play, one pf his refources 
was to throw out a fatirical pamphlet againft the Jefuits, 
his old companions, which he publiftied under the veil of 
fome fidlitious name. This done, he would go and make 
iin offer to the very people he had abufed, to refute the 
calumnies that had been fo wickedly launched againft 
them ; and this he really did, in confideration of a good 
douceur. This petty artifice was difeovered by the Je¬ 
fuits ; who thought it beft to diffemble with a man who 
brandiflied a formidable pen. There are extant of his 
feveral memoirs, which develope fome very intricate and 
famous tranfaflions. Several authors aferibe to hint the 
Vol. Ill, No.. Ul, 
B O I t 5s 
Memoirs of the Court of Philip Auguftus, known under 
the name of Mademoifelle de Lallan. 
BOISROBE'RT (Francois le Metel de), of the French 
academy, to the eftahlifliment whereof lie contributed 
greatly, abbot of Chatilly-fur-Seine, was born at Caen 
in 1592, and died in i66ts. He was remarkably brilliant 
in converfation. Ills imagination, fullered early by the 
writings of all the facetious authors, furnilhed him with 
the means of amuling and of exciting laughter. Citois, 
firft phyfician to the cardinal de Richelieu, ufed to fay to 
that minifter, when he was indifpofed, Monfeignedr, all 
our drugs are of no avail, unlefs you mix with them a 
drachm of Boifrobert. The cardinal could not do with¬ 
out his jokes. He was his bel cjprit and his buffoon. 
Boifrobert, falling .into difgrace, had recourle to Citois, 
who put at the bottom of his paper to the cardinal, as if 
it had been a prefeription, Recipe Boif'obert. This jeft had. 
its effedf, by cauling him to be recalled. He publilhed, 
1. Divers Poems; the firft part 1647, 4to. and the fecond 
1659, 8vo. 2. Letters, in the collection of Faret; 8vo. 
3. Tragedies, Comedies, and Tales, which bear the name 
of his brother Antoine le Metel, lieur d’Ouville. 4. Hif- 
toire Indienne d’Anaxandre et d’Orafie ; 1629, 8vo. 5. 
Nouveiles Heroiques, 1627, 8vo. His theatrical pieces, 
applauded by cardinal Richelieu and by fome of his flat¬ 
terers, are buried in the duft. 
BOIS-St. MARIE (Le), a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Saone and Loire, and chief place of a 
canton, in the diftriCt of Charolles: twelye miles eaft- 
north-eaft of Marcigny, and feven fouth-eaft of Charolles. 
EOISSA'RD (John James), a famous antiquarian, born 
at Befanfon in France, in 1528. He publilhed feveral 
collections, which are of great ufe to Inch as would under- 
ftand the Roman antiquities. He had a great pallion for 
thisftudy ; and drew with his own hand plans of all the 
ancient monuments of Italy. He died at Metz, the 30th 
of October, 160-2. His principal works are, 1. F'our vo¬ 
lumes in folio of Roman Antiquities, adorned with plate3 
engraved by Theodore de Bey and his’tvvo fons. 2. The- 
atrum Vitae Humana:; which contains the lives of 198 
famous perfons, with their portraits. 3. A treatife De 
Divinatione et Magicis praeftigiis. Thefe works are fcarce,- 
and greatly efteemed by antiquarians. 
BOISSEAU'X, a town of France, in the department 
of the Loiret, and chief place of a canton, in the diftriCt 
of Neuville aux Bois : four leagues north of Neuvifte. 
BOISSEZON' D’AUMONTEL, a town of France, in 
the department of the Tarn, and chief place of a canton, 
in the diftriCt of Cadres: two leagues and a half eaft-fouth- 
eaft of Cadres'. 
BOIS'Sl (Louis de), a celebrated French comic writer, 
and incontcftibly one of the firft geniufes that France ha3 
produced. But, as has often been the fate of fitch extra¬ 
ordinary favourites of the mufes, though he laboured in- 
ceffantly for the public, his works procured him only a 
competency of fame : he wanted bread. Yet, melancholy 
as his fituation was, he loft nothing of that pride, the ufuat 
concomitant of genius, whether great or fmall. He could 
not fawn at the feet of a patron. Boifli had friends, who 
would readily have relieved him ; but they were never 
made acquainted with his real condition, or had not that 
friendly impetuofity which forces afliftance on the modeft 
fufferer. He at length became the prey of diftrefs, and 
funk into defpondency. The fliorteft way to rid himfelf 
at once of his load of rnifery appeared to him to be death. 
His wife, who was no lefs weary of life, lirtened as often 
as he declaimed, in all the warmth of poetic rapture, on 
the topic of deliverance from this earthly prifon, and the 
fmiling profpe&s of futurity; till at length (he refolved 
to accompany him in death. But (he could not think of 
leaving her beloved fon, of five years old, in a world of 
rnifery and forrow ; it was therefore agreed to take the 
child along with them in their paffage into another and a 
better. They were now firmly refolved to die ; and they 
made choice of ftarving. To this end, they Unit them- 
Rr felves 
