BOS 
Only one fpecies, called Bofea yervamora. It is a ftrong 
-woody flirub, with a large Item; the branches make con- 
fiderable llioots in l'ummer, and retain their leaves till 
towards vhe lbring. Leaves two inches long, blunt at the 
end, white underneath, ribs purple. The flowers come 
out pt the ends of the twigs, on alternate pedicles, at the 
bale of which is a ftipule. Calyx purplilh, fix-leaved. 
Native of the Canary iilatids, whence it was firft brought 
into England, and cultivated by Mr. Miller before 1728. 
It has alio been found fmce in fome of the Britiih Weft- 
India iflands. It may be propagated by cuttings in the 
fpring; and the plants mull be houi’ed in winter. 
BO'SEN, a town of Pruflia, in the province of Natan- 
gen: fifty miles fouth of Konigfberg. 
BOSENBRUNN, a town of Germany, in Upper Sax¬ 
ony: three miles fouth-weft of Oelfnitz. 
BO'SHIESMEN, a fpecies of wild Hottentots, who 
dwell in the mountains and the clefts of rocks, on the 
borders of Caffraria, and fublift chiefly upon plunder. 
See Hottentots, vol. x. 
BOSIN'NUS, f. A certain rultical pipe mentioned in 
ancient tenures. 
BO'SIO, or Bosius (James), a native of Milan, and 
fervitor of the order of Malta. This monk, being de¬ 
tained at Rome at the houfe of cardinal Petrochini, his 
patron, about the affairs of his order, to which he was 
agent, profited by this detention for compofing there tha 
hiftory which bears his name, under this title: Dell’ Ilto- 
ria della Sacra Religione dell’ illuftriflima Milita di San 
Gioano Gierofolimitano. This work, which contains forty 
books, is divided into 3 vols. folio, printed at Rome 1621, 
1629, and 1684. It is not fo much valued for the ftyle, 
as for the multitude and rarity of the faffs with which it 
is filled. The generality of the national hillorians, who, 
Jince Bofio, have pretended to give the hiftory of Malta, 
have been no more than his copyilts or abbreviators. 
BOS'IO (Anthony), of Milan, agent to the order of 
Malta, and nephew of the former. His colleclion, in¬ 
tituled, Roma Sotteranea, Rome, 1632, folio, contains the 
defcription of the tombs and the epitaphs of the early 
Chriftians which are found in the catacombs of that capi¬ 
tal of catholicity. He often palled five or fix days fuc- 
ceflively in thefe fubterranean caverns. A prielt of the 
oratory of Rome (pere Aringhi) tranflated his book from 
Italian into Latin, in 2 vols. folio, 1651. The admirers of 
ecclefiaftical antiquities fet a high value on this verfion, 
which is far more ample than the original. 
BOS'KY, ad). [ bofque , Fr.] Inebriated, or fuddled. A 
low term. Woody: 
I know each land, and every alley green, 
Dingle, or bulhy dell, of this wild wood. 
And every bojky bourn from fide to fide. Milton. 
BOSLE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Loiret, and chief place of a canton, in the diftricl of Beau- 
gency: two miles north of Beaugency. 
BOS'NA, a river of Bofnia, which pafles by Serajo, and 
joins the Save fifty miles north of that town. 
BOS'NIA, a province of European Turkey, bounded 
on the north by Sclavonia, from which it is leparated by 
the river Save, on the eall by Servia, on the louth by Servia 
and Albania, and on the well by Dalmatia and Croatia; 
about forty leagues in length, and twenty-four in breadth. 
It is mountainous, but fertile, efpecially near the rivers, 
the arable land producing good wheat, and the paftures 
feeding a great quantity of cattle; and in the mountains 
are mines of iilver. It was anciently that part of Pan- 
nonia called Inferior, and took its prelent name from the 
river Bofna, which runs through fome part of it into the 
Save. It became in time part of the kingdom of Hungary ; 
and, feveral provinces being after added, was erefled into 
a kingdom, and governed by kings of its own from 1351 
till 1465, when the Turks made themfelves mailers of it. 
Stephen V. the lall king, was taken by Mahomet II. and 
flayed alive; the Turks lubdued the whole province, and 
Vol- III. No. 127. (705O 
BOS 22f) 
made it the government of a beglerbeg, with eight fan- 
giacs under him. The greateft part of the inhabitants 
are Greek Chriftians, with fome Mahometans. The prin¬ 
cipal towns are Bagnialuka, Serajo, Zwornick, and Stre- 
bernik. 
BO'SOK, a town of Hungary, three miles eall of Baja. 
BO'SOM, f. [Saxon.] The embrace of the arms hold¬ 
ing any thing to the breaft. The breaft; the heart: 
Our good old friend. 
Lay comforts to your bofom-, and bellow 
Your needful counfels to our bufinefs. Shakcfpeare. 
The folds of the drefs that cover the breaft.—Put now thy 
hand into thy bofom-, and he put his hand into his bofom ■, 
and when he took it out, behold his hand was leprous as 
fnow. Exod. iv. 6.—Inclofnre; compafs; embrace.— 
Unto laws thus received by a tvliole church, they which 
live within the bofom of that church, mull not think it a 
matter indifferent, either to yield, or not to yieid, obedi¬ 
ence. Booker. —The breaft, as the feat of the pallions.— 
Anger refteth in the bofoms of fools. Ecdj'. 
Here adling bofoms wear a vifage gay, 
And Hilled groans frequent the ball and play. Young. 
The breaft, as the feat of tendernefs.—Their foul was 
poured out into their mother’s bofom. Lamentations. —The 
breaft, as the receptacle of lecrets.—If I covered my 
tranfgrelfion as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bofom. 
Job. —Any receptacle or clofe fecret; as, The bofom of the 
earth ; the bofom of the deep. The tender affe&ions; kind- 
nels ; favour: 
To whom the great Creator thus reply’d ; 
O Son, in whom my foul hath chief delight. 
Son of my bofom. Son who art alone 
My word, my wildom, and effectual might.! Milton. 
BO'SOM, f in compofition, implies intimacy; confi¬ 
dence, fondnefs.—The fourth privilege of friendlhip is 
that which is here fpecified in the text, a communication 
of fecrets. A bofom-fecret, and a bofom-friend, are ufuaily 
put together. South. 
Thofe domeftic traitors, bofom-thieves., 
Whom cullonr hath call’d wives; the readied: helps■ 
To betray the heady hulbands, rob the eafy. Milton* 
To BO'SOM, v. a. To inclofe in the bofom ; 
Bofom up my counfel; 
You'll find it wholefome. Skakefpcare , 
To conceal in privacy : 
The groves, the fountains, and the flow’rs, 
That open now their choiceil bofom'd frnells, 
Relerv’d for night, and kept for thee in ftore. 'Milton. 
BOS'PHORUS, f. [of /9sj, an ox, and tpequ, to bear.] 
A ftrait or narrow neck of the lea, which feparates two 
continents; by which means a gulf and a fea, or two leas, 
have a communication one with another. In this fenle, 
bofphorus amounts to the fame with what we otherwife 
call an arm of the fea, channel, or ftrait; the Italians, 
faro-, the Latins, fretum ; and the French, pas, manche. 
The name is chiefly confined to two ftraits in the Mediter¬ 
ranean, viz. the Bofphorus of Thrace, commonly called the 
Straits of Conftantinople, or Channel of the Black Sea ; 
and the Cimmerian or Scythian Bofphorus, fo .called from its 
refemblance to the Thracian, now called the Straits of 
Kapha, or Kiderleri, from two cities Handing on it. 
BOS'QUET (Francis), a learned French prelate, born 
at Narbonne in 1603, received his education at the college 
of Foix in Touloule. He was firft made royal judge at 
Narbonne. Having occafion to vifit Paris, he became 
known to chancellor Seguier, who took him into Nor¬ 
mandy in 1639, and made him attorney-general in the 
parliament of that province. He was afterwards created 
intendant, firft of Guienne, then of Languedoc, and coun- 
fellor of llate. What induced him to change his deltina- 
tion in life is not known ; but in 1648 he was nominated 
3 N to 
