230 BOS 
to the bifhopric of Lodeve; and was tranflated to the 
bifhopric of Montpellier in 1657. His epifcopal conduft 
was highly exemplary for ftriflnefs and regularity, joined 
to fervent piety and liberal alms-giving. He appeared at 
the general aflembly of the clergy in 1670, as one of the 
moll learned prelates in the kingdom. He died in 1676, 
and left behind him feveral works of reputation. When 
young he difplayed his learning by a Latin tranftation of 
the Synopfis of Civil Law, cornpofed in Greek verfe by 
Michael Pfellus. He aifo wrote a Hiftory of the Popes who 
relided at Avignon, comprifing the period from 1305 to 
1394. He publifhed feveral epiftles of pope Innocent III. 
with learned notes. His moft confiderable work is a 
Hiftory of the Gallican Church, to the Reign of Conftan- 
tine : it is in Latin, and there are two editions of it; the 
latter much augmented, in 1636, 4to. 
BOS'QUETS,/. Artificial groves, fo called from bofckcttc, 
an Italian word which fignifies a little wood. They are 
compartments in pleafure-g.rounds formed by trees and 
fhrubs difpofed either regularly in rows, or wildly and ir¬ 
regularly, according to the fancy of the projector. 
BOS'RA, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Syria: fixty 
miles fouth of Damafcus. 
BOSS, [ \bojfc , Fr.] A ftud ; an ornament raifed above 
the reft of the work; a thining prominence.—What figni¬ 
fies beauty, ftrength, youth, fortune, embroidered furni¬ 
ture, or gaudy bojjes. L' Ef range. —The part riling in the 
midft of any thing.—He runneth upon him, even on his 
neck, upon the thick bojfes of his bucklers. Job xv. 26. 
A thick body of any kind.—If a clofe appulle be made 
by the lips, then is framed M; if by the bofs of the tongue 
to the palate, near the throat, then K. Holder. 
BOS'SAGE, f. in architecture, a term ufed for any 
ftone that has a proje&ure, and is laid rough in a building, 
to be afterwards carved into mouldings, capitals, coats of 
arms, &c. Boflage is alfo that which is otherwife called 
rujlic-work ; and confifts of ltones which advance beyond 
the naked or level of the building, by reafon of indentures 
or channels left in the joinings. Thefeare chiefly ufed in 
the corners of edifices, and thence called rujtic quoins. 
BOSSE (Abraham), an engraver, native of Tours, 
gave the firft leffons of perfpeftive in the academy of paint¬ 
ing at Paris. He had great judgment in that branch, as 
well as in architecture. He left, 1. Three Trafts : Oil the 
Manner of Drawing the Orders of Architecture, 1684, 
folio; On the Art of Engraving, 1645, 8vo. On Perfpec- 
tive, 1682, 8vo. 2. Reprefenlation of divers Human Fi¬ 
gures, taken from the Antiquities at Rome, Paris, 1656; 
a pocket volume, all engraved. The work On the Art of 
Engraving was re-publifhed fome years ago,, with the re¬ 
marks and augmentations of M. Cochin the younger. Bofle 
died about the year 1660. 
BOSSEE, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Hol- 
ftein: fix miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Rendftmrg. 
BOSSI.dE/A, f in botany, a genus of the clafs diadel- 
phia, order decandria; the characters of which are—-Ca¬ 
lyx two-lipped, upper inverfely heart-fhaped; banner with 
two glands at the bale; keel of two petals ; legume pedi- 
celled, comprefled, many-feeded, 
Bofliasa heterophylla: a Angle fpecies. It is a fhrub 
with glabrous leaves, the lower ones elliptic, the upper 
lanceolate; peduncles one-flowered, axillary. Native of 
New Holland. Venterat. PI. Nov. i. t. 7. 
BOSSIN'NEY, or Trevenna, a borough-town in 
Cornwall, fituate about half a mile from the lea, eighteen 
miles north of Launcefton, four from Camelford, four 
from Bofcaftle, and 223 from London. It is an ancient 
borough, governed by a mayor and free burgefles. The 
borough itfelf is a decayed place, confifting only of a few 
old walls, and has the appearance of a defected village. 
Trevenna or Trevennor, is fituated about two hundred 
yards without the borough-bounds; it contains the dwel¬ 
lings of the corporation, and a few other inhabitants. 
The name it bears is, The borough of Bofinney and town of 
Trevenna, in the parijk of Tentadgell. It is iituated on an 
BOS 
ifthmus, and partly on an ifland, which, in ancient tlme^ 
was joined by a 1 bridge to the main land. Near it are the 
ruins of a caftle, faid to have been the birth-place of king 
Arthur, and the feats of the dukes of Cornwall in the 
time of the Britons. The caftle, manor, and borough, 
were fettled by Edward III. on his fon, the Black Prince, 
when he created him duke of Cornwall, and his heirs, the 
princes of the blood, for ever; and fo it became a parcel 
of that- duchy, and as fuch is held by the corporation. 
It firft returned members to parliament in the reign of 
Edward Vf. It has a fair annually on Oct. 19, for cattle. 
The parifh-church is Tentadgell, about a mile from the: 
towm and borough. 
BOS'SO or Bcss-us (Matthew), a learned ecclefiaftic of 
the fifteenth century, born at Verona in 1428. He ftudied 
firft at Milan under Peter Perleoni, an eminent profelfor of 
eloquence ; and then, having entered into the congrega¬ 
tion of canons regular of the Lateran, he continued his 
ftudies at Padua, under Timothy Maffei. His reputation 
for learning and piety raifed him to the higheft offices in 
his order. He governed feveral canonries, and particu¬ 
larly that of St. Bartholomew at Fiefole, which was the 
occafion of introducing him to the acquaintance of Lo¬ 
renzo de Medici, whole anceftor Cofmo had at a vaft ex¬ 
pence rebuilt that abbey. Sixtus IV. thought him the 
fitted: perfon for a legation to check the dilbrders preva¬ 
lent in the nunneries of Liguria and the adjacent pro¬ 
vinces; and wilhed to repay his fervices by a bifhopric, 
which Boffo refufed to accept. After having five times 
fuftained the office of vilitor, and twice of procurator-ge¬ 
neral of his order, he died at Padua in 1502. He wrote 
feveral works, principally relative to moral philofophy: 
as 1. De Salutaribus animi gaudiis. 2. De injlituendo J'apientict 
aninio. 3. De tolerandis adverjis. 4. De gerendo magijlratu . 
5. De immoderato mulierum cultu. And a collection of letters 
and other pieces, entitled, Recuperationes Fefulanx-, this 
contains much curious matter, and is one of the fineft fpe- 
cimens of typography of the fifteenth century. It was 
printed at Bologna in 1493, folio. 
BOSSU' (Rene le), an eminent critic, born at Paris In 
1631. He received his early education at Nanterre, and 
afterwards entered into the religious fraternity of St. 
Genevieve. He firft purfued the ftudies of philofophy and 
theology, but was afterwards deftined to the profeflorfhip 
of polite literature, which he exercifed for fome years in 
different houfes of the fociety. He was at length permits 
ted to live in ftudious tranquillity at St. Genevieve, where 
the library had been much augmented; and here he pub- 
1 ifliecl his Parallel of the Philofophy of Defcartes and of 
Arillotle, which was foon followed by his more popular 
Treatife on Epic Poetry. He befides publifhed a fimall 
piece in favour of Boileau againft St. Sorlin. A much 
greater fhare of his compofitions remains in manufeript at 
the abbey of St. John at Chartres, of which he was made 
fub-prior in 1677. He died in 1680. He was a man of a 
foiid and penetrating underftanding, a lively imagination, 
and a mild and benevolent character. His work on epic 
poetry has proved of durable reputation. The belt edi¬ 
tion is that of the Hague in 1714, with a memoir on the 
life and waitings of the author by father Courayer. 
BOSSUE'T (James Benignus), eminent for his elo¬ 
quence as a pulpit orator, and as a champion of the Ro¬ 
man-catholic-faith, was born in 1627, at Dijon. He was 
placed very young under the care of the Jefuits; and pur¬ 
fued his ftudies with uncommon aifiduity and fuccefs. 
Even when a boy, his application to learning made him 
often decline joining in the aftive fports of his compa¬ 
nions, who in playful revenge, punned upon his name, and 
called him Bos fuetus aratro, an ox trained to the plough. 
The height to which he afterwards foared, may be added 
to the proofs, that genius and induftry are far from being 
adverfe to each other, as indolence would gladly infinite. 
Having chofen the clerical profeffion, whatever had any 
connection with it he made it the objeCt of his refearch. 
His ftyle of preaching was lofty, free, animated, and ener¬ 
getic. 
