Blackmore, Sir Richard, a wordy poetaster (d. 1729), who was the butt of
all contemporary wits
Blair, Dr. Hugh, Scotch divine an critic, encouraged Macpherson to
publish the Ossian poetry (1718-1800)
Blatant cast, the, does not really die. See the end of Faery Queen vi.
Bobadil and Beseus, Pistol and Parolles, braggart characters in Jonson’s
Every Man in His Humour, Beaumont and Fletcher’s King and no King,
Shakespeare’s Henry V., and All’s Well that Ends Well, respectively
Boileau, Nicholas, the great French critic, whose Art of Poetry long
constituted the canons of French and English literary art (1636-1711)
Bolt Court, on the N. side of Fleet Street. Johnson lived at No. 8 from
1777 till his death in 1784
Borodino, 70 miles west from Moscow, where the Russians made a stand
against Napoleon, 1812
Boscan, a Spanish imitator of Petrarch Alva’s tutor; served in Italy
(1485-1533)
Bourne, Vincent, an usher at Westminster School, mentioned early in the
“Essay on Warren Hastings,”
Boyle, Hon. Charles, edited the Letters of Phalaris which gave rise to
the famous controversy with Bentley, for which, see the essay on Sir
William Temple (vol. iii. of this edition)
Bradamante, in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a Christian lady who loves the
Saracen knight, Ruggiero
Brothers, Richard, a fanatic who held that the English were the lost ten
tribes of Israel (1757-1824)
Brownrigg, Mrs., executed at Tyburn (1767) for abusing and murdering her
apprentices
Bruhl, Count, the favourite of Augustus III. of Saxony who enriched
himself at the risk of ruining his master and his country.
Bucer, Martin, a German reformer who mediated between Luther and
Zwingli, and became Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (1491-1551)
Buchanan, George, Scottish scholar and humanist; tutor to Mary Queen of
Scots and James VI. (1506-82)
Burn, Richard, an English vicar compiled several law digests among them
the Justice of the Peace, (1709-85)
Burnet, Gilbert, bishop of Salisbury, supported the claims of William
of Orange to the English throne, and wrote the History of my Own Times
(1643-1715)
Button’s, on the south side of Russell Street, Covert Garden succeeded
Will’s as the wits’ resort
Butts, Dr. physician-in-ordinary to Henry VIII. (d. 1545) and one of the
characters in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII.