FIG. 4.--Driving.
(In every case F is the Footer, B the Bowl, J the Jack.)]
Certain points in the play call for notice. In throwing the jack, the
leader is bound to throw (i.e. roll) a legal jack. A legal jack must
travel at least 25 yds. from the footer and not come to rest within 2
yds. of either side boundary; but it may be thrown as far beyond this
as the leader chooses, provided that it does not run within 2 yds. of
the end ditch or either side boundary. In English practice the leader
is entitled to a second throw if he fail to roll a legal jack at his
first attempt; should he fail again, the right to throw passes to his
opponent, but not the right of playing first. On Scottish greens the
leader has only a single throw. A legal jack should not be interfered
with except by the course of play. Should the jack be driven towards
the side boundary, it is legitimate for a player to cause his bowl to
draw outside of the dividing string, provided that when it has ceased
running it shall have come to rest entirely within his own space. If
it stop on the string, or outside of it, the bowl is "dead" and must
be removed to the bank. A "toucher" bowl is a characteristic of the
Scottish game to which great exception is taken by many English clubs.
Should a bowl running jackwards touch the jack, however slightly, it
is called a toucher and must be marked by the skip with a chalk cross
as soon as it is at rest. Such a bowl is alive until the end is
finished wherever it may lie, within the limits of the space. Even if
it run into the ditch or be driven in by another bowl, it will yet
count as alive. A bowl, however, that is forced on to the jack by
another is not a toucher. The feat of hitting the jack is so common
that it really calls for no special reward. Difference of opinion
prevails as to the condition of the jack after it has been driven into
the ditch. According to Scottish rules, unless it has been forced
clean out of bounds, such a jack is still alive. On most English
greens it is a "dead" jack and the end void. Every bowler should learn
both forehand and backhand play. In forehand play the bowl as it
courses to the jack describes its segment of a circle on the right, in
backhand play on the left. In both styles the biased side must always
be the inner.
In the United Kingdom the regular bowling season extends from May day
till the end of September or the middle of October. At its close the
green must be carefully examined, weeds uprooted, worn patches
re-turfed, and the whole laid under a winter blanket of silver-sand.
On Scottish greens the game of points is frequently played, but it is
rarely seen on English greens. Its main object is to perfect the
proficiency of players in certain departments of bowls proper. There
are four sections in the game, namely, drawing, guarding, trailing and
driving. In _drawing_ (fig. 1), the object is to draw as near as
possible to the jack, the player's bowl passing outside of two other
bowls placed 5 ft. apart in a horizontal line 15 ft. from the jack,
without touching either of them. Three points are scored if the bowl
come to rest within 1 ft. of the jack, two points if within 2 ft., and
one point if within 3 ft. Circles of these radii are usually marked
around the jack for convenience sake. In _guarding_ (fig. 2), two
jacks are laid at the far end of the green 12 ft. apart in a vertical
line. A thread is then pinned down between them, and on each side of
this thread three others are pinned down parallel with it and 6 in.
apart from each other. A bowl that comes to rest on the central line,
or within 6 in. of it, counts three points, a bowl 12 in. away two
points, and a bowl 18 in. off one point. In _trailing_ (fig. 3), two
bowls are laid on the turf 3 ft. apart, and straight lines are chalked
from bowl to bowl across their back and front faces, and a jack is
then deposited equidistant from each bowl and immediately before the
front line. A semicircle is then drawn behind the bowls with a radius
of 9 ft. from the jack. Three points are given to the bowl that trails
the jack over both lines into the semicircle and goes over them
itself. If a bowl trail the jack over both lines, but only itself
cross the first; or if it pass both lines, but the jack cross only the
first, two points are awarded. A bowl passing between the jack and
either of the stationary bowls, and passing over the back line; or
touching the jack, yet not trailing it past the first line, but itself
crossing the back line; or trailing the jack over the front line
without crossing it itself, receives one point. In no case must the
stationary bowls be touched, or the semicircle crossed by the trailed
jack or played bowls. In _driving_ (fig. 4), two bowls are laid down 2
ft. apart, and then a jack is placed in front of them, 15 in. apart
from each, and occupying the position of the apex of an inverted
pyramid. The player who drives the jack into the ditch between the two
bowls scores three. If he moves the jack, but does not carry it
through to the ditch, he scores two. If he pass between the jack and
either bowl he scores one, although it is not easy to see what driving
he has done. The played bowl must itself run into the ditch without
touching either of the stationary bowls. It is obvious that the points
game demands an ideally perfect green.
See W.W. Mitchell, _Manual of Bowl-playing_ (Glasgow, 1880); _Laws of
the Game issued by the Scottish B.A._ (1893, et sqq.); H.J. Dingley,
_Touchers and Rubs_ (Glasgow, 1893); Sam Aylwin, _The Gentle Art of
Bowling_, with 26 diagrams (London, 1904); James A. Manson, _The
Bowler's Handbook_ (London, 1906). (J. A. M.)
BOWNESS-ON-WINDERMERE, an urban district in the Appleby parliamentary
division of Westmorland, England, on the east shore of Windermere, 1-1/4
m. S.W. of Windermere station on the London & North-Western railway.
Together with the town of Windermere it forms an urban district (pop.
5061 in 1901), but the two towns were separate until 1905. Its situation
is fine, the lake-shore here rising sharply, while at this point the
lake narrows and is studded with islands. The low surrounding hills are
richly wooded, and a number of country seats stand upon them. Bowness
lies at the head of a small bay, is served by the lake-steamers of the
Furness Railway Company, and is a favourite yachting, boating, fishing
and tourist centre. The church of St Martin is ancient, and contains
stained glass from Cartmel priory in Furness. (See WINDERMERE.)
BOWRING, SIR JOHN (1792-1872), English linguist, political economist and
miscellaneous writer, was born at Exeter, on the 17th of October 1792,
of an old Puritan family. In early life he came under the influence of
Jeremy Bentham. He did not, however, share his master's contempt for
_belles-lettres_, but was a diligent student of literature and foreign
languages, especially those of eastern Europe. As a linguist he ranked
with Mezzofanti and von Gabelentz among the greatest of the world. The
first-fruits of his study of foreign literature appeared in _Specimens
of the Russian Poets_ (1821-1823). These were speedily followed by
_Batavian Anthology_ (1824), _Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain_
(1824), _Specimens of the Polish Poets_, and _Servian Popular Poetry_,
both in 1827. During this period he began to contribute to the newly
founded _Westminster Review_, of which he was appointed editor in 1825.
By his contributions to the _Review_ he obtained considerable reputation
as political economist and parliamentary reformer. He advocated in its
pages the cause of free trade long before it was popularized by Richard
Cobden and John Bright. He pleaded earnestly in behalf of parliamentary
reform, Catholic emancipation and popular education. In 1828 he visited
Holland, where the university of Groningen conferred on him the degree
of doctor of laws. In the following year he was in Denmark, preparing
for the publication of a collection of Scandinavian poetry. Bowring, who
had been the trusted friend of Bentham during his life, was appointed
his literary executor, and was charged with the task of preparing a
collected edition of his works. This appeared in eleven volumes in 1843.
Meanwhile Bowring had entered parliament in 1835 as member for
Kilmarnock; and in the following year he was appointed head of a
government commission to be sent to France to inquire into the actual
state of commerce between the two countries. He was engaged in similar
investigations in Switzerland, Italy, Syria and some of the German
states. The results of these missions appeared in a series of reports
laid before the House of Commons. After a retirement of four years he
sat in parliament from 1841 till 1849 as member for Bolton. During this
busy period he found leisure for literature, and published in 1843 a
translation of the _Manuscript of the Queen's Court_, a collection of
old Bohemian lyrics, &c. In 1849 he was appointed British consul at
Canton, and superintendent of trade in China, a post which he held for
four years. After his return he distinguished himself as an advocate of
the decimal system, and published a work entitled _The Decimal System in
Numbers, Coins and Accounts_ (1854). The introduction of the florin as a
preparatory step was chiefly due to his efforts. Knighted in 1854, he
was again sent the same year to Hong-Kong as governor, invested with the
supreme military and naval power. It was during his governorship that a
dispute broke out with the Chinese; and the irritation caused by his
"spirited" or high-handed policy led to the second war with China. In
1855 he visited Siam, and negotiated with the king a treaty of commerce.
After the usual five years of service he retired and received a pension.
His last employment by the English government was as a commissioner to
Italy in 1861, to report on British commercial relations with the new
kingdom. Sir John Bowring subsequently accepted the appointment of
minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary from the Hawaiian
government to the courts of Europe, and in this capacity negotiated
treaties with Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. In
addition to the works already named he published--_Poetry of the
Magyars_ (1830); _Cheskian Anthology_ (1832); _The Kingdom and People of
Siam_ (1857); a translation of _Peter Schlemihl_ (1824); translations
from the Hungarian poet, Alexander Petofi (1866); and various pamphlets.
He was elected F.R.S. and F.R.G.S., and received the decorations of
several foreign orders of knighthood. He died at Claremont, near Exeter,
on the 23rd of November 1872. His valuable collection of coleoptera was
presented to the British Museum by his second son, Lewin Bowring, a
well-known Anglo-Indian administrator; and his third son, E.A. Bowring,
member of parliament for Exeter from 1868 to 1874, became known in the
literary world as an able translator.
Sir John Bowring's _Recollections_ were edited by Lewin Bowring (d.
1910) in 1877.
BOWTELL, a medieval term in architecture for a round or corniced
moulding; the word is a variant of "boltel," which is probably the
diminutive of "bolt," the shaft of an arrow or javelin. A "roving"
bowtell is one which passes up the side of a bench end and round a
finial, the term "roving" being applied to that which follows the line
of a curve.
BOWYER, WILLIAM (1663-1737), English printer, was born in 1663,
apprenticed to a printer in 1679, made a liveryman of the Stationers'
Company in 1700, and nominated as one of the twenty printers allowed by
the Star Chamber. He was burned out in the great fire of 1712, but his
loss was partly made good by the subscription of friends and fellow
craftsmen, as recorded on a tablet in Stationers' Hall, and in 1713 he
returned to his Whitefriars shop and became the leading printer of his
day. He died on the 27th of December 1737.
His son, WILLIAM BOWYER (1699-1777), was born in London on the 19th of
December 1699. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and in
1722 became a partner in his father's business. In 1729 he was appointed
printer of the votes of the House of Commons, and in 1736 printer to the
Society of Antiquaries, of which he was elected a fellow in 1737. In
1737 he took as apprentice John Nichols, who was to be his successor and
biographer. In 1761 Bowyer became printer to the Royal Society, and in
1767 printer of the rolls of the House of Lords and the journals of the
House of Commons. He died on the 13th of November 1777, leaving
unfinished a number of large works and among them the reprint of
Domesday Book. He wrote a great many tracts and pamphlets, edited,
arranged and published a host of books, but perhaps his principal work
was an edition of the New Testament in Greek, with notes. His generous
bequests in favour of his own profession are administered by the
Stationers' Company, of which he became a liveryman in 1738, and in
whose hall is his portrait bust and a painting of his father. He was
known as "the learned printer."
BOX (Gr. [Greek: puxos], Lat. _buxus_, box-wood; cf. [Greek: puxis], a
pyx), the most varied of all receptacles. A box may be square, oblong,
round or oval, or of an even less normal shape; it usually opens by
raising, sliding or removing the lid, which may be fastened by a catch,
hasp or lock. Whatever its shape or purpose or the material of which it
is fashioned, it is the direct descendant of the chest, one of the most
ancient articles of domestic furniture. Its uses are infinite, and the
name, preceded by a qualifying adjective, has been given to many objects
of artistic or antiquarian interest.
Of the boxes which possess some attraction beyond their immediate
purpose the feminine work-box is the commonest. It is usually fitted
with a tray divided into many small compartments, for needles, reels of
silk and cotton and other necessaries of stitchery. The date of its
introduction is in considerable doubt, but 17th-century examples have
come down to us, with covers of silk, stitched with beads and adorned
with embroidery. In the 18th century no lady was without her work-box,
and, especially in the second half of that period, much taste and
elaborate pains were expended upon the case, which was often exceedingly
dainty and elegant. These boxes are ordinarily portable, but sometimes
form the top of a table.
But it is as a receptacle for snuff that the box has taken its most
distinguished and artistic form. The snuff-box, which is now little more
than a charming relic of a disagreeable practice, was throughout the
larger part of the 18th century the indispensable companion of every man
of birth and breeding. It long survived his sword, and was in frequent
use until nearly the middle of the 19th century. The jeweller, the
enameller and the artist bestowed infinite pains upon what was quite as
often a delicate bijou as a piece of utility; fops and great personages
possessed numbers of snuff-boxes, rich and more ordinary, their
selection being regulated by their dress and by the relative splendour
of the occasion. From the cheapest wood that was suitable--at one time
potato-pulp was extensively used--to a frame of gold encased with
diamonds, a great variety of materials was employed. Tortoise-shell was
a favourite, and owing to its limpid lustre it was exceedingly
effective. Mother-of-pearl was also used, together with silver, in its
natural state or gilded. Costly gold boxes were often enriched with
enamels or set with diamonds or other precious stones, and sometimes the
lid was adorned with a portrait, a classical vignette, or a tiny
miniature, often some choice work by an old master. After snuff-taking
had ceased to be general it lingered for some time among diplomatists,
either because--as Talleyrand explained--they found a ceremonious pinch
to be a useful aid to reflection in a business interview, or because
monarchs retained the habit of bestowing snuff-boxes upon ambassadors
and other intermediaries, who could not well be honoured in any other
way. It is, indeed, to the cessation of the habit of snuff-taking that
we may trace much of modern lavishness in the distribution of
decorations. To be invited to take a pinch from a monarch's snuff-box
was a distinction almost equivalent to having one's ear pulled by
Napoleon. At the coronation of George IV. of England, Messrs Rundell &
Bridge, the court jewellers, were paid L8205 for snuff-boxes for foreign
ministers. Now that the snuff-box is no longer used it is collected by
wealthy amateurs or deposited in museums, and especially artistic
examples command large sums. George, duke of Cambridge (1819-1904),
possessed an important collection; a Louis XV. gold box was sold by
auction after his death for L2000.
A jewel-box is a receptacle for trinkets. It may take a very modest
form, covered in leather and lined with satin, or it may reach the
monumental proportions of the jewel cabinets which were made for Marie
Antoinette, one of which is at Windsor, and another at Versailles, the
work of Schwerdfeger as cabinet-maker, Degault as miniature-painter, and
Thomire as chaser.
A strong-box is a receptacle for money, deeds and securities. Its place
has been taken in modern life by the safe. Some of those which have
survived, such as that of Sir Thomas Bodley in the Bodleian library,
possess locks with an extremely elaborate mechanism contrived in the
under-side of the lid.
The knife-box is one of the most charming of the minor pieces of
furniture which we owe to the artistic taste and mechanical ingenuity of
the English cabinet-makers of the last quarter of the 18th century. Some
of the most elegant were the work of Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton.
Occasionally flat-topped boxes, they were most frequently either
vase-shaped, or tall and narrow with a sloping lid necessitated by a
series of raised stages for exhibiting the handles of knives and the
bowls of spoons. Mahogany and satinwood were the woods most frequently
employed, and they were occasionally inlaid with marqueterie or edged
with boxwood. These graceful receptacles still exist in large numbers;
they are often converted into stationery cabinets.
The Bible-box, usually of the 17th century, but now and again more
ancient, probably obtained its name from the fact that it was of a size
to hold a large Bible. It often has a carved or incised lid.
The powder-box and the patch-box were respectively receptacles for the
powder and the patches of the 18th century; the former was the direct
ancestor of the puff-box of the modern dressing-table.
The _etui_ is a cylindrical box or case of very various materials, often
of pleasing shape or adornment, for holding sewing materials or small
articles of feminine use. It was worn on the chatelaine.
BOXING (M.E. _box_, a blow, probably from Dan. _bask_, a buffet), the
art of attack and defence with the fists protected by padded gloves, as
distinguished from pugilism, in which the bare fists, or some kind of
light gloves affording little moderation of the blow, are employed. The
ancient Greeks used a sort of glove in practice, but, although far less
formidable than the terrible caestus worn in serious encounters, it was
by no means so mild an implement as the modern boxing-glove, the
invention of which is traditionally ascribed to Jack Broughton
(1705-1789), "the father of British pugilism." In any case gloves were
first used in his time, though only in practice, all prize-fights being
decided with bare fists. Broughton, who was for years champion of
England, also drew up the rules by which prize-fights were for many
years regulated, and no doubt, with the help of the newly invented
gloves, imparted instruction in boxing to the young aristocrats of his
day. The most popular teacher of the art was, however, John Jackson
(1769-1845), called "Gentleman Jackson," who was champion from 1795 to
1800, and who is credited with imparting to boxing its scientific
principles, such as countering, accurate judging of distance in hitting,
and agility on the feet. Tom Moore, the poet, in his _Memoirs_, asserted
that Jackson "made more than a thousand a year by teaching sparring."
Among his pupils was Lord Byron, who, when chided for keeping company
with a pugilist, insisted that Jackson's manners were "infinitely
superior to those of the fellows of the college whom I meet at the high
table," and referred to him in the following lines in _Hints from
Horace_:--
"And men unpractised in exchanging knocks
Must go to Jackson ere they dare to box."
His rooms in Bond Street were crowded with men of birth and distinction,
and when the allied monarchs visited London he was entrusted with the
management of a boxing carnival with which they were vastly pleased. In
1814 the Pugilistic Club, the meeting-place of the aristocratic sporting
element, was formed, but the high-water mark of the popularity of boxing
had been reached, and it declined rapidly, although throughout the
country considerable interest continued to be manifested in
prize-fighting.
The sport of modern boxing, as distinguished from pugilism, may be said
to date from the year 1866, when the public had become disgusted with
the brutality and unfair practices of the professional "bruisers," and
the laws against prize-fighting began to be more rigidly enforced. In
that year the "Amateur Athletic Club" was founded, principally through
the efforts of John G. Chambers (1843-1883), who, in conjunction with
the 8th marquess of Queensberry, drew up a code of laws (known as the
Queensberry Rules) which govern all glove contests in Great Britain, and
were also authoritative in America until the adoption of the boxing
rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of America. In 1867 Lord Queensberry
presented cups for the British amateur championships at the recognized
weights.
For the history of pugilism in classic antiquity and an account of
modern prize-fighting see PUGILISM. At present two kinds of boxing
contests are in vogue, that for a limited number of rounds (as in the
amateur championships) and that for endurance, in which the one who
cannot continue the fight loses. Endurance contests, which contain the
essential element of the old prize-fights, are now indulged in only by
professionals. Among amateurs boxing is far less popular than it once
was, owing to the importance placed upon brute strength, and the
prevailing ambition of the modern boxer to "knock out" his opponent,
i.e. reduce him to a state of insensibility. Even in 3-round matches
between gentlemen, in which points win, and there is therefore no need
to knock an opponent senseless, it is nevertheless a common practice to
strike a dazed and reeling adversary a heavy blow with a view to ending
the battle at once. During the annual boxing competitions between Oxford
and Cambridge more than half the bouts have been known to end in this
manner. Undoubtedly the prettiest boxing is seen when two men proficient
in the art indulge in a practice bout--or "sparring."
Boxing is the art of hitting without getting hit. The boxers face each
other just out of reach and balanced equally on both feet, the left from
10 to 20 in. in advance of the right. The left foot is planted flat on
the floor, while the right heel is raised slightly from it. The left
side of the body is turned a little towards the opponent and the right
shoulder slightly depressed. When the hands are clenched inside the
gloves the thumb is doubled over the second and third fingers to avoid a
sprain when hitting. The general position of the guard is a matter of
individual taste. In the "crouch," affected by many American
professionals, the right hip is thrust forward and the body bent over
towards the right, while the left arm is kept well stretched out to
keep the opponent at a distance. No good master, however, teaches a
beginner any other than the upright position. Some boxers stand with the
right foot forward, a practice common in the 18th century, which gives
freer play with the right hand but is rather unstable. A boxer should
stand lightly on his feet, ready to advance or retreat on the instant,
using short steps, advancing with the left foot first and retreating
with the right. Attacks are either simple or secondary. Simple attacks
consist in straight leads, i.e. blows aimed with or without preliminary
feints, at some part of the opponent's body or head. All other attacks
are either "counters" or returns after a guard or "block." A counter is
a lead carried out just as one is attacked, the object being to block
(parry) the blow and land on the opponent at the same time. Counters are
often carried out in connexion with a side-step, a slip or a crouch. In
hitting, a boxer seeks to exert the greatest force at the instant of
impact. Blows may be either straight, with or without the weight of the
body behind them ("straight from the shouder" hits); jabs, short blows
(usually with the left hand when at close quarters); hooks, or
side-blows with bent arm; upper cuts (short swinging blows from beneath
to the adversary's chin); chops (short blows from above); punches
(usually at close quarters, with the right hand); or swings (round-arm
blows, usually delivered with a partial twist of the body to augment the
force of the blow). Of the dangerous blows, which often result in a
knockout, or in seriously weakening an adversary, the following may be
mentioned:--on the pit of the stomach, called the solar plexus, from the
sensitive network of nerves situated there; a blow on the point of the
chin, having a tendency slightly to paralyse the brain; a blow under the
ear, painful and often resulting in partial helplessness; and one
directly over the heart, kidney or liver. As a boxer is allowed ten
seconds after being knocked down in which to rise, an experienced
ring-fighter will drop on one knee when partially stunned, remaining in
that position in order to recover until the referee has counted nine.
Guarding is done with the arm or hand, either open or shut. If a blow is
caught or stopped short it is called _blocking_, but a blow may also be
shoved aside, or avoided altogether by _slipping, i.e._ moving the head
quickly to one side, or by ducking and allowing the adversary's swing to
pass harmlessly over the head. Still another method of avoiding a blow
without guarding is to bend back the head or body so as narrowly to
escape the opponent's glove.
The rules of the Amateur Boxing Association (founded 1884) contain the
following provisions. "An amateur is one who has never competed for a
money prize or staked bet with or against a professional for any prize,
except with the express sanction of the A.B.A., and who has never
taught, pursued or assisted in the practice of athletic exercises as a
means of obtaining a livelihood." The ring shall be roped and between 12
and 24 ft. square. No spikes shall be worn on shoes. Boxers are divided
into the following classes by weight:--Bantam, not exceeding 8 st. 4 lb
(116 lb); Feather, not exceeding 9 st. (126 lb); Light, not exceeding 10
st. (140 lb); Middle, not exceeding 11 st. 4 lb. (158 lb); and Heavy,
any weight above. There shall be two judges, a referee and a timekeeper.
The votes of the judges decide the winner of a bout, unless they
disagree, in which case the referee has the deciding vote. In case of
doubt he may order an extra round of two minutes' duration. Each match
is for three rounds, the first two lasting three minutes and the third
four, with one minute rest between the rounds. A competitor failing to
come up at the call of time loses the match. When a competitor draws a
bye he must box for a specified time with an opponent chosen by the
judges. A competitor is allowed one assistant (second) only, and no
advice or coaching during the progress of a round is permitted. Unless
one competitor is unable to respond to the call of time, or is obliged
to stop before the match is over, the judges decide the winner by
_points_, which are for attack, comprising successful hits cleanly
delivered, and defence, comprising guarding, slipping, ducking,
counter-hitting and getting away in time to avoid a return. When the
points are equal the decision is given in favour of the boxer who has
done the most leading, i.e. has been the more aggressive. Fouls are
hitting below the belt, kicking, hitting with the open hand, the side of
the hand, the wrist, elbow or shoulder, wrestling or "roughing" on the
ropes, i.e. unnecessary shouldering and jostling.
The boxing rules of the American Amateur Athletic Association differ
slightly from the British. The ring is roped but must be from 16 to 24
ft. square. Gloves must not be worn more than 8 oz. in weight. The
recognized classes by weight are: Bantam, 105 lb. and under; Feather,
115 lb. and under; Light, 135 lb. and under; Welter, 145 lb. and under;
Middle, 158 lb. and under; and Heavy, over 158 lb. The rules for
officials and rounds are identical with the British, except that only in
final bouts does the last round last four minutes. Two "seconds" are
allowed. The rules for points and fouls coincide with the British. The
amateur rules are very strict, and any one who competes in a boxing
contest of more than four rounds is suspended from membership in the
Athletic Association.
_Glossary_ of terms not mentioned above:--_Break away_, to get away
from the adversary, usually a command from the referee when the men
clinch. _Break ground_, retire diagonally to right or left.
_Catch-weight_, any weight. _Corners_, the opposite angles of the
square "ring," in which the boxers rest between the rounds.
_Cross-counter_, a blow in which the right or left arm crosses that of
the adversary as he leads off; the arm is slightly curved to get round
that of the opponent but is straightened at the moment of impact.
_Clinching_, grappling after an exchange of blows; when breaking from
a clinch one tries to pin the adversary's hands in order to prevent
his hitting at close quarters. _Drawing_ an opponent, enticing him by
leaving an apparent opening into making an attack for which a counter
is prepared. _Fiddling_, forward and back movements of the arms at the
beginning of a round, a part of sparring for an opening. _Footwork_,
the manner in which a boxer uses his feet. _In-fighting_, boxing at
very close quarters. _Mark_, the pit of the stomach. _Side-step_,
springing quickly to one side to avoid a blow, the movement being
usually followed up by a counter attack. _Timing_, a blow delivered on
the enemy's preparation of an attack of his own, but more quickly.
See _Boxing_, by R. Allanson Winn (Isthmian Library, London, 1897);
_Boxing_, by Wm. Elder (Spalding's Athletic Library, New York, 1902)
(these two books are excellent for the technicalities of boxing). The
article "Boxing," by B. Jno. Angle and G.W. Barroll, in the
_Encyclopaedia of Sport_; _Boxing_, by J.C. Trotter (Oval Series,
London, 1896); _Fencing, Boxing and Wrestling_, in the Badminton
Library (London, 1892).
FRENCH BOXING (_la boxe francaise_) dates from about 1830. It is more
like the ancient Greek _pankration_ (see PUGILISM) than is British
boxing, as not only striking with the fists, but also kicking with the
feet, butting with the head and wrestling are allowed. It is a
development of the old sport of _savate_, in which the feet, and not the
hands, were used in attack. Lessons in savate, which was practised
especially by roughs, were usually given in some low resort, and there
were no respectable teachers. While Paris was restricted to savate,
another sport, called _chausson_ or _jeu marseillais_, was practised in
the south of France, especially among the soldiers, in which blows of
the fist as well as kicks were exchanged, and the kicks were given
higher than in savate, in the stomach or even the face. It was an
excellent exercise, but could hardly be reckoned a serious means of
defence, for the high kicks usually fell short, and the upward blows of
the fist could not be compared with the terrible sledge-hammer blows of
the English boxers. Alexandre Dumas _pere_ says that Charles Lecour
first conceived the idea of combining English boxing with savate. For
this purpose he went to England, and took lessons of Adams and Smith,
the London boxers. He then returned to Paris, about 1852, and opened a
school to teach the sport since called _la boxe francaise_. Around him,
and two provincial instructors who came to Paris about this time with
similar ideas, there grew up a large number of sportsmen, who between
1845 and 1855 brought French boxing to its highest development. Among
others who gave public exhibitions was Lecour's brother Hubert, who
although rather undersized, was quick as lightning, and had an English
blow and a French kick that were truly terrible. Charles Ducros was
another whose style of boxing, more in the English fashion, but with low
kicks about his opponent's shins, made a name for himself. Later came
Vigneron, a "strong man," whose style, though slow, was severe in its
punishment. About 1856 the police interfered in these fights, and Lecour
and Vigneron had to cease giving public exhibitions and devote
themselves to teaching. Towards 1862 a new boxer, J. Charlemont, was not
only very clever with his fists and feet, but an excellent teacher, and
the author of a treatise on the art. Lecour, Vigneron and Charlemont may
be said to have created _la boxe francaise_, which, for defence _at
equal weights_, the French claim to be better than the English.
See _L'Art de la boxe francaise et de la canne_, by J. Charlemont
(Paris, 1899); _The French Method of the Noble Art of Self Defence_,
by Georges d'Amoric (London, 1898).
BOXWOOD, the wood obtained from the genus _Buxus_, the principal species
being the well-known tree or shrub, _B. sempervirens_, the common box,
in general use for borders of garden walks, ornamental parterres, &c.
The other source of the ordinary boxwood of commerce is _B. balearica_,
which yields the variety known as Turkey boxwood. The common box is
grown throughout Great Britain (perhaps native in the chalk-hills of the
south of England), in the southern part of the European continent
generally, and extends through Persia into India, where it is found
growing on the slopes of the western Himalayas. There has been much
discussion as to whether it is a true native of Britain. Writing more
than 200 years ago, John Ray, the author of the important _Historia
Plantarum_, says, "The Box grows wild on Boxhill, hence the name; also
at Boxwell, on the Cotteswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and at Boxley in
Kent.... It grows plentifully on the chalk hills near Dunstable." On the
other hand the box is not wild in the Channel Islands, and in the north
of France, Holland and Belgium is found mainly in hedgerows and near
cultivation, and it may have been one of the many introductions owed to
the Romans. Only a very small proportion of the wood suitable for
industrial uses is now obtained in Great Britain. The box is a very
slow-growing plant, adding not more than 1-1/2 or 2 in. to its diameter
in twenty years, and on an average attaining only a height of 16 ft.,
with a mean diameter of 10-1/2 in. The leaves of this species are small,
oval, leathery in texture and of a deep glossy green colour. _B.
balearica_ is a tree of considerable size, attaining to a height of 80
ft., with leaves three times larger than those of the common box. It is
a native of the islands of the Mediterranean, and grows in Turkey, Asia
Minor, and around the shores of the Black Sea, and is supposed to be the
chief source of the boxwood which comes into European commerce by way of
Constantinople. The wood of both species possesses a delicate yellow
colour; it is very dense in structure and has a fine uniform grain,
which has given it unique value for the purposes of the wood-engraver. A
large amount is used in the manufacture of measuring rules, various
mathematical instruments, flutes and other musical instruments, as well
as for turning into many minor articles, and for inlaying, and it is a
favourite wood for small carvings. The use of boxwood for turnery and
musical instruments is mentioned by Pliny, Virgil and Ovid.
BOYACA, or Bojaca, an inland department of Colombia, bounded by the
departments of Santander and Cundinamarca on the N., W. and S., and the
republic of Venezuela on the E., and having an area of 33,321 sq. m.,
including the Casanare territory. Pop. (1899, estimate) 508,940. The
department is very mountainous, heavily forested and rich in minerals.
The famous Muso emerald mines are located in the western part of Boyaca.
The capital, Tunja (pop. 1902, 10,000), is situated in the Eastern
Cordilleras, 9054 ft. above sea-level, and has a cool, temperate
climate, though only 5-1/2 deg. N. of the equator. It was an important
place in colonial times, and occupies the site of one of the Indian
towns of this region (Hunsa), which had acquired a considerable degree
of civilization before the discovery of America. Other towns of note in
the department are Chiquinquira (20,000), Moniquira (18,000), Sogamoso
(10,787), and Boyaca (7000), where on the 7th of August 1819 Bolivar
defeated the Spanish army and secured the independence of New Granada.
BOYAR (Russ. _boyarin_, plur. _boyare_), a dignity of Old Russia
conterminous with the history of the country. Originally the boyars were
the intimate friends and confidential advisers of the Russian prince,
the superior members of his _druzhina_ or bodyguard, his comrades and
champions. They were divided into classes according to rank, most
generally determined by personal merit and service. Thus we hear of the
"oldest," "elder" and the "younger" boyars. At first the dignity seems
to have been occasionally, but by no means invariably, hereditary. At a
later day the boyars were the chief members of the prince's _duma_, or
council, like the _senatores_ of Poland and Lithuania. Their further
designation of _luchshie lyudi_ or "the best people" proves that they
were generally richer than their fellow subjects. So long as the
princes, in their interminable struggles with the barbarians of the
Steppe, needed the assistance of the towns, "the best people" of the
cities and of the _druzhina_ proper mingled freely together both in war
and commerce; but after Yaroslav's crushing victory over the Petchenegs
in 1036 beneath the walls of Kiev, the two classes began to draw apart,
and a political and economical difference between the members of the
princely _druzhina_ and the aristocracy of the towns becomes
discernible. The townsmen devote themselves henceforth more exclusively
to commerce, while the _druzhina_ asserts the privileges of an
exclusively military caste with a primary claim upon the land. Still
later, when the courts of the northern grand dukes were established, the
boyars appear as the first grade of a fullblown court aristocracy with
the exclusive privilege of possessing land and serfs. Hence their title
of _dvoryane_ (courtiers), first used in the 12th century. On the other
hand there was no distinction, as in Germany, between the _Dienst Adel_
(nobility of service) and the simple _Adel_. The Russian boyardom had no
corporate or class privileges, (1) because their importance was purely
local (the dignity of the principality determining the degree of dignity
of the boyars), (2) because of their inalienable right of transmigration
from one prince to another at will, which prevented the formation of a
settled aristocracy, and (3) because birth did not determine but only
facilitated the attainment of high rank, e.g. the son of a boyar was not
a boyar born, but could more easily attain to boyardom, if of superior
personal merit. It was reserved for Peter the Great to transform the
_boyarstvo_ or boyardom into something more nearly resembling the
aristocracy of the West.
See Alexander Markevich, _The History of Rank-priority in the Realm of
Muscovy in the 15th-18th Centuries_ (Russ.) (Odessa, 1888); V.
Klyuchevsky, _The Boyar Duma of Ancient Russia_ (Russ.) (Moscow,
1888). (R. N. B.)
BOY-BISHOP, the name given to the "bishop of the boys" (_episcopus
puerorum_ or _innocentium_, sometimes _episcopus scholariorum_ or
_chorestarum_), who, according to a custom very wide-spread in the
middle ages, was chosen in connexion with the festival of Holy
Innocents. For the origin of the curious authority of the boy-bishop and
of the rites over which he presided, see FOOLS, FEAST OF. In England the
boy-bishop was elected on December 6, the feast of St Nicholas, the
patron of children, and his authority lasted till Holy Innocents' day
(December 28). The election made, the lad was dressed in full bishop's
robes with mitre and crozier and, attended by comrades dressed as
priests, made a circuit of the town blessing the people. At Salisbury
the boy-bishop seems to have actually had ecclesiastical patronage
during his episcopate, and could make valid appointments. The boy and
his colleagues took possession of the cathedral and performed all the
ceremonies and offices except mass. Originally, it seems, confined to
the cathedrals, the custom spread to nearly all the parishes. Several
ecclesiastical councils had attempted to abolish or to restrain the
abuses of the custom, before it was prohibited by the council of Basel
in 1431. It was, however, too popular to be easily suppressed. In
England it was abolished by Henry VIII. in 1542, revived by Mary in 1552
and finally abolished by Elizabeth. On the continent it survived longest
in Germany, in the so-called _Gregoriusfest_, said to have been founded
by Gregory IV. in 828 in honour of St Gregory, the patron of schools. A
school-boy was elected bishop, duly vested, and, attended by two
boy-deacons and the town clergy, proceeded to the parish church, where,
after a hymn in honour of St Gregory had been sung, he preached. At
Meiningen this custom survived till 1799.
See Brand, _Pop. Antiquities of Great Britain_ (1905); Gasquet,
_Parish Life in Medieval England_ (1906); Du Cange, _Glossarium_
(London, 1884), s.v. "Episcopus puerorum."
BOYCE, WILLIAM (1710-1779), English musical composer, the son of a
cabinet-maker, was born in London on the 7th of February 1710. As a
chorister in St Paul's he received his early musical education from
Charles King and Dr Maurice Greene, and he afterwards studied the theory
of music under Dr Pepusch. In 1734, having become organist of Oxford
chapel, Vere Street, Cavendish Square, he set Lord Lansdowne's masque of
_Peleus and Thetis_ to music. In 1736 he left Oxford chapel and was
appointed organist of St Michael's church, Cornhill, and in the same
year he became composer to the chapel royal, and wrote the music for
John Lockman's oratorio _David's Lamentation over Saul and Jonathan_. In
1737 he was appointed to conduct the meetings of the three choirs of
Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. In 1743 was written the serenata
_Solomon_, in which occurs the favourite song "Softly rise, O southern
breeze." In 1749 he received the degree of doctor of music from the
university of Cambridge, as an acknowledgment of the merit of his
setting of the ode performed at the installation of Henry Pelham, duke
of Newcastle, as chancellor; and in this year he became organist of
All-hallows the Great and Less, Thames Street. A musical setting to _The
Chaplet_, an entertainment by Moses Mendez, was Boyce's most successful
achievement in this year. In 1750 he wrote songs for Dryden's _Secular
Masque_ and in 1751 set another piece (_The Shepherd's Lottery_) by
Mendez. He became master of the king's band in succession to Greene in
1757, and in 1758 he was appointed principal organist to the chapel
royal. As an ecclesiastical composer Boyce ranks among the best
representatives of the English school. His two church services and his
anthems, of which the best specimens are _By the Waters of Babylon_ and
_O, Where shall Wisdom be found_, are frequently performed. It should
also be remembered that he wrote additional accompaniments and choruses
for Purcell's _Te Deum_ and _Jubilate_, which the earlier musician had
composed for the St Cecilia's day of 1694. Boyce did this in his
capacity of conductor at the annual festivals of the Sons of the Clergy
at St Paul's cathedral, an office which he had taken in succession to
Greene. His twelve trios for two violins and a bass were long popular.
One of his most valuable services to musical art was his publication in
three volumes quarto of a work on _Cathedral Music_. The collection had
been begun by Greene, but it was mainly the work of Boyce. The first
volume appeared in 1760 and the last in 1778. On the 7th of February
1779 Boyce died from an attack of gout. He was buried under the dome of
St Paul's cathedral.
BOYCOTT, the refusal and incitement to refusal to have commercial or
social dealings with any one on whom it is wished to bring pressure. As
merely a form of "sending to Coventry" or (in W.E. Gladstone's phrase)
"exclusive dealing," boycotting may be, from a legal point of view,
unassailable, and as such has frequently been justified by its original
political inventors. But in practice it has usually taken the form of
what is undoubtedly an illegal conspiracy to injure the person, property
or business of another by unwarrantably putting pressure on all and
sundry to withdraw from him their social or business intercourse. The
word was first used in Ireland, and was derived from the name of Captain
Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897), agent for the estates of the
earl of Erne in Co. Mayo. For refusing in 1880 to receive rents at
figures fixed by the tenants, Captain Boycott had his life threatened,
his servants compelled to leave him, his fences torn down, his letters
intercepted and his food supplies interfered with. It took a force of
900 soldiers to protect the Ulster Orangemen ("Emergency Men") who
succeeded finally in getting in his crops. He was hooted and mobbed in
the streets, and hanged and burnt in effigy. The system of boycotting
was an essential part of the Irish Nationalist "Plan of Campaign," and
was dealt with under the Crimes Act of 1887. The term soon came into
common English use, and was speedily adopted by the French, Germans,
Dutch and Russians. In the United States this method of "persuasion" was
taken up by the trade unions about 1886, an employer who refused their
demands being brought to terms by a combination to refuse to buy his
product or do his work, or to deal with any who did. Various cases have
occurred in America in which labour organizations have pronounced such a
boycott against a firm; and its illegal nature has been established in
the law-courts, notably in the case of the Bucks Stove Company v. The
American Federation of Labor (1907) in the Supreme Court of the district
of Columbia, and in a suit against the Hatters' Union (February 1908) in
the U.S. Supreme Court. A boycott has also been held by the U.S. Supreme
Court to be a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust law.
BOYD, ANDREW KENNEDY HUTCHISON (1825-1899), Scottish author and divine,
was born at Auchinleck manse in Ayrshire on the 3rd of November 1825. He
studied at King's College, London, and at the Middle Temple, with the
idea of practising at the English bar. Returning to Scotland, however,
he entered Glasgow University and there qualified for the Scottish
ministry, being licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Ayr. He
served in succession the parishes of Newton-on-Ayr, Kirkpatrick-Irongray
near Dumfries, St Bernard's, Edinburgh, and finally, in 1865, became
minister of the first charge at St Andrews. Here he advocated an
improved ritual in the Scottish church, his action resulting in the
appointment by the general assembly of a committee, with Boyd as
convener, to prepare a new hymnal. In 1890 he was appointed moderator of
the general assembly, and fulfilled the duties of the position with
admirable dignity and tact. He died at Bournemouth on the 1st of March
1899. Dr Boyd was a very famous preacher and talker, and his desultory
essays have very much of the charm of his conversation. Among his
numerous publications may be specially mentioned the two works (each in
three series), _Recreations of a Country Parson_ (1859, 1861 and 1878),
and _Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson_ (1862-1865 and 1875); he also
wrote _Twenty-five Years at St Andrews_ (1892), and _St Andrews and
Elsewhere_ (1894). He was familiarly known to the public as a writer by
his initials "A.K.H.B."
BOYD, ROBERT BOYD, LORD (d.c. 1470), Scottish statesman, was a son of
Sir Thomas Boyd (d. 1439), and belonged to an old and distinguished
family, one member of which, Sir Robert Boyd, had fought with Wallace
and Robert Bruce. Boyd, who was created a peer about 1454, was one of
the regents of Scotland during the minority of James III., but, in 1466,
with some associates he secured the person of the young king and was
appointed his sole governor. As ruler of Scotland he was instrumental in
reforming some religious foundations; he arranged the marriage between
James III. and Margaret, daughter of Christian I., king of Denmark and
Norway, and secured the cession of the Orkney Islands by Norway.
However, when in 1467 he obtained the offices of chamberlain and
justiciary for himself, and the hand of the king's sister Mary, with the
title of earl of Arran for his eldest son Thomas, his enemies became too
strong for him, and he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to
death. He escaped to England, and the date of his death is unknown. His
brother and assistant, Sir Alexander Boyd, was beheaded on the 22nd of
November 1469.
Boyd's son Thomas, earl of Arran, was in Denmark when his father was
overthrown. However, he fulfilled his mission, that of bringing the
king's bride, Margaret, to Scotland, and then, warned by his wife,
escaped to the continent of Europe. He is mentioned very eulogistically
in one of the Paston Letters, but practically nothing is known of his
subsequent history.
Lord Boyd's grandson Robert (d. c. 1550), a son of Alexander Boyd, was
confirmed in the possession of the estates and honours of his
grandfather in 1549, and is generally regarded as the 3rd Lord Boyd. His
son Robert, 4th Lord Boyd (d. 1590), took a prominent part in Scottish
politics during the troubled time which followed the death of James V.
in 1542. At first he favoured the reformed religion, but afterwards his
views changed and he became one of the most trusted advisers of Mary,
queen of Scots, whom he accompanied to the battle of Langside in 1568.
During the queen's captivity he was often employed on diplomatic
errands; he tried to stir up insurrections in her favour, and he was
suspected of participation in the murder of the regent Murray. He
enjoyed a high and influential position under the regent James Douglas,
earl of Morton, but was banished in 1583 for his share in the seizure of
King James VI., a plot known as the Raid of Ruthven. He retired to
France, but was soon allowed to return to Scotland. He died on the 3rd
of January 1590.
William, 8th or 9th Lord Boyd (d. 1692), was created earl of Kilmarnock
in 1661, and this nobleman's grandson William, the 3rd earl (d. 1717),
was a partisan of the Hanoverian kings and fought for George I. during
the rising of 1715. His son William, the 4th earl (1704-1746), was
educated in the same principles, but in 1745, owing either to a personal
affront or to the influence of his wife or to his straitened
circumstances he deserted George II. and joined Charles Edward, the
Young Pretender. The 4th earl fought at Falkirk and Culloden, where he
was made prisoner, and was beheaded on the 18th of August 1746. The
title of earl of Kilmarnock is now merged in that of earl of Erroll.
BOYD, ZACHARY (1585?-1653), Scottish divine, was educated at the
universities of Glasgow and St Andrews. He was for many years a teacher
in the Protestant college of Saumur in France, but returned to Scotland
in 1621, to escape the Huguenot persecution. In 1623 he was appointed
minister of the Barony church in Glasgow, and he was rector of the
university in 1634, 1635 and 1645. He bequeathed to the university the
half of his fortune, a sum amounting to L20,000 Scots, besides his
library and twelve volumes of MSS. His poetical compositions, though
often eccentric, have some merit. The common statement that he made the
printing of his metrical version of the Gospels and other Biblical
narratives a condition of the reception of his grant to the university
is a mistake. In later years he was a staunch Covenanter, and though for
a time opposed to Oliver Cromwell, afterwards became friendly with him.
His best-known works are _The Battel of the Soul in Death_ (1629), of
which a new edition, with a biography by G. Neil, was published in
Glasgow in 1831; _Zion's Flowers_--often called "Boyd's Bible" (1644);
_Four Letters of Comfort_ (1640, reprinted, Edinburgh, 1878).
BOYDELL, JOHN (1719-1804), English alderman and publisher, was born at
Dorrington, and at the age of twenty-one came to London and was
apprenticed for seven years to an engraver. In 1746 he published a
volume of views in England and Wales, and started in business as a
print-seller. By his good taste and liberality he managed to secure the
services of the best artists, and his engravings were executed with such
skill that his business became extensive and lucrative. He succeeded in
his plan of a Shakespeare gallery, and obtained the assistance of the
most eminent painters of the day, whose contributions were exhibited
publicly for many years. The engravings from these paintings form a
splendid companion volume to his large illustrated edition of
Shakespeare's works. Towards the close of his life Boydell sustained
severe losses through the French Revolution, and was compelled to
dispose of his Shakespeare gallery by lottery. Boydell had previously
become an alderman, and rose to be lord mayor of London.
BOYER, ALEXIS (1757-1833), French surgeon, was born on the 1st of March
1757 at Uzerches (Correze). The son of a tailor, he obtained his first
medical knowledge in the shop of a barber-surgeon. Removing to Paris he
had the good fortune to attract the notice of Antoine Louis (1723-1792)
and P.J. Desault (1744-1795); and his perseverance, anatomical skill
and dexterity as an operator, became so conspicuous, that at the age of
thirty-seven he obtained the appointment of second surgeon to the Hotel
Dieu of Paris. On the establishment of the Ecole de Sante he gained the
chair of operative surgery, but soon exchanged it for the chair of
clinical surgery. In 1805 Napoleon nominated him imperial family
surgeon, and, after the brilliant campaigns of 1806-7, conferred on him
the legion of honour, with the title of baron of the empire and a salary
of 25,000 francs. On the fall of Napoleon the merits of Boyer secured
him the favour of the succeeding sovereigns of France, and he was
consulting surgeon to Louis XVIII., Charles X., and Louis Philippe. In
1825 he succeeded J.F.L. Deschamps (1740-1824) as surgeon-in-chief to
the Hopital de la Charite, and was chosen a member of the Institute. He
died in Paris on the 23rd of November 1833. Perhaps no French surgeon of
his time thought or wrote with greater clearness and good sense than
Boyer; and while his natural modesty made him distrustful of innovation,
and somewhat tenacious of established modes of treatment, he was as
judicious in his diagnosis and as cool and skilful in manipulating, as
he was cautious in forming his judgment on individual cases. His two
great works are:--_Traite complet de l'anatomie_ (in 4 vols.,
1797-1799), of which a fourth edition appeared in 1815, and _Traite des
maladies chirurgicales et des operations qui leur conviennent_ (in 11
vols., 1814-1826), of which a new edition in 7 vols. was published in
1844-1853, with additions by his son, Philippe Boyer (1801-1858).
BOYER, JEAN PIERRE (1776-1850), president of the republic of Haiti, a
mulatto, was born at Port-au-Prince on the 28th of February 1776. He
received a good education in France, and, returning to St Domingo,
joined the army in 1792. In 1794 he was already in command of a
battalion, and fought with distinction under General Rigaud against the
English. The negro insurrection under Toussaint l'Ouverture, which was
directed against the mulattoes as well as the whites, ultimately forced
him to take refuge in France. He was well received by Napoleon, and in
1802 obtained a commission in Leclerc's expedition. Being opposed to the
reinstitution of slavery, he turned against the French and succeeded in
producing an alliance between the negroes and mulattoes by which they
were driven from the island. Dessalines, a negro, was proclaimed king,
but his cruelty and despotism were such that Boyer combined with A.A.S.
Petion and General Christophe to overthrow him (1806). Christophe now
seized the supreme power, but Petion set up an independent republic in
the southern part of the island, with Boyer as commander-in-chief.
Christophe's efforts to crush this state were defeated by Boyer's
gallant defence of Port-au-Prince, and a series of brilliant victories,
which, on Petion's death in 1818, led to Boyer's election as president.
Two years later the death of Christophe removed his only rival, and he
gained almost undisputed possession of the whole island. During his
presidency Boyer did much to set the finances and the administration in
order, and to encourage the arts and sciences, and in 1825 obtained
French recognition of the independence of Haiti, in return for a payment
of 150,000 francs. The weight of this debt excited the greatest
discontent in Haiti. Boyer was able to carry on his government for some
years longer, but in March 1843 a violent insurrection overthrew his
power and compelled him to take refuge in Jamaica. He resided there till
1848, when he removed to Paris, where he died in 1850.
See Wallez, _Precis historique des negociations entre la France et
Saint-Domingue, avec une notice biographique sur le general Boyer_
(Paris, 1826).
BOYLE, JOHN J. (1851- ), American sculptor, was born in New York City.
He studied in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and
in the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He is particularly successful in the
portrayal of Indians. Among his principal works are: "Stone Age,"
Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; "The Alarm," Lincoln Park, Chicago; and, a
third study in primitive culture, the two groups, "The Savage Age" at
the Pan-American Exposition of 1901. His work also includes the seated
"Franklin," in Philadelphia; and "Bacon" and "Plato" in the
Congressional library, Washington, D.C.
BOYLE, ROBERT (1627-1691), English natural philosopher, seventh son and
fourteenth child of Richard Boyle, the great earl of Cork, was born at
Lismore Castle, in the province of Munster, Ireland, on the 25th of
January 1627. While still a child he learned to speak Latin and French,
and he was only eight years old when he was sent to Eton, of which his
father's friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was then provost. After spending over
three years at the college, he went to travel abroad with a French
tutor. Nearly two years were passed in Geneva; visiting Italy in 1641,
he remained during the winter of that year in Florence, studying the
"paradoxes of the great star-gazer" Galileo, who died within a league of
the city early in 1642. Returning to England in 1644 he found that his
father was dead and had left him the manor of Stalbridge in Dorsetshire,
together with estates in Ireland. From that time he gave up his life to
study and scientific research, and soon took a prominent place in the
band of inquirers, known as the "Invisible College," who devoted
themselves to the cultivation of the "new philosophy." They met
frequently in London, often at Gresham College; some of the members also
had meetings at Oxford, and in that city Boyle went to reside in 1654.
Reading in 1657 of Otto von Guericke's air-pump, he set himself with the
assistance of Robert Hooke to devise improvements in its construction,
and with the result, the "machina Boyleana" or "Pneumatical Engine,"
finished in 1659, he began a series of experiments on the properties of
air. An account of the work he did with this instrument was published in
1660 under the title _New Experiments Physico-Mechanical touching the
spring of air and its effects_. Among the critics of the views put
forward in this book was a Jesuit, Franciscus Linus (1595-1675), and it
was while answering his objections that Boyle enunciated the law that
the volume of a gas varies inversely as the pressure, which among
English-speaking peoples is usually called after his name, though on the
continent of Europe it is attributed to E. Mariotte, who did not publish
it till 1676. In 1663 the "Invisible College" became the "Royal Society
of London for improving natural knowledge," and the charter of
incorporation granted by Charles II. named Boyle a member of the
council. In 1680 he was elected president of the society, but declined
the honour from a scruple about oaths. In 1668 he left Oxford for London
where he resided at the house of his sister, Lady Ranelagh, in Pall
Mall. About 1689 his health, never very strong, began to fail seriously
and he gradually withdrew from his public engagements, ceasing his
communications to the Royal Society, and advertising his desire to be
excused from receiving guests, "unless upon occasions very
extraordinary," on Tuesday and Friday forenoon, and Wednesday and
Saturday afternoon. In the leisure thus gained he wished to "recruit his
spirits, range his papers," and prepare some important chemical
investigations which he proposed to leave "as a kind of Hermetic legacy
to the studious disciples of that art," but of which he did not make
known the nature. His health became still worse in 1691, and his death
occurred on the 30th of December of that year, just a week after that of
the sister with whom he had lived for more than twenty years. He was
buried in the churchyard of St Martin's in the Fields, his funeral
sermon being preached by his friend Bishop Burnet.
Boyle's great merit as a scientific investigator is that he carried out
the principles which Bacon preached in the _Novum Organum_. Yet he would
not avow himself a follower of Bacon or indeed of any other teacher: on
several occasions he mentions that in order to keep his judgment as
unprepossessed as might be with any of the modern theories of
philosophy, till he was "provided of experiments" to help him judge of
them, he refrained from any study of the Atomical and the Cartesian
systems, and even of the _Novum Organum_ itself, though he admits to
"transiently consulting" them about a few particulars. Nothing was more
alien to his mental temperament than the spinning of hypotheses. He
regarded the acquisition of knowledge as an end in itself, and in
consequence he gained a wider outlook on the aims of scientific inquiry
than had been enjoyed by his predecessors for many centuries. This,
however, did not mean that he paid no attention to the practical
application of science nor that he despised knowledge which tended to
use. He himself was an alchemist; and believing the transmutation of
metals to be a possibility, he carried out experiments in the hope of
effecting it; and he was instrumental in obtaining the repeal, in 1689,
of the statute of Henry IV. against multiplying gold and silver. With
all the important work he accomplished in physics--the enunciation of
Boyle's law, the discovery of the part taken by air in the propagation
of sound, and investigations on the expansive force of freezing water,
on specific gravities and refractive powers, on crystals, on
electricity, on colour, on hydrostatics, &c.--chemistry was his peculiar
and favourite study. His first book on the subject was _The Sceptical
Chemist_, published in 1661, in which he criticized the "experiments
whereby vulgar Spagyrists are wont to endeavour to evince their Salt,
Sulphur and Mercury to be the true Principles of Things." For him
chemistry was the science of the composition of substances, not merely
an adjunct to the arts of the alchemist or the physician. He advanced
towards the modern view of elements as the undecomposable constituents
of material bodies; and understanding the distinction between mixtures
and compounds, he made considerable progress in the technique of
detecting their ingredients, a process which he designated by the term
"analysis." He further supposed that the elements were ultimately
composed of particles of various sorts and sizes, into which, however,
they were not to be resolved in any known way. Applied chemistry had to
thank him for improved methods and for an extended knowledge of
individual substances. He also studied the chemistry of combustion and
of respiration, and made experiments in physiology, where, however, he
was hampered by the "tenderness of his nature" which kept him from
anatomical dissections, especially of living animals, though he knew
them to be "most instructing."
Besides being a busy natural philosopher, Boyle devoted much time to
theology, showing a very decided leaning to the practical side and an
indifference to controversial polemics. At the Restoration he was
favourably received at court, and in 1665 would have received the
provostship of Eton, if he would have taken orders; but this he refused
to do, on the ground that his writings on religious subjects would have
greater weight coming from a layman than a paid minister of the Church.
He spent large sums in promoting the spread of Christianity,
contributing liberally to missionary societies, and to the expenses of
translating the Bible or portions of it into various languages. By his
will he founded the Boyle lectures, for proving the Christian religion
against "notorious infidels, viz. atheists, theists, pagans, Jews and
Mahommedans," with the proviso that controversies between Christians
were not to be mentioned.
In person Boyle was tall, slender and of a pale countenance. His
constitution was far from robust, and throughout his life he suffered
from feeble health and low spirits. While his scientific work procured
him an extraordinary reputation among his contemporaries, his private
character and virtues, the charm of his social manners, his wit and
powers of conversation, endeared him to a large circle of personal
friends. He was never married. His writings are exceedingly voluminous,
and his style is clear and straightforward, though undeniably prolix.
The following are the more important of his works in addition to the
two already mentioned:--_Considerations touching the Usefulness of
Experimental Natural Philosophy_ (1663), followed by a second part in
1671; _Experiments and Considerations upon Colours, with Observations
on a Diamond that Shines in the Dark_ (1663); _New Experiments and
Observations upon Cold_ (1665); _Hydrostatical Paradoxes_ (1666);
_Origin of Forms and Qualities according to the Corpuscular
Philosophy_ (1666); a continuation of his work on the spring of air
(1669); tracts about the _Cosmical Qualities of Things_, the
_Temperature of the Subterraneal and Submarine Regions_, the _Bottom
of the Sea_, &c. with an _Introduction to the History of Particular
Qualities_ (1670); _Origin and Virtues of Gems_ (1672); _Essays of the
strange Subtilty, great Efficacy, determinate Nature of Effluviums_
(1673); two volumes of tracts on the _Saltness of the Sea_, the
_Hidden Qualities of the Air, Cold, Celestial Magnets, Animadversions
on Hobbes's_ Problemata de Vacuo (1674); _Experiments and Notes about
the Mechanical Origin or Production of Particular Qualities_,
including some notes on electricity and magnetism (1676);
_Observations upon an artificial Substance that Shines without any
Preceding Illustration_ (1678); the _Aerial Noctiluca_ (1680); _New
Experiments and Observations upon the Icy Noctiluca_ (1682); a further
continuation of his work on the air; _Memoirs for the Natural History
of the Human Blood_ (1684); _Short Memoirs for the Natural
Experimental History of Mineral Waters_ (1685); _Medicina
Hydrostatica_ (1690); and _Experimenta et Observiationes Physicae_
(1691). Among his religious and philosophical writings
were:--_Seraphic Love_, written in 1648, but not published till 1660;
an _Essay upon the Style of the Holy Scriptures_ (1663); _Occasional
Reflections upon Several Subjects_ (1665), which was ridiculed by
Swift in _A Pious Meditation upon a Broomstick_, and by Butler in _An
Occasional Reflection on Dr Charlton's Feeling a Dog's Pulse at
Cresham College_; _Excellence of Theology compared with Natural
Philosophy_ (1664); _Some Considerations about the Reconcileableness
of Reason and Religion_, with a _Discourse about the Possibility of
the Resurrection_ (1675); _Discourse of Things above Reason_ (1681);
_High Veneration Man owes to God_ (1685); _A Free Inquiry into the
vulgarly received Notion of Nature_ (1686); and the _Christian
Virtuoso_ (1690). Several other works appeared after his death, among
them _The General History of the Air designed and begun_ (1692); a
"collection of choice remedies," _Medicinal Experiments_ (1692-1698);
and _A Free Discourse against Customary Swearing_ (1695). An
incomplete and unauthorized edition of Boyle's works was published at
Geneva in 1677, but the first complete edition was that of Thomas
Birch, with a life, published in 1744, in five folio volumes, a second
edition appearing in 1772 in six volumes, 4to. Boyle bequeathed his
natural history collections to the Royal Society, which also possesses
a portrait of him by the German painter, Friedrich Kerseboom
(1632-1690).
BOYLE, a market town of Co. Roscommon, Ireland, in the north
parliamentary division, on the Sligo line of the Midland Great Western
railway, 106-1/4 m. N.W. by W. from Dublin and 28 m. S. by E. from Sligo.
Pop. (1901) 2477. It is beautifully situated on both banks of the river
Boyle, an affluent of the Shannon, between Loughs Gara and Key. Three
bridges connect the two parts of the town. There is considerable trade
in agricultural produce. To the north of the town stand the extensive
ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1161, including remains of a
cruciform church, with a fine west front, and Norman and Transitional
arcades with carving of very beautiful detail. The offices of the
monastery are well preserved, and an interesting feature is seen in the
names carved on the door of the lodge, attributed in Cromwell's soldier,
who occupied the buildings. Neighbouring antiquities are Asselyn church
near Lough Key, and a large cromlech by the road towards Lough Gara.
Boyle was incorporated by James I., and returned two members to the
Irish parliament.
BOYNE, a river of Ireland, which, rising in the Bog of Allen, near
Carbery in Co. Kildare, and flowing in a north-easterly direction,
passes Trim, Navan and Drogheda, and enters the Irish Sea, 4 m. below
the town last named. It is navigable for barges to Navan, 19 m. from its
mouth. Much of the scenery on its banks is beautiful, though never
grand. About 2 m. west of Drogheda, an obelisk, 150 ft. in height, marks
the spot where the forces of William III. gained a celebrated victory
over those of James II., on the 1st of July[1] 1690, known as the battle
of the Boyne.