[1] Derived, it is supposed, from the nickname "Plomb-plomb," or
"Craint-plomb" (fear-lead), given him by his soldiers in the Crimea.
BONAR, HORATIUS (1808-1889), Scottish Presbyterian divine, was born in
Edinburgh on the 19th of December 1808, and educated at the high school
and university of his native city. After a term of mission work at
Leith, he was appointed parish minister of Kelso in 1837, and at the
Disruption of 1843 became minister of the newly formed Free Church,
where he remained till 1866, when he went to the Chalmers memorial
church, Edinburgh. He had in 1853 received the D.D. degree from Aberdeen
University, and in 1883 he was moderator of the general assembly of his
church. He died on the 31st of July 1889. Bonar was a prolific writer of
religious literature, and edited several journals, including the
_Christian Treasury_, the _Presbyterian Review_ and the _Quarterly
Journal of Prophecy_; but his best work was done in hymnology, and he
published three series of _Hymns of Faith and Hope_ between 1857 and
1866 (new ed., 1886). Nearly every modern hymnal contains perhaps a
score of his hymns, including "Go, labour on," "I heard the voice of
Jesus say," "Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face," "When the weary,
seeking rest."
See _Horatius Bonar, D.D., a Memorial_ (1889).
BONAVENTURA, SAINT (JOHN OF FIDANZA), Franciscan theologian, was born in
1221 at Bagnarea in Tuscany. He was destined by his mother for the
church, and is said to have received his cognomen of Bonaventura from St
Francis of Assisi, who performed on him a miraculous cure. He entered
the Franciscan order in 1243, and studied at Paris possibly under
Alexander of Hales, and certainly under Alexander's successor, John of
Rochelle, to whose chair he succeeded in 1253. Three years earlier his
fame had gained for him permission to read upon the _Sentences_, and in
1255 he received the degree of doctor. So high was his reputation that
in the following year he was elected general of his order. It was by his
orders that Roger Bacon was interdicted from lecturing at Oxford, and
compelled to put himself under the surveillance of the order at Paris.
He was instrumental in procuring the election of Gregory X., who
rewarded him with the titles of cardinal and bishop of Albano, and
insisted on his presence at the great council of Lyons in the year 1274.
At this meeting he died.
Bonaventura's character seems not unworthy of the eulogistic title,
"Doctor Seraphicus," bestowed on him by his contemporaries, and of the
place assigned to him by Dante in his _Paradiso_. He was formally
canonized in 1482 by Sixtus IV., and ranked as sixth among the great
doctors of the church by Sixtus V. in 1587. His works, as arranged in
the Lyons edition (7 vols., folio), consist of expositions and sermons,
filling the first three volumes; of a commentary on the _Sentences_ of
Lombardus, in two volumes, celebrated among medieval theologians as
incomparably the best exposition of the third part; and of minor
treatises filling the remaining two volumes, and including a life of St
Francis. The smaller works are the most important, and of them the best
are the famous _Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum, Breviloquium, De Reductione
Artium ad Theologiam, Soliloquium_, and _De septem itineribus
aeternitatis_, in which most of what is individual in his teaching is
contained.
In philosophy Bonaventura presents a marked contrast to his great
contemporaries, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. While these may be taken
as representing respectively physical science yet in its infancy, and
Aristotelian scholasticism in its most perfect form, he brings before us
the mystical and Platonizing mode of speculation which had already to
some extent found expression in Hugo and Richard of St Victor, and in
Bernard of Clairvaux. To him the purely intellectual element, though
never absent, is of inferior interest when compared with the living
power of the affections or the heart. He rejects the authority of
Aristotle, to whose influence he ascribes much of the heretical tendency
of the age, and some of whose cardinal doctrines--such as the eternity
of the world--he combats vigorously. But the Platonism he received was
Plato as understood by St Augustine, and as he had been handed down by
the Alexandrian school and the author of the mystical works passing
under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. Bonaventura accepts as
Platonic the theory that ideas do not exist _in rerum natura_, but as
thoughts of the divine mind, according to which actual things were
formed; and this conception has no slight influence upon his philosophy.
Like all the great scholastic doctors he starts with the discussion of
the relations between reason and faith. All the sciences are but the
handmaids of theology; reason can discover some of the moral truths
which form the groundwork of the Christian system, but others it can
only receive and apprehend through divine illumination. In order to
obtain this illumination the soul must employ the proper means, which
are prayer, the exercise of the virtues, whereby it is rendered fit to
accept the divine light, and meditation which may rise even to ecstatic
union with God. The supreme end of life is such union, union in
contemplation or intellect and in intense absorbing love; but it cannot
be entirely reached in this life, and remains as a hope for futurity.
The mind in contemplating God has three distinct aspects, stages or
grades--the senses, giving empirical knowledge of what is without and
discerning the traces (_vestigia_) of the divine in the world; the
reason, which examines the soul itself, the image of the divine Being;
and lastly, pure intellect (_intelligentia_), which, in a transcendent
act, grasps the Being of the divine cause. To these three correspond the
three kinds of theology--_theologia symbolica, theologia propria_ and
_theologia mystica_. Each stage is subdivided, for in contemplating the
outer world we may use the senses or the imagination; we may rise to a
knowledge of God _per vestigia_ or _in vestigiis_. In the first case the
three great properties of physical bodies--weight, number, measure,--in
the second the division of created things into the classes of those that
have merely physical existence, those that have life, and those that
have thought, irresistibly lead us to conclude the power, wisdom and
goodness of the Triune God. So in the second stage we may ascend to the
knowledge of God, _per imaginem_, by reason, or _in imagine_, by the
pure understanding (_intellectus_); in the one case the triple
division--memory, understanding and will,--in the other the Christian
virtues--faith, hope and charity,--leading again to the conception of a
Trinity of divine qualities--eternity, truth and goodness. In the last
stage we have first _intelligentia_, pure intellect, contemplating the
essential being of God, and finding itself compelled by necessity of
thought to hold absolute being as the first notion, for non-being
cannot be conceived apart from being, of which it is but the privation.
To this notion of absolute being, which is perfect and the greatest of
all, objective existence must be ascribed. In its last and highest form
of activity the mind rests in the contemplation of the infinite goodness
of God, which is apprehended by means of the highest faculty, the _apex
mentis_ or _synderesis_. This spark of the divine illumination is common
to all forms of mysticism, but Bonaventura adds to it peculiarly
Christian elements. The complete yielding up of mind and heart to God is
unattainable without divine grace, and nothing renders us so fit to
receive this gift as the meditative and ascetic life of the cloister.
The monastic life is the best means of grace.
Bonaventura, however, is not merely a meditative thinker, whose works
may form good manuals of devotion; he is a dogmatic theologian of high
rank, and on all the disputed questions of scholastic thought, such as
universals, matter, the principle of individualism, or the _intellectus
agens_, he gives weighty and well-reasoned decisions. He agrees with
Albertus Magnus in regarding theology as a practical science; its
truths, according to his view, are peculiarly adapted to influence the
affections. He discusses very carefully the nature and meaning of the
divine attributes; considers universals to be the ideal forms
pre-existing in the divine mind according to which things were shaped;
holds matter to be pure potentiality which receives individual being and
determinateness from the formative power of God, acting according to the
ideas; and finally maintains that the _intellectus agens_ has no
separate existence. On these and on many other points of scholastic
philosophy the Seraphic Doctor exhibits a combination of subtilty and
moderation which makes his works peculiarly valuable.
EDITIONS.--7 vols., Rome, 1588-1596; 7 vols., Lyons, 1668; 13 vols.,
Venice, 1751 ff.; by A.C. Peltier, 15 vols., Paris, 1863 ff.; 10
vols., Rome, 1882-1892. K.J. Hefele edited the _Breviloquium_ and the
_Itin. Mentis_ (3rd ed., Tubingen, 1862); two volumes of selections
were issued by Alix in 1853-1856.
LITERATURE.--W.A. Hollenberg, _Studien zu Bonaventura_ (1862); F.
Nitzsch, art. in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyk. fur prot. Theol._, where a
list of monographs is given, to which add one by De Chevance (1899).
(R. Ad.; X.)
BONCHAMPS, CHARLES MELCHIOR ARTUS, MARQUIS DE (c. 1760-1793), Vendean
leader, was born at Jouverteil, Anjou. He gained his first military
experience in the American War of Independence, and on his return to
France was made a captain of grenadiers in the French army. He was a
staunch upholder of the monarchy, and at the outbreak of the French
Revolution resigned his command and retired to his chateau at St
Florent. In the spring of 1793 he was chosen leader by the insurgents of
the Vendee, and to his counsels may be attributed in great measure the
success of the peasants' arms. He was present at the taking of
Bressuire, Thouars and Fontenay, at which last place he was wounded; but
dissensions among their leaders weakened the insurgents, and at the
bloody battle of Cholet (October 1793) the Vendeans sustained a severe
defeat and Bonchamps was mortally wounded. He died the next day. It is
said that his last act was the pardoning of five thousand republican
prisoners, whom his troops had sworn to kill in revenge for his death. A
statue of him by David d'Angers stands in the church of St Florent.
BOND, SIR EDWARD AUGUSTUS (1815-1898), English librarian, was born at
Hanwell on the 31st of December 1815, the son of a schoolmaster. He was
educated at Merchant Taylors' school, and in 1832 obtained a post in the
public record office. In 1838 he became an assistant in the manuscript
department of the British Museum, where he attracted the notice of his
chief, Sir Frederick Madden, the most eminent palaeographer of his day,
and in 1852 he was made Egerton librarian. In 1856 he became assistant
keeper of MSS., and in 1867 was promoted to the post of keeper. His work
in reorganizing the manuscript department was of lasting value, and to
him is due the classified catalogue of MSS., and the improved efficiency
and punctuality of publication of the department. In 1878 he was
appointed principal librarian. Under his supervision were erected the
new buildings of the "White Wing," which provide accommodation for
prints, drawings, manuscripts and newspapers, and the purchase of the
Stowe MSS. was concluded while he remained in office. He founded, in
conjunction with Sir E. Maunde Thompson, the Palaeographical Society,
and first made classical palaeography an exact science. He was made
LL.D. of Cambridge in 1879, created C.B. in 1885, and K.C.B. the day
before his death on the 2nd of January 1898. He was the editor of four
volumes of facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon charters from 679 to the Conquest,
_The Speeches in the Trial of Warren Hastings_ (1859-1861), and a number
of other interesting historic documents.
BOND,[1] in English law, an obligation by deed. Its design is to secure
that the obligor, i.e. the person giving the bond, will either pay a
sum of money, or do or refrain from doing some act; and for this purpose
the obligor binds himself in a penalty to the obligee, with a condition
added that, if the obligor pays the sum secured--which is usually half
the penalty--or does or refrains from doing the specified act, the bond
shall be void: otherwise it shall remain in full force. This condition
is known as the defeasance because it defeats or undoes the bond. The
form of a common money bond runs as follows:--
Know All Men by these presents that I, A.B. (name, address and
description of obligor), am bound to C.D. (name, address and
description of obligee) in the sum of L[2000] to be paid to the said
(obligee), his executors, administrators or assigns or to his or their
attorney or attorneys, for which payment I bind myself by these
presents. Sealed with my seal. Dated this day of 19 .
The condition of the above-written bond is such that if the above
A.B., his heirs, executors or administrators, shall on the day
of pay to the above-named C.D., his heirs, executors, administrators
or assigns the sum of L[1000], with interest for the same from the
date of the above-written bond at the rate of per cent per
annum without any deduction, then the above-written bond shall be
void: otherwise the bond shall remain in full force.
Signed, sealed and delivered
by the above-named A.B.
in the presence of (witness)
Recitals are frequently added to explain the circumstances under which
the bond is given.
If the condition is not performed, i.e. if the obligor does not pay the
money by the day stipulated, or do or refrain from doing the act
provided for, the bond becomes forfeit or absolute at law, and charges
the obligor and his estate (see Conveyancing Act 1881, s. 59). In old
days, when a bond was forfeit, the whole penalty was recoverable at law
and payment _post diem_ could not be pleaded to an action on it, but the
court of chancery early interposed to prevent oppression. It held the
penalty of a bond to be the form, not the substance of it, a pledge
merely to secure repayment of the sum bona fide advanced, and would not
permit a man to take more than in conscience he ought, i.e. in case of a
common money bond, his principal, interest and expenses. This equitable
relief received statutory recognition by an act of 1705, which provided
that, in case of a common money bond, payment of the lesser sum with
interest and costs shall be taken in full satisfaction of the bond. An
obligee of a common money bond can, since the date of the Judicature
Act, obtain summary judgment under O. xiv. (R.S.C. 1883) by specially
endorsing his writ under O. iii. R. 6.
Bonds were, however, and still are given to secure performance of a
variety of matters other than the payment of a sum of money at a fixed
date. They may be given and are given, for instance, to guarantee the
fidelity of a clerk, of a rent collector, or of a person in an office of
public trust, or to secure that an intended husband will settle a sum on
his wife in the event of her surviving him, or that a building contract
shall be carried out, or that a rival business shall not be carried on
by the obligor except within certain limits of time and space. The same
object can often be attained--and more conveniently attained--by a
covenant than by bond, and covenants have in the practice of
conveyancers largely superseded bonds, but there are cases where
security by bond is still preferable to security by covenant. Thus under
a bond to secure an annuity, if the obligor makes default, judgment may
be entered for the penalty and stand as security for the future payments
without the necessity of bringing a fresh action for each payment. In
cases of bonds with special conditions, such as those instanced above,
the remedy of the obligee for breach of the condition is prescribed by
an act of 1696, the procedure under which is preserved by the Judicature
Act (O. xxii. R. 1, O. xiii. R. 14). The obligee assigns the particular
breaches of which he complains, damages in respect of such breaches are
assessed, and, on payment into court by the obligor of the amount of
such damages, the court enters a stay of execution. A difficulty which
has much exercised and still exercises the courts is to determine, in
these cases of special conditions, whether the sum for which the bond is
given is a true penalty or only liquidated damages. There is nothing to
prevent the parties to a bond from agreeing the damages for a breach,
and if they have done so, the court will not interfere, as it will in
the case of a penalty. The leading case on the subject is _Kemble_ v.
_Farren_ (1829; 6 Bing. 148).
Bonds given to secure the doing of anything which is contrary to the
policy of the law are void. Such, for instance, is a bond given to a
woman for future cohabitation (as distinguished from past cohabitation),
or a marriage brocage bond, that is, a bond given to procure a marriage
between parties. (See the matrimonial agency case, _Hermann_ v.
_Charlesworth_, 1905, 2 K.B. 123). It was not without design that
Shakespeare laid the scene of Shylock's suit on Antonio's bond in a
Venetian court; the bond would have had short shrift in an English
court.
_Post Obit Bonds._--A post obit bond is one given by an expectant heir
or legatee, payable on or after the death of the person from whom the
obligor has expectations. Such a bond, if the obligee has exacted
unconscionable terms, may be set aside.
_Bottomry Bonds._--A bottomry bond is a contract of hypothecation by
which the owner of a ship, or the master as his agent, borrows money
for the use of the ship to meet some emergency, e.g. necessary
repairs, and pledges the ship (or keel or bottom of the ship, _partem
pro toto_) as security for repayment. If the ship safely accomplishes
her voyage, the obligee gets his money back with the agreed interest:
if the ship is totally lost, he loses it altogether.
_Lloyd's Bonds._--Lloyd's bonds are instruments under the seal of a
railway company, admitting the indebtedness of the company to the
obligee to a specified amount for work done or goods supplied, with a
covenant to pay him such amount with interest on a future day. They
are a device by which railway companies were enabled to increase their
indebtedness without technically violating their charter. The name is
derived from the counsel who settled the form of the bond.
_Debenture Bonds._--Debenture bonds are bonds secured only by the
covenant of the company without any floating or fixed charge on the
assets. (See DEBENTURES AND DEBENTURE STOCK.)
_Recognizance._--A recognizance differs from a bond in being entered
into before a court of record and thereby becoming an obligation of
record.
_Heritable bond_ is a Scots law term, meaning a bond for money, joined
with a conveyance of land, and held by a creditor as security for his
debt.