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Id.

His silence grew wit, his bluntness integrity, his idly blurted out with every rash and foolish expresbeastly ignorance virtuous simplicity.

sion.

Hopkins.

Valentine being gone, I will quickly cross, By some sly trick, blunt Thurio's dull proceeding.

And yet the truth may lose its grace, If blurted to a person's face;

Shakspeare.

Especially if what you speak,

Blunt not his love;

Lloyd.

Nor lose the good advantage of his grace By seeming cold.

Id.

I can keep honest counsels, mar a curious tale in telling it, and deliver a plain message bluntly. Id. Bluntwitted lord, ignoble in demeanour. Id.

To use too many circumstances, ere one come to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all is blunt. Bacon. Whitehead, a grave divine, was of a blunt stoical nature. One day the queen happened to say, I like thee the better, because thou livest unmarried. answered, Madam, I like you the worse.

A man of honest blood,

Who to his wife, before the time assigned
For childbirth came, thus bluntly spoke his mind,

Should crimson o'er the glowing cheek.

Others cast out bloody and deadly speeches at random; and cannot hold, but blurt out those words which afterwards they are forced to eat. Hakewell,

They had some belief of a Deity, which they, upon surprisal, thus blurt out. Government of the Tongue. They blush if they blurt out, ere well aware, Young. A swan is white, or Queensbury is fair. BLUSH', v. & n. BLUSH'ET,

He

BLUSH'FUL,

Id.

BLUSH'ING,

BLUSH'LESS,

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BLUSH'Y.

Dut. blosen, blose; perhaps from blæsen, to blow; to exhale. Therefore naturally applied to the first appearance of the colors in flowers as they disclose their variety and beauty. To redden or grow rosy with the vermil tint. Its application, therefore, to the effect which emotion of any kind, and especially modesty, or conscious shame, produces in the countenance, is very natural. The sudden rising of color in the cheeks is, from whatever cause, to blush; hence, too, the word has been applied to any sudden appearance, or to the first manifestation of a subject. Thus Locke observes, all purely identical propositions, obviously, and at first blush, appear to contain no certain instruction in them.'

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BLUSHING is generally excited by a sense of shame, from consciousness of some failing or imperfection. It is supposed to be produced from a sympathy between the nerves which branch from the brain to the eye, ear, muscles of the lips, cheeks, &c.

BLUSTER, v. & n. BLUSTERER, BLUSTERING,

BLUS'TEROUS.

From blast, blæstan, to blow; to roar boisterously, as a violent wind; the voice of the storm hence the term is applied to manners rude and uncourteous; to language loud, vociferous and threatening, accompanied with corresponding gestures. A blusterer is a bully, who is more formidable for his noise than his courage; one who puffs, swaggers, and looks big. The Pistol of all generations.-See Shakspeare. Henry IV. Part II.

Earth his uncouth mother was,

And blustering Eolus his boasted sire. Spenser. So now he storms with many a sturdy stoure; So now his blustering blast each coast doth scour.

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For being benign, and not blusterous. Hudibras. Either he must sink to a downright confession, or must huff and bluster, till perhaps he raise a counterGovernment of the Tongue. Virgil had the majesty of a lawful prince, and Statius only the blustering of a tyrant. Dryden.

storm.

Id.

There let him reign the jailor of the wind; With hoarse commands his breathing subjects call, And boast and bluster in his empty hall. So by the brazen trumpet's bluster, Troops of all tongues and nations muster. Swift. BLYTH, a parish and market-town of Nottinghamshire, in the hundred of Basset-Law, three miles south from Bawtry, and 151 N. N. W. from London. The church is a spacious and handsome structure. It had formerly a strong castle, a priory of Benedictine monks, and an hospital for lepers; but there are now no remains of either. It is a vicarage in the patronage of Trinity College, Cambridge. Market on Wednesday.

BLYTHE, a river of England, which runs into the German Ocean, near Southwold, in the county of Suffolk. 2. A river of England, which runs into the Tame, in the county of Warwick. 3. A river of England, which runs into the sea at Blythe, in the county of Northumberland. 4. A river of England, which rises in the county of Stafford, near Cheadle, and runs into the Trent.

BO, a cluster of six or seven islands in the Eastern seas, lying E. S. E. of the southern extremity of Gilolo. The most western is five or six miles round, low, and flat, the second somewhat higher, and the third the largest of the navigators with abundance of cocoa-nuts, dried group. They are well inhabited, and supply fish and salt. Long. 126° 25′ E, lat. 1° 17′ S.

BOA, or BOAE-ARUM, in ancient geography, an island on the coast of Illyricum, over against Tragurium, a place of banishment for condemned persons, now called Bua, an island in the Adriatic, joined to the continent and to Traguriam, now Trau, by a bridge.

BOA, in zoology, a genus of the order serpentes, class amphibia. The characters are, that the belly and tail are both furnished with scuta; no rattle. There are ten species, viz.

1. B. constrictor, has 240 scuta on the belly, and sixty on the tail. This is an immense animal: often thirty-six feet in length; the body is very thick, of a dusky white color, and its back is interspersed with twenty-four large pale irregular spots; the tail is of a darker color; and the sides head is covered with small scales, and has no are beautifully variegated with pale spots. The broad lamina betwixt the eyes, but has a black belt behind them. The tongue is fleshy, and very little forked. Above the eyes, on each side, the head rises high. The scales of this serpent are all very small, roundish and smooth. The Indians, who adore this monstrous animal, use the skin for clothes, on account of its smoothness and beauty. There are several of these skins preserved, and to be seen in the different museums of Europe. The flesh is eaten by the Indians and Negroes of Africa. It frequents caves and thick forests, where it conceals itself, and suddenly darts out upon strangers, wild beasts, &c. When it chooses a tree for its watchingplace, it supports itself by twisting its tail round the trunk or a branch, and darts down upon sheep, goats, tigers, or any animal that comes within its reach, twists itself several times round their body, and by the vast force of its circular muscles bruises and breaks all their bones. After the bones are broken, it licks the skin of the animal all over, besmearing it with a glutinous kind of saliva. This operation is intended to facilitate deglutition, and is a preparation for swallowing the whole animal. If it be a stag, or any horned animal, it begins to swallow the feet first, and gradually sucks in the body, and last of all the head. After this serpent has swallowed a stag or a tiger, it is unable for some days to move; the hunters who are well acquainted with this circumstance, always take this opportunity of destroying it. 2. B. canina, has 203 scuta on the belly, and seventy-seven on the tail; it is greenish and variegated with white belts. It is a native of America, lodges in the hollow trunks

of trees, and is about four feet long, and as thick as the small of the arm. 3. B. cenchria, has 256 scuta on the belly, and fifty-seven on the tail. It is of a yellow color, with white eye-like spots. It is a native of Surinam. 4. B. contortrix, has 150 scuta on the belly, and forty on the tail: the head is broad, very convex, and has vesicles containing poison in the mouth, but no fang; the body is ash-colored, interspersed with large dusky spots; and the tail is about onethird of the length of the body. This serpent is found in Carolina. 5. B. enydris, has 270 scuta on the belly, and 105 on the tail. The color is a dusky white, and the teeth of the lower jaw very long. It is a native of America. 6. B. hortulana, has 290 scuta on the belly, and 128 on the tail. It is of a pale color, interspersed with livid wedge-like spots. It is a native of America. 7. B. murina, has 254 scuta on the belly, and sixtyfive on the tail. The color of it is a light blue, and round spots on the back. It is a native of America. 8. B. ophrias, has 281 scuta on the belly, and eighty-four on the tail; the color is nearly the same with that of the constrictor, but browner. 9. B. scytale has 250 scuta on the belly, and seventy on the tail. The body is ashcolored and bluish, with round black spots on the back, and black lateral rings edged with white. It is a native of America; and, like the constrictor, though not so long, twists itself about sheep, goats, &c. and swallows them whole. 10. B. fasciata; fasciated boa. Plates of the belly 233; of the tail thirty-six. Inhabiting India; color yellow, marked with numerous blue transverse bands, continued at equal distances throughout the whole length of the animal. The bite of this snake is poisonous in a high degree.

BOADICEA, or VOADICEA, a valiant British queen in the time of the emperor Nero, wife to Prasutagus, king of the Iceni in Britain, who by will left the emperor and his own daughters his co-heirs, in expectation by that means of procuring Nero's protection for his family; but he was no sooner dead, than the emperor's officers seized all. Boadicea opposing these unjust proceedings, they ordered her to be publicly scourged, and her daughters to be violated by the soldiers. The Britons now took arms, to the number of 120,000, with Boadicea at their head; and made a general and bloody massacre of about 80,000 Romans. The whole province of Britain would have been lost, if Suetonius Paulinus had not hastened from the isle of Mona to London with 10,000 men. A second battle was fought with great valor and doubtful success, till at last victory inclined to the Romans. Boadicea, who had behaved with all the bravery imaginable, either died of chagrin or was poisoned, A. D. 61. BOAE-ARUM. See BoA.

BOANERGES, from and, Syr; a title given by our Saviour to the apostles James and John, and explained by the context, Mark, iii. 17, to signify Sons of Thunder, o sσTiv viol Bpovrne. It seems, says Parkhurst, ad. verb. to be the Galilean pronunciation of the Hebrew wy")]; now by properly signifies a violent trembling, a commotion, and may therefore be

well rendered by Bpovrn, thunder, which is a
violent commotion in the air. When our Saviour
thus named the sons of Zebedee he seems plainly
to have had an eye to that prophecy of Haggai,
xi. 6. "Yet once and I will shake (D) the
heavens and the earth,' which is applied by the
apostle to the Hebrews, xii. 26, to the great
alteration made in the economy of religion
by the publication of the gospel. The name
imports therefore that James and John should be
eminent instruments in accomplishing the great
change, and should, like thunder or an earth-
quake, mightily bear down all opposition by their
inspired preaching. Parkhurst compares with
this title the image used by Virgil, who calls the
Scipios. Ena. vi. 642, duo fulmina belli.
BOAR',
Sax. ban. Dut. beer, the male
BOAR'ISH.swine. Boarish is brutish, sav-
age, vulgar, and cruel.

To fly the boar, before the boar pursues,
Were to incense the boar to follow us.

Wherefore to Dover ?

Shakspeare.

GLOU. Because I would not see thy cruel nails Pluck out his poor old eyes; nor thy fierce sister In his anointed flesh stick boarish fangs.

She sped the boar away.

His eyeballs glare with fire, suffused with blood;
His neck shoots up a thickset thorny wood;
His bristled back a trench impaled appears.

BOAR, in zoology. See Sus.

Id.

Dryden.

BOAR, WILD, among huntsmen, has several names, according to its different ages: the first year it is called a pig of the saunder, the second it is called a hog, the third a hog-steer, and the fourth a boar; when leaving the saunder he is called a singler or sangler. The boar generally lives to twenty-five or thirty years, if he escapes accidents. The huntsmen abroad generally kill the boar with their swords or spears: but great caution is necessary in making the blows; for he is very apt to catch them upon his snout or tusks; and if wounded and not killed, he will

attack the huntsman in the most furious manner.

The place to give the wound with the spear is either between the eyes in the middle of the forehead, or in the shoulder. When the animal makes at the hunter there is no escape but by courage and address; if he flies he is sure to be

overtaken and killed. If he makes doubles and

windings he is to be watched very cautiously, for he will attempt getting hold of the spear in his mouth; when nothing can save the huntsman but another person attacking him behind. Were it not for the forks of the boar-spears that make it impossible to press forward upon them, the huntsman who gives the creature his death's wound would seldom escape falling a sacrifice to his revenge. The modern way of boar-hunting is generally to despatch the creature by all the huntsmen striking him at once: but the ancient Roman way was, for a person on foot, armed with a spear, to keep him at bay; and in this case the boar would run of himself upon the spear to come at the huntsman, and push forward till the spear pierced him through. The hinder claws of a boar are called guards. In the corn he is said to feed, in the meadows or fallow

fields to rout, worm, or fern; in a close to graze. The boar is farrowed with as many teeth as he will ever have; his teeth increasing only in bigness, not in number: among these there are four called tushes, or tusks; the two highest of which do not hurt when he strikes, but serve only to whet the other two lowest, with which the beast defends himself, and frequently kills, as being greater and longer than the rest. Among the Romans boar's flesh was a delicacy; a whole one has been sometimes served up as a dish of state. Sometimes the boar was the military ensign in lieu of the eagle.

BOAR'-SPEAR, n. s. From boar and spear. A spear used in hunting the boar.

And in her hand a sharp boar-spear she held,
And at her back a bow and quiver gay,
Stuffed with steel-headed darts.

Faerie Queene.
Eschion threw the first, but missed his mark,
And struck his boar-spear on a maple bark.
BOARD', v. & n.

BOARD'ER,

Dryden. Ang.-Sax. brædan. Junius and Tooke, as BOARD'ING. quoted by the Ency. Met. agree that board, by the omission of the letter r, is from broad.' A board is a plank of wood. A table is composed of several of these, and is therefore called a board. To board is to put boards together for a covering, either as a floor, a roof, or a deck of a ship. Boarding is connected with all of these: to get into a ship, either peaceably or by assault, is to get on board. A table, and its entertainment, are both denominated board. Persons sitting at a table to transact business in their corporate capacity, are also termed a board. To board is likewise to be a boarder at the table of another. To make the first attempt upon a man, to surprise him by accosting him. Boarding-house is a house of public, or more private entertainment. Boardwages are wages allowed to servants to supply their own provisions; and boarding-school is a school where the pupils live with the teacher. With the saw they sundered trees in boards and planks. Raleigh.

That we might not part,

As we at first did board with thee, Now thou would'st taste our misery.

Herbert.

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Soon after which, three hundred lords he slew, Of British blood, all sitting at his board.

Faerie Queene. Whom, thus at gaze, the palmer 'gan to board With goodly reason, and thus fair bespake. Id They learn what associates and correspondents they had, and how far every one is engaged, and what new ones they meant afterwards to try or board. Bacon's Henry VII. I wish the king would be pleased sometimes to be present at that board; it adds a majesty to it. Bacon. VOL. IV

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Prior. Our captain thought his ship in so great danger, that he confessed himself to a capuchin, who was on board. Addison.

Swift.

A blockhead, with melodious voice, In boarding-schools can have his choice. Having thus boarded the whole room, the edges of some boards lie higher than the next board. There fore they peruse the whole floor; and, where they find any irregularities, plane them off.

Moxon's Mechanical Exercises.

We are several of us, gentlemen and ladies, who board in the same house; and, after dinner, one of our company stands up, and reads your paper to us all. Spectator.

BOARD, in gaming, is applied to a machine, or frame, used in certain games, as a draughtboard, a chess-board, &c.

BOARD, in the language of seamen, admits of various significations, according to the words conjoined with it. Thus, 1. A good board; a ship is said to make a good board when she gets up much to windward, or advances much at one tack, and sails upon a straight line. 2. A long board is when the ship stands a great way off before she tacks. 3. Board and board is when two ships come so near as to touch one another, or when they lie side by side. 4. A short board is when she stands off a little. 5. Back board, the same with ASTERN. 6. To board it up, is to beat it up, sometimes upon one tack, and sometimes upon another. 7. To go on board, or to go a-board, signifies to go into the ship. 8. To make a board is to turn to windward, and the longer your boards are, the more you work into the wind. 9. To slip off Weather board, the windward side. the board is to slip down by the ship's side. 10. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

TURE.

See AGRICUL

The BOARD OF CONTROL was first instituted in 1784, by stat. 24 Geo. III. sess. 2, c. 25, with a view of directing and aiding the East India Company, in the executive government of India, and establishing a power of control in this kingdom. This board was further established and regulated by the stat. 33 Geo. III. c. 52, the operation of which commenced in India on the 1st of February 1794. By the former act six persons were to be nominated by the king, as commissioners for the affairs of India; but by the latter, the number, instead of being limited to S

to six privy-counsellors, is indefinite, depending upon the king's pleasure; of which number the two principal secretaries of state, and the chancellor of the exchequer are to be three; and his majesty, if he pleases, may add to the list two commissioners, not of the privy-council; and the person first named in the king's commission is to be president. The king may give £5000 a year among such of the commissioners as he pleases; which, together with the salary of the secretary and officers, and other expenses of the board, are to be paid by the India Company; the whole not to exceed £16,000 per annum. The members of this board, and their officers, are sworn to execute the several powers and trusts reposed in them, without favor or affection, prejudice or malice. Three commissioners must be present to form a board. The powers of the board are to superintend, direct, and control all acts, operations, and concerns, which relate to the civil and military government, and revenues, of the British territorial possessions in India, subject to certain restrictions. They and their officers are to have access to the papers and records of the Company, and to be furnished with copies or extracts of such of them as shall be required. They are also to be furnished with copies of all proceedings of general courts, and courts of directors, within eight days, and with copies of all despatches from abroad, relating to matters of government or revenue, immediately after their arrival. No orders on these subjects are to be sent by the Company to India, until approved by the board; and when the commissioners vary or expunge any part of the despatches proposed by the directors, they are to give their reasons; and all despatches are to be returned to the court of directors in fourteen days. The directors may state their objections to any alterations, and the commissioners are to re-consider them; and if they interfere with what the directors deem matter of commerce, the directors may apply to the king in council to determine betwixt them. But the board is restricted from the appointment of any of the Company's servants. If the directors, on being called upon to propose despatches on any subject relating to government or revenue, shall fail to do so within fourteen days, the board may originate their own despatches on that subject. The board is not to authorise an increase of salaries, or any allowance or gratuity to be granted to persons employed in the Company's service, except the same shall be first proposed by the Company; and their intention and reasons for such grant are to be certified to both houses of parliament, thirty days before the salary can commence. The directors are to appoint three of their members to be a committee of secrecy, through whom despatches, relating to government, war, peace, or treaties, may be sent to or received from India. This committee, and their clerks, are to be sworn to secrecy. Orders of directors, concerning the government or revenues of India, once approved by the board, are not subject to revocation by the general court of proprietors. See EAST INDIA COMPANY.

BOARD OF GREEN CLOTH, was a court of jus

tice, formerly held in the counting house of the king's household, for taking cognizance of all matters of government within the court. It had also the authority of preserving the peace for twelve miles round the king's court wherever it should be, excepting at London. It was abolished in 1782.

BOARD OF TRADE, bureau de commerce; an office in the French polity, established in 1723, composed of eight persons of knowledge in arts, commerce, navigation, and manufactures; it was their duty to inspect plans of public advantage; to promote, by liberal rewards, the full and complete disclosure of discoveries in the arts, and manufactures; and thus to facilitate the circulation of useful facts, in every channel of industry.

The BOARD OF TRADE AND PLANTATIONS was established in England by king William III., for settling all disputes and regulations relating to commerce and colonies. Before this time matters of commerce had been generally referred to a fluctuating committee of the privy council. A permanent board was now therefore established, but finally abolished in 1780.

BOARD-WAGES, a certain annual or stipulated sum allowed to household servants for maintenance. Board-wages, granted to the menial officers and servants of the crown, commenced in 1629, when the necessities of king Charles obliged him to retrench the expense of his household, by abolishing the greatest part of the daily tables in his palace, eighty in number, and substituting a fixed allowance in their room.

BOARDING, in a naval engagement, a desperate and furious assault made by the men of one ship on those of another. It may be performed in different places of the ship, according to their circumstances and situation, by the assailant detaching a number of men armed with pikes, pistols, cutlasses, &c. on the decks of his antago nist. This, however, is rarely attempted by king's ships, which generally decide the combat without grappling; but it is often practiced by privateers, who, bearing down on their opponent's quarter or broadside, drop a shell from the bowsprit, which projects over the enemy's deck, and, in the midst of the confusion thus occasioned, rush aboard, and easily overpower all opposition.

BOARDING-PIKE, a pike made use of in boarding ships during an engagement.

BOARIA LAPPA, or LAPPAGO, a name given by the ancient Romans to the fruit or rough balls of the common aparine or cleavers. Pliny calls it lappa boariæ, or lappæ caninæ, and sometimes canariæ.

BOARULA, in ornithology, a species of motacilla, called in England the gray wagtail. The color of this bird is cinereous above, yellow beneath;_tail-feathers dark, and pale at the edges. This is an European bird, and, like the rest of the wagtail tribe, frequents watery places.

BOAS, in entomology, a species of scarabæus, inhabiting Sierra Leone. Thorax retuse, excavated, bidentated; horn of the head recurved and simple.

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