BOAST-BOATING. Referring to the article CHRISTMAS for a notice of some of the observances on this occasion, we need here only say, that in the 'boar's-head carols' are found some of the most interesting specimens of the old English convivial verses. The following, from a carol printed by Wynkin de Worde (1521), may be given : Caput Apri defero The boar's head in hand bring I, Qui estis in convivio. The boar's head, I understand, Servite cum cantico. The boar's head erased,' according to heraldic phraseology, is a well-known cognizance of a number of old families, particularly the Gordons; it also formed the sign of a tavern at Eastcheap, London, which has been immortalised by Shakspeare. On the site of this famed tavern now stands the statue of William IV. BOAST (Fr. Ebaucher), a word in use with sculptors To B., as its French original implies, is to block out a piece of stone or wood, so as to form a rude approach to the ultimate figure, leaving the smaller details to be worked out afterwards. Ornamental portions of buildings are often inserted in their places in this condition, and frequently remain so if they are in an obscure position. provisions: When a B. belongs to any ship or other vessel, the name of the vessel and of the place to which she belongs must be painted on the outside of the stern of the B., and the master's name within side the transom-the letters to be white or yellow on a black ground. Boats not belonging to ships or other vessels must be inscribed with the name of the owners and the port to which they belong. All boats having double sides or bottoms, or any secret places adapted for the concealment of goods, are liable to forfeiture. The boats intended for the rescue of shipwrecked persons, or crews and passengers exposed to that danger, are described under LIFE-BOAT. BOAT-FLY (Notonecta), a genus of insects of the order Hemiptera (q. v.), suborder, Heteroptera, and of the family of the Hydrocorisa, or Waterbugs (q. v.). All of them, like the rest of the family, are aquatic insects. Their English name is derived from their boat-like form, eminently adapted for progression in water, and probably also from their remarkable habit of always swimming on their back-peculiar to the genus Notonecta, as restricted by recent entomologists-and of resting in this posture suspended at the surface of the water. The known species of this genus are not numerous. One of them, N. glauca (sometimes called the Water Boatman), is common in Britain: it is about half an inch long, (N. glauca). and varies considerably in colour; colours being black, brown, and gray. They fly but exhibits a general greenish tinge, the other well, but seldom use their wings. They move with difficulty on dry ground. When they descend into the water, they carry down a supply of air for respiration in a hollow between their folded wings. They feed on animal substances, and often kill and devour those of their own species. Water Boatman BOAT is the general name for a small open vessel. Boats differ, however, greatly one from another. They may be slight or strong, sharp or flat-bottomed, decked or undecked, swift for despatch or roomy for cargo, ornamental for pleasure or plain for hard service, deep or light of draught for deep or shallow water. The chief varieties supplied to ships of war are the following-Long-B.: the largest B. of a ship, furnished with mast and sails; it is either armed BOATING, the art of managing and propelling and equipped, to render warlike service in certain a boat. This is done either by means of oars or situations, or it is employed to fetch water, wood, sails. As sailing is fully treated under the head of provisions, and heavy stores on board. Launch: YACHTING, rowing only is dealt with here. The most longer and more flat-bottomed than the long-B.; ancient form of boat known to have been used in being rowed with a greater number of oars, it makes the British Islands is the coracle; it is still much more rapid progress up rivers. Barge: a long, used in Wales. The coracle is but a large wickernarrow, light B., employed in carrying the principal work basket, covered with skins, or some thin waterofficers to and from the ship; for other kinds of proof substance stretched over the wicker-work, boats or vessels under this name, see BARGE. strengthened by a cross seat. Seated in one of these Pinnace: a B. for the accommodation of the inferior rude boats, with but a single paddle, it is astonishofficers; it has usually eight oars, whereas the barge ing with what dexterity the paddler will skim over has ten or more. Cutter: broader, deeper, and broken water, and avoid dangers which would infalshorter than the barge or pinnace; it is rowed libly destroy a heavier or less manageable craft. with six oars, sometimes hoisting a sail, and is From the coracle spring all the varied classes of chiefly employed in carrying light stores, provisions, boats now in use, either as pendants to ships, or as and crew. Jolly-B.: a smaller cutter, rowed with used for pleasure traffic or a means of conveyance four oars instead of six. Yawl: small in size, and upon our rivers and inland waters. The wherry next used for nearly the same purposes as cutters and claims attention. There are many kinds of wherries, jolly-boats. Gig: a long narrow B., rowed with six but we only notice the Thames wherry. This is or eight oars, and employed by the chief officer on stoutly built, and is constructed to carry about expeditions requiring speed. Some of the above- eight passengers. It is usually managed by one named boats are diagonal-built for strength; the sculler or two oarsmen; it is almost entirely others are clincher-built, to be as light as possible. employed by watermen for the conveyance of The largest ships of war carry boats of all these passengers or pleasure-parties. The boats used for various kinds, varying in weight from 110 cwt. down rowing as a sport or pastime are of a much lighter to 10 cwt.; the smaller ships carry fewer; while and sharper build. They are constructed of all sizes, merchant-ships have seldom more than three-to carry from eight oarsmen down to a single sculler. except passenger-ships, which are bound by law to cany boats enough to save all the passengers and crew in case of disaster. There are other kinds of boats which do not belong to ships. See BOATING. In reference to the legal regulation of boats in the merchant-service, the following are the chief Of this class of boats, for racing purposes, we have the 8, 6, 4, 2, and single pair oared boats; while in contests between single scullers, we have what is denominated the wager-boat-a boat so frail and light in its proportions, that none but a most experienced sculler can sit in one without danger of upsetting. For pleasure, we have another class of BOATING-BOAT-LOWERING APPARATUS. boats denominated gigs, of stouter and more capacious build; they are constructed either for four oars, a pair of oars, or single sculls. Boat-racing is a practice of some antiquity, but it has only culminated in our day. Many prizes have been given from time to time for competition, some of which have been made annual. Perhaps the most famous of all these is Dogget's coat and badge, which is rowed for yearly on the Thames by water men's apprentices, on the 1st of August. It is a prize held in high estimation by young aspirants to rowing honours. But the events of most note in the rowing world are the Oxford and Cambridge 8-oared match, rowed annually upon the Thames, from Putney to Mortlake. This match has not been a regular yearly match, there having been occasional intervals at times of a year or two. In 1829, 1842, 1849, 1852, 1854, 1857, and 1859, Four-oared Racing-boat. to his titles champion of the Thames also. So much is B. favoured at our universities, that almost every college has its club. BOAT-LOWERING APPARATUS is the name the Oxford boat carried off the prize; Cambridge having wrested it from Oxford in the years 1836, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1845, 1846, 1849, 1856, 1858, 1860. 17 matches have come off in 32 years, the balance being still on the side of Cambridge. It given to certain ropes and pulleys for lowering boats will be noticed that two matches were rowed in from ships quickly and safely, in case of emergency. 1849. The best picked men from each university are Every passenger-ship is compelled by law to carry a selected to contest this great event, and the hardest certain number of boats, depending on the tonnage; exercise and the severest training gone through by and every ship of war necessarily carries boats (see the crews, to improve their wind, strength, and BOAT) for minor services; but until recent years the endurance, for months before the day of rowing; apparatus was very inefficient for lowering these their diet consisting mainly of the plainest cooked boats from the davits or cranes by which they are lean meat and potatoes, with malt liquors, spirituous usually suspended. In shipwreck or other emerdrinks being prohibited, and the duties of temper- gencies at sea, the boats were, until recent years, ance, soberness, and chastity strictly enforced. It often so difficult to extricate that they could not be was at one time thought that light men stood the lowered in time to save the crew and passengers; best chance in these matches, and men weighing or in lowering they capsized, and plunged the nine and ten stone were preferred; but experience unhappy persons into the sea. Many inventors has shewn this to be an error, and ten, eleven, and have recently directed their ingenuity to this subtwelve stone men are now chiefly selected. The ject, with a hope of devising a remedy. In Lacon's distance rowed upon this course, which is called apparatus, the principal feature is the employment 5 miles, is about 44. The time chosen is usually of a friction-brake, by which one man can regulate at slack-tide, and the time taken in rowing varies the rate of descent to varying degrees of speed. according as there is little or no tide or wind, or the Captain Kynaston's disengaging hooks are intended reverse, from 19 to 26 minutes. Robert Coombes is not only to lower boats quickly and safely when said to have rowed it on one occasion in 18 minutes. suspended over the side of the ship, but also to hoist The Cambridge boat, in a closely contested race them out quickly when they happen to be stowed in 1860, did the distance in 26 minutes 5 seconds, in-board. Wood and Rogers's apparatus resembles having previously, in one of their trials, rowed it Kynaston's in this: that the actual lowering from in 214, the young ebb-tide, on the day of the match, the ship is effected by the crew on shipboard, leaving being against them upon the latter half of the course. to the person or persons in the boat only the duty of From 36 to 44 strokes of the oar taken per minute is disengaging it from the tackle. But the apparatus held to be fair racing-pace; and a long steady even which now engages most attention is Clifford's, the stroke the blade of the oar not being dipped too leading principle of which is, that the lowering and deeply in the water, or thrown too high above the disengaging are both effected by one man seated the surface when withdrawn, the arms being well in the boat. Two ropes or lowering pendants, c and extended in taking the stroke, and the elbows d (see fig.), descend from two davits; pass through brought well home to the sides at the conclusion-blocks or sheaves, f; then through other blocks, is the kind of stroke now preferred by connoisseurs. The other great events of the boat-racing world are the regattas of Henley and Putney. At the former, the Oxford and Cambridge crews usually fight their battle over again in conjunction with others for the challenge-cup; and at these also many scullers' matches are rowed, though single scullers' races for the championship of the Thames, &c., are usually events of themselves. The most renowned champion of the Thames was Robert Coombes, who wrested the championship from Charles Campbell on the 20th of August 1846, having previously defeated all the best men. He held it unbeaten for above six years. He at length succumbed to the prowess of Cole in 1852. Cole, in 1854, was beaten by Messenger; Messenger yielded the palm to Kelly in 1856; and Kelly was at length, in 1859, beaten by Robert Chambers, the champion of the Tyne, who now adds within and near the keel of the boat; and finally, means, under circumstances which would almost certainly have proved fatal under the old mode of lowering boats from the davits. The apparatus above described is a mere appendage, not necessarily depending on the form and construction of the boat. BOATSWAIN is a warrant-officer on board her Majesty's ships, who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, cables, anchors, flags, and cordage. He is immediately under the master in some of these duties; he frequently examines the masts and yards, sails and ropes, to report on their condition and efficiency. He also keeps account of all the spare rigging, &c., and superintends the replacement of old by new. The B. has certain duties in connection with the crew: he assists in the necessary business of the ship, and in relieving the watch. In bad weather, he looks well to the boats and anchors, especially when night is coming on. A B. should be a good sailor, a good rigger, and a vigilant, sober, firm man. The boatswain's mate assists in all the above named duties; and to him is assigned the repulsive office of inflicting the flogging to which seamen are sometimes sentenced. BOBBIN-NET is the name of a kind of netfabric, usually made of cotton-thread. It is of the nature of lace, but is made in the lace-frame instead of by hand. The texture is peculiar: it consists in the interlacing of a set of long threads, representing the warp in common weaving, with a set of cross ones (the weft), in such a manner as to form a mesh Bobbin-net texture. texture. B. is one of the most elegant of textile fabrics, and forms an extensive branch of business, the chief seat of the manufacture in this country being Nottingham. See LACE MANU FACTURE BOBBINS are small wooden rollers, flanged at Transverse section of Boat. Besides these, there are three other kinds of B., although not of the genuine type, which deserve to be named as belonging to the class-viz.: the B. used for holding silk, which are flangeless, the ends being merely raised and rounded a little, by slightly hollowing the barrel. Then the bobbin, called in Scotland pirn, for delivering the weft from the shuttle, is simply a tapered pin, bored, it may be, throughout, with but the rudiments of a flange at the thick end; and next, the bobbin used for a similar purpose in lace-weaving, is merely a thin metal pulley, about the size of a halfpenny, deeply grooved in the rim, to hold the thread-weft. B., again, of a large size, and flanged and ribbed like the frame of a sand-glass, are called reels, are chiefly used in cordage-spinning, and are frequently of iron. The B. used in the thread-manufacture are small, being from less than one inch to more than two, according as they are made for three or six ply-cord, and holding 200 yards each. The thread B., and those for warping, are of hard wood, turned out of the solid block; but the larger B., for rove, called slubbing B., are of pine, with the ends and barrels turned individually on the same arbor, and glued together. The quantity of B. used in the various branches of business is enormous. In the thread manufacture alone, the wood required for them, in Britain only, is stated to be at least 40,000 tons annually; and assuming that a ton of wood produces 50 gross, taking the small and large together, we have 2,000,000 gross annually consumed in this manufacture, costing from 5d. to 1s. 4d. a gross, according to size, or, at an average, at least £80,000. This enormous production is, of course, the result of the machinery employed in it. The thread B. are turned by a self-acting lathe, which turns out BOBBIO-BOCCACCIO. BOBRUÏ'SK, a fortified town of Russia, in the about 100 gross in 10 hours, thereby effecting a saving of about sixteenfold, as compared with hand-government of Minsk, and 88 miles south-east of turning; whilst the attendant has nothing to do but feed the machine, by dropping the blocks into a hopper, from which they pass singly into the lathe, where they are finished and dropped one by one out of the machine. The quantity and value of the B. made use of, for warping and spinning, in the various manufacturing districts of the country, cannot be so well ascertained. It must be very great. The price of the B. ranges from about 68. a gross to about £18; or 2s. 6d. a piece for the large wooden B. used in cordage-spinning. The wood for B. is becoming scarce, so enormous is the supply wanted; and the trade is now under apprehension as to how it is to be kept up. BO'BBIO, a town of Piedmont, capital of the province of the same name, is situated near the left bank of the Trebbia, about 37 miles north-east of Genoa. B. is an ancient place, having originated from a church and convent erected here in the end of the 6th, or beginning of the 7th c., in the crypt of which St Columbanus and some of his disciples lie buried. B. has a cathedral, an episcopal palace, and a palace belonging to the Malaspina family. It is guarded from the inundations of the Pellice by a long embankment, built by a money-grant from Oliver Cromwell, during whose protectorate the town was nearly destroyed by an inundation. Pop. 3976. BO'BIA, or PIRATE ISLE, a singular island in the Bay of Amboise, off the coast of Guinea, Africa. Originally of considerable size, it has been greatly reduced by the action of the waves, and the same agency is still gradually lessening it. It is difficult of access, on account of the precipitous character of its shores, but is said to be densely peopled. BO'B-O-LINK, or BO'BLINK, REED BIRD, or RICE BIRD (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), a bird nearly allied to buntings and sparrows, but of a genus characterised by stiff-pointed tail-feathers. It is rather larger than a yellow-hammer; and the male in his summer or nuptial plumage exhibits a fine contrast of colours, black, yellow, and white. The female differs greatly from the male in colours of plumage, yellowish-brown chiefly prevailing; and in the latter part of summer, the males assume the comparatively dull hues of the females. The B. is a bird of passage, spending the winter in the West Indies. In summer it is found as far north as the banks of the Saskatchewan, in lat. 54°, but is most plentiful in the Atlantic states and other eastern parts of America, where it is to be seen in every meadow and cornfield. It renders good service by the destruction of insects and their larvæ; but the immense flocks which congregate on their return southwards in autumn, commit great ravages in the rice-plantations of Carolina. At this season, these birds become extremely fat, and are killed in great numbers for the table. Their flesh is delicate, and resembles that of the ortolan. The B. generally makes its nest in a grassy meadow, an artless structure of a few dry stalks and leaves, with a lining of finer grass. It displays the same instinct with many other birds, of seeking to lead intruders away from its nest, by pretending great anxiety about some other part of the field. During the breeding-season, the males are very musical, singing mostly in the air, in which they seem to rise and fall in successive jerks. Their song is very pleasing, and is emitted with a volubility bordering on the burlesque.' On account of their beauty and powers of song, many are caught, caged, and sold in the New York and other markets. the city of that name. It is situated on the right bank of the Beresina, and is a station for the steampackets navigating the Dnieper and Beresina. It was besieged ineffectually by the French in 1812. Pop. stated at 10,000. BO'B-STAY, in the rigging of a ship, is a rope used to confine the bowsprit down to the stem or cut-water; its purpose is to keep the bowsprit steady, by counteracting the force of the stays of the foremast, which draw it upwards. BO'CA (Span. meaning Mouth), a term applied the entrance of various straits and rivers, chiefly in America.-1. B. Chica, the channel of 28 miles in length, which leads to Cartagena in New Granada. 2. B. de Navios, the largest and most southerly outlet of the Orinoco.-3. B. Grande, a bay of the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Zucar, in Costa Rica.-4. B. del Toro, on the Caribbean Sea, in Costa Rica, in lat. 9° 20′ N., and long. 82° W. BO'CCA TIGRIS, or BOGUE, the name given to that portion of the estuary of the Canton River (q. v.) extending north from lat. 22° 45′ N.; south of this point, the estuary is designated the 'Outer Waters. In the centre of the B. T. are the rocky islands of North and South Wantung, while on the east the B. T. has the islands of Anunghoy and Chuenpee, and on the west the Ty-cock-tow island. On these islands are situated the Bogue forts, which have been more than once captured by the British. The last time they were taken was in November 1856, the occasion of quarrel being the refusal of the Chinese to make proper reparation for the capture of a vessel under British protection, but alleged, on the other hand, to be nothing but a smuggling craft, contriving to hide its real character by hoisting the British flag. BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI, the celebrated author of the Decamerone, was born in Paris, 1313. He styled himself Da Certaldo, and was sometimes named Il Certaldese by others, because his family sprang from Certaldo, a village in the Florentine territory. From an early period he displayed an invincible attachment to poetry, which his father attempted in various ways to thwart; but as soon as B. had attained his majority, he commenced to follow vigorously his own inclinations, poetising both in the Italian and Latin tongues, but not with any fine issues.' In prose he succeeded far better, developing quickly that airy grace of style which suits so admirably his light and lively tales, and which soon placed him in the highest rank of Italian prose-writers. He studied Dante closely, but did not confine himself to literature properly so called. In 1350, B. formed an intimate friendship with Petrarch, and, following his friend's example, collected many books and copied rare MSS., which he could not afford to buy. It is said that he was the first Italian who ever procured from Greece a copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He also wrote a Genealogy of the Gods, in 15 books, which was unquestionably the most comprehensive mythological work that Europe had as yet seen. But not only was B. one of the most learned men of his time, he was also one of the most enlightened in his scholarship. He helped to give a freer direction and a greater expansivenes to knowledge, stimulated his contemporaries to th study of Greek, and wished to substitute the wisdo of antiquity for the unprofitable scholasticism the prevailed. While in Naples (1341), B. fell passionately in lov with a young lady who was generally supposed BOCCAGE-BOCKH. be an illegitimate daughter of King Robert. His education at Leyden, he was chosen pastor of the passion was returned, and to gratify his mistress, Protestant church at Caen, where he became very B. wrote Il Filocopo, a prose-romance, and after- popular. In 1629, he gained great reputation by his wards La Teseide, the first attempt at romantic victory, in a public discussion of several days' epic poetry, and written in ottava rima, of which duration, over the famous Jesuit, Doctor Verin. B. may be considered the inventor. In 1342, he The meetings gained additional éclat from the returned to Florence, but in 1344, went back to occasional presence of the Viceroy of Normandy, Naples, where he wrote his Amorosa Fiammetta, Il the Duke of Longueville. In 1646, appeared his Filostrato, and L'Amorosa Visione. Here also he Sacred Geography, bearing the title of Phaleg and composed his famous Decamerone, to please Joanna, Canaan. His Hierozoicon, or Scripture Zoology, the daughter and successor of King Robert. It to which he devoted many years of his life, appeared consists of 100 stories, ten of which are told each posthumously in 1675. In 1652, B. was invited to day by seven ladies and three gentlemen, who had Stockholm by Queen Christina, and went thither fled from Florence during the frightful plague of accompanied by his friend Huet. The court-life, 1348, to a country villa, and who try to banish fear however, did not suit him, and his visit was by abandoning every moment to delicious gaiety. short. He died suddenly, in 1667, while speaking It is impossible to exaggerate the literary merits of at a meeting of the Caen Academy of Antiquaries. the book. In abundance of incident especially, it is A complete edition of his works, with a life by almost inexhaustible, though many of the stories are Morin, was published at Leyden in 1712; and a taken from older collections of Contes et Fabliaux. new improved edition of the Hierozoicon, his most It is, however, unfortunately steeped in impurity. valuable work, at Leipsic, in 3 vols. 4to (1793B. once more returned to Florence about 1350. He 1796), by Rosenmüller. was now honoured with several diplomatic appointments by his fellow-citizens, and subsequently even thought of entering into holy orders as a penance for the immoral life he had previously led. From this artificial course of repentance he was wisely dissuaded by Petrarch, who advised him to be content with changing his conduct. In 1373, B. was appointed Dantean professor at Florence; that is to say, he was to deliver elucidatory lectures on the Divina Commedia of the great poet, and zealously devoted himself to the difficult task thus imposed on him; but his health failing, he resigned the office, and retired to his little property at Certaldo, where he died, December 21, 1375, 16 months after his friend Petrarch. Besides those works we have already mentioned, B. wrote Origine, Vita e Costumi di Dante Alighieri, and Commento pra la Commedia di Dante. This commentary on the Divine Comedy extends only to the 17th canto of the Inferno. În Latin, B. wrote, beside the Genealogia Deorum, a work arranged in alphabetical order, De Montibus, Silvis, Fontibus, Lacubus, Flminibus, &c.; De Casibus Virorum et Fœminarum Ilustrium; De Claris Mulieribus, &c. BO'CHNIA, a town of Austrian Galicia, capital of south-east of Cracow. The houses are built chiefly a circle of the same name, and about 25 miles eastof wood. There are extensive mines of rock-salt in its vicinity, which employ upwards of 500 miners, and yield annually about 13,000 tons of salt. Pop. 5300. BÖCKH, AUGUSTUS, the most erudite classical antiquary of Germany at the present day, was born 24th November 1785, at Carlsruhe, and entered the university of Halle in 1803. The prelections of Wolf determined him to the science of philology. His first publication was Commentatio in Platonis qui vulgo fertur Minoem (Halle, 1806). In 1808, appeared his Græcæ Tragœdiæ Principum, Æschyli, Sophoclis, Euripidis, num ea quæ supersunt et genuina omnia sint. In 1809, he became ordinary professor at the university of Heidelberg; and in 1811, he was translated to the chair of Rhetoric and Ancient Literature, at Berlin, where he has taught for upwards of forty years, forming many excellent scholars, and extending his reputation through all the learned circles of Europe. His conception of BOCCAGE, MARIe Anne Fiquet dU, a French philology as an organically constructed whole, which poetess, was born at Rouen, 22d October 1710, and of antiquity, excited for a long time great opposition aims at nothing short of an intellectual reproduction received her education in the monastery of the Assumption at Paris, where her poetic tendencies among his professional contemporaries, but has early developed themselves, though only furtively. undoubtedly given an impetus to a deeper study of She first appeared as an authoress in a small volume the old classical world. His lectures include not of poems, published in 1746; next as an imitator of merely a grammatico-historical interpretation of the Milton in her Paradis Terrestre (1748); and in ancient authors, but also archæology proper, the 1756, issued her most important work, La Colom- history of ancient literature, philosophy, politics, bade. The letters which she addressed to her religion, and social life. The four great works of B. which have, in fact, opened up new paths in the sister, Madame Duperron, while travelling through England, Holland, and Italy, are the most inter-study of antiquity, are, 1st, his edition of Pindar eting things which have fallen from her pen. (2 vols., Leip. 1811-1822), in which the metre and During her life, she was excessively admired and rhythm of the poet, as well as his artistic skill, are be praised, especially by Voltaire, Fontenelle, and Clairant. She used to be described as Forma Venus, arte Minerva! The complimentary poems addressed to her would, if collected, fill many volumes. She was elected member of the academies of Rome, Bologna, Padua, Lyon, and Rouen. She died 8th August 1802. Her poems fail now to explain the utation she once enjoyed, and dispose us to believe that her personal attractions must have given a charm to her verses. investigated and discussed with profound knowledge |