Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/448

   BOSWELL, ROBERT (1746–1804), psalmist, was a descendant of the Auchinleck family in Ayrshire, and a writer to the signet in Edinburgh. Born in 1746, he received a classical education, and having early in life attached himself to the religious opinions of the ‘Glassites,’ or ‘Sandemanians,’ he was chosen by the church in Edinburgh to be one of their teaching elders. He was on a visit to his friends in London, and preached in their chapel there on Sunday, 1 April 1804. His text was ‘All flesh is as grass.’ In the middle of the sermon he was seized with illness and died in a few minutes.

He was the author of a volume entitled ‘The Book of Psalms in Metre from the Original, compared with many Versions in different Languages,’ London (J. Johnson), 1784; second edition, 1786. In his ‘Prefatory Notes’ the author tells us he has adhered chiefly to the version used by the church of Scotland, and that he has compared 233 manuscript and 93 printed editions of the Book of Psalms. The only Sandemanian chapel mentioned in the census of 1851 was near Barbican, with an attendance of 200 worshippers. It was here that Boswell died, and Faraday officiated as elder.

 BOSWELL, WILLIAM (d. 1649), diplomatist, was a native of Suffolk. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, of which he was elected fellow in 1606. He subsequently entered the diplomatic service, and was appointed secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton, then ambassador at the Hague, to whose post he eventually succeeded, receiving the honour of knighthood in 1633.

There is an interesting tract entitled 'A True Narrative of the Popish Plot against King Charles I and the Protestant Religion,' in which a scheme of the Jesuits to raise up Scotland and overthrow Charles I is described, and details are given of how the plot was discovered to Sir William Boswell by one Andreas ab Habernfeld, and communicated by the former to Archbishop Laud, who immediately took steps to thwart the conspiracy. On account of the promptitude shown by Sir William in this affair he was much commended by the king.

A large share of Sir William's attention while ambassador at the Hague was taken up with the religious controversy at that time raging between the Gomarists and the 'remonstrants.' In this matter, for political reasons, he adopted the policy of Sir Dudley Carleton, and supported Prince Maurice and the Gomarists against Barneveldt and the 'remonstrants,' who advocated the more liberal doctrines of Arminius. When the civil war broke out. Sir William's efforts were directed towards preserving the neutrality of Holland, whose leanings were in favour of the parliamentary party, and despite the efforts of Walter Strickland, who was sent over by Cromwell to counteract his influence, was not altogether unsuccessful in his mission.

Besides being a successful diplomatist, Sir William was a man of letters and a scholar, as is shown by his correspondence with John de Laet, which touches upon subjects ranging from Oriental literature and the compilation of an Arab dictionary to Edward VI's treatise 'De Primatu Papae,' and Sir Simon d'Ewes's Saxon vocabulary.

In the Additional MSS. in the British Museum there are two large volumes of letters addressed to Sir William Boswell and a few written by him. The first volume is mainly taken up with matters relating to the state and condition of the English church in the Netherlands, and includes many letters from Stephen Goffe; the second volume contains the correspondence of John de Laet, and comprises letters on theology and literature, as well as on social and political affairs. Sir William Boswell died in 1649.

[Tableau de l'Histoire générale des Provinces-Unies, 1777; Letters from and to Sir D. Carleton, 1775; Grattan's History of the Netherlands, 1830; Add. MSS. 6394, 6395.]  BOSWORTH, JOSEPH, D.D. (1789–1876), Anglo-Saxon scholar, was born in Derbyshire in the early part of 1789. He was educated at Repton grammar school, and thence proceeded to the university of Aberdeen, where at an early age he took the degree of M.A., and subsequently that of LL.D. He afterwards became a member of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained deacon in 1814, and priest in 1815. After having served as curate of Bunny in Nottinghamshire, he was in 1817 presented to the vicarage of Little Horwood, in Buckinghamshire, a preferment which he held for twelve years.

In 1821 Bosworth published two educational works entitled respectively: ‘Latin Construing, or Lessons from Classical Authors,’ and ‘An Introduction to Latin Construing,’ the former of which went through six and the latter through five editions. In 1823 