Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/860

842 the snout until they are rendered useless for purposes of attack, when, according to Darwin, they become serviceable for defence in the frequent fights which take place during the rutting season. At the same time, the canines of the upper jaw begin to develop outwards and upwards, and these take the place of the lower ones as offensive weapons. The wild boar is a native of the temperate regions of Europe and Asia, where it inhabits the deepest recesses of forests and marshy grounds. Vambery, in his recent journey through Central Asia, found them in enormous numbers in the extensive swamps of Turkestan. They appear to have been denizens of British forests at least till the reign of Henry II., after which they are not heard of till the time of Charles I., when an attempt to restock the New Forest with them failed. In the reign of William the Conqueror any one killing a wild boar was liable to have his eyes put out. After reaching maturity the boar becomes a solitary animal, unless during the breeding season, when it seeks the female, and at this time they engage in fierce contests with each other, although these, it is said, seldom lead to fatal results, as they contrive to receive the blows on their tusks, or on the specially tough skin which covers their shoulders. The Indian Wild Boar (Sus indicus) is undoubtedly polygamous, and there are several facts which point to a similar habit in the European boar. Both species are nocturnal, issuing from their coverts at twilight in quest of food. This is chiefly of a vegetable nature, consisting of roots which it ploughs up by means of its broad muscular snout and of grain; although they are also known to devour the smaller mammals, birds, and eggs. The female is ordinarily a timid creature, but shows great courage and fierceness in defence of its young. It associates with other females for mutual protection against wolves. The wild boar was for many centuries a favourite beast of chase with the nobility of Europe. It was hunted on foot with the spear, its great strength, and its ferocity when at bay, rendering the sport alike exciting and dangerous. The gun has now superseded the spear in European boar-hunting, but owing to the comparative scarcity of the boars it is now little practised. In India, however, where these animals abound in the jungles, it is still a favourite sport, the boar being pursued on horseback and speared. The bristles of the boar are much used in the manufacture of brushes.  BOAT-BUILDING. See.  BOBRUISK, a town of Russia, in the government of Minsk, 110 miles S.E. of that city, in 53º 15′ N. lat. and 28º 52′ E. long., on the right bank of the Berezina, near the confluence of the Bobruiska, on the high road from Mogileff to Brest-Litovsk. Bobruisk was an unimportant place in 1508, when the Moscovite army, sent by the Emperor Basil against the Polish king Sigismund, advanced towards it. In the 17th century there existed a castle, which was burned down in 1649. When the Minsk government was incorporated with Russia, Bobruisk was a small borough; but in 1795 it was raised to the rank of chief town of a department in the Minsk government. In the beginning of the reign of Alexander I. there was erected at Bobruisk, by the advice of General Osterman, a fort, which obtained great importance in 1812, and was made equal to the best in Europe by the Emperor Paul I. The fort proper is built on a height exactly at the confluence of the Bobruiska with the Berezina, nearly a mile from the town. On the right bank of the former river is another small fort, called Fort Frederick William, well supported by a line of defences. In 1860 the population of Bobruisk was 23,761, of whom 11,394 were Jews. It has 2 Greek churches, 17 synagogues, a military hospital, and a departmental college. The only industrial establishments are two potteries. On the river near the town there is a harbour, by which grain and salt are imported from the southern governments.  BOCCACCIO,. Comparatively little is known of Boccaccio's life, particularly of the earlier portion of it. He was born in 1313, as we know from a letter of Petrarch, in which that poet, who was born in 1304, calls himself the senior of his friend by nine years. The place of his birth is somewhat doubtful,—Florence, Paris, and Certaldo being all mentioned by various writers as his native city. Boccaccio undoubtedly calls himself a Florentine, but this may refer merely to the Florentine citizenship acquired by his grandfather. The claim of Paris has been supported by Baldelli and Tiraboschi, mainly on the ground that his mother was a lady of good family in that city, where she met Boccaccio's father. The balance of evidence is decidedly in favour of Certaldo, a small town or castle in the valley of the Elsa, 20 miles from Florence, where the family had some property, and where the poet spent much of the latter part of his life. He always signed his name Boccaccio da Certaldo, and named that town as his birthplace in his own epitaph. Petrarch calls his friend Certaldese; and Filippo Villani, a contemporary, distinctly says that Boccaccio was born in Certaldo. Boccaccio, an illegitimate son, as is put beyond dispute by the fact that a special licence had to be obtained when he desired to become a priest, was brought up with tender care by his father, who seems to have been a merchant of respectable rank. His elementary education he received from Giovanni da Strada, an esteemed teacher of grammar in Florence. But at an early age he was apprenticed to an eminent merchant, with whom he remained for six years, a time entirely lost to him, if we may believe his own statement. For from his tenderest years his soul was attached to that "alma poesis," which, on his tombstone, he names, as the task and study of his life. In one of his works he relates that, in his seventh year, before he had ever seen a book of poetry or learned the rules of metrical composition, he began to write verse in his childish fashion, and earned for himself amongst his friends the name of "the poet." It is uncertain where Boccaccio passed these six years of bondage; most likely he followed his master to various centres of commerce in Italy and France. We know at least that he was in Naples and Paris for some time, and the youthful impressions received in the latter city, as well as the knowledge of the French language acquired there, were of considerable influence on his later career. Yielding at last to his son's immutable aversion to commerce, the elder Boccaccio permitted him to adopt a course of study somewhat more congenial to the literary tastes of the young man. He was sent to a celebrated professor of canon law, at that time an important field of action both to the student and the practical jurist. According to some accounts—far from authentic, it is true—this professor was Cino da Pistoia, the friend of Dante, and himself a celebrated poet and scholar. But, whoever he may have been, Boccaccio's master was unable to inspire his pupil with scientific ardour. "Again," Boccaccio says, "I lost nearly six years. And so nauseous was this study to my mind, that neither the teaching of my master, nor the authority and command of my father, nor yet the exertions and reproof of my friends, could make me take to it, for my love of poetry was invincible." About 1333 Boccaccio settled for some years at Naples, apparently sent there by his father to resume his mercantile pursuits, the canon law being finally abandoned. The place, it must be confessed, was little adapted to lead to a practical view of life one in whose heart the love of poetry was firmly rooted. The court of King Robert of Anjou at Naples was frequented by many Italian and French men of letters, the great Petrarch amongst the 