Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/682

BOC BOCCIARDO, surnamed, from his gross size, , was a pupil of Bernardo Strozzi. He accompanied Castiglione to Rome, the magnet city that still draws artists strongly southward. After a large course of study of old sculptors and old painters, he went to Florence and painted his own portrait for the grand-duke's gallery. Genoa has some of his works, and Pisa boasts the "Martyrdom of St Sebastian" in the Carthusians' church. He was taught to blend the then modern and antique styles with a graceful strength. He excelled Strozzi in ingenuity and correctness of composition, but failed in reaching his truth and purity of colour. He died in 1658, still young, without reaching Strozzi.—W. T.  BOCCIARDO,, a mediocre painter of the same name, was born at Genoa in 1686, and died in 1785. He studied under Morandi, and painted history indifferently well.  BOCCONE,, or , afterwards , a celebrated Sicilian naturalist, was born at Palermo, 24th April, 1633, and died, 22d December, 1704. He belonged to a wealthy family, originally from Savona in the states of Genoa. His attention was particularly directed to botany, and in the prosecution of this science he visited various parts of Italy, France, Holland, Germany, and Britain. He afterwards kept up a correspondence with Sherard, Morison, Hatton, Barrelier, and other celebrated naturalists. He took the degree of doctor of medicine at Padua, and was admitted a member of the Academia Naturæ Curiosorum. He was afterwards appointed botanical preceptor to Ferdinand II., grand-duke of Tuscany, and finally professor at Padua. In 1682 he entered the order of Cistercian monks at Florence, and there took the name of Silvio. He returned to Sicily, and entered one of the Cistercian convents of Sta. Maria d'Altifonte, near Palermo, where he died. His tomb is shown in the small village of Palco, about three leagues from Palermo. His works were very numerous, including "Description of Sicilian plants, as well as of those of Malta, France, and Italy;" "Remarks and Observations on Natural History;" "Botanical Letters;" and "Descriptions of Marine Plants."—J. H. B.  BOCERUS, the Latinized form of or, a German poet and historian, born at Hausberg, 1525; died in 1565. He evinced remarkable poetic talent, and, in the midst of adversity, won an academic prize, which enabled him to take his degree in college. He rather improvised than composed. His works are not of much general interest.  BOCH or BOCHIUS,, sometimes termed "the Virgil of the Low Countries," on account of the elegance of his Latin poems, was born at Brussels, July 27th, 1555. He studied at Rome under Cardinal Bellarmine, and travelled through Poland and Russia. He composed a panegyric poem, which pleased the duke of Parma so well, that he was presented by that prince with the secretaryship of Antwerp. He wrote "Physical, Ethical, Political, and Historical Observations on the Book of Psalms," and a "Life of David;" but died January 23rd, 1609, before he had completed the publication of his work on the Psalms.—T. J.  BOCHART,, one of the most illustrious biblical scholars of France, was born at Rouen in 1599. His earlier youth gave abundant token of his tastes, for at the age of thirteen he composed Greek verses, which his preceptor prefixed to a Corpus Romanoram Antiquitatum, published in 1612. These verses tell us that he was a cherished pupil of Thomas Dempster, a Scotchman of great erudition, and famous in his day; and the verses of Bochart, so honoured by him as to be placed in front of one of his most elaborate productions, must have been of more than ordinary merit. Bochart must have resided at Paris when under Dempster's tuition. The young man then removed to Sedan, and there, in 1615, maintained with great credit his public theses in philosophy. There, too, he was in the habit of composing complimentary Latin poems, while he was studying theology under Jac. Capellus. About 1619 Bochart went to Saumur, and studied under another famous Scotchman, John Cameron, who had succeeded to the chair of Gomar during the previous year. Civil commotions obliged Cameron to leave in 1621, and Bochart accompanied him to London. After spending some few months in the English metropolis, Bochart repaired to Leyden, and pursued the study of Hebrew under the great Arabic scholar Erpenius; and of theology, under his uncle, the orthodox Andrew Rivet. He seems to have visited England a second time, for, according to Woods, Fasti Oxon., he was in 1622 admitted a public student in the library of the university of Oxford. A short time afterwards he was unanimously chosen pastor of the protestant or reformed church at Caen. His popularity as a preacher was great, and his attention to all the duties of the pastoral office exact and faithful. The protestant minister was occasionally assaulted by his popish enemies, and on one occasion he held a public disputation for nine days, with a jesuit named Veron, on the principal points in dispute between papists and protestants. At this period he was laying the foundation of his erudition and fame. During his preparation of a course of "Sermons on the Book of Genesis," he had occasion to examine many points relating to antiquities, geography, natural history, and ethnology; and these researches gave rise to his great productions, which eighteen years afterwards were given to the world. In 1646 he published the first part of his sacred geography, called "Phaleg," and so named after him in whose days "the earth was divided;" and the second part was published in the following year, under the title of "Canaan." The work at once brought the author into prodigious reputation, and he took his place by the side of such men as Scaliger, Vossius, and Salmasius. The eccentric and self-willed queen of Sweden had at this time, and at the instigation of Des Cartes and Vossius, shown her royal approbation of Bochart's labours, and even invited him to her court. In 1652 the French scholar accepted the invitation, and along with Huet, afterwards the well-known bishop of Avranches, set out for the Swedish capital, visiting, on their journey, the most remarkable persons and places in Holland and Denmark. Any good end to be attained by the visit was frustrated through the queen's caprice and the craft of Bourdelot, her physician. Bochart had, indeed, the free use of the royal library, and profited by the privilege. He had also several interviews with her majesty, at one of which, in one of her freaks, she compelled the grave divine to play a game at battledore and shuttlecock with her. During his absence at Stockholm, Bochart was elected into a new literary society or academy, then forming at Caen, and he continued till his death an influential and useful member of it. On his return he commenced to labour on his "Hierozoicon, or Zoology of Scripture;" but ecclesiastical business of various kinds, necessitated by the troublous nature of the times, often interrupted him, and additional duties devolved upon him by the death of one colleague, and the exile of another. At length the great tome was published in London in 1664, the oriental types employed on it being those which had been cast for Walton's Polyglott. But continuous and hard study had impaired his constitution, and rendered irregular the action of the heart. On the 16th of May, 1667, after attending the college, and hearing his grandson maintain his theses, he went to a sitting of the academy; and as he was expatiating upon a coin, the origin or country of which was the subject of dispute, he was seized with a sudden spasm, and instantly expired, exclaiming as he fell, "Mon Dieu, ayez misericorde de moi."

Bochart's learning was profound and multifarious, and it was poured out, on all occasions, with unsparing profusion. On every subject handled by him, he tells all that could be told, and indulges in many curious, learned, and superfluous digressions. In fact, the truth is sometimes buried amidst loads of erudition—Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Syriac—and what is fabulous receives equal fullness of erudite illustration, with what is true. The lore of all lands was in his possession, and he was not niggardly in his disposal of it. The wealth of his polyglot allusions and quotations is really astounding, and one wonders, first, how he acquired it, and secondly, how he could use it with such mastery. His books are a rare monument of studious industry, and are still of great value as a storehouse of miscellaneous information. They are not even superseded by the adjusted results of later travel, and more accurate zoological investigation, for they give all that can be gathered on their subjects from all ancient literature; and this is their merit. Some other and minor publications of Bochart relate to ecclesiastical matters, such as his "Letters to Morley," royal chaplain of King Charles; and three volumes of Sermons were published at Amsterdam after his death. Bochart's life was written by Morinus, a junior colleague, and will be found prefixed to the first volume of his works, as edited by Leusden and Villemand.—J. E.  BOCHART DE SARRON,, of the same family as the distinguished divine, born at Paris in 1730, became first president of the parliament of that city. He retained that office till the outbreak of the Revolution, when he retired into privacy. His fondness for mathematics, and his expertness in some branches of the science, particularly those employed in 