Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/744

BOS the late Mr. James Boswell, Malone's coadjutor in preparing his last edition of Shakspeare. Ever since his life of Johnson appeared, Boswell's name has been a household-word with all English readers. As a mere biography, his work stands alone in our literature, and probably in the literature of the world. In what other have we anything like such a complete and living picture of a man and an age? It is more like a visible, moving representation, than a mere narrative. This excellence of the work, and the author's complete achievement of his purpose, are universally acknowledged; but there has been some uncertainty or difference of opinion as to what it is to which he mainly owes his success. It is assuredly not the mere literal accuracy of his reporting, as has been sometimes said. Perhaps it has not been in general sufficiently adverted to or perceived, that Boswell is a true artist, and as such necessarily puts into whatever he gives us something of his own mind and peculiar nature, as well as his subject—the only way of breathing a living soul either into writing or any other kind of representation. He was a most extraordinary compound of strongly contrasted qualities and tendencies; with all his absurdity, which it would not be easy to exaggerate, he was not only unmistakeably a man of genius, but even of eminent shrewdness, sagacity, and practical talent in a limited way; and, in like manner, with all his moral bluntness or worse, there were in him, as Mr. Carlyle has well pointed out, some high and noble elements, such as are rarely to be met with.

A new interest has recently been excited about Boswell by some letters which have been recovered by a singular chance, and given to the world—"Letters of James Boswell to the Rev. W. J. Temple, now first published from the original MSS., with an Introduction and Notes," Nov. 1857. From the preface to this volume, and from subsequent statements which have appeared elsewhere, we learn that the letters were obtained some years ago at Boulogne by a Major Stone of the East India Company's service, in the shop of a Madame Noel, who had purchased them from a hawker accustomed to pass through Boulogne once or twice a year, to supply the shops with waste paper. Of their authenticity there can be no doubt. They are very curious as additional illustrations of Boswell's remarkable character; but they only bring out into stronger light what was known before. The Rev. William Johnson Temple, to whom most of the letters are addressed, was an early friend of his, and a person not unknown in the literature of his day. There has also been lately printed for the Photobiblion Society, under the editorship of Mr. Monckton Milnes, a curious tract relating to Boswell, with the title of Boswelliana. An account of both the Letters and the Boswelliana, is given in an article in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1857.—G. L. C.  BOSWELL,, the younger son of the biographer of Johnson, was a fellow of Brazenose college, and a person of superior talents, and of eminent classical scholarship. As literary executor of Malone, he took charge of the publication of his enlarged edition of Shakspeare, to which he contributed a memoir of Malone, and an essay on the metre and phraseology of Shakspeare. Mr. Boswell was remarkable for his conversational powers and the warmth of his friendship. Like his father, he had an intense fondness for the society of the metropolis, and spent his life almost entirely in the Middle Temple. He died February 24, 1822, in his forty-third year, only a few weeks before his brother.—J. T.  BOTAREL,, a native of Spain, lived in the beginning of the fifteenth century. He was deeply versed in the Cabbala, the theosophy of the Jews. In the year 1409, he wrote for the use of Maestro Juan, a Christian scholar, a copious commentary on the cabbalistical book Yezirah, in which he quotes many works no longer extant. Dr. Julius Fürst (Bibl. Hebr., part i., p. 128) attributes to Botarel a translation from Latin into Hebrew, of an astrological work by the famous Nostradamus; but as Michel Nostradamus was born, according to the best authorities, in 1503, it is not easy to admit Fürst's statement.—T. T.  BOTH, and, Dutch painters, brothers by birth, and in reality. John was born at Utrecht in 1610, the son of a glass painter, and was a pupil of Bloemaert, in whose studio Andrew was also a patient learner. Together, hand in hand, they went to Rome, and resided there many years. John took to landscape, making Claude, the wonderful pastry-cook, his model. Andrew followed Bamboccio, and learned with kind humility to adorn his brother's landscapes with figures, in exquisite taste, and with imagination all compact. Descamps and Sandrart differ as to the death of the two brothers; but from other evidence it would appear, that in the very full summer of their mutual amity, fame, and happiness, John was drowned in a canal at Venice. Andrew, though loaded with employment, was so affected by this sudden blow, that he only survived a few years, and died in 1656. There is, however, still a slight mystery and doubt as to whether it was not Andrew who was drowned, and John who returned to Utrecht to moodily paint, employing Polemburg to paint his figures, instead of his drowned brother. Andrew painted some independent pictures of noisy merry-makings and bustling fairs; and John the quack doctors. The brothers executed some etchings of landscapes, praying saints, beggars, and revellers. John Both's pictures are remarkable for their warm, glowing, Italian sunsets, too often for their tawny or saffron atmosphere, mannered colour, and laborious and finical execution. In his time he was considered a rival of Claude, with his warm deep skies, "fine receding sweet distances," sunny mornings breaking out from behind woods and hills, or sundowns with a rose-tinged evening cloud still growing fainter, less and less. He was named "The Both of Italy" for what the old amateurs that stubborn Hogarth laughed at, called "his admirable gracious handling, his free, light, sweet pencil, and his extraordinary readiness of hand." His pictures were generally between two and five feet long, the smaller notes of exquisite neat finish, but Houbraken mentions a "Mercury and Argus," a masterpiece, six feet high. Andrew's card parties and open air feasts had their day. The imitators of John Both, Italian Both, were clever and numerous:—1. His pupil William de Hensch: his skies are faint, and his touch delicate, but not so sharp, true, and angular. 2. Jacob de Hensch, nephew of No. 1. 3. John Wils, an imitator of Berghem and Both. 4. William van Swanenburg. 5. Frederich Moncheron, fond of olive colour. 6. Isaac Moncheron. 7. Henry Ferschuring. We subjoin a list of some of John Both's more favourite subjects, by which the reader can make a good guess at the bent and aim of his genius:—artist studying from nature near a mountain cataract; travellers with ox waggons and loaded mules; a ferry-boat at sunset; traveller reposing at noonday; the judgment of Paris; cavalcade and muleteers; mule with casks; nymphs bathing; the flight into Egypt; travellers halting under trees; mountain pass, with muleteer and guitar; a cascade; watering beasts at a fountain; banditti with prisoners near the lake of Bolseno; boys bathing; sketching from nature; cavalcade at a ford; herdsman piping; Philip and the eunuch; peasants playing at racket on a summer evening; nuns of a convent; gentlemen on horseback saluting, (said to be the two brothers parting); Abraham and Hagar; hermits; river scene; wood waggons; fishermen with nets; halberdier with prisoners; Mercury and Bacchus; travellers attacked by robbers; people talking on a bridge. Such were the varied scenes, generally with Italian sunrise and sunset, woods, rivers, and hills, that John Both loved to deal in.—W. T.  BOTHWELL,, Earl of. See.  BOTHWELL,, Earl of. See.  BOTHWIDI,, a Swedish theologian, died in 1635. He was attached as preacher to the court of Gustavus Adolphus, and followed that prince through all his campaigns. He became bishop of Linköping in 1630, was recalled to Germany the following year, and charged by the king with the direction of ecclesiastical affairs. He left among other works "Utrum Moscovitæ sint Christiani," 1620.  BOTIN,, a Swedish historian, was born in 1724, and died in 1790. His principal work is his "Utkast til Svenska Folkets Historia," or Sketch of the History of the Swedish Nation. A new edition of this work published at Stockholm, 1789-92, contains many additions, but extends only to the thirteenth century. He wrote also "Om Svenska Hemman," being a historical description of the territorial domain of Sweden, Stockholm, 1757; a "Life of Bürger;" and "Observations on the Swedish Language." Botin received, in consequence of his works, many honorary titles: he was counsellor of the king, chevalier of the order of the polish star, a member of the Swedish Academy at Stockholm, and of the academies of sciences and belles-lettres, as well as of various foreign societies.—M. H. <section end="744H" /> <section begin="744Inop" />BOTON,, rabbi, lived at Saloniki, and died in 1625. His valuable commentary on the Yad Hachezakah, by Maimonides, and 230 dissertations on Talmudical subjects, have gained Boton a high name in Jewish literature.—T. T. <section end="744Inop" />