Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/811

 BOHTLINGK BOII 791 Mindanao, lat. 9 54' K, Ion. 124 21' E., dis- covered by Magellan in 1521. It is 46 m. in length from E. to W. and 32 m. in breadth; area estimated at 1,354 sq. m. It is watered by several small rivers, one of which has its rise in a lake in the interior. Gold is found in the river sands. The chief vegetable products are rice, cocoanuts, and cotton. Cattle-raising and the manufacture of cocoanut oil and of silk and coarse cotton fabrics are the principal oc- cupations of the inhabitants. liitllTU.M.k, Otto, a Russian orientalist, of German descent, born in St. Petersburg, May 80, 1815. He studied at Berlin and Bonn, and became a member of the St. Petersburg acad- emy of sciences and councillor of state. He edited Vopadeva's grammar (St. Petersburg, 1846), Kalidasa's Sakuntala (with translation, Bonn, 1842), and Hematchandra's lexicon (S,t. Petersburg, 1847), and published a grammar and lexicon of the Yakut language (3 vols., 1849-'51), and "Indian Aphorisms" (Indische Spriiche, 2 vols., 1863-'4). His principal work is the great Sanskrit dictionary (Sanskrit- W<)r- terbuch), prepared conjointly with Prof. Ru- dolph Rotli of Tubingen and published by the St. Petersburg academy (7 vols., 1853-'67). ItOIII, Edmnnd, an English writer of the 17th century, born at Ringsfield, Suffolk. He was a descendant of the lords of the manor of Westhall, and was educated at Queen's college, Cambridge, which he entered in 1663. He edited Filmer's treatise on the origin of gov- ernment, wrote an answer to the paper which Algernon Sidney had delivered to the sheriffs on the scaffold, and subsequently published a geographical dictionary and other works. He swore allegiance to William and Mary, though he was a stanch tory and had been a persecu- tor of nonconformists and a champion of the doctrine of passive obedience ; and in 1692 he was appointed by the earl of Nottingham as licenser, in place of Fraser. He at once op- posed the publication of "A History of the Bloody Assizes," and of other writings which he considered schismatic and revolutionary, but sanctioned that of an anonymous volume entitled " King William and Queen Mary Con- querors," which reflected his own peculiar views, but which roused public indignation chiefly by its title, and led in January, 1693, to his removal from office, to his arrest, and to the public burning of the obnoxious treatise. It was alleged that Charles Blount, an extreme whig, had written this book in order to lay a trap for the ruin of Bohun, whose censorship he had bitterly denounced. See " Autobiog- raphy of Edmund Bohnn " in Dunton's " Life and Errors " (privately printed, London, 1853). BOI.4RUO, or Bojardo, Matteo Maria, count of Scandiano, an Italian poet, born at Scandiano in 1430 or 1434, died in Reggio in December, 1494. After finishing his studies in the uni- versity of Ferrara, he was received with dis- tinction at the court of the duke of Este in that city, and was appointed governor of Reggio in 1478, of Modena in 1481, and again of Reg- gio in 1487. His great chivalrous poem, which was left unfinished, Orlando innamorato, is divided into three books, containing 69 cantos. In 1545 this work had already passed through 16 editions, but the entire work was first printed in 1495. It was translated into French by Vincent in 1544, and subsequently by Rosset and Tressan, and Le Sage made an imitation of it. Boinrdo wrote his poem in the Italian spoken in his time at the court of Ferrara, and it was therefore very much criticised at Flor- ence. After various attempts to purify the style, it was more than once entirely rewrit- ten ; the best rifaccimento is that of Berni. This brought the poem into disuse, and Panizzi first published the primitive text, with a care- ful examination of the poem (London, 1830). Ariosto's Orlando furioso is a continuation of Boiardo's poem. Boiardo was the author of many other works, the most valuable of which are his Sonnetti e camoni (3 vols., Reggio, 1499), almost all addressed to his mistress, Antonia Capraca. Among the others is II Timone, a drama in five acts. BOIELDIEU, Francois Adrlen, a French com- poser, born at Rouen, Dec. 15, 1775, died at Grosbois, near Bordeaux, Oct. 8, 1834. At an early age he was distinguished as a performer on the piano, for which he composed his first musical pieces. These were succeeded by duets for the harp and piano, and romances, remark- able for their simple and graceful melodies, several of which, as the Menestral and <S'7 est vrai que d'etre deux, became very popular. In 1797, two years after his arrival in Paris, he was appointed professor of the piano at the conservatoire, and produced at the opera co- mique Lafamille suisse, which was succeeded by Le calife de Bagdad, Ma tante Aurore, and other works, revealing fertility of invention, and a freshness and vivacity in the melodies which have never been surpassed on the French stage. In 1803, at the invitation of the czar Alexander I., he went to St. Petersburg to fill the place of imperial chapelmaster. He re- turned to Paris in 1811, and soon after brought out a number of works, among which were Jean de Paris, Let deux nuits, Le nouveau sei- gneur du milage, &c. In 1817 he was elected a member of the institute, soon after which ap- peared his Chaperon roiige, the gay and bril- liant music of which fully justified the honor thus conferred upon him. In 1825 he produced La dame blanche, esteemed his chef -d? (enure, which is still familiar to the English and Amer- ican stage. An affection of the throat now compelled him to resign his professorship, but he was enabled to live comfortably on a pen- sion from the conservatoire and an annual present from Charles X., until the revolution of July, 1830, deprived him of these sources of income. He was honored with a public funeral. BOII, a Celtic people whose original seat ap- pears to have been in that region now forming the French departments of Haute-Marne and