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 BOSSUET BOSTAN 115 ties, addressing larger congregations and with greater effect than any other pulpit orator in that capital. Among his eulogies of saints, that of St. Paul is his masterpiece. He es- pecially excelled in funeral orations, though he was too much inclined to idealize the sub- jects of his panegyrics. The most admired were those on Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I. ; on the great Conde ; on Anne, princess Palatine ; and above all, on the duchess of Orleans, whose misfortunes and whose mys- terious death lent additional interest to his dis- course. The oration which he delivered on the duchess de la Valliere's taking the veil was another of his fine efforts. In 1669 he received the bishopric of Oondom, hut he never entered upon its duties, and relinquished the title and revenues in 1670, when Louis XIV. intrusted to him the education of the dauphin. For the special instruction of his pupil he wrote his Discours sur Vhistoire universelle, De la eon- noissance de Dieu et de soi-meme, and La po- litique tiree des propres paroles de VEcriture Sainte ; the first showing the omnipresence of God in history, the second applying religious principles to philosophy according to the ideas of Descartes, and the third sustaining absolu- tism in politics. His Exposition de la foi ca- tholique, said to have been written (1671) espe- cially for the conversion of Turenne, weaned the latter and other eminent persons from the Re- formed church. Thiswork, translated into many languages, was sanctioned by two papal briefs (1678-'9), and by the Gallican clergy in 1682, and finally gave rise to the memorable con- ference between Bossuet and the Protestant divine Claude. In 1671 he was admitted to the academy ; and having finished the education of the dauphin, he was named almoner of the duch- ess of Burgundy, and in 1681 bishop of Meaux. In 1682, in his opening address at the extra- ordinary convocation of the Gallican clergy, he attempted to reconcile his devotion to the ab- solute power of the king with that to the holy see, proclaiming the " indefectibility " of the latter, while contesting the infallibility of the pope personally. His influence resulted in the adoption of the four celebrated articles of the Gallican church. The fourth article, claiming that, "although the pope had the principal voice in matters of faith, his decisions were still not irrevocable, at least if they were not confirmed by the consent of the church," was regarded as an attack upon the supremacy of the pope, and exposed him to charges of heresy. His Histoire des variations des figlises pro- testantes (2 vols.), first published in 1688, though circulated in MS. since 1685, is his most important controversial work. He stren- uously denounced the quietism of his friend Madame Guyon, as well as of his former dis- ciple Fenelon, in his Relation du Quietisme, and procured the latter's removal from court and the condemnation at Eome of his Maximes des laintes. Though he was in friendly and pro- tracted correspondence with Leibnitz (1691- 1700) on the subject of a treaty for the union of the Reformed and Catholic churches, and though his biographer, Cardinal de Bausset, claims for him the gratitude of Protestants, it is uncertain whether he did or did not countenance the re- vocation of the edict of Nantes, and the subse- quent persecutions of the Protestants. His ac- tivity was prodigious ; he attended to the affairs of his diocese and to his duties at the court, while engaged in controversies, in writing and preaching, and in works of charity and piety. The last two years of his life were spent in comparative retirement owing to a painful disease (the gravel) from which he died. He was called by La Bruyere one of the fathers of the church, and by Henri Martin the Corneille of the pulpit, but was more generally known as the eagle of Meaux. He left an immense correspondence, including that with Leibnitz. Among his works not yet mentioned are his Maximes sur la comedie, condemnatory of the- atres, and Commentaire sur I' Apocalypse, which he interprets as predicting the fall of the Roman empire. There are many more or less complete editions of his writings, and several new and complete ones are in progress. The oldest is that of 1747-'53, in 20 vols. Those of 1825 (60 vols. 12mo) and of 1835-'7 (12 vols. large 8vo) are regarded as among the best. The edition prepared by the Benedictines in 48 vols. (1815 et seg.) includes the Histoire de Bossuet (4 vols., Paris, 1814), by Cardinal Louis Francois de Bausset, who was also the biogra- pher of Fenelon. Among his other biographers in France was Burigny (Paris, 1761), and in England, Charles Butler (London, 1812). The best biography is the Histoire de J. B. Bos- suet et de e otuvres, by Reaume (1 vol., Paris, 1869). New light is thrown npon his life and achievements by the Memoires et Jour- nal sur la me et les outrages de Bossuet (Paris, 1856-'7), after autograph MSS., edited by the abbe Guettee, with an introduction and anno- tations of the abbe Le Dieu, who was Bossuet's secretary from 1699 to 1704. They represent Bossnet as genial in his manners, and always preserving his serenity of temper, excepting in his animosity against Fenelon. BOSSIT, Charles, a French mathematician, born at Tarare, Aug. 11, 1730, died Jan. 14, 1814. He studied under D'Alembert, became his col- laborator in the Eneyclopedie, and was admit- ted to the academy in 1768, after which the king founded for him a chair of hydrodynam- ics. He published Mecanique en general, Cours complet des mathematiques, and Essai sur Vhis- toire generale des mathematiques. The last, published in 1802, was his masterpiece. He wrote also on navigation, astronomy, physics, and history, and prepared an edition of Pascal's works, with an essay on his life and writings. BOSTAN, or Al-Bostan (Arab., the garden), a town of Asiatic Turkey, on the Sihun (Sarus), and on the N. side of Mount Taurus, 40 m. N. W. of Marash ; pop. about 9,000. It is sit- uated in a well watered and well cultivated