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* BOUCHER. 357 BOUCICAULT. thus torn and distracted by fratricidal dis- agreements." The book was dedicated to Wash- ington, between whom and Boucher there exist- ed for many years an intimate friendship. A Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words, an imfinished work, was publislied in London, in two parts, in 1832-33. Extracts from Bou- cher's Autobiography were published in yotes and Queries, 5th series, Vol. VI. (1850), and the "Letters of Jonathan Boucher to George Washington," in the Xeic Enyland Historical and Gciirnlopical Register, Vol. LIL (Boston, 1898). Consult Tyler, Literary History of the American Hcvolution (New York, 1897). BOTJCHEK, boo'sha', Pierre, Sieur de Bou- chenille ( lti22-1717 ). A French pioneer, who came to America in 1635, and was engaged in the wars with the Iroquois. He was sent by the Colony of Xew France as deputj' to France in 1661, about which time he published his His- toire rerifahle et naturelle des moeurs et des pro- ductions dc la Xouvelle France (1663). He was ennobled and appointed Governor of Three Rivers. Shortly before his death he addressed to his children I.cs adieux du grandperc Boucher. BOtrCHER DE CREVEC(EUR DE PER- THES, de krev'ker' de part', J.4.cqites (1788- 1868). A French archaeologist, l>orn at Bethel. He was employed by Napoleon in several diplo- matic missions to Italy. Germany, and Austria, and after the Restoration was most active as president of the Society of Emulation at Abbe- ville. He collected Roman and Celtic antiquities, which he presented to tlie Government, and gained mucli celebrity by arclioeologieal discov- eries and by his work De la creation (1839-41), Even more noteworthy are Antiquites celtiques et antediluriennes (1847-65) and De Vhomme ant4diluricn et de ses ceuvres (1860). BOUCHER-DESNOYERS, boo'sha'da'nwii'- ya'. Aui.rsTE GASP.Rn Loi is. Baron. See Des- KOTERS, AlGUSTE GaSPABD LoUIS BoUCHEB, Baron. B0UCHES-DU-RH6NE, boosh' du-rfln' (Fr., Mouths .if the r.honei. A southeastern depart- ment of France, bordering on the Mediterranean, formerly a part of Provence (Map: France, L 8). Area. 1971 square miles. Population, in 1896, 679.64G: in 1901, 737.112. About one-half of the department is under cultivation ; heaths, woods, wastes, and water occupy the other half. The Rhone — which between Aries and the sea separates into several branches, forming a delta called He de la Camargue — and its affluent, the Durance, are the principal rivers. The depart- ment is intersected by several canals of impor- tance. The He de la Camargue produces corn and rice, and affords pasture for large numbers of sheep and cattle. The vine, olive, and mul- berry also thrive there, and timber is plentiful. Marble, limestone, gj'psuni, and lignite are the chief mineral i>roducts. Capital, Marseilles. BOUCICAULT, bi7o's*-ko, Diox (1822-90). An Irisli-.Vmcrican playwright and actor, bom in Dublin, of French parentage, December 26, 1822. He was brought up under the guardian- ship of Dr. Dionysius Lardncr, after whom he was named, and was educated at University Col- lege, London. His first dramatic work, produced before lie was 19 years old, was London Assur- ance, Covent Garden, in March. 1841. Its sig- nal success determined his career. It lias ever since remained a favorite with British an3 .American playgoers. The plot was slight, but ingenious; it abounded in comic situations; the dialogue was brisk and sprightly; there was no lack of wit, and there were perliaps more than enough of these flippancies and pleasant im- pertinences which average theatre-goers prefer to wit. Boucicault next produced, in rapid suc- cession. Old Heads and Young Hearts; Love in <i Maze; Used Up; Louis XL; and The Corsicnn Brothers. When he went upon the stage, in 1852, he added the vogue of an actor to the reputation he had previously gained as an au- thor. From 1853 till 1860 he was in America, where his popularity was scarcely less than it had been in England. On his return to London in 1860, he produced at the .delphi Theatre a play. The Colleen Baun, which proved among the most successful of modern times, and which, if not the first of a new school, has at least sup- plied a new descriptive name to our dramatic literature. The author made a fortune by it. It has been performed in almost every theatre in the United Kingdom ; it had a great run in America : it was even translated into French, .-ind brought out at the Anibigu Theatre in Paris. Boucicault subsequently produced at the Adelphi — of which he was for some time joint •manager — another 'sensation' drama, The Octoroon, the popularity of which was only a little less than that of The Colleen Baun. In 1862 he opened a new theatre in London, the Westminster; but this speculation turned out unfortunately. He afterwards reestablished his fortunes by new plan's, in some of which he and his wife — for- merly Miss Robertson, a very popular actress — took the leading parts. The Streets of London, Flying Scud, After Dark, and The Shaughraun were among the most popular of his later works, all of which are of the type with which he had familiarized the public. His character of Con in The Shaughraun was perhaps his most effec- tive and anmsing creation. In collaboration with Charles Reade he wrote the novel Foul- Play, which was afterwards dramatized. In all he wrote more than 300 dramatic pieces: and in illustration of the facility with which he com- posed works which — all deductions made — are of considerable merit, it may be said that he once even «rote to a royal commission that he would undertake to write plays for all the the- atres in London. As an actor, Boucicault was always very popular, without attaining to high excellence in his vocation. His lack of marked histrionic talent was. in part at least, made up by his keen sense of humor: and whatever his artistic ability may have been, it is certain that he was immensely popular with his audiences. In 1876 he took up his residence in New York, where he died. September 18, 1890. Consult Clement Scott, The Drama of Yesterday and To- day ( London, 1899). BOUCICAULT, Mrs. Dion. An English ac- tress. As Agnes Robertson she had already made a reputation in Taylor's Our Clerks and other comedies at the Princess's Theatre, London, when, in 1853, she became the wife of Dion Boucicault (q.v. ), and accompanied him to America. Returning in IHiiO to Li)ndon, she played successively at the .dclplii, Drury Lane, and other tlieatres, taking leading parts in sev- eral of her husband's dramas, notably as Eily