lished in 1758. In 1761 he published an "Account of the Life, Death, and Character of President Davies," prefixed to a sermon of the latter on the death of George II. A "Vindication of Infant Baptism," containing the substance of several of his sermons, was published after his death and reprinted in London in 1705.
BOSTWICK, Helen Louise, poet, b. in Charlestown, N. H., in 1826. She is a daughter of Dr.
Putnam Barron, who removed to Bucyrus, Ohio,
in 1838. In early life she became a contributor to
literary journals. After her marriage she resided
at Ravenna, Ohio. A volume of her poems, entitled "Buds, Blossoms, and Berries," was published in New York in 1864.
BOTETOURT, Norborne Berkeley, baron,
colonial governor of Virginia, b. in England about
1717; d. in Williamsburg, Va., 15 Oct., 1770. He
was colonel of the North Gloucestershire militia in
1761, and represented that division of the county
in parliament until he was made a peer in 1764.
He claimed the title of Baron Botetourt, or Bottetourt, as the lineal descendant of Sir Maurice de Berkeley, who died in 1347. Having lost heavily at gambling, he solicited an appointment, and in
July, 1768, was made governor of Virginia. He
was instructed to impress the colonists with a display of power and dignity, and to enforce submission to the principle of parliamentary supremacy,
while humoring the colonists in every other particular. He succeeded Sir Jeffrey Amherst, who, like his predecessors for three quarters of a century,
would not go out to Virginia to reside. Lord Botetourt was expected to arrive in a seventy-four, and to set up a state carriage and a body-guard. He
arrived in the James river in November, 1768, and
was soon on friendly terms with the Virginians.
In May, 1769, when the assembly passed resolutions
condemnatory of parliamentary taxation and of the
sending of accused persons to England for trial,
Botetourt dissolved the legislature, in which
Thomas Jefferson, a young lawyer recently elected
from Albemarle county, was a leader. The next
day they met in convention at the Raleigh tavern
and passed resolutions against the use of any merchandise that should be imported from Great Britain. These articles of association were recommended to the other colonies and sent to England.
All of the members were re-elected except those
who had dissented from the action of the majority.
Lord Botetourt did not forfeit the respect and esteem of the people by that act. In his correspondence with Hillsborough, Lord Botetourt wrote that
the colonists would eagerly assist the mother-country if called upon by requisition, as formerly, but that they would never assent to the principle of
parliamentary taxation. He received from Lord
Hillsborough a promise of repeal, and, finding
himself deceived, demanded his recall, and shortly
afterward died, his death having been hastened
by chagrin at the failure of his efforts to effect a
reconciliation between the colonists and the home
authorities. He interested himself, during his residence in Virginia, in William and Mary college, and presented gold and silver medals to the students. In 1770 the assembly voted to erect a statue
of the deceased governor, which was executed in
1774 and placed in front of the capitol, whence it
was removed in 1797 to the front of William and
Mary college, where it stood until the civil war,
during which it was taken to the inclosure of the
insane asylum at Williamsburg.
BOTSFORD, Wllliam, jurist, b. in New Haven, Conn., in April, 1763 ; d. in Sackville, New Brunswick, 8 May, 1864. He was a son of Amos Botsford, a loyalist, who was born in Newtown, Conn., 31 Jan., 1744, was graduated at Yale in 1763, became a lawyer, and after his removal to Nova Scotia was elected to the assembly, for two years speaker of that body, and died in St. Johns, 14 March, 1812. The son was admitted to the bar in 1795, a judge of admiralty in New Brunswick in 1802-'7, elected to the assembly in 1812. and for every succeeding term until 1823, holding the office of speaker from 1817 to 1823, and in the latter year
became judge of the supreme court, and retained that position till 1846.—His son, Amos Edwin, Canadian jurist, b. in St. John, N. B., in 1804, was
educated at Sackville, studied law, and admitted to the bar. He has been prominently connected with military affairs, is a lieutenant-colonel, and
has been president or vice-president of the dominion rifle association since its organization. He was a member of the executive council. New Brunswick, from 1838 till 1840, and of the legislative
council from 1833 till 1867, a senior judge of the
court of common pleas for several years, and a commissioner with L. B. Chandler to settle boundary-line between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
in 1836. He went to Washington as a commissioner respecting the border difficulty in 1839, and again in 1852 with respect to reciprocity with the
United States, a treaty for which was concluded
in 1854. He is a conservative in politics, and was
called to the senate in 1867.
BOTTA, Carlo Guseppe Guglielmo, Italian
historian, b. in San Giorgio del Canovese, Piedmont, 6 Nov., 1766; d. in Paris, France, 10 Aug., 1837. He was educated as a physician at the University of Turin, and pursued also botanical,
literary, and musical studies. After undergoing
seventeen months of imprisonment in 1792-'3, on
a groundless political accusation, he became a surgeon in the French army, and published a scheme for the government of Lombardy. While stationed,
in 1796, in the Venetian islands of the Adriatic, he
wrote a " Historical and Medical Description of
the Island of Corfu." In 1798 he was appointed a
member of the short-lived provisional government
of Piedmont, and after the battle of Marengo, in
1800, became a member of the commission appointed to reorganize and administer the government of Piedmont, and retained as one of the
three commissioners charged with the administration of the new government. After the annexation to France, in 1803, he became a member of the council of general administration. In that
year he published his "Precis historique de la
maison de Savoie et du Piemont." In 1804 he
went to Paris as a representative of the department
of the Dora in the legislative body, and in 1808-'9
was vice-president of the assembly. In 1809-'10
he issued in Paris the first edition of the "Storia
della guerra dell' independenza degli Stati Uniti
d'America," which was long esteemed the best history of our struggle for independence. It was translated into English by George Alexander Otis
(Boston, 1826). From 18i7 till 1822 he was rector of the university at Rouen, and while there he wrote his "Storia d'ltalia del 1789 al 1814" (Paris, 1824). In 1815 he published an epic poem entitled "Camillo o Vejo conquistata." His last work was a large history of Italy connecting Guicciardini's work, which came down to 1532, with his own history of Italy during the epoch of the French revolution. This work, entitled "Storia d'ltalia continuata da quella del Guicciardini sino al 1789," appeared in Paris (10 vols., 1832). See Tipaldo's "Biografia degli Italiani illustri"; also "Elogio
storieo di C. Botta," by P. Becchi.
