in Lingua Græcanica,' 1630, small 8vo; another edition 1633, small 8vo (Francklin had drawn up this treatise on the Greek accents six years before for a pupil and kinsman; Bois was probably the friend, 'vir omni literatura insignis,' who suggested that he should revise and perfect the work. Cole's account is incorrect). 3. 'Veteris Interprets cum Beza aliisq; recentioribus Collatio in Quatuor Evangeliis, & Apostolorum Actis. In qua annon sæpiùs absque justa satis causa hi ab illo discesserint disquiritur. Autore Johanne Boisio, Ecclesiae Eliensis Canonico. Opus auspiciis Reverendi Praesulis, Lanceloti Wintonensis Episcopi, τοῦ μακαρίτου, coeptum & perfectum, &c.,' London, 1655, small 8vo. (Of this posthumous work few copies were printed, and the wretched type and paper have a foreign look; it consists of brief critical notes on words and passages of the Greek text, in which the renderings of the Vulgate are in the main defended, but Bois frequently proposes more exact translations of his own, both Latin and English; he finished Matthew 13 Aug., Mark 30 Sept. 1619 ; Luke 24 Aug., John 13 Oct. 1621 ; Acts 9 April 1625 : his manuscript extended a little way into the Epistle to Romans.) Caleb Dalechamp, of Sedan (M. A. Trin. Coll. Camb.), dedicates to Bois, as the first of living Greek scholars, his 'Harrisonus Honoratus,' appended to 'Christian Hospitalitie,' Camb. 1632, 4to (in memory of Thomas Harrison, B.D., vice-master of Trinity).
[Life by Anthony Walker in Peck's Desid. Cur. 1779, ii. 325 (founded on Bois's Diary and personal recollections); additions by T. Baker in Collection of Historical Pieces, p. 94, at end of Peck's Cromwell, 1740; Biog. Brit. 1748, ii. 937; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab. 1861, ii. 101, 197, 467; Burial Register, West Stow; Davy's MS. Suffolk Collections, iii. 460; Cole's MS. Athenæ Cantab, p. 4: Eadie's The English Bible, 1876, ii. 185, 190, 201.]
BOISIL, Saint (d. 664), superior of the monastery of Melrose, under the Abbot Eata, is stated by Forbes (Kalendar of Scottish Saints, p. 281) to have been trained by St. Cuthberht, but according to Bæda (Hist. Eccles. iv. 27) St. Cuthberht was trained by him at Melrose, receiving from him both the knowledge of the scriptures and an example of good works. Baeda, who received his information from Sigfrid, a monk of Jarrow, trained also by Boisil at Melrose, states that on seeing Cuthberht when he arrived, Boisil immediately exclaimed, ' Behold a servant of the Lord,' and obtained from Abbot Eata permission 'that he should receive the tonsure and be enrolled among the brethren' (Vita S. Cuth. c. vi.) He is said by Bæda to have twice appeared in dreams to a companion of the famous Ecgberht, who in consequence of the vision made a journey to Iona (Bæda, Hist. Eccles. v. 9). When Cuthberht was smitten in the great sickness of 664, Boisil assured him of his recovery. Shortly afterwards Boisil was himself mortally smitten, as he had foretold three years before to Abbot Eata, and during his sickness foretold to Cuthberht his future fortunes, and that he would be a bishop. St. Cuthberht succeeded him as superior of Melrose. Relics of him were preserved at Durham. He gives the name to St. Boswell's, Roxburghshire. He is commemorated on 9 Sept., although his name appears in the Scottish calendars on 23 Feb. Boisil is said to have written 'De Fide quæ per charitatem operatur;' 'In Evangelium Joannis;' 'Meditationes;' and 'De Trinitate excerpta ex D. Augustino et aliis.'
[Acta SS. Boll. March 20 and Jan. 23; Bædæ, Hist. Eccles. iv. 27, 28, v. 9; Vita S. Cuthberhti, c. 6 and 8; Pits, De Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 113; Dempster's Hist. Eccles. Scot. Gent. (1627), p. 68; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. 110; Forbes's Kalendar of Scottish Saints, p. 281; Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 323.]
BOISSIER, GEORGE RICHARD (1791–1858), ecclesiologist, was educated at Magdalen College, Cambridge (B.A. 1828), became incumbent of Oakfield, Penshurst, Kent, and died 23 June 1858. While an undergraduate he published anonymously a very interesting architectural work, entitled 'Notes on the Cambridgeshire Churches,' Cambridge and London, 1827, 8vo.
[Graduati Cantab.; Gent. Mag., Aug. 1858, p. 199; Anderson's Book of British Topography, 58.]
BOIT, CHARLES (d. 1726?), enamel painter, was born at Stockholm. His father was a Frenchman. He learned the business of a jeweller, and proposed, upon coming to England, to follow that avocation, but was 'upon so low a foot' that he seems to have lacked the wherewithal to establish a business, and was forced to travel about the country teaching drawing. He engaged the affections of one of his pupils, but, the affair being unhappily discovered before the marriage had been solemnised, Boit, by some high-handed perversion of justice, was thrown into prison.
He spent the two years of his confinement in learning the art of enamelling. Leaving prison, he established himself in London, and in the practice of his new art soon grew to celebrity. 'His prices,' says
