tianus," which contains an enumeration of the exotic and indigenous plants growing in the island, arranged according to their natural orders. Besides being a botanist, Bojer was also a chemist and geologist. He founded in the Mauritius the Society of Natural History, afterwards denominated "The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences, Mauritius." He was appointed in 1855 professor of natural history and chemistry at the royal college of Port-Louis. His last work was an account of the borer insect, which had committed great ravages in the island. At the time of his death, he was engaged in drawing up an illustrated monograph of the genus Mangifera. He died on 4th June, 1856, in the 56th year of his age.—J. H. B.
BOKHARI, Imam Abu-Abdallah Mohammed Ebn Ismail Al-Jaafi Al-Bokhari, a Moslem doctor of great celebrity, whose collection of traditions concerning the prophet, his companions, and successors, entitled "Ssahih" (the Undoubted), enjoys an authority among the Soonite or orthodox sect of the Moslems, second only to that of the Koran. He was born in Arabia, of the tribe of Jaafa, about the year 810. In his eighteenth year he repaired to Mecca, and began the compilation of his great work, which occupied him no less than sixteen years. Each separate tradition was committed to writing only after the pious scribe had observed the ceremony of purification by prayer and ablution at the well of Zemzem; and when the work was to be divided into sections and chapters, he chose for his residence Medinah, where, with daily prayers for the success of his undertaking, he laid each section and chapter as it was completed on a tablet between the tomb and the pulpit of the prophet. Many copies of the work exist in European libraries. Its author, after confounding by his skill in tradition some legists of Bagdad, who challenged him to a public discussion, took up his residence in Bokhara. He died in 870.—J. S., G.
BOL, Cornelius, a Dutch painter, living in England during the Great Fire, out of which great misery he made money by painting scarlet views. He also etched some views of seaports and public buildings.—W. T.
BOL, Ferdinand, born at Dort in 1611, and a pupil of Rembrandt at Amsterdam. He painted religious and historical pictures, but excelled chiefly in portrait and engraving, although not equal in playful and daring freedom of hand to the great magician his master. He painted faces in a bold, dashing, free manner, but muddled his carnations too much with brown. Though often, in his historical scenes, defective in drawing and clumsy in attitude and proportions, he often rises to high merit, composing well, and throwing ease and nature in expression into his canvas creatures. His greatest work, celebrated by the poet Vondel, was in the admiralty at Amsterdam. The court of justice in the town-house had other works of his; and the council-chamber at Dort had, and perhaps still has, some of his chef-d'œuvres, such as "Moses breaking the Tables," the "Appointment of the Seventy Elders," and "Fabricius in the Camp of Pyrrhus." He died in 1681. His etchings are numerous, and remarkable for a certain bold spirit. They consist of a motley tribe of astrologers, philosophers, officers, learned persons, and brave young women in caps and feathers.—W. T.
BOL, Hans, a landscape painter and engraver, born at Mechlin in 1534. He studied at Heidelberg, where he learned to copy the old masters, and afterwards studied at Amsterdam, where his works were esteemed, and died there in 1593 or 1583, for Sandart and Deschamps differ. His best works were a "Crucifixion," and the "Story of Dædalus and Icarus," in distemper. He etched cleverly his own works, and was renowned in the Dutch world for his harmony and unity of colour, his broad and free pencilling, and his general pleasing invention and composition. His landscapes were chiefly views of Low Country cities and scenes outside Amsterdam, for he excelled in representing the waving spectral reflections of vessels in the canal water. The great Dutch city where he lived, with its quaint mingling of red roofs, green trees, and pennoned masts, was his special delight.—W. T.
BOLANGER, John, born in 1606. He became an eminent pupil of Guido, whose composition and colour he so carefully imitated, as to become court painter to the duke of Modena. Like most of the eclectics, aiming low, he reached nothing higher than "exceedingly pleasing design, an elegant taste of composition, and a delicate colour," attempting sacred and profane history in the manner of his pale and effeminate school. He died in 1660.—W. T.
BOLDINI NICCOLO, Vicentino, an early engraver on wood, born at Vincenza about 1510. His prints are chiefly after Titian, under whom it is supposed he studied. They are in a bold, free style, and scarce.—W. T.
BOLESLAS. This name was borne by five of the early sovereigns of Poland, whose original title was duke (dux; military leader):—
Boleslas I., surnamed the Valiant, succeeded his father, Miecislas I., in 999, and married a niece of the emperor, Otho III., who conferred upon him the title of king, which the pope ratified. Meditating the invasion of Russia, he was attacked by the duke of Bohemia, whom he speedily conquered, made prisoner, and deprived of his eyesight. Having taken possession of that duchy, and of Moravia, he resumed his designs against Russia, then distracted by the civil wars which followed the death of the grand duke Vladimir. A considerable portion of the country submitted to him, and he afterwards extended his conquests into Prussia and Pomerania. But these acquisitions were lost under his immediate successors, Miecislas II. and Casimir.
Boleslas II., great-grandson of Boleslas I., was also an enterprising and warlike monarch. Three distinguished refugees having thrown themselves on his protection—Jaromir, brother of the duke of Bohemia; Bela, brother of the king of Hungary; and Zaslaf, his own cousin, eldest son of the duke of Russia—he first invaded Bohemia, and restored Jaromir; then he entered Hungary, and placed Bela on the throne. But his designs against Russia, though in part successful, were interrupted by dissensions requiring his presence at home. A subsequent quarrel with the pope, Gregory VII., proved fatal to his sovereignty, and he died in exile and wretchedness about 1090.
Boleslas III., nephew of the preceding, came to the ducal dignity in 1103, the regal title having been abolished by the pope. The early part of his reign was disturbed by contests with an illegitimate brother, Sbigniew, with whom he had kindly shared his dominions. A war with the emperor, Henry V., followed, and was conducted by Boleslas with so much spirit and success, that the emperor was glad to ratify a peace by giving his sister in marriage to the conqueror. A subsequent disastrous defeat by the Russians before Halitz shortened his life; he reigned, however, thirty-six years.
Boleslas IV., second son of Boleslas III., fell heir at his death to a portion of his dominions, from which his elder brother, Uladislas, attempted to drive him. In the contest that ensued, the aggressor was compelled to take refuge in Germany, and Boleslas was invested with the dukedom of Poland in his stead. Attacked by the imperial power in the interest of Uladislas, he resisted Conrad, and conciliated Barbarossa. But his subsequent attempt to conquer Prussia issued in a humiliating defeat, and the claims of the children of Uladislas threatened to disturb his later years. By a temperate and wise policy, however, he averted this danger, and having set himself to improve the condition of his subjects, he held the dukedom in peace and honour till his death in 1174.
Boleslas V., surnamed the Chaste, inherited the ducal throne at the age of seven, and his minority was disturbed by the ambitious designs of his uncle Conrad; but on attaining his majority in 1237 he took possession of his sovereign rights, with the help of the duke of Silesia, whose daughter, Cunegonda, he married. The Tartars, who had established themselves on the frontiers of Hungary, made repeated incursions into Poland at this period, and Boleslas proved inadequate to the task of heading his people in a brave and vigorous resistance. It was not till near the close of his reign that his passionless and indolent temper was roused to an energetic effort, which resulted in a victory over the invaders. He was subsequently defeated in an expedition against the Russians, and died in 1279.
This name was also borne by three dukes of Bohemia:—Boleslas I., surnamed the Cruel, who acquired the sovereignty in 932, by the murder of his brother, Wenceslas II., and was put to tribute by the Emperor Otho; his son, Boleslas II., who succeeded in 967, and received the surname of the Pious, as the founder of the bishopric of Prague, and many churches in other parts of his dominions; and Boleslas III., son of Boleslas II., who inherited the throne at the close of the century, during a war with Poland, which he conducted feebly, and which issued in his abdication in 1012, after he had been deprived of his eyesight by the Polish monarch.—W. B.
BOLEYN or BULLEN, Anne, the second wife of Henry
