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BOSSI. 333 BOSSUT. Milan, but also passed several years in Rome in close association with artists of the Italian school. On his return to Milan he was made see- retaiy of the Academy of Fine Arts, and for his services in that academy and those of Bolofjna and Venice, he was. in 1804. awarded the decora- tion of the Iron Crown. In 180.5 he exhibited a drawing of Michelanffelo's "Last .Judgment." He copied the '"Last Supper" of Leonardo in order that this great work, almost obliterated, might be reproduced in mosaic by Eafaelli. In 1810 Rossi published Del crnacolo di Leonardo da Vinci, which attracted the interest of Goethe. On his death. December lo. 181.5. a monument by Canova was erected to his memory in the Ambro- sian Library in Milan, iluch of Bossi's life was devoted to the study of the works of Leonardo, and his last work was a series of drawings repre- senting incidents in the life of that master. He left unfinished a large cartoon in black chalk of ■• The Dead Christ in the Bosom of Mary, with John and Magdalene." BOSSI, LuiGl, Count (1758-1835). An Ital- ian antiquary and historian. He was born in Milan, studied in Pavia, and becanfe a canon of the Cathedral of Milan : but when the French entered Italy he took the side of the invaders, and was appointed by Bonaparte agent of the French C^overnment in Turin, and afterwards prefect of the archives of the kingdom of Italy. He was an extremely prolific author, and pro- duced more than eighty works on antiquarian, historical, and art subjects. The best known of his antiquarian writings is Observations siir le rase que Von conxervait a Genes sous le nom de Sacro Catino (1807). His most important historic works are a much-enriched translation of Koscoe's Life of Leo X., 12 vols. (1810-17) : Vila di Cristoforo Colombo (1818) ; and Istoriu d'ltalia. 20 vols. (1819-23). BOSSUET, bi'swa', Jacques B£xtgxe ( 1627- 17041. A distinguished French pulpit orator. He was born September 27, Ui27, in Dijon: re- ceived his earlier education in the Jesuit College there: and then went to Paris to the College of Xavarre, where he studied the Sacred Scrip- tures, the works of classical antiquity, and the Cartesian philosophy. In 1652 he was made a priest, and a doctor of theology, and canon in ■Metz. Here he _was called by the bishop to reply to the catechism of the Protestant minis- ter, Paul Ferri, and this he did (1655) in a way that commanded the admiration even of Protestants. He soon attained great distinction as a pulpit orator, and in 1661 he was made preacher to the Court. His discourse on the occasion of Marshal Turenne's conversion to the Catholic Church obtained for him the bishopric of Condon (Ui69). Louis XIV. having in 1670 intrusted to him the education of the Dauphin, he resigned his bishopric in 1671, because he believed that he would be unfaithful to his duty if he retained it during a continued absence from his diocese. He was now made a member of the Academy. The care with which he at- tended to the education of the Dauphin was re- warded, in 1680, by his nomination as first almoner of the Dauphin, and in 1681 by his ap- pointment to the bishopric of Meau.x. He was the author of the four articles which secured the freedom of the Galilean Chtirch. and the prh-l- leees claimed by the King against the preroga- tives of the Pope; and his eloquence in the fa- mous assembly of the French elergj- in the year 1682 secured the adoption of these articles. In 1697 he became a member of the Council of State, and in the following year first almoner lo the Duchess of Burgundy. He spent the last year of his life in his diocese, but died in Paris, April 12, 1704. He was alike strict in morals and in religious doctrine; his strictness in the latter he showed particularly in his contro- versy with Fenelon, whom he accused of heresy for his ' defense of the Quictists. Bossuet is considered the greatest ecclesiastical orator known in history. His orations at the funerals of the Duchess of Orleans and tlie great Conde are particularly famous as masterpieces of this kind of eloquence. All his writings attracted much attention. For the defense of those dog- mas of the Catholic Church which are rejected by the Protestants lie wrote his Exposition de la doctrine de I'ecilise cathotique sur Ics maii&res de controverse (Paris, 1671). His greatest controversial work is his cele- brated Histoire des variations des efjlises pro- tcslantes. 2 vols. (16881, in which he founds his arguments chiefly upon the doctrinal diversities of the churches of the Reformation. To the de- fense of the four articles of the Galilean Church he devoted his Defenxio Declarationis Celeber- ri)n(F, quam de Potestate Ecclcsi<e tianx-it Clerus aalliciis a. [1682], 2 vols. (1730). With a view to the instruction of the Dauphin, he wrote his Discours sur I'histoire univcrselle jusqu' a I'empire de Charlemagne (1G81), a work par- ticularly deserving of notice, as the first at- tempt at a philosophical treatment of history. The continuation of it to the year 1661 (1805) is entirely derived from materials which he left behind him, but to which the last touch of his own hand «as wanting. Another fruit of his political and historical studies was the Politique tiree de VEeriture Sainte (1709). There are modem English translations of the following: Select ffermons and Funeral Orations (London, 3d ed., 1801); A Conference on the Authority of the Church [1679] (1841): A' Survey of Universal History (1819); Elevations to God (1850); An Exposition of the Catholic Faith (new edition, 1841) ; The History of the Varia- tions of the Protestant Churches (2d ed., Dub- lin, 1836, 2 vols.) ; A. Rebellian, Bossuet, his- toirien du protestantisme. Etude sur I' "His- toire des variations" (Paris, 1892) ; Sermon on the Mount (New York, 1900) ; Meditations (London, 1901). His works apjieared in Paris, 1862-60. 31 vols., ap|K!ndix (Fuvres int'dits (1881-83, 2 vols.). For his life, consult: A. Rfaume, 3 vols. (Paris, 1869-70) : G. Lanson (Paris, 1891); Francois I.«dieu (Bossuet's sec- retary), M ^moires et journal sur la vie et les ourrages de Bossuet, 4 vols. (Paris, 1855-57) ; and Mrs. H. L. •Sidney Lear (London. 1880). — His nephew. .Tacqies Bossuf:t, died bishop of Troves, .July 12, 1743. His verj- extensive cor- respondence, chiefly devoted to the elucidation and investigation of the views of Fenelon, is included in the above-mentioned edition of the works of his tmcle. BOSSTJT, h6's.', Charles (1730-1814). A Fnncli mathematician and physicist, bom at Tartaras, near Lyons. He studied with the .Jesuits in l.vous. and received his ordination, in 1752