From 1566 to the end of the 18th century it was the seat of a bishopric.
BOULOGNE-SUR-SEINE, a town of northern France, in the
department of Seine, on the right bank of the Seine, S.W. of
Paris and immediately outside the fortifications. Pop. (1906)
49,412. The town has a Gothic church of the 14th and 15th
centuries (restored in 1863) founded in honour of Notre-Dame of
Boulogne-sur-Mer. To this fact is due the name of the place,
which was previously called Menus-lès-St Cloud. Laundrying is
extensively carried on as well as the manufacture of metal boxes,
soap, oil and furniture, and there are numerous handsome
residences. For the neighbouring Bois de Boulogne see Paris.
BOULTON, MATTHEW (1728–1809), English manufacturer
and engineer, was born on the 3rd of September 1728, at Birmingham,
where his father, Matthew Boulton the elder, was
a manufacturer of metal articles of various kinds. To this
business he succeeded on his father’s death in 1759, and in
consequence of its growth removed his works in 1762 from
Snowhill to what was then a tract of barren heath at Soho, 2 m.
north of Birmingham. Here he undertook the manufacture of
artistic objects in metal, as well as the reproduction of oil paintings
by a mechanical process in which he was associated with
Francis Eginton (1737–1805), who subsequently achieved a
reputation as a worker in stained or enamelled glass. About
1767, Boulton, who was finding the need of improving the motive
power for his machinery, made the acquaintance of James Watt,
who on his side appreciated the advantages offered by the Soho
works for the development of his steam-engine. In 1772 Watt’s
partner, Dr John Roebuck, got into financial difficulties, and
Boulton, to whom he owed £1200, accepted the two-thirds share
in Watt’s patent held by him in satisfaction of the debt. Three
years later Boulton and Watt formally entered into partnership,
and it was mainly through the energy and self-sacrifice of the
former, who devoted all the capital he possessed or could borrow
to the enterprise, that the steam-engine was at length made a
commercial success. It was also owing to Boulton that in 1775 an
act of parliament was obtained extending the term of Watt’s
1769 patent to 1799. In 1800 the two partners retired from
the business, which they handed over to their sons, Matthew
Robinson Boulton and James Watt junior. In 1788 Boulton
turned his attention to coining machinery, and erected at Soho a
complete plant with which he struck coins for the Sierra Leone
and East India companies and for Russia, and in 1797 produced
a new copper coinage for Great Britain. In 1797 he took out a
patent in connexion with raising water on the principle of the
hydraulic ram. He died at Birmingham on the 18th of August
1809.
BOUND, or Boundary (from O. Fr. bonde, Med. Lat. bodena or
butina, a frontier line), that which serves to indicate the limit or
extent of land. It is usually defined by a certain mark, such as a
post, ditch, hedge, dyke, wall of stones, &c., though on the other
hand it may have to be ascertained by reference to a plan or by
measurement. In law, the exact boundary of land is always a
matter of evidence; where no evidence is available, the court
acts on presumption. For example, the boundary of land on
opposite sides of a road, whether public or private, is presumed to
be the middle line of the road. Where two fields are separated by
a hedge and ditch the boundary line will run between the hedge
and the ditch. Boundaries of parishes, at common law, depended
upon ancient and immemorial custom, and in many parishes
great care was taken to perpetuate the boundaries of the parish
by perambulations from time to time. The confusion of local
boundaries in England was the subject of several commissions
and committees in the 19th century, and much information will
be found in their reports (1868, 1870, 1873, 1888). The Local
Government Act 1888, ss. 50-63, contains provisions for the
alteration of local areas.
BOUNDS, BEATING THE, an ancient custom still observed in
many English parishes. In former times when maps were rare
it was usual to make a formal perambulation of the parish
boundaries on Ascension day or during Rogation week. The
latter is in the north of England still called “Gang Week”
or “Ganging Days” from this “ganging” or procession. The
priest of the parish with the churchwardens and the parochial
officials headed a crowd of boys who, armed with green boughs,
beat with them the parish border-stones. Sometimes the boys
were themselves whipped or even violently bumped on the
boundary-stones to make them remember. The object of taking
boys was obviously to ensure that witnesses to the boundaries
should survive as long as possible. In England the custom is as
old as Anglo-Saxon days, as it is mentioned in laws of Alfred and
Aethelstan. It is thought that it may have been derived from
the Roman Terminalia, a festival celebrated on the 22nd of
February in honour of Terminus, the god of landmarks, to whom
cakes and wine were offered, sports and dancing taking place at
the boundaries. In England a parish-ale or feast was always
held after the perambulation, which assured its popularity, and in
Henry VIII.’s reign the occasion had become an excuse for so
much revelry that it attracted the condemnation of a preacher
who declared “these solemne and accustomable processions and
supplications be nowe growen into a right foule and detestable
abuse.” Beating the bounds had a religious side in the practice
which originated the term Rogation, the accompanying clergy
being supposed to beseech (rogare) the divine blessing upon the
parish lands for the ensuing harvest. This feature originated in
the 5th century, when Mamercus, bishop of Vienne, instituted
special prayers and fasting and processions on these days. This
clerical side of the parish bounds-beating was one of the
religious functions prohibited by the Injunctions of Queen
Elizabeth; but it was then ordered that the perambulation
should continue to be performed as a quasi-secular function,
so that evidence of the boundaries of parishes, &c. might be
preserved (Gibson, Codex juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani (1761)
pp. 213-214). Bequests were sometimes made in connexion with
bounds-beating. Thus at Leighton Buzzard on Rogation Monday,
in accordance with the will of one Edward Wilkes, a London
merchant who died in 1646, the trustees of his almshouses
accompanied the boys. The will was read and beer and plum
rolls distributed. A remarkable feature of the bequest was that
while the will is read one of the boys has to stand on his head.
BOUNTY (through O. Fr. bontet, from Lat. bonitas, goodness),
a gift or gratuity; more usually, a premium paid by a government
to encourage some branch of production or industry, as in
England in the case of the bounty on corn, first granted in 1688
and abolished in 1814, the herring-fishery bounties, the bounties
on sail-cloth, linen and other goods. It is admitted that the
giving of bounties is generally impolitic, though they may sometimes be justified as a measure of state. The most striking
modern example of a bounty was that on sugar (q.v.). Somewhat
akin to bounties are the subsidies granted to shipping (q.v.)
by many countries. Bounties or, as they may equally well be
termed, grants are often given, more especially in new countries,
for the destruction of beasts of prey; in the United States and
some other countries, bounties have been given for tree-planting;
France has given bounties to encourage the Newfoundland
fisheries.
Bounty was also the name given to the money paid to induce men to enlist in the army or navy, and, in the United Kingdom, to the sum given on entering the militia reserve. During the American Civil War, many recruits joined solely for the sake of the bounty offered, and afterwards deserted; they were called “bounty-jumpers.” The term bounty was also applied in the English navy to signify money payable to the officers and crew of a ship in respect of services on particular occasions.
Queen Anne’s Bounty (q.v.) is a fund applied for the augmentation of poor livings in the established church.
King’s Bounty is a grant made by the sovereign of his royal bounty to those of his subjects whose wives are delivered of three or more children at a birth.
BOURBAKI, CHARLES DENIS SAUTER (1816–1897), French general, was born at Pau on the 22nd of April 1816, the son of a Greek colonel who died in the War of Independence in 1827. He entered St Cyr, and in 1836 joined the Zouaves, becoming lieutenant of the Foreign Legion in 1838, and aide-de-camp to
