the presence of some highly cultivated men, chiefly connected with the college. The erudite works of M. Bouchitté are such as might be expected from the Benedictines of the place. They are all philosophical, and connected with the profound problem as to the existence of God. In one work—"Histoire des preuves de l'existence de Dieu depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'au Monologium d'Anselme de Cantorbery," 1841—he has carefully reduced to their first principles all demonstrations of this mighty truth offered previous to the time of Anselm; and in another—"Le Rationalisme chretien a la fin du XIᵉ siecle, ou Monologium et Proslogium de Saint Anselme, traduits et precedés d'une Introduction," 1842—he analyses the Monologium, and treats generally of christian rationalism. He has also published "Memoire sur la notion de Dieu dans ses rapports avec l'imagination et la sensibilité et de la Persistance de la personnalité apres la mort."—(Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences, tom, ii.) The student of the highest metaphysics will find much to instinct and guide him in these very interesting works.—J. P. N.
BOUCHON DUBOURNIEL, Henri, born at Toul in 1749. While incarcerated during the Reign of Terror, a time when imprisonment and death were almost synonymous, this singular man began a translation of Don Quixote, which he lived to finish. It was while in Spain, to which he had been invited as an engineer, that he discovered at Cadiz the remains of the Roman canal for conveying the waters of the Tempal through twenty leagues of mountainous country to the town. The country of Don Quixote turned his brain, for he ruined himself by Quixotic projects. In order at length to obtain cash, he induced some young men to accept employment at his hands, they lodging security-money, which, as he could not return, charges of swindling were brought against him. At his trial, he being eighty years old, and very deaf, was attended by a young girl, supposed to be his daughter, whose touching endeavours to let him know what was said, so wrought on the judges, that they acquitted him. He died in 1828 in great distress.—J. F. C.
BOUCHOTTE, Jean Baptiste Noel, minister of war under the republican government of France, born at Metz 25th December, 1754; died in his native town in June, 1840. At the age of sixteen he entered on a military career, and had attained the rank of captain of cavalry at the time of the outbreak of the Revolution. He was shortly after promoted to the grade of colonel, and in 1793 was named minister of war by a unanimous vote of the convention. He held this office during a most trying and difficult, though brief period, and exercised its functions with firmness and ability.—G. M.
BOUCQUET, Victor, a historical and portrait painter, born at Furnes in Flanders in 1619. He studied under his father, a poor artist, and afterwards went to Rome. The churches of Flanders abound with his well-coloured, well-composed works. At Nieuport there is a "Judgment of Cambyses" and "Death of St. Francis" by him, and at Ostend a "Descent from the Cross." He died about 1660.—W. T.
BOUDET, Jean, Comte, a French general, born at Bordeaux 19th February, 1769, died 14th September, 1809. At an early age he entered the army as a sub-lieutenant, but retired in 1788. No sooner had the Revolution broken out than he again entered the service, in which he was destined to act a most distinguished part during many years of the troubled and eventful period which followed. He rose gradually to the highest rank in the army, and was named by Napoleon on the field of battle grand officer of the legion of honour.—G. M.
* BOUÉ, Ami, a distinguished French physician and geologist, formerly president of the Geological Society of France, now residing at Vienna, was born at Hamburg in 1794. His geological writings include an "Essai Geologique sur l'Écosse," Paris, 1820; "Geognostische Gemälde von Deutschland," &c., Frankfort, 1829; and a treatise entitled "Der gauze Zweck und die hohe Nutzen der Geologie," &c., Vienna, 1851. Besides these, and several other independent works, and numerous memoirs on geological subjects, published in different periodicals, Boué is the author of an account of "La Turquie en Europe, ou Observations sur la géographie, la geologie, l'histoire naturelle, &c., de cet empire," published at Paris in four volumes in the year 1840. The geological portion of this work was published separately in the same year.—W. S. D.
BOUELLES or BOUILLES, in Latin BOVILLUS, Charles de, a French philologist, born at Sancour in Picardy about 1470; died about 1553. Among his works we may mention his "Geometry," the first work on the subject written in French; and "Proverbiorum Vulgarium libri tres." This is the most interesting of the writings of Bouelles, an explanation in Latin of several proverbs in use in France in the sixteenth century. It is not to be confounded with another volume entitled, "Proverbes et Dicts sententieux, avec l'interpretation de ceux, par Charles de Bouelles," Paris, 1557.
BOUFLERS, the name of an ancient and influential family of Picardy, which came into notice early in the twelfth century, and continued to occupy a more or less prominent position in France till the beginning of the seventeenth. William de Bouflers attained considerable distinction in the war which led to the conquest of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily by Charles of Anjou in 1266; his son, Aleamne de Bouflers, fought in the army of Philip the Fair; and his two grandsons, John and William de Bouflers, rendered themselves celebrated in the wars between England and France, the one supporting the claims of the king of England, and the other those of the French monarch. In 1415 we find one of the family taken prisoner at Agincourt, and another, Adrian de Bouflers, was engaged in the battle of Pavia in 1525. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, a son of the last mentioned, bearing the same name, rose to eminence in the world of letters, as the author of two works which obtained a considerable amount of popularity.—W. M.
BOUFLERS, Louis-Francis, marquis, and afterwards duke of, a French general of celebrity, was born on the 10th January, 1644, and entered the army in 1662, as a cadet in the regiment of guards. After serving under the duke of Beaufort in Flanders, and under Marshal Crequi in Lorraine, he was sent to Holland, under Turenne, in 1672. During the campaigns in Holland, he distinguished himself on several occasions, and very high opinions were formed of his courage and capacity. In 1675, when a retreat was determined upon by the French, Bouflers was intrusted with the command of the rear-guard, and the success with which his operations were attended, greatly increased his reputation as a military commander. Step by step he rose in his profession, till in 1681 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. In 1690 he commanded the French forces on the Moselle, and took part, under the duke of Luxemburg, in the battle of Fleurus. In the following year he was present at the siege of Mons. In 1692 he held a high command at the siege of Namur, and it was in a great measure to his promptitude and sagacity that the French owed their victory at Steinkirk. He was now appointed marshal of France, and in the course of a few years he was elevated from the rank of marquis to that of duke. In 1695, when Namur was besieged by the allies, Bouflers succeeded in throwing into the town a large body of troops, and held out for a time against all the attacks of the besiegers. When he was at last forced to capitulate, he was arrested and detained as a prisoner of war, on account of the violation by the French of an agreement which had been entered into relative to the exchange of prisoners. He soon, however, regained his liberty, and resumed his military duties. In 1697 a series of conferences took place between Bouflers and the earl of Portland, and the principal points of the treaty of Ryswick were then agreed on. A few years afterwards he fought against Opdam at Eckeren, and in 1707 he defended the town of Lisle against the allies under Prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough. The siege was obstinately contested, and lasted upwards of four months, but it terminated in January, 1708, in favour of the allies. In that year Bouflers was created a peer of France, and in 1709 he volunteered to serve under Marshal Villars, and commanded the right wing of the French at the battle of Malplaquet. This was his last battle. The remainder of his life was spent at Fontainebleau, where he died on the 22d of August, 1711, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.—W. M.
BOUFLERS, Marie-Françoise-Catherine de Beauvau-Craow, marchioness de, was one of the greatest ornaments of the court of Stanislas at Luneville, after his formal abdication of the throne of Poland, and was regarded as one of the most accomplished women of the age in which she lived.
BOUFLERS-ROUVREL, Marie Charlotte Hippolyte, countess de, a lady of high repute in the literary circles of Paris in the latter part of the eighteenth century. She was born in Paris in 1724, and during the early part of her life she was attached to the household of the duchess d'Orleans in the capacity of demoiselle de compagnie. Her duties in this situation were of a literary nature, consisting chiefly in reading aloud for
