BOYAR. 388 BOYD. could secure their allegiance only by the bestowal of privilefres. They held exclusively the highest military and civil offices, and the most powerful rulers considered it prudent to use this form of expression in their ukases : "The Emperor has ordered it; the Boyars have approved it." Rank among the Boyars was always proportioned to length of State service, and was rigidly observed. This gradation of rank was called myestintchest- ro ( from myesto. place at the table during Court functions, i-ank). The institution was peculiar to Slavic life, eijually unlike feudalism and mod- ern aristocracy, and must be regarded as a strict- ly national development. In their housekeeping the Boyars were excessively fond of splendor, and their contempt for the serfs, or 'lower orders,' was immeasurable. In the lapse of time many Chinese customs — as might be expected from their theory of rank — crept into their public life. Their ])over. and the respect which was paid them, acted as a «holesome check u[)on the otherwise unbridled authority of the princes; in consequence of which the latter l>e<'anie their bitter enemies, and often sought to destroy their ])<iwer. This was finally done by Peter the Great, who abolished the order of Boyars, giving them a place among the Russian nobility, but stripping them of their peculiar privileges. The last Boyar, Kniaz Ivan Yuryevitch Trubetskoy, died .lanuary Ifi. 1750. In Rumania Boyars -still exist. Consult: Rambaud, History of I{us- sin. English translation bv Well (London, 1887); Wallace, Russia (London, 1877). BOY BISHOP. The custom of electing a boy bishop on Saint Nicholas's Day dates from a very early period. In England it seems to liave ]irevailed in many parishes. The election took place on Saint Nicholas's Day (December 0), and the authority lasted until" Holy Innocents' Day (December 28). The boy bishop was usu- ally chosen from the children of the church or cathedral choir, but the custom also pre- vailed in the schools of Winchester and Eton. He was arrayed in episcopal vestments, and, at- tended by a crowd of subordinates in priestly dress, went about with songs and dances from house to house, blessing the people. The boy bishop was supposed to exact implicit obedi- ence from his fellows, who with their superior took possession of the church, and performed all the ceremonies and offices except mass. The custom fotind coimtenance not among the po]ni- lace only. In 12'.)(1 it is said that Edward I., on his way to Scotland, permitted a boy bishop to say vespers before him at Heton, near Xew- eastle-on-Tyne, and gave him and his compan- ions a present. At .Salisbury, and perhaps in other jilaccs also, the boy bishop — so it is said — had the power of disposing of such prebends as happened to fall vacant during the days of his episcopacy; and if he died during his office, the funeral honors of a bisbop, with a monument, were granted him. In England the custom of electing a boy bishop was abolished in the reign of I'^lizabeth, though it seems to have lingered here and there in villages till about, the close of her reign. (Consult Waleott, Sacred Archm- oloyy (London, 1808). BOYCOTTING. A species of conspiracy (q.v.). named after one of its conspicuous vic- tims, Cajitain Boycott, an Englishman, who was agent of Lord Earne in the District of Conne- niara, Ireland, As agent he served notices to quit on the tenants, who retaliated by inducing the population for iniles around to refuse to have anything to do with him. His servants left. Armed constables were called in to protect him and those who came to take the places of former tenants and servants from violence at the hands of the surrounding population. The term, therefore, originally signified a conspiracy to ruin the business of a person by the violent interruption of his relations with others. It has been defined t)v an eminent American judge as "a combination of many to cause a loss to one person by coercing others against their will to withdraw from him their beneficial business intercourse, through threats that unless those others do so, the many will cause similar loss to them." A boycott, even when unaccompanied by violence or intimidation, has been pronounced unlawful by many courts: when accompanied by violence, it is undoubtedly a criminal offense at conunon law. See the authorities referred to under CoxspiR.CY; Tout. BOYD, AxDRKw Kexxedt Hutchison (1825- 90). A Scottish divine and author, born at Auchinleck, in Ayrshire. He studied at King's College and at the Jliddle Temple in London, evidently with a view to the law, but he took his bachelor's degree at Glasgow (1846), Li- censed to preach by the Presbytery of Ayr in 18.50, he became assistant in Saint GJeorge's Church, Edinburgh, and in 1851 minister of Newton-on-Ayr, as successor of .John Caird. From 1854 to 1850 he was minister of Kirkpatrick- Irongray, near Dumfries. While there he gained a wide reputation for his Recreations of a Country Parson, contributed under the initials A. K. H. B. to Frascr's Magazine. In 1859 he was appointed to Saint Bernard's, Edinburgh, and in 1865 he became minister of the first charge at Saint Andrews. For the part he played in literature and in the Church councils, he was soon the best known among the Scottish divines of his day. In 1889 he received the de- gree of LL.D. from Saint Andrews, and in 1890 he was appointed .Moderator of the General As- sembly. He die<l at Bournemouth, and was buried at Saint Andrews. The Rcci-eations of a Country Parson (1859, 1801, 1878) appeared in three series. He published an extremely inter- esting series of autobiographical sketches bear- ing the titles: Twenty-five Years of Saint An- drews (1892); .S'oiH* Andrew's and Elsewhere (1894); Occasional and Immemorial Days (1895); and Last Years of Saint Andrews (1S90). Among his other puldieations are: drarer Thour/hts of a Country Parson (1862); Leisure Hours in Town (1802); The Common- place Philosopher in Town and Country (1862) ; Autumn Holidays of a Country Parson (1864) ; Critical Essays of a Country Parson (1865); Present-day Thouyhts (1871); Our Little Life, two series (1882-84); Our Homeli/ Comedt/ and Tragedy (1887) ; The Best Last (1888) ; aiid To Meet the Day, and East Coast Days and Mem- ories (1889). BOYD, Bei.t.e. The pen-name adopted by Mrs. Belle Boyd Uardinge. BOYD, John- Parker (1704-18.30). An American soldier, born at Newburyport, Mass. He entered the I'nited States Army in 1786; went in 1789 to India, and there organized a
