BOANERGES (i. e.  Sons of Thunder), applied by Christ to the sons of Zebedee for the vehemence of their zeal.

BOAZ and JACHIN, two pillars of brass at the entrance of
Solomon’s Temple, signifying respectively strength and stability.

BOB`ADIL, CAPTAIN, a braggadocio in Ben Jonson’s “Every Man in his
Humour.”

BOBECHE, a French theatrical clown, under the Empire and the Restoration, son of an upholsterer of the St. Antoine faubourg, the type of the merry-andrew at country fairs.

BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI, the celebrated Italian raconteur, born near Florence; showed early a passion for literature; sent by his father to Naples to pursue a mercantile career; gave himself up to story-telling in prose and verse; fell in love with Maria, a beautiful woman, daughter of the king, styled by him Fiammetta, for whom he wrote several of his works, and his great work, the “Decameron”; early formed a lifelong friendship with Petrarch, along with whom he contributed to the revival and study of classic literature; lectured on Dante in Florence; Petrarch’s death deeply affected him, and he died the year after (1313-1375).

BOCCHERINI, LUIGI, a celebrated Italian musical composer, born at Lucca; was associated with Manfredi, the violinist; his works were numerous; appears to have lived in poverty and obscurity (1740-1805).

BOCHART, SAMUEL, a Protestant divine, born at Rouen; pastor at Caen; a geographer and an Orientalist; wrote a treatise on sacred geography; celebrated for a nine-days’ discussion with the Jesuit Verin (1599-1667).

BODE, JOHANN ELERT, an astronomer, born at Hamburg; was professor of Astronomy and director of Observatory at Berlin; produced a number of astronomical works, one of his best, “An Introduction to the Knowledge of the Starry Heavens;” gave name to the law of the planetary distances, called Bode’s Law, although it was observed by Kepler long before his day (1747-1826).

BODEL, a celebrated troubadour of the 13th century, born at Arras.

BODENSEE, another name for the Lake of Constance, well called the filter of the Rhine.

BODIN, JEAN, a publicist and diplomatist, born at Angers; author of “The Republic,” in six books, published at first in French and then in Latin, which summed up all the political philosophy of his time, and contributed to prepare the way for subsequent speculations; was the precursor of Hobbes and Montesquieu (1530-1596).

BODLEIAN LIBRARY, the university library of Oxford, founded, or rather restored, by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1593; enlarged from time to time by bequests, often munificent.  It possesses 400,000 printed volumes and 30,000 MSS.

BODLEY, SIR THOMAS, born at Exeter; employed on embassies by Elizabeth on the Continent, where he collected a number of valuable books; bequeathed them and his fortune to the university library of Oxford, named after him (1545-1613).