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BOIL

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 141 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOIL , in See also:

medicine, a progressive See also:local inflammation of the skin, taking the See also:form of a hard suppurating See also:tumour, with a core of dead See also:tissue, resulting from infection by a microbe, Staphylococcus pyogenes, and commonly occurring in See also:young persons whose See also:blood is disordered, or as a complication in certain diseases. Treatment proceeds on the lines of bringing the See also:mischief out, assisting the evacuation of the boil by the See also:lancet, and clearing the See also:system. In the See also:English See also:Bible, and also in popular medical terminology, "boil" is used of various forms of ulcerous See also:affection. The boils which were one of the plagues in See also:Egypt were apparently the bubonic See also:plague. The terms See also:Aleppo boil (or See also:button), See also:Delhi boil, See also:Oriental boil, See also:Biskra button, &c., have been given to a tropical epidemic, characterized by ulcers on the See also:face, due to a diplococcus See also:parasite. BOILEAU-DESPREAUX, See also:NICOLAS (1636-1711), See also:French poet and critic, was See also:born on the 1st of See also:November 1636 in the See also:rue de See also:Jerusalem, See also:Paris. The same Despreaux was derived from a small See also:property at Crosne near See also:Villeneuve See also:Saint-Georges. He was the fifteenth See also:child of Gilles Boileau, a clerk in the See also:parlement. Two of his See also:brothers attained some distinction: Gilles Boileau (1631-1669), the author of a See also:translation of See also:Epictetus; and Jacques Boileau, who became a See also:canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, and made valuable contributions to See also:church See also:history. His See also:mother died when he was two years old; and Nicolas Boileau, who had a delicate constitution, seems to have suffered something from want of care. Sainte-Beuve puts down his somewhat hard and unsympathetic outlook quite as much to the uninspiring circumstances of these days as to the See also:general See also:character of his See also:time. He cannot be said to have been See also:early disenchanted, for he never seems to have had any illusions; he See also:grew up with a single See also:passion, " the hatred of stupid books." He was educated at the See also:College de See also:Beauvais, and was then sent to study See also:theology at the - See also:Sorbonne.

He exchanged theology for See also:

law, however, and was called to the See also:bar on the 4th of See also:December 1656. From the profession of law, after a See also:short trial, he recoiled in disgust, complaining bitterly of the amount of chicanery which passed under the name of law and See also:justice. His See also:father died in 1657, leaving him a small See also:fortune, and thenceforward he devoted himself to letters. Such of his early poems as have been preserved hardly contain the promise of what he ultimately became. The first piece in which his See also:peculiar See also:powers were displayed was the first See also:satire (166o), in See also:imitation of the third satire of See also:Juvenal; it embodied the farewell of a poet to the See also:city of Paris. This was quickly followed by eight others, and the number was at a later See also:period increased to twelve. A twofold See also:interest attaches to the satires. In the first See also:place the author skilfully parodies and attacks writers who at the time were placed in the very first See also:rank, such as See also:Jean See also:Chapelain, the See also:abbe See also:Charles Cotin, Philippe See also:Quinault and Georges de See also:Scudery; he openly raised the See also:standard of revolt against the older poets. But in the second place he showed both by See also:precept and practice what were the poetical capabilities of the French See also:language. See also:Prose in the hands of such writers as See also:Descartes and See also:Pascal had proved itself a flexible and powerful See also:instrument of expression, with a distinct mechanism and form. But except with See also:Malherbe, there had been no See also:attempt to See also:fashion French versification according to See also:rule or method. In Boileau for the first time appeared terseness and vigour of expression, with perfect regularity of See also:verse structure.

His admiration for See also:

Moliere found expression in the stanzas addressed to him (1663), and in the second satire (1664). In 1664 he composed his prose See also:Dialogue See also:des /zeros de See also:roman, a satire on the elaborate romances of the time, which may be said to have once for all abolished the lucubrations of La Calprenede, Mlle de Scudery and their See also:fellows. Though fairly widely read in See also:manuscript, the See also:book was not published till 1713, out of regard, it is said, for Mlle de Scudery. To these early days belong the reunions at the Mouton See also:Blanc and the Pomme du See also:Pin, where Boileau, Moliere, See also:Racine, Chapelle and See also:Antoine Furetiere met to discuss See also:literary questions. To Moliere and Racine he proved a See also:constant friend, and supported their interests on many occasions. In 1666, prompted by the publication of two unauthorized See also:editions, he published Satires du Sieur D containingseven satires and the Discours au roi. From 1669 onwards appeared his •epistles, graver in See also:tone than the satires, maturer in thought, more exquisite and polished in See also:style. The Ep£tres gained for him the favour of See also:Louis XIV., who desired his presence at See also:court. The See also:king asked him which he thought his best verses. Whereupon Boileau diplomatically selected as his " least See also:bad " some still unprinted lines in See also:honour of the See also:grand monarch and proceeded to recite them. He received forthwith a See also:pension of 2000 livres. In 1674 his two masterpieces, L'See also:Art poetique and Le Lutrin, were published with some earlier See also:works as the Euvres diverses du sieur D.

Phoenix-squares

. . . The first, in imitation of the Ars Poetica of See also:

Horace, See also:lays down the See also:code for all future French verse, and may be said to fill in French literature a parallel place to that held by its prototype in Latin. On English literature the See also:maxims of Boileau, through the translation revised by See also:Dryden, and through the magnificent imitation of them in See also:Pope's See also:Essay on See also:Criticism, have exercised no slight See also:influence. Boileau does not merely See also:lay down rules for the language of See also:poetry, but analyses carefully the various kinds of verse See also:composition, and enunciates the principles peculiar to each. Of the four books of L'Art poetique, the first and last consist of general precepts, inculcating mainly the See also:great rule of bon See also:sens; the second treats of the See also:pastoral, the See also:elegy, the See also:ode, the See also:epigram and satire; and the third of tragic and epic poetry. Though the rules laid down are of value, their tendency is rather to hamper and render too See also:mechanical the efforts of poetry. Boileau himself, a great, thoughiby no means infallible critic in verse, cannot be considered a great poet. He rendered the utmost service in destroying the exaggerated reputations of the mediocrities of his time, but his See also:judgment was sometimes at See also:fault. The Lutrin, a See also:mock heroic poem, of which four cantos appeared in 1674, furnished See also:Alexander Pope with a See also:model for the See also:Rape of the See also:Lock, but the English poem is See also:superior in richness of See also:imagination and subtlety of invention. The fifth and See also:sixth cantos, afterwards added by Boileau, rather detract from the beauty of the poem; the last See also:canto in particular is quite unworthy of his See also:genius. In 1674 appeared also his translation of See also:Longinus On the See also:Sublime, to which were added in 1693 certain See also:critical reflections, chiefly directed against the theory of the superiority of the moderns over the ancients as advanced by Charles See also:Perrault. Boileau was made historiographer to the king in 1677.

From this time the amount of his See also:

production diminished. To this period of his See also:life belong the satire, Sur des femmes, the ode, Sur la prise de See also:Namur, the epistles, A See also:mes vers and Sur l'amour de Dieu, and the satire Sur l'homme. The satires had raised up a See also:crowd of enemies against Boileau. The loth satire, on See also:women, provoked an Apologie des femmes from Charles Perrault. Antoine See also:Arnauld in the See also:year of his See also:death wrote a See also:letter in See also:defence of Boileau, but when at the See also:desire of his See also:friends he submitted his reply to See also:Bossuet, the See also:bishop pronounced all satire to be in-compatible with the spirit of See also:Christianity, and the loth satire to be subversive of morality. The friends of Arnauld had declared that it was inconsistent with the dignity of a church-See also:man to write on any subject so trivial as poetry. The See also:epistle, Sur l'amour de Dieu, was a triumphant vindication on the See also:part of Boileau of the dignity of his art. It was not until the 15th of See also:April 1684 that he was admitted to the See also:Academy, and then only by the king's wish. In 1687 he retired to a See also:country-See also:house he had bought at Auteuil, which Racine, because of the numerous guests, calls his h8tellerie d' Auteuil. In 1705 he sold his house and returned to Paris, where he lived with his See also:confessor in the cloisters of Notre See also:Dame. In the 12th satire, Sur l'equivoque, he attacked the See also:Jesuits in verses which Sainte-Beuve called a recapitulation of the Lettres provinciales of Pascal. This was written about 1705.

He then gave his See also:

attention to the arrangement of a See also:complete and definitive edition of his works. But the Jesuit fathers obtained from Louis XIV. the withdrawal of the See also:privilege already granted for the publication, and demanded the suppression of the 12th satire. These annoyances are said to have hastened his death, which took place on the 13th of See also:March 1711. Boileau was a man of warm and kindly feelings, honest, outspoken and benevolent. Many anecdotes are told of his frankness of speech at court, and of his generous actions. He holds a well-defined place in French literature, as the first who reduced its versification to rule, and taught the value of workman-See also:ship for its own See also:sake. His influence on English literature, through Pope and his contemporaries, was not less strong, though less durable. After much undue depreciation Boileau's critical See also:work has been rehabilitated by See also:recent writers, perhaps to the extent of some exaggeration in the other direction. It has been shown that in spite of undue harshness in individual cases most of his criticisms have been substantially adopted by his successors. Numerous editions of Boileau's works were published during his lifetime. The last of these, CEuvres diverses (1701), known as the " favourite " edition of the poet, was reprinted with variants and notes by See also:Alphonse Pauly (2 vols., 1894). The critical See also:text of his works was established by Berriat Saint-Prix, CEuvres de Boileau (4 vols., 1830-1837), who made use of some 350 editions.

This text, edited with notes by See also:

Paul Cheron, with the Boloeana of 1740, and an essay by Sainte-Beuve, was reprinted by See also:Garnier freres (1860). See also Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. vi.; F. Brunetiere, "L'Esthetique de Boileau" (Revue des Deux Mondes, See also:June 1889), and an exhaustive See also:article by the same critic in La Grande encyclopedie ; G. Lanson, Boileau (1892), in the See also:series of G'rands ecrivains See also:francais.

End of Article: BOIL

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