ellent wife, his health had given way, the intemperance to which he
had always been subject had mastered him, and he _d._ four years after
the appearance of his great work. B. was called to the English as well as
to the Scottish Bar, but his various foibles prevented his reaching any
great success, and he had also vainly endeavoured to enter on a political
career. The question has often been raised how a man with the
characteristics of B. could have produced so unique a work, and has been
discussed at length by Macaulay and by Carlyle, the former paradoxically
arguing that his supreme folly and meanness themselves formed his
greatest qualifications; the latter, with far deeper insight, that
beneath these there lay the possession of an eye to discern excellence
and a heart to appreciate it, intense powers of accurate observation and
a considerable dramatic faculty. His letters to William Temple were
discovered at Boulogne, and _pub._ 1857.

BOUCICAULT, DION (1820-90).--Actor and dramatist, _b._ in Dublin and
_ed._ in London, joined Macready while still young, and made his first
appearance upon the stage with Benj. Webster at Bristol. Soon afterwards
he began to write plays, occasionally in conjunction, of which the first,
_London Assurance_ (1841) had an immediate success. He was an excellent
actor, especially in pathetic parts. His plays are for the most part
adaptations, but are often very ingenious in construction, and have had
great popularity. Among the best known are _The Colleen Bawn_,
_Arrah-na-Pogue_, _Faust and Marguerite_, and _The Shaughraun_. B. _d._
in America.

BOWDLER, THOMAS (1754-1825).--Editor of _The Family Shakespeare_, _b._
near Bath, _s._ of a gentleman of independent fortune, studied medicine
at St. Andrews and at Edin., where he took his degree in 1776, but did
not practise, devoting himself instead to the cause of prison reform. In
1818 he _pub._ his _Family Shakespeare_ in 10 vols., "in which nothing is
added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted
which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family." The work had
considerable success, 4 editions having been _pub._ before 1824, and
others in 1831, 1853, and 1861. It was, however, subjected to some
criticism and ridicule, and gave rise to the expression "bowdlerise,"
always used in an opprobrious sense. On the other hand, Mr. Swinburne has
said, "More nauseous and foolish cant was never chattered than that which