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
would deride the memory or depreciate the merits of B. No man ever did
better service to Shakespeare than the man who made it possible to put