BOS, JOHN BAPTIST DU, a celebrated author and member of the French academy, was born at Beauvais in 1670, and finished his studies at the Sorbonne. In 1695 he was named one of the committee for foreign affairs under M. Toret; and he was afterwards charged with some important transactions in England, Germany, Holland, and Italy. On his return to Paris he met with rapid preferment, having been made an abbé, and chosen perpetual secretary of the French academy. He was the author of several excellent works, the principal of which are, 1. Critical Reflections upon Poetry and Painting, 3 vols. 12mo; 2. The History of the four Gordians, confirmed and illustrated by medals; and 3. A critical History of the establishment of the French Monarchy among the Gauls, 2 vols. 4to, and 4 vols. 12mo. He died at Paris on the 23d of March 1742.
Bos. See MAMMALIA, Index.
Bos. in Antiquity, was the name of an ancient Greek silver coin or didrachmus, equivalent to two drachms: it was sometimes also struck of gold. This coin was so called from having on it the impression of an ox. It obtained chiefly among the Athenians and Delians. Hence arose the phrase Bos in lingua, applied to those who had taken bribes to hold their tongue.