in the sea-language, a long piece of timber with with which the clew of the studding-sail is spread out; and sometimes the boom is used to spread or boom out the clew of the main-mast.

**Boom**, denotes also a cable stretched athwart the mouth of a river or harbour; with yards, top masts, battling or spars of wood lashed to it, to prevent an enemy's coming in.

**Booming**, among sailors, denotes the application of a boom to the sails. A ship is said to come booming forwards, when she comes with all the sail she can make.

**Boonen, Arnold**, portrait painter, was born at Dort in 1669, and at first was a disciple of Arnold Verbius, a painter of history and portrait. Afterwards he placed himself with Godfrey Schalcken, and continued with that artist for six years. The sweetness of his colouring, and the neatness of his touch, with a striking likeness in his portraits, procured him a number of admirers. He painted in the manner of his master, particularly subjects by candlelight, which were very delicate, and very natural; and much more of his work was requested by the lovers of the art than it was possible for him to undertake. He had the honour to paint the portraits of the czar of Muscovy; of Frederick I. king of Prussia; of the victorious duke of Marlborough, as well as many of the princes of Germany; and most of the noblemen who attended the czar. His style of colouring was extremely good, and he had an elegant manner of disposing the attitudes of his figures; his handling was neat, and the whole had so much harmony that he was justly ranked among the ablest artists of his time. The small pictures of Boonen are in the taste of his master Schalcken; but his excessive application, to answer the multitude of his engagements, impaired his health, and destroyed while it enriched him. He died in 1729.

**Booptalmus**, a kind of agate with large circles in it, bearing some resemblance to an ox's eye, from whence it has got this name.

**Boops**, in Zoology, the trivial name of a species of balaena. See Balaena, Cetology Index.

**Booshatter**, formerly the city of Utica, famous for the retreat and death of Cato, lies about seven miles inland from Porto Farina in the bay of Tunis. Nothing remains of its ancient grandeur except part of a large aqueduct, some cisterns, and other magnificent ruins, which cover a large extent of ground, and show it to have been a very considerable place. The sea, it is known, came up anciently to this city, though now seven miles distant.

**Boot**, a leathern cover or defence for the leg, used on horseback, both to keep the body more firm, and defend the part from the injuries of the weather. Boots seem to have taken their name from the resemblance they bear to a fort of jacks or leathern bottles formerly in use, and called botte, in the old French bout. Borel derives the name from the old French word bot, a flump, by reason the boot gives the leg this appearance. The Chinese have a kind of boots made of silk or fine stuff, lined with cotton, a full inch thick, which they always wear at home. These people are always booted; and when a visit is made them, if they happen to be without their boots, their guest must wait till they put them on. They never stir out of doors without their boots on; and their ferupulousness in this respect is the more remarkable, as they are always carried in their chairs.

The boot was much used by the ancients, by the foot as well as by the horsemen. It was called by the ancient Romans ocrea; in middle-age writers, greva, gambria, baimberga, bembarga or benbarga. The boot is said to have been the invention of the Carians. It was at first made of leather, afterwards of braids or iron, and was proof both against cuts and thrusts. It was from this that Homer called the Greeks brazen-booted. The boot only covered half the leg; some say the right leg, which was more advanced than the left, it being advanced forwards in an attack with the sword; but in reality it appears to have been used on either leg, and sometimes on both. Those who fought with darts or other missile weapons, advanced the left leg foremost, so that this only was booted.

**Fishing-Boots**, are a thick strong sort used in dragging ponds and the like. Hunting-boots, a thinner kind used by sportsmen. Jack-boots, a kind of very strong boots used by the troopers.

**Boot**, is likewise a kind of torture for criminals; to extort a confession, by means of a boot, stocking, or buffkin of parchment; which being put on the leg moist, and brought near the fire, in shrinking squeezes the leg violently, and occasions intolerable pain.

There is also another kind of boot; consisting of four thick strong boards bound round with cords: two of these are put between the criminal's legs, and the two others placed one on the outside of one leg and the other on the other; then squeezing the legs against the boards by the cords, the criminal's bones are severely pinched, or even broken, &c.

The boot is now disused in England and Scotland; but it subsists still in some other countries.

**Boot-Tree**, or Boot-lag, an instrument used by shoemakers to widen the leg of a boot. It is a wooden cylinder slit into two parts, between which, when it is put into the boot, they drive by main force a wedge or quoins.

**Bootes**, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, consisting of 23 stars according to Ptolemy's catalogue, of 18 in Tycho's, of 34 in Bayer's, of 52 in Helvelius's, and of 54 in Mr Flamsteed's catalogue.

**Booth, Barton**, a famous English actor, born in Lancashire in 1681, and educated in Westminster school under the celebrated Dr Bulshby, where his success in the Latin plays customarily performed by the scholars gave him an inclination for the stage. He was intended for the church; but running away from school to Dublin, he there commenced actor. His first appearance was in the part of Oroonoko, in which he came off with every testimonial of approbation from the audience. From this time he continued daily improving; and after two successful campaigns in that kingdom, conceived thoughts of returning to his native country, and making a trial of his abilities on the English stage. To this end, he first, by letter, reconciled himself to his friends; and then, as a farther step towards infusing his success, obtained a recommendation from Lord Fitzharding (one of the lords of the bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark) to Mr Betterton, who with great candour and good nature took him under his care, and gave him all the assistance in his power. The first part Mr Booth appeared in at London was that of Maximus in Lord Rochester's Valentinian, his reception in which exceeded even his most sanguine expectations; and very soon after his performance of Artaban, in Rowe's Ambitious Stepmother, which was a new tragedy, established his reputation as second at least to his great instructor. Pyrrhus, in the Distressed Mother, was another part in which he shone without a rival. But he was indebted to a happy coincidence of merit and chance, for that height of fame which he at length attained in the character of Cato, as drawn by Mr Addison, in 1712. For this play being considered as a party one, the Whigs, in favour of those principles it was apparently written, thought it their duty strongly to support it, while at the same time the Tories, who had too much sense to appear to consider it as a reflection on their administration, were still more vehement in their approbation of it, which they carried to such a height, as even to make a collection of 50 guineas in the boxes during the performance, and present them to Mr Booth, with this compliment, "That it was a slight acknowledgment for his honest opposition to a perpetual dictator, and his dying so bravely in the cause of liberty." Besides this, he had a present of an equal sum from the managers, in consideration of the great success of the play, which they attributed in a good measure to his extraordinary merit in the performance; and certain it is, that no one since that time has ever equalled, or even nearly approached, his excellence in that character.

But these were not the only advantages which were to accrue to Mr Booth from his success in this part; for Lord Bolingbroke, then one of the principal secretaries of state, in a little time after procured a special licence from Queen Anne, recalling all the former ones, and nominating Mr Booth as joint manager with Wilkes, Cibber, and Doggett; none of whom were pleased at it; but the last especially took such disgust as to withdraw himself from any further share in the management. In 1704, Mr Booth had married a daughter of Sir William Barkham, Bart. who died in 1710, without issue. Being now established in the management, he once more turned his thoughts towards matrimony; and in the year 1719 united himself to the celebrated Miss Hester Santlow, a woman of a most amiable disposition, whose great merit as an actress, added to the utmost discretion and prudential economy, had enabled her to save up a considerable fortune. During the 20 years in which Mr Booth continued a manager, the theatre was in the greatest credit; and his illness and death, which happened on the 10th of May 1733, contributed not a little to its decline.

Mr Booth wrote a dramatic entertainment called Dido and Aeneas; but his masterpiece was a Latin inscription to the memory of Mr William Smith, a celebrated actor, who died while he was young. As an actor, his excellency lay wholly in tragedy, not being able to endure such parts as had not strong passion to inspire him. And even in this walk, dignity rather than complacency, rage rather than tenderness, seemed to be his taste. For a particular idea of his abilities, we must refer to the description Mr Cibber has given of him in his Apology; and the admirable character drawn of him by that excellent judge of dramatic perfection, Aaron Hill, Esq. in a political paper published by him called the Prompter, which may be seen at length in Theophrastus's Lives of the Poets, and Chetwood's History of the Stage. His character as a man was adorned with many amiable qualities, among which, a goodness of heart, the basis of every virtue, was remarkably conspicuous; and to particularly was he distinguished and careful, and his company sought by the great, that, as Chetwood relates of him, not one nobleman in the kingdom had so many sets of horses at command as he had.