[Bolton Abbey], an old abbey in Yorkshire, 6 m. E. of Skipton; was founded by the Augustinian canons.
[Boma], a station on the Lower Congo, in the Congo Independent State; once a great slave mart.
[Bomarsund], a fortress of the island of Aland occupied by Russia, destroyed by the Anglo-French fleet in 1854; the Russians bound not to restore it.
[Bomba], nickname of Ferdinand II., late king of the Two Sicilies, given him, it is alleged, from his calling upon his soldiers to bombard his people during an insurrection.
[Bombastes Furioso], an opera by Thomas Rhodes in ridicule of the bombastic style of certain tragedies in vogue.
[Bombay] (26,960), the western Presidency of India, embraces 26 British districts and 19 feudatory states. N. of the Nerbudda River the country is flat and fertile; S. of it are mountain ranges and tablelands. In the fertile N. cotton, opium, and wheat are the staple products. In the S., salt, iron, and gold are mined; but coal is wanting. The climate is hot and moist on the coast and in the plains, but pleasant on the plateaux. Cotton manufacture has developed extensively and cotton cloths, with sugar, tea, wool, and drugs are exported. Machinery, oil, coal, and liquors are imported. Bombay (822), the chief city, stands on an island, connected with the coast by a causeway, and has a magnificent harbour and noble docks. It is rapidly surpassing Calcutta in trade, and is one of the greatest of seaports; its position promises to make it the most important commercial centre in the East, as it already is in the cotton trade of the world. It swarms with people of every clime, and its merchandise is mainly in the hands of the Parsees, the descendants of the ancient fire-worshippers. It is the most English town in India. It came to England from Portugal as dowry with Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II., who leased it to the East India Company for £10 a year. Its prosperity began when the Civil War in America afforded it an opening for its cotton.
[Bon Gaultier], nom de plume assumed by Professor Aytoun and Sir Theodore Martin.
[Bona] (30), a seaport in Algeria, in the province of Constantine, on a bay of the Mediterranean, with an excellent harbour and a growing trade; is much improved since its occupation by the French in 1832. Near it are the ruins of Hippo, the episcopal city of Augustine.
[Bona], an ascetic writer, surnamed the Fénélon of Italy, one of feuillant order of monks (1609-1674).
[Bona Dea] (the good goddess), a Roman goddess of fertility, worshipped by women; her priests vestals and her worship by rites from which men were excluded. Her symbol was a serpent, but the name under which she was worshipped is not known.