Literature.—W.A. Hollenberg, Studien zu Bonaventura (1862); F. Nitzsch, art. in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyk. für prot. Theol., where a list of monographs is given, to which add one by De Chévancé (1899).
(R. Ad.; X.)
BONCHAMPS, CHARLES MELCHIOR ARTUS, Marquis de (c. 1760-1793), Vendéan leader, was born at Jouverteil, Anjou. He gained his first military experience in the American War of Independence, and on his return to France was made a captain of grenadiers in the French army. He was a staunch upholder of the monarchy, and at the outbreak of the French Revolution resigned his command and retired to his château at St Florent. In the spring of 1793 he was chosen leader by the insurgents of the Vendée, and to his counsels may be attributed in great measure the success of the peasants’ arms. He was present at the taking of Bressuire, Thouars and Fontenay, at which last place he was wounded; but dissensions among their leaders weakened the insurgents, and at the bloody battle of Cholet (October 1793) the Vendéans sustained a severe defeat and Bonchamps was mortally wounded. He died the next day. It is said that his last act was the pardoning of five thousand republican prisoners, whom his troops had sworn to kill in revenge for his death. A statue of him by David d’Angers stands in the church of St Florent.
BOND, SIR EDWARD AUGUSTUS (1815-1898), English librarian, was born at Hanwell on the 31st of December 1815, the son of a schoolmaster. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ school, and in 1832 obtained a post in the public record office. In 1838 he became an assistant in the manuscript department of the British Museum, where he attracted the notice of his chief, Sir Frederick Madden, the most eminent palaeographer of his day, and in 1852 he was made Egerton librarian. In 1856 he became assistant keeper of MSS., and in 1867 was promoted to the post of keeper. His work in reorganizing the manuscript department was of lasting value, and to him is due the classified catalogue of MSS., and the improved efficiency and punctuality of publication of the department. In 1878 he was appointed principal librarian. Under his supervision were erected the new buildings of the “White Wing,” which provide accommodation for prints, drawings, manuscripts and newspapers, and the purchase of the Stowe MSS. was concluded while he remained in office. He founded, in conjunction with Sir E. Maunde Thompson, the Palaeographical Society, and first made classical palaeography an exact science. He was made LL.D. of Cambridge in 1879, created C.B. in 1885, and K.C.B. the day before his death on the 2nd of January 1898. He was the editor of four volumes of facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon charters from 679 to the Conquest, The Speeches in the Trial of Warren Hastings (1859-1861), and a number of other interesting historic documents.
BOND,[1] in English law, an obligation by deed. Its design is to secure that the obligor, i.e. the person giving the bond, will either pay a sum of money, or do or refrain from doing some act; and for this purpose the obligor binds himself in a penalty to the obligee, with a condition added that, if the obligor pays the sum secured—which is usually half the penalty—or does or refrains from doing the specified act, the bond shall be void: otherwise it shall remain in full force. This condition is known as the defeasance because it defeats or undoes the bond. The form of a common money bond runs as follows:—
Know All Men by these presents that I, A.B. (name, address and description of obligor), am bound to C.D. (name, address and description of obligee) in the sum of £[2000] to be paid to the said (obligee), his executors, administrators or assigns or to his or their attorney or attorneys, for which payment I bind myself by these presents. Sealed with my seal. Dated this day of 19 .
The condition of the above-written bond is such that if the above A.B., his heirs, executors or administrators, shall on the day of pay to the above-named C.D., his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns the sum of £[1000], with interest for the same from the date of the above-written bond at the rate of per cent per annum without any deduction, then the above-written bond shall be void: otherwise the bond shall remain in full force.