Chapter Book of Martyrs to Bors of B by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Borax, Nosa, or Crapondinus, a stone extracted from a toad. It is the antidote of poison—Mirror of Stones.

… the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
   —Shakespeare: As You Like It, act ii. SC. 1 (1600).

Border Minstrel (The), sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).

My steps the Border Minstrel led.
   —Wordsworth: Yarrow Revisited.

Border States (of North America): Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. So called because they bordered upon the line of Free States and Slave-holding States. The term is now an anachronism.

Border-thief School (The), a term applied by Thomas Carlyle, in his Sartor Resartus, to sir W. Scott and others, who celebrated the achievements of free-booters, etc., like Rob Roy. Defoe and Ainsworth made Jack Sheppard such a hero. Dick Turpin and Cartouche belong to the same school, as also Robin Hood and other outlaws. (See Picaresco School.)

Bore , a tidal wave. The largest are those of the Ganges (especially the Hooghly branch), Brahmaputra, and Indus. In Great Britain, the Severn, the Trent, the Wye, the Solway, the Dee in Cheshire, the Clyde, Dornoch Frith, and the Lune. That of the Trent is called the “heygre.”

Boreas, the north wind. He lived in a cave on mount Hæmus, in Thrace.

Cease, rude Boreas, blustering railer.
   —G. A. Stephens: The Shipwreck.

Borgia (Lucresia di), duchess of Ferr ara, wife of don Alfonso. Her natural son Gennaro was brought up by a fisherman in Naples; but when he grew to manhood a s tranger gave him a paper from his mother, anno uncing to him that he was of noble blood, but concealing h is name and family. He saved the life of Orsini in the battle of Rimini, and they became sworn friends. In Venice he was introduced to a party of nobles, all of whom had some tale to tell against Lucrezia: Orsini told him she had murdered her own brother; Vitelli, that she had caused his uncle to be slain; Liverotto, that she had poisoned his uncle Appiano; Gazella, that she had caused one of his relatives to be drowned in the Tiber. Indignant at these acts of wickedness, Gennaro struck off the “B” from the escutcheon of the duke’s palace at Ferrara, changing the name Borgia into Orgia. Lucrezia prayed the duke to put to death the man who had thus insulted their noble house, and Gennaro was condemned to death by poison. Lucrezia, to save him, gave him an antidote, and let him out of prison by a secret door. Soon after his liberation the princess Negroni, a friend of the Borgias, gave a grand supper, to which Gennaro and his companions were invited. At the close of the banquet they were all arrested by Lucrezia, after having drunk poisoned wine. Gennaro was told he was the son of Lucrezia, and died. Lucrezia no sooner saw him die than she died also.—Donizetti: Lucrezia di Borgia (an opera, 1835).

Born at Sea. All persons born at sea are registered in the parish of Stepney, a borough of the Tower Hamlets.

Borough (The), in ten-syllable verse with rhymes, in twenty-four letters, by George Crabbe (1810).

Boroughcliff (Captain), a vulgar Yankee, boastful, conceited, and slangy. “I guess,” “I reckon,” “I calculate,” are used indifferently by him, and he perpetually appeals to sergeant Drill to confirm his boastful assertions: as, “I’m a pretty considerable favourite with the ladies; aren’t I, sergeant Drill?” “My character for valour is pretty well known; isn’t it, sergeant Drill?” “If you once saw me in battle, you’d never forget it; would he, sergeant Drill?” “I’m a sort of a kind of a nonentity; aren’t I, sergeant Drill?” etc. He is made the butt of Long Tom Coffin. Colonel Howard wishes him to marry his niece Katharine, but the young lady has given her heart to lieutenant Barnstaple, who turns out to be the colonel’s son.—E. Fitzball: The Pilot. (See John Blount, p. 130.)