ortuguez_, vol. vi. pp. 45-53, and vol. xvi. pp. 260-264; Dr T.
Braga, _Bocage, sua vida e epoca litteraria_ (Oporto, 1902). A
striking portrait of Bocage by H.J. da Silva was engraved by
Bartolozzi, who spent his last years in Lisbon. (E. Pr.)

BOCAGE (from O. Fr. _boscage_, Late Lat. _boscum_, a wood), a French
topographical term applied to several regions of France, the commonest
characteristics of which are a granite formation and an undulating or
hilly surface, consisting largely of heath or reclaimed land, and dotted
with clumps of trees. The most important districts designated by the
word are (1) the Bocage of Normandy, which comprises portions of the
departments of Calvados, Manche and Orne; (2) the Bocage of Vendee,
situated in the departments of Vendee, Deux-Sevres, Maine-et-Loire, and
Loire-Inferieure.

BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI (1313-1375), Italian author, whose _Decameron_ is
one of the classics of literature, was born in 1313, as we know from a
letter of Petrarch, in which that poet, who was born in 1304, calls
himself the senior of his friend by nine years. The place of his birth
is somewhat doubtful--Florence, Paris and Certaldo being all mentioned
by various writers as his native city. Boccaccio undoubtedly calls
himself a Florentine, but this may refer merely to the Florentine
citizenship acquired by his grandfather. The claim of Paris has been
supported by Baldelli and Tiraboschi, mainly on the ground that his
mother was a lady of good family in that city, where she met Boccaccio's
father. There is a good deal in favour of Certaldo, a small town or
castle in the valley of the Elsa, 20 m. from Florence, where the family
had some property, and where the poet spent much of the latter part of
his life. He always signed his name Boccaccio da Certaldo, and named
that town as his birthplace in his own epitaph. Petrarch calls his
friend Certaldese; and Filippo Villani, a contemporary, distinctly says
that Boccaccio was born in Certaldo.

Boccaccio, an illegitimate son, as is put beyond dispute by the fact
that a special licence had to be obtained when he desired to become a
priest, was brought up with tender care by his father, who seems to have
been a merchant of respectable rank. His elementary education he
received from Giovanni da Strada, an esteemed teacher of grammar in
Florence. But at an early age he was apprenticed to an eminent merchant,
with whom he remained for six years, a time