general
inquiry into the authenticity of the sermons and their general
characteristics.

BOURDON, FRANCOIS LOUIS (d. 1797), known as BOURDON DE L'OISE, French
revolutionist, was _procureur_ at the parlement of Paris. He ardently
embraced the revolutionary doctrines and took an active part in the
insurrection of the 10th of August 1792. Representing the department of
the Oise in the Convention, he voted for the immediate death of the
king. He accused the Girondists of relations with the court, then turned
against Robespierre, who had him expelled from the Jacobin club for his
conduct as commissioner of the Convention with the army of La Rochelle.
On the 9th Thermidor he was one of the deputies delegated to aid Barras
to repress the insurrection made by the commune of Paris in favour of
Robespierre. Bourbon then became a violent reactionary, attacking the
former members of the Mountain and supporting rigorous measures against
the rioters of the 12th Germinal and the 1st Prairial of the year III.
In the council of Five Hundred, Bourdon belonged to the party of
"Clichyens," composed of disguised royalists, against whom the directors
made the _coup d'etat_ of the 18th Fructidor. Bourdon was arrested and
deported to French Guiana, where he died soon after his arrival.

BOURG-EN-BRESSE, a town of eastern France, capital of the department of
Ain, and formerly capital of the province of Bresse, 36 m. N.N.E. of
Lyons by the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906) town, 13,916; commune,
20,045. Bourg is situated at the western base of the Jura, on the left
bank of the Reyssouze, a tributary of the Saone. The chief of the older
buildings is the church of Notre-Dame (16th century), of which the
facade belongs to the Renaissance; other parts of the church are Gothic.
In the interior there are stalls of the 16th century. The other public
buildings, including a handsome prefecture, are modern. The hotel de
ville contains a library and the Lorin museum with a collection of
pictures, while another museum has a collection of the old costumes and
ornaments characteristic of Bresse. Among the statues in the town there
is one of Edgar Quinet (1803-1875), a native of Bourg. Bourg is the seat
of a prefect and of a court of assizes, and has a tribunal of first
instance, a tribunal and a chamber of commerce, and a branch of the Bank
of France. Its educational establishments include lycees for boys and
girls, and training colleges. The