st-known plays are _Le Mercure galant_, the title of which was
changed to _La Comedie sans titre_ (1683); _La Princesse de Cleves_
(1676), an unsuccessful play which, when refurbished with fresh names by
its author, succeeded as _Germanicus; Esope a la ville_ (1690); and
_Esope a la cour_ (1701). His lack of dramatic instinct could hardly be
better indicated than by the scheme of his _Esope_, which allows the
fabulist to come on the stage in each scene and recite a fable.
Boursault died in Paris on the 15th of September 1701.

The _Oeuvres choisies_ of Boursault were published in 1811, and a
sketch of him is to be found in M. Saint-Rene Taillandier's _Etudes
litteraires_ (1881).

BOURSE (from the Med. Lat. _bursa_, a purse), the French equivalent of
the Stock Exchange, and so used of the Paris Exchange, or of any foreign
money-market. The English form "burse," as in Sir Thomas Gresham's
building, which was known as "Britain's Burse," went out of use in the
18th century. The origin of the name is doubtful; it is not derived from
any connexion between purse and money, but rather from the use of a
purse as a sign. At Bruges a house belonging to the family de Bursa is
said to have been first used as an Exchange, and to have had three
purses as a sign on the front.

BOURSSE, ESAIAS (1630-1673), Dutch painter, was born in Amsterdam. He
was a follower of Pieter de Hooch, in whose manner he worked for many
years in his native town; then he took service with the Dutch East India
Company, and died on a sea voyage. His paintings are exceedingly rare,
perhaps because, in spite of their greater freedom and breadth, many of
them pass under the names of Vermeer of Delft and Pieter de Hooch. Two
of the paintings ascribed to the latter (one bears the false signature)
at the Ryks museum in Amsterdam, are now recognized as being the work of
Boursse. His subjects are interiors with figures, painted with great
precision and with exquisite quality of colour. The Wallace collection
has his masterpiece, an interior with a woman and a child in a cradle,
almost as brilliant as on the day it was painted, and reflecting
something of the feeling of Rembrandt, by whom he was influenced. Other
important examples are at the Ryks museum and at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Boursse's "Boy blowing Soap Bubbles," in the Berlin museum, was until
lately attributed to Vermeer of Delft. More than one picture bearing the
false signature of Boursse have