war; and the whole powers of his eloquence were exerted, first to prevent, and then to heal, the fatal breach between the mother country and her colonies. In 1774, he was chosen member for Bristol; and it is to his credit that he subsequently ventured to give offence to his Bristol friends, by his support of the Irish petitions for free trade, and for moderating the penal statutes against the Roman Catholics. He soon, however, recovered all the ground thus lost by his famous reform bill, which he unsuccessfully advocated with an extraordinary union of wit, humor, and financial detail. In 1783, lord North's ministry was dissolved; and, on the return of the marquis of Rockingham and his party to power, B. obtained the lucrative post of paymaster-general of the forces, and a seat at the council board. He also embraced the auspicious opportunity to re-introduce his reform bill, which passed, but not without considerable modifications. On the death of the marquis of Rockingham, and the succession of lord Shelburn, B. resigned, and joined the coalition: the India bill formed the ostensible cause for dismissing this ill-judged combination; and Mr. Pitt succeeded to the helm, and dissolved the parliament. The next great political event of his life was his share in the prosecution of Mr. Hastings, which trial, indeed, originated with him. The Report of the Committee on the Trial of W. Hastings, 1794, was by B. His conduct in this affair gained him little in the public estimation, except increased fame as an orator. On the settling of the regency, in 1788, he argued against the principle of the ministers, that the regency was elective, and not hereditary. The last great act of his political life was, the part he took in the French revolution. He early manifested his dislike to it, and, in 1790, loudly condemned the principles and conduct of the revolutionists. His famous Reflections on the Revolution in France appeared in the following October; and no work ever attracted more attention, or produced more effect. It exhibits both the merits and defects of the writer, and contains much justness of argument, profundity of observation, and beauty of style but it is equally obvious that he commits the very fault which he intended to reprobate, in his Vindication of Natural Society, by making his arguments applicable to the defence of all establishments, however tyrannical, and censure of every popular struggle for librty, whatever the oppression. It had

an unprecedented sale, and obtained un bounded praise from all who trembled for establishments, or were alarmed at the odious character which the French revolution was beginning to assume. On the other hand, it met with severe and formidable critics and opponents, and, among other things, produced the celebrated Rights of Man, of Thomas Paine. B. followed up this attack with a Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791); an Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs; Letter to a noble Lord on the Subject in Discussion with the Duke of Bedford (1796); Letters on a Regicide Peace, &c. In all these productions, he displayed unabated powers of mind. In 1792, he published a Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, on the Propriety of admitting Roman Catholics to the Elective Franchise, and, in 1794, withdrew from parliament, and was succeeded in the representation of Malton by his only son, whose death soon after hastened the decline of nature which he was beginning to experience. Decay, by gradual approaches, terminated his life on July 8, 1797, in the 68th year of his age. He preserved his senses to the last; and, a few hours before he died, he had read to him Addison's paper in the Spectator, on the immortality of the soul. Amiable in private life, and exemplary in his domestic and social relations, he was greatly beloved by his friends. His conversation was delightful and instructive. He was exceedingly charitable and beneficent, and founded a school for the children of French emigrants, the permanent support of which formed one of his latest cares. His public character will be best collected from a study of his political career, and his powers of mind from his publications. His oratory was preeminently that of a full mind, which makes excursions to a vast variety of subjects, connected by the slightest and most evanescent associations, and that in a diction as rich and varied as the matter. In delivery, however, the effect of his speeches was by no means proportioned to their absolute merit; their length, their copiousness, abundance of ornament, and wide field of speculation, producing impatience in men of business absorbed in the particular subject of debate; added to which, his manner was indifferent, his voice harsh, and his action, though forcible, inelegant. On the whole, though the greatest genius, he was by no means the most effective orator, in the house of commons. The entire works of this great man have been

published by his executors, in 5 vols., 4to., and 10 vols., 8vo. (See Memoir of Burke, by J. Prior 2d edition, 2 vols., London, 1826.)

BURLEIGE, Lord. (See Cecil.) BURLESQUE signifies the low comic arising from a ludicrous mixture of things high and low. High thoughts, for instance, are clothed in low expressions, or noble subjects described in a familiar manner, or vice versa. The burlesque style allows of the mixture of foreign and domestic words, the introduction of provincialisms, colloquial phrases, &c. Its object may be, simply, to excite laughter, or to provoke derision and ridicule.

BURLETTA; a light, comic species of musical drama, which derives its name from the Italian burlare, to jest. It originated in Italy, from whence it passed to the Transalpine countries.

BURLINGTON; a post-town of Vermont, and capital of Chittenden county, situated on a bay, to which it gives name, on the south side of the entrance of Onion river into lake Champlain; 38 miles W. by N. of Montpelier, 100 S. of Montreal. Lat. 44° 27' N.; lon. 73° 15′ W. Population in 1820, 2,111. B. is the most considerable commercial town in Vermont. Its trade is principally with the city of New York, with which it has a water communication by means of lake Champlain, the Champlain canal, and the river Hudson. The village is very finely situated, lying in the form of a parallelogram, with its shortest side on the lake, and extendng back, up a gradual ascent, to the distance of a mile from the water. It contains a court-house, a jail, a bank, 3 houses of public worship, an academy, and a university. The university of Vermont was incorporated and established at B. in 1791, but it did not go into operation till 1800. It is finely situated on the east side of the village, a mile distant from lake Champlain, on ground elevated 245 feet above the surface of the water, and commauds an extensive and delightful prospect, embracing a view of the lake, with the high mountains beyond on the west, and the Green mountains on the east. A large college edifice of brick, which was completed in 1801, was consumed by fire in 1824; since which time three brick edifices have been erected, two of them containing rooms for students, the other containing a chapel, and other public rooms. The university possesses considerable endowments, consisting chiefly of lands; but the number of students has never been large. Its officers

are, a president, a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, a professor of the learned languages, a tutor, and four medical professors.

BURMAN EMPIRE. (See Birman Empire. BURMANN; the name of a family of learned men, originally from CologneFrancis B., born in 1632, was professor at Leyden and Utrecht, where he died in 1769, and author of several theological writings. His son Peter, born at Utrecht, in 1668, studied there and at Leyden. He became doctor of law in 1688. After travelling in Germany and Switzerland, he began the practice of the law, without. however, deserting the study of the an cients, as is proved by his treatise De Vectigalibus Pop. Rom. In 1696, he was made professor of history and rhetoric at the university of Utrecht. At a later period, he became professor of the Greek language and politics. From this time, he published, annually, either some classic author, with notes, or masterly Latin verses, or some pamphlet against his adversaries, of whom he had made many by his intolerant vehemence. His editions of the classics are not so much distinguished for taste, as for learning and accuracy. He became professor of eloquence, history, and the Greek language, in Leyden, 1715, and died in 1741. His younger brother, Francis, died in 1719, while professor of theology at Utrecht, and was the author of several theological writings. He left four sons, distinguished likewise as scholars.-John, born in 1706, died 1780, at Amsterdam, was a physician, and professor of botany. Linnæus makes honorable mention of his writings.-Peter, born in 1713, devoted himself, like his uncle, to philological pursuits. In 1734, he was made doctor of law at Utrecht. In the following year, he became professor of eloquence and history at the university of Franeker. In 1742, he went to Amsterdam, as professor of history and ancient languages, where he became, in succession, professor of poetry, librarian, and inspector of the gymnasium. Like his uncle, he has published many good editions, particularly of the Latin classics; like him, he was distinguished by learning, by his talent for Latin poetry, and by his hasty dispo sition. He died in 1778.-Nicolaus Lau.. rentius B. succeeded, in 1781, his tather, John B., as professor of botany. for which science he did much by his own writings, and by aiding the undertakings of others. In particular, he encouraged Thunberg to visit the cape

of Good Hope and Japan. He died in 1793.

BURMANN, Gottlob William, originally Bormann, born in 1737, at Lauban, in Upper Lusatia, resided in Berlin in great poverty. He was small of figure, meagre, lame and deformed, but was endowed with sensibility for every thing sublime and beautiful. He was highly eccentric. His poems were irregular, and deficient in taste and finish. His merits were obscured by his singularities, and his vigorous mind was forgotten before he died. He had a rare talent of improvisation. Struck with palsy, he passed the last ten years of his life in great misery. His most celebrated works are his fables, songs, and his poems without the letter r. He died in 1805.

BURMHAN. (See Birman Empire.) BURNET, Gilbert, was born at Edinburgh, in 1643, and, having studied at Aberdeen, he travelled into Holland in 1664. On his return, he was made fellow of the royal society, in London, and ordained at Edinburgh in 1665. In 1669, he was made professor of divinity at Glasgow, where he published his Conference between a Conformist and a Nonconformist; also, Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton; and was offered a Scottish bishopric, which he refused. His Vindication of the Church and State of Scotland, so inconsistent with the general tenor of his conduct and opinions, was much approved at court, and a bishopric was again offered him, and refused. In 1673, he was made chaplain in ordinary to the king; and was in high credit, both with Charles and the duke of York. In consequence of the machinations in favor of popery, he inclined to the opposition party in the Scottish parliament, and afterwards removed to London, where he was coldly received by the king, and struck out of his list of court chaplains. The nation being alarmed on account of the progress of popery, B. undertook a History of the Reformation in England. He gave a first volume to the public in 1679, when the affair of the popish plot was in agitation. It procured for the author the unprecedented honor of thanks from both Houses of parliament. The second volume appeared in 1681; the third, which was supplementary, in 1714. This is esteemed the most valuable of his writings. The high character of B. as a divine "aused him to be sent for by the witty and profligate earl of Rochester, when, xhausted by a course of libertinism, he was sinking into the grave, at the early

age of 33. The result of his conferences with the dying nobleman he gave to the world in his celebrated Account of the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester. About this time, he wrote a letter to the king, censuring his public mis-government and private vices. His connexion with the opposition party was now very intimate, and he attended lord Russel to the scaffold, whose speech there it is thought that he penned. He published, during this period, several works in favor of liberty and Protestantism, and wrote the lives of bishop Bedell and sir Matthew Hale. On the accession of James II, he made a tour in France and Italy, of which he published an account in letters addressed to Mr. Boyle. At the close of his travels, he was invited to the Hague by the prince and princess of Orange, and had a great share in the councils relative to England. James caused a prosecution for high treason to be commenced against him in England, and demanded his person from the states, who refused to deliver him up. In the revolution, he took an active part, accompanying the prince of Orange to England as chaplain, and was rewarded for his services with the bishopric of Sarum. On taking his seat in the house of lords, he displayed his usual moderation in regard to the nonjuring clergy and dissenters. As a prelate, bishop B. distinguished himself by fervor, assiduity and charity. In 1699, he published his Exposition of the Thir ty-nine Articles. The scheme for the augmentation of poor livings out of the first fruits and tenths due to the crown originated with B. He died in March, 1715, in the seventy-second year of his age, leaving behind him his well-known History of his own Times, with an Account of his Life (2 vols. fol., 1723-1724). He merits the praise of depth, vigor, and variety of knowledge, but was hasty and rough in his composition. He was ardent, active and open, benevolent, liberal and disinterested; but vain, self-important and garrulous. He was the author of numerous works besides those mentioned. William, his eldest son, originally bred to the law, became governor, first of New York and New Jersey, and subsequently of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

BURNET, Thomas, a learned divine and philosopher, was born at Croft, in Yorkshire, about 1635, educated under doctor Ralph Cudworth, at Cambridge, and afterwards travelled as tutor to several young noblemen. In 1681, he made himself known by his Telluris sacra The

oria, which he subsequently translated unto English. After the revolution of 1688, B. was appointed chaplain in ordinary and clerk of the closet to king William. In 1692, he published his Archæologia Philosophica, sive Doctrina antiqua de Rerum Originibus. The freeom of opinion displayed in this work ied to the removal of the author from the clerkship of the royal closet. He died in September, 1715, and was interred in the charter-house chapel. Two posthumous works of this author appeared in 1727a treatise De Fide et Officiis Christianorum; and another, De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium. All the works of B. exhibit him as an ingenious speculator, rather than as a patient and sober inquirer concerning the moral and natural phenomena of which he treats. His great work, the Theory of the Earth, is one of the many systeins of cosmogony, in which Christian philosophers have attempted to reconcile the Mosaic account of the creation, paradise, and the deluge, with the traditions of the ancients, and the principles of modern science. His speculations are recommended by sublimity of description and eloquence of style. In his Archeologia Philosophica, the doctor has combatted the literal interpretation of the history of the fall of man; and, to expose its improbability, he has introduced an imaginary dialogue between Eve and the serpent, which, as coming from the pen of a divine, is singular enough. It is only to be found in the first edition of the work.

BURNETT, James; better known by his official title of lord Monboddo, as judge of the court of session in Scotland. He was born, in 1714, at the family seat of Monboddo, in Kincardineshire. After studying at Aberdeen, he went to the university of Gröningen, whence he returned in 1738, and commenced practice as an advocate at the Scottish bar. In 1767, he was raised to the bench on the decease of his relative, lord Miltown. He distinguished himself by his writings as a metaphysician, having published a Dissertation on the Origin and Progress of Language (1774-1792, 6 vols., 8vo.); and Ancient Metaphysics (1778, &c., 6 vols., 4to.) Lord Monboddo was an enthusiastic admirer of ancient literature, and especially of the works of Plato, and other Grecian philosophers. His works con

tain

many interesting observations, but also exhibit some strange and paradoxical opinions. Thus he seriously advocates the existence of satyrs and mermaids;

VOL. II.

29

and has advanced some whimsical speculations relative to a supposed affinity between the human race and the monkey tribe, which exposed him to a good deal of ridicule on the first publication of his theories. Both his official and his private character were extremely respectable; and he was, notwithstanding his ec centricities, a man of considerable learning and ability. He died, in consequence of a paralytic stroke, at Edinburgh, May 26, 1799.

BURNEY, Charles, a celebrated composer and writer on music, born at Shrewsbury, in 1726, began his studies at Chester, under the organist of the cathedral there, continued them at Shrewsbury, under the direction of his halfbrother, Burney, and completed them in London, between 1744 and 1747, under doctor Arne. In the latter year appeared his first compositions. His musical pieces Alfred, and Queen Mab, composed in 1749, made him known. In 1751, he obtained the place of organist at Lynn Regis, in Norfolk. Here he commenced his General History of Music, and determined to visit all the institutions in Europe, at which he could obtain important information for his work. In 1760, he returned to London, at the request of the duke of York, where his compositions, and the musical skill of his eldest daughter, then eight years of age, excited ad miration. In 1769, the university of Oxford bestowed on him the honorary degree of doctor of music. In 1770, be visited France and Italy, and, two years afterwards, the Netherlands and Germany, for the sake of his great work. He published an account of both tours. After his second return, he became a fellow of the royal society. In 1776 appeared the 1st volume of his General History of Music from the earliest Ages to the present Period (4to.); the 2d in 1779, and the 3d and 4th in 1789. He is the author also of several other valuable works, among which are the Memoir of Handel, and several musical compositions. died in April, 1814, in the office of organist at Chelsea college. He wrote most of the musical articles in Rees' Cyclopædia. B. had a numerous family, seve. ral members of which have highly distin guished themselves. His second daugh ter, Francisca d'Arblay, is the authoress of the well-known novels Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla.

Но

BURNEY, Charles; second son of the historian of music; a classical scholar and critic of high reputation. He was born

at Lynn, in Norfolk, in 1757, and received his education at the charter-house school, and the universities of Cambridge and Aberdeen; distinguished himself as a writer in the Monthly Review, to which he contributed many articles on classical literature; subsequently entered into holy orders, and obtained some preferment in the church. He died in December, 1817; and his valuable collection of books, many of them enriched with manuscript notes, was purchased by parliament for the British museum. B. published an appendix to Scapula's Greek Lexicon from the MSS. of doctor Askew; a valuable edition of the choral odes of Eschylus, the Greek tragedian; the Greek Lexicon of Philemon; remarks on the Greek verses of Milton; an abridgement of Pearson's exposition of the creed; and a sermon preached at St. Paul's: besides which he printed, for private distribution, a small impression of the Latin epistles of doctor Bentley and other learned scholars.

BURNING-GLASS; a lens which unites the rays of light that fall upon it in so arrow a space as to cause them to kindle any combustible matter coming in their way, like fire. The same name has been sometimes given, though improperly, to the burning-mirror. (See the next article.) The lenses commonly used as burning-glasses are convex on both sides; these bring the rays upon a point with the greatest force, because of the shortness of their focal distance. The effects of a burning-glass are more powerful in proportion as its surface is greater, and its focus smaller. That such a glass may produce its greatest effect, it is necessary that the rays of the sun should fall upon it in a perpendicular direction, which is the case when the image of the sun, that appears at the moment of burning, is circular. If a second leus, of a smaller focal distance, is placed between the first and its focus, so to intercept the rays which pass through the first, they are still more condensed, and united in a still narrower compass, so that the effect is greatly augmented. The Greeks and Romans seem to have been acquainted with burningglasses, or, at least, with a kind of transparent stones similar to them. They became more known in the 13th century. At the close of the 17th, von Tschirnhausen caused the largest burning-glasses, consisting of one piece, that are known, to be polished with incredible pains. Two of them, still in Paris, are 33 inches In diameter, and the weight of one

amounts to 160 pounds. Both glasses produce an effect equal to that of the most intense fire. They kindle wood which is both hard and wet in a moment, and make cold water, in small vessels, boil in an instant; metals, placed upon a plate of china, are melted and vitrified by them; tiles, slates, and similar objects, become instantly red-hot, and` vitrified. As Tschirnhausen's glasses, however, are not perfectly clear, and the effect is thus considerably lessened, Brisson and Lavoisier undertook, in 1774, to put together two lenses, resembling those used for watch glasses, filling up the space between them with a transparent fluid. In this manner, veins and impurities may be avoided, at less expense. They succeeded in making a burningglass of 4 feet in diameter, the greatest thickness of which, in the centre, amounted to 8 inches, and which, of itself, had a much greater power than the glasses of Tschirnhausen, in connexion with a smaller lens, or collective glass, but produced an extraordinary effect if joined to a collective glass.-The experiments made by means of large burning-glasses are important in chemistry and physics. The power of a burning-glass, however, is almost four times less than that of a burning mirror, or reflector (q. v.), of equal extent and equal curvature. This reflects more light than the glass allows to pass through it; has a smaller focal distance, and is free from the dissipation of the rays, which takes place in the burningglass, since it reflects them all nearly to one point, while the burning-glass refracts them to different points. On the other hand, the burning-glass is much more convenient, on account of the place of its focus, which is behind the glass. The burning point (focus) is an image of the sun; its diameter is equal to the 108th part of the focal distance, and its centre is the focus, properly so called. In the higher branches of geometry and conic sections, the foci are points in the parabola, ellipsis, and hyperbola, where the rays, 'reflected from all parts of these curves, meet. Several accidents in modern times have shown, that conflagrations may be caused by convex window-glasses or water-bottles. &c., which have the form of burning-glasses, if the rays of the sun are concentrated by them upon combustible substances lying within their reach. Since the casting and polishing of large lenses are attended with great dif ficulties, Buffon's plan of casting them in pieces, or zones, and afterwards putting