Much of Bunyan's time was spent in controversy. He wrote sharply against the Quakers, whom he seems always to have held in utter abhorrence. He wrote against the liturgy of the Church of England. No two things, according to him, had less affinity than the form of prayer and the spirit of prayer. Those, he said with much point, who have most of the spirit of prayer are all to be found in gaol; and those who have most zeal for the form of prayer are all to be found at the alehouse. The doctrinal Articles, on the other hand, he warmly praised and defended. The most acrimonious of all his works is hisDefence of Justification by Faith, an answer to what Bunyan calls "the brutish and beastly latitudinarianism" of Edward Fowler, afterwards bishop of Gloucester, an excellent man, but not free from the taint of Pelagianism.
Bunyan had also a dispute with some of the chiefs of the sect to which he belonged. He doubtless held with perfect sinceritythe distinguishing tenet of that sect, but he did not consider that tenet as one of high importance, and willingly joined in communion with pious Presbyterians and Independents. The sterner Baptists, therefore, loudly pronounced him a false brother. A controversy arose which long survived the original combatants. The cause which Bunyan had defended with rude logic and rhetoric against Kiffin and Danvers has since been pleaded by Robert Hall with an ingenuity and eloquence such as no polemical writer has ever surpassed.
During the years which immediately followed the Restoration, Bunyan's confinement seems to have been strict. But as the passions of 1660 cooled, as the hatred with which the Puritans had been regarded while their reign was recent gave place to pity, he was less and less harshly treated. The distress of his family, and his own patience, courage and piety, softened the hearts of his judges. Like his own Christian in the cage, he found protectors even among the crowd at Vanity Fair. The bishop of the diocese, Dr Barlow, is said to have interceded for him. At length the prisoner was suffered to pass most of his time beyond the walls of the gaol, on condition, as it should seem, that he remained within the town of Bedford.
He owed his complete liberation to one of the worst acts of one of the worst governments that England has ever seen. In 1671 the Cabal was in power. Charles II. had concluded the treaty by which he bound himself to set up the Roman Catholic religion in England. The first step which he took towards that end was to annul, by an unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative, all the penal statutes against the Roman Catholics; and in order to disguise his real design, he annulled at the same time the penal statutes against Protestant nonconformists. Bunyan was consequently set at large.[6]In the first warmth of his gratitude he published a tract, in which he compared Charles to that humane and generous Persian king, who, though not himself blest with the light of the true religion, favoured the chosen people, and permitted them, after years of captivity, to rebuild their beloved temple.
Before he left his prison he had begun the book which has made his name immortal.[7]The history of that book is remarkable. The author was, as he tells us, writing a treatise, in which he had occasion to speak of the stages of the Christian progress. He compared that progress, as many others had compared it, to a pilgrimage. Soon his quick wit discovered innumerable points of similarity which had escaped his predecessors. Images came crowding on his mind faster than he could put them into words, quagmires and pits, steep hills, dark and horrible glens, soft vales, sunny pastures, a gloomy castle, of which the courtyard was strewn with the skulls and bones of murdered prisoners, a town all bustle and splendour, like London on the Lord Mayor's Day, and the narrow path, straight as a rule could make it, running on up hill and down hill, through city and through wilderness, to the Black River and the Shining Gate. He had found out, as most people would have said, by accident, as he would doubtless have said, by the guidance of Providence, where his powers lay. He had no suspicion, indeed, that he was producing a masterpiece. He could not guess what place his allegory would occupy in English literature; for of English literature he knew nothing. Those who suppose him to have studied theFaery Queenmight easily be confuted, if this were the proper place for a detailed examination of the passages in which the two allegories have been thought to resemble each other. The only work of fiction, in all probability, with which he could compare hisPilgrimwas his old favourite, the legend of Sir Bevis of Southampton. He would have thought it a sin to borrow any time from the serious business of his life, from his expositions, his controversies and his lace tags, for the purpose of amusing himself with what he considered merely as a trifle. It was only, he assures us, at spare moments that he returned to the House Beautiful, the Delectable Mountains and the Enchanted Ground. He had no assistance. Nobody but himself saw a line till the whole was complete. He then consulted his pious friends. Some were pleased. Others were much scandalized. It was a vain story, a mere romance, about giants, and lions, and goblins, and warriors, sometimes fighting with monsters, and sometimes regaled by fair ladies in stately palaces. The loose atheistical wits at Will's might write such stuff to divert the painted Jezebels of the court; but did it become a minister of the gospel to copy the evil fashions of the world? There had been a time when the cant of such fools would have made Bunyan miserable. But that time was past; and his mind was now in a firm and healthy state. He saw that in employing fiction to make truth clear and goodness attractive, he was only following the example which every Christian ought to propose to himself; and he determined to print.
ThePilgrim's Progresswas published in February 1678. Soon the irresistible charm of a book which gratified the imagination of the reader with all the action and scenery of a fairy tale, which exercised his ingenuity by setting him to discover a multitude of curious analogies, which interested his feelings for human beings, frail like himself, and struggling with temptations from within and from without, which every moment drew a smile from him by some stroke of quaint yet simple pleasantry, and nevertheless left on his mind a sentiment of reverence for God and of sympathy for man, began to produce its effect. In puritanical circles, from which plays and novels were strictly excluded, that effect was such as no work of genius, though it were superior to theIliad, toDon Quixoteor toOthello, can ever produce on a mind accustomed to indulge in literary luxury. A second edition came out in the autumn with additions; and the demand became immense. The eighth edition, which contains the last improvements made by the author, was published in 1682, the ninth in 1684, the tenth in 1685. The help of the engraver had early been called in; and tens of thousands of children looked with terror and delight on execrable copperplates, which represented Christian thrusting his sword into Apollyon, or writhing in the grasp of Giant Despair. In Scotland, and in some of the colonies, thePilgrimwas even more popular than in his native country. Bunyan has told us, with very pardonable vanity, that in New England his dream was the daily subject of the conversation of thousands, and was thought worthy to appear in the most superb binding. He had numerous admirers in Holland, and amongst the Huguenots of France.
He continued to work the gold-field which he had discovered, and to draw from it new treasures, not indeed with quite such ease and in quite such abundance as when the precious soil was still virgin, but yet with success, which left all competition far behind. In 1680 appeared theLife and Death of Mr Badman; in 1684 the second part of thePilgrim's Progress. In 1682 appeared theHoly War, which if thePilgrim's Progressdid not exist, would be the best allegory that ever was written.
Bunyan's place in society was now very different from what it had been. There had been a time when many dissenting ministers, who could talk Latin and read Greek, had affected to treat him with scorn. But his fame and influence now far exceeded theirs. He had so great an authority among the Baptists that he was popularly called Bishop Bunyan. His episcopal visitations were annual. From Bedford he rode every year to London, and preached there to large and attentive congregations. From London he went his circuit through the country, animating the zeal of his brethren, collecting and distributing alms and making up quarrels. The magistrates seem in general to have given him little trouble. But there is reason to believe that, in the year 1685, he was in some danger of again occupying his old quarters in Bedford gaol. In that year the rash and wicked enterprise of Monmouth gave the government a pretext for prosecuting the nonconformists; and scarcely one eminent divine of the Presbyterian. Independentor Baptist persuasion remained unmolested. Baxter was in prison: Howe was driven into exile: Henry was arrested.
Two eminent Baptists, with whom Bunyan had been engaged in controversy, were in great peril and distress. Danvers was in danger of being hanged; and Kiffin's grandsons were actually hanged. The tradition is that, during those evil days, Bunyan was forced to disguise himself as a wagoner, and that he preached to his congregation at Bedford in a smock-frock, with a cart-whip in his hand. But soon a great change took place. James II. was at open war with the church, and found it necessary to court the dissenters. Some of the creatures of the government tried to secure the aid of Bunyan. They probably knew that he had written in praise of the indulgence of 1672, and therefore hoped that he might be equally pleased with the indulgence of 1687. But fifteen years of thought, observation and commerce with the world had made him wiser. Nor were the cases exactly parallel. Charles was a professed Protestant; James was a professed Papist. The object of Charles's indulgence was disguised; the object of James's indulgence was patent. Bunyan was not deceived. He exhorted his hearers to prepare themselves by fasting and prayer for the danger which menaced their civil and religious liberties, and refused even to speak to the courtier who came down to remodel the corporation of Bedford, and who, as was supposed, had it in charge to offer some municipal dignity to the bishop of the Baptists.
Bunyan did not live to see the Revolution.[8]In the summer of 1688 he undertook to plead the cause of a son with an angry father, and at length prevailed on the old man not to disinherit the young one. This good work cost the benevolent intercessor his life. He had to ride through heavy rain. He came drenched to his lodgings on Snow Hill, was seized with a violent fever, and died in a few days (August 31). He was buried in Bunhill Fields; and many Puritans, to whom the respect paid by Roman Catholics to the reliques and tombs of saints seemed childish or sinful, are said to have begged with their dying breath that their coffins might be placed as near as possible to the coffin of the author of thePilgrim's Progress.
The fame of Bunyan during his life, and during the century which followed his death, was indeed great, but was almost entirely confined to religious families of the middle and lower classes. Very seldom was he during that time mentioned with respect by any writer of great literary eminence. Young coupled his prose with the poetry of the wretched D'Urfey. In theSpiritual Quixote, the adventures of Christian are ranked with those of Jack the Giant-Killer and John Hickathrift. Cowper ventured to praise the great allegorist, but did not venture to name him. It is a significant circumstance that, for a long time all the numerous editions of thePilgrim's Progresswere evidently meant for the cottage and the servants' hall. The paper, the printing, the plates, were all of the meanest description. In general, when the educated minority and the common people differ about the merit of a book, the opinion of the educated minority finally prevails. ThePilgrim's Progressis perhaps the only book about which the educated minority has come over to the opinion of the common people.
The attempts which have been made to improve and to imitate this book are not to be numbered. It has been done into verse; it has been done into modern English. The Pilgrimage of Tender Conscience, the Pilgrimage of Good Intent, the Pilgrimage of Seek Truth, the Pilgrimage of Theophilus, the Infant Pilgrim, the Hindoo Pilgrim, are among the many feeble copies of the great original. But the peculiar glory of Bunyan is that those who most hated his doctrines have tried to borrow the help of his genius. A Catholic version of his parable may be seen with the head of the virgin in the title-page. On the other hand, those Antinomians for whom his Calvinism is not strong enough, may study the Pilgrimage of Hephzibah, in which nothing will be found which can be construed into an admission of free agency and universal redemption. But the most extraordinary of all the acts of Vandalism by which a fine work of art was ever defaced was committed in the year 1853. It was determined to transform thePilgrim's Progressinto a Tractarian book. The task was not easy; for it was necessary to make two sacraments the most prominent objects in the allegory, and of all Christian theologians, avowed Quakers excepted, Bunyan was the one in whose system the sacraments held the least prominent place. However, the Wicket Gate became a type of baptism, and the House Beautiful of the eucharist. The effect of this change is such as assuredly the ingenious person who made it never contemplated. For, as not a single pilgrim passes through the Wicket Gate in infancy, and as Faithful hurries past the House Beautiful without stopping, the lesson which the fable in its altered shape teaches, is that none but adults ought to be baptized, and that the eucharist may safely be neglected. Nobody would have discovered from the originalPilgrim's Progressthat the author was not a Paedobaptist. To turn his book into a book against Paedobaptism, was an achievement reserved for an Anglo-Catholic divine. Such blunders must necessarily be committed by every man who mutilates parts of a great work, without taking a comprehensive view of the whole.
(M.)
The above article has been slightly corrected as to facts, as compared with its form in the 9th edition. Bunyan's works were first partially collected in a folio volume (1692) by his friend Charles Doe. A larger edition (2 vols., 1736-1737) was edited by Samuel Wilson of the Barbican. In 1853 a good edition (3 vols., Glasgow) was produced by George Offer. Southey's edition (1830) of thePilgrim's Progresscontained hisLifeof Bunyan. Since then various editions of thePilgrim's Progress, many illustrated (by Cruikshank, Byam Shaw, W. Strang and others), have appeared. An interesting life by "the author ofMark Rutherford" (W. Hale White) was published in 1904. Other lives are by J.A. Froude (1880) in the "English Men of Letters" series, and E. Venables (1888); but the standard work on the subject isJohn Bunyan; his Life, Times and Work(1885), by the Rev. J. Brown of Bedford. A bronze statue, by Boehm, was presented to the town by the duke of Bedford in 1874.
[1]The name, in various forms as Buignon, Buniun, Bonyon or Binyan, appears in the local records of Elstow and the neighbouring parishes at intervals from as far back as 1199. They were small freeholders, but all the property except the cottage had been lost in the time of Bunyan's grandfather. Bunyan's own account of his family as the "meanest and most despised of all the families of the land" must be put down to his habitual self-depreciation. Thomas Bunyan had a forge and workshop at Elstow.[2]There is no direct evidence to show on which side he fought, but the balance of probability justifies this view.[3]There is no means of identifying the place besieged. It has been assumed to be Leicester, which was captured by the Royalists in May 1645, and recovered by Fairfax in the next month.[4]Bunyan had joined, in 1653, the nonconformist community which met under a certain Mr Gifford at St John's church, Bedford. This congregation was not Baptist, properly so called, as the question of baptism, with other doctrinal points, was left open. When Bunyan removed to Bedford in 1655, he became a deacon of this church, and two years later he was formally recognized as a preacher, his fame soon spreading through the neighbouring counties. His wife died soon after their removal to Bedford, and he also lost his friend and pastor, Mr Gifford. His earliest work was directed against Quaker mysticism and appeared in 1656. It was entitledSome Gospel Truths Opened; it was followed in the same year by a second tract in the same sense,A Vindication of Gospel Truths.[5]He was not, however, as has often been stated, confined in the old gaol which stood on the bridge over the Ouse, but in the county gaol.[6]His formal pardon is dated the 13th of September 1672; but five months earlier he had received a royal licence to preach, and acted for the next three years as pastor of the nonconformist body to which he belonged, in a barn on the site of which stands the present Bunyan Meeting.[7]It is now generally supposed that Bunyan wrote hisPilgrim's Progress, not during his twelve years' imprisonment, but during a short period of incarceration in 1675, probably in the old gaol on the bridge.[8]He had resumed his pastorate in Bedford after his imprisonment of 1675, and, although he frequently preached in London to crowded congregations, and is said in the last year of his life to have been, of course unofficially, chaplain to Sir John Shorter, lord mayor of London, he remained faithful to his own congregation.
[1]The name, in various forms as Buignon, Buniun, Bonyon or Binyan, appears in the local records of Elstow and the neighbouring parishes at intervals from as far back as 1199. They were small freeholders, but all the property except the cottage had been lost in the time of Bunyan's grandfather. Bunyan's own account of his family as the "meanest and most despised of all the families of the land" must be put down to his habitual self-depreciation. Thomas Bunyan had a forge and workshop at Elstow.
[2]There is no direct evidence to show on which side he fought, but the balance of probability justifies this view.
[3]There is no means of identifying the place besieged. It has been assumed to be Leicester, which was captured by the Royalists in May 1645, and recovered by Fairfax in the next month.
[4]Bunyan had joined, in 1653, the nonconformist community which met under a certain Mr Gifford at St John's church, Bedford. This congregation was not Baptist, properly so called, as the question of baptism, with other doctrinal points, was left open. When Bunyan removed to Bedford in 1655, he became a deacon of this church, and two years later he was formally recognized as a preacher, his fame soon spreading through the neighbouring counties. His wife died soon after their removal to Bedford, and he also lost his friend and pastor, Mr Gifford. His earliest work was directed against Quaker mysticism and appeared in 1656. It was entitledSome Gospel Truths Opened; it was followed in the same year by a second tract in the same sense,A Vindication of Gospel Truths.
[5]He was not, however, as has often been stated, confined in the old gaol which stood on the bridge over the Ouse, but in the county gaol.
[6]His formal pardon is dated the 13th of September 1672; but five months earlier he had received a royal licence to preach, and acted for the next three years as pastor of the nonconformist body to which he belonged, in a barn on the site of which stands the present Bunyan Meeting.
[7]It is now generally supposed that Bunyan wrote hisPilgrim's Progress, not during his twelve years' imprisonment, but during a short period of incarceration in 1675, probably in the old gaol on the bridge.
[8]He had resumed his pastorate in Bedford after his imprisonment of 1675, and, although he frequently preached in London to crowded congregations, and is said in the last year of his life to have been, of course unofficially, chaplain to Sir John Shorter, lord mayor of London, he remained faithful to his own congregation.
BUNZLAU,a town of Germany, in Prussian Silesia, on the right bank of the Bober, 27 m. from Liegnitz on the Berlin-Breslau railway, which crosses the river by a great viaduct. Pop. (1900) 14,590. It has a handsome market square, an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, and monuments to the Russian field marshal Kutusov, who died here, and to the poet Martin Opitz von Boberfeld. The Bunzlau pottery is famous; woollen and linen cloth are manufactured, and there is a considerable trade in grain and cattle. Bunzlau (Boleslavia) received its name in the 12th century from Duke Boleslav, who separated it from the duchy of Glogau. Its importance was increased by numerous privileges and the possession of extensive mining works. It was frequently captured and recaptured in the wars of the 17th century, and in 1739 was completely destroyed by fire. On the 30th of August 1813 the French were here defeated on the retreat from the Katzbach by the Silesian army of the allies.
BUONAFEDE, APPIANO(1716-1793), Italian philosopher, was born at Comachio, in Ferrara, and died in Rome. He became professor of theology at Naples in 1740, and, entering the religious body of the Celestines, rose to be general of the order. His principal works, generally published under the assumed name of "Agatopisto Cromazione," are on the history of philosophy:—Della Istoria e delle Indole di ogni Filosofia, 7 vols., 1772 seq.; andDella Restaurazione di ogni Filosofia ne' Secoli, xvi., xvii., xviii., 3 vols., 1789 (German trans. by C. Heydenreich). The latter gives a valuable account of 16th-century Italian philosophy. His other works areIstoria critica e filosofica del suicidio(1761);Delle conquiste celebri esaminate col naturale diritto delle genti(1763);Storia critica del moderno diritto di natura e delle genti(1789); and a few poems and philosophic comedies.
BUOY(15th century "boye"; through O.Fr. or Dutch, from Lat.boia, fetter; the word is now usually pronounced as "boy," and it has been spelt in that form; but Hakluyt'sVoyagesspells it "bwoy," and this seems to indicate a different pronunciation, which is also given in some modern dictionaries), a floating body employed to mark the navigable limits of channels, their fairways, sunken dangers or isolated rocks, mined or torpedo grounds, telegraph cables, or the position of a ship's anchor after letting go; buoys are also used for securing a ship to instead of anchoring. They vary in size and construction from a log of wood to steel mooring buoys for battleships or a steel gas buoy.
In 1882 a conference was held upon a proposal to establish a uniform system of buoyage. It was under the presidency of the then duke of Edinburgh, and consisted of representatives from the various bodies interested. The questions of colour, visibility, shape and size were considered, and any modifications necessary owing to locality. The committee proposed the following uniform system of buoyage, and it is now adopted by the general lighthouse authorities of the United Kingdom:—
Fig. 3. Spherical buoy with triangle.Fig.3.
Fig. 2. Can buoy with staff and cage.Fig.2.
Fig. 1. Conical buoy with staff and globe.Fig.1.
(1) The mariner when approaching the coast must determine his position on the chart, and note the direction of flood tide. (2) The term "starboard-hand" shall denote that side which would be on the right hand of the mariner either going with the main stream of the flood, or entering a harbour, river or estuary from seaward; the term "port-hand" shall denote the left hand of the mariner in the same circumstances. (3)[1]Buoys showing the pointed top of a cone above water shall be called conical (fig. 1) and shall always be starboard-hand buoys, as above defined. (4)[1]Buoys showing a flat top above water shall be called can (fig. 2) and shall always be port-hand buoys, as above defined. (5) Buoys showing a domed top above water shall be called spherical (fig. 3) and shall mark the ends of middle grounds. (6) Buoys having a tall central structure on a broad face shall be called pillar buoys (fig. 4), and like all other special buoys, such as bell buoys, gas buoys, and automatic sounding buoys, shall be placed to mark special positions either on the coast or in the approaches to harbours. (7) Buoys showing only a mast above water shall be called spar-buoys (fig. 5).[2](8) Starboard-hand buoys shall always be painted in one colour only. (9) Port-hand buoys shall be painted of another characteristic colour, either single or parti-colour. (10) Spherical buoys (fig. 3) at the ends of middle grounds shall always be distinguished by horizontal stripes of white colour, (11) Surmounting beacons, such as staff and globe and others,[3]shall always be painted of one dark colour. (12) Staff and globe (fig. 1) shall only be used on starboard-hand buoys, staff and cage (fig. 2) on port hand; diamonds (fig. 7) at the outer ends of middle grounds; and triangles (fig. 3) at the inner ends. (13) Buoys on the same side of a channel, estuary or tideway may be distinguished from each other by names, numbers or letters, and where necessary by a staff surmounted with the appropriate beacon. (14) Buoys intended for moorings (fig. 6) may be of shape and colour according to the discretion of the authority within whose jurisdiction they are laid, but for marking submarine telegraph cables the colour shall be green with the word "Telegraph" painted thereon in white letters.
Fig. 7. Diamond marker.Fig.7.
Fig. 6. Mooring buoy.Fig.6.
Fig. 5. Spar-buoy.Fig.5.
Fig. 4. Pillar buoy.Fig.4.
Buoying and Marking of Wrecks.—(15) Wreck buoys in the open sea, or in the approaches to a harbour or estuary, shall be coloured green, with the word "Wreck" painted in white letters on them. (16) When possible, the buoy should be laid near to the side of the wreck next to mid-channel. (17) When a wreck-marking vessel is used, it shall, if possible, have its top sides coloured green, with the word "Wreck" in white letters thereon, and shall exhibit by day, three balls on a yard 20 ft. above the sea, two placed vertically at one end and one at the other, the single ball being on the side nearer to the wreck; in fog a gong or bell is rung in quick succession at intervals not exceeding one minute (wherever practicable); by night, three white fixed lights are similarly arranged as the balls in daytime, but the ordinary riding lights are not shown. (18) In narrow waters or in rivers and harbours under the jurisdiction of local authorities, the same rules may be adopted, or at discretion, varied as follows:—When a wreck-marking vessel is used she shall carry a cross-yard on a mast with two balls by day, placed horizontally not less than 6 nor more than 12 ft. apart, and by night two lights similarly placed. When a barge or open boat only is used, a flag or ball may be shown in the daytime. (19) The position in which the marking vessel is placed with reference to the wreck shall be at the discretion of the local authority having jurisdiction. A uniform system by shape has been adopted by the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board, to assist a mariner by night, and, in addition, where practicable, a uniform colour; the fairway buoys are specially marked by letter, shape and colour.
Fig. 11. Horizontal Stripes.Fig.11.
Fig. 10. Chequered.Fig.10.
Fig. 9. Vertical Stripes.Fig.9.
Fig. 8. Single Colour.Fig.8.
British India has practically adopted the British system, United States and Canada have the same uniform system; in the majority of European maritime countries and China various uniform systems have been adopted. In Norway and Russia the compass system is used, the shape, colour and surmountings of the buoys indicating the compass bearing of the danger from the buoy; this method is followed in the open sea by Sweden. An international uniform system of buoyage, although desirable, appears impracticable. Germany employs yellow buoys to mark boundaries of quarantine stations. The question of shape versus colour, irrespective of size, is a disputed one; the shape is a better guide at night and colour in the daytime. All markings (figs. 8, 9, 10 and 11) should be subordinate to the main colour of the buoy; the varying backgrounds and atmospheric conditions render the question a complex one.
Fig. 14. Gas buoy.Fig.14.
Fig. 13. Courtenay whistling buoy.Fig.13.
Fig. 12. Gas buoy.Fig.12.
London Trinity House buoys are divided into five classes, their use depending on whether the spot to be marked is in the open sea or otherwise exposed position, or in a sheltered harbour, or according to the depth of water and weight of moorings, or the importance of the danger. Buoys are moored with specially tested cables; the eye at the base of the buoy is of wrought iron to prevent it becoming "reedy" and the cable is secured to blocks (seeAnchor) or mushroom anchors according to the nature of the ground. London Trinity House buoys arebuilt of steel, with bulkheads to lessen the risk of their sinking by collision, and, with the exception of bell buoys, do not contain water ballast. In 1878 gas buoys, with fixed and occulting lights of 10-candle power, were introduced. In 1896 Mr T. Matthews, engineer-in-chief in the London Trinity Corporation, developed the present design (fig. 12). It is of steel, the lower plates being 5/8 in. and the upper 7/16 in. in thickness, thus adding to the stability. The buoy holds 380 cub. ft. of gas, and exhibits an occulting light for 2533 hours. This light is placed 10 ft. above the sea, and, with an intensity of 50 candles, is visible 8 m. It occults every ten seconds, and there is seven seconds' visibility, with three seconds' obscuration. The occultations are actuated by a double valve arrangement. In the body of the apparatus there is a gas chamber having sufficient capacity, in the case of an occulting light, for maintaining the flame in action for seven seconds, and by means of a by-pass a jet remains alight in the centre of the burner. During the period of three seconds' darkness the gas chamber is re-charged, and at the end of that period is again opened to the main burner by a tripping arrangement of the valve, and remains in action seven seconds. The gas chamber of the buoy, charged to five atmospheres, is replenished from a steamer fitted with a pump and transport receivers carrying indicating valves, the receivers being charged to ten atmospheres. Practically no inconvenience has resulted from saline or other deposits, the glazing (glass) of the lantern being thoroughly cleaned when re-charging the buoy. Acetylene, generated from calcium carbide inside the buoy, is also used. Electric light is exhibited from some buoys in the United States. In England an automatic electric buoy has been suggested, worked by the motion of the waves, which cause a stream of water to act on a turbine connected with a dynamo generating electricity. Boat-shaped buoys are also used (river Humber) for carrying a light and bell. The Courtenay whistling buoy (fig. 13) is actuated by the undulating movement of the waves. A hollow cylinder extends from the lower part of the buoy to still water below the movement of the waves, ensuring that the water inside keeps at mean level, whilst the buoy follows the movements of the waves. By a special apparatus the compressed air is forced through the whistle at the top of the buoy, and the air is replenished by two tubes at the upper part of the buoy. It is fitted with a rudder and secured in the usual manner. Automatic buoys cannot be relied on in calm days with a smooth sea. The nun buoy (fig. 14) for indicating the position of an anchor after letting go, is secured to the crown of the anchor by a buoy rope. It is usually made of galvanized iron, and consists of two cones joined together at the base. It is painted red for the port anchor and green for the starboard.
Mooring buoys (fig. 6) for battleships are built of steel in four watertight compartments, and have sufficient buoyancy to keep afloat should a compartment be pierced; they are 13 ft. long with a diameter of 6½ ft. The mooring cable (bridle) passes through a watertight 16-in. trunk pipe, built vertically in the centre of the buoy, and is secured to a "rocking shackle" on the upper surface of the buoy. Large mooring buoys are usually protected by horizontal wooden battens and are fitted with life chains.
(J. W. D.)
[1]In carrying out the above system the Northern Lights Commissioners have adopted a red colour for conical or starboard-hand buoys, and black colour for can or port-hand buoys, and this system is applicable to the whole of Scotland.[2]Useful where floating ice is encountered.[3]St George and St Andrew crosses are principally employed to surmount shore beacons.
[1]In carrying out the above system the Northern Lights Commissioners have adopted a red colour for conical or starboard-hand buoys, and black colour for can or port-hand buoys, and this system is applicable to the whole of Scotland.
[2]Useful where floating ice is encountered.
[3]St George and St Andrew crosses are principally employed to surmount shore beacons.
BUPALUSANDATHENIS,sons of Archermus, and members of the celebrated school of sculpture in marble which flourished in Chios in the 6th centuryB.C.They were contemporaries of the poet Hipponax (about 540B.C.), whom they were said to have caricatured. Their works consisted almost entirely of draped female figures, Artemis, Fortune, the Graces, whence the Chian school has been well called a school of Madonnas. Augustus brought many of the works of Bupalus and Athenis to Rome, and placed them on the gable of the temple of Apollo Palatinus.
BUPHONIA,in Greek antiquities, a sacrificial ceremony, forming part of the Diipolia, a religious festival held on the 14th of the month Skirophorion (June-July) at Athens, when a labouring ox was sacrificed to Zeus Polieus as protector of the city in accordance with a very ancient custom. The ox was driven forward to the altar, on which grain was spread, by members of the family of the Kentriadae (fromκέντρον, a goad), on whom this duty devolved hereditarily. When it began to eat, one of the family of the Thaulonidae advanced with an axe, slew the ox, then immediately threw away the axe and fled. The axe, as being polluted by murder, was now carried before the court of the Prytaneum (which tried inanimate objects for homicide) and there charged with having caused the death of the ox, for which it was thrown into the sea. Apparently this is an early instance analogous to deodand (q.v.). Although the slaughter of a labouring ox was forbidden, it was considered excusable in the exceptional circumstances; none the less it was regarded as a murder.
Porphyrius,De Abstinentia, ii. 29; Aelian,Var. Hist.viii. 3; Schol. Aristoph.Nubes, 485; Pausanias, i. 24, 28; see also Band,De Diipoliorum Sacro Atheniensium(1873).
BUR, orBurr(apparently the same word as Danishborre, burdock, cf. Swed.kard-boore), a prickly fruit or head of fruits, as of the burdock. In the sense of a woody outgrowth on the trunk of a tree, or "gnaur," the effect of a crowded bud-development, the word is probably adapted from the Fr.bourre, a vine-bud.
BURANO,a town of Venetia, in the province of Venice, on an island in the lagoons, 6 m. N.E. of Venice by sea. Pop. (1901) 8169. It is a fishing town, with a large royal school of lace-making employing some 500 girls. It was founded, like all the towns in the lagoons, by fugitives from the mainland cities at the time of the barbarian invasions. Torcello is a part of the commune of Burano.
BURAUEN,a town of the province of Leyte, island of Leyte, Philippine Islands, on the Dagitan river, 21 m. S. by W. of Tacloban, the capital. Pop. (1903) 18,197. Burauen is situated in a rich hemp-growing region, and hemp is its only important product. The language is Visayan.
BURBAGE, JAMES(d. 1597), English actor, is said to have been born at Stratford-on-Avon. He was a member of the earl of Leicester's players, probably for several years before he is first mentioned (1574) as being at the head of the company. In 1576, having secured the lease of land at Shoreditch, Burbage erected there the successful house which was known for twenty years asTheTheatre from the fact that it was the first ever erected in London. He seems also to have been concerned in the erection of a second theatre in the same locality, the Curtain, and later, in spite of all difficulties and a great deal of local opposition, he started what became the most celebrated home of the rising drama,—the Blackfriars theatre, built in 1596 near the old Dominican friary.
His sonRichard Burbage(c.1567-1619), more celebrated than his father, was the Garrick of the Elizabethan stage, and acted all the great parts in Shakespeare's plays. He, too, is said to have been born at Stratford-on-Avon, and made his first appearance at an early age at one of his father's theatres. He had established a reputation by the time he was twenty, and in the next dozen years was the most popular English actor, the "Roscius" of his day. At the time of his father's death, a lawsuit was in progress against the lessor from whom James Burbage held the land on which The Theatre stood. This suit was continued by Richard and his brother Cuthbert, and in 1569 they pulled down the Shoreditch house and used the materials to erect the Globe theatre, famous for its connexion with Shakespeare. They occupied it as a summer playhouse, retaining the Blackfriars, which was roofed in, for winter performances. In this venture Richard Burbage had Shakespeare and othersas his partners, and it was in one or the other of these houses that he gained his greatest triumphs, taking the leading part in almost every new play. He was specially famous for his impersonation of Richard III. and other Shakespearian characters, and it was in tragedy that he especially excelled. Every playwright of his day endeavoured to secure his services. He died on the 13th of March 1619. Richard Burbage was a painter as well as an actor. The Felton portrait of Shakespeare is attributed to him, and there is a portrait of a woman, undoubtedly by him, preserved at Dulwich College.
BURBOT,orEel-Pout(Lota vulgaris), a fish of the family Gadidae, which differs from the ling in the dorsal and anal fins reaching the caudal, and in the small size of all the teeth. It exceeds a length of 3 ft. and is a freshwater fish, although examples are exceptionally taken in British estuaries and in the Baltic; some specimens are handsomely marbled with dark brown, with black blotches on the back and dorsal fins. It is very locally distributed in central and northern Europe, and an uncommon fish in England. Its flesh is excellent. The American burbot (Lota maculosa) is coarser, and not favoured for the table.
BURCKHARDT, JAKOB(1818-1897), Swiss writer on art, was born at Basel on the 25th of May 1818; he was educated there and at Neuchâtel, and till 1839 was intended to be a pastor. In 1838 he made his first journey to Italy, and also published his first important articlesBemerkungen über schweizerische Kathedralen. In 1839 he went to the university of Berlin, where he studied till 1843, spending part of 1841 at Bonn, where he was a pupil of Franz Kugler, the art historian, to whom his first book,Die Kunstwerke D. belgischen Städte(1842), was dedicated. He was professor of history at the university of Basel (1845-1847, 1849-1855 and 1858-1893) and at the federal polytechnic school at Zurich (1855-1858). In 1847 he brought out new editions of Kugler's two great works,Geschichte der MalereiandKunstgeschichte, and in 1853 published his own work,Die Zeit Constantins des Grossen. He spent the greater part of the years 1853-1854 in Italy, where he collected the materials for one of his most famous works,Der Cicerone: eine Anleitung sum Genuss der Kunstwerke Italiens, which was dedicated to Kugler and appeared in 1855 (7th German edition, 1899; English translation of the sections relating to paintings, by Mrs A.H. Clough, London, 1873). This work, which includes sculpture and architecture, as well as painting, has become indispensable to the art traveller in Italy. About half of the original edition was devoted to the art of the Renaissance, so that Burckhardt was naturally led on to the preparation of his two other celebrated works,Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien(1860, 5th German edition 1896, and English translation, by S.G.C. Middlemore, in 2 vols., London, 1878), and theGeschichte der Renaissance in Italien(1867, 3rd German edition 1891). In 1867 he refused a professorship at Tübingen, and in 1872 another (that left vacant by Ranke) at Berlin, remaining faithful to Basel. He died in 1897.
See Life by Hans Trog in theBasler Jahrbuchfor 1898, pp. 1-172.
(W. A. B. C.)
BURCKHARDT, JOHN LEWIS[Johann Ludwig] (1784-1817), Swiss traveller and orientalist, was born at Lausanne on the 24th of November 1784. After studying at Leipzig and Göttingen he visited England in the summer of 1806, carrying a letter of introduction from the naturalist Blumenbach to Sir Joseph Banks, who, with the other members of the African Association, accepted his offer to explore the interior of Africa. After studying in London and Cambridge, and inuring himself to all kinds of hardships and privations, Burckhardt left England in March 1809 for Malta, whence he proceeded, in the following autumn, to Aleppo. In order to obtain a better knowledge of oriental life he disguised himself as a Mussulman, and took the name of Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah. After two years passed in the Levant he had thoroughly mastered Arabic, and had acquired such accurate knowledge of the Koran, and of the commentaries upon its religion and laws, that after a critical examination the most learned Mussulmans entertained no doubt of his being really what he professed to be, a learned doctor of their law. During his residence in Syria he visited Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon and thence journeyed via Petra to Cairo with the intention of joining a caravan to Fezzan, and of exploring from there the sources of the Niger. In 1812, whilst waiting for the departure of the caravan, he travelled up the Nile as far as Dar Mahass; and then, finding it impossible to penetrate westward, he made a journey through the Nubian desert in the character of a poor Syrian merchant, passing by Berber and Shendi to Suakin, on the Red Sea, whence he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Jidda. At Mecca he stayed three months and afterwards visited Medina. After enduring privations and sufferings of the severest kind, he returned to Cairo in June 1815 in a state of great exhaustion; but in the spring of 1816 he travelled to Mount Sinai, whence he returned to Cairo in June, and there again made preparations for his intended journey to Fezzan. Several hindrances prevented his prosecuting this intention, and finally, in April 1817, when the long-expected caravan prepared to depart, he was seized with illness and died on the 15th of October. He had from time to time carefully transmitted to England his journals and notes, and a very copious series of letters, so that nothing which appeared to him to be interesting in the various journeys he made has been lost. He bequeathed his collection of 800 vols. of oriental MSS. to the library of Cambridge University.
His works were published by the African Association in the following order:—Travels in Nubia(to which is prefixed a biographical memoir) (1819);Travels in Syria and the Holy Land(1822);Travels in Arabia(1829);Arabic Proverbs, or the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians(1830);Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys(1831).
BURDEAU, AUGUSTE LAURENT(1851-1894), French politician, was the son of a labourer at Lyons. Forced from childhood to earn his own living, he was enabled to secure an education by bursarships at the Lycée at Lyons and at the Lycée Louis Le Grand in Paris. In 1870 he was at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, but enlisted in the army, and was wounded and made prisoner in 1871. In 1874 he became professor of philosophy, and translated several works of Herbert Spencer and of Schopenhauer into French. His extraordinary aptitude for work secured for him the position ofchef de cabinetunder Paul Bert, the minister of education, in 1881. In 1885 he was elected deputy for the department of the Rhone, and distinguished himself in financial questions. He was several times minister, and became minister of finance in the cabinet of Casimir-Périer (from the 3rd of November 1893 to the 22nd of May 1894). On the 5th of July 1894 he was elected president of the chamber of deputies. He died on the 12th of December 1894, worn out with overwork.
BURDEN,orBurthen, (1) (A.S.byrthen, fromberan, to bear), a load, both literally and figuratively; especially the carrying capacity of a ship; in mining and smelting, the tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin, and the proportion of ore and flux to fuel in the charge of a blast-furnace. In Scots and English law the term is applied to an encumbrance on real or personal property. (2) (From the Fr.bourdon, a droning, humming sound) an accompaniment to a song, or the refrain of a song; hence a chief or recurrent topic, as "the burden of a speech."
BURDER, GEORGE(1752-1832), English Nonconformist divine, was born in London on the 5th of June 1752. In early manhood he was an engraver, but in 1776 he began preaching, and was minister of the Independent church at Lancaster from 1778 to 1783. Subsequently he held charges at Coventry (1784-1803) and at Fetter Lane, London (1803-1832). He was one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Religious Tract Society, and the London Missionary Society, and was secretary to the last-named for several years. As editor of theEvangelical Magazineand author ofVillage Sermons, he commanded a wide influence. He died on the 29th of May 1832, and a Life (by H. Burder) appeared in 1833.
BURDETT, SIR FRANCIS(1770-1844), English politician, was the son of Francis Burdett by his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Jones of Ramsbury manor, Wiltshire, and grandson ofSir Robert Burdett, Bart. Born on the 25th of January 1770, he was educated at Westminster school and Oxford, and afterwards travelled in France and Switzerland. He was in Paris during the earlier days of the French Revolution, a visit which doubtless influenced his political opinions. Returning to England he married in 1793 Sophia, daughter of Thomas Coutts the banker, and this lady brought him a large fortune. In 1796 he became member of parliament for Boroughbridge, having purchased this seat from the representatives of the 4th duke of Newcastle, and in 1797 succeeded his grandfather as fifth baronet. In parliament he soon became prominent as an opponent of Pitt, and as an advocate of popular rights. He denounced the war with France, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the proposed exclusion of John Horne Tooke from parliament, and quickly became the idol of the people. He was instrumental in securing an inquiry into the condition of Coldbath Fields prison, but as a result of this step he was for a time prevented by the government from visiting any prison in the kingdom. In 1797 he made the acquaintance of Horne Tooke, whose pupil he became, not only in politics, but also in philology. At the general election of 1802 Burdett was a candidate for the county of Middlesex, but his return was declared void in 1804, and in the subsequent contest he was defeated. In 1805 this return was amended in his favour, but as this was again quickly reversed, Burdett, who had spent an immense sum of money over the affair, declared he would not stand for parliament again.
At the general election of 1806 Burdett was a leading supporter of James Paull, the reform candidate for the city of Westminster; but in the following year a misunderstanding led to a duel between Burdett and Paull in which both combatants were wounded. At the general election in 1807 Burdett, in spite of his reluctance, was nominated for Westminster, and amid great enthusiasm was returned at the top of the poll. He took up again the congenial work of attacking abuses and agitating for reform, and in 1810 came sharply into collision with the House of Commons. A radical named John Gale Jones had been committed to prison by the House, a proceeding which was denounced by Burdett, who questioned the power of the House to take this step, and vainly attempted to secure the release of Jones. He then issued a revised edition of his speech on this occasion, and it was published by William Cobbett in theWeekly Register. The House voted this action a breach of privilege, and the speaker issued a warrant for Burdett's arrest. Barring himself in his house, he defied the authorities, while the mob gathered in his defence. At length his house was entered, and under an escort of soldiers he was conveyed to the Tower. Released when parliament was prorogued, he caused his supporters much disappointment by returning to Westminster by water, and so avoiding a demonstration in his honour. He then brought actions against the speaker and the serjeant-at-arms, but the courts upheld the action of the House. In parliament Burdett denounced corporal punishment in the army, and supported all attempts to check corruption, but his principal efforts were directed towards procuring a reform of parliament, and the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities. In 1809 he had proposed a scheme of parliamentary reform, and returning to the subject in 1817 and 1818 he anticipated the Chartist movement by suggesting universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments; but his motions met with very little support. He succeeded, however, in carrying a resolution in 1825 that the House should consider the laws concerning Roman Catholics. This was followed by a bill embodying his proposals, which passed the Commons but was rejected by the Lords. In 1827 and 1828 he again proposed resolutions on this subject, and saw his proposals become law in 1829. In 1820 Burdett had again come into serious conflict with the government. Having severely censured its action with reference to the "Manchester massacre," he was prosecuted at Leicester assizes, fined £1000, and committed to prison for three months. After the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 the ardour of the veteran reformer was somewhat abated, and a number of his constituents soon took umbrage at his changed attitude. Consequently he resigned his seat early in 1837, but was re-elected. However, at the general election in the same year he forsook Westminster and was elected member for North Wiltshire, which seat he retained, acting in general with the Conservatives, until his death on the 23rd of January 1844. He left a son, Robert, who succeeded to the baronetcy, and five daughters, the youngest of whom became the celebrated Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Impetuous and illogical, Burdett did good work as an advocate of free speech, and an enemy of corruption. He was exceedingly generous, and spent money lavishly in furthering projects of reform.
See A. Stephens,Life of Horne Tooke(London, 1813); Spencer Walpole,History of England(London, 1878-1886); C. Abbot, Baron Colchester,Diary and Correspondence(London, 1861).
(A. W. H.*)
BURDETT-COUTTS, ANGELA GEORGINA BURDETT-COUTTS,Baroness(1814-1906), English philanthropist, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, was born on the 21st of April 1814. When she was three-and-twenty, she inherited practically the whole of the immense wealth of her grandfather Thomas Coutts (approaching two millions sterling, a fabulous sum in those days), by the will of the duchess of St Albans, who, as the actress Henrietta Mellon, had been his second wife and had been left it on his death in 1821. Miss Burdett then took the name of Coutts in addition to her own. "The faymale heiress, Miss Anjaley Coutts," as the author of theIngoldsby Legendscalled her in his ballad on the queen's coronation in that year (1837), at once became a notable subject of public curiosity and private cupidity; she received numerous offers of marriage, but remained resolutely single, devoting herself and her riches to philanthropic work, which made her famous for well-applied generosity. In May 1871 she was created a peeress, as Baroness Burdett-Coutts of Highgate and Brookfield, Middlesex. On the 18th of July 1872 she was presented at the Guildhall with the freedom of the city of London, the first case of a woman being admitted to that fellowship. It was not till 1881 that, when sixty-seven years old, she married William Lehman Ashmead-Bartlett, an American by birth, and brother of Sir E.A. Ashmead-Bartlett, the Conservative member of parliament; and he then took his wife's name, entering the House of Commons as member for Westminster, 1885. Full of good works, and of social interest and influence, the baroness lived to the great age of ninety-two, dying at her house in Stratton Street, Piccadilly, on the 30th of December 1906, of bronchitis. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The extent of her benefactions during her long and active life can only be briefly indicated; but the baroness must remain a striking figure in the social history of Victorian England, for the thoughtful and conscientious care with which she "held her wealth in trust" for innumerable good objects. It was her aim to benefit the working-classes in ways involving no loss of independence or self-respect. She carefully avoided taking any side in party politics, but she was actively interested in phases of Imperial extension which were calculated to improve the condition of the black races, as in Africa, or the education and relief of the poor or suffering in any part of the world. Though she made no special distinction of creed in her charities, she was a notable benefactor of the Church of England, building and endowing churches and church schools, endowing the bishoprics of Cape Town and of Adelaide (1847), and founding the bishopric of British Columbia (1857). Among her many educational endowments may be specified the St Stephen's Institute in Vincent Square, Westminster (1846); she started sewing schools in Spitalfields when the silk trade began to fail; helped to found the shoe-black brigade; and placed hundreds of destitute boys in training-ships for the navy and merchant service. She established Columbia fish market (1869) in Bethnal Green, and presented it to the city, but owing to commercial difficulties this effort, which cost her over £200,000, proved abortive. She supported various schemes of emigration to the colonies; and in Ireland helped to promote the fishing industry by starting schools, and providing boats, besidesadvancing £250,000 in 1880 for supplying seed to the impoverished tenants. She was devoted to the protection of animals and prevention of cruelty, and took up with characteristic zeal the cause of the costermongers' donkeys, building stables for them on her Columbia market estate, and giving prizes for the best-kept animals. She helped to inaugurate the society for the prevention of cruelty to children, and was a keen supporter of the ragged school union. Missionary efforts of all sorts; hospitals and nursing; industrial homes and refuges; relief funds, &c., found in her a generous supporter. She was associated with Louisa Twining and Florence Nightingale; and in 1877-1878 raised the Turkish compassionate fund for the starving peasantry and fugitives in the Russo-Turkish War (for which she obtained the order of the Medjidieh, a solitary case of its conference on a woman). She relieved the distressed in far-off lands as well as at home, her helping hand being stretched out to the Dyaks of Borneo and the aborigines of Australia. She was a liberal patroness of the stage, literature and the arts, and delighted in knowing all the cultured people of the day. In short, her position in England for half a century may well be summed up in words attributed to King Edward VII., "after my mother (Queen Victoria) the most remarkable woman in the kingdom."
BURDON-SANDERSON, SIR JOHN SCOTT,Bart. (1828-1905), English physiologist, was born at West Jesmand, near Newcastle, on the 21st of December 1828. A member of a well-known Northumbrian family, he received his medical education at the university of Edinburgh and at Paris. Settling in London, he became medical officer of health for Paddington in 1856 and four years later physician to the Middlesex and the Brompton Consumption hospitals. When diphtheria appeared in England in 1858 he was sent to investigate the disease at the different points of outbreak, and in subsequent years he carried out a number of similar inquiries,e.g.into the cattle plague and into cholera in 1866. He became first principal of the Brown Institution at Lambeth in 1871, and in 1874 was appointed Jodrell professor of physiology at University College, London, retaining that post till 1882. When the Waynflete chair of physiology was established at Oxford in 1882, he was chosen to be its first occupant, and immediately found himself the object of a furious anti-vivisectionist agitation. The proposal that the university should spend £10,000 in providing him with a suitable laboratory, lecture-rooms, &c., in which to carry on his work, was strongly opposed, by some on grounds of economy, but largely because he was an upholder of the usefulness and necessity of experiments upon animals. It was, however, eventually carried by a small majority (88 to 85), and in the same year the Royal Society awarded him a royal medal in recognition of his researches into the electrical phenomena exhibited by plants and the relations of minute organisms to disease, and of the services he had rendered to physiology and pathology. In 1885 the university of Oxford was asked to vote £500 a year for three years for the purposes of the laboratory, then approaching completion. This proposal was fought with the utmost bitterness by Sanderson's opponents, the anti-vivisectionists including E.A. Freeman, John Ruskin and Bishop Mackarness of Oxford. Ultimately the money was granted by 412 to 244 votes. In 1895 Sanderson was appointed regius professor of medicine at Oxford, resigning the post in 1904; in 1899 he was created a baronet. His attainments, both in biology and medicine, brought him many honours. He was Croonian lecturer to the Royal Society in 1867 and 1877 and to the Royal College of Physicians in 1891; gave the Harveian oration before the College of Physicians in 1878; acted as president of the British Association at Nottingham in 1893; and served on three royal commissions—Hospitals (1883), Tuberculosis, Meat and Milk (1890), and University for London (1892). He died at Oxford on the 23rd of November 1905.
BURDWAN,orBardwan, a town of British India, in Bengal, which gives its name to a district and to a division. It has a station on the East Indian railway, 67 m. N.W. from Calcutta. Pop. (1901) 35,022. The town consists really of numerous villages scattered over an area of 9 sq. m., and is entirely rural in character. It contains several interesting ancient tombs, and at Nawab Hat, some 2 m. distant, is a group of 108 Sivalingamtemples built in 1788. The place was formerly very unhealthy, but this has been to a large extent remedied by the establishment of water-works, a good supply of water being derived from the river Banka. Within the town, the principal objects of interest are the palaces and gardens of the maharaja. The chief educational institution is the Burdwan Raj college, which is entirely supported out of the maharaja's estate.
The town owes its importance entirely to being the headquarters of the maharaja of Burdwan, the premier nobleman of lower Bengal, whose rent-roll is upwards of £300,000. Therajwas founded in 1657 by Abu Ra Kapur, of the Kapur Khatri family of Kotli in Lahore, Punjab, whose descendants served in turn the Mogul emperors and the British government. The great prosperity of therajwas due to the excellent management of Maharaja Mahtab Chand (d. 1879), whose loyalty to the government—especially during the Santal rebellion of 1855 and the mutiny of 1857—was rewarded with the grant of a coat of arms in 1868 and the right to a personal salute of 13 guns in 1877. Maharaja Bijai Chand Mahtab (b. 1881), who succeeded his adoptive father in 1888, earned great distinction by the courage with which he risked his life to save that of Sir Andrew Fraser, the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, on the occasion of the attempt to assassinate him made by Bengali malcontents on the 7th of November 1908.
TheDistrict of Burdwanlies along the right bank of the river Bhagirathi or Hugli. It has an area of 2689 sq. m. It is a flat plain, and its scenery is uninteresting. Chief rivers are the Bhagirathi, Damodar, Ajai, Banka, Kunur and Khari, of which only the Bhagirathi is navigable by country cargo boats throughout the year. The district was acquired by the East India Company under the treaty with Nawab Mir Kasim in 1760, and confirmed by the emperor Shah Alam in 1765. The land revenue was fixed in perpetuity with the zemindar in 1793. In 1901 the population was 1,532,475, showing an increase of 10% in the decade. There are several indigo factories. The district suffered from drought in 1896-1897. The Eden Canal, 20 m. long, has been constructed for irrigation. The weaving of silk is the chief native industry. As regards European industries, Burdwan takes the first place in Bengal. It contains the great coal-field of Raniganj, first opened in 1874, with an output of more than three million tons. The Barrakur ironworks produce pig-iron, which is reported to be as good as that of Middlesbrough. Apart from Burdwan town and Raniganj, the chief places are the river-marts of Katwa and Kalna. The East Indian railway has several lines running through the district.
TheDivision of Burdwancomprises the six districts of Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, Midnapore, Hugli and Howrah, with a total area of 13,949 sq. m., and a population in 1901 of 8,240,076.
BUREAU(a Fr. word fromburelorbureau, a coarse cloth used for coverings), a writing-table or desk (q.v.), also in America a low chest of drawers. From the meaning of "desk," the word is applied to an office or place of business, and particularly a government department; in the United States the term is used of certain subdivisions of the executive departments, as the bureau of statistics, a division of the treasury department. The term "bureaucracy" is often employed to signify the concentration of administrative power in bureaux or departments, and the undue interference by officials not only in the details of government, but in matters outside the scope of state interference. The word is also frequently used in the sense of "red-tapism."
BURFORD,a market town in the Woodstock parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, 18 m. W.N.W. of Oxford. Pop. (1901) 1146. It is pleasantly situated in the valley of the Windrush, the broad, picturesque main street sloping upward from the stream, beside which stands the fine church, to the summit of the ridge flanking the valley on the south, along which runs the high road from Oxford. The church of St John the Baptist has a nave and aisles, mainly Perpendicular in appearance owing to alterations in that period, but actually ofearlier construction, the south aisle flanked by two beautiful chapels and an ornate porch; transepts and a central tower, and choir with flanking chapels. The massive Norman tower contrasts strongly with the delicate Perpendicular spire rising upon it. The church contains many interesting memorials, and, in the nave, a Perpendicular shrine dedicated to St Peter. Near the church is the half-ruined priory house, built in the 17th century, and containing much fine plaster ornament characteristic of the period; a curious chapel adjoins it. William Lenthall, speaker of the Long Parliament, was granted this mansion, died here in 1662, and is buried in the church. In the High Street nearly every house is of some antiquity. The Tolsey or old town hall is noteworthy among them; and under one of the houses is an Early English crypt. Burford is mentioned as the scene of a synod in 705; in 752 Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, fighting for independence, here defeated Æthelbald, king of Mercia; and in 1649 the town and district were the scene of victorious operations by Cromwell.
BURG,a town of Germany, in Prussian Saxony, on the river Ihle, and the railway from Berlin to Magdeburg, 14 m. N.E. of the latter. Pop. (1900) 22,432. It is noted for its cloth manufactures and boot-making, which afford employment to a great part of its population. The town belonged originally to the lordship of Querfurt, passed with this into the possession of the archbishops of Magdeburg in 1496, and was ceded in 1635 with other portions of the Magdeburg territories to Saxony; in 1687 it was ceded to Brandenburg. It owes its prosperity to the large influx of industrious French, Palatinate and Walloon refugees, which took place about the end of the 17th century.
BURGAGE(from Lat.burgus, a borough), a form of tenure, both in England and Scotland, applicable to the property connected with the old municipal corporations and their privileges. In England, it was a tenure whereby houses or tenements in an ancient borough were held of the king or other person as lord at a certain rent. The term is of less practical importance in the English than in the Scottish system, where it held an important place in the practice of conveyancing, real property having been generally divided into feudal-holding and burgage-holding. Since the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874, there is, however, not much distinction between burgage tenure and free holding. It is usual to speak of the English burgage-tenure as a relic of Saxon freedom resisting the shock of the Norman conquest and its feudalism, but it is perhaps more correct to consider it a local feature of that general exemption from feudality enjoyed by themunicipiaas a relic of their ancient Roman constitution. The reason for the system preserving for so long its specifically distinct form in Scottish conveyancing was because burgage-holding was an exception to the system of subinfeudation which remained prevalent in Scotland when it was suppressed in England. While other vassals might hold of a graduated hierarchy of overlords up to the crown, the burgess always held directly of the sovereign. It is curious that while in England the burgage-tenure was deemed a species of socage, to distinguish it from the military holdings, in Scotland it was strictly a military holding, by the service of watching and warding for the defence of the burgh. In England the franchises enjoyed by burgesses, freemen and other consuetudinary constituencies in burghs, were dependent on the character of the burgage-tenure. Tenure by burgage was subject to a variety of customs, the principal of which was Borough-English (q.v.).
See Pollock and Maitland,History of English Law(1898).
BURGAS(sometimes writtenBurghaz,BourgasorBorgas, and, in the middle ages,Pyrgos), a seaport, and capital of the department of Burgas, in Bulgaria (Eastern Rumelia), on the gulf of Burgas, an inlet of the Black Sea, in 42° 27′ N. and 27° 35′ E. Pop. (1906) 12,846. Burgas is built on a low foreland, between the lagoons of Ludzha, on the north, and Kara-Yunus, on the west; it faces towards the open sea on the east, and towards its own harbour on the south. The principal approach is a broad isthmus on the north-west, along which runs the railway to Philippopolis and Adrianople. Despite its small population and the rivalry of Varna and the Turkish port of Dedeagatch, Burgas has a considerable transit trade. Its fine harbour, formally opened in 1904, has an average depth of five fathoms; large vessels can load at the quays, and the outer waters of the gulf are well lit by lighthouses on the islets of Hagios Anastasios and Megalo-Nisi. In 1904, the port accommodated over 1400 ships, of about 700,000 tons. These included upwards of 800 Bulgarian and Turkish sailing-vessels, engaged in the coasting trade. Fuel, machinery and miscellaneous goods are imported, chiefly from Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom; the exports include grain, wool, tallow, cheese, butter, attar of roses, &c. Pottery and pipes are manufactured from clay obtained in the neighbourhood.
BURGDORF(Fr.Berthoud), an industrial town in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is built on the left bank of the Emme and is 14 m. by rail N.E. of Bern. The lower (or modern) town is connected by a curious spiral street with the upper (or old) town. The latter is picturesquely perched on a hill, at a height of 1942 ft. above sea-level (or 167 ft. above the river); it is crowned by the ancient castle and by the 15th-century parish church, in the former of which Pestalozzi set up his educational establishment between 1798 and 1804. A large trade is carried on at Burgdorf in the cheese of the Emmenthal, while among the industrial establishments are railway works, and factories of cloth, white lead and tinfoil. In 1900 the population was 8404, practically all Protestants and German-speaking. A fine view of the Bernese Alps is obtained from the castle, while a still finer one may be enjoyed from the Lueg hill (2917 ft.), north-east of the town. The castle dates from the days of the dukes of Zäringen (11th-12th centuries), the last of whom (Berchtold V.) built walls round the town at its foot, and granted it a charter of liberties. On the extinction (1218) of that dynasty both castle and town passed to the counts of Kyburg, and from them, with the rest of their possessions, in 1272 by marriage to the cadet line of the Habsburgs. By that line they were sold in 1384, with Thun, to the town of Bern, whose bailiffs ruled in the castle till 1798.
(W. A. B. C.)
BURGEE(of unknown origin), a small three-cornered or swallow-tailed flag or pennant used by yachts or merchant vessels; also a kind of small coal burnt in engine furnaces.
BÜRGER, GOTTFRIED AUGUST(1748-1794), German poet, was born on the 1st of January 1748 at Molmerswende near Halberstadt, of which village his father was the Lutheran pastor. He was a backward child, and at the age of twelve was practically adopted by his maternal grandfather, Bauer, at Aschersleben, who sent him to thePädagogiumat Halle. Hence in 1764 he passed to the university, as a student of theology, which, however, he soon abandoned for the study of jurisprudence. Here he fell under the influence of C.A. Klotz (1738-1771), who directed Bürger's attention to literature, but encouraged rather than discouraged his natural disposition to a wild and unregulated life. In consequence of his dissipated habits, he was in 1767 recalled by his grandfather, but on promising to reform was in 1768 allowed to enter the university of Göttingen as a law student. As he continued his wild career, however, his grandfather withdrew his support and he was left to his own devices. Meanwhile he had made fair progress with his legal studies, and had the good fortune to form a close friendship with a number of young men of literary tastes. In the GöttingenMusenalmanach, edited by H. Boie and F.W. Gotter, Bürger's first poems were published, and by 1771 he had already become widely known as a poet. In 1772, through Boie's influence, Bürger obtained the post of "Amtmann" or district magistrate at Altengleichen near Göttingen. His grandfather was now reconciled to him, paid his debts and established him in his new sphere of activity. Meanwhile he kept in touch with his Göttingen friends, and when the "Göttinger Bund" or "Hain" was formed, Bürger, though not himself a member, kept in close touch with it. In 1773 the balladLenorewas published in theMusenalmanach. This poem, which in dramatic force and in its vivid realization of the weird and supernatural remains without a rival, made his name a household word in Germany. In 1774 Bürger married Dorette Leonhart, thedaughter of a Hanoverian official; but his passion for his wife's younger sister Auguste (the "Molly" of his poems and elegies) rendered the union unhappy and unsettled his life. In 1778 Bürger became editor of theMusenalmanach, and in the same year published the first collection of his poems. In 1780 he took a farm at Appenrode, but in three years lost so much money that he had to abandon the venture. Pecuniary troubles oppressed him, and being accused of neglecting his official duties, and feeling his honour attacked, he gave up his official position and removed in 1784 to Göttingen, where he established himself asPrivat-docent. Shortly before his removal thither his wife died (30th of July 1784), and on the 29th of June in the next year he married his sister-in-law "Molly." Her death on the 9th of January 1786 affected him deeply. He appeared to lose at once all courage and all bodily and mental vigour. He still continued to teach in Göttingen; at the jubilee of the foundation of the university in 1787 he was made an honorary doctor of philosophy, and in 1789 was appointed extraordinary professor in that faculty, though without a stipend. In the following year he married a third time, his wife being a certain Elise Hahn, who, enchanted with his poems, had offered him her heart and hand. Only a few weeks of married life with his "Schwabenmädchen" sufficed to prove his mistake, and after two and a half years he divorced her. Deeply wounded by Schiller's criticism, in the 14th and 15th part of theAllgemeine Literaturzeitungof 1791, of the 2nd edition of his poems, disappointed, wrecked in fortune and health, Bürger eked out a precarious existence as a teacher in Göttingen until his death there on the 8th of June 1794.