Chapter Burton to Butler of B by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Burton to Butler

Burton, John Hill (1809-1881).—Historian, was born and educated at Aberdeen, was in 1831 called to the Bar, but had little practice, and in 1854 was appointed secretray to the Prison Board of Scotland, and in 1877 a Commissioner of Prisons. He became at an early period of his life a contributor to Blackwood’s Magazine and other periodicals, and in 1846 published a life of Hume, which attracted considerable attention, and was followed by Lives of Lord Lovat and Lord President Forbes. He began his career as an historian by the publication in 1853 of History of Scotland from the Revolution to the Extinction of the last Jacobite Insurrection, to which he added (1867-70) History of Scotland from Agricola’s Invasion to the Revolution, in 7 vols., thus completing a continuous narrative. Subsequently he published a History of the Reign of Queen Anne (1880). Other works of a lighter kind were The Book-Hunter (1862), and The Scot Abroad (1864). Burton’s historical works display much research and a spirit of candour and honesty, and have picturesque and spirited passages, but the style is unequal, and frequently lacks dignity. On the whole, however, his is regarded as the most generally trustworthy and valuable history of Scotland at present existing.

Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1821-1890).—Explorer and scholar, son of an officer in the army, was born at Barham House, Herts, and after a somewhat desultory education abroad as well as at home, entered upon a life of travel, adventure, and military and civil service in almost every quarter of the world, including India, Africa, the nearer East, and North and South America, in the course of which he mastered 35 languages. As an official his masterful ways and spirit of adventure frequently brought him into collision with superior powers, by whom he not seldom considered himself ill-used. He was the author of upwards of 50 books on a great variety of subjects, including travels, novels, and translations, among which are Personal Narrative of a Journey to Mecca (1855), First Footprints in East Africa (1856), Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa (1860), The Nile Basin, a translation and life of Camoens, an absolutely literal translation of the Arabian Nights, with notes and commentaries, of which his accomplished wife published an expurgated edition. Lady Burton, who was the companion of his travels after 1861, also wrote books on Syria, Arabia, and other eastern countries, as well as a life of her husband, a number of whose manuscripts she destroyed.

Burton, Robert (1577-1640).—Miscellaneous writer, born at Lindley, Leicestershire, and educated at Oxford, took orders, and became Vicar of St. Thomas, Oxford, 1616, and Rector of Segrave, Leicestershire, 1630. Subject to depression of spirits, he wrote as an antidote the singular book which has given him fame. The Anatomy of Melancholy, in which he appears under the name of Democritus Junior, was published in 1621 and had great popularity. In the words of Warton, “The author’s variety of learning, his quotations from rare and curious books, his pedantry sparkling with rude wit and shapeless elegance ... have rendered it a repertory of amusement and information.” It has also proved a store-house from which later authors have not scrupled to draw without acknowledgment. It was a favourite book of Dr. Johnson. Burton was a mathematician and dabbled in astrology. When not under depression he was an amusing companion, “very merry, facete, and juvenile,” and a person of “great honesty, plain dealing, and charity.”

The best edition is that of Rev. A. R. Shilleto, with introduction by A. H. Bullen (3 vols. 1893).

Bury, Lady Charlotte (1775-1861).—Novelist, daughter of the 5th Duke of Argyll, and married first to Col. J. Campbell, and second to Rev. E. J. Bury, wrote a number of novels—Flirtation, Separation, The Divorced, etc., but is chiefly remembered in connection with a Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV. (1838), a somewhat scandalous work generally, and probably correctly, ascribed to her. She also wrote some poems and two devotional works. She held for some time an appointment in the household of the Princess of Wales.

Bury, Richard de (1281-1345).—Son of Sir Richard Aungerville, born at Bury St. Edmunds, studied at Oxford, and was a Benedictine monk, became tutor to Edward III. when Prince of Wales, and Bishop of Durham, and held many offices of State. He was a patron of learning, and one of the first English collectors of books, and he wrote his work, Philobiblon, in praise of books, and founded a library at Durham.