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BUSACHI'NO, or BUSAQUINO, a town of Sicily, in the province of Palermo, about 29 miles south-south-west of the city of that name. It has manufactures of linen, and a population of 8100.

over by a line of 33 abbots. The abbot was a have sometimes to drag it to some distance to a spiritual baron of parliament, had judicial authority | place suitable for their purpose. The head of the in all causes within the liberty of B., had the power insect is the only tool employed in the operation, of inflicting capital punishment, and the privilege of and is held sloping outwards, and employed in a coining. At the dissolution, the annual income was manner which exhibits great muscular power. A equivalent to £50,000 of our money. Of this mag-furrow is first made around the body, then another nificent establishment, little now remains but the within the first, and so on till the earth is so excawestern gate, erected in 1327, a noble relic of the vated from beneath, that the body begins to sink, decorated Gothic style; and the Church-gate,' a when the insects, by great efforts, drag it down into quadrangular tower of massive simplicity, 86 feet the hole, and when it is fairly in, the excavated high. The churchyard, to which this tower formed earth is thrown back over it. The female then lays the portal, includes, besides the abbey ruins and her eggs in it; and when this is accomplished, and some other buildings, the fine old churches of St. the cravings of appetite are satisfied, it is left for Mary and St. James, the first containing the tomb the larvæ, which are of a lengthened form, with six of Queen Mary of France. It has a fine avenue feet, whitish, and a brown head.-The known speof tall lime-trees. The celebrated grammar-school cies of B. B. are mostly natives of Europe and of of B. was founded by King Edward VI. in 1550, North America. and is free to sous of the inhabitants of the town. It has two annual exhibitions to the universities, and has produced many eminent scholars. Among the many religious and charitable institutions connected with the abbey, of which portions still exist, is St. Saviour's Hospital, founded by that notable abbot, Samson, whose life and actions, as recorded by Jocelyn of Brakelond, Mr. Carlyle has so vividly recalled in his Past and Present. The poet Lydgate was a monk in this abbey; and Sir Nicholas Bacon was born here. At B., King John first met his indomitable barons before he signed Magna Charta. Parliaments were held here in 1272, 1296, and 1446, the last of which ordered the arrest of Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, who was found dead in his bed the morning after his arrest; and sovereigns, as late as Elizabeth's time, were often nobly entertained at St. Edmund's town. Three miles south-west of B., the Marquis of Bristol has a splendid seat, Ickworth Park, a circular pile 90 feet in diameter, and 140 feet high, with grounds 11 miles in circuit.

BU'RYING BEETLE (Necrophorus), a genus of Coleopterous (q. v.) insects of the tribe or family Silphales, with short club-shaped antennæ, remarkable for their habit of burying the bodies of mice,

Burying Beetle.

moles, and other small animals, in order to deposit their eggs in them, and to provide a supply of food for their larvæ. Some of the species are natives of Britain, among which is N. Vespillo, the species of which the habits were first observed, which is, however, more common in some parts of continental Europe. It is a black beetle, about an inch long, with two bright orange bands across its back, and having an excessively fetid smell, which long adheres to whatever it touches. Its sense of smell would seem to be extremely acute, and a dead animal soon attracts it, a pair generally arriving together, male and female, to feed upon the body, and the male to proceed to its interment, if sufficiently small, previous to which, however, they

BUSA'CO, a ridge or serra on the north side of the river Mondego, in the province of Beira, Portugal, about 20 miles north-north-east of Coimbra. Here Wellington, with about 40,000 British and Portuguese troops, repulsed the attack of Massena with 65,000 French, 27th September 1810. Unable to force the position, Massena turned it by a pass over an adjoining ridge, and Wellington retired behind the lines of Torres Vedras, which indeed it was his intention to do, even if there had been no battle.

BUSBY, RICHARD, the most famous of English schoolmasters, was born at Lutton, Northamptonshire, September 22, 1606. Educated at Westminster School, and Oxford, he was, in 1640, appointed head-master of Westminster School, the duties of which office he continued to discharge until his death in 1695. He is the type of pedagogues alike for learning, assiduity, and the application of the birch. He was a most successful teacher, and at one time could point to no less than sixteen occupants of the bench of bishops who had been educated in his school; and altogether, he has the reputation of having 'bred up the greatest number of learned scholars that ever adorned any age or nation.' IIe published several works, but they were chiefly for school use.

BU'SCA, a town of Piedmont, situated on the left bank of the river Maira, an affluent of the Po, about 9 miles north-west of Coni. Excellent wine is produced in the vicinity. Pop. 9375.

BÜSCHING, ANT. FRIEDR., a celebrated geographer, was born 27th September 1724, at Stadthagen, in the principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, Germany. He studied theology at Halle, where he enjoyed the friendship of Baumgarten. In 1754, he was appointed extraordinary professor of philosophy in Göttingen, but soon incurred the displeasure of the Hanoverian government by his religious heterodoxy. Göttingen thus becoming an unpleasant residence to him, he accepted an invitation in 1761, to St. Petersburg as preacher to a Protestant congregation there. In 1765 he returned to Germany, and in 1766 was called to Berlin as Upper Consistorial Councillor and Director of a gymnasium in Berlin, where he died, 28th May 1793. Until the appearance of B.'s Erdbeschreibung, the first volume of which was published at Hamburg in 1754, neither Germany nor any other nation possessed a geographical work which made any pretension to scientific treatment or completeness of execution. The changes in the political arrangements of the world have, however, deprived the work of its original value, but it has been corrected and edited

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BUSEMBAUM-BUST.

by subsequent writers. Of his other numerous bushel measured 2150 cubic inches; hence 33 Win. publications, the most important is the Magazin chester bushels 32 imperial bushels nearly. für Historie und Geographie (25 vols. Hamburg, BUSHIRE. See ABUSHehr. 1767-1793).

BUSEMBAUM, HERMANN, a theologian of the order of the Jesuits, was born in 1600 at Nottelen, in Westphalia. About 1640, he taught ethical philosophy at Cologne, and later, was appointed rector of the College of Jesuits at Münster. He died

31st January 1668. His work entitled Medulla Theologia Moralis (1645), was celebrated as a standard authority in the seminaries of the Jesuits, though several of its propositions were condemned by the pope. It has gone through more than fifty editions. It was enlarged by the Jesuit Lacroix (1707), and re-edited, with improvements and additions, by the Jesuit Montausen in 1729, and again by Alfonso de Ligorio in 1757. As it was found that the work contained doctrine in favour of regicide, it was burned, by order of the parliament of Toulouse, on the occasion of an attempt made on the life of Louis XV. by Damiens in 1757. Subsequently, the Jesuits Zacharia and Franzoja of Padua wrote in defence of B.'s work.

BUSH ANTELOPE, BUSH BUCK, and BUSH GOAT, names common to a number of species of Antelope (q. v.), natives chiefly of the southern and western parts of Africa, forming a section of the genus Antilope, which some naturalists have attempted to erect into a distinct genus (Philatomba or Cephalopus). They are animals of more compact form, shorter limbs, and greater strength, but much less agility, than the true or typical antelopes. They are remarkable for the arched form of the back. They have short, straight, or slightly curved horns, situated far back, and generally peculiar to the male sex, with usually a long tuft of hair between them. They have no tear-pits, but instead of them, a naked glandular line, formed of two series of pores, on each cheek. They frequent jungles, thick forests, and beds of reeds, and when pursued, seek to escape by diving into a thicket. The common or white-backed B. A. of Sierra Leone (Antilope sylvicultrix) is about three feet high at the shoulder: it is a dull, heavy, awkward-looking animal; keeps concealed in the thicket during the day, living singly or in pairs, and feeds in the open spaces in the early mornings only. To shoot it, sportsmen place themselves on the margin of the woods, and watch their opportunity as it comes out to graze. Its flesh is more esteemed than that of the more agile antelopes. Nearly twenty other species are usually ranked in this section of antelopes, among which is the Kleene Boc (Antilope pygmæa) of South Africa, a species abundant in many parts of Cape Colony, of very small size, not more than one foot in height at the shoulder, and with horns. only about 14 inch in length. It is a timid, gentle animal, easily domesticated. It differs from the typical Cush Antelopes in the great activity which it displays.

BUSHEA'B, a low flat island in the Persian Gulf, about 11 miles from the Persian coast, in lat. 26° 50′ N., long. 53° 12′ E. It is about 18 miles long, narrow, and well peopled, with a town and harbour, at its western extremity. Its proper name is Khoshaub, signifying 'good water.'

BUSHEL [Fr. boisseau, allied to boi(s)te, box, butt; Lat. butta, a measure in general], a dry measure used in Britain for grain, fruit, &c. The quarter contains 8 bushels, and the bushel 8 gallons, the gallon measuring 277 274 cubic inches, and holding 10 lbs. avoirdupois of distilled water. Hence the imperial bushel contains 80 lbs. of water, and measures 2218.2 cubic inches. The old Winchester

BU'SHMAN'S

RIVER, in the east part of the Cape Colony, South
RIVER, or BO'SJESMAN'S
Africa, is about 200 miles long, and forms on its
lower course the west boundary of Albany, whose
capital is Graham's Town. Its general direction is
S., and about long. 264° E.
from north to south, its mouth being about lat. 33°

BU'SKIN, a kind of half-boot,
lacing tight to the leg. The ancient
tragedians wore buskins (cothurni),
often with thick soles, to add to their
stature. Hence the B. is often put
for Tragedy, as the sock (soccus, a
flat-soled shoe) for Comedy. In an-
cient sculpture, Diana, and hunters in
general, as well as men of rank and
authority, are represented in buskins
often highly ornamented.

BUSS is the name of a small vessel, usually from 50 to 60 tons' burden, much used in the herring-fishery, especially by the Dutch. The B. has two small sheds or cabins-one at the prow, to serve as a kitchen, and the other at the stern. The remaining space is a receptacle for fish.

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Buskin.

BUSSU PALM (Manicaria saccifera), a South American palm, growing in the tidal swamps of the Amazon, the only known species of its genus. The stem is only 10-15 feet high, curved or crooked, and deeply ringed. The leaves are simple or undivided, and are the largest of the kind produced by

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any known palm, being often 30 feet long, and 4 or 5 feet wide. They are simply branched, drooping, and the fruit is of an olive colour, large, hard, and three-seeded. The leaves make excellent and durable thatch, being split down the midrib, and laid obliquely on the rafters, so that the furrows formed by the veins lie in a nearly vertical direction, and serve as so many little gutters to carry off the water. The spathe, taken off entire, is used by the Indians as a bag, or the larger ones are stretched out to make caps.

BUST (Ital. busto; Fr. buste), in plastic art, the

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BUST-BUSTARD.

name given to a sculptural representation of the head and upper part of the human body. The earliest busts formed by the ancients were probably those heads of Mercury which, when elevated on tall square blocks of stone, received the name of Hermæ (q. v.). These herma were afterwards frequently surmounted by representations of other divinities, such as Minerva; and as they gradually assumed more and more of the human form, they passed

Bust of Aristotle.

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collectors of busts were not unknown in antiquity, as, for example, M. Terentius Varro and Pomponius Atticus. In our own time, King Louis of Bavaria made, in his celebrated Valhalla, the most remarkable collection of busts which perhaps anywhere exists. The first complete collection of engravings from antique busts was made by Fulvius Ursunius in his Illustrium Imagines (Rome, 1569, and Antwerp, 1606). Recently we have been indebted to Visconti's Iconographie Grecque (Paris, 1811) and Iconographie Romaine (Paris, 1817) for a similar collection.

BU'STARD (Otis), a genus of birds, sometimes made the type of a family, Otidæ, usually ranked in the order Gralla (q. v.). The general structure seems to agree best with that of the Gralla; but there are points of strong resemblance to gallinace ous birds, both in the appearance and habits of the bustards; while their power of running, and the use which they make of their wings to aid in running, are indicative of a relation to the Struthionidæ, or ostrich tribe. They differ, however, from these birds in possessing wings quite capable of flight, although even when pressed by danger they often seek to escape by running, and the great B. of Europe has been pursued and taken by greyhounds. -Bustards are birds of bulky form, with long necks and long naked legs; the toes, three in number, all directed forward, short, united at the base and edged with membrane; the wings rather rounded; the bill of moderate length, straight, or nearly so. They are mostly inhabitants of open plains, to which all their habits are adapted.-The GREAT B. (Otis tarda) was at one time plentiful in some parts of

east of Scotland; but extending cultivation, and the

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into busts, which were made of marble, bronze, &c. But it was not till very late in the history of art that busts, in the sense of portraits of indi-England, and was also an inhabitant of the southviduals, came to be used, either in Greece or Rome; and it is remarkable that neither Greeks nor Romans designated them by any special name, for the Latin word bustum had quite a different meaning. It was not till Alexander's time that busts were used for purposes of portraiture in Greece; and most of the Roman busts which we possess belong to the period of the emperors. During the learned period of Greece, which commenced with Aristotle, portraits of men of letters formed an important department of art; and it became an object with the founders of museums and libraries to procure complete sets of them. The artists of this period exhibited remarkable ability in expressing the characters of the individuals whom they represented. In this way, we have well authenticated busts of Socrates, Plato, Zeno the Stoic, and other philosophers; of poets and orators, such as Isocrates and Demosthenes; of Athenian statesmen and distinguished women. In Rome, representations of the kings, and persons of distinction belonging to the earlier period, were probably made from the imagines majorum which every patrician preserved in his atrium, and which were commonly made of wax. These, no doubt, were often merely fanciful representations, partly taken, it may be, from the more prominent features which belonged to the existing members of the family. The earliest well authenticated Roman B. which we possess, is probably that of Scipio Africanus the Elder. During the empire, busts for the most part were accurate portraits, and still furnish us with the means of becoming acquainted with the features, not only of the emperors themselves, but of most other persons of distinction. Busts of poets and men of letters are far less frequently met with amongst the Romans than amongst the Greeks. The chief marks of the authenticity in these busts are the names which very frequently are inscribed on them, and, where these are not found, the comparison which we are enabled to make between them and coins. Private

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Great Bustard.

persecution to which it has been subjected, have now rendered it a very rare British bird. It is common in the south and east of Europe, and abounds in the wide steppes of Tartary. It is the largest of European birds, the male sometimes weighing nearly 30 lbs. The female is much smaller than the male. The plumage is of a pale chestnut colour on the upper parts, beautifully varied with black— much white and black on the wings, the tail tipped with white. The tail is short, spreading, and rounded. A tuft or plume about seven inches long, springing from the chin, passes backwards and downwards on each side, in the summer dress of the

BUTCHER BIRD-BUTEA.

male, partly concealing a long stripe of bare skin on each side of the neck. The anatomy of the male exhibits a remarkable peculiarity in a large bag or pouch, capable of holding several pints, the entrance to which is between the under-side of the tongue and the lower mandible. The use of this bag is unknown; but it has been conjectured to be for conveying water to the females and young, in wide arid plains. The Great B. feeds indiscriminately on animal and vegetable food, swallows frogs, mice, worms, &c., and is very fond of turnip-tops, Its flesh is highly esteemed for its flavour. It is polygamous. No difficulty is found in taming it, but all attempts to reduce it to a state of true domestication have hitherto failed, from its not breeding in the poultry-yard.-The LITTLE B. (O. tetrax), frequent in the south of Europe and north of Africa, is only an accidental visitant in Britain. It is not half the size of the Great Bustard.-The BLACK-HEADED B. (0. nigriceps) is found in large flocks in the open plains of the Mahratta country. Its flesh is esteemed one of the greatest delicacies which India produces. The KORI B. (O. Kori) of South Africa, a magnificent bird, standing upwards of five feet in height, has a similar reputation as one of the best kinds of game.-Australia possesses a B. (0. Australasianus) somewhat exceeding the Great B. of Europe in stature. It is called Wild Turkey by the colonists of New South Wales. Its plumage is finely freckled or spotted; the prevailing colour is brown. It has become comparatively rare in the more settled districts, its flesh being particularly delicate and well-flavoured, but may be seen stalking majestically in the grassy plains, wherever human footsteps are still rare.

BUTCHER BIRD. See SHRIKE.

BUTCHERS' BROOM (Ruscus), a genus of plants of the natural order Liliacea, with male and female flowers on separate plants, a perianth of six leaves, filaments, united, one style, and the fruit a berry. The common B. B. (R. aculeatus) is a shrubby, or almost shrubby evergreen plant, with a biennial

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stem, 1-3 feet high, sending out many short branches and ovate alternate sharp-pointed false leaves of the same substance as the branches, the flowers minute and arising from the disk of the false leaves, solitary; the berries red, almost as large as wild cherries, and of a sweetish taste. It is common in many parts of the south of Europe,

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and in the south of England in woods and hedges. The English name is derived from the use made of It the plant by butchers to sweep their blocks. grows well under trees or shrubs, and can often be advantageously introduced for ornamental purposes. The root was formerly much used in medicine. It is aperient and diuretic.-R. hypophyllum, a native of Italy, had once a considerable reputation as a stimulant of the uterus.

BUTE, an island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, separated from the coast of Argyle by a narrow winding strait, called the Kyles of Bute, mostly under a mile wide, about six miles distant from the west coast of Ayrshire, and eight miles north of Arran. It is about 16 miles long, of irregular breadth, and with an area of 60 square miles. The surface to the north is high, rugged and barren; in the centre and south, it is low and undulating, and comparatively fertile. The highest point rises 875 feet. The coast is rocky, and has some bays. The island has several small lakes. The climate is milder than in any other part of Scotland, and though moist, less so than on the west coast generally; hence, it is much resorted to by invalids. In the south, the soil is sandy; towards the north, clay predominates. Most of the arable land is under tillage, and agriculture is in a good state. The chief crops are oats and wheat. Pop. Most The principal town is Rothesay. 10,661. of the island belongs to the Marquis of Bute, whose beautiful seat, Mount Stuart, is about four miles south from Rothesay. Among the antiquities of B. are Rothesay Castle, Kames Castle, Kilmorie Castle, St. Blaine's Chapel, Dungyle, a remarkable vitrified fort on a high crag on the south-west coast, and the Devil's Caldron, a circular erection, the original purpose of which is not well known. B. and the neighboring isles were for many centuries subject to the Norwegians.

BUTESHIRE, a county in the south-west of Scotland, comprising the isles of Bute (q. v.) and Arran (q. v.), and the Cumbrays, Holy Isle, Pĺadda, Inchmarnoch, and other smaller islands. The estimated area of the whole is about 257 square miles. Pop. in 1851, 16,608; day-schools, 33, with 2096 scholars; places of worship, 26. B. returns one member to parliament. The county town is Rothesay, in Bute.

BUTE, JOHN STUART, third EARL OF, was born in 1713, and died in 1792. About 1737, he attracted the favourable notice of Frederick Prince of Wales, who made him one of his Lords of the Bedchamber. After the death of the prince, he became Groom of the Stole, to his son, afterwards George III, over whose mind he obtained a strong influence. In March 1761, he was appointed one of the principal Secretaries of State; and from the 29th May, 1762 to the 8th April 1763, he was Prime Minister. His government is memorable only as one of the most unpopular that ever held office in Britain, its fundamental principle being the supremacy of the royal prerogative, of which the executive government were merely the humble servants. Lord Bute was given to scientific pursuits, especially botany, and shewed himself a liberal patron of literature and art. He married the only daughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

BU'TEA, a genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosa, sub-order, Papilionacea, remarkable for the great length of the standard of the flower, and having a compressed one-seeded pod, membranaceous at the apex. The best known species are B. frondosa and B. superba, natives of India; and the former very widely diffused throughout that country, generally appearing as a sort of shrub in

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BUTLER.

the neighbourhood of villages, but in the jungles growing into a small tree. These trees present a gorgeous sight when covered with racemes of large deep scarlet flowers. They have trifoliate leaves, with roundish leaflets, velvety beneath. They vield a resinous exudation, which occurs in the form of lurid red tears, often covering the twigs, and is one of the kinds of Lac (q. v.) brought to the market in India. The juice of the tree is not red, and the lac is supposed to be elaborated by insects, but of what species is unknown.-B. frondosa is called the Dhak Tree in India. The bark and roots are very fibrous, and the fibre is used for calking boats. The flowers, called Teesoo or Keesoo, yield a beautiful dye, which is likely to come into extensive use' (Royle).

BUTLER, JOSEPH, one of the most eminent of

English divines, was born in 1692 at Wantage, in Berkshire, where his father kept a shop. With a view to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, he attended a dissenting academy at Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire. At the age of 22, he gave proof of high metaphysical ability in a letter to Dr. Samuel Clarke, usually appended to that celebrated writer's a-priori demonstration, to which it offers some objections. About this time, he made up his mind to join the Church of England, and in March 1714 entered Oriel College, Oxford. Soon after, he took orders. In 1718, he was appointed preacher at the Rolls Chapel, where he preached those remarkable sermons which he published in 1726. The first three, On Human Nature, constitute one of the most important contributions ever made to moral science. The scope of the reasoning is briefly, that virtue is consonant with, and vice a violation of, man's nature. In 1725 B. was presented to the rich benefice of Stanhope, in the county of Durham, to which he removed in the following year. Here he resided in great retirement till 1733. His friend Secker, the archbishop, desired to see him promoted to some more important position, and mentioned his name once to Queen Caroline. The Queen thought he had been dead, and asked Archbishop Blackburne if it were not so. No, madam,' said the archbishop; but he is buried.' In 1733, B. became chaplain to his friend Lord Chancellor Talbot, and at the same time a prebendary of Rochester. In 1736, he published the great work of which the germs were contained in his three sermons, and which has entitled him, in the eyes of his eloquent disciple, Chalmers, to be called 'the Bacon of theology.' The leading aim of the Analogy is to shew, that all the objections to revealed religion are equally applicable to the whole constitution of nature, and that the general analogy between the principles of divine government, as revealed in the Scriptures,

and those manifested in the course of nature, warrants the conclusion that they have one Author. Soon after the publication of this work, B. was appointed clerk of the closet to the Queen, who greatly prized his conversation. In 1738, he was made Bishop of Bristol; in 1740, Dean of St.

Paul's; and in 1750, he was translated to the see of Durham. He lived only to make one visitation of his diocese. His 'charge' on the occasion, in which he pointed out, with characteristic depth of insight, the importance of a due maintenance of the externals of religion, as a means of keeping alive the thought of it in the minds of the people, subjected him to much censure as betraying a tendency to Roman Catholicism-a charge unworthy now of serious notice. B.'s private character was such as became a Christian prelate; grave and judicious, he was at the same time meek and generous. His intercourse with his clergy and people was frank and humane; his episcopal treasures were wisely

and munificently distributed, as not his own; and no anxious legatee looked with hope to his death. That event took place at Bath, June 16, 1752, and the good bishop's remains were buried in Bristol Cathedral. His works, notwithstanding a dry and uninteresting style, have gone through numerous editions. The best is that edited with a life, &c., by Fitzgerald.

BUTLER, SAMUEL, poet, was born at Strenshain, His father was a farmer in Worcestershire, in 1612. that place, and said to be a person of some education. Young B., after acquiring the rudiments of his education at home, was placed at the college school at Worcester. His progress there was rapid, and on leaving it, he proceeded to one of the universities. After finishing his education, he was appointed clerk to T. Jeffreys, Esq., justice of the peace, and in his leisure hours devoted himself to He afterwards the study of music and poetry. entered the household of the Countess of Kent, which he left and went to live with Sir Samuel After the

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Luke, who resided in the same county. king's restoration, he was made secretary to the Earl of Carberry, which office he held till 1661. About this time, B. married a Mrs. Herbert, a lady of good family and some property, which, however, was afterwards lost by being invested in bad securities. He published the first part of Hudibras in 1663, and its reception at court was immediate and triumphant. It received all the favour Charles could spare from his spaniels and his mistresses, and he deigned even to garnish his royal conversation with its wit. The courtiers took up the fashion, the coffee houses and taverns followed suite, and finally the mob went into raptures, in imitation of

its betters.

Hudibras was pirated within four weeks of its publication. The king had wit enough to see the merit of the work, but he lacked generosity to relieve the necessities of the writer. There seems to be no good reason to believe that B.'s

palm ever tingled to the touch of royal pension or gratuity. Poverty is almost the only thing in B.'s the second part of his book, and a third part life that one is certain of. In 1664, he published He died in Rose Street, Covent appeared in 1678. Garden, in 1680; and while some say that he starved from pride, all agree that at his death he was very poor.

if the work of Cervantes stands at the head of its Hudibras is a kind of metrical Don Quixote; and class in the literature of Spain, Hudibras occupies the same place in the literature of England. The Puritans are the subjects of B.'s derision, and King Charles must have felt that the poet avenged for him the battle of Worcester. The weight, com

pression, and plenteousness of the wit is wonderful. Hudibras is like a mass of crystals, every point flashes. It is beyond any other book, of wit all compact.' B. thinks in witty couplets, he argues in them, he spears his foes with a jest, he routs and laughter. His best things have become proverbs, chases them into oblivion with unextinguishable His mass of wit has been grated down into common speech, and particles of it may be found any day glittering in the talk of English ploughmen and

artisans.

BUTLER, WILLIAM ARCHER, a religious and philosophical writer of singularly high promise, was born in 1814, at Annerville, near Clonmel, Ireland. He was originally a Roman Catholic, but subsequently became a Protestant, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in 1837. He died in 1848. The principal work on which his reputation is based. is the Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy,

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