judges. Lagrange, Laplace, Delambre, Legendre, and Mechain, divided the prize, awarding to Burg two-thirds of it; but Napoleon, aware of the importance of the achievement, doubled its value. The emperor of Austria, proud of his subject, decorated him with the cross of Leopold. To Burg we owe the first lunar tables that can be said to approach to exactitude. He introduced large corrections into the tables of T. Mayer; nor have his labours been improved until quite recent times, when our knowledge of the lunar inequalities received, apparently, its last perfection from Hansen (q.v.)—J. P. N.
BÜRGER, Gottfried August, one of the most popular poets of Germany, was born at Molmerswende in 1748. After studying theology for some time at Halle, he went to Göttingen in order to devote himself to the law. In 1772 he was appointed bailiff of Altengleichen, a village near Göttingen; an inferior situation with a beggarly income. By the faithlessness of a friend, and an unsuccessful attempt at farming, he had become involved in pecuniary embarassments. He resigned his office and began lecturing at Göttingen, where in 1789 he was appointed professor extraordinary, but without a salary, and was therefore obliged to write for the support of himself and children. He died, after a protracted illness, June 8, 1794. Bürger's great strength as a poet lies in his ballads, a great many of which are imitations or paraphrases of old English and Scotch originals. He may well be said to have revived the taste for ballad poetry in Germany, and to have led the way to a more natural style of composition. Among his original poems, the celebrated "Leonore" takes the highest rank; it has been repeatedly translated into English. His lyrics, though sometimes rhetorical rather than poetical productions, are distinguished by noble manliness, great fire, and depth of feeling. Among his prose works, "The Travels and Adventures of Baron Munchausen," which were announced as translated from the English, stand highest. The complete works of Bürger were first edited by Karl von Reinhard, Göttingen, 1796-98, 4 vols. His life was written by Althoff and Döring.—K. E.
BURGH, Walter Hussey—the name of Burgh having been taken in addition to the original name of Hussey—an Irishman, distinguished as a scholar, a patriot, and a lawyer, occupied a considerable place in Irish history during the time of Flood and Grattan. He was born in 1743, and educated for the bar, at which he gradually rose to an eminent position. In 1768 he took a conspicuous part in the Irish house of commons, of which he was a member, in opposition to Lord Townshend's government. In 1779 he was member for the university of Dublin. He was shortly after made chief baron of the exchequer, and died at the premature age of forty in 1783. Burgh was distinguished for his classical learning and poetic taste. As an orator his style, though at the commencement of his public career too ornate, was by mature experience improved and refined, till he acquired the reputation of the most elegant debater of his day. Both Flood and Grattan highly eulogized him. "He did not live," said the former, "to be ennobled by patent; he was ennobled by nature."—J. F. W.
BURGHO, De, an ancient and highly distinguished family which settled in Ireland in the twelfth century and still, under the cognate designations of De Burgho, De Burgh, and Burke, has continued to represent nobility, genius, and power:—
Burgho, Richard de, who succeeded to the greater part of Connaught, forfeited by O'Conor, king of that province, and granted by John. His great power made him an object of suspicion to Henry III., and for a time he was placed in a position of hostility to the English government; but he soon was restored to favour, receiving only a gentle remonstrance from the king. Nevertheless, he quickly found or made occasion, with the aid of the lord-justice, to invade the territory of Feidlim O'Conor, king of Connaught, and made himself master of large tracts, which he continued to hold against all the complaints of Feidlim and the orders of Henry. In 1232 he built the castle of Galway, and in 1236 that of Lough Rea, and affected the state of a provincial king, keeping a train of barons, knights, and gentlemen in his service; and having gone in 1242, with a splendid suite, to meet the king at Bordeaux, he died in France in the following year.
Burgho, Walter de, son of the former, was eminent for power and enterprise, and the active part which he took in the events of that dark period of Irish history. The contest with the O'Conors, bequeathed by his father, was continued by Walter. He died in 1271 at his castle in Galway. By his marriage with the heiress of De Lacy he acquired the earldom of Ulster.
Burgho, Richard de, son of the preceding, and second earl of Ulster, called from his complexion the Red Earl, was educated at the court of Henry III., and was the most powerful subject in Ireland. In 1273 he pursued the Scots, who had invaded Ireland, into Scotland, and committed great slaughter and took much spoil, and was in consequence made general of the Irish forces in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Gascoigne. So high was his position that his name was placed before that of the lord-lieutenant in all public documents. Richard founded many monasteries and castles, amongst them that of Castle Connel on the Shannon, near Limerick, which is still held by a descendant of the name of De Burgho. In 1326, he retired to the monastery of Athasil, the foundation and burial-place of his family, where he died the same year.
Burgho, William de, earl of Ulster. Through his daughter who married Lionel, duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III., the titles of Ulster and Connaught were added to those of the royal family. He was murdered by his own servants in June, 1333, in the twenty-first year of his age, and his death was avenged by the people of Ulster, who rose in large masses, and pursuing the murderers killed 300 of them. From this period the power of the De Burgho family was divided, and began to decline.—J. F. W.
BURGKMAIR, Hans or John, a German painter and engraver, disciple and friend of Albert Durer, born in 1474. His pictures, preserved in the Diet city, have merit. His wood engravings are wrought with fire and the vigour of a robust, struggling, reforming age. Some of the early De Keyserberg prints are supposed to be his, for they are marked—"1510, J. B."—W. T.
BURGOS, Paulus de Sancta Maria, bishop of Burgos. Having relinquished Judaism, and along with it his wife and his children, he went to Paris, where he graduated; hence he repaired to Avignon, at that time a dependency of Rome: his eloquence and piety gained him high patronage, through whose influence he was successively preferred to the sees of Carthagena and of Burgos, became first chancellor of the kingdom of Castile, and was intrusted with the education of the youthful king, John II. He died at the advanced age of eighty-five, in the year 1435. His high literary fame rests on the learning and zeal for the catholic doctrines, displayed in his work "Scrutinium Scripturarum" against Judaism.—T. T.
BURGOYNE, John, English general and dramatist, was the natural son of Lord Bingley, and entered the army at an early age. Rapidly rising to the rank of general, through the powerful patronage of his aristocratic friends, he held a command in Portugal during its defence in 1762. In the course of the campaign, which terminated in the retreat of the Spaniards within their now territory, he gained considerable distinction both for skill and daring, and was successful in surprising a large reserve at Valencia de Alcantara. Subsequently he was elected member of parliament for Preston, and was ultimately called to, what he himself terms, "the unsolicited and unwelcome service in America." In 1775 he joined General Gye at Boston, in company with large English reinforcements, and witnessed, from one of the batteries in that city, the famous battle of Bunker's Hill, of which he has left an animated description. After proceeding to Canada as governor, he returned to England, but in 1777 was despatched to take command of that expedition from Canada against the United States, the failure of which so largely contributed to the establishment of American freedom. Few battles, indeed, have achieved, in their ultimate influence, results so great as the surrender of Burgoyne with 3500 fighting men, well provided with artillery, at Saratoga, to the army of General Gates. It gave heart to the colonists, and confirmed them in their resistance. It decided the somewhat wavering sympathies of the French government; and in England greatly strengthened those opposed to a continuance of the struggle. General Burgoyne, on his return home, was received by the king with marked disfavour. He defended himself with eloquence, and demanded an inquiry. The inquiry was commenced, but summarily stopped by a prorogation of parliament. Although Burgoyne did not possess the genius of a great general, and was in many respects utterly inadequate to the tasks imposed upon him, yet no one can read the work published in his defence—"State of the Expedition from Canada," London, 1780—without acknowledging his courage, and detecting qualities which, in a less
