BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN. 



BUCH, LEOPOLD VON. 



and Kckbel, the mart learned numUmatologist of bii time, declared in 

 iU fTour. In 1780 Bryant published with his DUD* a tract which lie 

 bad be/ore printed and recalled, entitled Y indicia) Flaviana',' advo- 

 cating the disputed toatiinony of Josephus to our Saviour. Priestley 

 espreMtd himself u convinced by the argument* in favour of the 

 lisaasi, 1 " ; but be afterwards engage*! in controversy with Bryant on 

 the difficult (object of Necessity. Bryant wat a firm believer in the 

 authenticity of the poem* attributed to Rowley, and in I'M bo pub 

 lubed 2 Tola. 12mo containing 'Observation.*' upon them. In 1783 

 the Duke of Marlborough priutcd for private distribution an account 

 of toe. gems in his own collection, the fint volume of which work was 

 written in Latin by Bryant. In 1792 appeared a treatise 'On the 

 Authenticity of the Scriptures and the Truth of the Christian 

 lUligion,' Svo, executed at the request of the dowager Lady Pem- 

 broke ; and two years afterwards, in Svo, some ' Observations on the 

 Plagues inflicted on the Egyptians.' But the work which engaged him 

 in moet dispute, and was more distinguished by his love of paradox 

 than any other which be produced, was suggested by M. Le Chevalier's 

 description of the plain of Troy. It appeared in 1796, 4 to, and was 

 entitled 'A Dissertation lonoerning the War of Troy and the expe- 

 dition described by Homer, with the viow of showing that no such 



the following year appeared a tract in Svo, entitled ' The Sentiments 

 of Pbilo-Judicus concerning the Greek AOPO2.' Besides these, Bryant 

 also wrote ' Observations on Famous Controverted Passages in Justin 

 Martyr and Josephus,' and a pamphlet addressed to Mr. Helmoth. lie 

 closed his literary life by preparing for the press some remarks on very 

 curious Scriptural subjects, written more than thirty years before. 

 This quarto volume contained dissertations on the ' Prophecies of 

 Balsam,' the ' Standing still of the Sun in the Time of Jothua,' the 

 ' Jaw-bone of the Asa with which Samson slew the Philistine*,' and 

 the ' History of Jonah and the Whale.' In the seventh volume of the 

 ArcbeologU' be furnished some 'Collections on the Zingara or Gipsy 

 Language;' and numerous juvenile or fugitive pieces were found 

 among his papers in manuscript. 



His exemplary and protracted lire wns closed At hU own residence 

 at Cypenbaiu, near Windsor, on the 14th of November 1804, in con- 

 sequence of a hurt which he received in the leg by a chair slipping 

 from under him while taking down a book from an upper shelf. Such 

 a death, as has been well remarked by a French biographer, was for a 

 literary man to expire on the field of honour, his merits are very justly 

 eulogued in a note on the second ' Dialogue of the Pursuits of Lite- 

 rature.' He left his very valuable library to Kind's College, Cam- 

 bridge, 20UOJ. to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and 

 half that sum to the superannuated collegers of Eton, at the discretion 

 of the provost and fellows. 



* BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN, was born at Cummington in 

 Massachusetts, United States, November 3, 1794. Having received a 

 careful preliminary education, he was entered at the sge of eixteen at 

 Williams College, where he greatly distinguished himself in classical 

 studies. On leaving college he wus placed with an attorney, and on 

 the completion of his legal training, pursued for some years tbo 

 practice of the law. But be bad become known as a poet while yet a 

 boy, by the publication in 1808 of a kind of political poem, entitled 

 the 'Embargo,' and in 1816 be published in the ' North American 

 Review' bis poem of ' Thanatopnis.' In 1821 the longest of his 

 poems, ' The Ages,' appeared, and established his reputation aa one of 

 the very best living American poet*. Finding his legal pursuits 

 incompatible with the study of literature, he in 1825 abandoned tho 

 law, and shortly after in conjunction with Robert Sands, founded 

 the ' New York Review and Atbensouin Magaiine ; ' and a year or 

 two later, along with the same gentleman, he began the publication 

 of an annual called the ' Talisman.' In these publications many of 

 his shorter poems fint appeared, and their quiet gracefulness of 

 style and genuine poetical feeling speedily made them popular in 

 England as well as in America. But he gradually forsook the muses 

 for the more exciting pursuit of politics. Having become the editor 

 of the ' New York Evening Post,' he has for nearly 30 years devoted 

 to it his chief energies, taking in it a prominent and decided part on 

 the democratic side on all the great questions, whether of local or 

 general politics, which have engaged the attention of the citizens of 

 New York. Yet however influential be may have been as a politician, 

 it U on bis poetry that his chance of lasting fame depends. A hand- 

 somely illustrated edition of the poetic works of Mr. Bryant was 

 published at Philadelphia in 1840. Several other editions of bis 

 poetic works have been ismed in America and England. Mr. Bryant 

 has travelled a good deal in his own country, and has made two or 

 three tours in England, France, Germany and Italy : his impressions 

 of these tours nave been published in the form of letters in the 

 'Evening Post.' Mr. Bryant has aho published several tales and 

 sketches. 



BUCER, MARTIN, was born in 1491, at Schclmta.lt, near 

 Strasbourg, a town of Alsace, in the modern French department of the 

 l.owir Rhine. I In real name was Kuhhorn (Cowhorn), which, 

 according to the pedantic fashion of his time, he changed into a 

 Greek synonym, calling himself Bucer. Having entered the order of 



Saint Dominic, he received his education at Heidelberg. Some 

 tracts by Erasmus and others, and, yet more, some by Luther which 

 fell in his way, induced him to adopt the opinions of the latter in 1521. 

 About eleven years afterwards, he appears to have preferred the 

 profewiou of Zuiuglius, but he was ever a ttreouous promoter of union 

 between tho different sects of the Reformed, according to whose 

 doctrine ho taught divinity for twenty yean at Strasbourg. At the 

 diet of Augsburg, in 1548, he vehemently opposed the system of 

 doctrine called the Interim, which tho Emperor Charles V. bad drawn 

 up for the temporary regulation of religious faith in Germany until a 

 free general council could be held. On tho insidious nature of that, 

 proposition wo need Dot hero dwell ; and it may be sufficient to state 

 that although it was expressed for the most part in scriptural phrases, 

 it favoured almost every disputed article of the Romish Church. It 

 wss opposed equally by the RomanisU and the Reformed ; but the 

 emperor urge jl its acceptance to fiercely, that Bucer, after having been 

 subjected to much difficulty and danger, accepted an invitation from 

 Cranmer to fix his residence in Englaud. Bucer had denounced th 

 luterim as "nothing but downright Popery, only a little disguised," 

 and about the same time he wrote a book agauut Gardiner, chiefly 

 relating to the celibacy of the clergy. 



On his arrival in England, he was appointed to teach theology at 

 Cambridge, and appears to have been much admired and respected. 

 When Hooper accepted the bishopric of Gloucester, but refused to be 

 consecrated in the episcopal vtgtuients, Bucer wrote a most convincing 

 but moderate treatise against this fastidious reluctance ; and on the 

 review of the Common Prayer Book, he expressed his opinions at 

 Urge,- that he found all things in the service and daily prayers 

 clearly accordant to the Scriptures. The amendments which he 

 wished to see made have since either beeu adopted, or are such as a 

 large party among the most undoubted friends of tho Cbmrch of 

 England approve. The king having heard that Bucer's health had 

 1 during the winter from the want of a German stove, sent 

 him 201. to procure one. In return, he wrote a book for Edward's 

 own use, ' Concerning the Kingdom of Christ,' which he presented as 

 a new year's gift. It referred the miseries of Germany to the want 

 of ecclesiastical discipline, the adoption of which he strongly recom- 

 mended in England ; he likewise urged the reduction of con-residence 

 and pluralities. 



Bucer was thrice married, and his first wife, by whom he had 

 thirteen children, was a nun, perhaps selected by him, not very 

 judiciously, in imitation of Martin Luther. He died lit Cambridge in 

 the close of February 1550, and waa buried in St. Mary's with great 

 honour, his remains being attended by full 3000 persona jointly from 

 the university and the town. A Latin speech was mude over his 

 grave by Dr. Haddon, the public orator, and an English sermon was 

 then preached by Parker, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, to 

 whom, not long before his death, he had applied in a very pathetic 

 and urgent letter for the loan of ten crowns for a month ; and on 

 the following day, Dr. Redman, master of Trinity College, preached at 

 St. Mary's a sermon in his commendation. 



During the reign of Mary, five years afterwards, when inquisitors 

 were sent to Cambridge, the corpses of Bucer and of Fagius were dug 

 up from their resting-plact s, fastened erect by a chain to stakes in the 

 market-place, and burned to ashes ; their . names, at the same time, 

 were erased from all public acts and registers as heretics and dcniera 

 of the true faith ; and this violence to their memories continued till 

 Elizabeth became queen. A very interesting collection of tracts 

 relative to the life, death, burial, condemnation, exhumation, burning, 

 and restoration of Martin Bucer, waa published at Strasbourg, in 

 Latin, by his friend Conrad Hubert. Bucer wrote both in Latin and 

 in German, and so largely that it is thought his works, if collected, 

 would amount to eight or nine folio volumes. 



BUCH, LEOPOLD VON, a distinguished geologist, was born on 

 the 25th April 1774, at Stolpe, in the Uckermark (Brandenburg), lie 

 came of an ancient and noble family, which reckons among its members 

 not a few authors and statesmen. After the usual course of education, 

 he became a student in the Prussian department of mines, and was 

 marked for the earnestness of his scientific pursuits. In 1790 be 

 entered the Mining Academy at Freiberg, where he had Hutnboldt for 

 a companion, and where Werner, its eminent founder, taught the then 

 novel science of mineralogy, in a way so interesting and genial, as 

 thoroughly to enlist the sympathy of his pupils. Under his teachings 

 grew up a school of young philosophers, destined to widen and confirm 

 his reputation, and amenu his errors, among whom Von Buch was one 

 of the most conspicuous. In 1792 the publication of his ' Alineralo- 

 gical Description of the Carlsbad region,' formed the first of that. 

 series of valuable papers with which he enriched his favourite science 

 for the rest of his life all distinguished as much by conscientious 

 inference, as by perfection of observation. Next appeared bis ' Versuch 

 eiuer mineralogutchen Beechreibuiig von Landeck,' describing a little- 

 known part of the mountains of Silesia; followed shortly afterwards 

 by ' Versuch eiuer geognostischen Beschreibung von Schlenion,' with 

 (for that time) a very advanced geognostical map of the country. 

 These works are written in accordance with the views of his great 

 master, in which the Neptunian theory prevailed; and it is no small 

 proof of tho accuracy of the observed facts that they are now easy to 

 be reconciled with the present more enlightened theory. 



