BUDGELL, EUSTACE. 



UUFFON, COMTK DE. 



rxplanation of which a not to easily attainable elsewhere. Hi* Greek 

 letter* also re written with much elegance, and show profound 

 knowledge of the language. 



BUDOKLL, EUSTACE, ion of tho Rer. Oilbert Budgrll, wu born 

 boat 16S5 at St. Thomas'*, near Exeter. Through lit mother. Mary 

 Oulston, daughter of a bishop of Bristol, be was connected with Addiaon, 

 who used to name him " that man who call* himself my cousin," and 

 woo wrote an epilogue to Prior'a 'Pbadra' which wu attributed to 

 rttidgell, and acquired for him a reputation which he little merited. 

 Me was educated at Christchuri h, Oxford, and afterwards entered at 

 the Temple; where, devoting himself to literature, he wrote largely 

 in the ' Spectator,' to which he contributed all the papers marked X, 

 and on the diseontinuanoe of that work all those in the ' Guardian ' 

 marked with an uterink. Through Addison's influence he held many 

 subordinate office* under government in Ireland; ami in 1717, when 

 his patron became secretary of state in England, he procured for Budgell 

 the lucrative appointment of accountant and comptroller-general in 

 Ireland. A mUunderotanding with the lord-lieutenant. Lord Bolton, 

 and some lampoons which Budgell wu indiscreet enough to write in 

 const-queue*, occasioned his resignation. 



From that time he appears to have trodden a downward course : 

 lie lost 20.000/. in the South Sea Bubble, and spent 50002. more in 

 unsuccessful attempts to get into parliament In order to save IUU.M -It 

 from ruin he joined the knot of pamphleteers who scribbled against 

 Sir Robert Walpole, and he was presented with 10007. by the Duchess 

 of Marlborough. Much of the ' Craftsman' was written by him ; also 

 a weekly pamphlet called the 'Bee,' which commenced in 1733, and 

 extended to 100 numbers. But his necessities reduced him to dishonest 

 methods for procuring support, and he obtained a place in the ' Dunciad,' 

 not on account of want of wit but of want of principle, by appearing 

 as a legatee in Tindol's will for 2000/., to the exclusion of bis next heir 

 and nephew a bequest which Budgell is thought, perhaps unjustly, to 

 have obt-.ined surreptitiously. In 1736, being utterly broken in 

 character and reduced to poverty, lie took a boat at Somerset Stairs, 

 and ordering the waterman to row down the river, he threw himself 

 into the stream as they shot London bridge. Having tab n the 

 precaution of filling his pockets with stones, he rose no more. On the 

 morning before that on which he drowned himself he hod endeavoured 

 to persuade a natural daughter, at that time not more than eleven 

 years of age, to accompany him. She however refused, and afterwards 

 entered as an actress at Drury Lane Theatre. Budgell left in his 

 secretary a slip of paper, 011 which was written a broken distich, 

 intended perhaps as an apology for his act : 



" What Calo did, and Addison approved, 

 Cnr.ot be wrong." 



It is unnecessary to point out the fallacy of this defence of his 

 conduct, there being as little resemblance between the cases of Budgell 

 and Cato, as there is reason for considering AddUon's 'C'ato ' mitten 

 with the view of defending suicide. 



BUFFALMACCO, an old painter of Florence of the beginning of 

 the 14th century, and a scholar of Andrea Tafi, celebrated for hi* 

 humour by Boccaccio and Sacchetti, and for his ability by Ghiberti 

 and Vasari. The name of Buffalmacco appears to have been a nick- 

 name as given to him by Boccaccio : his real name is fiiid to have 

 been Euonamico di Cristofano, but some have supposed the name 

 of Buoiiamico, which is used by Ghiberti, to have been a nickname 

 also* Rumohr and others have even doubted his actual existence, 

 aupposing that Y*aari himself has given him his historical existence by 

 confounding together the real Buonamico of Ghiberti and the imaginary 

 liuflalmacoo of Boccaccio an ideawhich does not seem to have occurred 

 to either Baldinucci or Lanzi, or any of the Italian editors of Vasari'a 

 work. This however is certain, that Vasari has gleaned most that is 

 interesting and all that is amusing in his ' Life of Buffslmacco ' from 

 the novels of Boccaccio and Sacchetti ; and some of his narrations of 

 the rea'ly humour of this painter are the most amusing passages in 

 his ' Live* :' they are from the following novels of Boccac. io : 

 ' Decainerone,' viii. 3, 0, 9 ; ix. 3, 5 ; and the following of Sacchetti : 

 101. 169,191,192. 



Vasari enumerates many of Buflalmacco's works, of which however 

 scarcely anything now remains. Of thoie attributed to him there arc 

 still some in the Campo Santo at Pisa, and at Arezzo. At Pisa there 

 is a ' Creation of the Universe,' pome stories from the life of Noah and 

 his suns ; and the 'Crucifixion,' the ' Resurrection,' and the 'Ascension 

 of Christ ;' but though there is some meaning in them as compositions, 

 as designs they are barbarous works : they are engraved in Lacinio'n 

 ' Campo Santo. Vasari however speak* of other works which have 

 perished a* very superior to these, and he says that Buffalmacco, when 

 be chose to exert himielf, which was not often, was equal to any of 

 Ms contemporaries. In some of bis works in Pisa he was assisted by 

 Bruno di Giovanni, who is also mentioned by Boccaccio. Buffalmacco 

 died poor, according to Vatari, iu 1340, aged 78, but according to 

 Baldinuod be was still living in 1861 ; he was therefore probably a 

 younger painter than Giotto, who died in 1886, aged 60, though 

 Va*ari'a account makes Buflalmacco the elder. 



(Vsaari, ViU <U Pittori, *c. ; Baldinucci, NotitU dti Profeaori del 

 Dutgno, Ac. ; I.cinio, I'illure a Freteo del Campo Santo di Piia.) 

 BUFFON, GEORGE LOUIS LE CLERC, COMTK DE, son of 



Benjamin Le Clero liuffon, a councillor of parliament, was born at 

 Montbard, in Burgundy, on the 7th September 1707, a year which 

 was also marked by the entrance of Luiul into life. We Urst trace 

 the young Buflbn at Dijon, where he was entered at the Jesuits' 

 College as a student of law; but it would appear that the legal 

 profession, which his father wished him to adopt, had no charms 

 'or him, and that astronomy and mathematics were his favourite 

 pursuits. The parent, observing his son's disgust at the former study 

 ind his zealous application to the last-named sciences, wisely sutVn , ,1 

 bim to follow the path which he had chosen, and he became so 

 wedded to his geometry that some of his biographers assert, that 

 while his companion* w. re at their sports he was generally to be 

 seen in some retired nook poring over his pocket Kuclid. Such a 

 mode of (pending hours, which would otherwise have been hours of 

 idleness, brought forth its fruits in due season, and there are stories 

 current that he bad anticipated Newton in some of his discoveries, but 

 that he withheld his claim, observing that people were not obliged to 

 believe tho assertion. We receive these on ditt with some grains of 

 allowance, for, to say nothing of dates, vanity was certainly not absent 

 as an ingredient in Buffon s character. 



An acquaintance which he had made with Lord Kingston and bis 

 tutor, at Dijon, soon ripened into friendship, and Buflba travelled 

 through Italy with these companions, the latter of whom appears to 

 have been a man of science, while the former was the ready partner 

 iu his pleasures : the friend: afterwards visited Paris and London 

 together. The death of his mother, whom he lost during this expe- 

 dition, put him in possession of a large income, nearly 12,0002., but he 

 did not settle down on his estate till the age of twenty-five. In tli 

 retirement ho resolutely pursued his studies, and as it may not bo 

 uninteresting to those who think life was not given to us to be passed 

 in mere frivolities, to know bow Bufibn passed his time, we select tin- 

 following account from a modern biographer, premising that tho 

 history of one day seems to have been that of all the others, generally 

 speaking, throughout a period of fifty years. " After ho was dressed 

 he dictated loiters, and regulated his domestic affairs ; and at six 

 o'clock he retired to his studies at the pavilion called tho Tower of 

 St. Lou in. This pavilion was situated at the extremity of the garden, 

 about a furlong from the house, and the only furniture which it 

 contained was a lame wooden secretary and an arm-chair. No books 

 or pictures relieved the naked appearance of the apartment, or dis- 

 tracted the thoughts of the learned possessor. The entrance was by 

 green folding doors, the walls were painted green, and the interior 

 had the appearance of a chapel, on account of the elevation of the 

 roof. Within this was another cabinet, where Button resided the 

 greater part of the year, on account of tho coldness of the other 

 apartment, and where he composed the greater numb-T of his works. 

 It was a Binall square building, situated on the eide of a terrace, and 

 was ornamented with drawings of birds and beasts. Prince Henry of 

 Prussia called it the cradle of natural history ; and Rousseau, before 

 he entered it, used to fall on his knees and kiss the threshold. At 

 nine o'clock Buffon usually took an hour's rest; and his biv.. 

 which consisted of a piece of bread and two jjlasf.es of wiue, was 

 brought to the pavilion. When ho had written two hours 

 breakfast, he returned to the house. At dinner he spent a con-Mi r- 

 able portion of time, and indulged in all the gaieties and triSes which 

 occurred at table. After diuutr he flept an hour in his room, took a 

 solitary walk, and, during the rest of the evening, he either conversed 

 with his family or guests, or *at at his desk examining the papers 

 which were submitted to his judgment. At nine o'clock ho went to 

 bed to prepare himself for the same routine of judgment and pleasure." 

 Among his other studies the alleged burning of the Roman fleet, 

 under Marcellus, by Archimedes, on its approach within bowshot, by 

 means of mirrors, attracted his attention, nnd he commenced a scries 

 of experiments, with the view of verifying the f.tct. After several 

 experiments and considerable expense, he constructed a great mirror, 

 composed of 163 pieces of plain silvered glass, six inches by eight. 

 The contrivance allowed of extensive motion, the whole of the pieces 

 being set in an iron frame, with an apparatus of screws aud spring?. 

 Having made his preparations he commenced his experiments, and, 

 on the 23rd of March, a plank of beech, which had been covered with 

 tar, was set on fire at the distance of sixty-six feet, only forty mirror" 

 being brought to bear on it, nnd without their being set in the stand. 

 On the same day ninety-eight mirrors, under some disadvantageous 

 circumstances, ignited a tarred and sulphured plank, at the distance 

 of 128 feet. Other experiments were still more successful. At threo 

 o'clock, on the 5th of April, 154 mirrors fired small sulphured chipn 

 of deal, mingled with charcoal, at the distance of 250 feet, when tin' 

 day was not bright : a few seconds were sufficient to produce ignition 

 when the sun shone powerfully. An unclouded and clear sun, soon 

 after mid-day of the 10th of April, inflamed very suddenly a tarred 

 fir-plank, the distance being 150 feet, aud the number of mirrors 

 brought into action being 123. On the llth of April gome small 

 combustible* were ignited by 12 mirrors, at 20 feet ; a large pewter 

 flask, 6 Ibs. in weight, was melted by 45 mirrors at the same dis- 

 tance, and some thin pieces of silver and iron were brought to a red 

 heat by 117. These experiments led him to others, having for their 

 object the structure of mirrors by bending glass upon e] i 

 moulds ; but his groat difficulty appears to have been encountered iu 



