lirilGOYNK. SIR JOHK. 



BURGUNDIANS, KINGS OK THE. 



MM 



1774 by the Earl of Derby, in honour of the marriage of hit el Jot 

 on. Lord SUnly. with Udy Betty, daughter of the Duke of 

 Hamilton. Lady Charlotte Bnrgoyne died at KeiuingUm 1'alaoe 

 without issue. June 5th 1770, during which year and that preceding 

 it Burgoyue aenred in North America. 



In lHo rammer of 17T7 h WM Appointed to the eommuiil of a large 

 force ordered to penetrate from Albany on the Hudion River to Canada 

 by tho lake*. Hi* Dumber* on paper were 8000 regulars, 2000 Canadian*, 

 and 1000 Indians; but of theee there were nerer really auembl<-d more 

 than 7000 regulars, 150 Canadians, and 400 savages. After some success 

 In the early part of hi* expedition, and the capture of Tioonderoga, he 

 imprudently pushed forward without proatrving his communication* 

 with Canada ; and being in the midtt of a hostile country, and watched 

 by a greatly superior force, he soon became greatly straitened for pro- 

 vision*, and more than one of hi* detachment* were cut off. Having 

 erawed the Hudion be encamped at Saratoga, about 30 miles north 

 of Albany. Her.- in October be was surrounded by 18,000 American* 

 und-r generals Arnold and Gates, who, perceiving the necessity to 

 which their enemy was reduced, prudently declined battle, trusting 

 to wear him out. Thu* disastrously circumstanced, he opened a 

 convention with General Gates, in which the American commander at 

 first asserted that the retreat of the British was cut off, and proposed 

 that they should ground their arms within their own encampments. 

 He was answered with spirit to the first statement, that " Lieutenant- 

 General Burgpyne's army, however reduced, will never admit that 

 their retreat is cut off while they have arms in their hands ;" and to 

 the second demand " This article is inadmissible in any extremity. 

 Sooner than this army will consent to ground their arms in their 

 encampment, they will rush on the enemy, determined to take no 

 quarter." And again, in similar language " If General Gates does 

 not mean to recede from the sixth article, the treaty ends at once. 

 The army will, to a man, proceed to any act of desperation rather 

 than submit to that article." Burgoyne had displayed none of the 

 higher qualities of a general, but he was a thoroughly brave man, and 

 he would dubtles, as Gates felt assured, act up to hi} declaration, and 

 there was no wish on the American si<)e to drive him to extremities. 



It was finally settled that the British troops should march out of 

 tho camp with all the honours of war, and should be sent to Europe 

 on condition of not serving in America during existing hostilities. 

 The ministry in England received the news of this convention with 

 profound indignation, since it was chiefly owing to it that France 

 acknowledged the independence of the United States ; and it was 

 indeed the turning point of the American struggle. On his return to 

 England, Burgoyne wa* treated with marked severity. Both an 

 audience with the king and a court-martial were refused. Burgoyne 

 nt once went over to the opposition party. He defended himself 

 resolutely in the House of Commons, and an attempt was made by the 

 ministry to exclude him from that assembly, under pretence that, as 

 a prisoner of war, he had no right cither to speak or to vote ; but the 

 Speaker having been appealed to, decided in his favour. On that 

 occasion he voluntarily resigned all his appointments. At a subsequent 

 period, when he was allowed to produce evidence before a committee 

 which had been appointed to inquire into the conduct of Sir William 

 Howe, the testimony advanced was highly in favour of his bravery 

 and military knowledge. 



On the change of ministry at the close of the American war Burgoyne 

 was appointed commander in-chief in Ireland, the last of his professional 

 employment* ; and be appear*, on his resignation two years afterwards, 

 to have devoted himself entirely to lighter literature. He contributed 

 to tho ' RoUUd,' the ' Ode to Dr. Prettyman,' and the ' Westminster 

 Guile.' A comic opera, the ' Lord of the Manor,' had already appeared 

 in 1780, and in 1786 he attempted a higher species of composition in 

 the comedy of ' The Heiress.' Not long afterwards he adapted to the 

 stage Sedaine'i historical romance, ' Richard Ceour de Lion.' His 

 political career ended by hi* being appointed one of tho managers for 

 conducting the impeachment of Mr. Hastings. During the trial of 

 Hastings he moved and obtained the censure of the House upon Major 

 Scott, for an attack on the conduct of the committee. He did not 

 live till the conclusion of the trial, but was cut off by a sudden attack 

 of the gout on the 4th of June 1792, and was buried privately in the 

 cloisters of Westminster Abbey. 



The dramatic and poetical works of Ljeutenant-General Burgoyne 

 were collected in two small volume* in 1808. He is best described as 

 an agreeable and clever writer. Of his light theatrical pieces it may 

 be enough to nay that after the lapse of seventy years ' The Lord of 

 the Manor' and 'The Helms' still keep occasional possession of the 

 stage ; and we may add that it would not be easy to find eight lines 

 of simpler pathos than the song, ' Encompassed in an angel's frame,' 

 introduced into the former. 



(./-. prefixed to bis work* ; Spark* ; Mahon, &c.) 



BUROOYNE, SIR JOHN, entered the army as one of the corps 

 of Royal Engineer*, August 29, 1798. He became a lieutenant 

 July 1, 1800, and captain March 1, 1805. He served at Malta, in 

 Egypt, in Sicily, and in Sweden, from 1800 to 1807. He was with 

 the army under Sir John Moore in Spain and Portugal, and in 1809 

 joined the army under Sir Arthur Wellesley, and continued with it, 

 attached to the Third Diriaion, till the termination of the Peninsular 

 A\ ar in 1 ->U. Ho wo* present in most of the important battles ; con- 



ducted in whole or in part the sieges of San Sebastian, Burgos, and 

 others, and was twioe wounded. He was raised to the rank of major 

 February 0, 1812, and to that of lieutenant-colonel April 27, 1812. 

 He was chief engineer of the expedition to New Orleans in 1814-15, 

 and also of that sent to Portugal in 1826. He became colonel J 

 1830. and in tho same year was appointed Chairman of the Board of 

 Public Works of Ireland. He was created a Knight Commander of 

 the Bath in 1837, became major-general June 28, 1838, and i< 

 was appointed Inspector-General of Fortifications of England. In 1 - ; 

 he was placed at the head of tho Metropolitan Commission of Sewers. 

 He attained the rank of lieutenant-general Nov. 11, 1851, and was 

 created a Knight Grand Cross in 1852. He was sent to Turkey in 

 1854, and continued in the Crimea as chief of the engineering depart- 

 ment of the British army, till his recall in 1855, when he was succeeded 

 by Sir Harry Jones. The University of Oxford conferred on him the 

 honorary degree of D.C.L. in 1854, and the Sultan bestowed on him 

 tho order of the Medjiciie in 1865. 



BUflGUNDIANS, KINGS OF THE. The Burgundians were a 

 people who settled in Gaul upon the dowufal of the Roman empire. The 

 origin of the name and of the people seems to be alike unknown. 

 Plaucher (' Hist de Bonrgogne ") has very gravely stated and refuted 

 the various conjectures on this head. A favourite supposition seems 

 to have been that the Burgundians were descended from the Romans. 

 They are mentioned by Pliny the elder, in bis ' Hist Nat,' lib. iv. c. 

 25, under the name of Jluryundione*, and he numbers thnm among the 

 branches of the great stock of the Vindili or Vandals ; Ptolemxus places 

 these Vindili upon the lower Vistula. The Roman historians and 

 orators give us some intimation of their disputes and wan with the 

 Goths, the Alemanni, and other barbarous nations. In the reign of 

 the Roman Emperor Probua they came into conflict with the Romans ; 

 Probus defeated them and their allies, who were of other branches of 

 the Vandals. In the reign of Diocletkn and Maximltn they invaded 

 Gaul in conjunction with the Alemanni ; but their unwieldy host was 

 destroyed by famine, pestilence, and the sword. In the time of the 

 Emperor Valeutiniau I. the; were at variance with the Alemanni, who 

 dwelt between the Upper lihine and the Upper Danube, on account 

 of some brine springs that were near the frontier of these two people, 

 which shows that tlie Burguudians had moved from their seats on tho 

 Vistula to the country near the Rhine. Valentinian, desirous of 

 humbling the Aleuianui, formed on alliance with the Burgundians 

 (Ammianus Marcellinua calls them Burgundii), who raised an army of 

 80,000 men, according to some writers, and advanced to the Rhine 

 without experiencing any opposition from their terrified opponent?. 

 The emperor, having humbled his enemies, refused to perform hid 

 promises to his allies; and the Burgundiaus returned home highly 

 disgusted with his breach of faith. In the reign of Honorius, about 

 A.D. 406, or the beginning of 407, they invaded Gaul, like several 

 other of the barbarous nations on the frontier, but it is doubted 

 whether they acted conjointly. Shortly after this wo find tho 

 Burgundians supporting Jovinus, who assumed the imperial purple in 

 opposition to Honorius. Th'j latter prince however made peace with 

 them, and ceded to them part of Gaul, near the banks of the Rhine (or 

 confirmed its previous cession by Jovinus), and from this cession 

 arose the kingdom of Burgundy. About the same time the Bur- 

 gundians embraced the Christian religion, at first under what is 

 generally termed the orthodox form ; afterwards they became Arians. 

 Their kingdom afterwards increased so far as to comprehend that part 

 of Gaul which was to the east of the Saoue and Rhone (except the 

 coast of Provence south of the Durance), Savoy, and a part of 

 Switzerland. 



OuNDicAHirs was king of the Burgundians at the time of their 

 settlement in C.utl. He was engaged in wars at a subsequent period 

 with the Romans under yEtius (A.D. 435 or 43C), and sustained a 

 great overthrow from Attila (in 450, or thereabout). Among his 

 successors were Gundcuchus, and after Gundeuchus hi* four sons, 

 Gundobold, Godegisilus, Chilperic, and Godemar, who were said to be 

 of Gothic extraction. Clotilda, or Clotildis, who married Clovin, king 

 of the Franks, was the daughter of Chilperic. Chilperic and Godemar 

 dying, or being killed by Gundobald, according tu Gregory of i 

 (whose account is however ta be received with great distrust), the 

 remaining two brothers divided the kingdom between them, and fixed 

 their residence, Gundobald at Lyons and Godegisilus at Geneva. 



The character of Gundobald hai been very unfavourably represented 

 by Gregory of Tours ; but perhaps Gregory's partiality to the Franks, 

 or his desire to win the favour of the Prankish kings, influent- 

 judgment. Gundobald was in favour with the Roman?. The em- 

 peror Olybrius bestowed upon him, in 172, the titlo of patrician ; and 

 the usurper Glycerius rested on bis support. His eloquence, his 

 penetration, his quickness of invention, are celebrated by his pane- 

 gyrists ; and his tolerant spirit will be regarded in the present day as 

 a subject of just applause. Ho was an Arian, perhaps the first Arian 

 prince of his race, but he did not persecute the Catholics. Their 

 bishops assembled without interruption, and their churches pr< 

 their endowments. The king attended the discussions held by the 

 advocates of the two parties on their points of difference, and kept 

 up a correspondence with Avitus, the Catholic bishop of Vienne. He 

 improved the laws of his kingdom, and even Gregory admits that his 

 alterations were made with tho view of rendering tho condition of the 



