108 



BUR 



Ei:r<te<=s. ever, arc unquestionably original. An attempt, in- 

 ' deed, \vasmade in the Montlily Magazine, (Sep- 

 tember 179G), to show that Burger had taken the 

 story of his Leonora, from an old English ba- 

 )ad, The Suffolk Miracle. But, in the first place, 

 it is extremely improbable that Burger ever saw this 

 supposed original ; and, in the second place, it is 

 certain that he used to give his friends a very differ- 

 ent account of the matter, and we do not understand 

 that his veracity was ever called in question. The 

 first idea of writing such a ballad, he said, was sug- 

 gested to him by hearing a peasant girl sing, by moon- 

 light, some verses, of which he recollected only three 

 liner-, which we translate thus : 



' The moon it (shines so bright, 

 The dead ride fast by night : 

 Sweet love, art not afraid ?" 



From which it appears very probable, that an old 

 ballad, somewhat similar in its subject, had existed 

 at one time in Germany. After all, in a poem such 

 as Leonora, it is not so much the invention, as 

 the manner of execution, which evinces the genius 

 of the author ; and, in this latter respect, the merit 

 of Burger is indisputable. 



The amateurs of German literature are probably 

 familiar with his other ballads, " Der Wilde Jager," 

 (which has been translated, or rather imitated, by 

 Mr Scott) ; " Die Weiber von Wcinsberg;" " Des 

 Pfarrers Tochtcrvon Taubcnhain ;" "Das Lied von 

 Treue," &c. ; besides his translations from the Eng- 

 lish, which will not shrink from a comparison even 

 with their beautiful originals. 



The ballad of Leonora has been frequently trans- 

 lated. The admirers of splendid specimens of ty- 

 pography are acquainted with the elegant version 

 of Mr W. Spencer, beautifully printed in folio, 

 with engravings, from admirable designs, by Lady 

 D. Beauclerc. See the Life prefixed to the fourth 

 volume of Burger's works, published by Reinhard, 

 in four volumes 8vo. Gottingen, 1796, and following 

 years ; and Schiller's Review of Burger's Poems, in 

 the 4th volume of that author's prose writings, Leip- 

 sic, 1802. (2) 



BURGESS, in a general sense, denotes an inha- 

 bitant of a borough ; but in a more restrained and 

 proper meaning, it signifies the freemen only of the 

 borough, or those who, by fine, parentage from a 

 freeman, marriage with a freeman's daughter, or 

 gratuitous favour of the borough, are entitled to 

 certain privileges of trade or otherwise. It appears 

 from the Leges Burgorum, that in the royal boroughs 

 of Scotland, property to the extent of at least a rood 

 of land, holding of the crown, and burdened with 

 the service called burgagium, was anciently a requi- 

 site qualification towards becoming a burgess. It 

 appears, too, from the records in the reign of Ro- 

 bert II. and James I., that, of old, the individual 

 proprietors of tenements in these beroughs had char- 

 ters from the king, as other freeholders, from which 

 the practice of magistrates receiving vassals in bur- 

 gal tenements as the king's bailies, has no doubt 

 arisen. 



That part of the representatives in parliament who 

 are returned by the boroughs, are also sometimes de- 



nominated burgesses, in contradistinction to the Burglary, 

 knights of the shires, or county representatives, al- 

 though, in fact, they also are generallv proprietors 

 of county lands, (j. B.) 



BURGLARY (Burgi UUrocinium,} or nocturnal 

 house-breaking, in law, signifies an unlawful enter- 

 ing into the dwelling-house of another, in the night- 

 time, with the intention of committing some felony. 

 In burglary there are four things to be considered : 

 the time, the place, the manner t and the intent. 



1: The time must be night ; for the like offence 

 committed by day is called house-breaking, to dis- 

 tinguish it from burglary, which is committed by 

 night. Antiently, the day was reckoned to begin 

 only at sun-rising, and to end immediately at sun- 

 set ; but the better opinion seems to be, that if there 

 be day-light enough, begun or left, to enable one to 

 discern a man's face, it is no burglary. But this 

 principle does not extend to moon-light. 



2. The place, according to Sir Edward Coke, 

 must be a mansion house ; and, therefore, to account 

 for the reason why breaking into a church is bur- 

 glary, he quaintly observes, that it is domus man- 

 sionalis Dei. But it does not seem absolutely neces- 

 sary that it should, in all cases, be a mansion house ; 

 for a burglary may be committed by breaking the 

 gates or walls of a town by night. According to 

 Spelman's definition, burglary is " nocturna dintptio 

 alicujiis habitaculi, vel ecclesia;, etiam murorum por- 

 tarumve burgi, adfeloniam perpetrandam." And we 

 may, therefore, conclude, that the requisite of its be- 

 ing domus mansionalis is only in the burglary of a 

 private house. No distant barn, however, warehouse, 

 or the like, are under the same privileges as a man's 

 dwelling-house; nor empty houses, wherein no one 

 resides. But burglary may be committed in a house 

 where a man sometimes resides, and which the owner 

 hath left for a short time, animo revertendi; al- 

 though no one should happen to be in it at the pe- 

 riod of committing the crime. A burglary may also 

 be committed in the barn, stable, or warehouse, if 

 they be parcel of the mansion-house, though not 

 under the same roof, or contiguous. A chamber in 

 a college or inn of court, where one usually lodges, 

 is to all intents and purposes the mansion-house of 

 the owner ; for every inhabitant hath a distinct pro- 

 perty therein. So also is a room or lodging, in any 

 private house, the mansion-house, for the time being, 

 of the lodger, if the owner do not himself live in the 

 house, or if he and the lodger enter by separate out- 

 ward doors ; otherwise, however, lodgers arc consi- 

 dered only as inmates, and their chambers as parcel 

 of the dwelling-house of the owner. The house of a 

 corporation is their mansion-house, and not that of 

 the respective officers who may inhabit its separate 

 apartments. A shop hired for the purposes of work 

 or trade, and not used as a dwelling, is not consider- 

 ed as a mansion-house, nor can a burglary be com- 

 mitted therein. Neither can burglary be committed 

 in a tent or booth erected in a market or fair, even 

 although the owner should lodge in it. The enter- 

 ing into the work- shops of the plate-glass manufac- 

 tory, with intent to steal the stock or utensils, is 

 made single felony, and punished with transportation 

 for seven years, by 13 Geo, III. c. 38. 



