766 



BURSCHEN BURYING PLACES. 



to be the Prusa of the ancients, built, ncconling to 

 Pliny (v. 22), by Hannibal. In the 14th century, it 

 was taken by the Turks, and became the capital of 

 the Ottoman empire previous to the capture of Con- 

 stantinople. Its port is Mi ii it a i in. or Mondania, on 

 the sea of Marmora, 75 miles S. W. of Constantino- 

 ple. Lon. 29 12' E.; lat. 40 1 1' N. 



BCRSCHEN ; the name given to one another by the 

 students at the German universities. It is derived 

 from bursales, or bursarii, the name which the stu- 

 dents bore in the middle ages, from the buildings 

 (bursee) in which they lived in . common. See l/i- 

 versitiet. 



BURTON, Robert ; a writer of the 17th century. He 

 was born at Lindley, in Leicestershire, 1576, educat- 

 ed at Oxford, embraced the ecclesiastical profession, 

 and became rector of Seagrave, in Leicestershire. 

 His learning, which was various and extensive, is co- 

 piously displayed in the Anatomy of Melancholy, by 

 Democritus Junior, first published in 1621, and re- 

 peatedly reprinted. B. died in 1640, and was buried 

 at Christ church, with the following epitaph, said to 

 have been his own composition : 



I'auris notus, paucioribus ignotus, 

 Hie jacet Democritus Junior; 

 Cui \ itam pariter et mortem 

 Dt-dit Melancholia. 



He was a man of integrity and benevolence, but sub- 

 ject to strange fits of hypochondriac melancholy, 

 which rendered his conduct flighty and inconsistent. 

 Sometimes he was an agreeable and lively companion, 

 delighting those around him with perpetual sallies of 

 wit and numour; while, at other times, devoured 

 with spleen and etintti, he sought relief by listening 

 to the jests of the bargemen on the river near Oxford. 

 He is reported also to have undertaken the composi- 

 tion of his Anatomy of Melancholy with a view to 

 the dissipation of his morbid feelings. Among those 

 who have been most deeply indebted to B. is the au- 

 thor of Tristram Shandy. 



BURTON-UPON-TREXT ; a town of England, situated 

 in Staffordshire, on the north bank of the Trent, which 

 is here crossed by a fine old bridge of 36 arches. B. 

 is a borough, and the inhabitants have the privilege 

 of exemption from county juries. It is mentioned 

 early hi Saxon history, and suffered much in the civil 

 wars. It is chiefly celebrated for its excellent ale, of 

 which vast quantities are made, both for home con- 

 sumption and exportation. Contrary to common 

 usage, the brewers, in preparing it, employ hard in- 

 stead of soft water. See Brewing. Population, in 

 1831, 6988. 



BURY ST EDSIUNP'S ; a town in Suffolk, England, 

 formerly surrounded with walls. It contains two fine 

 churches, with numerous monuments, and, before the 

 reformation, had five hospitals. Of many benevolent 

 institutions, the principal is a free school founded by 

 Edward VI. It is one of the greatest corn markets 

 in the kingdom, and its great fair, in October, which 

 lasts three weeks, is attended by the nobility and 

 gentry of the neighbourhood. The town is a borough , 

 returning two representatives. It is an ancient place, 

 and is supposed to have derived its name from St 

 Edmund, a king of the East Angles, who was buried 

 here. The barons, in John's reign, met here, and 

 formed a league against him. B. has been the seat 

 of two parliaments, and contains the remains of an 

 abbey, the most wealthy and magnificent in Britain, 

 " with gates of brass, towers, and high walls, so that 

 one might think the monastery alone a city." Barren 

 women, desirous of offspring, offered a white bull 

 at the shrine of St Edmund. It is situated 71 miles 

 N. N. E.. of London. Population, in 1831, 11,432. 



BTRYIXG-PLACES. The custom of burying the dead 

 In public places prevailed among the most ancient 



nations. The Romans hnd this custom in the earliest 

 times. Afterwards, in the flourishing periods of the 

 republic, they burned their dead, and only buried the 

 ashes, collected in urns (urnae). The ancient Ger- 

 mans buried their dead in the groves consecrated by 

 their priests. With the introduction of the Christian 

 religion, consecrated places were appropriated for the 

 purpose of general burial ; and it was regarded as ig- 

 nominious not to be buried in consecrated earth. The 

 deprivation of the rites of burial was, therefore, 

 part of the punishment of excommunication. The 

 Romans were accustomed to provide their sepulchres 

 at least with a stone, upon which was inscribed the 

 name of the deceased, and the wish, May. he rest in 

 peace (Sit illi terra levis, that is, May the earth rest 

 lightly upon him). This custom was preserved by 

 the Christians. The sepulchres in churches originated 

 from an inclination, common to men of all times and 

 nations, to honour their relations, even in the grave. 

 The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, erected over 

 the graves of men of rank, or persons otherwise re- 

 markable, pyramids, mausolea or temples. After the 

 introduction of Christianity, little churches, called 

 chapels, were erected over the dead. The early 

 Christian martyrs were buried in caverns, which, by 

 degrees, were enlarged to spacious subterranean 

 vaults, and called chambers of repose. In the sequel, 

 others considered themselves happy if their bones 

 were allowed to repose near the ashes cf a martyr. 

 The sepulchres of the martyrs were, on this account, 

 distinguished by a white altar over them. When the 

 Christians were allowed the public exercise of their 

 religion, they erected churches, and the heathen tem- 

 ples became places of Christian worship. As early ;is 

 the fourth century they built churches over the sepul- 

 chres of the holy martyrs ; and, in the belief that a 

 place was sanctified by their ashes, they anxiously 

 sought out, on the erection of new churches in cities, 

 or the transformation of heathen temples into Christian 

 churches, the remains (relics) of the martyrs, and 

 buried them under the altar of the new church, to 

 communicate to it a character of greater sanctity. It 

 gradually came to be universally considered, among 

 the Christians, a privilege to be buried in the neigh- 

 bourhood of a saint. The emperor Constantine, wlio 

 died in 337, was the first person that we know of who 

 ordered his sepulchre to be erected in a church. This 

 was done in the church of the apostles at Constanti- 

 nople, of which he was the founder, and therefore, 

 probably, considered himself as peculiarly entitled to 

 this privilege. He was soon imitated by the bishops, 

 and, in the sequel, all those who had enriched the 

 church were distinguished by this honour. The em- 

 perors Theodosius and Justinian, indeed, forbade the 

 erection of sepulchres in churches, but in va'n. Leo 

 the philosopher again permitted them to every body. 

 It is only in later times that men ha^e become con- 

 vinced how injurious it is to the health of the living 

 to remain, for a long time, in the vicinity of the dead ; 

 particularly if the corpses remain standing in simple 

 coffins, and are not placed deep in the earth, as is com- 

 monly the case in the sepulchral vaults of churches. 

 From these the effluvia of putrefaction escape easily, 

 and diffuse themselves in the air. On the occasion of 

 opening such sepulchral vaults, those who stood near 

 them have sometimes fallen dead on the spot, and no 

 one could venture into the church, for a long time 

 after, without exposing himself to dangerous conse- 

 quences. At present, the burying in churches is al- 

 most everywhere suppressed, or, at least, permitted 

 only under certain restrictions. Even in Naples and 

 Rome the general practice of erecting sepulchres in 

 churches was forbidden in 1809, and the foundation 

 of burial places without the city was provided for. 

 i The custom of the communities of Moravian Brothers, 



