BURKE'S PEERAGE 



1005 



BURLINGTON 



summit of his influence, and might seem to 

 indicate that he was a Liberal, but this was 

 not by any means the case. The French Rev- 

 olution never had his sympathy, and he re- 

 sisted firmly attempts at Parliamentary reform ; 

 but he was always on the side of movements 

 which were for the betterment of humanity. 

 He opposed the slave trade, and put years of 

 research and labor into his effort to uphold the 

 rights of the people of India as against the 

 greedy officials who oppressed them to enrich 

 themselves. The culmination of this struggle 

 was the impeachment of Warren Hastings 

 (which see), in which Burke took an active 

 part, delivering a wonderful speech. 



His writings were numerous, and include in 

 addition to those mentioned above and his 

 published speeches, Reflections on the Revolu- 

 tion in France and Observations on a Pam- 

 phlet on the Present State of the Nation. In 

 all that he wrote there is a richness of imagery 

 and a wealth of figures which shows him to 

 have been a poet in spirit, though the medium 

 through which he expressed himself was prose. 



BURKE'S PEERAGE, the name usually ap- 

 plied to a publication entitled Genealogical 

 and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and 

 Baronetage of the United Kingdom, first com- 

 piled in 1826 by John Burke, an Irish man of 

 letters. It contained the names of all British 

 peers and baronets in alphabetical order, and 

 was the first work of its kind. The publica- 

 tion is still issued annually and is regarded as 

 the best authority on the genealogy of leading 

 British families. 



BUR 'LAP, a strong, heavy cloth made of 

 jute, flax, hemp or manila. Its natural color 

 is a lifeless tan, and at one time it was used 

 in a very coarse texture without coloring, 

 merely for packing and for coffee bags. It is 

 still used for those purposes; but it has been 

 discovered that burlap can be made a highly 

 ornamental cloth for decoration in the home. 

 It is now sold in many weaves, coarse and 

 fine, and dyed in every color. As covering 

 for walls in place of wall paper, as hangings, 

 as cushion tops in a large number of ways, 

 embroidered, and stenciled, or plain burlap is 

 now a favorite fabric for interior decoration. 

 Some of the finer qualities of art burlaps are 

 expensive improvements on the cheap burlap 

 packing cloth. 



BURLESQUE, burlesk', a story, poem or 

 theatrical performance which makes a laughing 

 matter of some serious work, by words or ac- 

 tions which are a travesty on the original. 



Noble thoughts, for instance, are expressed in 

 the most commonplace language; things insig- 

 nificant are talked of in glowing words, mak- 

 ing the thing described seem absurd and ridic- 

 ulous. And that is why such compositions 

 were given the name burlesque, the Italian 

 word for raillery, mockery or jesting. The 

 most famous of the early English writers of 

 burlesque was Chaucer, who ridiculed some of 

 the long-drawn-out tales of the Middle Ages. 

 Don Quixote, by Cervantes, a burlesque on 

 absurdly romantic tales of chivalry, is the most 

 famous example of this class of literary work 

 (see DON QUIXOTE). As a form of the drama, 

 burlesque was well known to the Greeks. 

 Moliere's comedies are the best-known exam- 

 ples in French literature. Some of the works 

 of Gilbert and Sullivan, particularly Pinafore 

 and The Mikado, with their burlesque on fads 

 and affectations, are well-known examples. The 

 burlesque in the theaters of to-day, however, 

 is merely a mixture of vaudeville and ballet, 

 and such performances have in many cities lost 

 moral quality. 



BUR'LINGAME, ANSON (1820-1870), an 

 American statesman and diplomatist, whose 

 most important achievement was his negotia- 

 tion, in 1868, of a treaty between the United 

 States and China. In this the latter country 

 for the first time accepted the principles of 

 international law, and really opened its doors 

 to the world. Burlingame was born in New 

 York state and was educated at the Univer- 

 sity of Michigan and the Harvard Law School. 

 After practicing law in Boston and serving as 

 state senator, he was elected to the national 

 House of Representatives on the Know-Noth- 

 ing ticket (see KNOW-NOTHINGS). In 1861 

 President Lincoln appointed Burlingame min- 

 ister to China, a post which he held until 1867. 

 The following year, while serving as head of 

 an embassy of the Chinese government, he 

 concluded at Washington the epoch-making 

 treaty which is known by his name. 



BUR'LINGTON, a town in Halton County, 

 Ontario, thirty miles west of Toronto, at the 

 head of Lake Ontario, on the Grand Trunk 

 Railway. It also receives freight service from 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway, has connection 

 with Hamilton and Oakville by electric line, 

 and is on the Toronto-Hamilton Highway. 

 The Burlington district is celebrated for its 

 fruits, and the town's largest industrial estab- 

 lishments are a cannery, an evaporator and 

 several basket factories. Population in 1911, 

 1,831; in 1916, about 2,500. 



