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sSle \vori1s of Jol.r.fon : " Burke is ouc, wiili vliom, if you 

 «t.-<: to :i,k<: ili^-ltcr from a Ihjwcr m.Jcr a gate way, you 

 wniil'J fay you had been in coi:ipany wi.li the moft cxtraor- 

 din; rv r.ian vni; had ever feeii." 



UlTRKF, in Oeograpliy, a county of America, in Morgan 

 dillrirt, Horth Carolina, containincr 81 iS inliabitants, of 

 whom 595 are (laves. Its capital is Morjian-town. 



BuiiKE is alfo a county in the lower i!i;!ria of Georgia, 

 coiitainin.;; 9467 inhf.bil'aits, of whom 515 are (laves. 

 Its chief towns are Louifville and Waynefbororgh. 



BuRKF is alfo a townfliip of Caledonia coviiity, in the 

 ftate of Vermont ; dillant IJ4 miles N. E. from Ben- 

 nington. _ 



BURKEN, a town of Germ?.ny, in the circle oi the 

 J.owcr Rhine and cledlorate of Mentz ; 27 milcS E. of 

 Hcidelbrrp. 



BURKERSDORF, a royal town, with a citadel, of 

 Aullria, in the circle below the forcd of Viciuia, lying on 

 the rivul'.t of Wien. 



BURKH.A.USEN, a well-built town of Germany, in 

 the circle of Upper Bavaria, feated on the Salza, with a 

 caflle on a hill, the capital of a regency, and having 4 

 churches, and a Jtfuits' college ; 26 miles N.N.W.of Saltz- 

 burg. 



BURKHEIM, or Purkheim, a town of Germany, in 

 the circle cf Bavaria, and duchy of Ncuburg; 7 miles 

 W.S.W. of Ncuburg. 



BURKI, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of Kiov. 

 N.lat. 4^=' 50'. E. long. 3 i" 6'. 



BURKITT, William, in B!ojraJ>fy, was born at 

 Hitciiam in Northamptonlhire in 1650, and, after a previous 

 grammatical education, was admitted, at the age of 14 years, 

 into Pembroke-hall in the univeriity of Can.bridge. Upon 

 taking his degree, he quitted the uiiivcrfity, and became 

 chaplain in a gentleman's family. His firft fetllement, after 

 his ordination by bifiiop Reynolds, was at Milden in SufTolk, 

 where he continued to officiate for 21 years, tirll as curate, 

 and afterwards as reftor, and where he was much eileen^ed 

 as a plain, p.aclical, affeftionate preacher. In 1692 he ex- 

 changed this Htuation for the vicarage of Dedham in ElTex, 

 where he died in 1703. His charatler was diftin^uifhed for 

 piety and charity. He was aftive in making colleftions for 

 the relief of the French proteftants in 1687, &c. and in pro- 

 curing the fettkment of a worthy minifter in Carolina : and 

 by his lall will he provided for the accommodation of a 

 Icfturer at Dcdham. He has been principally known as a 

 writer by his " Commentary on the New Tcliament." 



BUR'KUNSTADT, in Geography, a town of Germany, 

 in the circle of Franconia, and bifhopric of Bamberg, feated 

 on the White-Mayn. 



BURLAMAQUI, Johs-James, in Biogmph, an emi- 

 nent civilian, was defcended of a noble family, originally 

 from Lucca, and born at Geneva in 1694; wljcre he be- 

 came honorary profeffor of jurifprudence in 1720. After 

 travelling into France, Holland, and England, he com- 

 menced the exercife of his funiiions, and rendered his fcl o^l 

 famous and flourifhing. One of his pupils was prince Frederic 

 of HcfTe-CalFel, who, in 1734, took him to hisrefideiice, and 

 detained him there for fome time. Upon his return to Ge. 

 neva, he furrendcred his profefForfhip ; and in 1740 entered 

 mto the grand council ; and, as a member of this jlluftrious 

 body, he continued to ferve his fellow-citizens till his death, 

 in 1750. As a writer, he was diftinguifned lefs by his 

 origAiaiity than by his clear and accurate method of detailing 

 and iUuftrating the principles of others ; among whom are 

 Grolius, Puffcndorf, and Barbeyrac. His works are, 

 " Principles of Natural Law," 410. Geneva, 1747, often 



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reprinted, tranilated into various languages, and long uftd ?.£ 

 a text-book in the univeriity of Cambridge ; and " Political 

 Law," 4to. Gen. 1751 ; a pcl'ihumous work, compiled from 

 the notes of his pupils. Burhmaqui was much clleemed ia 

 private life ; and reipeii^ed as a lover of the fine arts, and a 

 patron of artifts. He h;id a valuable Coiieftion of pictures 

 and prints; and a nitdal of him was executed by Diiffier m 

 a llyle of fnperior excellency. Nouv. Dift. Hill. 



EURLATS, in Geography, a town of France, in the- 

 department of the Tarn, and ditlrift of Cadres, 4 miles ealt 

 of it. 



B U RL A W, or B V R L A \r, lurhitua, in MiMe ^ge IVrttcrs, 

 denotes country laws, or the laws concerning country afTairs^ 

 DuCang-e. See Bve-Law. 



BURLEIGH, in Biography. See Cecil. 

 BURLESQUE, a jocole kind of poetry, chiefly ufed in 

 the way of drollery, either to excite laughter merely, or to 

 provoke derifion and ridicule. Of the former kind is "Vir- 

 gil travellie," which degrades a grave lubjeft, by a certain 

 colouring, fo as to be rifible ; and of the latter, the " Lutrin" 

 of Boiltau, which lays hold of a low and trifling incident to 

 expofe the luxury, indolence, and litigious temper of a fet 

 of monks. This kind of burletque produces effeCl by ele- 

 vating the iUle far above the fubjeft, and yet affefting to 

 conlider it as of the utmoft dignity and importance. In abur^ 

 kfque poem, fuch as the Lutrin, the Difpenfary, and Hudi- 

 bras, machinery may be employed with greater advantage 

 than in any other fpccies of poetry ; and the more extravagant 

 the machinery in a ludicrous poem, the greater is the enter- 

 tainment which it aftords. " Burlefque," fays Mr. Shenllonc,.. 

 (Works, vol.ii. p. 182. 3d edit.) "may, perhaps, be divided 

 into fuch as turns chiefly upon the thought, and fuch as de- 

 pends more upon the expreffion ; or we may add a third 

 kind, confining in thoughts ridiculoudy dreflfed in language 

 much above or below their dignity. The Splendid Shilling 

 of Mr. Philips, and the Hudibias of Butler are the molt 

 obvious inftances. Butler, however, depended much upon 

 the ludicrous effeft of his double rhymes." Dr. Johnfon, 

 in his li;e of Butler (Lives of the Poets), after obferving, 

 that " burlefque confiils in adifproportion between the ftyle 

 and the fentiments, or between the adventitious fcntiments 

 and the fundamental fubjeft," adds, that this, " hke all 

 bodies compounded of heterogeneous parts, contains in it a 

 principle of corruption. All difproportion is unnatural : 

 and from what is unnatural, we can derive only the pleafure 

 which novelty produces. We admire it a while as a ftiange 

 thing ; but, when it is no longer ftrange, we perceive its de- 

 formity. It is a kind of artifice, which by frequent repetition 

 detefls itfclf ; and the reader, learning in time what he is to 

 expeft, lays down his book, as the fpeftator turns away from, 

 a fecond exhibition of thofe tricks, of which the only ufe is 

 to fliew that they can be played." 



F. VavaflTor maintains, in his book " De Ludicra Dic- 

 tione," that burlefque was abfolutely unknown to the an- 

 cients ; againltthe opinion of fome others, that one Rainto- 

 vius, in the time of Ptolemy Lagus, turned the ferious fub- 

 jefts of tragedy into ridicule ; which, perhaps, is a better 

 plea for the antiquity of farce than of burlefque. 



The Italians feem to have the juftell claim to the invention 

 of burlefque. The firft author in this kind was Bernia ; he 

 was followed by Lalli, Caporalli, &c. From Italy it paffed 

 into France, and became there fo much thf; mode, that in 

 1649 appeared a book under the title of "The Paffion 

 of our Saviour, in Burlefque Verfe." Thence it came 

 into England ; but the good fenfe of the Englifli never 

 adapted nor owned it, notwithllanding one or two have ex- 

 celled in it. 



BURLETT.A, 



