BUR 



other uito a fixed ftaple ; others fix it obliquely into one end 

 of a llaff, the other tnd of which is curved like a fcythe, 

 and paOes over the right fliouldcrof the workman, who is by 

 this means enabled to exert a confiderable degree of pvefTure; 

 and others again merely infcit it into a handle, or a fliort 

 bar wilii a handle al each end, and apply it in the fame man- 

 ner as a common rafp or file, or in fonie inftances as if fiiad- 

 iug with a black lead-pencil. In whichever of thefe modes 

 the burnilher is apphed, the dircAion of its motion fliould 

 be always retlilinear, parallel to itfelf, and at right angles 

 with the edge of the inilrumcnt. 



There is alfo another method of applying the burnidier, 



which is by keepinc^ the inftrument itfelf at reft, whilft the 



I furface, fubj^fled to its aftion, is turned in a lathe. The 



I procefs is thus conduced by the bra/.ier, ironmonger's 



founder, pcwterer, and indeed all the artifans who employ 



that engine. 



There are two precautions neceflary to be obferved in this 

 operation ; the one is to keep the feniicylindrical edge of 

 the inilrumcnt as highly polilhed as poffible by frequently 

 touching it on a piece of buff leather, rubbed with finely 

 prepared crocus nmrtis, and the other to keep the furface to 

 be burnilhed conftautly lubricated during the friftion, with 

 •fome liquid of a fmooth confillence, fuch as milk, oil, or a 

 folution of foap, the latter of which feems to be the fitteft, 

 and moft generally approved of for this purpofe. If tins be 

 neglefted the furface is apt to ripple up before the inftru- 

 ment, and the ridges thus produced being laminated, by 

 the continuance of the fiiclion, into very thin flakes or fcales, 

 the work becomes defaced by dark coloured fpots and 

 ftreaks, which are frequently iridefcent like thofc on the 

 wings of a butterfly, and the procefs confequently fails. 



Bookbinders burnifli the edges of their books by rubbing 

 them with a dog's tooth. Gold and filver are burnifhed 

 with a wolf's tooth, a dog's tooth, or the blood ftone, or by 

 trlpoli, a piece of white wood, emery, and the like. 



Deer are faid to hurn'tjh their heads, when rubbing off a 

 white downy flcin from their horns againft a tree, they thruft 

 them, as is faid, into a reddifti earth, to give them a new 

 colour and hiftrc. 



BURNLEY, in Geography, a market town of Lanca- 

 fhire, in England, is feated on a peninfnia of land between 

 the rivers Calder and Brown, which unite their ftreams a 

 little north of the town. Its advantageous fituTition on 

 thefe ftrcanis has oceafioned fevcral mannfaftories to be 

 eftabhflied here. Amongft thefe are fome cotton machines, 

 fulling mills, corn mills, and a mill for grindmg dyers' wood. 

 The church of tliis place, a large handfome ftrutlure, is 

 imder Whalley, and though only a curacy is confidercd a 

 very valuable living. Som.e lead mines have been difco- 

 vered in the vicinity of the town, and various Roman coins 

 liave been found. Burnley is a great thoroughfare. The coun- 

 try around it abounds with pit-coal, and great quantities of 

 free-ftone, flag-ftone and flate, are obtained from quarries in 

 this neighbourhood. Here are a grammar fchool, and two 

 diffcnting mecting-houfes ; a market on Mondays, and five 

 annual fairs. In the vicinity of the town is a very fine feat, 

 lately belonging to Charles Townley, efq. who had amafftd 

 the fined and moft valuable colleftion of ancient fculptnre 

 in this country. Burnley is 2 u miles N. of London ; and 

 it contains 687 houfes, and ,5305 inhabitants. Whitaker's 

 Hillory of Whalley, See. 410. 



BURNOOSE, an article of drefs among the Arab 

 Bedowcens and Kabylts, in Barbary ; correfpunding to our 

 cloak, and worn by them over their hjles. This forms a 

 confiderable branch of tlieir woollen mannfaiRory. It is 

 wove in one piece, and refemblcs in its (hape the garment of 



Vol. V. 



BUR 



the little god TeLTphorus, being flraight about tlie neck, 

 with a cape, or Hippocrates' llceve (for a cover to the 

 head), and wide below like a cloak. Some of them are 

 likcw'le fringed round the bottom, like Parthenafpa's and 

 Trajan's garment upon the baffo relievos of Conttantine's 

 arch. Tlie burnoofe, witliout the cape, feems to anfwcr 

 to the Roman pallium ; and with it to liie bardocucullus, re r* 

 ferred to by Martial, 1. xiv. 178. 



" Gallia Santonico veftit te larJociieulIo." 

 BURNS, Robert, in Biography, was the fon of a far- 

 mer near the town of Ayr, the capital of Ayrfliirc, in 

 Scotland, where he was born on the 29th of January, 1759. 

 The family had all of them been' farmers in the north of 

 Scotland, but the misfortunes of the poet's father had oc- 

 eafioned him to accept the fituation of gardener to a gentle- 

 man of fmall fortune in the neighbourhood of Ayr, in 

 which employment he continued for the firft fix or fcveii 

 years of the poet's life. The father was a man of obfcr- 

 vation and experience, as well as of ftrift integrity, and 

 wiflied to keep his children more under his own eye, thaa 

 was confiftent with the fervice in which he was engaged. 

 For this purpofe, he ventured on a fmall farm on his maf- 

 ter's eftate, and joined with fome others of his neighbours 

 to provide a fchoolmafter for their children. Robert Burns 

 was principally diftinguiflied at thefe early years, by a re- 

 tentive memory, a ftubbornnefs of difpofition, frequently 

 attendant on genius, and an enthufiaftic piety. At the age 

 of ten or eleven, he was not only well grounded in 

 Englifli grammar, but fomewhat more than ufual of a cri- 

 tical fcholar. He was principally indebted to a credulous 

 and ignorant old woman in the family, for furniflning hira 

 with thofe legendary and fupernatural tales, which feed a 

 poetical imagination with its richell repaft. The firft re- 

 gular compoiitions in which he took pleafure were. The 

 Vifion of Mirza, and a hymn of Addifon, which came 

 within the compafs of his fchool ftudies. The Life of 

 Hannibal, and the Hiftory of Sir William Wallace were the 

 firft books he read as a volunteer, and they gave him more 

 pleafure than any he read afterwards. Nor was polemical 

 divinity without its attratlions, but he foon raifed the cry 

 of herefy againft himfelf, and it pnrfued him through life. 

 He gained at this time a flight knowledge of French, and 

 received afterwards fome leffons in practical mathematics ; 

 but his ftudies were rendered irregular by tlie neceflity of 

 hard labour, owing to the advanced age of his father, and 

 the ill fnccefs of his farm. Robert was the eldeft of feven 

 children, and a very dexterous ploughman. But his father's 

 mafter died, and they fell into the hands of a faftor, againft; 

 whofe infolence and rapacity they had to contend, till the 

 fixtcenth year of the poet, who now began firft to excrcifc 

 his functions as fuch, in confcquence of his firft amorous 

 attachment to his har'vcfl partner of fourteen. Soon aft"-- 

 wards his father removed to a larger farm, on which the 

 family fubfifted comfortably for four years ; wlicn tiiey be- 

 came embarrafted by litigation with their landlord, and 

 William Burns was only faved from a prifon by tl'.e inter- 

 vention of a mortal difeafe. During thefe four years, liis 

 readingwasconfined to Salmon's and Guthrie's Geographical 

 Grammars, the Speftator, Pope's Works, fome of Shal^- 

 fpeare's Flays, Tull and Dickfon ou Agricnlturo, the Pan- 

 theon, Locke's Eflay on the Human U.^derttanding, Stack- 

 hoiife's Hiftory of the Bible, Juftice's Britifli Gardener's 

 Direftory, Boyle's Leftnrcs, Allan ]^dmfay's Works, 

 Taylor's Scripture Doftrine of Original Sin, A feltft Col- 

 ledt?on of Engliftr Songs, which he carried with him when 

 he drove his csrt, and Hervey's Meditations. He was very 

 awkward iii his pcrfon and manner, a diladvantage which 

 4 D lie 



