BUR 



BUR 



■whether it docs not properly belong to dLuia, tlie anthers 

 in the piftiliferous plants appL-arins; to he ftcrile. 



Sp. I. U. XHiniii/Jlra, Linn. (Tercbinthiis, Comni. Brown. 

 Sloan. Catefb. Piilacia, Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. i.) La Marck 

 lUiill. pi. 236. Jamaica hirch tree. " Racemes a.xillary, 

 flowers white." La Marck. A large and lofty tree. Trnnk 

 upright, fmooth, round, covered with a fmooth, thin, brown 

 or greyifli epidermis, peeling off in Ihreds like ttie European 

 birch. Leaves, deciduous, alternate, unequally winged ; 

 leaflets three,flve,fevcn,and fomctimi-snincoppoiite, petiolcd, 

 ovate,acute, entire, fmooth on bolli fides, a little (hining beneath, 

 about an inch and half or two inches broad, three inches long, 

 a little heart-ftiapcd at their bafe. F/owc'rs, finall, without 

 fmcll, in compound axillary racemes, near the fummit of the 

 branches. Fruit, the (ize of a hazel nut, grecniih, tinged with 

 purple when ripe, rtlinous, odorous. La Marck. From the 

 interior bark exudes a clear, glutinous balfamic juice, which 

 fmells like turpentine, and foon thickens in the air, into the 

 form of a gum. The bark of the root is thought to be the 

 Sima-ronba of the fbops, which is an effedtual remedy in 

 bloody fluxes. La Marck fuppofes that the Terebinthus of 

 Catefoywithlanceolateleaves, aujabluidi-violetfruit, is cither 

 a diilinift fpecies, or at leaft a well-mai ked variety. A native 

 of the Weft Indies. 2. 'Q. paniculalci. La Marck. " Racemes 

 panicled, terminal; flowers purple." Com. Herb, Ic. and 

 MSS. A larje tree. iJ/'flMc/jfj- below the leaves rough with 

 tubercles and fears. Lr.ives alternate, unequally winged : 

 leaflets five or feven, ovate-acuminate, entire, fmooth, petioled, 

 with nerves flightly projefting beneath. F/oiuers fmall, nu- 

 merous in panicled, terminal racemes about fix inches long. 

 Calyx fmall, one-leaved, three-lobed. Petals three, longer 

 than the calyx, broad at their bafe, obtufe at their fummit, 

 with a fmall fcarcely difcernible point. Stamens fix : fila- 

 ments half the length of the petals, nearly connivent : 

 anthers, brown, oblong, with three furrows. In many 

 flowers, Commerfon could not obferve any appearance of a 

 pillil, but in others there was a very obtufe lligma in the 

 centre of a kind of receptacle flattened above, and fomcwhat 

 five-cornered. It produces a refinous juice like the preceding. 

 A native of the lile de France. 3. B. obtujifol'ia. La Marck. 

 (Marignia. Comm.) "Racemes panicled, fubterminal ; 

 leaflets obtufe." A large tree, very refinous. Leaves al- 

 ternate, fcattered, unequally winged ; leaflets five or feven, 

 and fometimes nine, ovate-oblong, obtufe, thickifli, coria- 

 ceous, fmooth on both fides, even and fhining above, 

 petioled, oppofite, an inch and half broad, three inches long. 

 Flowers fmall, very numerous, whitifli : racemes much 

 branched. Calyx very fmall, with five divifions. Petals 

 five, ovate-lanceolate, expanding, nearly twice the length of 

 the calyx, and attached between its divifions. Stamens ten : 

 filaments very fliort; anthers fmall, round, yellowifli. Germ. 

 round ; lligma almoft feffde. Fruit, a drupaceous coriaceous 

 berry, about the fize of a hazel-nut ; pulp rather thick, 

 gelatinous, and reddifli : nuts from one to five, rather thick, 

 convex on one fide, angular on the other. A native of the 

 Ifle of Fiance. 

 , BURSE RIA, La:fl. See Verbena Lappulacea. 



BURSLEM, in Geography, a village of Stafl"ordihire, in 

 England, famous for its pottery, three miles N. of New- 

 callic under Line. 



BURSTADT, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 

 I^ower Rhine, and eleitorate of Mentz ; two miles E. of 

 Miltenberg. 



BURSTEN, a perfon ruptured, called by phyficians her- 

 n'lofus ; in middle age wrkers, pondero/us. See Hernia. 



BURTHEN. See Burden. 



BURTON, William, in Sloprap'y, a (kiUal topo- 



VOL. V. 



grapher, and antiquary, was born of n good family at Lindley 

 in Leicelleilliire, in 1571;; and educated at Bra/.en-Nofe 

 college in tlie univerfity of Oxford. When he left college, 

 he entered for the llndy of the law in the 'I'cmple, and in 

 due time was called to the bar. ]5ut as his fortune was tafy, 

 and his health delicate, he declined purfuing his profefTion, 

 and retired into the country, where he devoted liimfelf to 

 the ftudy of antiquities, and became eminent in this depart- 

 ment. His defcription of Lcicellcrfhirc, piiblifhcd in 1622, 

 in a fmall folio, and republiflied by William Wittingham of 

 l^ynn, in 1777, was one of the earliefl. county hillories, hav- 

 ing been preceded by only four others ; and from this circum- 

 ftancc it derives its chief reputation. The fl.yle of it is loofc 

 and the digreffions are numerous. After having been much 

 injured by the civil wars, he died at his feat of Fulde, in 

 Stafi"ordfliire, in 11^45; and left behind him feveral MSS. 

 coUeiSions of arms, monuments, and other matters of anti- 

 quity. His fon, whom he named Caffibilan, publiflicd a 

 tranflation in verfe of Martial's epigrams. 



Another IVUliam Burton was born in London, and edu- 

 cducated at Qiieen's college, Oxford ; and after having been 

 Greek leflurer in Glouceflcr Hall, was conlliained by indi- 

 gence to leave the univerfity in 1630. He afierwarda 

 became mafter of the free grammar fchool at Kingfton 

 upon Thames, which ofRcc he refigned two years before his 

 death in 1657. Befides his principal work, which was 

 "A Commentary on Antoninus his Itinerary, S:c." illuftrated 

 with a cliorogiaphical map of the feveral flations," Lond. 

 1658, folio, he wrote, in Latin, a hiflory of the Perfic lan- 

 guage and other works, enumerated by Wood in his Athenac. 

 His great-grandfather is faid to have expired with excefs of 

 joy upon being informed of the death of Queen Mary. 

 Biog. Brit. 



Burton, Robert, brother of the antiquary, IVilUam, 

 was born at Lindley, in 1576, and educated at Brazen- 

 nofe and Chrill-chnrch colleges, in the univerfity of Ox- 

 ford. He retained two preferments in the church, viz. the 

 vicarage of St. Thomas in Oxford, and the reftory of 

 Segrave in Leicefterfliire, till his death in 1639. ^^^ '^^^s 

 much adifted toaftrology, and is faid to have predifled the 

 time of his own death. With the characler of a general 

 fcholar and hard fludent, well verfed in the pedantic litera- 

 ture of the times, he combined great integrity and benevo- 

 lence. But his temper was of an humorous and melancholic 

 caft, which gave a fingular kind of oddity to his conduft. 

 In order to reUeve his melancholy, he diverted himfclf by 

 hftening to the ribaldry of the bargemen, which feldom 

 fahed t) occafion vehement burlls of laughter. At other 

 times he was one of the moll facetious companions in the 

 Univerfity. His famous book, entitled the " Anatomy of 

 Melancholy," was compofed with a view of foothing his 

 peculiar difpofition ; and confills chiefly of cxtradls from 

 aneieiit authors, illuflratinsj the canfes, effefts, and cure oF 

 that morbid affeftion. The author's own reflcftions are 

 few ; but tliey are original, ingenious, and ilriking. To 

 the bookfeller, this work, printed fitft in 4to and afterwards 

 frequently in folio, was very profitable. After it had been 

 long neglefted and almoll forgotten, it attrafted notice in 

 confcquence of an ingenious ellay by Dr. Fen-icr of Man- 

 cheiter, who detefted among the plagiarifms of Sterne, 

 various paflages copied verbatim from Burton. The au- 

 thor died in 1639 ; and the following infcription, written 

 by himfelf, was put upon his monument in Chrill-chiirch : 

 " Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus, hie jacet Demo- 

 critus junior, cui vitam dedit ct mortem melancholia." 

 Biog. Brit. 



Burton, John, a learned divine of the laft century, was 

 4 E born 



