BUR 



horn in t6<)6, at Wcmbwonh, in Devondiire, and admitted 

 a fcliolar of Corpus Chrifti college at Oxford in 171.51 of 

 which he at length became a tutor. In the excrcife of 

 this office, he devoted himftlf with fingular alTiduity and 

 zciii to the improvement of "his pupils ; and he exerted 

 )\imfelf in a variety of ways for ttie advancement of learning. 

 Btfides the attention which he paid to academical difci- 

 pline, he improved the mode of difcufTmg philofophical 

 qucftions in the fchoots, and had the honour of introducing 

 the Ihidy of Locke, andothermodcrnphilofophers, in connec- 

 tion with Arillotle. He alfo took great pains in promoting 

 clalTical literature, by frequent Icfturcs both in the Greek 

 and Latin languages; and he extended the utility of the 

 univerfity prefs for the aid and encouragement of literary 

 undertakings. In 1733 he was elefted a fellow of Eton 

 college ; and about the fame time was prefented to the 

 vicarage of Maple-Dcrham, in Oxfordlliire. On this occa- 

 fion he was induced, by motives of fympatliy and com- 

 pallion, to marry the widow of his predeceflor in that 

 living, with the charge of three infant daughters that were 

 left dellitute ; and though he thus formed a connexion 

 which, according to the maxims of the world, would be 

 condemned as imprudent, he found in the event that the 

 choice of a perfon who pofFeffed every qualification for 

 fixing his attachment, except money, contributed to his 

 future happinef?. In this retired flation of a country cler- 

 gyman, he continued for feveral years ; occupying himfelf 

 in literary purfuits, and in the improvement of his houfe 

 and grounds, not lefs for the benefit of his fucccflors than 

 for his own amufement. After the death of his wife in 

 1748, an event which deeply affefted him, and which he 

 much lamented, he chiefly refided on his fellowfhip at 

 Eton ; where his fituation was ftich in^every refpefl as 

 fuited his ftudious and literary difpofition. In 1753 he 

 took his degree of doftor in divinity ; and continued to ap- 

 pear occalionally both as a writer and a preacher, much 

 elleemed by the higher and lower clafTcs of his own order, 

 with whom he had frequent and free intercourfe, and alio 

 by the common people, with whom he alTociatcd in the 

 moft condefccnding and affable manner. His leifure hours 

 he amufed by poetical extrciks. Towards the clofc of his 

 life he was attacked with a fever, which impaired his in- 

 tellcfts, and fliattered his decaying frame ; but at intervals 

 he feemed to recover the powers both of his body and mind. 

 On the evening of Sunday, the day before his death, he dif- 

 courfed according to his ufual manner, with more than 

 ufual perfpicuity and elegance, on fome theological fubjefl; 

 and after a very ferene flecp, he gently departed tliis life on 

 the following day, Februai-y the nth, 1771, and was 

 buried at the entrance of the inner chapel at Eton. The 

 works of Dr. Burton are chiefly collected in two volumes of 

 Sermons, which are much laboured, of a confiderable 

 length, and containing a great variety of matter ; an oftavo 

 volume of theological differtations, entitled " Opufcula 

 Mifcellanea Theologies ;" and another of " Opufcula 

 Mifcellanea Metrico-profaica ;" comprehending a variety of 

 pieces in Greek and Latin, with two or three copies of 

 Englifli verfes. In one of thefe pieces, entitled " Com- 

 mtntariolus Thorns Seeker, Archiep. Cantuar. memoriffi 

 facer," Dr. Burton indulged himfelf in fome feverity of 

 animadverfion againll the "diflfcnters, on account of their 

 luppofed oppofiliou to the fettlement of a bifhop in Ame- 

 rica, which induced Dr. Furneaux in his letters to Mr. 

 Juftice Blackftoue, to vindicate that body of men againll 

 the charge brought agaiiift them. Dr. Burton was alfo the 

 author of fome other publications befides thofe contained in 

 the volumes above-mentioned. In i744 he piiblilhed at 



BUR 



Oxford, in large Svo. " The Genuinenefs of Lord Claren- 

 don's Hillory of the Rebellion, printed at Oxfoid, vindi- 

 cated," in wliich he fully refutes the (lander that had been 

 advanced by Oldmixon, in his Critical Hiftory of England. 

 In 175S, appeared his " Diflertatio et Notje Critics fpec- 

 tantes ad Tragldias quafdam Graecas, editas in Pentalogia." 

 The publication of the five fckdl tragedies, which conllitute 

 the " Pentalogia," had been recommended to him by a pupil 

 of promifiug talents, Jofeph Bingham, who had printed alnioll 

 the whole text and notes, when in 1756 he vfas cut off by a 

 premature death. Dr. Burton has added a preface, differ- 

 tations, and additional notes. This work has been reprinted 

 at the Clarendon prefs, and is much efteemed as a book for 

 iludents in Greek. In 1766, Dr. Burton publifhcd a dif. 

 courfe, entitled, " Papiils and Pharifees compared, or Papills 

 the corrupters of Chriilianity," occafioned by Philips's hfe 

 of Cardinal Pole. About the fame time he alfo delivered a 

 fet of fcrmons, ftill in MS. ; the def'gn of which was to 

 refute the articles of the Council of Trent. He is alfo un- 

 derftood to have been the author, under the name of Phile- 

 leutherus Londinenfis, of " The Remarks on Dr. King's 

 Speech before the Univerfity of Oxford, at the dedication of 

 Dr. Radcliff's library, on the 13th of April, 1749 ;" to 

 which Dr. King replied in his " Eloginm famss inferviens 

 Jacci Etonenfis, or Gigautis ; or, the Praifes of Jack of Eton, 

 commonly called Jack the Giant ; collefted into Enghfh 

 metre, afler'the manner of Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, 

 John Burton, and others. To which is added, a DilTertation 

 on the Bunonian Style, by a Mailer of Arts." But the 

 moft fevere attack on Dr. Burton's llyle, as affefted and pe- 

 dantic, was that of Churchill in one of his poems, (works, 

 vol. iii. p. 124,) who has exercifed all the uncandid feverity 

 of his pen to expofe it to ridicule. However, prejudice 

 cannot deny, that Dr. Burton was " an able divine, a found 

 fcholar, and an excellent academic ; and that he fet an ufeful 

 example to univerfity-men, whether as fellows, tutors, 

 officers, or editors. In fliort, his abilities, virtues, and learn- 

 ing were fuch as juftly entitle him to have his name tranf- 

 mitted with honour to pofterity." Biog. Brit. 



Burton, John, the fcholar of Keeble, a harpfichord 

 player, with a powerful hand, and much enthufiafm in his 

 art ; but having in his youth exercifed his hand more than 

 his head, he was not a deep or correft contrapuntifl. He 

 had, however, in his pieces and manner of playing them a 

 flyle of his own, to which, from his having been one of the 

 firft harpfichord players in our country, who attempted ex- 

 preffion and light and fhade, he excited an intcreft and atten- 

 tion,which would nowperhapsbe much moredifficult to obtain. 

 Travelling into Italy, with Mr. Beckford, at the time 

 when the Mall'aria raged, he became a vi£lim, about 1779, 

 to the imprudence of pafTmg from Rome to Naples on the 

 verge of the Pontine marfhes, in fpite of the admonitions of 

 the native inhabitants. 



Burton, or Burton in Kendal, in Geography, a fmall 

 market-town on the borders of Lancafhire, in the county of 

 Weftmoreland. Here are fome good houfes and two large 

 inns, fituated on the great turnpike road. It derives fome 

 advantages from travellers ; and from the canal, lately 

 brought here, by which a commercial communication isopened 

 with the rivers Dee, Merfey, Trent, Derwent, Humber, Se- 

 vern, &c. Here are a fmall market on Tuefdays, and one 

 fan- annually. It is 25 1 miles N.W. from London, and con- 

 tains 1 28 houfes, and 548 inhabitants. Houfman's Topo- 

 graphical Defcription of Cumberland, &c. 8vo. 1800. 



Bv KToti-upo/i-Trent, is an ancient and large market-town 

 of StafFordfhire, England. It is fituated in a pleafant and 

 fertile valley on the banks of the river Trent, which fepa- 



ratcs 



