B y R 



him for Viis degrees ; but liis predominant inclination waa to 

 poetry ; and of his talents in tli'S way, tlie firll piihljc fpe- 

 cimen appeared i:) his beautifii' piiloral, " Colin to Phoclie," 

 printed in the 8th volume ot the Speftitor, No. 605; the 

 two letters on dreams in the fame volume, 586 :uk1 5>3, are 

 alfo afcribed to him. Mr. Byrom, having taken both his 

 degrees in arts, was chofen fellow of his collea^e in 1714, and 

 by the fweetnefs of his temper and the fobriety of his mnn- 

 ners. recc.nmended himfeli to th.e particular notice of Dr. 

 Bentley, the mailer. His fellowlhip however terminated in 

 1716, on account of his not having entered into holy orders; 

 aud leavincr college, he went abroad and rcfided for fome 

 time at Montpellier for the recovery of his health. In 

 France he became acquainted with Father Malebranche's 

 Search alter Truth, and fome pieces of Mad. Antoinette 

 Bourignon; and he returned homeprepoffelfed in favour of the 

 vilionary philofophy of the former, and the enthufiadic ex- 

 travagance of the latter : indeed, towards the clofe of his life 

 it he feenis, by fome of his poems, to have been attached to the 

 myfticifm of Jacob Boehmen. Whilll he was deliberating 

 what courfe of life to purfue, his mind became more unfet- 

 tled in confequence of his pafilon for an amiable coufin, who 

 encouraged his addreffes, and whom at length he married 

 againft the confent of her parents. This connexion involved 

 him in difficulties; and as he obtained no nlTiftance from her 

 father, who was in affluent circumftances, he was reduced to 

 the necelTity of feeking fupport by teaching (hort hand, ac- 

 cording to a new method which he had invented at Cam- 

 bridge. He began at Maacheftcr, and leaving his wife with 

 her relations at that place, he removed to London, where he 

 profecuted his inllruftions in that art, deriving from them for 

 feveral years a competent fubfiftence. In this art he was a 

 competitor with Wellon, who challenged him to a trial of 

 flcill. In this conteft he gained a decifive viflory; and in 

 confequence of it, he was encouraged by a great number of 

 pupils, fevera! of whom were perfons of rat.k and quality; 

 and he occafionally read a lefture upon the liiftory and 

 utility of (hort hand, which, being interfperfcd with various 

 ftrokes of wit that were natural to him, was very entertain- 

 ing. His winter months were devoted to this employment 

 in London, and he fpent the fummer feafon with his family 

 at Mancheller. In March 1724, he was chofen a fellow of 

 the Royal Society. At length the family ellate at Kerfal 

 devolved upon him by the death of his elder brother, with- 

 out iffue. By this acceffion of fortune he was enabled to 

 enjoy, without thofe interruptions which his former employ- 

 ment had occafioned, the conjugal felicity to which his own 

 difpofition was adapted, and to which the faitiiful and af- 

 feftionate attachment of his wife very eminently contributed. 

 During the latter part of his life, he almoft wholly devoted 

 himfelf to the compofition of various pieces in verfe, fome of 

 which are witty and humorous; and others, the moft nimie- 

 rous, are on ferious fubjeils. He was fo accullomed to the 

 language of poetry, that his difltrtations on learned and 

 critical quellions were written in verfe. Thcfe were colleft- 

 cd in September, I773» and printed at Mancheller in two 

 volumes, i:mo. Mr. Byrom clofed an innocent and in- 

 offeufive life with refignation and cheerfulnefs at Mancheller 

 in September, 1763, in the 7 2d year of his age. Some time 

 before his death, he is faid to have committed feveral of his 

 lighter pieces to the flames; and thefe were of fuch a nature 

 that they deferve the charatter expreffed in a dillich of Ovid, 

 adopted as the motto of Mr. Waller's works: 



" Non ego motdaci dillrinxi carmine quemquam;. 



Nulla venenato ell htera mixta joco." 



By the great truths of Chriftianity his mind had been fo 



much imprelTed in his eaily years, that he derived his chief 



pleafure from employing his pen on religious fubjcdtu. Mr. 



B Y S 



Pe(rge,(Arclicol,vol.v. p. 1 2,— j 2) has thus delineated his cha. 

 rafter: " Mv late worthy frimd, Mr. Byrom, ivh'ife memory I 

 (hall always rcvcrc, was undoubtedly a man of part4 anU learn- 

 ing,bi:t richer too fond fometimesof :, pan-iox. Am.in,;ll his 

 othc r qnalifieatons, he had a particnla-- knack at verfilkation, 

 and has accordingly delivered l.is fentin-.cnts on thi.s lubjeft 

 (viz. the Hillory of St. G.orgc) as well as on all others, in a 

 metrical garb , for, I prefumc, we can fcarcciy call it a po- 

 etieal one." Biog. But. 



BYRON'S lay, in Geography, lies on the north-call coaft 

 of Labrador. 



Byron's ijlaiul, a low flat idand in the Pacific ocean.about 

 21 miles in length. S. lat. i" 18'. E. long. 171°. 



Bvron's /?r<2/V, a narrow fea which feparatcs New Ire- 

 land from New Hanover. 



BYRRHUS, in Entomology,^ ^txiws, of coleopterous in- 

 fefts having the antennae clavatcd and the club perfoliatcd: 

 palpi, or feelers equal and fomewhat clavated ; and both the 

 jaw and lip bifid. 



The fpecics of this genus are giga«. pilula, atcr, dorfalis, 

 varius, a:neus nitidus, fafciatus, and virefcens. 



BYSCHlZ, in Ccogiaphy, a town in Bohemia in the 

 circle of Boleflavv : 6 miles E. of Melnik. 



BYSSUS, in Bokiny, fl^ua-o; Gr. faid by Julius Pollux 

 to be a fpecies of flax, brought from India into Egypt : but 

 Paufanias and Philollratus defcrlhe it as the produce of a 

 tree, fuppofed by Dillenius to be the now well known woolly 

 fubllance in which the feeds of golTypium, or the cotton tree, 

 arc enveloped. Dillenius feems to be the firll among the 

 moderns who revived the name and applied it to a tribe of 

 plants till then cither neglefted or confounded with the 

 fungi and lichens. It appeared in his edition of Ray's 

 Synopfis, 1724, and afterwards more fully in his Hifloria 

 Mufcorum, 1741; but had in the mean time been adopted by 

 Micheli in his Nova Genera, 1 729.) Linn. gen. 1208. Schreb. 

 i<57,3. Juff. 6. Clafs and order, cryp!ogamia algit. Nat. ord. 

 y?/j<f Juffieu. Gen. ch. " Fibres iimple, uniform, hke fine 

 down. Fruftitication unknown." The genus as it was 

 formed by Dillenius included fpecies, fome of which have the 

 appearance of very minute dull, others of fine wool; it is 

 accordingly divided by Linnius into two dillinA feftions. 

 Halier was of opinion that the powdery Byffi are properly 

 hchens: Dr. Withering, in the third edition of his Botani- 

 cal Arrangements, has actually placed them in that genus; 

 and Dr. Smith was once inclined to entertain the fame idea, 

 (See Englilh Botany, p. ]^2.) but on further confidcuition 

 he has adopted Acharius's new genus Icpraria for all the 

 fpecies that have no Ihields, and appear to be pr..pa"-ated 

 by their powdery part. (See Eng. Bot. p. l,;4';.) "Sup- 

 ported by fuch refpecTtable authority we have made the ne- 

 ceflTary alteration in the generic cl-.arader, and Ihall irifert in 

 the prefent article only fuch asconli!l of real filaments. 



Species I. V). feplica, Linn. Syll. Nat. vol. ;. p. 23<;. 

 " Hair-like, very fo't, paraUel, very cafily broken, pale/' 

 Flaky Snow Byli'us; Dill. Mule. tab. i. fig. 9. It confills of 

 unbranched threads fo tender and liglu that tlie breath will 

 difperle it, and when handled feems to diffolve into water 

 from the moiiture attached to it- Found in damp cellars 

 and vaults, moll luxuriantly on bins or wooden fljelves v\ hera 

 wine has been fpilt, hanging down in form of a jelly bag, to 

 the length of a foot or more. Wiiheiing. 2. Q.JIos anttx, 

 Linn. Sp. PI. " 'i'hreads feathered, iwimmiiig on water." 

 Naturalills are divided in opinion co.iccniiiig this fubllance^ 

 Linnxus feems to have founded his fpicilic characler on the- 

 obfervations of Bergius. Dillenius, by wh m it was firll 

 mentioned in a botanical point of view, in his edition of Ray's. 

 Synopfis, compares it to paper, and fays, tha* 111 fp'iiig it 

 covers ftagnant waters with a very thin and even crult,"not 

 2 Lke. 



