BUR
BUR
mis, and is dcfcribed by Vefalius under the name of dedmui terti us movent ium, and by Spigclius under that of rircuma gentium tcrthts, or obturator interims.
BURSAR, or Bursek, Eurfaritis, is ufed in middle age writ ers tor a treafurer, or cafh-kecper.
In this fenfe, we meet with buffers of colleges. Conventual burfars were officers in monafimes, who were to deliver up theiraccount yearly on the day after Michaelmas. Kenn.Gloff. ad Paroch. Ant. in voc. Burfars. Du Conge, Gloff Lat. T, i. p. 654. voc. Burfaritts. Spelm. GlofT p. 95. voc. Burfa- The city of Bern is commanded by four bannerets,who are the heads of the militia of the whole canton, and two burfers, who are the treafurers general, one for the German diflrict, the other for the Roman or French. Trev. Di£t. Univ. T. 1 . p. 11B3. voc. Bourfier.
The word is formed from the Latin hurfa\ whence alfo the Englifh word pufee : and hence the like officer who in a col- lege is called burfar, in a fhip is called purfcr. See the article Pur sir, Cycl.
Bursars, or Bursers, Burfarii, alfo denote thofe to whomfti- pends are paid out of a burfe or fund appointed for that ufe a . At Paris, all exhibitioners, or ftipendiary fcholars, are ftill called burfars, or bourfeers, either in regard they live on the endowments of the founder, or benefactor, or, as others think, becaufe they were originally fuch novices as were fent to the imiverfity, and maintained by the religious out of their public burfe or flock b . Actions brought for the effects of a college, are entered in the name of the principal and burfars c . — [ a Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 1. p. 654. Spelm. GlofT. Lat. p. 95. voc. Burjarii. b Kenn. GlofT. ad Paroch, Ant. in voc. c Trev. Diet. Univ. p. 1 183.] See Bursa.
BURSARIA, Burfary, in middle age writers, denotes the place of receiving and paving money and rents by the burfars or officers of account in religious houfes. Kenn. GlofT ad Pa- roch. Antiq in voc. See the articles Bursa, and Bursar.
BURSE, in matters of commerce, denotes a public edifice in certain cities, for the meeting of merchants to negotiate bills, and confer 021 other matters relating to money and trade. In which fenfe, burfe amounts to the fame with what we other-
■ wife call an exchange. Seethe article Exchange, Cycl. Thefirft place of this kind to which the name burfe was given, Guicchardin aflurcs us, was at Bruges ; and it took Its denomi- nation from a hotel adjoining to it, built by a lord of the fa- mily de la Bourfe, whofe arms, which are three purfes, are flill found on the crowning over the portal of the noufe. Catefs account is fomewhat different, viz. That the merchants of Bruges bought a houfe or apartment to meet in, at which was the fign of the purfe. From this city the name was afterwards transferred to the like places in others, as in Antwerp, Amster- dam, Berghen in Norway, and London. This laft, antiently known by the name of the Common burfe of ?ner chants, had the denomination fuice given it by C^ Elizabeth, of the Royal Ex- change. Catel. Hift. de Langued. p. 199. Menag. Orig. Franc. p. 12 1. voc. Bourfe.
Jn the times of the Romans there were public places for the meeting of merchants in moll of the trading cities of the em- pire: that built at Rome in the year after its foundation 25 ?, about 492 years before Chriff, under the confulate ofAppius Claudius and Publius Servilius, was denominated the College of merchants ; fome remains of which are flill feen, known amon| the modern Romans by the denomination loggia, in the plac St. George. The hans towns, after the Roman example, gave the name colleges to their burfes, Savar. Diet. Comm. T. 1.
p- 45 1 -
The moft confiderable burfe is that of Amfterdamj which is a large building, 230 feet long and 130 broad, round which reigns a periflyle or portico, 2ofeet wide. The columns of the periftyle, amounting to 46, are numbered, for the convenience of finding perfons. It will hold 4500 people. Sav. Supp. p. 86.
Burse of merchants, Bourfe des marchands, denotes a court or ju rifdiction eft-iblifhed in feveral trading cities of France, for the taking cognizance, at the firft inftance, of all difputes arifing between merchants, bankers, negotiants, and the like, and from which no appeals lie but to the parliament. The burfe is a kind of confular jurifdiction, the judges where- of are alfo denominated priors and confuls. The burfe of merchants at Tholoufe was eftablifhed by Henry II. in 1549, after the manner of the judges confervators of the privileges of the fairs at Lyons. The chief officers are a prior and two confuls, chofen yearly, and empowered to chufe and affociate, to the number of 60, feveral merchants, to affift them in the decifion of differences. Thefc are called judges confeilkrs de la retenui. Savar. Diet. Comm. T. I. p. 4-! 9, feq. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 1 182. The burfe of Rouen, or, as it is commonly called, the conven- tion of "Rouen, is of fome years later {landing than that of Tholoufe, having only been erected in i$b6. The latefl of the confular burfes is that of Marfeilles, eftablifh- ed by Louis XIV. in 1 oo, 1 ; whofe jurifdiction extends through feveral of the neighbouring diocefes. Savar. Ioc. cit. p. 450.
BUR.STEN, a perfon ruptured, called by phyfidans herniofus ; in middle age writers, ponderofus. Spelm. GlofT. p. 463. voc. Ponderofus. See the articles Hernia, Cyci and Suppl. and Rupture, Cycl. Suppl. Vol. I.
EUR 1 HEN, properly fignifies a heavy weight or load.
.Ringelberg recommends the bearing burthens as the belt fort of exercife; efpecially to Strengthen men offludy. To this end, he had a gown lined with plates of lead, which he could jufl lift with both his hands. This load he bore fix or hvtn. days together, either increafing or diminishing it as he found ocea- fion ; by which means he could both write and exercife at the fame time, without the one being anv hinderance to the other. Ringelberg. Difl'. de Stud. Inftit. ' Junck. Confp. Phyfiol. Tab. 5. p. 500.
Burthen alfo denotes a fixed quantity of certain commodities. A burthen of gad-fteel is two fcore, or 1 20 pounds. Moor? Math. Compend. c. 2. p. 12.
BURTON, in the fea language, a fmall tackle, confifting of two fmgle blocks, capable of being made fail any where at plea- fure, for hoifling of fmall things in or out, and which will pur- chafe more than a fmgle tackle with two blocks. GuilL Gent. Diet. P. 3. in voc.
BURY, is fometimes ufed to denote the hole or den of fome ani- mal underground. See the article Burrow. In which fenfe we fay, the bury of a mole, a tortolfe, or the like. The grillotalpa, or male cricket, digs itfelf a bury with its fore-feet, which are made broad and flrong for that purpofe '. Naturalifls fpeak of a kind of urchins in the ifland of Mara- guan, which have two entries to their buries, one towards the north, the other to the fouth, which they open and fliut alter- nately, as the wind happens to lie \— [ * Grew, Muf. Reg. So- ciet. P. 1. feet. 7. c. 1. p. 160. b Idem, ibid. feet. 2. c. 1. p. 17.J
BURYING, the fame with interment or burial. See the article
Burial- Burying alive, was the punifhment of a Vcfta! who had violat- ed her vow of virginity. The unhappy prieflefs was let down int'S a deep pit, with bread, water; milk, oil, a lamp burning, and a bed to lie on : but this provifion was but fhow, for the moment fhe was at the bottom, they began to caft in the earth upon her, till the pit was filled up. Vid. Mem. Acad. Infer. T. 5. p. 778. See the article Vestals, Cycl. Some middle age writers feem to make burying alive, defojfw, the punifhment of a woman thief. Du Cangt, Gloff Lat. T. ?.. p. 42.
Lord Bacon gives inflances of the refurredtion of perfons who had been buried alive. The famous Duns Scotus is of the number, who having been feized with a catalepfis, was thought dead, and laid to flecp among his fathers, but raifed again%y his fervant, in whofe abfence he had been buried. Vid. Bac. Hift. Vit.&Mort. ap. Works, T. 2. p. 178. Bartholin gives the relation of a woman, who, on recovering from an apoplexy, could not be convinced but that fhe was dead, and follcited fo long and earneflly to be buried, that they were forced to comply, and performed the ceremonies, at leaft in appearance. Wd.Barth. Act. Med. T. 5. Obf.6o. p. 151. The famous emperor Charles V. after his abdication, took it into his head to have his burial celebrated in his life-time, and affifled at it. Vid. Gedd. Mifc Traas.
Burying-/hW. — The antients buried out of cities and towns; an ufage which we find equally among Jews, Greeks, and Ro- mans a . Among the laft, burying within the walls was ex- prefsly prohibited by a law of the twelve tables : Hominemmor- tuum in urbe ne fepelito, neve uriio. The ufual places of inter- ment were in the fuburbs and fields, but efpecially by the way- fides b . Partly, fays Kehnet, to put pafTengers in mind of their
mortality, and partly alfo to fave the beft of their land c . .
[ a Kenn Rom. Ant. Not, P. 2. 1. 5. c. 10. p. 352. Potter, Archajol. 1. 4. c. 7. T. 2. p. 218, feq. b Sahnuth. ad Pan- cirol. P. 1. tit. 62. p. 339. c Kenn, ubi fupra, I. 5. c. 10. P- 353-]
Two reafons are alleged, why the antients buried out of cities ; the firfl, an opinion, that the touch, fight, or even neighbour- hood of a corpfe, defiled a man, efpecially a priefl: whence that rule in A. Gellius, that the Flamen Dialis might not on any account enter a place where there was a grave d : the fecond, to prevent the air from being corrupted by the flench of putrefied bodies, and the buildings from being endangered by the frequency of funeral fires e . We have inflances, how- ever, of perfons buried in the city ; -but it was a favour only allowed a few of fingular merit to ihe commonwealth. Plu- tarch fays, thofe who had triumphed were indulged in it. Be this as it will, Val. Publicola, and C. Fabricius, are laid to have had tombs in the forum ; and Cicero adds Tubertus to the number f .— [ d J. Gell. Noct. Att. 1. 10. c. is. c Kenn, Rom. Ant. Not. P. 2. 1. 5. c. 10. p. 353. f Plut. Qusft. Rom. Crinit. de Honefl. Difcipl. 1. 21. c. 12.] Lycurgus allowed his Lacedemonians to bury their dead within the city, and around their temples, that the youth bein^ en- ured to fuch fpedtacles, might be the lefs terrified with the ap- prehension of death. Potter, Archaeol. Gnec. 1. 4. c . 7. p
Burying in churches was not allowed for the firft three hundred years after Chrifl ; and the fame was feverely prohibited by the chriflian emperors for many ages after. The firft flcp towards it appears to have been the practice of erecting churches over the graves of fome martyrs in the country, and tranflating the relicts of others into churches in the city; the next was, al- ii X lowing
