formed a scheme for augmenting the small livings, which he pressed forward with such success, that an Act of Parliament was passed in the second year of Queen Anne, for the augmentation of the livings of the poor clergy. He died in 1715, and was interred in the church of St James s, Clerkenwell, where a monument was erected
to his memory.Bishop Burnet s History of his Oivn Time, consisting of two large volumes in folio, was not published till several years after the author s death ; the first volume appeared in 1724, and the second in 1734. An account of his life was added by his youngest son Sir Thomas Burnet, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. The History itself was not printed without mutilations ; but after an interval of nearly a century, an edition containing all the passages which had formerly been suppressed, was published under the superintendence of the learned Dr Routh. (Oxford, 1823, 6 vols. 8vo.) This is a work of great and intrinsic value ; without it our knowledge of the times would be exceedingly imperfect. His materials are not always very carefully digested, and the style is sometimes supposed to be too familiar ; but these defects are abund antly compensated for by the copiousness of his information, the benevolence of his sentiments, and the earnestness of his manner. In general Burnet s statements may be accepted with great confidence, his judgment is always sound and sober, and he possesses considerable skill in the delineation of character. The best editions of his two great works are History of his Own Time, 6 vols., Oxford, 1833; History of the Reformation, 7 vols., by N. Pocock, 1865.
Besides the works mentioned above the following are worthy of notice : Some Passages of the Life and Death of John Earl of Rochester,[1] Lond. 1680, 8vo; The Life and Death of Sir Matthew Hale, Kt., sometime Lord C hief- Justice of his Majesties Court of Kings Bench, Lond. 1682, 8vo; The History of the Rights of Princes in dispos ing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church Lands, Lond. 1682, 8vo ; The Life of William Beddl, D.D., Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, Lond. 1685, 8vo; Reflections on Mr Varilla-y s " History of the Revolutions that have happened in Europe in matters of Religion," and more particularly on his Ninth Book, that relates to England, Amst. 1686, 12 mo; A Defence of the Reflections on the Ninth Book of the first volume of Mr Varillas s " History of Heresies," being a Reply to his Answer, Amst. 1687, 12mo ; A Con tinuation of Reflections on Mr Varillas s " History of Heresies," particularly on that which relates to English Affairs in his Third and Fourth tomes, Amst. 1687, 12mo. He took a very conspicuous part in the continued contro versy which was in his time maintained against the papists ; and a complete catalogue of his polemical works would occupy no small space. The following translations deserve to be mentioned : Utopia, written in Latin by Sir Thomas More, Chancellor of England : translated into English, Lond. 1685, 8vo ; A Relation of the Death of the Primitive Persecutors, ivritten originally in Latin, by L. C. F. Lactantius: Englished by Gilbert Burnet, D.D., to ivhich he hath made a large preface concerning Persecution, Amst. 1687, 12mo.
BURNET, Thomas (1635–1715), best known as the author of The Sacred Theory of the Earth, was born at Croft in Yorkshire about the year 1635, but is supposed to have been descended of a Scottish family. He was edu cated at the free school of Northallerton, and in June 1651 was admitted a pensioner of Clare Hall at Cambridge, under the tuition of Tillotson, who continued to remember him with kindness. In the year 1654 he removed to Christ s College, on the election of Dr Cudworth to the mastership, and there he obtained a fellowship in the year 1657. In 1661 he became senior proctor of the university. He was successively domestic tutor to Charles duke of Bolton, and to James earl of Ossory, afterwards duke of Ormond, grandson to the first duke ; and by the interest of the latter nobleman he was chosen master of the Charter house in 1685. Among the electors some of the bishops opposed him on account of his wearing a lay habit ; but the duke was satisfied that he possessed the more essential qualifications of a life and conversation suitable to his clerical character. After this appointment he took the degree of D.D. In his capacity of master he made a noble stand against the illegal attempts to admit Andrew Popham as a pensioner of the house, strenuously opposing an order of the 26th of December 1686, addressed by James II. to the governors dispensing with the statutes for the occasion.
Dr Burnet published his Telluris Thcoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, at London in 3681. This work, contain ing a fanciful theory of the earth s structure, attracted an unusual share of public attention, and he was afterwards encouraged to issue an English translation, which was printed in folio, 1684-1689. Addison commended the author in a Latin ode, but his theory was attacked by Dr Keill, Mr AVhiston, and Mr Warren, to all of whom he returned answers. His reputation obtained for him an intro duction at court by Archbishop Tillotson, whom he succeeded as clerk of the closet to King William. He seemed already to be on the direct road to much higher preferment, when he suddenly marred his prospects by the publication, in 1692, of a work entitled Archao- logi(K Philosophical : sire Doctrina antiqua dc licrum Originibus, in which lie treated the Mosaic account of the fall of man as an allegory. The method of treatment excited a great clamour against him ; and the king was obliged to remove him from his office at court. 01 this book an English translation was executed by Mr Foxton, Lond. 1729, 8vo. Dr Burnet published several other minor works before his death, which took place at the Charter-house on the 27th Sep tember 1715. Two posthumous works were published several years after his death DC Fide ct Officiis Christianorum, 1723, &nd.DeStatu Mortuontm ct Ecsurgcntium Tractatus, 1723 ; in which he main tained the doctrine of a middle state, the millennium, and the limited duration of future punishment. A Life of Dr Burnet by Heathcote appeared in 1759.
BURNETT, James, Lord Monboddo. See Monboddo.
was born in the ancient city of Shrewsbury, the capital of Shropshire, on the 7th of April 1726. He received his earlier education at the excellent free school of that city, and was afterwards sent to the public school at Chester. His first music master was Mr Baker, organist of Chester Cathedral, and a pupil of Dr John Blow. Returning to Shrewsbury when about fifteen years old, he continued his musical studies for three years under his half-brother, Mr James Burney, organist of St Mary s Church, and was then sent to London as a pupil of the celebrated Dr Arne, with whom he remained three years. In 1749 he was appointed organist of a church in the city, with a salary of 30 a year ; and he was also engaged as conductor of a concert established at the King s Arms, Cornhill. In that year and the next he composed the music of three dramas for Drury Lane theatre Alfred, Robin Hood, and Queen Mab. Being threatened with a pulmonary affection he went, on the advice of his physician, in 1751 to Lynn, in Norfolk, where he was elected organist, with an annual salary of 100, and where he resided for the next nine years. During that time he began to entertain the idea of writing a general history of music. In 1 760 he returned to London in good health, and with a young family; the eldest of whom, a girl of eight years of age, surprised the public by her attainments as a harpsichord player. In 1766 lie produced, at Drury lane, a free English version and adaptation of J. J. Rousseau s operetta Le Devin du Village, under the title of The Cunning Man, which was
favourably received. The university of Oxford conferred- ↑ "Which," says Dr Johnson, "the critick ought to read for its elegance, the philosopher for its argument?, and the saint for its piety " (Lives of English Poets, vol. i. p. 303).
