The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 94

BRYDGES, SIR SAMUEL EGERTON, English antiquary, born at Wootton House, in Kent; called to the bar, but devoted to literature; was M.P.

for Maidstone for six years; lived afterwards and died at Geneva; wrote novels and poems, and edited old English writings of interest (1762-1837).

BUBASTIS, an Egyptian G.o.ddess, the Egyptian Diana, the wife of Ptah; and a city in Lower Egypt, on the eastern branch of the Nile.

BUCCANEERS, an a.s.sociation, chiefly English and French, of piratical adventurers in the 16th and 17th centuries, with their head-quarters in the Caribbean Sea, organised to plunder the s.h.i.+ps of the Spaniards in resentment of the exclusive right they claimed to the wealth of the S.

American continent, which they were carrying home across the sea.

BUCCLEUCH, a glen 18 m. SW. of Selkirk, with a stronghold of the Scott family, giving the head the t.i.tle of earl or duke.

BUCEN'TAUR, the state galley, worked by oars and manned by 168 rowers, in which the Doge of Venice used to sail on the occasion of the annual ceremony of wedding anew the Adriatic Sea by sinking a ring in it.

BUCEPH'ALUS (i. e. ox-head), the horse which Alexander the Great, while yet a youth, broke in when no one else could, and on which he rode through all his campaigns; it died in India from a wound. The town, Bucephala, on the Hydaspes, was built near its grave.

BUCER MARTIN, a German Reformer, born at Stra.s.sburg; originally a Dominican, adopted the Reformed faith, ministered as pastor and professor in his native place, differed in certain matters from both Luther and Zwingli, while he tried to reconcile them; invited by Cranmer to England, he accepted the invitation, and became professor of Divinity at Cambridge, where he died, but his bones were exhumed and burned a few years later (1491-1551).

BUCH, LEOPOLD VON, a German geologist, a pupil of Werner and fellow-student of Alexander von Humboldt, who esteemed him highly; adopted the volcanic theory of the earth; wrote no end of scientific memoirs (1774-1853).

BUCHAN, a district in the NE. of Aberdeens.h.i.+re, between the rivers Deveron and Ythan; abounds in magnificent rock scenery. The Comyns were earls of it till they forfeited the t.i.tle in 1309.

BUCHANAN, CLAUDIUS, born at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, chaplain in Barrackpur under the East India Company, vice-provost of the College at Fort William, Calcutta; one of the first to awaken an interest in India as a missionary field; wrote "Christian Researches in Asia" (1756-1815).

BUCHANAN, GEORGE, a most distinguished scholar and humanist, born at Killearn, Stirlings.h.i.+re; educated at St. Andrews and Paris; professor for three years in the College at St. Barbe; returned to Scotland, became tutor to James V.'s illegitimate sons; imprisoned by Cardinal Beaton for satires against the monks, escaped to France; driven from one place to another, imprisoned in a monastery in Portugal at the instance of the Inquisition, where he commenced his celebrated Latin version of the Psalms; came back to Scotland, was appointed in 1562 tutor to Queen Mary, in 1566 princ.i.p.al of St. Leonard's College, in St. Andrews, in 1567 moderator of the General a.s.sembly in 1570 tutor to James VI., and had several offices of State conferred on him; wrote a "History of Scotland,"

and his book "De Jure Regni," against the tyranny of peoples by kings; died in Edinburgh without enough to bury him; was buried at the public expense in Greyfriars' churchyard; when dying, it is said he asked his housekeeper to examine his money-box and see if there was enough to bury him, and when he found there was not, he ordered her to distribute what there was among his poor neighbours and left it to the city to bury him or not as they saw good (1506-1582).

BUCHANAN, JAMES, statesman of the United States, was amba.s.sador in London in 1853, made President in 1856, the fifteenth in order, at the time when the troubles between the North and South came to a head, favoured the South, retired after his Presidents.h.i.+p into private life (1791-1868).

BUCHANAN, ROBERT, a writer in prose and verse, born in Warwicks.h.i.+re, educated at Glasgow University; his first work, "Undertones," a volume of verse published by him in 1863, and he has since written a goodly number of poems, some of them of very high merit, the last "The Wandering Jew,"

which attacks the Christian religion; besides novels, has written magazine articles, and one in particular, which involved him in some trouble; _b_.1841.

BUCHANITES, a fanatical sect who appeared in the W. of Scotland in 1783, named after a Mrs. Buchan, who claimed to be the woman mentioned in Rev. xii.

BUCHAREST (220), capital of Roumania, picturesquely situated on the Dambovitza, a tributary of the Danube, in a fertile plain, 180 m. from the Black Sea; is a meanly built but well-fortified town, with the reputation of the most dissolute capital in Europe; there is a Catholic cathedral and a university; it is the emporium of trade between the Balkan and Austria; textiles, grain, hides, metal, and coal are the chief articles in its markets.

BUCHEZ, JOSEPH, a French historian, politician, and Socialist; joined the St. Simonian Society, became a Christian Socialist, and a collaborateur in an important historical work, the "Parliamentary History of the French Revolution"; figured in political life after the Revolution of 1848, but retired to private life after the establishment of the Empire (1796-1865).

BuCHNER, LUDWIG, physician and materialist, born at Darmstadt; lectured at Tubingen University; wrote a book ent.i.tled "Kraft und Stoff,"

i. e. Force and Matter, and had to retire into private practice as a physician on account of its materialistic philosophy, which he insisted on teaching (1824-1899).

BUCHON, a learned Frenchman; wrote chronologies of French history (1791-1846).

BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF, favourite of James I. and Charles I., born in Leicesters.h.i.+re; rose under favour of the former to the highest offices and dignities of the State; provoked by his conduct wars with Spain and France; fell into disfavour with the people; was a.s.sa.s.sinated at Portsmouth by Lieutenant Felton, on the eve of his embarking for Roch.e.l.le (1592-1628).

BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF, son of the preceding; served under Charles I. in the Civil War, was at the battle of Worcester; became minister of Charles II.; a profligate courtier and an unprincipled man (1627-1688).

BUCKINGHAM, JAMES SILK, traveller and journalist, born in Falmouth; conducted a journal in Calcutta, and gave offence to the East India Company by his outspokenness; had to return to England, where his cause was warmly taken up; by his writings and speeches paved the way for the abolition of the Company's charter (1784-1855).

BUCKINGHAMs.h.i.+RE (185), English S. midland county, lying E. of Oxford, W. of Bedford and Hertford, is full of beautiful and varied scenery; hill, dale, wood, and water. The Thames forms the southern boundary, the Ouse flows through the N., and the Thame through the centre. The Chiltern Hills cross the county. Agriculture is the prevailing industry; dairy produce, cattle and poultry feeding, and sheep rearing the sources of wealth. The county town is BUCKINGHAM (3), on the Ouse, 60 m. NW. of London.

BUCKLAND, FRANCIS (FRANK), naturalist, son of the succeeding, bred to medicine; devoted to the study of animal life; was inspector of salmon fisheries; wrote "Curiosities of Natural History," "Familiar History of British Fishes," &c.; contributed largely to the journals, such as the _Field_, and edited _Land and Water_, which he started in 1866 (1826-1880).

BUCKLAND, WILLIAM, a distinguished geologist, born at Tiverton; had a predilection from boyhood for natural science; awoke in Oxford University an interest in it by his lectures on mineralogy and geology; his pen was unceasingly occupied with geological subjects; exerted himself to reconcile the teachings of science with the accounts in Genesis; was made Dean of Westminster by Sir Robert Peel; his intellect gave way in 1850, and he remained in mental weakness till his death (1784-1856).

BUCKLE, GEORGE EARLE, editor of the _Times_, born near Bath; studied at Oxford, where he distinguished himself; is a Fellow of All Souls'

College; became editor in 1884, having previously belonged to the editorial staff; _b_. 1854.

BUCKLE, HENRY THOMAS, an advanced thinker, born in Lee, in Kent; in delicate health from his infancy, too ambitious for his powers, thought himself equal to write the "History of Civilisation in England," in connection with that of Europe, tried it, but failed; visited the East for his health, and died at Damascus; his theory as regards the development of civilisation is, that national character depends on material environment, and that progress depends upon the emanc.i.p.ation of rationality, an extremely imperfect reading and rendering of the elements at work, and indeed a total omission of nearly all the more vital ones; he was distinguished as a chess-player (1822-1862).

BUCKSTONE, JOHN BALDWIN, an able comic actor and popular dramatist, born in London; for a long period the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, London (1802-1870).

BUDA-PESTH (506), a twin city, the capital of Hungary, on the Danube; Buda (Ger. Ofen) on the right bank and Pesth on the left, the two cities being connected by a suspension bridge, the former on a rocky elevation and the latter on level ground; a great commercial centre.

BUDASTIS, an ancient town in Lower Egypt, where festivals in honour of Bacchus used to be held every year.

BUDDHA, GAUTAMA, or SAKYA-MUNI, the founder of Buddhism about the 5th century B.C., born a Hindu, of an intensely contemplative nature, the son of a king, who did everything in his power to tempt him from a religious life, from which, however, in his contemplation of the vanity of existence, nothing could detain him; retired into solitude at the age of 30, as Sakyamuni, i. e. solitary of the Sakyas, his tribe; consulted religious books, could get no good out of them, till, by-and-by, he abstracted himself more and more from everything external, when at the end of ten years, as he sat brooding under the Bo-tree alone with the universe, soul with soul, the light of truth rose full-orbed upon him, and he called himself henceforth and gave himself out as Buddha, i. e. the Enlightened; now he said to himself, "I know it all,"

as Mahomet in his way did after him, and became a preacher to others of what had proved salvation to himself, which he continued to do for 40 years, leaving behind him disciples, who went forth without sword, like Christ's, to preach what they, like Christ's, believed was a gospel to every creature.

BUDDHISM, the religion of Buddha, a religion which, eschewing all speculation about G.o.d and the universe, set itself solely to the work of salvation, the end of which was the merging of the individual in the unity of being, and the "way" to which was the mortification of all private pa.s.sion and desire which mortification, when finished, was the Buddhist Nirvana. This is the primary doctrine of the Buddhist faith, which erelong became a formality, as all faiths of the kind, or of this high order, ever tend to do. Buddha is not answerable for this, but his followers, who in three successive councils resolved it into a system of formulae, which Buddha, knowing belike how the letter killeth and only the spirit giveth life, never attempted to do. Buddha wrote none himself, but in some 300 years after his death his teachings a.s.sumed a canonical form, under the name of Tripitaka, or triple basket, as it is called. Buddhism from the first was a proselytising religion; it at one time overran the whole of India, and though it is now in small favour there, it is, in such form as it has a.s.sumed, often a highly beggarly one, understood to be the religion of 340 millions of the human race.