t
Korbach; in Waldeck; studied at Marburg and Goettingen; became acquainted
with Niebuhr at Berlin; studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de
Sacy at Paris; became secretary, under Niebuhr, to the Prussian embassy
at Rome; recommended himself to the king, and succeeded Niebuhr; became
ambassador in Switzerland and then in England; was partial to English
institutions, and much esteemed in England; wrote the "Church of the
Future," "Hippolytus and his Age," &c. (1791-1860).
BUNSEN, ROBERT WILLIAM, a distinguished German chemist, born at
Goettingen, settled as professor of Chemistry at Heidelberg; invented the
charcoal pile, the magnesian light, and the burner called after him;
discovered the antidote to arsenic, with hydrate of iron and the
SPECTRUM ANALYSIS (q. v.); _b_. 1811.
BUNSEN BURNER, a small gas-jet above which is screwed a brass tube
with holes at the bottom of it to let in air, which burns with the gas,
and causes at the top a non-luminous flame; largely used in chemical
operations.
BUNYAN, JOHN, author of the "Pilgrim's Progress," born in Elstow,
near Bedford, the son of a tinker, and bred himself to that humble craft;
he was early visited with religious convictions, and brought, after a
time of resistance to them, to an earnest faith in the gospel of Christ,
his witness for which to his poor neighbours led to his imprisonment, an
imprisonment which extended first and last over twelve and a half years,
and it was towards the close of it, and in the precincts of Bedford jail,
in the spring of 1676, that he dreamed his world-famous dream; here
two-thirds of it were written, the whole finished the year after, and
published at the end of it; extended, it came out eventually in two
parts, but it is the first part that is the Pilgrim's Progress, and
ensures it the place it holds in the religious literature of the world;
encouraged by the success of it--for it leapt into popularity at a
bound--Bunyan wrote some sixty other books, but except this, his
masterpiece, not more than two of these, "Grace Abounding" and the "Holy
War," continue to be read (1628-1688).
BUONTALENTI, an Italian artist, born at Florence, one of the
greatest, being, like Michael Angelo, at once architect, painter, and
sculptor (1536-1608).
BURBAGE, RICHARD, English tragedian, born in London, associate of
Shakespeare, took the chief role in "Hamlet," "King Lear," "Richard
III.," &c. (1562-1618).
BURCHELL, MR., a chara
|