im an
introduction at court by Archbishop Tillotson, whom he succeeded as clerk
of the closet to King William. But he suddenly marred his prospects by the
publication, in 1692, of a work entitled _Archaeologiae Philosophicae: sive
Doctrina antiqua de Rerum Originibus_, in which he treated the Mosaic
account of the fall of man as an allegory. This excited a great clamour
against him; and the king was obliged to remove him from his office at
court. Of this book an English translation was published in 1729. Burnet
published several other minor works before his death, which took place at
the Charterhouse on the 27th September 1715. Two posthumous works appeared
several years after his death--_De Fide et Officiis Christianorum_ (1723),
and _De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium Tractatus_ (1723); in which he
maintained 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.

[1] "Which," says Samuel Johnson, "the critick ought to read for its
elegance, the philosopher for its arguments, and the saint for its piety"
(_Lives of English Poets_, vol. i. p. 303).

[2] Burnet held that at the deluge the earth was crushed like an egg, the
internal waters rushing out, and the fragments of shell becoming the
mountains.

BURNET, known botanically as _Poterium_, a member of the rose family. The
plants are perennial herbs with pinnate leaves and small flowers arranged
in dense long-stalked heads. Great burnet (_Poterium officinale_) is found
in damp meadows; salad burnet (_P. Sanguisorba_) is a smaller plant with
much smaller flower-heads growing in dry pastures.

BURNETT, FRANCES ELIZA HODGSON (1849- ), Anglo-American novelist, whose
maiden name was Hodgson, was born in Manchester, England, on the 24th of
November 1849; she went to America with her parents, who settled in
Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1865. Miss Hodgson soon began to write stories for
magazines. In 1873 she married Dr L.M. Burnett of Washington, whom she
afterwards (1898) divorced. Her reputation as a novelist was made by her
remarkable tale of Lancashire life, _That Lass o' Lowrie's_ (1877), and a
number of other volumes followed, of which the best were _Through one
Administration_ (1883) and _A Lady of Quality_ (1896). In 1886 she attained
a new popularity by her charming story of _Little Lord Fauntleroy_, and
this led to other stories of child-life. _Little Lord Fauntleroy_ was