Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/36

  in 1783 by Philip, earl of Chesterfield, on quitting England as ambassador to the court of Spain, to Bigsby's uncle, Rev. Thomas Bigsby, A.M., of Stanton Manor, Derbyshire, who had, in the preceding year, married the Hon. Frances Stanhope, widow, the earVs stepmother. In 1812 Thomas Bigsby gave it to Bigsby's father, who left it to his son. In 1831 Bigsby presented it to W'ilUam IV, who, in his turn gave it to Greenwich Hospital. Other relics of a like interesting character were bestowed by Bigsby on the British Museum. Some, however, he retained in his own possession, and of these was Sir F. Drake's tobacco-box, constructed, he tells us, of the horn of a 'foreign animal,' And bearing the celebrated navigator's arms and name. He also kept a chain to which Drake suspended his compass and other nautical instruments. This chain, about twenty feet long, was worn by Drake round his neck in the manner of a cordon, passed, however, thrice round the body. A fine original portrait of William Burton [q. v.], the antiquary, æt. 29 (the brother of the author of the 'Anatomy'), painted in 1604, was presented in 1837 by Bigsby to the Society of Antiquaries.

Bigsby describes himself in his works as LL.D., F.S.A., F.R.S., and as member of a great number of foreign societies. The full titles of his books in the order of their publication are: 1. 'The Triumph of Drake, or the Dawn of England's Naval Power, a Poem,' London, 1839. 2. 'Miscellaneous Poems and Essays,' London, 1842. 3. 'Visions of the Times of Old, or the Antiquarian Enthusiast,' 3 vols., London, 1848. 4. 'Boldon Delaval, a Love Story;' also 'My Cousin's Story; The Man on the Grey Horse;' Derby and London, 1850. 7. 'Dr. Bigsby and the Evangelicals, a Vindication of Boldon Delaval,' 12mo, Derby, 1850. 8. 'A Supplement to the Rev. Jos. Jones's Appendix to the Vindication of Boldon Deleval,' 12mo, Deerby, 1850. 9. 'Old Places revisited, or the Antiquarian Enthusiast,' 3 vols., London, 1801. 10. 'Scraps from my Note-Book, or Gleanings of Curious Facts connected with the Family —— History (sic) of D——shire;' Part I. (1) 'The Lucky Lackey;' (2) 'A Tale of a Cask;' (3) 'The Dilemma, London, 1853. 11. 'Ombo, a Dramatic Romance in twelve acts, with an historical introduction and notes,' London and Derby, 1853. 12. 'Historical and Topographical Description of Repton, in the County of Derby, comprising an incidental view of objects of note in its vicinity, with seventy illustrations on copper, stone, and wood,' London and Derby, 1854. 13. 'Remarks on the Expediency of founding a National Institution in honour of Literature.' 14. 'Irminsula, or the Great Pillar, a mythological research,' 1864. 15. 'A Tribute to the Memory of Scanderbeg the Great,' 1866. 16. 'National Honours and their Noblest Claimants,' London, 1867. 17. 'Memoir of the Orders of St. John of Jerusalem from the Capitulation of Malta till 1798,' 1869. He edited the 'History and Antiquities of the Parish Church of St. Matthew, Morley, in the County of Derby, by the late Rev. Samuel Fox, M.A., rector, with seventeen illustrations from original drawings by George Bailey,' London and Derby, 1872. He also contributed largely to various magazines and reviews.  BILFRITH (fl. 750), anchorite of Lindisfarne, is referred to by Simeon of Durham as skilled in goldsmith's work, and as having, on that account, been employed by Æthelwold, bishop of Lindisfarne (724–40), to adorn with gold and gems the famous manuscript of the Gospels known as the 'Durham Book,' now in the Cottonian Library (Nero D. iv.) The entry made in the manuscript itself by the glossator Aldred in the tenth century, and recording the names of those who worked m its production, mentions Bilfith the anchorite as the one who 'wrought the smith's work the ornaments that are on the outside, and adorned it with gold and gems,' &c. Bilfriths name also appears among the 'nomina anchoritarum' in the 'Liber Vitæ' of the church of Durham (Cotton MS. Domitian A. vii.) His bones were removed to Durham, together with those of other saints, in the eleventh century.

 BILL, ROBERT (1754–1827), an ingenious mechanician and inventor, was descended from an old Staffordshire family, the Bills of Farley Hall, and was born in 1754. His father and uncle had married coheiresses, Dorothy and Mary, the daughters of Hall Walton, a near relative of Izaak Walton, from whom they inherited the freehold estate of Stanhope in Staffordshire. Bill was designed for the army, and therefore did not enter the university; but instead of following the military' profession he occupied himself with literary pursuits and experiments in