Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 07.djvu/178

 ‘catalogue of the Cotton. MSS.’ There is preserved in the manuscript a portion of the dedication to ‘the most illustrious Lord, premier coûte of this realme, erl of Arundale,’ &c., dated from ‘the king's office of the Revels, Peter's Hill, the. . . of. . . 1619.’ An advertisement to the reader (in the manuscript copy) informs us that the ‘argument and subject of this discours or story was at the first but a chapter, sc. the thirteenth chapter of the third hook of a rude work of myne entitled “The Baron, or the Magazin of Honour."’ No copy of ‘The Baron’ is known to exist. It is not improbable that many; of Buc’s works perished in the flames which consumed his office books, and that Tib. E. x. was scorched on that occasion. The history attempts to prove that Richard III was a virtuous prince and innocent of the crimes imputed to him, and must be regarded to some extent as an anticipation of Horace Walpole's “Historic Doubts.”’ Early in the present century a certain Charles Yarnold announced his in- tention of issuing a new edition of the history ‘from the original manuscript of Sir George Buck.’ The manuscript referred to by Yarnold, and Yarnold's collections towards the new edition (of which only a few sheets were printed), are in the British Museum, numbered Eg. MSS. 2216-2220. Yarnold’s collections are of little value, and it is certain that his manuscript is not in the handwriting of Sir George Buc. Additional MS. 27422 contains the first two books of the history. The George Buck who had the impudence to issue the work as his own dedicated the printed copy to Philip, earl of Pembroke. In 1710 Buc's history was included in the first volume of Kennet's ‘Complete History of England.’ Camden, in his ‘Britannia’ (ed. 1607, p. 668), speaks of Bac as a man of distinguished learning ‘qui multa in historiis observavit et candide impertiit.’ Some letters of Buc’s to Sir Robert Cotton are preserved in ‘Cottonian MS. Jul. Cæsar,’ iii. 33, 128. Among Heber's manuscripts was sold an undated quarto, p. 524, which was described in ‘Biblioth. Heber.’ (pt. xi. No. 98) as a poem of Sir George Buc. The title is ‘The famous History of Saint George, England’s Brave Champion. Translated into verse and enlardged. . . By G. B.’ Corser gives a full description of this work, and clearly shows that it could not have been written by Buc, as it contains allusions to events which happened long after his death.

 BUCER, MARTIN (1491–1551), protestant divine, was born of humble parents at Schlettstadt in Lower Alsace. The proper spelling of his name is undoubtedly Butzer; it is form is employed by himself, and ordinarily by his German contemporaries, except when they latinise his name into Bucerus (cf. the jest related by, Vita Buceri, 105, which also explains the Latin equivalents Emunctor and Aretirlus Felinus; in Greek he called himself Βοίκηρος). In his fifteenth year he was, against his will, placed as a novice in the Dominican monastery in his native town, and he remained a monk till 1521. At Heidelberg, where he studied Greek and Hebrew, he in April 1513 had an opportunity of hearing Luther dispute on the dogma of free-will; a correspondence ensued, and Bucer began to long for emancipation. He became acquainted with several leading humanists, all was more especially patronised by Capito. Soon he thought it prudent to take refuge, first in some other sequestered spot, and then in Franz von Sickingen’s castle, the Ebernburg, near Creuznach, where at this time Hutten and many other fugitives enjoyed the knight's hospitality. But through skilful aid he ultimately found no great difficulty in obtaining a papal brief, in consequence of which he was on 29 April 1521 declared free from his monastic vows, though of course he still remained a priest. In an interview at Oppenheim on 13 April 1621 he had tried to induce Luther to divert his course from the diet of Worms to the Ebernburg, but failed, and Bucer had thereupon loyally accompanied the reformer on his dangerous journey. Immediately after (possibly even before) his liberation from his vows, Bucer entered the service of the Count (afterwards Elector) Palatine Frederick  hilt he soon felt ill at ease, especially amongthe dissipations of Nürnberg. In May 1522 he obtained his dismissal, and entered upon the incumbency of Landstuhl, Sickingen's barony, near Kaiserslautern (Melchior Adam’s account of this part of Bucer’s life is confused). Soon after his establishment here he was married to Elisabeth Pallass, or Silbereisen , who had for twelve years been the inmate of a nunnery, but who made him an excellent wife. Bucer’s marriage is memomble as one of the earliest marriages of ordained priests among the reformers; it was followed by Bugenhagen's in 1522, Zwingli's in 1524, and Luther’s in 1625.

From Landstuhl Bucer, at Sickingen's 