Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/478

 472 BURNOUF nal, and is connected by railway with London. Although near the site of a Roman camp, Burn- ley is a comparatively modern place, the popu- lation in 1801 having been only 3,305. Its char- ter dates from 1861 ; and since 1869 it has been a parliamentary borough, returning one mem- ber to the house of commons. Its prosperity is mainly due to the abundance of coal in the vicinity. It contains about 30 cotton mills, the principal production being cheap prints. There are also machine works, iron founde- ries, corn mills, breweries, tanneries, and rope- walks, two weekly markets and six annual fairs. In the Roman Catholic chapel of the Virgin Mary is a monument to Charles Townley, whose collection of marbles and bronzes was purchased for the British museum. The free grammar school, founded in the 17th century, has a valuable library ; the mechanics' institute has a good reading room ; the church of Eng- land institute has a large library ; and a new market hall was opened in 1868. i:i KVH r. I. Eugene, a French orientalist, born in Paris, Aug. 12, 1801, died there, May 28, 1852. He was the son of a distinguished philologist, Jean Louis Burnouf (1775-1844), in- spector and librarian of the university of Paris, and author of standard Greek and Latin gram- mars, a translation of Tacitus, &c. Eugene early began the study of the oriental languages under Chezy and Abel Remusat, and soon at- tained distinction. In 1826 he published his Esiai sur le Pali ou langue sacree de la presqu 1 - ile au dela du Gange, and in the following year Observations grammatieales sur quelques pas- sages de Vessai sur le Pali. The work which placed him in the front rank of orientalists was the restoration of the Zend language, which he was enabled to achieve by the aid of the San- skrit. He undertook to decipher the Zend manuscripts which had been brought from the East by Anquetil-Duperron, and caused the Vendidad-Sade, one of the hooks of Zoroas- ter, to be lithographed and published from time to time in the Journal Aiiatique. In 1832 he was made a member of the academy of inscrip- tions, and the same year succeeded Chezy as professor of Sanskrit in the college of France. In 1835 appeared the first volume of Commen- taires sur le Yacna, run des livres liturgiques des Perses, a work which rendered possible for the first time a knowledge of the language and dogmas of Zoroaster. This was followed in 1836 by his Memoire sur deux inscription cuneifor- mes, in which he attempted to decipher the cu- neiform inscriptions of Persepolis. In 1840-'44 he published the Sanskrit text with French translation of the Bh&gavat-Purdna, ouHistoire poetique de JTrichna. His great work, Introduc- tion a Vhistoire du Boudhisme indien, appeared in 1845. His last work was a translation from the Sanskrit, with a commentary, of one of the fundamental books of Buddhism, Le lotus de la bonnt loi, which was published shortly after his death. A few days before his death he was appointed perpetual secretary of the acad- BURNS emy of inscriptions. II. fJmile Louis a French scholar, cousin of the preceding, born at Va- lognes, Aug. 25, 1821. He studied in the French school at Athens and at the normal school in Paris, and in 1854 became professor of ancient literature in the faculty of Nancy, and subse- quently director of the French school at Athens. He has published Des principes de Vart d'apres la methode et les doctrines de Platan (1850) ; De Neptuno ejusque Cultu, prcesertim in Pelopon- neso (1850) ; Extraits du Novum Organum de Bacon (1854); in conjunction with M. Leupol, Methode pour etudier la langue sanscrite sur le plan des Methodes de J. L. Burnouf (1859) ; Essaisur le Veda, ou introduction a la connais- sance de Vlnde (1863) ; Dictionnaire claisique sanscrit-francais (1863-'5) ; and La legende athenienne (1873); besides a number of still uncollected contributions to the Revue des Deux Mondes and other periodicals. BURNS, Robert, a Scottish poet, born near Ayr, Jan. 25, 1759, died at Dumfries, July 21, 1796. His parents were peasants of the poor- est class, but eager for the moral and in- tellectual improvement of their children, and lost no opportunity for supplying them with the rudiments of education. Robert, in the intervals of driving the plough and other farm work, soon acquired a knowledge of English. His chief books were the Bible, Mason's " Col- lection of Prose and Verse," the " Life of Hannibal," and the history of Sir William Wallace. Later in life he attempted to learn French and Latin, without much success ; he also eagerly read the " Spectator," Shake- speare, Pope, and particularly the poems of Allan Ramsay. His first attempt in verse was made in his 16th year. " A bonnie, sweet, sonsie lass," as he says in a letter to Moore, " who was coupled with him in the labors of the hay harvest," awoke his early inspirations. Robert and his brother Gilbert were employed by their father as regular day laborers, at 7 per annum, until Robert's 19th year, when he went to the school of Kirkoswald to learn mensuration and surveying. During this time he wrote and had printed " The Dirge of Winter," " The Death of Poor Maillie, "Mail- lie's Elegy," and " John Barleycorn," in which lie manifested that deep fountain of pathos and humor which afterward rendered him famous. In 1781 he removed to Irvine to learn the trade of flax dresser, in which, however, he did not make much progress. In 1783, a short time before the death of his father, he and his brother took a farm at Mossgiel, with a view of providing shelter for their parents. In the midst of his distresses he wrote several sa- tirical pieces, such as "The Holy Tailzie," " Holy Willie's Prayer," " The Ordination," " The Holy Fair," and others, chiefly levelled at the churchmen, which won him a wide local reputation. To his residence at Moss- giel are also to be referred the verses " To a Mouse," " To a Mountain Daisy," " Man was made to mourn," and that sweetest of pasto-