Burgh, James, was born at Madderty, Perth, in 1714, and was educated at St. Andrew's. After an un- successful attempt at the linen trade, he went up to Lon- don, and became corrector of the press. In 1740 he lie- came assistant in a grammar-school at Marlow, and in 1747 set up a school at Stoke Newington. In 1771 he retired to Islington, where he died in 1775. He pub- lished An. Ess/yon the Dignity of Human Nature (Lond. 1754, 4to; 1767, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Britain's Remembrancer (Lond. 1745, often reprinted) ; Thoughts on Education (Lond. 1747, 8vo); .1 Hymn to the Creator ( Lond. 1760, 2d ed.); Political Disquisitions (Lond.1775, ■"• vols.8vo); Crito, <>,■ Essays ( Lond. 1766, 12mo); Warning to Dram- drinkers 1 1751. 12mo), with other tracts, etc.— Darling, Cyclop. Bibl. i, 498; Allibone, Diet, nf Authors, i, 287.
Burgh, William, LL.D., was born in Scotland in 1741, ami became a member of Parliament. lie died in 1808 ; having published .1 Scriptural ' 'onfutation of Lindsay's Arguments agtinst the ant Godhead of Father, Son, ami Holy Ghost (York, 1779, 3d ed.8vo); An In- quiry into the Belief of the Chris/ions ofihi the,, first Centuries respi ctiny tin- (an/load of tin Father, Son, and Iio'y Ghost (York," 1778, 8vo), a work which procured
the author the degree of LL.D. from Oxford. — Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. i, L! 8.
Burghers. See Anti-bcbghebs.
Burgundians, theib conversion to Chris- tianity.— The Burgundians were one of the warlike trilics of Vandal origin which, in the early part of the tit'th century, left their abode in Germany and invaded Gaul. They were heathen; their religious system being governed by a high-priest elected for life, and bearing the title of Sinist. They settled in the coun- try extending upward from Mayence as far as the ter- ritory of the Alemanni. They soon became converts to Christianity. ( Irosius mentions them as all Chris- tians A.D. 417 (Ammian. Marecll. 1. 7, c. 32). Soc- rates (Hist Eccl. 1. 7, c. 30) dates their conversion about 430. After the death of their king Gundeuch about 473, Gundobald, one of bis sons, having defeated and killed his three brothers, became sole kin-. Be was an Arian, but did not persecute the ( latholics. Sev- eral conferences took place between the tun parties, one of which meetings, held at Lyons A.D. 500, result- ed in the conversion of a large number of Arians. The king himself offered secretly to join the Catholic party, but A Vitus objecting to this condition, the matter was dropped. Gundobald's son and successor, Sigismund, however, embraced openly the Catholic tenets. A synod was held by his order at Epaone (q. v. 1 in 517. He died in 524, and Burgundy was shortly afterward annexed to France. — Wetzer und Welte. Sec tiiiii-
MAXY.
Burial (iTHGp, heburah, Eccles. vi, 3; Jcr. xxii, 19; elsewhere "grave;" tv-atyiaonoc, Mark xiv, 8; John xii, 7). See Funeral.
I. Jewish. — Abraham, in his treaty for the cave of Machpelah, expressed his anxiety to obtain a secure place in which "to bury his dead out of his sight;" and almost every people has naturally regarded this as the most proper mode of disposing of the dead. Two instances, indeed, we meet with in sacred history of the barbarous practice of burning them to ashes: the one in the case of Saul and his sons, whose bodies were probably so much mangled as to preclude their receiv- ing the royal honors of embalmment (1 Sam.xxxi, 12); the other, mentioned by Amos (vi, 10), appears to refer to a season of prevailing pestilence, and the burning of those who died of plague was probably one of the sanatory measures adopted to prevent the spread of contagion. Among the ancient Romans this was the usual method of disposing of dead bodies. Bui through- out the whole of their national history the people of Cod observed the practice of burial. It was deem- ed not only an act of humanity, bur a sacred duty of religion to pay the last honors to the departed;
while to be deprived of these, as was frequently the fate of enemies at the hands of ruthless conquerors (2 Sam. xxi, 0 14; 2 Kings xi. 11 10; I'si. lxxix, 2; Eccles. vi, 3), was considered the greatest calamity and disgrace whicb a person could suffer. By the an- cient Greeks and Romans this was held to be essential even to the peace of the departed spirits (Bee Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Punus). <>n the death of
any member of a family, preparations were forthwith made for the burial, which, among the .leu-, were in many respects similar to those which are common in th«- Bast at the present day. and were more or less ex- pensive according to circumstances. After the solemn ceremony of the last kiss and closing the eyes, the corp-e, which was perfumed by the nearest relative, having been laid out and the head covered by a nap- kin, was subjected to entire .ablution in warm water
(Acts ix, 87), a precaution probably adopted to guard against premature interment. But, besides this tirst and indispensable attention, other cares of a more elaborate and costly description were among certain ,] isses bestowed on the remains of deceased friends, the origin of which is to be traced to a fond and aatu-