Book: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4

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"A fig for those by law protected;
Liberty's a glorious feast;
Courts for cowards were erected,
Churches built to please the priest."

A similar mixture of drollery and defiance appears in the justly celebrated
"Address to the Deil," which, mainly whimsical, is relieved by touches oan
in the conception of such a being straying in lonely places and loitering
among trees, or in the familiarity with which the poet lectures so awful a
personage,"--we may add, than in the inimitable outbreak at the close--

"O would you tak a thought an' men'."

Carlyle, in reference to this passage, cannot resist the suggestion of a
parallel from Sterne. "He is the father of curses and lies, said Dr Slop,
and is cursed and damned already. I am sorry for it, quoth my Uncle Toby."

Burns fared ill at the hands of those who were not sorry for it, and who
repeated with glib complacency every terrible belief of the system in which
they had been trained. The most scathing of his _Satires_, under which head
fall many of his minor and frequent passages in his major pieces, are
directed against the false pride of birth, and what he conceived to be the
false pretences of religion. The apologue of "Death and Dr Hornbook," "The
Ordination," the song "No churchman am I for to rail and to write," the
"Address to the Unco Guid," "Holy Willie," and above all "The Holy Fair,"
with its savage caricature of an ignorant ranter of the time called Moodie,
and others of like stamp, not unnaturally provoked offence. As regards the
poet's attitude towards some phases of Calvinism prevalent during his life,
it has to be remarked that from the days of Dunbar there has been a degree
of antagonism between Scottish verse and the more rigid forms of Scottish
theology.

It must be admitted that in protesting against hypocrisy he has
occasionally been led beyond the limits prescribed by good taste. He is at
times abusive of those who differ from him. This, with other offences
against decorum, which here and there disfigure his pages, can only be
condoned by an appeal to the general tone of his writing, which is
reverential. Burns had a firm faith in a Supreme Being, not as a vague
mysterious Power; but as the Arbiter of human life. Amid the vicissitudes
of his career he responds to the cottar's summons, "Let us worship God."

"An atheist's laugh's a poor exchange
For Deity offended"

is the moral of all his verse, which treats seriously of religious matters.
His prayers in rhyme give him a high place among secular Psalmists.

Like Chaucer, Burns was a great moralist, though a rough one. In the
moments of his most intense revolt against conventional prejudice and
sanctimonious affectation, he is faithful to the great laws which underlie
change, loyal in his veneration for the cardinal virtues--Truth, Justice
and Charity,--and consistent in the warnings, to which his experience gives
an unhappy force, against transgressions of Temperance. In the "Epistle to
a Young Friend," the shrewdest advice is blended with exhortations
appealing to the highest motive, that which transcends the calculation of
consequences, and bids us walk in the straight path from the feeling of
personal honour, and "for the glorious privilege of being independent."
Burns, like Dante, "loved well because he hated, hated wickedness that
hinders loving," and this feeling, as in the lines--"Dweller in yon dungeon
dark," sometimes breaks bounds; but his calmer moods are better represented
by the well-known passages in the "Epistle to Davie," in which he preaches
acquiescence in our lot, and a cheerful acceptance of our duties in the
sphere where we are placed. This _philosophie douce_, never better sung by
Horace, is the prevailing refrain of our author's _Songs_. On these there
are few words to add to the acclaim of a century. They have passed into the
air we breathe; they are so real that they seem things rather than words,
or, nearer still, living beings. They have taken all hearts, because they
are the breath of his own; not polished cadences, but utterances as direct
as laughter or tears. Since Sappho loved and sang, there has been no such
national lyrist as Burns. Fine ballads, mostly anonymous, existed in
Scotland previous to his time; and shortly before a few authors had
produced a few songs equal to some of his best. Such are Alexander Ross's
"Wooed and Married," Lowe's "Mary's Dream," "Auld Robin Gray," "The Land o'
the Leal" and the two versions of "The Flowers o' the Forest." From these
and many of the older pieces in Ramsay's collection, Burns admits to have
derived copious suggestions and impulses. He fed on the past literature of
his country as Chaucer on the old fields of English thought, and--

"Still the elements o' sang,
In formless jumble, right and wrang,
Went floating in his brain."

But he gave more than he received; he brought forth an hundredfold; he
summed up the stray material of the past, and added so much of his own that
one of the most conspicuous features of his lyrical genius is its variety
in new paths. Between the first of war songs, composed in a storm on a
moor, and the pathos of "Mary in Heaven," he has made every chord in our
northern life to vibrate. The distance from "Duncan Gray" to "Auld Lang
Syne" is nearly as great as that from Falstaff to Ariel. There is the
vehemence of battle, the wail of woe, the march of veterans "red-wat-shod,"
the smiles of meeting, the tears of parting friends, the gurgle of brown
burns, the roar of the wind through pines, the rustle of barley rigs, the
thunder on the hill--all Scotland is in his verse. Let who will make her
laws, Burns has made the songs, which her emigrants recall "by the long
wash of Australasian seas," in which maidens are wooed, by which mothers
lull their infants, which return "through open casements unto dying
ears"--they are the links, the watchwords, the masonic symbols of the Scots
race.

(J. N.) [v.04 p.0860]

The greater part of Burns's verse was posthumously published, and, as he
himself took no care to collect the scattered pieces of occasional verse,
different editors have from time to time printed, as his, verses that must
be regarded as spurious. _Poems chiefly in the Scottish Dialect_, by Robert
Burns (Kilmarnock, 1786), was followed by an enlarged edition printed in
Edinburgh in the next year. Other editions of this book were printed--in
London (1787), an enlarged edition at Edinburgh (2 vols., 1793) and a
reprint of this in 1794. Of a 1790 edition mentioned by Robert Chambers no
traces can be found. Poems by Burns appeared originally in _The Caledonian
Mercury, The Edinburgh Evening Courant, The Edinburgh Herald, The Edinburgh
Advertiser_; the London papers, _Stuart's Star and Evening Advertiser_
(subsequently known as _The Morning Star_), _The Morning Chronicle_; and in
the _Edinburgh Magazine_ and _The Scots Magazine_. Many poems, most of
which had first appeared elsewhere, were printed in a series of penny
chap-books, _Poetry Original and Select_ (Brash and Reid, Glasgow), and
some appeared separately as broadsides. A series of tracts issued by
Stewart and Meikle (Glasgow, 1796-1799) includes some Burns's numbers, _The
Jolly Beggars, Holy Willie's Prayer_ and other poems making their first
appearance in this way. The seven numbers of this publication were reissued
in January 1800 as _The Poetical Miscellany_. This was followed by Thomas
Stewart's _Poems ascribed to Robert Burns_ (Glasgow, 1801). Burns's songs
appeared chiefly in James Johnson's _Scots Musical Museum_ (6 vols.,
1787-1803), which he appears after the first volume to have virtually
edited, though the two last volumes were published only after his death;
and in George Thomson's _Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs_ (6
vols., 1793-1841). Only five of the songs done for Thomson appeared during
the poet's lifetime, and Thomson's text cannot be regarded with confidence.
The Hastie MSS. in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 22,307) include 162
songs, many of them in Burns's handwriting; and the Dalhousie MS., at
Brechin Castle, contains Burns's correspondence with Thomson. For a full
account of the songs see James C. Dick, _The Songs of Robert Burns now
first printed with the Melodies for which they were written_ (2 vols.,
1903).

The items in Mr W. Craibe Angus's _Printed Works of Robert Burns_ (1899)
number nine hundred and thirty. Only the more important collected editions
can be here noticed. Dr Currie was the anonymous editor of the _Works of
Robert Burns; with an Account of his Life, and a Criticism on his Writings
..._ (Liverpool, 1800). This was undertaken for the benefit of Burns's
family at the desire of his friends, Alexander Cunningham and John Syme. A
second and amended edition appeared in 1801, and was followed by others,
but Currie's text is neither accurate nor complete. Additional matter
appeared in _Reliques of Robert Burns_ ... by R.H. Cromek (London, 1808).
In _The Works of Robert Burns, With his Life by Allan Cunningham_ (8 vols.,
London, 1834) there are many additions and much biographical material. _The
Works of Robert Burns_, edited by James Hogg and William Motherwell (5
vols., 1834-1836, Glasgow and Edinburgh), contains a life of the poet by
Hogg, and some useful notes by Motherwell attempting to trace the sources
of Burns's songs. _The Correspondence between Burns and Clarinda_ was
edited by W.C. M^cLehose (Edinburgh, 1843). An improved text of the poems
was provided in the second "Aldine Edition" of the _Poetical Works_ (3
vols., 1839), for which Sir H. Nicolas, the editor, made use of many
original MSS. In the _Life and Works of Robert Burns_, edited by Robert
Chambers (Edinburgh, 4 vols., 1851-1852; library edition, 1856-1857; new
edition, revised by William Wallace, 1896), the poet's works are given in
chronological order, interwoven with letters and biography. The text was
bowdlerized by Chambers, but the book contained much new and valuable
information. Other well-known editions are those of George Gilfillan (2
vols., 1864); of Alexander Smith (Golden Treasury Series, London, 2 vols.,
1865); of P. Hately Waddell (Glasgow, 1867); one published by Messrs
Blackie & Son, with Dr Currie's memoir and an essay by Prof. Wilson
(1843-1844); of W. Scott Douglas (the Kilmarnock edition, 1876, and the
"library" edition, 1877-1879), and of Andrew Lang, assisted by W.A. Craigie
(London, 1896). The complete correspondence between Burns and Mrs Dunlop
was printed in 1898.

A critical edition of the _Poetry of Robert Burns_, which may be regarded
as definitive, and is provided with full notes and variant readings, was
prepared by W.E. Henley and T.F. Henderson (4 vols., Edinburgh, 1896-1897;
reprinted, 1901), and is generally known as the "Centenary Burns." In vol.
iii. the extent of Burns's indebtedness to Scottish folk-song and his
methods of adaptation are minutely discussed; vol. iv. contains an essay on
"Robert Burns. Life, Genius, Achievement," by W.E. Henley.

The chief original authority for Burns's life is his own letters. The
principal "lives" are to be found in the editions just mentioned. His
biography has also been written by J. Gibson Lockhart (_Life of Burns_,
Edinburgh, 1828); for the "English Men of Letters" series in 1879 by Prof.
J. Campbell Shairp; and by Sir Leslie Stephen in the _Dictionary of
National Biography_ (vol. viii., 1886). Among the more important essays on
Burns are those by Thomas Carlyle (_Edinburgh Review_, December 1828); by
John Nichol, the writer of the above article (W. Scott Douglas's edition of
Burns); by R.L. Stevenson (_Familiar Studies of Men and Books_); by Auguste
Angellier (_Robert Burns. La vie et les oeuvres_, 2 vols., Paris, 1893); by
Lord Rosebery (_Robert Burns: Two Addresses in Edinburgh_, 1896); by J.
Logie Robertson (in _In Scottish Fields_, Edin., 1890, and _Furth in
Field_, Edin., 1894); and T.F. Henderson (_Robert Burns_, 1904). There is a
selected bibliography in chronological order in W.A. Craigie's _Primer of
Burns_ (1896).

BURNS AND SCALDS. A burn is the effect of dry heat applied to some part of
the human body, a scald being the result of moist heat. Clinically there is
no distinction between the two, and their classification and treatment are
identical. In Dupuytren's classification, now most generally accepted,
burns are divided into six classes according to the severest part of the
lesion. Burns of the first degree are characterized by severe pain, redness
of the skin, a certain amount of swelling that soon passes, and later
exfoliation of the skin. Burns of the second degree show vesicles (small
blisters) scattered over the inflamed area, and containing a clear,
yellowish fluid. Beneath the vesicle the highly sensitive papillae of the
skin are exposed. Burns of this degree leave no scar, but often produce a
permanent discoloration. In burns of the third degree, there is a partial
destruction of the true skin, leaving sloughs of a yellowish or black
colour. The pain is at first intense, but passes off on about the second
day to return again at the end of a week, when the sloughs separate,
exposing the sensitive nerve filaments of the underlying skin. This results
in a slightly depressed cicatrix, which happily, however, shows but slight
tendency to contraction. Burns of the fourth degree, which follow the
prolonged application of any form of intense heat, involve the total
destruction of the true skin. The pain is much less severe than in the
preceding class, since the nerve endings have been totally destroyed. The
results, however, are far more serious, and the healing process takes place
only very slowly on account of the destruction of the skin glands. As a
result, deep puckered scars are formed, which show great tendency to
contract, and where these are situated on face, neck or joints the
resulting deformity and loss of function may be extremely serious. In burns
of the fifth degree the underlying muscles are more or less destroyed, and
in those of the sixth the bones are also charred. Examples of the last two
classes are mainly provided by epileptics who fall into a fire during a
fit.

The clinical history of a severe burn can be divided into three periods.
The first period lasts from 36 to 48 hours, during which time the patient
lies in a condition of profound shock, and consequently feels little or no
pain. If death results from shock, coma first supervenes, which deepens
steadily until the end comes. The second period begins when the effects of
shock pass, and continues until the slough separates, this usually taking
from seven to fourteen days. Considerable fever is present, and the
tendency to every kind of complication is very great. Bronchitis,
pneumonia, pleurisy, meningitis, intestinal catarrh, and even ulceration of
the duodenum, have all been recorded. Hence both nursing and medical
attendance must be very close during this time. It is probable that these
complications are all the result of septic infection and absorption, and
since the modern antiseptic treatment of burns they have become much less
common. The third period is prolonged until recovery takes place. Death may
result from septic absorption, or from the wound becoming infected with
some organism, as tetanus, erysipelas, &c. The prognosis depends chiefly on
the extent of skin involved, death almost invariably resulting when
one-third of the total area of the body is affected, however superficially.
Of secondary but still grave importance is the position of the burn, that
over a serous cavity making the future more doubtful than one on a limb.
Also it must be remembered that children very easily succumb to shock.

In treating a patient the condition of shock must be attended to first,
since from it arises the primary danger. The sufferer must be wrapped
immediately in hot blankets, and brandy given by the mouth or in an enema,
while ether can be injected hypodermically. If the pulse is very bad a
saline infusion must be administered. The clothes can then be removed and
the burnt surfaces thoroughly cleansed with a very mild antiseptic, a weak
solution of lysol acting very well. If there are blisters these must be
opened and the contained effusion allowed to [v.04 p.0861] escape. Some
surgeons leave them at this stage, but others prefer to remove the raised
epithelium. When thoroughly cleansed, the wound is irrigated with
sterilized saline solution and a dressing subsequently applied. For the
more superficial lesions by far the best results are obtained from the
application of gauze soaked in picric acid solution and lightly wrung out,
being covered with a large antiseptic wool pad and kept in position by a
bandage. Picric acid 11/2 drams, absolute alcohol 3 oz., and distilled water
40 oz., make a good lotion. All being well, this need only be changed about
twice a week. The various kinds of oil once so greatly advocated in
treating burns are now largely abandoned since they have no antiseptic
properties. The deeper burns can only be attended to by a surgeon, whose
aim will be first to bring septic absorption to a minimum, and later to
hasten the healing process. Skin grafting has great value after extensive
burns, not because it hastens healing, which it probably does not do, but
because it has a marked influence in lessening cicatricial contraction.
When a limb is hopelessly charred, amputation is the only course.

BURNSIDE, AMBROSE EVERETT (1824-1881), American soldier, was born at
Liberty, Indiana, on the 23rd of May 1824, of Scottish pedigree, his
American ancestors settling first in South Carolina, and next in the
north-west wilderness, where his parents lived in a rude log cabin. He was
appointed to the United States military academy through casual favour, and
graduated in 1847, when war with Mexico was nearly over. In 1853 he
resigned his commission, and from 1853 to 1858 was engaged in the
manufacture of firearms at Bristol, R.I. In 1856 he invented a
breech-loading rifle. He was employed by the Illinois Central railroad
until the Civil War broke out. Then he took command of a Rhode Island
regiment of three months militia, on the summons of Governor Sprague, took
part in the relief of the national capital, and commanded a brigade in the
first battle of Bull Run. On the 6th of August 1861 he was commissioned
brigadier-general of volunteers, and placed in charge of the expeditionary
force which sailed in January 1862 under sealed orders for the North
Carolina coast. The victories of Roanoke Island, Newbern and Fort Macon
(February--April) were the chief incidents of a campaign which was
favourably contrasted by the people with the work of the main army on the
Atlantic coast. He was promoted major-general U.S.V. soon afterwards, and
early in July, with his North Carolina troops (IX. army corps), he was
transferred to the Virginian theatre of war. Part of his forces fought in
the last battles of Pope's campaign in Virginia, and Burnside himself was
engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. At the latter he was
in command of McClellan's left wing, but the want of vigour in his attack
was unfavourably criticized. His patriotic spirit, modesty and amiable
manners, made him highly popular, and upon McClellan's final removal (Nov.
7) from the Army of the Potomac, President Lincoln chose him as successor.
The choice was unfortunate. Much as he was liked, no one had ever looked
upon him as the equal of McClellan, and it was only with the greatest
reluctance that he himself accepted the responsibility, which he had on two
previous occasions declined. He sustained a crushing defeat at the battle
of Fredericksburg (13 Dec. 1862), and (Jan. 27) gave way to Gen. Hooker,
after a tenure of less than three months. Transferred to Cincinnati in
March 1863, he caused the arrest and court-martial of Clement L.
Vallandigham, lately an opposition member of Congress, for an alleged
disloyal speech, and later in the year his measures for the suppression of
press criticism aroused much opposition; he helped to crush Morgan's Ohio
raid in July; then, moving to relieve the loyalists in East Tennessee, in
September entered Knoxville, to which the Confederate general James
Longstreet unsuccessfully laid siege. In 1864 Burnside led his old IX.
corps under Grant in the Wilderness and Petersburg campaigns. After bearing
his part well in the many bloody battles of that time, he was overtaken
once more by disaster. The failure of the "Burnside mine" at Petersburg
brought about his resignation. A year later he left the service, and in
1866 he became governor of Rhode Island, serving for three terms
(1866-1869). From 1875 till his death he was a Republican member of the
United States Congress. He was present with the German headquarters at the
siege of Paris in 1870-71. He died at Bristol, Rhode Island, on the 13th of
September 1881.

See B.P. Poore, _Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside_
(Providence, 1882); A. Woodbury, _Major-General Burnside and the Ninth Army
Corps_ (Providence, 1867).

BURNTISLAND, a royal, municipal and police burgh of Fife, Scotland, on the
shore of the Firth of Forth, 53/4 m. S.W. of Kirkcaldy by the North British
railway. Pop. (1891) 4993; (1901) 4846. It is protected from the north wind
by the Binn (632 ft.), and in consequence of its excellent situation, its
links and sandy beach, it enjoys considerable repute as a summer resort.
The chief industries are distilling, fisheries, shipbuilding and shipping,
especially the export of coal and iron. Until the opening of the Forth
bridge, its commodious harbour was the northern station of the ferry across
the firth from Granton, 5 m. south. The parish church, dating from 1594, is
a plain structure, with a squat tower rising in two tiers from the centre
of the roof. The public buildings include two hospitals, a town-hall, music
hall, library and reading room and science institute. On the rocks forming
the western end of the harbour stands Rossend Castle, where the amorous
French poet Chastelard repeated the insult to Queen Mary which led to his
execution. In 1667 it was ineffectually bombarded by the Dutch. The burgh
was originally called Parva Kinghorn and later Wester Kinghorn. The origin
and meaning of the present name of the town have always been a matter of
conjecture. There seems reason to believe that it refers to the time when
the site, or a portion of it, formed an island, as sea-sand is the subsoil
even of the oldest quarters. Another derivation is from Gaelic words
meaning "the island beyond the bend." With Dysart, Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy,
it unites in returning one member to parliament.

BURR, AARON (1756-1836), American political leader, was born at Newark, New
Jersey, on the 6th of February 1756. His father, the Rev. Aaron Burr
(1715-1757), was the second president (1748-1757) of the College of New
Jersey, now Princeton University; his mother was the daughter of Jonathan
Edwards, the well-known Calvinist theologian. The son graduated from the
College of New Jersey in 1772, and two years later began the study of law
in the celebrated law school conducted by his brother-in-law, Tappan Reeve,
at Litchfield, Connecticut. Soon after the outbreak of the War of
Independence, in 1775, he joined Washington's army in Cambridge, Mass. He
accompanied Arnold's expedition into Canada in 1775, and on arriving before
Quebec he disguised himself as a Catholic priest and made a dangerous
journey of 120 m. through the British lines to notify Montgomery, at
Montreal, of Arnold's arrival. He served for a time on the staffs of
Washington and Putnam in 1776-77, and by his vigilance in the retreat from
Long Island he saved an entire brigade from capture. On becoming
lieutenant-colonel in July 1777, he assumed the command of a regiment, and
during the winter at Valley Forge guarded the "Gulf," a pass commanding the
approach to the camp, and necessarily the first point that would be
attacked. In the engagement at Monmouth, on the 28th of June 1778, he
commanded one of the brigades in Lord Stirling's division. In January 1779
Burr was assigned to the command of the "lines" of Westchester county, a
region between the British post at Kingsbridge and that of the Americans
about 15 m. to the north. In this district there was much turbulence and
plundering by the lawless elements of both Whigs and Tories and by bands of
ill-disciplined soldiers from both armies. Burr established a thorough
patrol system, rigorously enforced martial law, and quickly restored order.

He resigned from the army in March 1779, on account of ill-health, renewed
the study of law, was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1782, and began to
practise in New York city after its evacuation by the British in the
following year. In 1782 he married Theodosia Prevost (d. 1794), the widow
of a British army officer who had died in the West Indies during the War of
Independence. They had one child, a daughter, Theodosia, born in 1783, who
became widely known for her beauty and accomplishments, married Joseph
Alston of South Carolina [v.04 p.0862] in 1801, and was lost at sea in
1813. Burr was a member of the state assembly (1784-1785), attorney-general
of the state (1789-1791), United States senator (1791-1797), and again a
member of the assembly (1798-1799 and 1800-1801). As national parties
became clearly defined, he associated himself with the
Democratic-Republicans. Although he was not the founder of Tammany Hall, he
began the construction of the political machine upon which the power of
that organization is based. In the election of 1800 he was placed on the
Democratic-Republican presidential ticket with Thomas Jefferson, and each
received the same number of electoral votes. It was well understood that
the party intended that Jefferson should be president and Burr
vice-president, but owing to a defect (later remedied) in the Constitution
the responsibility for the final choice was thrown upon the House of
Representatives. The attempts of a powerful faction among the Federalists
to secure the election of Burr failed, partly because of the opposition of
Alexander Hamilton and partly, it would seem, because Burr himself would
make no efforts to obtain votes in his own favour. On Jefferson's election,
Burr of course became vice-president. His fair and judicial manner as
president of the Senate, recognized even by his bitterest enemies, helped
to foster traditions in regard to that position quite different from those
which have become associated with the speakership of the House of
Representatives.

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