BURCKHARDT, John Ludwig (1784-1817), a celebrated Swiss traveller, was born at Kirchgarten, near Lausanne, November 24, 1784. After studying at Leipsic and Göttingen he visited England in the summer of 1806, carrying a letter of introduction from the celebrated Blumenbach to Sir Joseph Banks, who, with the other members of the African Association, accepted his offer to explore the interior of Africa. After studying in London and Cambridge, and inuring himself to all kinds of hardships and privations, he left England in April 1809 for Malta, whence he proceeded, in the following October, to Aleppo. In order that he might acquire Arabic thoroughly he disguised himself as a Mussulman, under the name of Sheik Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah; and, after two years passed in that part of Asia, he had so mastered the language as not to be distinguished from the natives, and had acquired such accurate knowledge of the contents of the Koran, and of the commentaries upon its religion and laws, that after a critical examination the most learned Mussulmans entertained no doubt of his being really what he professed to be, a learned doctor of their law. During his residence in Syria he visited Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon, and thence repaired to Cairo with the intention of joining a caravan, and travelling to Fezzan, in the north of Africa. In 1812, whilst waiting for the departure of the caravan, he undertook a journey to the Nile, as far up as Mahass; and then, in the character of a poor Syrian merchant, he made a journey through the Nubian desert which Bruce had traversed, passing by Berber and Shendy to Suakin, on the Red Sea, whence he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca by way of Jiddah. After enduring privations and sufferings of the severest kind, he returned to Cairo in a state of great ...

BURDER, George, one of the founders of the London Missionary Society, was born in London, June 5, 1752, and died there May 29, 1832. He was pastor of the Independent church at Lancaster from 1778 to 1783. Afterwards, he was for twenty years minister of the West Orchard chapel at Coventry. At the end of this period he removed to London, where for twenty-nine years he officiated at the Fetter Lane chapel. For many years he performed gratuitously the duties of secretary to the London Missionary Society, and edited, with much success, the Evangelical Magazine. He is chiefly remembered now as the author of the Village Sermons, which appeared at intervals from 1799 to 1812, and were at last completed in six volumes. They have had an extraordinarily wide circulation, and have passed through numerous editions. He edited many works,—among others the Pilgrim's Progress, Collings’s Weaver's Pocket-book, or Weaving Spiritualized, and Henry’s Bible with Improvements.

BURDETT, Sir Francis (1770-1844), Baronet, was born on the 25th of January 1770. The rudiments of his education he received at Westminster school, whence he removed in due time to Oxford. He did not wait to graduate at that university, but in 1790 set out on a Continental tour, in the course of which he became strongly imbued with the revolutionary principles then dominant in France and other countries. On his return to England in 1793 he married the youngest daughter of Thomas Coutts, a London banker, with whom he received a large fortune. In 1796, through the influence of the duke of Newcastle, he was chosen M.P. for Boroughbridge, on which occasion he had as colleague John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon. In 1797 he succeeded his grandfather in the baronetcy, his father and elder brother having predeceased him. At the outset of his political career he was a zealous supporter of ultra-liberal measures. In 1802, after a protracted contest, he was elected M.P. for Middlesex, in opposition to the former member, Mr Mainwaring. The election, however, was declared void, and in the subsequent canvass he was defeated. In 1806 he again stood for Middlesex and was again defeated, but when he stood for Westminster in the same year he was elected by a large majority. In March 1810 he wrote a letter to his constituents, denying the right of Government to commit for libel, as they had recently done. This letter was brought under the notice of the House, and the speaker issued a warrant for the committal of Sir Francis to the Tower. The baronet, however, disputed the right of the House, and had to be removed from his own residence by force. There was some collision in consequence between the military and the populace who were devoted to Sir Francis. At the prorogation of parliament he ...