Her story of " That Lass o' Lowrie's," printed in " Scribner's Magazine," obtained great popularity, and was immediately issued in a separate volume (New York, 1877). In 1878-'9 some of her earlier magazine stories were reprinted, viz., " Kathleen Mavourneen," " Lindsay's Luck," " Miss Cres- pigny," " Pretty Polly Pemberton," and " Theo." They were originally contributed to a periodical in Philadelphia, and were published in book-form without her permission by a house in that city, a proceeding that led to a public controversy. Her second novel, " Haworth's," was published as a serial in two magazines, and was printed in a volume in 1879. In 1879 an authorized edition of her earlier love-tales was issued in New York. In 1880 ap- peared a new novelette entitled " Louisiana." Her third novel, " A Fair Barbarian," was published as a serial in 1881, and in a volume the year follow- ing ; and a fourth, entitled " Through One Admin- istration," appeared in book-form in 1883. In 1886 a juvenile tale, entitled " Little Lord Pauntleroy," was printed as a serial in the " St. Nicholas " maga- zine. " That Lass o' Lowrie's," depicting life at the Lancashire mines, went through many editions in England, and has been repeatedly dramatized.
BURNETT, Henry CLay, lawyer, b. in Essex
CO., Va., 5 Oct., 1825 ; d. near Hopkinton, Ky., 1
Oct., 1860. He received a classical education, re-
moved early to Kentucky, where he entered upon
the practice of law, and was in 1851-'3 clerk of the
circuit court of Trigg co. He was elected to congress
as a democrat in 1855, 1857, 1859, and 1861, but
was expelled, for his open sympathy with secession,
on 3 Dec , 1861. He had presided over a Kentucky
southern conference held at Russellville on 29
Oct., 1861, and called a sovereignty convention at
Russellville on 18 Nov., of which also he was presi-
dent, and which passed an ordinance of secession
and organized a state government. He was a rep-
resentative from Kentucky in the provisional Con-
federate congress, serving from 18 Nov., 1861, till
17 Feb., 1862, and a senator in the Confederate con-
gress, serving from 19 Feb., 1862, till 18 F«b., 1865.
After the downfall of the Confederacy he exerted
himself to restore the peace democrats to the as-
cendency in his state.
BURNETT, Peter Hardeman, governor of
California, b. in Nashville, Tenn., 15 Nov., 1807;
d. in San Francisco, Cal, 16 May, 1895. Burnett
was a trader and lawyer. He went to Oregon, over-
land, in 1843, took a prominent part there in the or-
ganization of the territorial government, was mem-
ber of the legislature in 1844 and 1848, and became
a judge of the supreme court. The gold excitement
attracted him to California in 1848, and he worked
for a short time in the mines, and then became agent
in managing the complicated affairs of the Sutter
family and estate at New Helvetia. In 1849 he was
one of tiie most active persons in urging the rights
and necessities of the people of California as suffi-
cient warrant for the formation of a state govern-
ment in advance of congressional authority. Dur-
ing the agitation of that summer he was an out-
spoken opponent of the United States military gov-
ernment of the territory ; but he cheerfully joined
in accepting, at length. Gov. Riley's action, where-
by a constitutional convention was officially called.
Under the new constitution he was at once elected
governor, and assumed the office, although the
state was not admitted by congress until September,
1850. He resigned the governorship in 1851, then
practised law, and was one of the supreme judges
m 1857-8. From 1863 till 1880 he was president
of the corporation now known as the Pacific Bank
in San Francisco. He has published " The Path
which Led a Protestant Lawyer to the Catholic
Church " (New York, 1860) ; " The American The-
ory of (rovernment, considered with reference to
the Present Crisis" (1861); "Recollections of an
Old Pioneer" (1878), which is especially valuable
in connection with the early political and constitu-
tional history of the Pacific coast ; and '* Reasons
why we should Believe in God, Love God, and
Obey God " (1884).
BURNETT, Waldo Irving, naturalist, b. in
Southborough, Mass., 12 July, 1828 ; d. in Boston,
1 July, 1854. He was interested from his boyhood
in entomology, studied medicine under the direc-
tion of his father, a physician, was graduated at
Harvard medical school in 1849, and spent some
time in Europe, studying natural history and mak-
ing microscopic observations. After his return to
the United States, though suffering from consump-
tion, he accomplished much valuable scientific work,
the results of which were published in the " Jour-
nal " and " Proceedings " of the Boston society of
natural history, the " Memoirs " of the Ameri-can
academy of arts and sciences, the " American Jour-
nal of Science," the " Transactions " of the Ameri-
can medical association for 1853, and the " Ameri-
can Journal of Medical Science." His principal
work was a prize essay on " The Cell, its Physiol-
ogy, Pathology, and Philosophy, as deduced from
Original Observations ; to which is added its His-
tory and Criticism," published by the medical as-
sociation. He was engaged at the time of his death
in translating from the German the " Comparative
Anatomy " of Siebold and Stannius.
BURNETT, Ward Benjamin, soldier, b. in
Pennsylvania in 1811 ; d. in "Washington, D. C, 24
June, 1884. He was graduated at the U. S. mili-
tary academy in 1832, served in the Black Hawk
war of that year, in garrison at Fort Jackson, La.,
was an instructor at the military academy in 1833-
'4, and on topographical and ordinance duty until
1836. when he resigned and became a civil engi-
neer. At the beginning of the Mexican war he was
made colonel of the 2d New York volunteers, and
was sent to join the army under Gen. Scott. He
was engaged with his regiment at the siege of Vera
Cruz, and in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras,
and Churubusco, in the last of which he was severe-
ly wounded. The regiment was disbanded 1 Aug.,
1848. Col. Burnett received the thanks of the state
legislature and a silver medal from the city of New
York, and was brevetted brigadier-general. The
surviving members of his regiment gave him a
gold medal, 20 Aug., 1853, and further recognized
his services, 18 Aug., 1859, by presenting to him
the gold snuff-box in which the freedom of the
city of New York had been officially given to An-
drew Jackson forty years before. As a civil engi-
neer he was engaged on dry-dock construction from
1849 till 1855 in the U. S. navy-yards at Brooklyn
and Philadelphia, and on the water-works of Brook-
lyn and Norfolk, Va., in 1855 and 1856. From
1858 till 1860 he was U. S. surveyor-general of
Kansas and Nebraska. During the latter years of
his life he was an invalid, and gave up aU active
work. He was buried at West Point. He mar-
ried a daughter of Gen. Aaron Ward, of West-
chester CO., and his son, a lieutenant in the navy,
adopted his grandfather's name.
BURNHAM, Gordon Webster, manufacturer, b. in Hampton, Conn., 20 March, 1803 ; d. in New York city, 18 March, 1885. He was a farmer's boy and began life poor, but saved money while a clerk in his native place, with which in 1828 he entered into business as a principal. Successful in this, he entered the firm of Benedict & Coe in Waterbury,
