ical speaker, for many years was the idol of the London populace. Having obtained a Par- liamentary inquiry into the abuses of the metro- politan prisons, lie was returned in 180" for Westminster, which he represented for nearly thirty years. Burdett, in 1810. published, in Cobbett's Political Ucijistcr, a letter to his con- stituents, declaring the conduct of the Commons illegal in imprisoning Jolin Gale Jones, a radi- cal orator, who had questioned their authority in excluding strangers from the House. The Speaker issued a warrant for Burdett's arrest as guilty of a breach of privilege. Refusing to sur- render, he for two days barricaded his house, the populace supporting him in liis i"esistance; but on April 9, the sergeant-at-arms, aided by the police, obtained an entrance, and conveyed him to the Tower. The prorogation of Parlia- ment restored him to liberty. Prosecuted in 1819 for a letter on the "Peterloo massacre,' strongly condemning the authorities, he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a fine of £2000. In 1835 he joined the Conservatives, and in 1837 was returned for Wiltshire, which he repre- sented till his death, .January 23, 1844. Burdett maintained the freedom of public speech in Eng- land by a fearless and untiinching attitude against all attempts at suppression.
BURDETT-COUTTS, bflr-det' koots', An-
GEL. (iKORGiNA, Baroness (1814 — ). An English
philanthropist, daughter of Sir Francis Burdett.
In 1837 she inherited much of the property of
her grandfather, Thoma.s Coutts, the banker.
The liberal and public-spirited use she has made
of this wealth, in her efforts to mitigate the suf-
ferings of her fellow-creatures and the lower
animals, has rendered her name well known in
England and America. Besides spending large
sums in building and endowing churches and
schools, she endowed the three colonial bishop-
rics of Cajie Town, Adelaide, and British Colum-
bia, at an outlay of about £50,000, and founded
an establishment in South Australia for the
improvement of the aborigines. In her zeal for
the good of her own sex she effected imjiortant
reforms in the teaching of girls at the national
schools, and established a shelter and reforma-
tory for fallen women. To the city of London
she has presented, besides several handsome
fountains, the Columbia Market. Methnal (ireen,
for the supply of good and wholesome food in a
poor district. She also built Columbia Sijuare,
consisting of model dwellings at low rents for
about 300 families; and, taking great interest in
emigration, has assisted many poor families in
their passage. Her private charities have been
on a corresponding scale, and she is also a lib-
eral patroness of art. In 1871 she accepted a
peerage from the Government, with the above
title. In 1872 the freedom of the city of Lon-
don was conferred u])<m her (the first woman
who ever received it), and in 1874 the freedom
of Edinburgh. She was married in 1881 to W.
L. Ashmead-Bartlett (born in New .Jersey), who
by royal license used the surname Burdett-
Coutts.
BURDETTE, Robert .Joxes (1844 — ). An
American humorist and clergyman, who became
famous through his paragraphs in the Burling-
ton (Iowa) Hawkcyc. He was born in Greens-
boro, Pa., and received a secondary school edu-
cation in Peoria, 111. During the Civil War he
served as a private soldier. In 1869 he became night
editor of the Peoria Daily Transcript, and after-
wards was associated with other papers. He
joined the staff of the Bnrlinjiton Haickeyc in
1872, and his humorous paragraphs soon began
to be ijuoted in newspapers throughout the coim-
try, with the result that, beginning in 187(1, he
made a number of very successful lecture tfiurs.
lie became a licensed minister of the Baptist
Church in 1887, and afterwards took charge of
the Baptist chapel at Gladwyne, Montgomery
County, Pa, His books include: The Rise and
Fall of the Mustache and Other Hawkeyetems
11877); Uawkcyes (1880); lAfe of ^yilUam
Penn (1882); Innach Garden and Other Comic
Sketches (1880); and Chimes from a Jester's
Hells (1897).
BUR'DICK, Francis JIabion (1845—). An
American professor of law. He was born at
De Ruyter, N. V., graduated at Hamilton Col-
lege in 1869, and in 1872 at Hamilton College
Law School, and from 1872 to 1883 practiced
law. He was Mayor of Utica, N. Y., from 1882
to 1883, professor of law aiid history in Hamil-
ton College from 1882 to 18S7, and professor of
law in the law school of Cornell LTniversity
from 1887 to 1891. In 1891 he was appointed
professor of law in Columbia University. He
has published: Cases on Torts; The Laio of
l<alcs: and other legal works.
BURDOCK {hiir, the globular seed-ease -f
docA. the plant; see Dock) {,Arctium). A genus
of plants of the order Compositie. The heads
of rtowers are globose, or nearly so, and each
of the scales of the involucre runs out into a
long, rigid prickle, which is hooked at the point.
By means of these hooks the flower-head —
popularly called a bur — readily lays hold of
the clothes of a passer-by, the wool of a slieep,
or the like, and thus the seeds are transported
from one place to another. The common bur-
dock (Arctium lappa) is abundant in waste
and bushy ]ilaces, by waysides, etc., in Europe,
and is naturalized in the I'nited States. Its
root is biennial, large, and lleshy, somewhat
carrot - shaped; the root • leaves large, stalked,
heart-shaped; the stem stiff', upright, somewhat
branched and leafy, 3 feet or more high. The
root is sometimes used in medicine, being di-
ajihoretic and diuretic, and acting upon the
cutaneous system and the kidneys. It is ca-
pable of being made a substitute for sarsajiarilla.
In autumn young roots are often found to con-
tain as much as 45 per cent, dry weight of
inulin. In many countries the roots, young
shoots, and young leaves of burdock are used
in soups, and the plant is cultivated for this use
in Japan. The roots are said to resemble arti-
chokes in taste. The leaves and their expressed
juice are sometimes applied to burns and sup-
purations.
BURDWAN, bilrd-wiin'. See Bardwan.
BUREAU (Fr., from OF. hurel, coarse woolen
clotli, because a bureau was originally covered
with brown baize). A writing-table or desk
with drawers. The use of the French word in
this sense is at least as old as Swift, and became
common in England in the latter half of the
Eighteenth Century. In America it is used to
signify any chest of drawers. The word is also
applied to an ollice for transacting business^
