OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnell, Henry

​BURNELL, HENRY (fl. 1641), dramatist, belongs to the Anglo-Irish family of Burnell, which acquired considerable estates in Leinster; members of it held offices at Dublin as judges and legal officials in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Henry Burnell appears to have been the son and heir of Christopher Burnell of Castleknock, near Dublin, and to have married Frances, daughter of Sir James Dillon, earl of Roscommon. The only known production of Burnell is that printed at Dublin in 1641 under the following title: ‘Landgartha, a tragi-comedy, as it was presented in the new theater in Dublin, with good applause, being an ancient story. Written by H.B.’ ‘Landgartha’ is stated to have been first acted, ‘with the allowance of the master of the Revels,’ on St. Patrick's day, 1639, at the theatre then recently established at Dublin by John Ogilby, and with which James Shirley, the dramatist, had been for a time connected. Among ‘the persons of the play’ were ‘Frollo king of Sweland and conqueror of Norway; Landgartha, a Norwegian lady; Scania, sister to Landgartha; Fatyma, cousin to Landgartha and Scania; Marfisa, a humorous gentlewoman, cousin to Fatyma; Reyner, of Denmarke; and Hubba, an humorous mery Danish captaine.’ The prologue to ‘Landgartha’ was ‘delivered by an Amazon, with a battle-axe in her hand.’ The epilogue to ‘Landgartha’ was also spoken by the Amazon ‘with her sword and belt in her hand.’ From the prologue it seems that Burnell had previously produced a play which was unfavourably received, but the name of it is not mentioned. The epilogue contains a statement that the tragi-comedy of ‘Landgartha’ was composed by Burnell ‘with the expense of less than two months’ time,’ with the commendatory verses in Latin prefixed to ‘Landgartha’ some were by Burnell’s son. Lines were also addressed in English by an anonymous author, in which the writer mentions that although Burnell had never been in England, he was ‘far more like’ to Ben Jonson than they ‘that laid claim as heirs’ to that author. In reply to critics of ‘Landgartha,’ Burnell wrote that ‘a tragi-comedy should neither end comically or tragically, but betwixt both.’ ‘To the rest of babblers,’ he added, ‘I despise any answer.' Burnell was a member of the Irish confederation established in 1642, but the dates of his birth and death do not appear to have been recorded.
[Gifford's Works of Ben Jonson, 1816; Hist. of Dublin, 1854; Hist. of Irish Confederation, 1641-3. Dublin, 1882; manuscripts in office of Ulster King of Arms, Dublin Castle.]
J. T. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cyples, William

​CYPLES, WILLIAM (1831–1882), philosophical writer, was born on 31 Aug. 1831 at Longton in the Staffordshire potteries. His parents were engaged in the local industry. He educated himself with the help of his mother, a woman of unusual strength of character, took to journalism, edited several provincial newspapers, and contributed to many of the best periodicals of the day. He published two volumes of verse, ‘Pottery Poems’ and ‘Satan Restored,’ 1859, besides some anonymous novels. He had for many years devoted his chief thought to philosophy, and had been encouraged by J. S. Mill and G. H. Lewes. In 1877 he left Nottingham, where he had long resided, for London. Here he became known to many eminent thinkers, and in 1880 published his ‘Inquiry into the Process of Human Experience; attempting to set forth its lower laws with some hints as to the higher phenomena of Consciousness.’ The book shows thorough familiarity with the psychological researches of Professor Bain, G. H. Lewes, Mr. Herbert Spencer, and others, and contains many original and acute remarks upon the topics discussed. Its main purpose, however, is to indicate the defects of these writers in regard to higher philosophy, and to show the necessity of finding fuller satisfaction for the moral and religious aspirations. Unfortunately, it is defaced by the adoption of an elaborate system of new technical phrases, which was a stumbling-block to readers, and perhaps covered some real looseness of thought. It certainly impeded the success of the book, and led to some sharp criticisms, to which Cyples replied forcibly and with good temper in ‘Mind’ (v. 390). He was disappointed at the want of recognition of his prolonged labours. Soon afterwards he fell into ill-health, and died of heart disease at Hammersmith on 24 Aug. 1882. He was a man of great refinement and nobility of character. A novel by him called ‘Hearts of Gold’ was published posthumously in 1883.
[Mind, v. 273, 390, viii. 150.]
L. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cuttance, Roger

​CUTTANCE, Sir ROGER (fl. 1650–1669), captain in the navy, a native of Weymouth, was in June 1651 appointed captain of the Pearl frigate, and served for some months under the command of Sir George Ayscue. On the breaking out of the Dutch war in May 1652, he was transferred to the Sussex of 40 guns, and commanded her till the peace, taking part in the battles of the Kentish Knock, 28 Sept. 1652, of Portland, 18 Feb. 1652–3, and off the Texel, 2–3 June and 31 July 1653. In 1654 he commanded the Langport, with Blake, in the Mediterranean, and assisted in the reduction of Porto Farina, 4 April 1655 [see Blake, Robert]. In October 1655 he accompanied the general to England, returning with him to the coast of Spain in the following spring, but came home again with Mountagu and Stayner in October 1656. In May 1657 he was appointed to the Naseby, in which ship he continued for the next four years, for the greater part of the time as Montagu's flag captain, and especially when, in May 1660, the Naseby had her name changed to Royal Charles, and brought the king to England. In 1661 he moved, with Mountagu, then Earl of Sandwich, to the Royal James, and in 1665 to the Prince, in which Sandwich hoisted his flag as admiral of the blue squadron, and by his decisive conduct in the battle of 3 June mainly contributed to the defeat and rout of the Dutch [see Mountagu, Edward, Earl of Sandwich]. On the return of the fleet Cuttance was knighted by the king, 1 July 1665. The Duke of York resigned the command to Sandwich, with whom Cuttance still continued in the position afterwards known as captain of the fleet. It was Sandwich's last command at sea in that war, owing, it was freely said, to the scandal that was spread abroad about the plundering certain Dutch East Indiamen that were captured. Whatever the blame was, Cuttance shared it, and indeed, according to Pepys, was the really guilty person (Pepys, Diary, 25 Feb. 1667–8, 27 Dec. 1668). In any case it was probably considered unadvisable to employ him again afloat at that time, and of any civil employment he may have had we have no information. In the next war, 1672, when Sandwich again hoisted his flag, Cuttance was no longer with him; but whether by reason of death, sickness, or his holding some office on shore, does not appear.
In 1658 his son, after serving as a lieutenant at Porto Farina and Santa Cruz, when in command of a ship of war and in charge of a convoy for Bordeaux, was taken prisoner, and carried into San Sebastian. ‘There,’ wrote his father (27 Dec. 1658), ‘he is closely confined through the means of Captain Beach's wife, until her husband, who is a prisoner in England, is set at liberty.’ Two months later he was exchanged for Beach, who after the Restoration returned to England, and served for many years both afloat and at the admiralty (Charnock, i. 51), but of young Cuttance nothing more is known.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cybi

​CYBI, CUBI, or KEBI (fl. 560?), saint, was one of the more famous of the great host of Welsh saints who flourished during the sixth century. His existence may be regarded as proved by the foundations always connected with his name, but the details of his life, as told by the hagiographers, are not trustworthy. He is said to have sprung from a noble Cornish stock, and to have been, through his mother Gwen, a cousin of St. David. The different genealogies of the saint do not, however, entirely agree, and as there were other districts besides the modern county which were known as Cornwall, and with which the saint is equally likely to be connected, his Cornish origin also has sometimes been disputed. It is said that he spent much of his early life in Gaul, and went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but the latter is almost as unlikely as the story that he was consecrated bishop by Hilary of Poitiers, who flourished two centuries earlier than he. He is then said to have returned to his native land, and, after various adventures in Gwent, to have betaken himself to Ireland. Thence he was expelled by a wicked chief, Crubthir Fintam, and compelled to put to sea with his disciples in an open boat. He was miraculously saved from a tempest, and landed in Anglesea, then under the power of the ‘island dragon,’ Maelgwn, king of Gwynedd, whom we know, from Gildas, his contemporary, to have flourished about the middle of the sixth century. At first Maelgwn was hostile, but ultimately proved a good friend to him. On the island on which the town of Holyhead is now built, and which Maelgwn himself perhaps granted to the saint, Cybi found a remote and congenial site for the great Celtic monastery over which he became abbot and bishop, and with which he is chiefly connected. The island still retains in Welsh the name of Ynys Gybi, and Holyhead itself of Caergybi. There Cybi lived for the rest of his life, and there he was buried. The parish church of the modern town still retains its dedication to him. The names of his followers, such as Caffo, appear among the saints giving name to neighbouring parishes in Anglesea. Three Llangybis, in widely different parts of Wales (Carnarvonshire, Cardiganshire, and Monmouthshire), are named after the saint. The day of St. Cybi is 8 Nov.
T. F. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cwichelm

​CWICHELM (d. 636), king of the West Saxons, eldest son of Cynegils [q. v.], was associated with his father in the kingship in 614, and with him inflicted a severe defeat on the Britons at Beandûn, probably Bampton in Oxfordshire, slaying two thousand and sixty-five of the enemy (A.-S. Chron. sub an. 614). Fearful of the rapidly growing power of Eadwine, king of Northumbria, and conscious probably that he was about to attack the West-Saxon kingdom [see Cynegils], Cwichelm in 626 sent an assassin named Eumer to slay him. Eumer found Eadwine holding his Easter-court near the Derwent, and obtained an audience by feigning to bring a message from his master; he attacked the king with a poisoned dagger, and would have slain him had not the faithful thegn Lilla sacrificed his own life for the king (Bæda, H. E. ii. 9). Cwichelm shared the defeat inflicted on his father by Eadwine. He assisted him in his victorious war against the East Saxons, and in the fierce and undecided battle with the Mercian king Penda at Cirencester. In 636, the year after his father had received christianity, he too was baptised by Birinus at Dorchester in Oxfordshire. He died before the end of the year, leaving a son Cuthred [see Cenwealh]. Cwichelm's memory is preserved by Cwichelmshloewe (Scutchamfly), a mound covered with a clump of trees in the midst of the Berkshire hills, about midway between Wallingford and Ashbury.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cynegils

​CYNEGILS or KINEGILS (d. 643), king of the West Saxons, the son of Ceol [q. v.], succeeded his uncle Ceolwulf in 611 (A.-S. Chron. sub an.). His accession was followed by an inroad of Britons into the West-Saxon kingdom. In 614 the invaders, probably striking over the Cotswolds by Cirencester, and perhaps, as in early years, in alliance with the Hwiccan, advanced as far as Beandûn, which has been identified with Bampton, about two miles north of the Isis. It may be taken for granted that this inroad was connected with the fact that in this ​year Cwichelm [q. v.], the son of Cynegils, was associated with his father in the kingship. The two kings met the Britons at Bampton, and defeated them with great slaughter. The rapid growth of the power of Eadwine, the Northumbrian king, endangered the independence of the West-Saxon monarchy. Already master of the Trent valley, Eadwine, by his marriage with the sister of Eadbald, king of Kent, while threatening the dominion of Cynegils from the north, cut him off from the chance of an alliance in the south. How fully conscious the West-Saxon kings were of their danger is proved by the attempt of Cwichelm to procure the assassination of Eadwine. The attempt failed, and in 626 Eadwine made war on Cynegils, defeated him, and compelled him to acknowledge his supremacy (Bæda, H. E. ii. 9). About this time Cynegils overthrew the two kings of the East Saxons who had succeeded their father Sæberht; the two kings were slain in the battle, and it is said that almost their whole army, which was far inferior in strength to the enemy, was destroyed (Hen. Hunt. p. 716). A fresh danger threatened the West-Saxon kingdom when Penda of Mercia had established his power in the central portion of the island. In 628 the Mercian king invaded the dominions of Cynegils, and a fierce battle was fought at Cirencester. After a day's fighting, in which neither side gained any decisive advantage, the kings the next morning made a treaty. The terms of this treaty are not known. The site of the battle shows that the immediate purpose of Penda's invasion was to gain the land of the Hwiccan, and it is probable that this treaty handed it over to Mercia, for it certainly formed part of the dominions of Penda's son Wulfhere. During the reign of Cynegils, Birinus preached the gospel to the West Saxons, and in 635 the king became his convert. Cynegils was baptised at Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Oswald, the Northumbrian king, who was about to marry his daughter, standing his sponsor. After his baptism he founded the West-Saxon see at Dorchester, acknowledging Birinus as the bishop. Oswald took part in the grant of Dorchester to the bishop, and this fact illustrates the continuance of the Northumbrian supremacy. The work of Birinus prospered during the rest of the reign of Cynegils, several churches were built, and many converts were made. Cynegils died in 643, and was succeeded by his son Cenwalh [q. v.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cuttinge, Francis

​CUTTINGE, FRANCIS (16th cent.), lutenist and musical composer, was one of the most distinguished composers of lute music towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth and the beginning of that of James. Nothing is known of his parentage, but families of the same name were living about this period in Cornwall and Devonshire, and one William Cuttinge, a native of East ​Dereham, Norfolk, was living in London, where he died 4 March 1599. In 1596 Cuttinge contributed several pieces to William Barley's ‘New Booke of Tabliture;’ other manuscript compositions by him are preserved in the British Museum (Eg. 2046, Add. MS. 31392) and the Oxford Music School Collection. On 9 March 1607 Anne of Denmark wrote to Arabella Stuart that ‘the king off denmarks gentleman haith insisted with us, for the licensing your seruant Thomas Cottings to depart from you but not without your permission to our brothers seruice,’ and the request was repeated in a letter from Prince Henry: ‘The queenes ma. hath commaunded me to signifie to your la. that shee would haue Cutting your la. seruant to send to the king of Denmark because he desyred the queen that shee would send him one that could play vpon the lute.’ It seems possible that this Thomas Cuttinge was the same as Francis, and that the queen mistook his christian as well as his surname. Arabella Stuart yielded, and it is to be presumed that Cuttinge went to Denmark, though if he did he must, like Dowland [q. v.], have returned before long, as the list of Prince Henry's household in 1610 contains the name of ‘Mr. Cuttynge’ as one of the musicians. After this there is no further trace of him.
[Harl. MSS. 252, 642, 6986; Add. MS. 32490, T. T. 49; Blomefield's Hist. of Norfolk, x. 219; Somerset House Gazette, ii. 27; Preface to Dowland's First Book of Airs (Mus. Ant. Society); Visitations of Cornwall and Devon (Harl. Soc.); information from Mr. W. R. Sims.]
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cutwode, Thomas

Tailboys Dymoke in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​CUTWODE, THOMAS (fl. 1599), poet, published in 1599 a very curious poem entitled ‘Caltha Poetarum: or The Bumble Bee,’ 8vo, consisting of 187 seven-line stanzas. Prefixed is a prose address ‘To the Conceited Poets of our Age,’ which is followed by some verses headed ‘G. S. in commendation of the author.’ The poem shows some skill of versification and archness of fancy; but as the veiled personal allusions are now unintelligible, it is tedious to read through the 187 stanzas. Occasionally Cutwode is somewhat licentious. His lapses from the path of modesty are not so serious as Warton represents (Hist. of Engl. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv. 370); but the Archbishop of Canterbury disapproved of the poem, and in June 1599 ordered it to be committed to the flames, with Marston's ‘Pygmalion’ and Marlowe's translation of Ovid's ‘Epistles.’ In 1815 a reprint of ‘Cal​tha Poetarum’ was presented to the Roxburghe Club by Richard Heber.
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cynewulf

​CYNEWULF (d. 785), king of the West Saxons, of the royal race, took the leading part in the expulsion of his kinsman Sigeberht from the throne by the Witan in 755, and was chosen to succeed him, Sigeberht being allowed to reign for a while as under-king in Hampshire. He fought many battles with the Welsh. During his reign the Mercian power, which had been greatly lessened by the consequences of Æthelbald's defeat at Burford [see Cuthred], began to revive under Offa, who in 777 attacked the portion of the West-Saxon territory that lay to the north of the Thames. Cynewulf was defeated at Bensington (Benson in Oxfordshire), and the battle gave the conqueror not only the district north of the river, but, according to one account, the land that lay between it and the Berkshire hills (Chron. Abingdon, i. 14; Parker). After he had reigned about thirty-one years Cynewulf ordered the ætheling Cyneheard, the brother of Sigeberht, to go into banishment. Cyneheard, however, gathered a band of men, and hearing that the king had gone to Merton in Surrey to visit his mistress, and had taken only a few men with him, he went thither, beset the house by night, and surrounded the room where the king was before his men were aware of it. The king came to the door, defended himself desperately, and when he saw the ætheling rushed forth, fell upon him, and wounded him sorely, but was himself slain by Cyneheard's men. Then Cyneheard seized Merton and made the gates fast. In the morning Osric the ealdorman and Wiferth the late king's thegn and others of his men came against the ætheling. He tried to persuade them to make him king, promising them gold and lands, and pointing out that many of their kinsfolk had sworn to stand by him. They answered him that ‘no kinsman was dearer to them than their lord, and that they would never follow his murderer,’ and so they fought with him and slew him and all his company save one who was the ealdorman's godson. and he was wounded. Then Cynewulf was buried at Winchester, and Beorhtric [q. v.] was chosen to reign in his stead. Cyneheard the ætheling was buries at Axminster.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bushnan, John Stevenson

​BUSHNAN, JOHN STEVENSON (1808?–1884), medical writer, was born about 1808. After studying at Heidelberg, where he graduated M.D,, he passed at Edinburgh in 1830 the examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons and of the Royal College of Physicians. Eventually he settled in London, where he filled the post of editor of the 'Medical Times and Gazette' from 1849 to 1852. He published 'A History of a Case of Animals in the Blood of a Boy,' 1833; and in the same year, from the German, Dieffenbach's 'Surgical Observations on the Restoration of the Nose,' and an 'Introduction to the Study of Nature.' This was followed in 1837 by the 'Philosophy of Instinct and Reason.' In 1840 he contributed to the Naturalist's Library an article on 'Ichthyology;' 'Observations on Hydropathy,' 1845; and 'Cholera and its Cures,' 1850. In the same year he published an 'Address to the Medical Students of London;' and 'The Moral and Sanitary Aspects of the New Central Cattle-market,' 1851. In this year he engaged in a controversy with Miss Martineau, in 'Miss Martineau and her Master,' He wrote 'Homeopathy and the Homeopaths' in 1852; 'Household Medicine and Surgery' in 1854; and in the same year he contributed to Orr's 'Circle of the Sciences.' In 1860 he wrote 'Religious Revivals ' and 'Our Holiday at Laverstock House Asylum;' and in 1861–2 two reviews in the 'Journal of Mental Science.' Ultimately he became unfortunate in his affairs, his sight failed, and he ended his ​days as a 'poor brother' of the Charter House, where he died on 17 Feb. 1884, aged 76.
J. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Busk, Hans (1772-1862)

1904 Errata appended.
​BUSK, HANS, the elder (1772–1862), scholar and poet, was descended from the family Du Busc of Normandy, one of whom was created Marquis de Fresney in 1668. The great-grandson of the marquis was naturalised in England in 1723. From his eldest son Lord Houghton was descended, and his youngest son was Sir Wordsworth Busk, treasurer of the Inner Temple. Hans Busk, the youngest son of Sir Wordsworth Busk and Alice, daughter and co-heiress of Edward Parish of Ipswich and Walthamstow, was born on 28 May 1772. Possessing an estate at Glenalder, Radnorshire, he took an active interest in county business, was a justice of the peace, and for some time high sheriff. His leisure was devoted to classical studies and general literature, and he published several volumes of verse, including ‘Fugitive Pieces in Verse,’ 1814; ‘The Vestriad or the Opera, a Mock Epic Poem, in Five Cantos,’ 1819; ‘The Banquet, in Three Cantos,’ 1819; ‘The Dessert, to which is added the Tea,’ 1820; ‘The Lay of Life,’ 1834. He died at Great Cumberland Place, Hyde Park, on 8 Feb. 1862. By his wife, Maria, daughter and heiress of Joseph Green, he left two sons (the eldest of whom was Hans Busk, born 1815 [q. v.]), and five daughters.
[Burke's Landed Gentry, i. 242–3; Annual Register, civ. 336 ; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
T. F. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.46 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 39 | i | 10 f.e. 8 f.e. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ Busk, Hans (1772-1862): for Wordsworth read Wadsworth |