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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Boswell, William

1904 Errata appended.
​BOSWELL, Sir WILLIAM (d. 1649), diplomatist, was a native of Suffolk. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, of which he was elected fellow in 1606. He subsequently entered the diplomatic service, and was appointed secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton, then ambassador at the Hague, to whose post he eventually succeeded, receiving the honour of knighthood in 1633.
There is an interesting tract entitled 'A True Narrative of the Popish Plot against King Charles I and the Protestant Religion,' in which a scheme of the Jesuits to raise up Scotland and overthrow Charles I is described, and details are given of how the plot was discovered to Sir William Boswell by one Andreas ab Habernfeld, and communicated by the former to Archbishop Laud, who immediately took steps to thwart the conspiracy. On account of the promptitude shown by Sir William in this affair he was much commended by the king.
A large share of Sir William's attention while ambassador at the Hague was taken up with the religious controversy at that time raging between the Gomarists and the 'remonstrants.' In this matter, for political reasons, he adopted the policy of Sir Dudley Carleton, and supported Prince Maurice and the Gomarists against Barneveldt and the 'remonstrants,' who advocated the more liberal doctrines of Arminius. When the civil war broke out. Sir William's efforts were directed towards preserving the neutrality of Holland, whose leanings were in favour of the parliamentary party, and despite the efforts of Walter Strickland, who was sent over by Cromwell to counteract his influence, was not altogether unsuccessful in his mission.
Besides being a successful diplomatist, Sir William was a man of letters and a scholar, as is shown by his correspondence with John de Laet, which touches upon subjects ranging from Oriental literature and the compilation of an Arab dictionary to Edward VI's treatise 'De Primatu Papae,' and Sir Simon d'Ewes's Saxon vocabulary.
In the Additional MSS. in the British Museum there are two large volumes of letters addressed to Sir William Boswell and a few written by him. The first volume is mainly taken up with matters relating to the state and condition of the English church in the Netherlands, and includes many letters from Stephen Goffe; the second volume contains the correspondence of John de Laet, and comprises letters on theology and literature, as well as on social and political affairs. Sir William Boswell died in 1649.
N. G.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.32 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 440 | i | 23 f.e. | Boswell, Sir William: after 1606 insert He was M.P. for Boston in 1624 and 1625 |
| | | 22 f.e. | for subsequently react had already and after service insert He was secretary to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, while ambassador in Paris, in 1620 |
| | | 21 f.e. | after and was insert subsequently |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonar, Archibald

​BONAR, ARCHIBALD (1753–1816), divine, fifth son of John Bonar [q. v.], minister first at Cockpen and then at Perth, was born at Cockpen on 23 Feb. 1753, and educated at the high school and university of Edinburgh. He was licensed to preach an 29 Oct. 1777, ordained minister of the parish of Newburn, Fife, on 31 March 1779, and translated to the North-west Church, Glasgow, on 17 July 1783. His health compelled him to resign this charge, and on 19 April 1785 he was settled in the parish of Cramond, where he died on 8 April 1810. He was twice married: (1) on 15 Aug. 1782 to Bridget, eldest daughter of the Rev. Mr. Black, minister of Perth, who died on 4 Jan. 1787: and (2) on 16 Aug. 1792 to Ann, daughter of Andrew Bonar, and had issue two sons and three daughters. He wrote: 1. 'Genuine Religion the best Friend of the People,' 1787; and 2. 'Two Volumes of Sermons,' 1815-17: the second volume was published after his death, to which a memoir by his brother James [q. v.] is prefixed.
[Family papers in possession of Horatius Bonar, W.S., Edinburgh; Memoir pref. to Sermons, vol. ii. 1817; Scott's Fasti Eccl. Scot. pt. i. 135.]
H. B-r.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bolton, Samuel

​BOLTON, SAMUEL, D.D. (1606–1654), divine and scholar, who has been wrongly identified both with a son and a brother of Robert Bolton, B.D. [see Bolton, Robert,1572-1631], was born in London in 1606, and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hanly, iii. 690, 607). In 1643 he was chosen one of the Westminster assembly of divines. It is stated that he was successively minister of St. Martin's, Ludgate Street, of St. Saviour's, Southwark, and of St. Andrew's, Holborn. He was appointed, on the death of Dr. Bainbrigge in 1646, master of Christ's College, Cambridge, and served as vice-chancellor of the university in 1651. Although with 'no ministerial charge' he 'preached gratuitously every Lord's day for many years.' It is believed that it was this Samuel Bolton who, in 1648, attended the Earl of Holland upon the scaffold (Whitelocke, Mem. p. 387). He died, after a long illness, 15 Oct. 1654. In his will he gave orders that he was to be 'interred as a private christian, and not with the outward pomp of a doctor; because he hoped to rise in the day of judgment and appear before God, not as a doctor, but as an humble christian.' Dr. Calamy preached his funeral sermon. His books are rare. They are: 1. 'A Tossed Ship making for a Safe Harbour; or a Word in Season to a Sinking Kingdom,' 1644. 2. 'A Vindication of the Rights of the Law and the Liberties of Grace,' 1646. 3. 'The Arraignment of Error,' 1646. 4. 'The Sinfulnesse of Sin,' 1646. 5. 'The Guard of the Tree of Life,' 1647. 6. 'The Wedding Garment,' and posthumously, 7. 'The Dead Saint speaking to Saints and Sinners,' (portrait prefixed).
A. B. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bolton, William

​BOLTON, WILLIAM (d. 1532), architect, was made, about 1506, prior of the monastery of St. Bartholomew at Smithfield. He is supposed to have designed the chapel of Henry VII at Westminster for no better reason than that that monarch refers to Bolton in his will as 'maister of the works.' His works at Canonbury and Harrow-on-the-Hill are mentioned by Stow. He died at at Harrow 15 April 1532.
[Dict. Arch. Soc. 1863: Stow's Survey, &c London, 1720, iii. 235 Weaver's Funeral Monuments, London, 1631, p. 434.]
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonar, James

1904 Errata appended.
​BONAR, JAMES (1767–1821), solicitor of excise, eighth son of John Bonar (1722-1761) [q. v.], minister of Cockpen and afterwards at Perth, was born on 29 Sept. 1757. He was educated at the high school of Edinburgh, and attended the university. He early entered the excise office, but found time to become a distinguished scholar. He was a member of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh university, being admitted 9 Dec. 1777, and elected an extraordinary member on 24 Dec. 1781, and was for several years treasurer of the Royal Society, Edinburgh. He was one of the original promoters of the Astronomical Institution, and one of the founders of the Edinburgh Subscription ​Library in 1794. He died on 25 March 1821 leaving, by his wife Marjory Maitland (to whom he was married in March 1797), five sons and three daughters. He was author of the article on ‘Posts’ in ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica,’ 1794; the articles on ‘Alphabet Characters,’ ‘Etymology,’ ‘Excise,’ ‘Hieroglyphics,’ &c., in ‘Edinburgh Encyclopædia,’ 1808–18; ‘Disquisition on the Origin and Radical Sense of the Greek Prepositions,’ 1804; he edited the new edition of ‘Ewing's Greek Grammar,’ and contributed many articles to the ‘Edinburgh Magazine,’ ‘Missionary Magazine,’ and ‘Scottish Register,’ 1790-5. He published an English edition of Holbein's ‘Dance of Death,’ 1788, and wrote the memoir of his brother, Archibald Bonar [q. v.], which is prefixed to the second volume of his sermons.
[Family papers in possession of Horatius Bonar, W.S., Edinburgh; History of the Speculative Society (1845); manuscript Life, with list of his writings, written by his son.]
H. B-r.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.30 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 335 | ii | 15 f.e. | Bonar, James: after excise insert in Scotland |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonar, John (1722-1761)

​BONAR, JOHN, the elder (1722–1761), Scottish divine, was born at Clackmannan on 4 Nov. 1722. His father—also John Bonar—was then tutor at Kennet. His mother was Jean Smith, daughter of William Smith of Clackmannan. His father was ordained minister of the united parishes of Fetlar and North Yell, in Shetland, in 1729, and John was sent to his grandfather's manse at Torphichen, Linlithgowshire. There he received the usual parish-school education, and then proceeded to the university of Edinburgh where he matriculated 27 April 1742. He was licensed as a preacher of the gospel 5 June 1745, and ordained 22 Aug. 1746 as the minister of the parish of Cockpen, near Dalkeith. Whilst there he married, November 1746, Christian, daughter of Andrew Currier, W.S., Edinburgh (she died 22 Nov. 1771). In 1756 he received and declined a presentation to the parish or abbey church of Jedburgh. He was called to the second or collegiate church of Perth, and was settled there 29 July 1756. He came to the front as a persuasive preacher of the gospel on the old evangelical lines. In 1750 he printed anonymously ‘Observations on the Conduct and Character of Judas Iscariot’ (reprinted in 1822); and in 1752 a noticeable sermon on the ‘Nature and Necessity of Religious Education,’ which was preached before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. In 1755 he published anonymously ‘An Analysis of the mural and religious Sentiments contained in the writings of Sopho [i.e. Lord Kames] and David Hume, Esq.’ It was addressed to the ‘General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.’ This work is sometimes wrongly attributed to Rev. George Anderson. It was replied to angrily in ‘Observations upon the Analysis,’ but never answered. In 1760 he preached his ‘Nature and Tendency of the Ecclesiastical Constitution in Scotland’ before the synod of Perth and Stirling, which afterwards formed an important publication, and was reprinted in the ‘Scots Preacher.’ He was at his death engaged on a work, which he left unfinished, to have been entitled ‘The Example of Tyre, a Warning to Britain.’ He died at Perth 21 Dec. 1761, in the fortieth year of his age.
[Dr. Hew Scott's Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ; Memoir prefixed to vol. ii. of Sermons of the Rev. Archibald Bonar of Cramond, and Memoir prefixed to ‘Judas Iscariot,’ 1822; communications from Rev. Andrew Whyte, M.A., Clackmannan, the Rev. John Calder, presbytery clerk of Stirling. and Horatius Bonar. Esq., of Edinburgh. Rev. Dr. Andrew A. Bonar, Glasgow, grandson of John Bonar, possesses a manuscript of his grandfather, which contains interesting jottings of two visits paid by him to the scenes of the scenes of revival in Kilsyth and Cambuslang.]
A. B. G.
# Devotions

DEVOTIONS
UPON EMERGENT OCCASIONS AND SEVERAL STEPS IN MY SICKNESS DIGESTED INTO
* MEDITATIONS UPON OUR HUMAN CONDITION
* EXPOSTULATIONS AND DEBATEMENTS WITH GOD
* PRAYERS UPON THE SEVERAL OCCASIONS TO HIM
SERMON COMMEMORATIVE OF LADY DANVERS
DEATHS DUELL HIS OWN FUNERAL SERMON
BY JOHN DONNE DD
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LONDON
C. WITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT
ADVERTISEMENT OF THE PUBLISHER.
TO render this edition of Dr. Donne's Devotions more acceptable to the public the following pieces have been added. I. Walton's Life of the Author, with its original Dedication to Sir Robert Holt of Aston; this dedication first appeared in the second edition, but has been omitted in every subsequent one. II. A letter from Dr. Donne to the Duke of Buckingham. III. A letter to Sir Robert Carr, afterwards Earl of Ancram. Both letters relate to the Book of Devotions. IV. A Sermon by Dr. Donne on the death of Lady Danvers, the mother of his friend George Herbert, of which Walton has recorded that he was himself a hearer. V. Death's Duel, called by King James the Doctor's own funeral sermon.
The Book of Devotions was first printed in 1624, and passed through at least five editions; the fifth appeared in 1638, and from that time to the present it is believed that no edition has been published. In the edition of 1638 was added a frontispiece engraved by Marshall, representing Dr. Donne in his winding sheet, ​taken from his monument in old St. Paul's, which has been copied in the present edition. Of this monument the head and urn still exist in the Crypt of the present Cathedral. It was originally set up by Dr. Montfort and Dr. Henry King, and executed by Nicholas Stone. Whether considered as the effigy of this eminent author, or even as a work of art, it is well worthy restoration; together with those of his learned and excellent predecessors, Colet the founder, and Nowell the great benefactor of St. Paul's School.
London, June 16, 1840.
* Life of Dr. Donne by Izaak Walton
* Poems and letters
* Devotions
** Epistle Dedicatory
** Stationes in morbo
** Meditation I
** Meditation II
** Meditation III
** Meditation IV
** Meditation V
** Meditation VI
** Meditation VII
** Meditation VIII
** Meditation IX
** Meditation X
** Meditation XI
** Meditation XII
** Meditation XIII
** Meditation XIV
** Meditation XV
** Meditation XVI
** Meditation XVII
** Meditation XVIII
** Meditation XIX
** Meditation XX
** Meditation XXI
** Meditation XXII
** Meditation XXIII
* Sermon on Lady Danvers
* Death's Duel
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Devonshire Roads

* information about this edition.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
Written in 1791, first published in the collected works of 1834.
The indignant Bard composed this furious ode, As tired he dragg'd his way thro' Plimtree road! Crusted with filth and stuck in mire Dull sounds the Bard's bemudded lyre; Nathless Revenge and Ire the Poet goad
To pour his imprecations on the road.
Curst road! Whose execrable way Was darkly shadow'd out in Milton's lay, When the sad fiends thro' Hell's sulphureous roads Took the first survey of their new abodes;
Or when the fall'n Archangel fierce Dar'd through the realms of Night to pierce, What time the Bloodhound lur'd by Human scent Thro' all Confusion's quagmires floundering went. Nor cheering pipe, nor Bird's shrill note
Around thy dreary paths shall float; Their boding songs shall scritch-owl pour To fright the guilty shepherds sore, Led by the wandering fires astray Thro' the dank horrors of thy way!
While they their mud-lost sandals hunt May all the curses, which they grunt In raging moan like goaded hog, Alight upon thee, damn’d Bog!
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cairncross, Alexander

​CAIRNCROSS, ALEXANDER (d. 1701), archbishop of Glasgow, was descended from the ancient family of Cairncross of Cowmull. For some time he followed the trade of a dyer in the Canongate of Edinburgh, subsequently he became parson of Dumfries, where he remained till 1684, when by the recommendation of the Duke of Queensberry he was promoted to the see of Brechin, from which he was in a few months promoted to that of Glasgow. Having incurred the displeasure of the lord chancellor, the Earl of Perth, he was in January 1687 removed from the see, but after the revolution he obtained the notice of the new powers, and in 1693 was made bishop of Raphoe in Ireland, where he continued till his death in 1701. By his will he left 20l. to the poor of the parish of Raphoe, and the tenth part of his personal estate to the episcopal clergy of the kingdom of Scotland. He was buried in the cathedral of Raphoe.
[Registrum Episcopatus Brochinensis (Bannatyne club. 1856), p. 141 (App.) 79; Keith's Scotish Bishops (Russell), 158, 268-9; Ware's Works (Harris), 1, 277.]
T. F. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.48 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 215 | i | 39 | Cairncross, Alexander: for in 1701 read 14 May 1701 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cairncross, Robert

​CAIRNCROSS, ROBERT (d. 1544) abbot of Holyrood, afterwards bishop of Ross, was descended from the ancient family of Balmashannar, Forfarshire, which had been seated there as early as the time of Robert II. He was provost of the collegiate church of Corstorphine, and one of the king's chaplains. On 5 Sept. 1528 he was nominated treasurer on the downfall of the Earl of Angus. Knowing that the abbot of Holyrood was on the point of death, he, according to Buchanan, wagered a large sum with James V that he would not present him to the first vacant benefice, when the king, quite well aware of what he referred to, accepted and won the wager. On suspicion of favouring the cause of the Douglases he lost the treasurership almost as soon as he obtained it, although he again held it from 1537 to 1539. On 23 June of the latter year he was admitted to the see of Ross, and shortly afterwards received in commendam the abbacy of Fern, the dilapidated state of which his wealth was expected to repair. On the death of the king he was appointed one of the lords of the council to the governor, the Earl of Arran, when he joined in opposing the treaty of peace with England. He died in April 1544. He is the subject of two epigrams by George Buchanan.
[Keith's Scottish Bishops, pp. 190-1; Crawford's Officers of State, pp. 371-3; Haig and Brunton's Senators of the College of Justice, pp. 45-6.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cairnes, David

1904 Errata appended.
​CAIRNES, DAVID (1645–1722), defender of Londonderry, was born in 1645. He was a lawyer in the city, and a person of considerable property and influence. On the approach of Tyrconnell's troops against Londonderry in December 1688, he advised the citizens to concert measures for its defence. On the 11th he was sent to London to ask assistance on its behalf from the Irish Society of London and William III. He was detained for several months in London before obtaining success in his mission, but at last returned on 11 April 1689 with special instructions from the king in time to thwart a design that had been entertained of delivering up the city. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of a regiment, and took a prominent part in its defence until it was relieved in the following August. At the conclusion of the war he was chosen member of parliament for Londonderry, which he continued to represent till the close of his life. He was also appointed recorder, and held various other offices. He died in 1722, and was buried in the cathedral church.
[Wills's Illustrious Irishmen; Hempton's History of Londonderry; Derriana.]
T. F. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.48 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 216 | ii | 5-6 | Cairnes, David: for till the close of his life read till 1703 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cain, Rhys

​CAIN, RHYS (16th cent.), a Welsh poet of the latter part of the sixteenth century, was born at Trawsfynydd in Merionethshire, a village on the river Cain, whence he took his surname. Several poems by him are preserved in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum. They consist chiefly of englynion and of complimentary poems addressed to various persons; among these last is one to William Morgan, bishop of St. Asaph, ‘on his translating the Bible into Welsh.’ Some of these poems are dated, the dates ranging from about 1570 to 1600; that to Bishop Morgan may be assigned to 1588, the date of the appearance of the Welsh Bible in print. Rhys Cain is said also to have been a painter as well as a poet.
A. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnet, Thomas (1632?-1715?)

​BURNET, Sir THOMAS (1632?–1715?), physician, was son of Robert Burnet, lawyer and advocate of Edinburgh, and was thus brother of Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury [q. v.] He must have been born between 1630 and 1640 (the date 1632 is given in Billings's ‘Catalogue of Surgeon-General's Library, U.S.,’ but on what authority does not appear). He studied and graduated in medicine at Montpellier, being already M.A., and the theses which he defended for his degree on 26–28 Aug. 1659 show that his medical knowledge was mainly based upon Galen and Hippocrates. He returned to Edinburgh and practised there. Burnet is named in the original charter of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, granted in 1681, as a fellow. He was physician to Charles II, and apparently to his successor; certainly also to Queen Anne. He was knighted some time before 1691, and died, it is stated, in 1715. His son, Thomas Burnet, graduated M.D. at Leyden in 1691. Burnet was an eminent physician in his day, and his reputation was spread all over Europe by his books, especially by the ‘Thesaurus Medicinæ,’ which was very often reprinted, and was evidently a useful compendium of the knowledge of the time. An abridgment was published by the author himself in 1703. His ‘Hippocrates Contractus’ is an abridgment in Latin of the most important works of Hippocrates. He wrote: ‘Currus Iatrikus triumphalis, &c. … ad Apollinarem laudem consequendam’ (theses for obtaining a license), Montpel. 1659, 4to; and ‘Quæstiones quatuor cardinales pro supremâ Apollinari daphne consequenda,’ ibid. 1659, 4to (for doctor's degree). They are in Brit. Mus. Library. ‘Thesaurus Medicinæ practicæ ex præstantissimorum medicorum observationibus collectus,’ London, 1672, 4to. Other editions are given, viz. London, 1673, 1685; Geneva, 1697, 1698, 12mo, edited by Dan. Puerarius (two vols.). ‘Thesauri Medicinæ practicæ breviarium,’ Edin. 1703, 12mo. ‘Hippocrates Contractus,’ s. l. (Edin.?) 1685, 12mo; London, 1686, 12mo; Venice, 1733, 1737, 1751, 8vo; Strasburg, 1765, 8vo. It has not been found possible to verify the existence of all the above-named editions.
J. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burneston, Simon

Simon Boraston in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
R. L. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnet, James M.

​BURNET, JAMES M. (1788–1816), landscape-painter, brother of John Burnet [q. v.], painter and line engraver, was born in 1788 at Musselburgh, and showed an early fondness for painting. He was first placed with a wood-carver, but found other opportunities of study at ‘Graham's Evening Academy.’ In 1810 he came to London. He there found his elder brother at work upon an engraving of ​ Wilkie's ‘Blind Fiddler.’ Delighted with that painting, he was led to study the Dutch school, of which he became an ardent disciple. He did not join the Academy schools, but worked directly from nature. Living at Chelsea, he found his subjects in what then were the ‘pasture lands’ of Battersea and Fulham. In 1812 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy, his work being ‘Evening: Cattle returning home.’ Later he contributed ‘Midday,’ and ‘The Return in the Evening’ (1813), ‘Early Morning,’ and ‘The Ploughman returning home’ (1814). ‘Crossing the Brook,’ ‘Breaking the Ice,’ and ‘Milking-time’ were others of his works; all pictures of high promise. He was of delicate health. In consequence of an attack of consumption he removed from Chelsea to Lee, Kent, and there died in 1816. He was buried in Lewisham churchyard. Burnet was a painter from whom much might have been hoped. His work was based upon a loving study of nature and a reverent attention to the masterpieces of Dutch art. ‘He had a true feeling for the rural and picturesque; his pictures were rich and brilliant in colour, luminous and powerful in effect.’
E. R.