BURMAN, Peter, a philologer and critic of high reputation, was born at Utrecht on the 26th of June 1668. His father, Francis Burman, professor of divinity in that university, was the son of a German clergyman, whom the destructive war of the Palatinate had driven from Frankenthal: his mother was Mary the daughter of Abraham Heydan, professor of divinity in the university of Leyden. Thus he was doubly connected with men of letters, and various members of the same family distinguished themselves by their writings. While he was yet in the eleventh year of his age, he had the misfortune to lose his pious and learned father; but this loss, great as it certainly was, appears to have been in a very considerable degree supplied by the assiduity, prudence, and piety of his mother. He was educated in the public school of Utrecht, where his progress must have been very rapid, for at the age of thirteen he became a student in the university. For several years he attended the lectures of Graevius, a professor of great learning and eminence, who ably blended Greek with Latin erudition, and to whose private friendship, joined to his public instructions, Burman seems to have been in a great measure indebted for that strong predilection which he continued to evince for philological studies. Here, among other departments of literature, he assiduously cultivated Latin composition, and he gradually attained to no mean proficiency both as an orator and a poet.

Burman’s original destination was for the legal profession; and after having devoted some years to literature, he next applied himself to the study of the law. The university of Utrecht was then highly distinguished as a school of jurisprudence, and among other great names, it could boast of Noodt, one of the ablest civilians of modern times. He attended the lectures of this professor, and likewise those of Van Muyden and Van de Poll, who both taught the municipal as well as the civil law; nor did he neglect the lectures of H. Cocceii on the feudal law, and on the treatise of Grotius De Jure Belli ac Pads· A further proof of his assiduity he exhibited in a dissertation De Vicesima Haereditatum, which he publicly defended with great applause.

It is a common practice for the more liberal and inquisitive students of Holland and Germany to pass from one university to another, and the practice has an obvious tendency to improve the youthful mind, by removing local prejudices, and by introducing a new current of refined thought. Burman accordingly spent a year at Leyden, where he studied philosophy under Voider, but in the mean time did not neglect his favourite pursuits of classical erudition. He attended the lectures of the younger Gronovius on some of the Greek writers, together with those of Ryckius on Tacitus. Of this Latin historian, the latter professor was about that period engaged in preparing a new edition, with a separate volume of animadversions. Returning to the university of Utrecht, he continued to [7:5:717] cultivate the friendship of Graevius, and to profit by his instructions and advice. In the month of March 1688 he took the degree of doctor of laws, having previously written and defended a learned dissertation De Transactions bus. “The attainment of this honour,” as Dr Johnson has remarked, “was far from having upon Burman that effect which has been too often observed to be produced in others, who, having in their own opinion no higher object of ambition, have elapsed into idleness and security, and spent the rest of their lives in a lazy enjoyment of their academical dignities. Burman aspired to further improvements, and, not satisfied with the opportunities of literary conversation which Utrecht afforded, travelled into Switzerland and Germany, where he gained an increase both of fame and learning.”

But having made choice of a profession, it had now become necessary to enter upon a new course; and on his return to his native city, he applied his talents and learning to the practice of the law. We are informed that he pleaded various causes with much force and eloquence; nor will this account appear improbable to those who are acquainted with the vigour and decision displayed in his ordinary strain of composition. On the first of December 1691 he was appointed receiver of the tithes which were originally paid to the bishop of Utrecht: this was an office of considerable credit, and was usually bestowed upon persons of some distinction. While engaged in these occupations, he married Eve Clotterboke, the daughter of a burgomaster of Briel, much commended for her beauty and accomplishments. She became the mother of ten children, eight of whom died at an early age, and only two sons survived their father. This learned advocate might have risen to great eminence in his profession; but as the love of letters was his predominant passion, he gladly availed himself of an opportunity of leaving the bar and returning to the university. A recommendation from his friend Graevius to the magistrates of Utrecht procured him the professorship of eloquence and history, to which was afterwards added the professorship of the Greek language, and that of politics. His first appointment was that of an extraordinary professor, or of a professor extra ordinem. He took possession of his chair on the 10th of December 1696; and on that occasion pronounced an oration De Eloquentia et Poetice. His academical labours, which were thus so various, must likewise have been very formidable; but being a man of an excellent capacity, and of unwearied application, he ably performed whatever he had undertaken, and gradually acquired a high and merited reputation. His lectures attracted a numerous auditory, and his multifarious publications rendered his name familiarly known wherever ancient learning was successfully cultivated. The most serious labours of his life were devoted to the illustration of the Roman classics, and in this department he had but few rivals.

Soon after his appointment to the professorship, he published a collection of letters from learned men, and chiefly relating to topics of learning: “Marquardi Gudii et doctorum Virorum ad eum Epistolae; quibus accedunt ex bibliotheca Gudiana clarissimorum et doctissimorum Virorum, qui superiore et nostro saeculo floruerunt, et Claudii Sarravii, Senatoris Parisiensis, Epistolae ex eadem bibliotheca auctiores; curante Petro Burmanno.” Ultrajecti, 1697, 4to. About the same period he prepared an edition of Phaedrus. Amst. 1698, 8vo. This edition was twice reprinted; and after an interval of nearly thirty yeais, he published the same poet with a new commentary. He next produced “Q. Horatius Flaccus. Accedunt J. Rutgersii Lectiones Venusinae.” Traj. Batav. 1699, 12mo. Burman has prefixed a dedication and preface, but the only notes which occur are those of Janus Rutgersius, who died in the year 1625, after having established no mean reputation as a scholar by the publication of his Variae Lectiones. These editions were followed by a learned dissertation, entitled “Zιυς Kατα ∣ ζατr l ς, sive Jupiter Fulgerator in Cyrrhestarum Nummis.” Traj. Bat. 1700, 4to. Resuming the illustration of the Latin poets, he now prepared an edition of Valerius Flaccus. Ultraj. 1701, 12mo. This edition includes the notes of N. Heinsius, who had himself published the text in 1680: but after a long interval, Burman edited the same poet with more ample illustrations, which were partly derived ,rJm various other critics. Leidae, 1724, 4to. He was chosen rector of the university in 1703, and again in 1711.

. Graevius, one of the chief ornaments of the university of Utrecht, died in the year 1703, and his grateful pupil honoured his memory by a funeral oration, which is ably and affectionately written, and contains an interesting sketch of his life and character. His great and valuable collection of writers on Roman antiquities is well known among scholars. He engaged in a more extensive undertaking, a collection of writers on the history and antiquities of Italy; and after his decease, the charge of inspecting its progress devolved upon Burman, who contributed nine different prefaces. “Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiae.” Lugd. Bat. 1704-25, 45 tom. fol. The book is described in the title as “tomis x. vel voluminibus xlv. distinctus each volume consisting of several parts, which amount to the size of volumes. Burman likewise wrote the preface to an edition, undertaken by Graevius, of Gruter’s “Inscriptiones Antiquae totius Orbis Romani.” Amst. 1707, 2 tom. fol.

His next literary enterprise was an edition of a prose writer, Petronius Arbiter. Traj. ad Rhen. 1709, 4to. The learned editor was attacked in an anonymous publication, consisting of a few pages, and bearing the title of “Burmanniana, sive Calumniarum Petri Burmanni in Collegas et Populares Specimen.” Amst. 1710, 12mo. These calumnies are collected from his annotations on Petronius. His most elaborate edition was very unfavourably noticed by Le Clerc,^[1. Bibliothèque Choisie, tom. xix. p∙ 351 Le Clerc commences his review in the following terms: “Je ne mets pas ici cette edi- tion, pour en rendre compte au public. Il n’y a rien qui mérite son attentÎOn.” r lhe rest of the article is written in the same strain of disparagement, nor has the author confined himself to bis adversary’s literary character. The subsequent passage refers to his morals: “Je ne parlerai pas de l’imprudence qu’il y a à parler ainsi, pendant un procès, où one fille l’accuse de 1 avoir debauchee. P. 365. The learned professor has adverted to this charge, but, as it appears to us, not in such clear and direct terms of disavowal as might naturally have been expected from a man conscious of his innocence. (Burman, Gazettier Menteur , p. 24.) Le Clerc ascribes to him a satire against himself, published the year 1703, in the form of a Latin dialogue between bpudaeus and Gorallus; and the manner in which Burman speaks of it seems to justify his suspicions. ] who by the freedom of his strictures in various publications, more particularly in his different Bibliothèques, had excited the resentment of many eminent members of the republic of letters. Of grammarians and verbal critics he spoke with habitual contempt, and thus increased the offence that was merely personal. Some of his philological mistakes had been exposed by Perizonius, but he was attacked by Burman in a more ferocious manner. His literary delinquencies were fiercely discussed in the preface to Petronius; and his contemptuous review of the edition was followed by a volume entitled “Le Gazettier Menteur, ou Mr. Le Clerc convaincu de Mensonge et de Calomnie, par Pierre Burman.” Utrecht, 1710, 12mo. Whatever may have been the extent of the [7:5:718] provocation, and it was by no means inconsiderable, the spirit of this work is not to be commended. Burman’s edition was long afterwards attacked in a separate volume, written by some anonymous author, whose animosity was not equalled by his learning.^[2. (rabnen Bibliotheca Latina, tom. ii. p. 100. edit. Eruesti.) ] “Chrestomathia Petronio-Burmanniana; sive Cornu-copiae Observationum eruditissimarum et ante plane inauditarum, quas vir illuminatissimus, rerum omnium, et multarum praeterea aliarum, peri-tissimus, Petrus Burmannus congessit in Petronium Arbitrum, scriptorum sanctissimum. Accessit Specimen Latinitatis novae, Romanis incognitae, e Notis Petri Burmanni ad Petronium.” Florentiae, 1734, 8vo. Although the work thus bears the imprint of Florence, the typography is apparently Dutch. Another edition of Petronius appeared after the death of the indefatigable editor. Lugd. Bat. 1743, 4to. Le Clerc had published his unfortunate edition of Menander and Philemon in the year 1709; and in the course of the ensuing spring Dr Bentley, under an assumed name, transmitted his Emendationes to Burman, who lost no time in communicating to the public such a morsel of criticism. Traj. ad Rhen. 1710, 8vo. I nder his own name, he prefixed a preface of thirty-four pages, in which he assailed Le Clerc with extreme virulence, and enumerated many errors which the author had leit unnoticed. Not satisfied with relieving his spleen in this manner, he added a poetical address to the Manes of the injured poets, in which he endeavoured to condense the essence of his vituperation. Of the spirit of this effusion the reader may be enabled to judge from a brief specimen:
Scilicet haec nostris servata informia seclis
Prodigia, et nullis monstra pianda sacris.

Burman soon afterwards published a compendium entitled “Antiquitatum Romanarum brevis Descriptio.” Ultraj. 1711, 8vo. His early study of jurisprudence was not without its advantages in those departments of literature to which he devoted himself with such persevering energy. His knowledge of the civil law he found of frequent use in illustrating the Latin classics; and he published an elaborate and valuable work which bears a reference to law as well as history, “De Vectigalibus Populi Romani Dissertatio.” Ultraj. 1714, 8vo. Of this dissertation the original sketch had appeared in 1694; and he lived to publish an edition greatly improved, and combined with his Jupiter Fulgerator. Leidae, 1734, 4to.

“In 1714,” says Dr Johnson, “he formed a resolution of visiting Paris, not only for the sake of conferring in person, upon questions of literature, with the learned men of that place, and of gratifying his curiosity with a more familiar knowledge of those writers whose works he admired, but with a view more important, of visiting the libraries, and making those enquiries which might be of advantage to his darling study. The vacation of the university allowed him to stay at Paris but six weeks, which he employed with so much dexterity and industry, that he had searched the principal libraries, collated a great number of manuscripts and printed copies, and brought back a great treasure of curious observations. In this visit to Paris he contracted an acquaintance, among other learned men, with the celebrated Father Montfaucon, with whom he conversed, at their first interview, with no other character than that of a traveller; but their discourse turning upon ancient learning, the stranger soon gave such proofs of his attainments, that Montfaucon declared him a very uncommon traveller, and confessed his curiosity to know his name; which he no sooner heard, than he rose from his seat, and, embracing him. with the utmost ardour, expressed his satisfaction at having seen the man whose productions of various kinds he had so often praised; and, as a real proof of his regard, offered not only to procure him an immediate admission to all the libraries of Paris, but to those in remoter provinces, which are not generally open to strangers, and undertook to ease the expenses of his journey by procuring him entertainment in all the monasteries of his order. This favour Burman was hindered from accepting by the necessity of returning to Utrecht, at the usual time of beginning a new course of lectures, to which there was always so great a concourse of students, as much increased the dignity and fame of the university in which he taught.”

When his talents and learning had thus procured him a high and well-earned reputation, the death of Perizonius left a vacancy in the professorship of history, the Greek language, and eloquence, in the university of Leyden; and Burman had the honour of being nominated the successor of a man who had occupied a very conspicuous place among the scholars of the age. He was distinguished by the acuteness of his intellect, and the solidity of his judgment: he was equally skilled in Greek and Roman literature, and with his critical skill he united a masterly knowledge of the most abstruse departments of ancient history. Burman, who was no unworthy successor, took possession of his chair on the 2d of July 1715, and then pronounced an inaugural oration, “De publici Humanioris Disciplinae Professoris proprio Officio et Munere.” He was afterwards appointed professor of the history of the United Provinces, and likewise of poetry; and to all these functions was finally added the office of keeper of the university library. He was twice chosen rector of the university, namely, in 1719 and in 1731.

In the midst of these academical toils, which would have been more than sufficient for a person of ordinary application, he still found leisure for the preparation of elaborate editions of Latin classics, and, among the rest, for an edition of Velleius Paterculus. Lugd. Bat. 1719, 8vo. It was reprinted after the death of the editor. Lugd. Bat. 1744, 8vo. From this ancient historian he made a transition to an ancient rhetorician, and completed an edition of the works of Quintilian. Lugd. Bat. 1720, 3 tom. 4to. The last volume is occupied with the declamations ascribed to that writer, and with those of Calpurnius Flaccus. A pompous edition of Quintilian was afterwards produced by Capperonnier (Paris, 1725, fol.); and as Burman thought himself treated with less than due respect, he took an ample revenge in a work entitled “Petri Burmanni Epistola ad Claudium Capperonnerium, Theologum Licentia-tum, Diaconum Ambianensem, et Graecae Linguae Professorem, de nova ejus Μ. Fabii Quinctiliani de Institutione Oratoria Editione.” Leidae, 1726, 4to. Among other branches of learning, the Parisian professor has betrayed his ignorance of the Roman law, and on this account is severely chastised by his unrelenting adversary. But in the mean time Burman had superintended an edition of Justin, which is without a commentary, but contains an excellent preface. Lugd. Bat. 1722, 12mo.

His editorial labours were next bestowed upon a modern author, whose fame is nearly classical. An elaborate edition of Buchanan had been published by Ruddiman in the year 1715. The value of his annotations was very generally acknowledged, but the narrow and pitiful prejudices of a Jacobite frequently entangled his judgment; and every subject which bore to politics any reference, however remote, was viewed through a dim medium. The political tendency of his preface and notes was so far from being agreeable to the admirers of Buchanan, thataVhig 1 ⅛ Q ua voluit errorum graviorum arguere Burmannum, ipse, dum repelιendere voluit, gravissime saepe lapsus, risum praebuit·
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association was speedily formed at Edinburgh, for the express purpose of vindicating their favourite author in a new edition of his works. Their efforts however proved abortive, and the task of editorship devolved into more able hands. Arrested by the frequent and wide variation between the author and his jure divino editor, Burman had nearly been induced to relinquish his undertaking, and to advise his printer Langerak to procure assistance from Scotland, where the authenticity of the facts could best be ascertained. Of the new edition projected at Edinburgh he was likewise apprized; though it does not appear, as some writers pretend, that the associated critics made him a voluntary offer of private assistance. The printer however urging him to proceed without waiting for this vindicatory edition, he at length republished the works of Buchanan, together with Ruddiman’s preface, notes, dissertation, and other appendages.^[3. Georgii Buchanani Opera omnia. Lugd. Bat. 1725, 2 tom. 4to. . - r , . ∙ τ > ∙ τ ∙,ι ιτo*τ λ»« ] The annotations which he himself subjoined are almost entirely philological. His other engagements did not permit him to undertake the task of correcting the press; and accordingly his edition is somewhat less accurate than that of his predecessor. The general value of Ruddiman’s labours he acknowledges in terms of due respect; but he occasionally rejects his particular opinions in a manner which that learned man was disposed to regard as contemptuous; and some of his expressions relative to British literature, and to the native country of Buchanan, were such as could not easily be forgotten. Two years afterwards, when Ruddiman edited the Latin poems of Dr Pitcairne, he eagerly embraced an opportunity of asserting the honour of his native country; and the same topics were yet fresh in his recollection when he resumed his long labours at the venerable age of eighty-one.

Of the epistolary correspondence of literary men, Burman was a curious and diligent collector. At a much earlier period of his life he had published the epistle of Gudius and other scholars; and he now prepared a more ample and voluminous work, which appeared under the title of “Sylloge Epistolarum a Viris illustribus scriptarum.” Leidae, 1727, 5 tom. 4to. This collection, which forms a great repository of literary anecdote and critical disquisition, is occasionally illustrated with the notes of the editor. In the course of the same year, he completed the printing of a work which holds a very distinguished place among his learned labours, namely, his edition of the works of Ovid. Amst. 1727, 4 tom. 4to. Like several of his other editions of the classics, it contains not merely his own notes, but likewise those of various commentators. Ovid was evidently one of his favourite authors, and he has bestowed much care and attention in the adjustment of the text, as well as in its illustration. With regard to the text, his chief guide is Nicoaus Heinsius, a most able critic in Latin poetry. Burman had formerly published a small edition without a commentary. His next edition, cum notis variorum, was that of the “Poetae Latini Minores.” Leidae, 1731, 2 tom. 4to. This curious collection was succeeded by an edition, equally elaborate, of the works of Suetonius. Amst. 1736, 2 tom. 4to. After another short interval followed “M. Annaei Lucani Pharsalia, cum commentario Petri Burmanni.” Leidae,1740, 4to. In the preface to this publication, he speaks of Bentley with some degree of asperity. They were both men of great eminence in classical literature; and although they were both of the same irascible temper, the friendly relations between them had been of long duration. Some suspicions and jealousies had however intervened, in consequence of their having each projected an edition of Lucan ata much earlier period; and the breach had been rendered irreparable, by Burman’s decisive measure of subjoining Dr Hare’s Epistola Critica to his fourth edition of Phaedrus.^[4. Phaedri, Augusti Liberti, Fabularum Aesopiarum libri quinque, cum novo commentario Petri Burmanni. Ueiclae, 1727, 4to. ]

But the labours of this indefatigable scholar were now drawing to a close. His health had originally been vigorous, and those who have the slightest acquaintance with his history must be aware that he was capable of enduring great and continued toil. His temperate mode of living, and his attention to bodily exercise, long contributed to preserve a healthful constitution; but a scorbutic disease, incidental to that climate, having supervened, he found himself unable to take his usual walks, or other recreation, and was at last afflicted with many painful symptoms of a decayed frame and shattered nerves. While he languished in a state of hopeless decay, he had the honour of receiving a letter from Bignon, keeper of the royal library at Paris, accompanying a copy of the printed catalogue, transmitted to him by his majesty’s command. This mark of royal favour might possibly cast a faint gleam of earthly comfort on his bed of sickness; but he now required consolation from a higher source, and with a due mixture of fervour and humility he appears to have approached the fountain of living waters. His religious opinions had either been misunderstood or misrepresented; and he felt a commendable solicitude to remove this erroneous impression, by the most unequivocal declaration of his hopes in the mercy of God through the mediation of Jesus Christ. In this devout frame of mind he closed a long and active life, on the 31st day of March 1741, in the seventy-third year of his age.

At the period of his death, he had made great progress in a new edition of Virgil, and it was afterwards completed by his learned nephew, who bore the same name with himself. Amst. 1746, 4 tom. 4to. To the younger Burman we are likewise indebted for the collective edition of his poems, which appeared under the following title: “Petri Burmanni Poematum libri quatuor, nunc primum in lucem editi, curante Petro Burmanno Juniore.” Amst. 1746, 4to. His orations were collected by another editor, Nicoaus Bondt: “Petri Burmanni Orationes, antea sparsim editae, et ineditis auctae. Accedit Carminum Appendix.” Hagae Comitis, 1759, 4to. Of the Latin language Burman possessed a masterly knowledge, and in verse as well as prose he writes with vivacity and energy; but he is less scrupulous in his diction than some more recent members of the same university, especially Ruhnkenius and Wytten-bach. He is entitled to the praise of a skilful versifier; and his elegiac poems are sufficient to evince that he had not studied Ovid in vain. His orations, which are eighteen in number, had been delivered on various occasions of academical solemnity, and several of them contain a large infusion of verse. The collection is closed by a funeral oration, written by his colleague, H. Oosterdyk Schacht, from which we have borrowed most of our notices respecting his personal history; but our account of his writings is necessarily derived from other sources. In this enumeration of his posthumous works, it remains to be mentioned that his annotations on Claudian were printed in his nephew’s edition of that poet.

The character of Burman is ably and impartially delineated by Dr Johnson. “He was a man of moderate stature, of great strength and activity, which he preserved by temperate diet, without medical exactness, and by allotting proportions of his time to relaxation and amusement, not suffering his studies to exhaust his strength, but [7:5:720]relieving them by frequent intermissions; a practice consistent with the most exemplary diligence, and which he that omits will find at last that time may be lost, like money, by unseasonable avarice. In his hours of relaxation he was gay, and sometimes gave way so far to his temper, naturally satirical, that he drew upon himself the ill-will of those who had been unfortunately the subjects of his mirth; but enemies so provoked he thought it beneath him to regard or to pacify; for he was fiery, but not malicious, disdained dissimulation, and in his gay or serious hours preserved a settled detestation of falsehood.^[5. Of his own habits of life, Burman has favoured us with some account in his Gazettier Menteur, p. 1G4. ] So that he was an open and undisguised friend or enemy, entirely unacquainted with the artifices of flatterers, but so judicious in the choice of his friends, and so constant in his affections to them, that those with whom he had contracted familiarity in his youth had for the greatest part his confidence in his old age. , ’ '

“His abilities, which would probably have enabled him to have excelled in any kind of learning, were chiefly employed, as his station required, on polite literature, in which he arrived at very uncommon knowledge, which however appears rather from judicious compilations, than original productions. His style is lively and masculine, but not without harshness and constraint, nor perhaps always polished to that purity which some writers have attained. He was at least instrumental to the instruction of mankind, by the publication of many valuable performances, which lay neglected by the-greatest part of the learned world; and, if reputation be estimated by usefulness, he may claim a higher degree in the ranks of learning than some others of happier elocution or more vigorous imagination.”^[6. Johnson’s Works, vol. ιv. p. 489. r ]

Such was the personal and literary character of Burman, as it presented itself to the sagacious observation of this distinguished writer. His name however is less favourably known to the readers of English poetry, where it is repeatedly used to denote whatever is dull and pedantic. Pope, who was not himself a very profound scholar, endeavoured to restore a sort of equilibrium by disparaging the attainments of those who were most conspicuous for their erudition. Bentley is supposed to have excited his spleen by bestowing a too scanty measure of praise on his translation of Homer; nor did the poet neglect any opportunity of directing the edge of his satire against “that awful Aristarch,” and those who successfully cultivated similar studies. The following verses occur in the Dunciad, b. iv. V. 235.
How parts relate to parts, or they to whole,
The body’s harmony, the beaming soul,
Are things which Kuster, Burman, Wasse, shall see
When man’s whole frame is obvious to a flea.

If to his other qualifications Pope had added one half of the critical learning possessed by Bentley, Kuster, Burman, or Wasse, he would have found himself in a better condition for writing notes on Homer. Mallet, who was anxious to recommend himself to the favour of so great a poet, aimed his shafts in the same direction. His poem Of Verbal Grit ∖ cism contains the subsequent passage:
Such the choice anecdotes, profound and vain,
That store a Bentley’s and a Burman’s brain:
Hence Plato quoted, or the Stagyrite,
To prove that flame ascends, and snow is white;
Hence much hard study, without sense or breeding,
And all the grave impertinence of reading.

Dr Armstrong, a contemporary poet, has indulged in a similar vein of sarcasm; nor do we feel much inclination to commend these lines in his Art of Preserving Health, b. iv. v. 52.
The strong-built pedant, who both night and day
Feeds on the coarsest fare the schools bestow,
And crudely fattens at gross Burman’s stall,
O’erwhelm’d with phlegm lies in a dropsy drown’d.

The injustice and absurdity of such censures as these it would here be idle to expose. If we admit the value of the ancient classics, we must also admit the expediency of their being rendered intelligible; and how this could have been effected without the intervention of critics and philologers, it would not perhaps be so easy to discover. Bentley, Burman, and many other verbal critics who might be enumerated, were possessed of uncommon talents, as well as erudition; and the ingredients which enter into the formation of an able commentator on the classics, are more rare and more numerous than some individuals may be apt to imagine.

Of the two surviving sons of Burman, the elder, named Francis, made choice of a military life, and obtained promotion in the army. His brother Caspar, who betook himself to the profession of the law, was elevated to the bench, and was elected a deputy to the states general. He was likewise a man of letters, and published several works, which illustrate the civil and literary history of his native country. “Analecta Historica de Hadriano VI. Pontifice Maximo.” Traj. ad Rhen. 1727, 4to. “Trajectum eruditum, Virorum Doctrina inlustrium, qui in Urbe Trajectina, et Regione Trajectensi nati sunt, sive ibi habitarunt, Vitas, Fata, et Scripta exhibens.” Traj. ad Rhen. 1738, 4to. He is also the author of a work in the Dutch language, published in 1750-1 under the title of Utrechte Jaarbocken, and extending to three volumes. He died on the 22d of August 1755.

His grandfather Francis Burman, who has already been mentioned as professor of divinity at Utrecht, published various works on theology.^[7. Casp. Burmanni Trajectum eruditum, p. 50. ] He was born at Leyden in 1632, and died at Utrecht in 1679. His son Francis was born at Utrecht in 1671, became professor of divinity in that university in 1715, and died in 1718. He was the author of different works, written in the Latin and Dutch languages. His son John Burman, Μ. D. was born in 1707, was appointed professor of botany at Amsterdam, and died in 1780. He evinced much zeal in his own branch of science, and published several works on botany. Nicoas Laurens Burman, Μ. D. his son, and his successor in . the botanical chair, was born in 1734, and died in 1793, after having produced some works in his own department. Francis Burman, the brother of John, was the third individual of the same name and family who held the professorship of divinity at Utrecht.^[8. Biographie Universelle, tom. vi. p. 333. ].

But a more conspicuous member of the same remarkable family, was his other brother Peter Burman. On the 13th of October 1714 he was born at Amsterdam, where his father was then a minister. When only four years of age he lost his father, and the care of his education devolved upon his uncle, who communicated to him his own ardent love of classical learning. His academical studies he completed at Utrecht, where in 1734 he took the degree of doctor of laws, having previously written and defended a dissertation De Jure Annulorum aureorum, which has been thought worthy of being reprinted in the collection of Oelrichs.^[9. lhesaurus Dissertationum juridicarum in Academiis Belgicis habitarum, vol. ii. tom. i. p. 199. ] In 1736 he was nominated professor of eloquence[7:5:721] and history in the university of Franeker, in the room of Wesseling, who had been removed to Utrecht. The chair of poetry was in 1741 added to his other appointments; but in the course of the following year he accepted of an invitation to the Athenaeum of Amsterdam, where he became professor of history, eloquence, the Greek language, and poetry, keeper of the public library, and visitor of the Latin schools. In his literary character he bore a considerable resemblance to his more celebrated uncle, and was evidently a man of extensive learning.^[10. Habebat enim cum ipse maximam doctrinae copiam, tum vero litteratam supellectilem ex libris virorum doctorum ineditis tantam quantam privatorum quidem hominum haud scio an nemo unquam habuerit.” (Wyttenbachii Oputcula, torn. i. p. 136. Lugd. Bat. 1821, 2 tom- 8vo.) ] He published several detached orations, and other tracts, and an ample collection of his Latin poems. “Petri Bunnan-ni Secundi Poematum libri quatuor.” Lugd. Bat. 1774, 4to. “Carminum Appendix.” Lugd. Bat. 1779, 4to. He edited several of the classics on a plan similar to that commonly adopted by his uncle. We have already mentioned the edition of Virgil, completed by his learned labour, and' must now continue the enumeration of his classical publications. “Anthologia veterum Latinorum Epigram-matumet Poematum, sive Catalecta Poetarum Latinorum.” Amst. 1759—73, 2 tom. 4to. “Aristophanis Comoediae undecim Graece et Latine.” Lugd. Bat. 1.760, 2 tom. 4to. “Claudii Claudiani Opera.” Amst. 1760, 4to. “Ciceronis (vel incerti auctoris) Rhetoricoum ad Herennium libri quatuor, et de Inventione libri duo.” Lugd. Bat. 1761, 8vo. “Propertii Elegiarum libri IV.” Traj. ad Rhen. 1780, 4to. This last work, which he did not himself bring to a conclusion, was conducted through the press by Van Santen, an elegant and correct scholar, who, under the name of Santenius, is well known to those who are acquainted with the literary history of that age. At an earlier period, Burman had published a modern poet in the same elaborate and splendid manner. “Petri Lotichii Secundi Opera omnia.” Amst. 1754, 2 tom. 4to. He likewise undertook the task of editing the works of some modern critics. “Henrici Valesii Emendationum libri V. et de Critica libri duo,” &c. Amst. 1740, 4to. “Nicoai Heinsii Adversariorum libri IV.” &c. Harlingae, 1742, 4to. Of his personal history, a few particulars remain to be told. He was thrice married. About a year before his death, he resigned his professorship, and having received a liberal pension from the curators of the Athenaeum, he retired to his villa at Santhorst, in the hope of long enjoying literary repose; but having been struck with apoplexy, he expired on the 24th of June 1778. He appears to have been a person of a disposition sufficiently irritable: he was from time to time involved in various strifes and contentions; and his quarrels with a Dutch and a German professor, Saxius and Klotz, gave occasion to many inveetives in the Latin, Dutch, and German languages.^[11. Harlesius de Vitis Philologorum, vol. i. p. 114. ] According to the testimony of his adversaries, he was not remarkable for his sobriety. To this alleged failing Klotz alludes in the following ludicrous verses, written in the character of the schoolmaster of Santhorst.
O coelum ’ noster dominus,
Petrus Burmannus Secundus,
Est mortuus, ut unus mus.
Quid nos incipiamus?
Cum quo nos nunc bibamus,
Ni Petrum nostrum dominum, ni Petrum habeamus?
Habebat multos cyathos,
Habebat scyphos vitreos,
Et calices argenteos.
Sic est, sic omnia sunt vana,
Sic vita aufugit humana,
Discessit noster dominus, disrumpit ur ut rana.
Ille bibebat fortiter,
Et tonans terribiliter,
Exhauriebat bis et ter
Unam magnam lagenam,
Quam dicebat Hippoerenam,
Nunc dedit noster dominus, nunc dedit morti peenam.^[12. l’unus Petri Burmanni Secundi, edidit Christianus Adolphus Klotzius, p. 61. Altenburgi, 1Ĵ62, Bvo. ]

Although it certainly is not safe to take any person’s character from his enemies, yet even by his enemies a very sober man will not often be accused of intemperance. (x.)