BULL, Dr John, a celebrated musician and composer, was born in Somersetshire about the year 1563. He received his education under Blitheman. In 1586 he was admitted at Oxford to the degree of bachelor of music, having practised in that faculty fourteen years; and in 1592 he was created doctor in the university of Cambridge. In 1591 he was appointed organist of the queen’s chapel, in the room of his master, Blitheman.

Bull was the first Gresham professor of music, having been appointed to that station on the special recommendation of Queen Elizabeth. But however skilful he might be in his profession, he was not, it seems, able to read his lectures in Latin; and therefore, by a special provision in the ordinances respecting the Gresham professors, made in the year 1597, it is declared, that because Dr Bull was recommended to the office of music professor by the queen’s most excellent majesty, his lectures should be permitted to be altogether English, so long as he should continue music professor there, he being unable to speak Latin.
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Dr Ward, who has given some particulars of Dr Bull, in his Lives of the Gresham Professors, relates, that upon the decease of Queen Elizabeth he became chief organist to King James, and had the honour of entertaining his majesty and Prince Henry at Merchant Tailors’ Hall, with his performance on the organ. The same author states, that, in 1613, Bull quitted England and went to reside in the Netherlands, where he was admitted into the service of the archduke. Wood says that he died at Hamburg; others state that he died at Lubeck.

Bull, George, bishop of St David’s, was born at Wells in 1634, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford. The first benefice he enjoyed was that of St George’s near Bristol, from which he rose successively to be rector of Suddington in Gloucestershire, prebendary of Gloucester, archdeacon of Llandaff, and in 1705 bishop of St David’s. This dignity he enjoyed about four years, and died in 1709. During the usurpation of Cromwell he adhered steadily., though still with great prudence, to the forms of the church of England; and in the reign of James II. preached very strenuously against the errors of popery. He wrote, 1, A Defence of the Nicene Faith; 2, Apostolical Harmony; 3, Primitive Apostolical Tradition; and other works.

Bull, among ecclesiastics, a letter written on parchment, sealed with lead, and issued by order of the pope, from the Roman rota or chancery. It is a kind of apostolical rescript or edict, and is" chiefly in use in matters of justice or grace. If the former be the intention of the bull, the lead is hung by a hempen cord; if the latter, by a silken thread. It is this pendant lead or seal which is, properly speaking, the bull, and which is impressed on one side with the heads of St Peter and St Paul, and on the other with the name of the pope and the year of his pontificate. The bull is written in an old round Gothic’ character, and is divided into five parts, the narrative of the fact, the conception, the clause, the date, and the salutation, in which the pope styles himself servus servorum, or the servant of servants. These instruments, besides the lead appended to them, have a cross, with some texts of Scripture, or a religious motto, on it. Bulls are granted for the consecration of bishops, the promotion to benefices, the celebration of jubilees, and many other purposes.

Bull. See Mammalia, Index; also Agriculture, Index. BυLL-Pighting, a sport or exercise much in vogue among the Spaniards and Portuguese, consisting in a kind of combat of a cavalier or torreador against a wild bull, either on foot or on horseback. This sport the Spaniards received from the Moors, among whom it was celebrated with great pomp. Some think that the Moors might have received the custom from the Romans, and the latter from the Greeks. Dr Plot is of opinion that the Tavgοχοd)οiψιο ∣∣ y ημι-ξaι among the Thessalians, who first instituted this game, and of whom Julius Caesar learned and brought it to Rome, were the origin both of the Spanish and Portuguese bullfighting, and of the English bull-running. See Spain. Bull-head. See Ichthyology, Index. Sull in Coena Domini, a particular bull read in the pope’s presence every year, on the day of the Lord’s Supper, or Maundy Thursday, and containing excommunications and anathemas against heretics, and all who disturb or oppose the jurisdiction of the holy see. After the reading of the bull, the pope throws a burning torch in the public place, to denote the thunder of this anathema.

Golden Bull, an edict or imperial constitution made by the.Emperor Charles IV., and hence called Caroline, reputed to be the magna charta or the fundamental law of the German empire. It is called golden, because it has a golden seal, in the form of a pope’s bull, tied with yellow and red cords of silk; while on one side the emperoι is represented sitting on his throne, and on the other the capitol of Rome. Till the publication of the golden bull, the form and ceremony of the election of an emperor were unsettled, and the number of the electors was not fixed. This solemn edict regulated the functions, rights, privileges, and precedence of the electors. The original, which is in Latin, on vellum, is preserved at Francfort. This ordonnance, containing thirty articles or chapters, was approved of by all the princes of the empire.

Silver Bulls were not in so frequent use, though instances of them are to be met with.

Leaden Bulls were sent by the emperors of Constantinople to patriarchs and princes; and they were also used by the grandees of the imperial court, as well as by the kings of France, Sicily, and other countries; and by bishops, patriarchs, and popes. It is to be observed that the leaden bulls of these last had, on one side, the name of the pope or bishop inscribed. According to Polydore Virgil, Pope Stephen III. was the first who used leaden bulls, about the year 772; but instances of them are to be met with as early as the times of Silvester, Leo I., and Gregory the Great. The latter popes, besides their own names, strike the figures of St Peter and St Paul on their bulls, a practice first introduced by Pope Paschal II. But why, in these bulls, the figure of St Paul is on the right, and that of St Peter on the left side, is a question which has occasioned many conjectures and disputes.

Waxen Bulls are said to have been first brought into England by the Normans. They were in frequent use among the Greek emperors, who thus sealed letters to their wives, mothers, and sons, and were of two sorts, one red and the other green.