BUSCHING, Anthony Frederick. This very eminent geographer was born at Stadthagen, a village of Westphalia, on the 27th September 1724. In his youth he laboured under peculiar disadvantages, arising from the disorderly life led by his father, and from the narrow means of education which his native town afforded. Fortunately a clergyman of the name of Hauber, pleased with the promising talents of the young man, undertook to give him gratuitous instruction. He laid a solid foundation of learning, and also of a piety which, though fervent, was always accompanied with moderation and mildness. At the age of eighteen, young Busching was driven from his father’s house, on account of the zeal with which he espoused the cause of his patron, on occasion of a controversy in which he was involved. Hauber, however, procured for him the means of continuing his studies at Halle. There, by his application to learning, and his irreproachable conduct, he acquired numerous friends. They procured him the appointment of tutor in the family of the Count de Lynars, who was then going as ambassador to Petersburg. The observations made by Busching on this journey decided the pursuits of his future life. In travelling through Poland and Russia, he compared the actual features of those regions with the descriptions given of them. He thus became sensible of the miserably defective state of geographical science, and resolved to devote his life to its improvement. He withdrew as soon as possible from the count’s family, and went to reside at Copenhagen, devoting himself entirely to this new pursuit. In 1752 he presented the first specimen of his powers in a Description of the Counties of Sleswig and Holstein·, a work which produced a favourable idea of his accuracy and ability. He soon after removed to Göttingen, and married Christiana Dilthey, a young lady of great accomplishments, authoress of a volume of poems, and to whom lie had been engaged from the time of his departure to Russia. Here, on account of a work which appeared to dissent from some of the Lutheran tenets, he was excluded from the theological chair, for which lie had become a candidate. The chagrin occasioned by this disappointment induced him to accept an invitation to the German congregation at Petersburg. He was employed there, also, in organizing a school, which, under his auspices, soon became one of the most flourishing in the north. This school was superintended by Marshal Munich, who at first showed great favour to Busching; but being accustomed to entire obsequiousness from all connected with him, the marshal did not accommodate himself to the hardy independence, of the German sage. A collision arose, in consequence of which Busching announced to his congregation that he was under the necessity of returning to Germany. The empress expressed much dissatisfaction at the conduct of Munich, and made very high offers to Busching if he would consent to remain; but he deemed it unworthy of him, after having resisted the entreaties of his congregation, to yield to the favours of the court. He returned to Germany without any fixed object or establishment in life, and went at first to reside at Altona. Next year, however, he was called to superintend an extensive establishment for education, which had been formed at Berlin, under the auspices of the great Frederick. His appointments here were liberal, and his exertions proved of signal benefit to the institution of which he became the head. His writings and example gave a new impulse to education throughout Prussia. He spent a number of hours every day in the institute, superintended the progress of every pupil, and inspected the minutest details connected with its prosperity. He gave also courses of lectures on the history of the arts and sciences. This labour did not interrupt the composition of his numerous works. The queen loved his society, and at first often invited him to dine with her; but, finding that such engagements occupied too much of his time, he entreated her majesty to allow him to devote himself as much as possible to his numerous labours. Though seized with dropsy, which occasioned a series of the most cruel sufferings, he did not remit his academical labours, till the disease coming to a crisis, terminated his life on the 28th May 1793, in the 69th year of his age. His wife had died in 1777, and he had contracted a second marriage with Mademoiselle Reinbeck, the daughter of a clergyman at Berlin. By the first marriage he had two children, who survived him; by the second he had six, who, except one, all died in infancy.

Few authors, even in Germany, have produced a greater number of works than Busching. The entire number, as enumerated by Meusel, in ∖∖∖ s> Lexico of German Authors, amounts to more than a hundred. They may all be classed under the following heads: 1. Geography and History; 2. Education; 3. Religion; 4. Biography. The first class comprehends those upon which his fame chiefly rests. He possessed not, indeed, the geographical genius, if we may so speak, of D’Anville, his skill in the construction of maps, bis quick eye, or his sagacity in eliciting the truth from hints and imperfect notices. He may be regarded, however, as the creator of modern Statistics, that science which exhibits the present state of every kingdom, its civil and political constitution, its wealth, the productions of nature, the exchanges of commerce, and the establishments for public instruction; all these particulars are detailed in his works in the fullest manner, and from the most careful investigation of original materials. His works, devoid of the ornaments of style, and composed of minute details, are rather useful to consult than profitable to read; but this is a fault to which most writers of his country are liable. His grand work is the Neue Erdbeschreibung, New Geographical Description of the Globe. The first four parts, which comprehend Europe, were published in four successive volumes, from 1754 to 1761, and have been translated into all the European languages. They appeared in English with a preface by Murdoch, in six volumes 4to, London, 1762. He published also, in 1768, the fifth part, being the first volume upon Asia, containing Asiatic Turkey and Arabia. It displays an immense extent of research, and is generally considered as his masterpiece; but it has not been translated either into French or English.

Besides this great geographical work, Busching was the editor of a valuable collection, entitled Magazine for the History and Geography of Modern Times, 22 vols. 4to, 1767-88; also of a Journal appropriated to the Notice of Maps, Berlin, 1773-87.
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The elementary works on education published by Busching are very numerous, and have long held a distinguished place, even in a country so eminent as Germany, in this branch of literature. If in some departments better works have now been produced, it is by labouring on the foundation of Busching. His theological writings are not very highly esteemed. In biography he wrote a number of articles for the Historical Magazine ; also A Collection of Biography, in six volumes, 1783-9, including a very elaborate life of the great Frederick. ∙ (e.)