BIRCH, TrmatAs, D.To. , • an industrious historical writer, son of a coffee-mill maker, a quaker, b. at Clerkenwell, Nov. 23, 1705, was at first an usher in different schools. Having*taking priests' orders in 1731, he was presented in 1732 to a living in Essex, and in 1731`beeame chaplain to the earl of Kilmarnock, who was beheaded in 1746. Appointed in the rector of St. Margaret Pattens with St. Gabriel, Fenchurch street, Lon don, B. was elected in 1752 one of the secretaries of the royal society, a history of which the in in 1756-57. In 1761, he was preferred to the rectory of I)eepdene, Surrey. His first literarrundertakinv-;, in which he was assisted by others, was The General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, 10 vols., 1734-11, founded on Bayle's (celebrated work. lie nett edited thencolleetiotr of-state papers of Thurloe, secretary to (Oliv.ra Ciromwell, 7 vols..follo, 1742. !His other-works are Life of the Hon. Robert Boyle, 11741; Dives and Characters of the fIllustrious,Persons of Great Britain, the engravings by Hou b rake n , G ravel ot, and' Vertu e (London, 1743 z52); Inquiry into the Share which King Charles lead in the Transactions-of the Earl of Glamorgan, 1747; Historical View of the Negotiations between the Courts of "England, France, and Brussels, 1592 to 1617, 1749; Life of Tillotson; 1752; Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, 2 vols. 1754; Life of Henry, Prince .of !Wales, 1760; etc. He likewise edited the works of sir Walter Raleigh, Bacon's works, •and various others. He was killed by a fall from his horse in the Hampstead road, 9th Jan., 1766. lie left an extensive MS. collection, with his library, to the Brit
ish _museum, of which he was a trustee. From these MSS. were compiled _The Courts and Times of James L and Charles L, 4 vols. 8vo (London, 1848).
33IRCH-PFEIFFElit, CHARLOTTE, a German actress and writer of plays, was b. at Stuttgart in the year 1800. Her passion for the stage displayed itself so strongly, that after .ezmountering much opposition on the part of her parents, she made her debut at Munich at the age of 13, and afterwards played with great success at Berlin, Vienna, and Hiunhurg. In 1825, she married Dr. Christian Birch of Copenhagen, and afterwards performed at Petersburg, Pesth, Amsterdam, and other places. In 1837, she undertook dlie direction of the theatre at Zurich. At a later period,•she acquired even greater renown •as a writer for the stage than as an actress. Her principal theatrical pieces are lfefferrosel; liinko: Die G linstlinge. perhaps her best piece; Der Gli;ckner von _Notre etc. In 1843, 3faibune B. resigned the direction of the Zurich theatre, and after visiting profes :clonaily most of the cities in Germany, made an engagement with the theater-royal at 33erl in. The chief productions of what may be termed her later manner are—Die Mar l Case von Villette (1845), Dorf und &tun (1848), Eine Famine (1849), Anna von Oestrich (18.50), Ein Billet (1851). In 1862 was published a complete edition of her dramatic works, which are about 70 in number, and a collection of her novels and tales. She died at Berlin, Aug. 25, 1868.