BURNET, Gilbert, British prelate and his torian : b. Edinburgh, 18 Sept. 1643; d. London, 15 Maid' 1715. Having graduated at MarisChal College, Aberdeen, he zealously devoted him self to the study of law and divinity. In 1661 he qualified as a probationer in the Church, and traveled into Holland in 1664. Qn his return he was made fellow of the Royal Society in London, and ordained to the living of Saltoun, Haddingtonshire, in 1665. In 1669 he was made a professor of divinity at Glasgow, where he published his 'Modest and Free Conference between a Conformist and a Nonconformist,' and wrote his 'Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton' (1676) ; and was offered a Scottish bishopric, which he refused. His of the Authority, Constitution, and Laws of the Church and State of Scotland,' in which he maintains the cause of episcopacy, was much approved of at court, and several bishoprics were successively offered him and refused. In 1673 he was made chaplain in ordinary to the King, and was in high credit both with Charles and the Duke of York. Removing to London he received the appointment of chaplain to the Rolls Chapel in 1675, and shortly afterward the lectureship at Saint Clement's. The nation be ing alarmed on account of the progress of Catholicism, Burnet undertook a 'History of the Reformation in England.) He gave a first Volume to the public in 1679, when the affair of the popish plot was in agitation. It procured• for the author the unprecedented honor of thanks from both houses of Parliament. The second appeared in 1681; the third, which was supplementary, in 1714. The high character of Burnet as a divine caused him to be sent for by the witty and profligate Earl of Rochester, when, exhausted by a course of libertinism, he was sinking into the grave. The result of his conferences with the dying nobleman he gave to the world in his celebrated 'Account of the Life and Death of the Earl of About this time he wrote a letter to the King censuring his public misgovernment and private vices. His connection with the opposition party
was now very intimate, and he attended Lord William Russell to the scaffold, when executed for his share in the Rye House plot. He pub lished during this period several works in favor of liberty and Protestantism, and wrote the lives of Bishop Bedell and Sir Matthew Hale (1682) ; and in 1683 made his translation of More's On the accession of James he made a tour in France and Italy, and in 1687 he published an account of his travels in a series of letters to Robert Boyle. When at Utrecht he was invited to The Hague by the Prince and Princess of Orange, and had a great share in the councils relative to Britain. James caused a prosecution for high treason to be commenced against him in Scotland, and demanded his person from the States, who refused to deliver him up. In the revolution he took an active part, accompanying the Prince of Orange to England as chaplain, and was rewarded for his services by the bishopric of Salisbury. On taking his seat in the House of Lords, he dis played his usual moderation in regard to the non-juring clergy and dissenters. As a prelate, Bishop Burnet distinguished himself by fervor, assiduity, tolerance and charity. In 1699 he published his 'Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles.' The scheme for the augmentation of poor livings out of the first-fruits and tenths due to the Crown, known as Queen Anne's Bounty, originated with Burnet. He left behind him in manuscript his well-known 'History of His Own Times' (1723-34), upon which the best judgment to-day is that nothing could be more admirable than his general candor, his accuracy as to facts, the fullness of his information and the justice of hisjudgments, both pf those whom he vehemently opposed and of those whom he greatly admired. The value of the work, says a recent authority, "as .a candid narrative and an invaluable work of reference, has continually risen as investigations into original materials have proceeded."