Buckle, Henry Thos. 1822–1862. Historian. His great work, The Hist. of Civilization, was left unfinished. His style is easy and flowing, but his inferences and conclusions are frequently controverted. See Atlantic Monthly, Jan. and April, 1863. Pub. Apl.
Budgell, Eustace. 1685–1736. Essayist. Author of all the papers in the Spectator signed X.
Bull, George. 1634–1710. Bp. St. David's. Theologian. An opponent of Calvinism, against which his Latin treatise, Harmonia Apostolica, is aimed.
Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Edward Geo. 1805–1873. Novelist and Poet. Several of his 25 novels, like The Caxtons, My Novel, Harold, and Kenelm Chillingly, are masterpieces of their kind. Others as well known are Pelham, Zanoni, Last Days of Pompeii, Rienzi, etc. Richelieu, Money, and Lady of Lyons are his most popular dramas. King Arthur and The New Timon are two of his longer poems. See Memoir, by Lord Lytton, Quarterly Rev., Jan. 1865, Blackwood's Mag. Mar., 1873, and Tennyson's poem The New Timon. Pub. Har.
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert. "Owen Meredith." 1831 ——. Poet. Son to preceding. Author of Lucile, Fables in Verse, The Ring of Amasis, etc. His verse has melody and strength, but Lucile, his chief poem, a novel in verse, is asserted to be a plagiarism. See Stedman's Victorian Poets.
Bunyan, John. 1628–1688. Allegorist. Author Pilgrim's Progress, Holy War, etc. The first named is the most famous allegory in the world. The product of a strong, vivid imagination, it holds the attention of cultured and uncultured minds alike. See Biographies of, by Southey, and Macaulay, and Bunyan, by J. A. Froude in Eng. Men of Letters.
Burke, Edmund. 1730–1797. Orator and statesman. As a political writer he has few equals. Among his best efforts are Letters on a Regicide Peace, Letters to a Noble Lord, and Orations on the Impeachment of Warren Hastings. Style polished and cultured. See Morley's Life of, 1867. See select works edited by E. J. Payne, 1874.
Burnand, Francis Cowley. 1837 ——. Author Happy Thoughts, The New History of Sanford and Merton, etc. Pub. Rob.
Burnet, Gilbert. 1643–1715. Bp. Salisbury. Historian. Author Hist. Reformation, Hist. My Own Times, etc. A vivacious, diffuse narrator. See Macaulay's Hist. of England. Pub. Dut. Mac.
Burnet, James. Lord Monboddo. 1714–1799. An eccentric writer, noted for his theory that mankind once had tails, which the habit of sitting on had worn away.