[Buchan], a district in the NE. of Aberdeenshire, between the rivers Deveron and Ythan; abounds in magnificent rock scenery. The Comyns were earls of it till they forfeited the title in 1309.
[Buchanan, Claudius], born at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, chaplain in Barrackpur under the East India Company, vice-provost of the College at Fort William, Calcutta; one of the first to awaken an interest in India as a missionary field; wrote "Christian Researches in Asia" (1756-1815).
[Buchanan, George], a most distinguished scholar and humanist, born at Killearn, Stirlingshire; educated at St. Andrews and Paris; professor for three years in the College at St. Barbe; returned to Scotland, became tutor to James V.'s illegitimate sons; imprisoned by Cardinal Beaton for satires against the monks, escaped to France; driven from one place to another, imprisoned in a monastery in Portugal at the instance of the Inquisition, where he commenced his celebrated Latin version of the Psalms; came back to Scotland, was appointed in 1562 tutor to Queen Mary, in 1566 principal of St. Leonard's College, in St. Andrews, in 1567 moderator of the General Assembly in 1570 tutor to James VI., and had several offices of State conferred on him; wrote a "History of Scotland," and his book "De Jure Regni," against the tyranny of peoples by kings; died in Edinburgh without enough to bury him; was buried at the public expense in Greyfriars' churchyard; when dying, it is said he asked his housekeeper to examine his money-box and see if there was enough to bury him, and when he found there was not, he ordered her to distribute what there was among his poor neighbours and left it to the city to bury him or not as they saw good (1506-1582).
[Buchanan, James], statesman of the United States, was ambassador in London in 1853, made President in 1856, the fifteenth in order, at the time when the troubles between the North and South came to a head, favoured the South, retired after his Presidentship into private life (1791-1868).
[Buchanan, Robert], a writer in prose and verse, born in Warwickshire, educated at Glasgow University; his first work, "Undertones," a volume of verse published by him in 1863, and he has since written a goodly number of poems, some of them of very high merit, the last "The Wandering Jew," which attacks the Christian religion; besides novels, has written magazine articles, and one in particular, which involved him in some trouble; b.1841.
[Buchanites], a fanatical sect who appeared in the W. of Scotland in 1783, named after a Mrs. Buchan, who claimed to be the woman mentioned in Rev. xii.
[Bucharest] (220), capital of Roumania, picturesquely situated on the Dambovitza, a tributary of the Danube, in a fertile plain, 180 m. from the Black Sea; is a meanly built but well-fortified town, with the reputation of the most dissolute capital in Europe; there is a Catholic cathedral and a university; it is the emporium of trade between the Balkan and Austria; textiles, grain, hides, metal, and coal are the chief articles in its markets.
[Buchez, Joseph], a French historian, politician, and Socialist; joined the St. Simonian Society, became a Christian Socialist, and a collaborateur in an important historical work, the "Parliamentary History of the French Revolution"; figured in political life after the Revolution of 1848, but retired to private life after the establishment of the Empire (1796-1865).
[Büchner, Ludwig], physician and materialist, born at Darmstadt; lectured at Tübingen University; wrote a book entitled "Kraft und Stoff," i. e. Force and Matter, and had to retire into private practice as a physician on account of its materialistic philosophy, which he insisted on teaching (1824-1899).
[Buchon], a learned Frenchman; wrote chronologies of French history (1791-1846).