BUSLAEV, FEDOR IVANOVICH (1818-1898), Russian author and philologist, was born on the 13th of April 1818 at Kerensk, where his father was secretary of the district tribunal. He was educated at Penza and Moscow University. At the end of his academical course, 1838, he accompanied the family of Count S.G. Strogonov on a tour through Italy, Germany and France, occupying himself principally with the study of classical antiquities. On his return he was appointed assistant professor of Russian literature at the university of Moscow. A study of Jacob Grimm's great dictionary had already directed the attention of the young professor to the historical development of the Russian language, and the fruit of his studies was the book On the Teaching of the National Language (Moscow, 1844 and 1867), which even now has its value. In 1848 he produced his work On the Influence of Christianity on the Slavonic Language, which, though subsequently superseded by Franz von Miklosich's Christliche Terminologie, is still one of the most striking dissertations on the development of the Slavonic languages. In this work Buslaev proves that long before the age of Cyril and Methodius the Slavonic languages had been subject to Christian influences. In 1855 he published Palaeographical and Philological Materials for the History of the Slavonic Alphabets, and in 1858 Essay towards an Historical Grammar of the Russian Tongue, which, despite some trivial defects, is still a standard work, abounding with rich material for students, carefully collected from an immense quantity of ancient records and monuments. In close connexion with this work in his Historical Chrestomathy of the Church-Slavonic and Old Russian Tongues (Moscow, 1861). Buslaev also interested himself in Russian popular poetry and old Russian art, and the result of his labours is enshrined in Historical Sketches of Russian Popular Literature and Art (St Petersburg, 1861), a very valuable collection of articles and monographs, in which the author shows himself a worthy and faithful disciple of Grimm. His Popular Poetry (St Petersburg, 1887) is a valuable supplement to the Sketches. In 1881 he was appointed professor of Russian literature at Moscow, and three years later published his Annotated Apocalypse with an atlas of 400 plates, illustrative of ancient Russian art.
See S.D. Sheremetev, Memoir of F.I. Buslaev (Moscow, 1899).
(R. N. B.)
BUSS, FRANCES MARY (1827-1894), English schoolmistress, was born in London in 1827, the daughter of the painter-etcher R.W. Buss, one of the original illustrators of Pickwick. She was educated at a school in Camden Town, and continued there as a teacher, but soon joined her mother in keeping a school in Kentish Town. In 1848 she was one of the original attendants at lectures at the new Queen's College for Ladies. In 1830 her
school was moved to Camden Street, and under its new name of the North London Collegiate School for Ladies it rapidly increased in numbers and reputation. In 1864 Miss Buss gave evidence before the Schools Inquiry Commission, and in its report her school was singled out for exceptional commendation. Indeed, under her influence, what was then pioneer work of the highest importance had been done to put the education of girls on a proper intellectual footing. Shortly afterwards the Brewers' Company and the Clothworkers' Company provided funds by which the existing North London Collegiate School was rehoused and a Camden School for Girls founded, and both were endowed under a new scheme, Miss Buss continuing to be principal of the former. She and Miss Beale of Cheltenham became famous as the chief leaders in this branch of the reformed educational movement; she played an active part in promoting the success of the Girls' Public Day School Company, encouraging the connexion of the girls' schools with the university standard by examinations, working for the establishment of women's colleges, and improving the training of teachers; and her energetic personality was a potent force among her pupils and colleagues. She died in London on the 24th of December 1894.
BUSSA, a town in the British protectorate of Northern Nigeria, on the west bank of the Niger, in 10° 9′ N., 4° 40′ E. It is situated just above the rapids which mark the limit of navigability of the Niger by steamer from the sea. Here in 1806 Mungo Park, in his second expedition to trace the course of the Niger, was attacked by the inhabitants, and drowned while endeavouring to escape. During 1894-1898 its possession was disputed by Great Britain and France, the last-named country acknowledging by the convention of June 1898 the British claim, which carried with it the control of the lower Niger. It is now the capital of northern Borgu (see Nigeria, and Borgu).
BUSSACO (or Busaco), SERRA DE, a mountain range on the frontiers of the Aveiro, Coimbra, and Vizeu districts of Portugal, formerly included in the province of Beira. The highest point in the range is the Ponta de Bussaco (1795 ft.), which commands a magnificent view over the Serra da Estrella, the Mondego valley and the Atlantic Ocean. Luso (pop. 1661), a village celebrated for its hot mineral springs, is the nearest railway station, on the Guarda-Figueira da Foz line, which skirts the northern slopes of the Serra. Towards the close of the 19th century the Serra de Bussaco became one of the regular halting-places for foreign, and especially for British, tourists, on the overland route between Lisbon and Oporto. Its hotel, built in the Manoellian style—a blend of Moorish and Gothic—encloses the buildings of a secularized Carmelite monastery, founded in 1268. The convent woods, now a royal domain, have long been famous for their cypress, plane, evergreen oak, cork and other forest trees, many of which have stood for centuries and attained an immense size. A bull of Pope Gregory XV. (1623), anathematizing trespassers and forbidding women to approach, is inscribed on a tablet at the main entrance; another bull, of Urban VIII. (1643), threatens with excommunication any person harming the trees. In 1873 a monument was erected, on the southern slopes of the Serra, to commemorate the battle of Bussaco, in which the French, under Marshal Masséna, were defeated by the British and Portuguese, under Lord Wellington, on the 27th of September 1810.
BUSSY, ROGER DE RABUTIN, Comte de (1618-1693), commonly known as Bussy-Rabutin, French memoir-writer, was born on the 13th of April 1618 at Epiry, near Autun. He represented a family of distinction in Burgundy (see Sévigné, Madame de), and his father, Léonor de Rabutin, was lieutenant-general of the province of Nivernais. Roger was the third son, but by the death of his elder brothers became the representative of the family. He entered the army when he was only sixteen and fought through several campaigns, succeeding his father in the office of mestre de camp. He tells us himself that his two ambitions were to become "honnête homme" and to distinguish himself in arms, but the luck was against him. In 1641 he was sent to the Bastille by Richelieu for some months as a punishment for neglect of his duties in his pursuit of gallantry. In 1643 he married a cousin, Gabrielle de Toulongeon, and for a short time he left the army. But in 1645 he succeeded to his father's position in the Nivernais, and served under Condé in Catalonia. His wife died in 1646, and he became more notorious than ever by an attempt to abduct Madame de Miramion, a rich widow. This affair was with some difficulty settled by a considerable payment on Bussy's part, and he afterwards married Louise de Rouville. When Condé joined the party of the Fronde, Bussy joined him, but a fancied slight on the part of the prince finally decided him for the royal side. He fought with some distinction both in the civil war and on foreign service, and buying the commission of mestre de camp in 1655, he went to serve under Turenne in Flanders. He served there for several campaigns and distinguished himself at the battle of the Dunes and elsewhere; but he did not get on well with his general, and his quarrelsome disposition, his overweening vanity and his habit of composing libellous chansons made him eventually the enemy of most persons of position both in the army and at court. In the year 1659 he fell into disgrace for having taken part in an orgy at Roissy near Paris during Holy Week, which caused great scandal. Bussy was ordered to retire to his estates, and beguiled his enforced leisure by composing, for the amusement of his mistress, Madame de Montglas, his famous Histoire amoureuse des Gaules. This book, a series of sketches of the intrigues of the chief ladies of the court, witty enough, but still more ill-natured, circulated freely in manuscript, and had numerous spurious sequels. It was said that Bussy had not spared the reputation of Madame, and the king, angry at the report, was not appeased when Bussy sent him a copy of the book to disprove the scandal. He was sent to the Bastille on the 17th of April 1665, where he remained for more than a year, and he was only liberated on condition of retiring to his estates, where he lived in exile for seventeen years. Bussy felt the disgrace keenly, but still bitterer was the enforced close of his military career. In 1682 he was allowed to revisit the court, but the coldness of his reception there made his provincial exile seem preferable, and he returned to Burgundy, where he died on the 9th of April 1693.
The Histoire amoureuse is in its most striking passages adapted from Petronius, and, except in a few portraits, its attractions are chiefly those of the scandalous chronicle. But his Mémoires, published after his death, are extremely lively and characteristic, and have all the charm of a historical romance of the adventurous type. His voluminous correspondence yields in variety and interest to few collections of the kind, except that of Madame de Sévigné, who indeed is represented in it to a great extent, and whose letters first appeared in it. The literary and historical student, therefore, owes Bussy some thanks.
The best edition of the Histoire amoureuse des Gaules is that of Paul Boiteau in the Bibliothèque Elzévirienne (3 vols., Paris, 1856-1859). The Mémoires (2 vols., 1857) and Correspondance (6 vols., 1858-1859) were edited by Ludovic Lalanne. Bussy wrote other things, of which the most important, his Genealogy of the Rabutin Family, remained in MS. till 1867, while his Considérations sur la guerre was first published in Dresden in 1746. He also wrote, for the use of his children, a series of biographies, in which his own life serves a moral purpose.