an lawyer, who became a judge, and of the sister of
Johnston of Warristoun, a leader of the Covenanters, was _b._ in Edin.,
and _ed._ at Aberdeen and at Amsterdam, where he studied Hebrew under a
Rabbi. Returning to Scotland, he was successively Episcopal minister at
Saltoun and Prof. of Divinity in Glasgow (1669), and was then offered,
but declined, a Scotch bishopric. His energetic and bustling character
led him to take an active part in the controversies of the time, and he
endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between Episcopacy and
Presbytery. Going to London he was in some favour with Charles II., from
whom he received various preferments. His literary reputation was greatly
enhanced by the publication in 1679 of the first vol. of his _History of
the Reformation of the Church of England_, for which he received the
thanks of Parliament, and which was completed by other two vols., in 1682
and 1714. On account of a letter of reproof which he ventured to write to
the King, he lost favour at Court, and the policy pursued by James II.
being very repugnant to him, he betook himself in 1687 to Holland, where
he became one of the advisers of the Prince of Orange. Returning to
England at the Revolution, he was made Bishop of Salisbury, which office
he adorned by liberal views and a zealous discharge of duty. The work by
which his fame is chiefly sustained, his _History of my Own Times_, was,
by his direction, not to be _pub._ until 6 years after his death. It
appeared in 1723. It gives a sketch of the history of the Civil Wars and
Commonwealth, and a detailed account of the immediately succeeding period
down to 1713. While not free from egotism and some party feeling, it is
written with a sincere desire for accuracy and fairness, and it has
largely the authority of an eye-witness. The style, if somewhat lacking
in dignity, is lively and picturesque. Among his other writings are a
_History of the Dukes of Hamilton_, and an _Exposition of the 39
Articles_.

His principal works have been repeatedly printed. Clarendon Press ed. of
_My Own Times_ by Routh (1823 and 1833).

BURNET, THOMAS (1635?-1715).--Theologian and writer on cosmogony, was
_b._ at Croft near Darlington, and _ed._ at Camb., and became Master of
Charterhouse and Clerk of the Closet to William III. His literary fame
rests on his _Telluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth_,
_pub._ about 1692, first in Latin and afterwards in English, a work
wh