BURLAMAQUI

burlamaqui, jean jacques (1694-1748), swiss publicist, was born at geneva on the 24th of june 1694. at the age of twenty-five he was designated honorary professor of ethics and the law of nature at the university of geneva. before taking up the appointment he travelled through france and england, and made the acquaintance of the most eminent writers of the period. on his return he began his lectures, and soon gained a wide reputation, from the simplicity of his style and the precision of his views. he continued to lecture for fifteen years, when he was compelled on account of ill-health to resign. his fellow-citizens at once elected him a member of the council of state, and he gained as high a reputation for his practical sagacity as he had for his theoretical knowledge. he died at geneva on the 3rd of april 1748. his works were _principes du droit naturel_ (1747), and _principes du droit politique_ (1751). these have passed through many editions, and were very extensively used as text-books. burlamaqui's style is simple and clear, and his arrangement of the material good. his fundamental principle may be described as rational utilitarianism, and in many ways it resembles that of cumberland. burlesque (ital. _burlesco_, from _burla_, a joke, fun, playful trick), a form of the comic in art, consisting broadly in an imitation of a work of art with the object of exciting laughter, by distortion or exaggeration, by turning, for example, the highly rhetorical into bombast, the pathetic into the mock-sentimental, and especially by a ludicrous contrast between the subject and the style, making gods speak like common men and common men like gods. while parody (_q.v._), also based on imitation, relies for its effect more on the close following of the style of its counterpart, burlesque depends on broader and coarser effects. burlesque may be applied to any form of art, and unconsciously, no doubt, may be found even in architecture. in the graphic arts it takes the form better known as "caricature" (_q.v._). its particular sphere is, however, in literature, and especially in drama. the _batrachomachia_, or battle of the frogs and mice, is the earliest example in classical literature, being a travesty of the homeric epic. there are many true burlesque parts in the comedies of aristophanes, _e.g._ the appearance of socrates in the _clouds_. the italian word first appears in the _opere burlesche_ of francesco berni (1497-1535). in france during part of the reign of louis xiv., the burlesque attained to great popularity; burlesque aeneids, iliads and odysseys were composed, and even the most sacred subjects were not left untravestied. of the numerous writers of these, p. scarron is most prominent, and his _virgile travesti_ (1648-1653) was followed by numerous imitators. in english literature chaucer's _rime of sir thopas_ is a burlesque of the long-winded medieval romances. among the best-known true burlesques in english dramatic literature may be mentioned the 2nd duke of buckingham's _the rehearsal_, a burlesque of the heroic drama; gay's _beggar's opera_, of the italian opera; and sheridan's _the critic_. in the later 19th century the name "burlesque" was given to a form of musical dramatic composition in which the true element of burlesque found little or no place. these musical burlesques, with which the gaiety theatre, london, and the names of edward terry, fred leslie and nellie farren are particularly connected, developed from the earlier extravaganzas of j.r. planche, written frequently round fairy tales. the gaiety type of burlesque has since given place to the "musical comedy," and its only survival is to be found in the modern pantomime.