BURROUGHS

burroughs, george (c. 1650-1692), american congregational pastor, graduated at harvard in 1670, and became the minister of salem village (now danvers) in 1680, a charge which he held till 1683. he lived at falmouth (now portland, maine) until the indians destroyed it in 1690, when he removed to wells. in may 1692 during the witchcraft delusion, on the accusation of some personal enemies in his former congregation who had sued him for debt, burroughs was arrested and charged, among other offences, with "extraordinary lifting and such feats of strength as could not be done without diabolicall assistance." though the jury found no witch-marks on his body he was convicted and executed on gallows hill, salem, on the 19th of august, the only minister who suffered this extreme fate. [v.04 p.0863] burroughs, john (1837- ), american poet and writer on natural history, was born in roxbury, delaware county, new york, on the 3rd of april 1837. in his earlier years he engaged in various pursuits, teaching, journalism, farming and fruit-raising, and for nine years was a clerk in the treasury department at washington. after publishing in 1867 a volume of _notes on walt whitman as poet and person_ (a subject to which he returned in 1896 with his _whitman: a study_), he began in 1871, with _wake-robin_, a series of books on birds, flowers and rural scenes which has made him the successor of thoreau as a popular essayist en the plants and animals environing human life. his later writings showed a more philosophic mood and a greater disposition towards literary or meditative allusion than their predecessors, but the general theme and method remained the same. his chief books, in addition to _wake-robin_, are _birds and poets_ (1877), _locusts and wild honey_ (1879), _signs and seasons_ (1886), and _ways of nature_ (1905); these are in prose, but he wrote much also in verse, a volume of poems, _bird and bough_, being published in 1906. _winter sunshine_ (1875) and _fresh fields_ (1884) are sketches of travel in england and france. a biographical sketch of burroughs is prefixed to his _year in the fields_ (new ed., 1901). a complete uniform edition of his works was issued in 1895, &c. (riverside edition, cambridge, mass.). bursar (med. lat. _bursarius_), literally a keeper of the _bursa_ or purse. the word is now chiefly used of the official, usually one of the fellows, who administers the finances of a college at a university, or of the treasurer of a school or other institution. the term is also applied to the holder of "a bursary," an exhibition at scottish schools or universities, and also in england a scholarship or exhibition enabling a pupil of an elementary school to continue his education at a secondary school. the term "burse" (lat. _bursa_, gr. [greek: borsa], bag of skin) is particularly used of the embroidered purse which is one of the insignia of office of the lord high chancellor of england, and of the pouch which in the roman church contains the "corporal" in the service of the mass. the "bursa" is a square case opening at one side only and covered and lined with silk or linen; one side should be of the colour of the vestments of the day.