BURTON, JOHN HILL (1809-1881).--Historian, was _b._ and _ed._ at Aberdeen, was in 1831 called to the Bar, but had little practice, and in 1854 was appointed Sec. to the Prison Board of Scotland, and in 1877 a Commissioner of Prisons. He became at an early period of his life a contributor to _Blackwood's Magazine_ and other periodicals, and in 1846 _pub._ a life of Hume, which attracted considerable attention, and was followed by Lives of Lord Lovat and Lord President Forbes. He began his career as an historian by the publication in 1853 of _History of Scotland from the Revolution to the Extinction of the last Jacobite Insurrection_, to which he added (1867-70) _History of Scotland from Agricola's Invasion to the Revolution_, in 7 vols., thus completing a continuous narrative. Subsequently he _pub._ a _History of the Reign of Queen Anne_ (1880). Other works of a lighter kind were _The Book-Hunter_ (1862), and _The Scot Abroad_ (1864). B.'s historical works display much research and a spirit of candour and honesty, and have picturesque and spirited passages, but the style is unequal, and frequently lacks dignity. On the whole, however, his is regarded as the most generally trustworthy and valuable history of Scotland at present existing. BURTON, SIR RICHARD FRANCIS (1821-1890).--Explorer and scholar, _s._ of an officer in the army, was _b._ at Barham House, Herts, and after a somewhat desultory education abroad as well as at home, entered upon a life of travel, adventure, and military and civil service in almost every quarter of the world, including India, Africa, the nearer East, and North and South America, in the course of which he mastered 35 languages. As an official his masterful ways and spirit of adventure frequently brought him into collision with superior powers, by whom he not seldom considered himself ill-used. He was the author of upwards of 50 books on a great variety of subjects, including travels, novels, and translations, among which are _Personal Narrative of a Journey to Mecca_ (1855), _First Footprints in East Africa_ (1856), _Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa_ (1860), _The Nile Basin_, a translation and life of Camoens, an absolutely literal translation of the _Arabian Nights_, with notes and commentaries, of which his accomplished wife _pub._ an expurgated edition. Lady B., who was the companion of his travels after 1861, also wrote books on Syria, Arabia, and other eastern countries, as well as a life of her husband, a number of whose manuscripts she destroyed.