THE BRITISH MAGAZINE. JULY 1, 1849. ORIGINAL PAPERS. LAUD AND BURTON. HENRY BURTON has left on record a brief narrative of his life, from the period of manhood to the termination of his sufferings in the year 1640, to which we shall direct special attention, and which may serve as a guide in tracing his course in those controversies in which he was constantly involved. His subsequent career may be pretty accurately ascertained by his subsequent publications. Burton was born in the year 1579 at Birdsall, in Yorkshire. The place was obscure, and the more so, he tells us, "as having never had a preaching minister time out of minde, long before I was borne, nor (for aught I know) to this very day." The village is still very small, containing not many more than two hundred souls. Still the parish, on our author's own showing, could not have been in a very neglected state: for he tells us, that his parents" were piously affected," and compelled their children to attend the church. In all probability, the clergyman was a conformist to the rites and discipline of the church, a circumstance which would alone account for Burton's disparaging notice of the place of his birth. He was educated in St. John's College, Cambridge. During his residence in the University, he constantly attended on the preaching of Mr. Chadderton and Mr. Perkins, two clergymen of Puritan tendencies, though still moderate men, and very different from our author in his subsequent career. Perkins would not have sanctioned Burton's violent conduct: he would rather have suffered in silence. VOL. XXXVI.-July, 1849. В |