The following article originally appeared in the Winchester College Collections bulletin for 2022-3. My article is an adaptation of this video.
Dr John Burton (1690–1744) was the longest-serving headmaster of Winchester College. Despite this, little information about him survives: there is neither a portrait nor a comprehensive biography. His gifts to the college – including the ship model Le Formidable, Lemoyne’s Annunciation, Whood’s Gentleman Commoners, and more than seventy volumes from his personal library – are the most useful source about him, showing his taste and generosity. An individual’s books are an invaluable biographical source, even when there is not a shortage of other material, because they may give an indication of what their owner was thinking about, and even their spiritual beliefs. Burton possessed books on a wide range of topics, from numismatics to the rites and rituals of the Catholic Church. It is possible to understand more about who Burton was, what he was interested in, and what he believed in from these books.
Burton – as one might expect from a Headmaster of Winchester College – was a scholarly individual, but his books were intended to entertain as well as to educate. His volumes on numismatics clearly demonstrate this. Alongside engravings of ancient coins, there was extensive information about the individuals depicted. Many of his books on Catholicism and the French monarchy, alongside their scholarly texts, had impressive illustrations. He possessed copies of ancient literature and books depicting ancient architecture: these had a similar dual purpose. Burton must have enjoyed reading his books, but all had considerable scholarly value.
Burton had a deep-founded interest in Roman Catholicism. This is shown by a set of volumes on the history of Monastic, Religious and Military Orders (1714–19). Alongside the text that records information about each order, such as their origins, are over 800 images that depict their typical costumes. Burton also had volumes on the rites and rituals of the Church. They have some musical scores as well as text and illustrations. These books are not in themselves evidence of recusancy, but they do support the idea that he was a High-Church Anglican and not entirely hostile to Catholic tradition. Burton’s purchase of The Annunciation (1727), painted by a French Catholic artist, François Lemoyne, as an altarpiece for the College chapel, is another indication of these religious views. It has been suggested that Burton had Jacobite leanings, supporting the reinstallation of the Catholic Stuarts to the throne of England, but there is no firm evidence of this.
Another topic that Burton was interested in was the French monarchy. Les Monumens de la Monarchie Françoise (1725–33), a book in five volumes, explores the history of the French monarchy in an innovative way, by examining the material objects that were produced for rulers, such as sceptres, thrones, crowns, and manuscript illuminations. It has chapters on heraldic symbols, such as the fleur-de-lis, and on different dynasties, such as the Merovingians. Burton also owned a book about the famous Gardens of Versailles. Its engravings, mostly of the gardens’ fountains, are particularly notable: they were made by Jean Le Pautre, a French engraver, in the late 1670s and 1680s. Work had only begun on the gardens in 1661, so these prints are useful in understanding how the gardens originally looked under Louis XIV. Burton had almost certainly visited France – and this was probably where he bought Lemoyne’s Annunciation – so he would have had the opportunity to visit sites associated with the French monarchy and to buy many books on the topic.
A volume entitled The Secret History of Persia (1745) at first seems out of place in Burton’s library: his interests were firmly in Europe. He did not possess a single other book specifically on the Middle East. However, this irregularity can be explained. Burton’s copy is a translation of a French book, Mémoires Secrets pour Server à l'Histoire de Perse. In the book, Persia is a substitute for France, the Persian court for the French one. Concealing the true nature of its contents allowed the book to escape censorship. Burton might have thought that the concept of the book was interesting, and for that reason bought it. He would have discovered from it some of the criticisms made by Enlightened reformers of the Catholic church in France.
Without looking at Burton’s books, any study of the man himself would be futile. They reveal his interests, both scholarly and personal, and offer an insight into his character. Through them, we see how deep his interest in Catholicism was, and also in French culture. Burton was clearly a scholarly man. The lack of other resources regarding Burton makes the books he donated the most valuable source a historian can use trying to understand who he was.
The full collections bulletin is available from the Treasury at Winchester College, open daily from 2 to 4. Lemoyne's Annunciation is on permanent display there.
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