BURDEN

(Fr. bourdon, a staff.) In Music, the drone or ba in some musical instruments, and the pipe or string that plays it. The ba pipe in the bagpipe is so called. Hence, that part of a song that is repeated at the end of every stanza is called the burden of it. BUREAU'. (Fr.) Originally a writing table; afterwards applied to the office of any public or private functionary where busine is transacted. BUREAUCRATIE, or BUREAUCRACY, is the system by which the busine of administration is carried on in departments, each under the control of a chief, in contradistinction to those systems in which the officers of government have a co-ordinate authority. [s. 185]