BRACHYURUS, in entomology, a species of ichneumon, inhabiting Germany. Color fulvous; thorax, eyes, and abdomen black; legs yellow.

BRACHYURUS, in ornithology, a species of lanius, the short-tailed shrike of Latham; color, the head ferruginous gray above; eye-brows whitish; body grayish above; yellowish white beneath; tail rounded. Found only in Hungary. Also a species of corvus, of a green color; tawny beneath, and on the head, with a white spot on the wings. This bird inhabits the islands of the Indian ocean.

BRACK'. Ang-Sax. bræccan. To break, see break. A breach; a broken part.

The place was but weak, and the bracks fair; but the defendants, by resolution, supplied all the defects. Hayward. Let them compare my work with what is taught in the schools, and if they find in theirs many bracks and short ends, which cannot be spun into an even piece; and, in mine, a fair coherence throughout; I shall promise myself an acquiescence. Digby. BRACK', Goth. bar, a tide; Arab. BRACK'ISH, bara, the sea; Dutch, brack, BRACK'ISHNESS, salt. Brackish is saltish; BRACK'Y. expressing the disagreeable taste of sea water, or of waters approximating to the sea, not perfectly saline nor entirely fresh; the intermediate state of water that belongs not strictly either to oceans or rivers.

Pits upon the sea shore turn into tresh water, by percolation of the salt through the sand: but it is farther noted, after a time, the water in such pits will become brackish again. Bacon.

When I had gained the brow and top,
A lake of brackish waters on the ground
Was all I found.

Herbert.

fixed to the beds by four bolts, which are called bed bolts; they rise up on each side of the mortar, and serve to keep it at any elevation, by means of some strong iron bolts, called bracket bolts, which go through these cheeks or brackets. BRACKETS, in ships, the small knees, serving to support the galleries, and commonly carved. Also the timbers that support the gratings in the head.

BRACKLAU, or BRACKLAW, a palatinate in the eastern part of Podolia; it is also called Lower Podolia, and is of greater extent than Upper Podolia, but is more desolate, on account of the neighbourhood of the Tartars.

BRACKLAW, a strong town in Poland, capital of the palatinate. The houses are built of wood. It was taken by the Turks in 1672, but retaken three years afterwards. It is seated on the river Bog.

BRACKLEY, an ancient borough town of Northamptonshire, seated near Buckinghamshire, on a branch of the river Ouse. It contains two parish churches; is governed by a mayor and aldermen, and sends two members to parliament. It had formerly a college, which is turned into a free school; and contains many vestiges of former greatness. In the neighbourhood is Bayard's Green, formerly celebrated for its tilts and tournaments. The town had once a great trade in wool. It is thirteen miles south-west of Northampton, and sixty-four north-west of London, and seven miles distant from Buckingham.

BRACTEA, in natural history, a plate, spangle, or thin flake of any substance.

BRACTEA, in botany, a thin leaf of any folium florale. See BOTANY.

uses.

The wise contriver, on his end intent, Mixed them with salt, and seasoned all the sea, What other cause could this effect produce? The brackish tincture through the main diffuse. Blackmore. BRACKET. Ital. bracietto. See brace, a cramp or stay; a piece of wood fixed for the of something. support

Let your shelves be laid upon brackets, being about two feet wide, and edged with a small lath. Mortimer. In printing, a bracket or brace is a certain mark, bracing or confining words or lines together, as in a triplet thus :—

Charge Venus to command her son,
Wherever else she lets him rove,
To shun my house, and field, and grove
Peace cannot dwell with hate or love.

Or thus [ ].

Prior.

At the head of each article I have referred, by figures included in brackets, to the page of Dr. Lardner's volume, where the section, from which the abridgement is made begins.

Paley's Evidences, part ii. chap. 6. BRACKET, in architecture, a small support against a wall for a figure, lamp, clock, &c. which are susceptible of considerable elegance of design and decoration.

BRACKETS, in gunnery, the cheeks of the carriage of a mortar. They are made of strong planks of wood, of almost a semicircular figure, and bound round with thin iron plates; they are

spangles, each plate either being very thin or fissile into very thin ones. Of this genus there are a great many species, called, from their different colors, mica aurea, or gold-glimmer; and mica argentea, silver-glimmer, or cat's-silver, &c.

BRACTEATA, in entomology, a small species of cicada, inhabiting Cayenne, with a green thorax, without spots.

BRACTEATED COINS, or BRACTEATI NUMMI, among antiquaries, coins or medals covered over with a thin plate, or leaf, of some richer metal. They are usually made of iron, copper, or brass, plated over, and edged with gold or silver leaf. Medalists find some bracteated pieces even among the truly ancient coins. The French call them fourrées.

BRACTON (Henry), lord chief justice of England in the reign of Henry III. was educated at Oxford, where he took the degree of LL.D. and was made one of the itinerant judges about 1244. Ten years after, he became chief justice, and had the earl of Derby's house in London assigned him for his town residence, during the minority of that nobleman. He filled this important office with singular reputation for twenty years. He wrote De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ, which is one of the most ancient and most methodical books on our laws. His method is copied from Justinian. It was printed at London in 1569, folio, and in 1640, 4to. The first is very incorrect.

BRAD', being an initial, signifies broad,

spacious, from the Saxon bɲad, and the Gothic, braid.

BRAD. Goth brodde; Swed. and Dan. brad; Welsh, brwyd. A point; a nail without a head. A sort of nail to floor rooms with. They are ahout the size of a tenpenny nail, but have not their heads made with a shoulder over their shank, as other nails, but are made pretty thick towards the upper end, that the very top may be driven into, and buried in, the board they nail down; so that the tops of these brads will not catch the thrums of the mops, when the floor is washing.

BRADS are distinguished by iron-mongers by different names; as joiners' brads, flooring brads, batten brads, bill brads, or quarter heads, &c. Joiners' brads are for hard wainscot; batten brads are for soft wainscot; bill brads are used when a floor is laid in haste, or for shallow joists subject to warp. See NAIL.

BRADBURY (Thomas), a dissenting minister, was a native of Wakefield in Yorkshire, and educated at Mr. Jollie's academy at Attercliffe, where he distinguished himself by a species of low wit and eccentricity. He left that seminary at the age of eighteen, and became a preacher in London, and the successor of the celebrated Daniel Burgess. He engaged in a controversy with Dr. Watts on the subject of the Trinity, and was a warm, but not very liberal advocate of the orthodox opinions. He published also two volumes of sermons, which are esteemed. In private life he is said to have been of a very cheerful disposition, and would occasionally carry his hilarity so far as to sing 'O the roast beef of Old England!' at a public dinner. It is but fair, however, to add that his general conduct was irreproachable, and that he was much respected by bishop Burnet, and many of the episcopal clergy. He died in 1759.

BRADFORD (John), an eminent divine, and martyr of the Reformation, was born in the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII. at Manchester. He was at first secretary to Sir John Harrington, who was several times employed by king Henry, and his successor Edward VI. as paymaster to the troops abroad. Bradford at this time was a gay man, and to support his extravagance made free with the king's money; but conscience checking him, he determined to make restitution, and actually repaid the money. Quitting his employment of secretary about A. D. 1547, he took chambers in the inner temple, and for some time studied the law; but, finding an inclination to preach the gospel, he removed, in 1547, to Catharine Hall, Cambridge, and there applied with such uncommon assiduity to the study of divinity, that in a much shorter time than usual he was admitted to the degree of M. A. Bishop Ridley, who, in 1550, was translated to the see of London, charmed with Bradford's application and zeal, now sent for him to the metropolis, ordained and appointed him his chaplain. In 1553 he was also made chaplain to Edward VI. during which time he became one of the most popular preachers in the kingdom. Mary was hardly in possession of the crown, before Bradford's persecutions began. He was first confined in the tower for sedition,

where he continued a year and a half; during which time he wrote several epistles that were dispersed in various parts of the kingdom. He was afterwards removed to other prisons, and at last brought to his trial before bishop Gardiner, where he defended his principles to the last, and was condemned to the flames. He was accordingly burnt alive in Smithfield, where he behaved with uncommon heroism, on July 1st, 1555. His works are, 1. Seventy-two Letters, written to Various People, whilst the Author was in Prison; printed in Coverdale's Collection. 2. Ten Letters, printed in Fox's Acts and Monuments. 3. Complaint of Verity, 1559, 8vo. Three Examinations before the Commissioners, and his Private Talk with the Priests, with the Original of his Life; 1561, 8vo. 5. Two Notable Sermons; 1574, 8vo, 1631. 6. Godly Meditation and Prayers; 1614, 24mo. 7. Treatise of Repentance, 1622. With several translations and other pieces.

4.

BRADFORD (William, Esq.), an American author, printer, and soldier. During the American war he wrote, printed, and fought for his country. Both his father and grandfather had been printers. In the army he had the rank of colonel. Dr. Franklin said of him that his writings were spirited, his press correct, and his sword active. He died at Philadelphia, in 1791.

BRADFORD, a market town of Wiltshire, the centre of the great fabric of superfine cloths, for which it is famous: 10,000 or 12,000 pieces of twenty yards are made here annually; but the water, while excellent for dyeing, has been said to subject the manufacturers in a remarkable degree to scrofula. The Kennet and Avon canal has much increased the trade. Distant seven miles south-east from Bath, and 100 west from London. Market on Monday.

BRADFORD, OF BRADFORTH, a market town of Yorkshire, in the West Riding, standing on one of the tributary streams of the Aire. It is noted for its manufactures of worsted stuffs, which are exposed for sale on the market day, in a large hall, built for the purpose. The parish is large, and has an endowed free grammar school, founded in the reign of Edward VI. and incorporated by Charles II. in the fourteenth year of his reign. Besides the parish church, a large and noble edifice, there is a new church, lately built by subscription here, and five meeting-houses for dissenters. Near the town are large iron works, where malleable iron is made, celebrated for its great strength. Coal is here very plentiful and cheap, and great quantities are sent off by the canals. In the vicinity, also, are flags and slate, of excellent quality. The rise of the canal, from the Leeds and Liverpool canal, which it joins near Windhill, is eighty-one feet, by eight locks. By means of this canal Bradford has most extensive navigable communications. The market is on Thursday, but the increase of the population has made a second market on Saturday to be much frequented. According to the two last parliamentary returns, it has very nearly doubled its population. It is ten miles from Leeds, and 196 N. N. W. of London.

BRADLEIA, in botany, a genus of class nonacia, order monadelphia. Male; cor. petals

six, filaments three, anthers three. Female; COR. six-parted; three parts interior: STIG. Six to eight: CAP. six-valved, six-celled: SEEDS Solitary. Species one, B. sini, a shrub, native of China. BRADLEY (Dr. James), a celebrated English astronomer, was born at Sherborne, in Gloucestershire, in 1692. He was fitted for the university at North Leach, and was sent thence to Oxford, and admitted a commoner of Baliol College, March 15th, 1710; where he took the degree of B. A. in 1714, and of M. A. in 1716. His friends intending him for the church, his studies were regulated with that view, and the bishop of Hereford, who had conceived a great esteem for him, gave him the living of Bridstow, and soon after that of Landewy Welfry in Pembrokeshire. All the time that he could spare from the duties of his function he passed with his uncle, Mr. Pound of Wanstead, a gentleman of considerable mathematical acquirements. At this period he made such observations, as laid the foundation of those discoveries which afterwards distinguished him as one of the greatest astronomers of his age. These observations gained him the notice and friendship of the lord chancellor Macclesfield, Mr. afterwards Sir Isaac Newton, Mr. Halley, and many other members of the Royal Society, of which he was elected a member. Not long after, the chair of Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford becoming vacant, by the death of the celebrated Dr. Keil, Mr. Bradley was elected to succeed him, October 31st, 1721, at twenty-nine years of age; his colleague being Mr. Halley, was professor of geometry on the same foundation. Upon this appointment Mr. Bradley resigned his church livings, and applied himself wholly to the study of his favorite science. In the course of his observations, which were innumerable, he discovered and settled the laws of the alterations, or aberration, of the fixed stars, from the progressive motion of light, combined with the earth's annual motion about the sun, and the nutation of the earth's axis arising from the unequal attraction of the sun and moon on the different parts of the earth. The theory of the former he published in 1727; and that of the latter in 1737: so that in the space of about ten years, he communicated to the world two of the finest discoveries in modern astronomy. See ABERRATION, NUTATION, and ASTRONOMY. In 1730 Mr. Bradley succeeded Mr. Whiteside, as lecturer in astronomy and experimental philosophy in the Museum at Oxford, which was a considerable emolument to him, and which he held till within a year or two of his death; when the ill state of his health induced him to resign it. He always preserved the esteem and friendship of Dr. Halley; who, being worn out by age and infirmities, thought he could not do better for the service of astronomy, than procure for Mr. Bradley the place of regius professor at Greenwich, which he himself had many years possessed with the greatest reputation. He even offered to resign it in his favor, but died before he could accomplish this kind object. Mr. Bradley, however, obtained the place, by the interest of Lord Macclesfield, who was afterwards president of the Royal Society; and upon this appointment the University of Oxford sent him a

diploma creating him D. D. The appointment of astronomer royal at Greenwich, which was dated February 3rd, 1741-2, placed Dr. Bradley in his proper element; and he pursued his observations with unwearied diligence. Numerous as the collection of astronomical instruments at that observatory was, he endeavoured to increase them; and, in 1748, induced the Royal Society to make application to the king on the subject, who ordered £1000 to be expended on this object. Dr. Bradley thus furnished, pursued his observations with great assiduity during the rest of his life; an immense number of which were found after his death, in thirteen folio volumes, and were presented to the university of Oxford in 1779, on condition of their printing and publishing them; which, however, has never yet been done. During Dr. Bradley's residence at the Royal Observatory, he was offered the living of the church at Greenwich; but he refused to accept it, from a conscientious scruple, that the duty of a pastor was incompatible with his other studies and necessary engagements.' King George II. hearing of this, granted him a pension of £250 over and above the astronomer's original salary from the Board of Ordnance; a pension which has been regularly continued to the astronomers royal ever since. Dr. Bradley was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, in 1747; of that of Paris, in 1748; of that of Petersburgh, in 1754; and of that of Bologna, in 1757. He married Miss Susanna Peach, in 1744, but never had more than one child, a daughter. He died the 13th July, 1763, at Chalfont; and was interred at Minchinhampton, in Gloucestershire. His papers, which have been inserted in the Philosophical Transactions, are, 1. Observations on the Comet of 1703: 2. The Longitude of Lisbon and of the fort of New York from Wanstead and London, determined by the Eclipse of the first satellite of Jupiter: 3. An Account of a New Discovered Motion of the Fixed Stars: 4. On the Going of Clocks, with Isochronal Pendulums: 5. Observations on the Comet of 1736-7: 6. On the Apparent Motion of the Fixed Stars: 7. On the Occultation of Venus by the Moon; April 15th, 1751: 8. On the Comet of 1757: and 9. Directions for Using the Common Micrometer.

BRADLEY (Richard), F. R. S., a writer on gardening and agriculture, was also chosen professor of botany at Cambridge, but led a dissipated life, and measures were taking to deprive him of the situation, when he died in 1732. His works are, 1. A New Improvement of Planting and Gardening, 8vo. 1717. 2. Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature, 4to. 1721. 3. The Gentleman's and Gardener's Kalendar, 8vo. 4. A General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening, 2 vols. 8vo. 5. Practical Discourses concerning the four Elements, as they relate to the Growth of Plants, 8vo. 6. Dictionarium Botanicum, 8vo. 7. Historia Plantarum Succulentarum, 4to. Besides these publications his name was prefixed to a translation of Xenophon's Economics, 8vo. In one of his works he describes an instrument somewhat similar to that which Dr. Brewster has since called the Kaleidoscope, but never seems to have used it.

BRADSHAW (John), president of the high court of justice which tried and condemned Charles I. He was born, according to some writers, in Derbyshire, and, according to others, in Cheshire, but is first known in history as a student in Gray's Inn. Being admitted to the bar, he obtained much chamber practice from the partisans of the parliament, to which he was zealously devoted. He was made joint commissioner of the great seal for six months, in 1646; and in the February following, both houses voted him chief justice of Chester. The trial of the king being determined upon, Bradshaw was selected for president, and after a slight hesitation accepted the office. Even according to those principles,' says Mr. Hume, which in his present situation he was perhaps obliged to adopt, his behaviour in general will appear not a little harsh and barbarous; but when we consider him as a subject, and one too of no high character, addressing himself to his unfortunate sovereign, his style will be esteemed to the last degree audacious and insolent.' His rewards were certainly ample, amounting, it is said, to not less than £4000 a year. He, however, was finally no favorite with Cromwell, on whose appointment to the protectorate he resigned the chief justiceship of Chester. On the death of Cromwell, and the restoration of the long parliament, he obtained a seat in the council, was elected president, and would have been appointed commissioner of the great seal had his health permitted. He died in November, 1659, and on his death-bed is said to have declared that he felt no remorse for having presided at the trial of the king. At the Restoration, his body was disinterred; and being exhibited on a gallows, was buried under it, at Tyburn.

BRADWARDEN (Thomas), archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Hartfield in Sussex about the close of the thirteenth century. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, where he took the degree of D. D. and was esteemed a profound scholar, a skilful mathematician, and consummate divine. Pitt says he was a professor of divinity at Oxford. From being chancellor of the diocese of London, he became a courtier and confessor to Edward III. whom he constantly attended during his war with France, assisting that victorious prince with his advice, animating the troops, and fervently praying for their success. After his return he was made prebendary of Lincoln, and archbishop of Canterbury. He died at Lambeth in 1349, forty days after his consecration. His works are, 1. De Causa Dei, printed in London, 1618, published by J. H. Savil; 2. De Geometria Speculativa, &c. Paris, 1495, 1512, 1530; 3. De Arithmetica Practica, Paris, 1502, 1512; 4. De Proportionibus, Paris, 1495, Venice, 1505, folio; 5. De Quadratura Circuli, Paris, 1495, folio.

BRADY (Nicholas), a divine and poet, born at Bandon, in Cork, in 1659. He studied at Westminster, and afterwards at Oxford and Dublin. He was a zealous promoter of the Revolution; and in 1690, when the troubles broke out in Ireland, by his interest with M'Carty, King James's general, he thrice prevented the burning of the town of Bandon. Having quitted

several preferments in Ireland, he settled in London, where he was successively promoted to several livings; and at the time of his death was rector of Clapham, minister of Richmond, and chaplain to the duke of Ormond's troop of horse guards. He composed part of the new version of Psalms, still sung in many churches of England and Ireland; the Æneid of Virgil, in 4 vols.; and 3 vols of sermons. He died May 20th, 1726.

BRADY (Robert), born in Norfolk in 1643, was master of Caius College, Cambridge, regius professor, and twice representative of that university in parliament. In 1689 he was made keeper of the records in the Tower, and physician in ordinary to James II. He wrote, An Introduction to the Old English History; An History of England, from the time of the Romans to the end of the reign of Richard II.; and A Treatise on English Boroughs. He died in 1700.

BRADYPEPSIA, from ßpadus, slow, and way, digestion, weak digestion.

BRADYPUS, the sloth, a species of quadrupeds, belonging to ne order of bruta. The characters are these: they have no fore teeth in their jaw; the dog teeth are blunt, solitary, and longer than the grinders; they have six grinders in each jaw. The body is covered with hair. There are three species, viz. 1. B. didactylus has only two toes on each fore foot, and no tail; the head is round; the ears are large; and it has no maminæ on the breast.. The body is covered with ash-colored hair. It is a native of Ceylon. 2. B. trydactylus, or American sloth, has a short tail, and three toes on each foot. It is about the size of a fox. The body is covered over with hair of a gray color; the face is naked; the throat yellowish; the fore feet are longer than the hind feet; the claws are compressed, and very strong. It has no mamma on the breast; nor any external ears, but only two winding holes. In this and the last species there is only one common excreting canal as in birds.. Its food is fruit, or the leaves of trees. It lives generally in the branches of trees; and it is worthy of remark, that it always prefers to move along the underside of the boughs, its strong fore feet enabling it to clasp it in such a manner as to secure its safety; thus passing, as has been wittily observed, the greater part of his life like a young clergyman nearly related to a bishop, in a state of suspense. When it wishes to descend it rolls itself in a ball and drops from the branch, preferring that short road' to the ground, to the labor of creeping down the trunk. Nature has guarded this animal against its enemies, by giving it such strength in its feet, that whatever it seizes it holds so fast that it never can be freed from its claws, but must there die of hunger. A dog who has been set upon the animal has thus been known to be retained in its grasp until it was starved. It walks painfully and slowly, dragging itself forward by the strength of its forefeet; turns its head as if astonished; its note au ascending hexachord; cry miserable. 3. B pentadactylus: five toes on all the feet; tail short. A heavy, clumsy, animal, of a mixed resemblance between the sloth and bog; when irri

tated gives a short harsh cry; catches what is thrown to it with its paws; eats bread, fruit, and eggs, but not roots.

BRAE-MAR, or BRAE-MARR, a mountainous district of Scotland, in Aberdeenshire, situated in the middle of the Grampian hills, about fifty miles west of Aberdeen, and one of the three divisions of that extensive territory called Marr. The mountains are the highest in Great Britain, Ben-Nevis excepted. Macduie, Cairntoul, and Breirarch, rising 4300 and 4220 feet above the level of the sea. Here are various colored crystals of considerable value; several forests, and numerous lakes and rivulets. The inhabitants are computed at about only fifteen to a square mile; and in the mountainous parts they do not reside permanently. BRAG', v. n. & adj. BRAG'GER,

BRAG'GERY,
BRAGGING, n.
BRAG'GINGLY,
BRAG'LESS,
BRAG'LY,
BRAGGART, N. & adj.
BRAG'GARDISM,
BRAG GADOCIO.

Goth, braga, braha, (from which we have our word brave); Islandic, brag; Swedish, brage, a hero; bragner, an extoller, a heroic poet, a bard; Danish, bragska; Armoric, braga; Fr. braquer, to extol. Junius has ob

served that brag in Scotch is terror, fear; and he quotes several instances from G. Douglas of the word so used; and hence he infers was deduced the English application of the word, to those who endeavour to strike terror into their opponents by the noisiness of their threats. Skinner believes that the word is derived from the Ang.-Sax. bræc-an, to break; hence to break or burst out in noisy threats or boastings. Thus we may collect the various meanings of the wordto brag is distinguished from the just celebration of our own or another's merit. It implies exaggeration a person attempting to appear, by his own noisy boasting, either greater, braver, or better than he is. A brag is a coward, vaunting his bravery; the ass in a lion's skin, trying to roar when he can only bray. A braggadocio is a puffing, swelling, boasting fellow, one who makes clamorous professions.

An horne blew with many boustous bragge, Which all this world with war hath made to wagge. Chaucer.

Hard by his side grewe a bragging brere,
Which proudly thrust into the element,
And seemed to threat the firmament.

Spencer's Shepheard's Calendar.

But it was scornefull braggadochio,
That with his servant Trompart hovered there. Id.

Seest not thilk hawthorn stud,
How bragly it begins to bud,
And utter his tender head?
Flora now calleth forth each flower,

And bids him make ready Maia's bower.

Mrs. Bull's condition was looked upon as desperate by all the men of art; but there were those that bragged they had an infallible ointment.

Arb.

The world abounds in terrible fanfarons, in the masque of men of honor; but these braggadocios are easy to be detected. L'Estrange.

By the plot, you may guess much of the characters of the persons; a braggadocio captain, a parasite, and a lady of pleasure. Dryden.

Every busy little scribbler now Swells with the praises which he gives himself, And taking sanctuary in the crowd, Brags of his impudence, and scorns to mend. Rosc. Yet lo! in me what authors have to brag on, Reduced at last to hiss in my own dragon. Pope.

As yet, notwithstanding the strutting and lying independence of a braggart philosophy, nature maintains her rights, and great names have great prevalence. Burke's Appeal to the Old Whigs.

BRAG, a game at cards, wherein as many may partake as the cards will supply; the eldest hand dealing three to each person at one time, and turning up the last card all round. This done, each gamester puts down three stakes, one for each card. The first stake is won by the best card turned up in the dealing round; beginning from the ace, king, queen, knave, and so downwards. When cards of the same value are turned up to two or more of the gamesters, the eldest hand gains; but the ace of diamonds wins, to whatever hand it be turned up. The second stake is won by what is called the brag, which consists in one of the gamesters challenging the rest to produce cards equal to his. A pair of aces is the best brag, a pair of kings the next, and so on; and a pair of any sort wins the stake from the most valuable single card. In this part consists the great diversion of the game; for, by the artful management of the looks, gesture, and voice, it