Bred up in grief, can pleasure be our theme? Our endless anguish does not nature claim? Reason and sorrow are to us the same. Lucina, it seems, was breeding, as she did nothing but entertain the company with a discourse upon the difficulty of reckoning to a day. Spectator. BREENBERG (Bartholomew), an excellenc painter, born at Utrecht in 1620; and best known by his Christian name Italised, Bartolomeo, he having spent the early part of his life in Rome. His pictures were held in the highest estimation. He excelled in landscapes, which he enriched with historical subjects. The figures and animals were drawn in a masterly manner. He also etched from his own designs a set of twenty-four Views and Landscapes, ornamented with Ruins. He died in 1660, aged forty. BREEZE', BREE', BRIZE. Ang.-Sax. briose; Belgic, brems; Ital. brissio; Welsh, bruth; from Goth. bry, brodde, a point or sting. The gad-fly. Till that a brize a scorned little creature, Through his fairie hide his angrie sting did threaten And all his plenteous pasture nought him pleased. Cleopatra, The breeze upon her like a cow in June, Spenser. BREEZE, Dryden. Goth. byr; Dan. bær; Belg. breeze; Fr. brise; Ital. brezza; Port. brizo. A gentle gale; a light wind; a wafting air, from the verb to bear. Our generall prepared to be in readiness, to take the first advantage of the coming of a brize of winde. Sir Francis Drake. The World Encompassed. We find that these hottest regions of the world, scated under the equinoctial line, or near it, are so refreshed with a daily gale of easterly wind, which the Spaniards call breeze, that doth ever more blow stronger in the heat of the day. Raleigh. The torrid zone was by our predecessors held to be uninhabitable, but by our modern travellers found to be most temperate, bedewed with frequent rains, and moistening showers, the brise and cooling blasts in some parts, as Acosta describes, most pleasant and fertile. How plain I ken whence love his rise begun, Sure he was born some bloody butcher's son, Bred up in shambles; where our younglings slain, Erst taught him mischief and to sport with pain. Gay. BREEDING, in a moral sense, denotes a person's behaviour in the external offices of social life. In this sense we say well-bred, ill-bred, a man of breeding, &c. Good breeding is hard to define; none can understand the theory but those who have the practice. Good breeding amounts to much the same with what is otherwise called politeness, amongst the ancient Romans urbanity. It is so nearly allied to virtue, that it will often lead a man into it; although, it must be owned, there are too many instances of its failing to produce this happy effect. Chesterfield, with all his good breeding, was a very bad moralist. Shaftesbury compares the well- His oozy limbs. bred man with the real philosopher: both characters aim at what is excellent, aspire to a just taste, and keep in view the model of what is beautiful and becoming. Horace seems to have united both characters: Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in Burton's Anat. Mcl. From land a gentle breeze arose by night, Serenely shone the stars, the moon was bright, And the sea trembled with her silver light. Dryden. The seer, while zephyrs curl the swelling deep, Basks on the breezy shore, in grateful sleep, Gradual sinks the breeze Into a perfect calm; that not a breath Pope. Thomson. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, Embarked, the sail unfurled, the light breeze blew— How much had Conrad's memory to review. Byron's Corsair. BREEZE'. Fr. braise; Ital. bragia. Cinders, burnt coals. See BRASIER. 49. BREEZE, in brick-making, small ashes and cinders sometimes madeuse of instead of coals, for the burning of bricks. But as this does not so well answer the end, the use of it was prohibited by 12 Geo. I. cap. 35, but allowed by 3 Geo. II. cap. 22, and 10 Geo. III. cap. BREEZE, a shifting wind that blows from sea or land for certain hours in the day or night; common in Africa and some parts of the East and West Indies. Breezes differ from etesiæ, or trade winds, as the former are diurnal, or have their periods each day; and the latter are annual, and blow at a distance from land. The sea breezes rule by day, and the land breezes by night, being constant as the seasons of the year, or course of the sun, on which they seem to depend: not but that they appear sooner or later, stronger or weaker, in some places than in others; and vary the alternative according to the several latitudes, situations, and soils, &c. of the countries where they are found. See WIND. BREGENTZ, or BERGENTZ, a district and town of Suabia, in Germany, situated at the east end of the lake of Constance, six miles south of Lindau. The whole tract, according to M. Hassel, contains 84,000 inhabitants, exporting a considerable quantity of timber and cattle. To the south is a noted pass into Italy, called Bregentzer Clause. It is also the name of the river on which the town stands. It was taken possession of by a column of the French army, under General Kellerman, in July 1796. BREGMA, in anatomy, the same with sinciput, or the forehead. The bregma consists chiefly of two bones, hence also called bregmatis ossa, or ossa parietalia. It properly denotes the middle and fore part of the head, situated over the forehead, and extending on both sides to the temples. The origin of the word is obscure, and has been much controverted. BREHAR, one of the Scilly islands, lying thirty miles almost directly west of the Land's End in Cornwall. It is the roughest and most mountainous of them all, and not many years ago there were only two families in it. There are several barrows edged with stone, in which they buried considerable persons in ancient times; besides many monuments of the Druids. Some are of opinion, that this with the rest made but one island, which is the reason why so many antiquities are now found in most of hem. BREHONS were the provincial judges among the ancient Irish, by whom justice was administered, and controversies decided. These sages are by some writers said to have been a distinct tribe, having competent lands allowed them in inheritance; by others to have been hereditary magistrates, attached to various tribes. Their decisions were generally made in the open air, on the tops of hills; where particular spots are frequently called to this day Brehon chairs. In criminal cases the Brehon had the eleventh part of all the fines; which could not but be considerable at a time when murders, rapes, robVOL. IV. beries, and the like offences, were only subject to pecuniary commutations. Brehonicæ leges, or Brehon laws, were the general rules of law observed by the Brehons. Several fragments of the leges Brehonicæ are still extant in public and private libraries. The most complete collection is that now or lately belonging to the duke of Chandos; containing twenty-two sheets and a half closely written, full of abbreviated words, and not very legible. By the statute of Kilkenny, made under Edward III., it is enacted that no English subject shall subunit to a trial by the Brehon law. Notwithstanding which, many were still under a necessity of submitting to various modifications of it, until the whole kingdom was settled by king James I. Why Spenser and some modern writers should stigmatise these laws as most wicked, because murder was compounded by bribery, we are at a loss to conceive. The principle of pecuniary compensation for all crimes pervading equally the Anglo-Saxon laws, and those of all the German nations: not to mention that at this time enlightened England awards a man only pecuniary damages for the greatest moral injury that can be inflicted on his family. BREIRACH, a mountain of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at the south-west extremity of the county, having six springs, called the Wells of Dee, 4000 feet above the level of the ocean; they form themselves into a copious stream, which falls over a precipice; and are thus the sources of the river DEE, which see. Its whole height is about 4220 feet. BREME'. Goth. brim; Ang.-Sax. brem. Rage, or fume; cruel, sharp, severe, furious, fierce, stormy. And anon, He was ware of Arcite and Palamon, That foughten breme. Chaucer's Cant. Tales. And when the shining sun laugheth once, You deemen the spring come at once: But eft, when you count you freed from fear, Comes the breme winter, with chamfred brows, Full of wrinkles and frosty furrows. Spenser. BREMEN, a duchy of Germany, in the kingdom of Hanover, lying between the Weser and the Elbe; of which the former separates it from the duchy of Oldenburg, and the latter from that of Holstein. The air is cold; and the whole country low and flat, but the soil, like that of many of our fenny districts, very rich and productive in corn, hemp, flax, and pasturage. Excellent buck-wheat and sheep-walks are found on the Geestland, or central part of the duchy, which is accounted the least fertile. The manufactures are ropes, linen, and sail-cloth; and there are also a few ship-building yards. It formerly belonged to Sweden, but was afterwards conquered by Denmark, who sold it to the king of Great Britain, as elector of Hanover, a 1716. In winter it is subject to inundations. At Christmas, 1617, some thousands of cattle were lost, and several hundred people; and the country was so covered with water, that it cost immense sums to repair the dykes. The sovereignty is said to have cost the electorate 800,000 rix-dollars. 2 L BREMEN, a large, populous, and strong town, the capital of the preceding duchy, with an archbishop's see. The whole territory belonging to it contains seventy-five square miles, and a population of 48,500 individuals. The river Weser runs through it, and divides it into the old and new 'own. The harbour is six miles nearer the sea, at a place called Elsfliet. On an average, 200 Bremen ships pass through the Sound yearly, and about 900 great and small enter the port from all quarters, yet the annual revenue is not above 100,000 dollars, it is said, or £17,000 sterling. Only boats can approach the town, which is in general well built. The town-house, the exchange, and the cathedral, are the buildings principally worth notice. There is also an academy here, founded in 1529. In September 1739, while the inhabitants were asleep, the powder magazine was fired by lightning; and all the houses were shaken, as if there had been a violent earthquake. This town is governed by its own magistrates, and is divided into quarters, each of which has a burgo-master. The religion is partly Lutheran, and partly Calvinistic, the latter predominating. It has a considerable trade in its own manufacture of cotton and woollen stuffs, sugar, dye-stuffs, &c. with France, England, Spain, and Portugal; and in return imports provisions, with which it supplies Westphalia, and the countries about Hanover. It has also some profitable fisheries, and a trade in blubber. The French took possession of Bremen in 1806, and annexed it to the empire, as the head of the department of the mouths of the Weser, in 1810. It recovered its independence in 1813. It is fifty-four miles south-west of Hamburgh, and ninety-five northwest of Brunswick. BREN', BRENT', BREN'NING, BREN'NINGLY.. From Sax. brennen, to burn. Burnt.-Obsolete. The fires brenne upon the auter clere, While Emelie was thus in her praiere. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. And after all this-to sleu me utterly, Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly Ystiked thurgh my trewe, careful hert, That shapen was my deth erst than my shert. Id. What flames, quod he, when I thee present see In danger rather to be dant then brent. Spenser. BRENNAGE, BRENNAGIUM, or BRENNATICUM, in authors of the middle age, a kind of tribute paid in lieu of bran, or bran itself, which the tenants were obliged to furnish for the support of the lord's hounds. BRENNER (Henry), was born at Kronoby, in West Bothnia, in 1669, and received his education at Upsal. In 1687, being appointed to attend the Swedish envoy to the court of Persia, he acquired the language of that country, so that Sarug Khan, the Persian ambassador, when about to depart for Stockholin, took him into his suite as an interpreter. War however having broken out between Charles XII. and the czar, the latter caused Brenner to be arrested on the road at Moscow in 1700, and kept him in confinement till the peace of Nystadt. In 1722 he returned to Stockholm, and was appointed royal librarian, a situation which he enjoyed till his death in 1732. He translated from the Armenian the history of that country, by Moses Armenus Choronensis, a work he printed at Stockholm, on his return in 1723. His other works are: Observations on the Expedition of the Czar Peter the Great against the Persians, and an Accurate Chart of the Caspian Sea, the River Daxia (supposed to be the ancient laxartes), &c. This chart was inserted, without acknowledgment, in the Memorabilia Orientalis Partis Asiæ. BRENNUS, a celebrated captain among the Gauls, who, about A.A.C. 388, entered Italy with a powerful army; made great conquests there; defeated the Romans: and sacked Rome. The capitol alone was defended; and Camillus, coming to its relief, drove the Gauls not only out of Rome, but out of all Italy. See ROME. BRENT Sir Nathaniel, LL. D. was born at Little Woolford, Warwickshire, in 1573; and educated at Oxford, where he took his degrees. In 1613 he travelled abroad, and on his return married the daughter and heiress of Dr. Abbot, bishop of Salisbury, and niece of archbishop Abbot; who sent him to Venice in 1617, to procure a copy of the history of the Council of Trent, from the joint authors, fathers Paul and Fulgentio; which he translated from Italian into English. He received several promotions from the archbishop, and was knighted by king Charles I. In 1646, when Oxford surrendered to the parliament, he was restored to his warden-ship of Merton College, and appointed chief visitor of that university. He died at London in 1652, aged seventy-nine. BRENTA, in ornithology, the Brent goose, a species of anas, with a black neck and a white collar round it. It has been usually confounded with the barnacle, and supposed to differ from it only in sex; but this is erroneous. It is somewhat larger than the barnacle, and is longer bodied. BRENTFORD, a town of Middlesex, on the Thames, seven miles from London, on the great road to the west. It is divided into the old and new town, in which last are the church, and the market-house where the county elections are held. It consists almost entirely of a single long street, well stocked with public houses, and has a weekly corn market. Here are also one of the largest and most respectable distilleries in the kingdom and several malting-houses. The little river Brent is here joined by the Grand Junction Canal. At Brentford, Edmund Ironside, in the year 1016, attacked and defeated the Danes under Canute, in 1642 Charles I. after the battle of Edgehill, drove two regiments of the parliamentary forces from hence, with the loss of 500 men. Half a mile onwards to the west is Sion House, a nunnery founded in 1414, by Henry V. After the suppression of religious houses, it was granted by Edward VI. to the duke of Somerset, who built a magnificent edifice on the site, now the property of the duke of Northumberland. Here Lady Jane Grey resided, when she accepted the offer of the crown. BRENTUS, in zoology, a genus of insects; order coleoptera. Antennæ moniliform, inserted beyond the middle of the snout; head projecting; snout cylindrical and long. Species eleven; found on the shores of the Atlantic. BREQUIGNY (Lewis-George Oudard de Feudrix), was born in the country of Caux in 1715, and died in 1795. He became a member of the French Academy, and of that of inscriptions, and was sent to England to collect materials respecting the French history. Access was given him to the Tower records, and the British Museum, by which he was enabled to throw considerable light upon many important historical points. His principal works are-1. A History of the Revolutions of Genoa, 3 vols. 12mo. 2. An edition of Strabo. 3. Lives of the Ancient Greek Orators, with a translation of several of their Discourses, 2 vols. 12mo. 4. Diplomata, Chart ad res Franciscas Spectantia, 4to. 5. Chronological Tables, &c. 5 vols. folio. 6. Ordonnances des Rois de France de la Troisieme Race, 6 vols. place, occasioned by the lightning falling on a magazine in the neighbourhood of the gate of St. Nazarro, which levelled several churches, and nearly eighty houses. It lies thirty miles southeast of Bergamo and 106 west of Venice. BRESCIANO, a province of Italy formerly in the territory of Venice, now part of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom; bounded on the north by the Grisons and the bishopric of Trent, on the east by the lake Garda, the Veronese, and the duchy of Mantua, on the south by Mantua and the Cremonese, and on the west by the Cremasco, the Bergamasco, and the Valteline. It is watered by several rivers, which render it very fertile; is full of towns and villages, and has not less perhaps than 500,000 inhabitants. The towns of most note are Brescia, Breto, Chiari, Salo, and Verola-Alghise. The Brescian dialect of the Italian is considerably intermixed with French. Northward the country is mountainous, but in the south it is spread out in fertile plains, producing sometimes in one season, grain, flax, and millet. BREREWOOD (Edward), a very learned The great fertility has been attributed to the extent English mathematician and antiquary, the son of of irrigation, the rivers Chiese, Oglio, Mella, and Robert Brerewood a tradesman, who was thrice Susa, intersecting the country in a variety of direcmayor of Chester; was born in that city in 1565. tions, and branching out into canals. The inhabiHe was educated in Chester; and admitted, in tants have also the character of being very indus1581, of Brazen-nose College, Oxford. In 1596 trious. The most celebrated production is the wine he became the first professor of astronomy in called the vino di santo, or vino santo, which, Gresham College in London, where he led a after the lapse of some years, becomes of a beauvery retired life. He died there of a fever, Nov. tiful golden color, and acquires an exquisite 4th 1613. He never published any tuing during taste. Here also are manufactures of earthenhis life, but after his death came out the following ware, paper, iron, copper, and fire-arms, and works. 1. De Ponderibus et Pretiis Veterum considerable quantities of silk are procured. At Nummorum. 2. Enquiries Touching the Diversi- Gardona, about ten miles from Brescia, is a canties of Languages and Religion through the chief non foundry, and fishing is here an important parts of the World. 3. Elementa Logicæ in occupation. The sands of the Adda and Oglio Gratiam Studiosæ Juventutis in Acad. Oxon. 4. are said to yield particles of gold. Near the Tractatus Quidam Logici. 5, 6. Two Treatises lake of Iseo are found topazes and garnets, and on the Sabbath. 7. Tractatus duo, Quorum Pri- at Trompia, in the same valley, extensive iron mus est de Meteoris, Secundus de Oculo. 8. mines; this part of the country likewise contains Commentarii in Ethica Aristotelis. 9. Patriarchal jasper, copper, alabaster, &c. Government of the Ancient Church. BRESCIA, the capital of the district Bresciano, an ancient and large city of Italy with a bishop's see and a good citadel. The cathedral is also a noble edifice of white stone. Brescia is seated on an agreeable plain on the river Garza, which runs through it. Its walls are also washed by the Mella on the west, and the Navilio on the east. It contains about 50,000 inhabitants. They manufacture silk, linen, and hardwares, and make oil from linseed. During the French domination in Italy, it formed the chief town of the department of the Mella. It has been remarkable for its calamities. It was burnt by the Goths in the year 412, and not long after was entirely ruined by Attila. Its re-construction did not take place till after the year 452. It passed subsequently under the dominion of the Lombards and the Emperors, and in A. D. 936 Otto I. declared it a free city of the empire. It soon after became a prey to the factions of the Guelphs and Gibellines. In 1478 and 1524 it was visited by a destructive pestilence; in 1550 by the small-pox,which carried off 12,000 persons in the space of five months; in 1577 and 1630 by destructive epidemics; and on 18th August 1769 a dreadful explosion of gunpowder took BRESILIA, in ornithology, a species of tanagra, in the order of passeres. BRESLAU, or BRESLAW, a small duchy of lower Silesia, in Germany, lying between those of Wohlaw, Oels, Brieg, Schwiednitz, and Liegnitz. It is every where level and flat; is an excellent corn and pasture country, abounding with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep; but destitute of wood, except in one district. Both the property and jurisdiction belong to the king of Prussia. It contains 950 square miles, and 178,000 inhabitants; being divided into the circles of Breslau, Namslau, and Neumarket. BRESLAU, OF BRESLAW, the chief town of the duchy, and of all Silesia, is situated at the conflux of the Oder and Ohlau. It is divided into the new and old town; and including the suburbs, is of great extent. It is a bishop's see, having many large regular squares, broad streets, and stately public and private edifices; surrounded with walls and other fortifications, having six gates. There are twentysix churches, besides convents belonging to the Catholics; eight of the Lutheran, and one of the Calvinist persuasion. The cathedral church of St. John, containing seventeen chapels, is built on an island, outside of the town. The Jews have likewise two synagogues and a school, the bishop a stately palace, and the Lutherans two gymnasiums. The catholic university is a noble structure, and the exchange magnificent; the former was instituted by the emperor Leopold in 1702, and contains sometimes 400 students. This city is the third in rank, next to Berlin and Konigsburg, in the whole Prussian dominions. Its trade and manufactures are very considerable. The staple article is linen; but Turkish yarn, silk, printed cottons, calicoes, chintz, and woollen stuffs, are also largely dealt in. It was taken by Prussia in 1741, and retaken by the Austrians in 1757; but the king of Prussia recovered it again the same year, and gained a signal victory over the Austrians at Leuthen, a village not far from the capital. It was again invested by the Austrians in 1760, and endured a three days bombardment. In December, 1806, it underwent another siege and bombardment by the Bavarians and their allies; to whom, after the destruction of the entire suburbs, it was surrendered and capitulated on the 7th of the ensuing January. Breslaw is 130 miles east of Dresden, and 165 north of Vienna. BRESSAY, or BRASSA, one of the Shetland islands about four miles long and two broad, lying to the east of the coast of Shetland. It consists of 366 merks of land, and has a good harbour in Brassy Sound, where Greenland whale ships and Dutch herring vessels rendezvous. On the north is a deep bay, called Aith's Voe. The island is appropriated to pasture, and the inhabitants, who amount to several hundreds, are devoted to fishing and agriculture. Here are the remains of several chapels, and ancient forts. At the north entrance of the sound is a sunken rock, called the Unicorn, from a ship of that name, wrecked on it about the year 1568. BREST', n. s. in architecture. That member of a column, called also the torus, or tore. BREST SUMMERS. The pieces in the outward parts of any timber building, and in the middle floors, into which the girders are framed. BREST, a maritime town of France, in the department of Cape Finisterre, and ci-devant province of Brittany, seated on the declivity of a hill, on the side of its port, which is one of the best in Europe. One of its chief advantages is that vessels can leave it with almost any wind. It contains a noble naval arsenal and dock-yard, which the authorities are very jealous of exhibiting to strangers. The craggy and narrow entrance, into the port, called the Goulet, is guarded by a strong castle seated on a rock, which cannot be attempted on the sea side; and is defended on the land side by a ditch and other fortifications. There are several sunken rocks near the entrance; on the most dangerous of which, the Mingan, the Republican, a French ship of the line, was wrecked in 1794: foreign vessels, indeed, always require a pilot here. The streets of the town are narrow and ill-contrived, and the inland trade is small. An attempt was made to seize Brest, in 1694, by a British fleet and army, under lord Berkley, who were repulsed after a desperate conflict, with the loss of 400 seamen, 200 soldiers, and the gallant general Talmache. But he more successfully managed to blockade this port during the greater part of that war. It is 48 leagues west of Rennes, and 41 west of Paris. BRET, n. s. A fish of the turbot kind, also burt or brut. BRET is a name given on the coasts of Lincolnshire to the turbot, a fish extremely plentiful there, and taken in vast numbers. They are caught in a net, trailed by two horses, the one going up to the middle of his body in water, the other on shore. BRETACHIÆ, in writers of the middle age, denote wooden towers or castles, wherewith towns or camps were defended. BRETAGNE, a ci-devant province of France, now formed into five departments, viz. North Coast, Finisterre, Ille and Vilaine, Lower Loire, and Morbihan. See BRITTANY. BRETESSE, in heraldry, denotes a line embattled on both sides. BRETEUIL, a town of France, in the departof the Lower Seine, seated on the river Iton, fifteen miles south-west of Evreux. Long. 1° 0′ E., lat. 48° 56′ N. BRETHREN, n. s. The plural of brother. See BROTHer. All these sects are brethren to each other in faction, ignorance, iniquity, perverseness, pride. Swift. BRETHREN AND CLERKS OF THE COMMON LIFE, a denomination assumed by a religious fraternity towards the end of the fifteenth century. They lived under the rule of St. Augustin, and were eminently useful in promoting the cause of religion and learning. Their society was first formed, in the fourteenth century, by Gerard de Groote, a native of Deventer; but did not flourish till it obtained the approbation of the council of Constance. It became very respectable in Holland, the Lower Germany, and the adjacent provinces. It was divided into two classes; the lettered brethren or clerks, and the illiterate: they lived in separate habitations, but maintained the closest fraternal union. The former applied to the study of polite literature, and the education of youth; whilst the latter were employed in manual labor, and the mechanic arts. They are frequently called Beghards and Lollards, by way of reproach. BRETHREN AND SISTERS OF THE FREE SPIRIT, in ecclesiastical history, an appellation assumed by a sect which sprang up towards the close of the thirteenth century, and gained many adherents in Italy, France, and Germany. They took their denomination from the words of St. Paul, Rom. viii. 2, 14, and maintained that the true children of God were invested with perfect freedom from the jurisdiction of the law. They were enthusiasts to a degree of distraction, both in their principles and practice. In their aspect, apparel, and manner of living, they resembled the Beghards, and were sometimes called after them. Some of their professed principles resembled those of the Pantheists; for they held, that all things flowed by emanation from God; that rational souls were portions of the Deity; that the universe was God; and that, by the power of contemplation, they were united to the Deity, and acquired, hereby, a glorious and sublime liberty, both from the sinful lusts and the common instincts of nature: hence they concluded, that the person, who was thus absorbed in the abyss of the Deity, became a part of the God |