was a repository for small coal: over that was the concert room, which was very long and narrow; and had a ceiling so low, that a tall man could but just stand upright in it. The stairs to this room were on the outside of the house, and could scarcely be ascended without crawling. The house itself was very old and low built, and in every respect so mean as to be a fit habitation only for a very poor man.' This mansion, despicable as it may seem, attracted to it as polite an audience as ever the opera did. Here Dr. Pepusch, Handel, Bannister, Henry Needler, and other capital masters, were performers. At the first institution of the club, Britton would receive no gratuity whatever from his guests, and was offended whenever any was offered him. According to some, however, he departed from this; and the rules were, that Britton should find the instruments, the subscription be 10s. a year, and the company have coffee at a penny a dish. The singularity of his character, the course of his studies, and the collections he made, induced suspicions that Britton was not the man he seemed to be. Among other groundless conjectures, his musical assembly was thought by some to be only a cover for seditious meetings; by others, for magical purposes; and Britton himself was taken for an atheist, a Jesuit, &c. The circumstances of his death are not less remarkable than those of his life. There lived near him one Samuel Honeyman, a blacksmith, who became famous as a ventriloquist, and Robe, an acquaintance of Britton's, was foolish enough to introduce this man to the latter, for the sole purpose of terrifying him. He succeeded but too well: Honeyman, without moving his lips, or seeming to speak, announced, as from afar off, the death of Britton within a few hours, with an intimation that the only way to avert his doom was for him to fall on his knees immediately, and say the Lord's prayer: the poor man not only did this, but went home, took to his bed, and in a few days died. This happened in September, 1714. Britton left behind him a large collection of books, music, and musical instruments. Of the former, Sir Hans Sloane was a considerable purchaser. His collection of music, mostly pricked by himself, sold for nearly £100. In the British Museum there is a painting of him taken from the life. A mezzotinto print was taken from this, for which Mr. Hughes (author of the siege of Damascus, and a frequent performer at Britton's concerts,) wrote the following lines: Tho' mean thy rank, yet in thy humble cell, BRIVA ISARE, in ancient geography, a town of Gallia Belgica on the river Isara or Õise; now called Pontoise. BRIVATES, in ancient geography, a port of Gallia Celtica; now called Brest. BRIXELLUM, in ancient geography, a town of Gallia Cispadana; remarkable for being the place where Otho killed himself after the battle of Bedriacum: now called Bresello. BRIXEN (the Sublavio of the ancients), the capital of a district, formerly a bishopric, of the Tyrol, of the same name, situated to the south of the Brenner Mountains, in the midst of hills and vineyards, and at the confluence of the Rientz and Eysach. This place is well built, and the houses, which are painted, are adorned with piazzas, and diversified by several spacious squares. The palace of the bishop is in appearance mean, though capacious and well built. In the cathedral there are several paintings by the first Tyrolese masters, and particularly by the Unterbergers. There are six other churches, of which the Benedictine church is the finest. The town is governed by its own magistrates, viz. two burgomasters, and two counsellors. The mineral waters in the neighbourhood are much frequented; and at Klausen, about three leagues from Brixen, is a fine collection of paintings in the convent of Capuchins. The principal article of commerce is the red wine of the surrounding country. The district altogether contains about 375 square miles, and a population of 27,000 persons. It was ceded to Bavaria in 1806, and restored to Austria in 1815 with the rest of the Tyrol. It contains three towns and numerous villages. BRIZA, in botany, quaking grass: a genus of the digynia order, and triandria class of plants. Natural order, fourth, gramina: CAL. two-valved and multiflorous; the spicula bifarious: COR. two valved, the valves heart-shaped, blunt; seeds growing to the corolla, depressed. Species seven, natives of Europe, and several of our own country; especially 1. B. minor, with triangular seven-flowered spikelets. 2. B. media, with ovate seven-flowered spikelets, both found in our meadows and pastures. BRIZE-VENTS, shelters used by gardeners who have not walls on the north side, to keep cold winds from damaging their beds of melons. They are enclosures about six or seven feet high, and an inch or more thick; made of straw, supported by stakes fixed in the ground, and props across, both inside and outside, fastened either with willow twigs, or iron wire. BROACH', v. & n. I Goth. brodde, Swed. BROACH'ER. S brodd, Welsh brwyd, Fr. broche. A spit, a tap, a point, a breast ornament. Hence, to spit, to pierce as with a spit, to tap a vessel, by piercing it in order to draw the liquor; to open any store; to let out, or utter any thing. Were now the general of our gracious empress, As in good time he may, from Ireland coming, Bringing rebellion broached upon his sword. Shakspeare. Dryden. Those who were the chief instruments of raising the noise, made use of those very opinions themselves had broached, for arguments to prove that the change of ministers was dangerous. Swift's Exam. BROACH, BROCHA, BROCHE, or BROTCHE, in Scotland, is the name of a utensil, or rather ornament, which the Highlanders use, like the fibula of the Romans, to fasten their vests. They are usually made of silver; of a round figure; with a tongue crossing its diameter, to fasten the folds of the garment, sometimes with two tongues, one on each side of a cross bar in the middle. There are preserved in several families, ancient broaches of very elegant workmanship, and richly ornamented. Some of them are inscribed with names, to which particular virtues used to be attributed; others are furnished with receptacles for relics, supposed to preserve from harm. So that these broaches seem to have been worn not only for use and ornament, but for amulets. One or two of this sort are figured and described by Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, i. 90. iii. 14., edit. 3. BROACH, with hunters, the start of a young stag's horn. BROACH, a district and town of Hindostan, in the province of Gujerat, situated between the twenty-first and twenty-third degrees of northern latitude, and bounded on the west by the gulf of Cambay. It is one of the best cultivated and most populous territories on the west coast of India, and celebrated for the production of cotton. It was (eded to the British by the Mahrattas in 1803, with the exception of three small districts, which are the private estate of the peishwa. The river Nerbuddah runs through the centre of it; on an island in this river stands the largest tree in the world: 7000 persons it is said have stood under its shade. BROACH, the capital of the above district, supposed to be the Barygaza of the ancients, is a place of considerable trade, and situated on the north bank of the Nerbuddah river, about twenty-five miles from the sea. It was twice taken by the British, viz. in 1772 and 1803, and remains still in our possession. Here is an hospital for criminals, supported by voluntary contributions among the Hindoos. BROAD', BROAD'EN, BROAD'ISH, Goth. braid, Swed. bred, Sax. brad, Teut. breit, Belg. breed, Per. burdur. Wide extended, open. It is opposed to narrow, distinguished from long, and is applied to space in the sense of width; to objects in the sense of bulk and dimensions; to any thing clear, open, unconcealed. Figuratively, to what is gross, coarse, obscenic, unreserved, bold, and indelicate. BROAD'LY, BROAD'NESS, BROAD'SIDE, BROAD-AXE, BROAD'-CLOTH, BROAD-EYED, BROAD'-LEAVEd, BROAD-SHOULdered, BROAD'-SWORD, BROAD'-WISE. Gret was the prees that swarmed to and fro Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Who can speak broader than he that has no house to put his head in? Such may rail against great buildings. Shakspeare. In despite of broad-eyed watchful day, Id. As chaste and modest as he is esteemed, it cannot be denied, but in some places he is broad and fulsome. Dryden. I have used the cleanest metaphor I could find, to Id. palliate the broadness of the meaning. To walk with eyes broad open to your grave. Of all your knowledge this vain fruit you have, If open vice be what you drive at, Id. Id. Woodward on Fossils. He, in fighting a duel, was run through the thigh with a broad-sword. Wiseman. It no longer seeks the shelter of night and darkness, but appears in the broadest light. Decay of Piety. The top may be justly said to grow broader, as the bottom narrower. Temple. Pope. Less pleasing far than virtue's very tears. The broadest mirth, unfeeling folly wears, If one should, with his hand, thrust a piece of iron broadwise against a flat ceiling of his chamber, the iron would not fall as long as the force of the hand perseveres to press against it. Boyle. and, as I thought, every way qualified for a rich I am a tall, broad-shouldered, impudent, black fellow; Spectator. widow. BROAD PIECE, a denomination given to certain gold pieces broader than a guinea, particularly caroluses and jacobuses. BROAD RIVER, a river or arm of the sea, on the east coast of North America, which extends along the west and north-west sides of Beaufort or Port Royaì island, on the coast of South Carolina, and receives the river Coosa from the north west. This may likewise be called an arm of the sea; its waters extend north-westward, and meet those of Broad river round a small island at the mouth of Coosa Hatchee river. The two embrace all the islands between Combahee river and Dawfuskee sound, with which also Broad river communicates. Channels be tween Broad river and Coosa form the islands. The entrance through Broad river to Beaufort harbour, one of the best in the state, is between Hilton's Head and St. Philip's Point. BROAD-STAIRS, a hamlet of St. Peter's, Isle of Thanet, Kent, distant from Ramsgate two miles north, on the sea-shore, is seventy-five miles east from London. It is chiefly to be noticed as a fashionable and retired resort for sea-bathing. Here are the remains of an ancient gateway, which appears to have been part of some fort of the coast. The bathing machines, and public rooms, are on the same construction as those at Ramsgate; and on the cliff is a good library. It has a small pier, at which light vessels load and deliver their cargoes. The parish church of St. Peter is a handsome gothic structure, a mile distant; the steeple is remarkable for a crack from the top to the bottom, occasioned by the shock of an earthquake, 1580. and has been attempted in other places with little success. There is also a gilt copper wire, made in the same manner as the gilt silver. Savary observes, that this kind of wire, called false gold, is prepared chiefly at Nuremberg; and that the ci-devant ordinances of France required it to be spun, for distinction from the gilt silver, on flaxen or hempen threads. One of our writers takes notice, that the Chinese, instead of flatted gilt wire, use slips of gilt paper, which they both interweave in their stuffs and twist upon silk threads: this practice he inconsiderately proposes as a hint to the British weaver. But, whatever be the beauty of stuffs of this kind of manufacture, it is obvious that they must want durability. The Chinese themselves, according to Du Halde's account, sensible of this imperfection, scarcely use them any otherwise than in tapestries, and such other ornaments as are not intended to be much worn, or exposed to moisture. The Venetians have carried on a large trade to the Levant, in a kind of brocade called domasquete, which, though it has only about half the quantity of gold or silver as that made among us, looks far more beautiful. The flatted wire is neither wound close together on the silk threads, nor the threads stuck close in the weaving; yet by passing the stuff betwixt rolls, the disposition and management of which is kept a secret, the tissue or flower is made to appear one entire brilliant I have the conveniency of buying and importing judging this manufacture worthy of public attenplate of gold or silver. The French ministry, BROAD-SWORD, a sword with a broad blade, chiefly designed for cutting; not much used in the British service, except in some few regiments of cavalry and Highland infantry. Among the cavalry, this weapon has in general given place to the sabre. BROCA'DE, Fr. brocade, Ital. broccata, BROCA DED. from brooch, see BROOCH; silk or stuff variegated with gold or silver embroidery. rich brocades. Spectator. Or stain her honour, or her new brocade; Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade. Pope. Gay. BROCADE, OF BROCADO, a stuff of gold, silver, or silk, raised and enriched with flowers, foliages, and other ornaments, according to the fancy of the merchants or manufacturers. Formerly the word signified only a stuff, wove all of gold, both in the warp and in the woof, or all of silver, or of both mixed together; thence it passed to those of stuffs in which there was silk mixed, to raise and terminate the gold or silver flowers; but at present all stuffs, even those of silk alone, whether they be grograms of Tours or of Naples, sattins, and even taffeties or lustrings, if they be but adorned and worked with some flowers or other figures, are called brocades. In manufacturing brocades, the flatted gilt wire is spread on threads of yellow silk, approaching as near as may be to the color of gold itself. The wire, winding off from a bobbin, twists about the thread as it spins round; and by means of curious machinery, too complex to be described here, a number of threads are thus twisted at once by turning one wheel. The principal art consists in so regulating the motion, that the several circumvolutions of the flatted wire on each side may just touch one another, and form, as it were, one continued covering. It is said, that at Milan there is made a sort of flatted wire gilt only on one side, which is wound upon the thread, so that only the gilt side appears; and that the preparation of this wire is kept a secret, tion, engaged the ingenious Mr. Vaucanson, to contrive the machinery; a gentleman weil known for his curious pieces of mechanism. This gentleman, in the memoirs of the Academy for 1757, gives an account of his success, and of the establishment of this manufacture at Lyons. The lower roll is made of wood, thirty-two inches in length; and fourteen in diameter; the upper one of copper, thirty-six inches long and eight in diameter. This last is hollow, and open at one end, for introducing iron heaters. For making the roll cylindrical, he has a particular kind of lathes, wherein the cutting tool, which the most dexterous hand could not guide in a straight line through such a length as thirty-six inches, is made to slide by means of a screw, on two large steel rulers, perfectly straight, and capable of being moved at pleasure, nearer, and always exactly parallel to the axis of the roll. He first disposed the rolls nearly as in the common flatting mill. In this disposition, ten men were scarcely sufficient for turning them with force enough to extend the gilding duly; and the collars, in which the axis of the rolls turned at each end, wore so fast, that the pressure continually diminished, insomuch that a piece of stuff of ten ells, had the gilding sensibly less extended on the last part than on the first. He endeavoured to obviate this inconvenience by screwing the rolls closer and closer in proportion as the stuff passed through, or as the wearing of the collars occasioned more play between them; but this method produced an imperfection in the stuff, every turn of the screw making a sensible bar across it. To lessen the attrition, each end of the axis, instead of a collar, was made to turn between three iron cylinders, called friction wheels; but even this did not answer fully, for now another source of unequal pressure was discovered. The wooden roll being compressible, had its diameter sensibly diminished: it likewise lost its roundness, so that the pressure varied in different points of its revolution. On trying different kinds both of European and Indian woods, all the hard ones split, the soft ones warped without splitting, and of more than twenty rolls, there was not one which continued round for twenty-four hours. These failures put him upon contriving another method of pressing the rolls together, so that the force should always accommodate itself to whatever inequalities might happen. The axis of the copper roll being made to turn between friction-wheels as before, that of the wooden one is pressed upwards by a level at each end, furnished with a half collar for receiving the end of the axis. Each lever has the end of its short arm supported on the frame of the machine, and the long arm is drawn upwards by an iron rod communicating with the end of the short arm of another lever placed horizontally. To the long arm of this lever is hung a weight, and the levers are so proportioned, that a weight of 30 lbs. presses the rolls together with a force equivalent to 17,536 lbs. which was found to be the proper force for the sufficient extension of the gilding.. By this contrivance, four men can turn the rolls with more ease than ten can turn those which are kept together by screws; and the same weight acting uniformly in every part, the pressure continues always equal, though the wooden roll should even become oval, and though the stuff be of unequal thickness. . A piece of cloth, of about two ells, is sewed to the beginning and end of the stuff, to keep it out to its width when it enters and parts from the rolls, which could not be done by the hands for fear of burning or bruising them; as it would take too much time to sew these cloths to every small piece of an ell or two, a number of these are sewed together. The stuff is rolled upon a cylinder, which is placed behind the machine, and its axis pressed down by springs to keep the stuff tight as it comes off. Four iron bars, made red hot, are introduced into the copper roll, which in half an hour acquires the proper degree of heat or nearly such an one as is used for the ironing of linen; the wooden roll is then laid in its place, and the machine set to work. If more than thirty ells are to be passed at once, the wooden roll must be changed for another, for it will not bear a long continuance of the heat without danger of splitting; and therefore the manufacturer should be provided with several of these rolls, that when one is removed, another may be ready to supply its room; as soon as taken off from the machine, it should be wrapt in a cloth, and laid in a moist place. The principal inconvenience attending the use of this machine, is, that the heat necessary for extending the gilding, though it improves the brightness of white and yellow silks, is injurious to some colors, as crimson and green. A double pressure will not supply the place of heat; and the only method of preventing this injury, of rendering it as light as possible, appeared to be, to pass the stuff through with great celerity. To clean brocades neither alkalies nor soap must be used; because the former, while they clean the gold, corrode the silk, and change or discharge its color; and the latter also alters the shade, and even the species, of certain colors. But spirit of wine may be used without any danger of its injuring either the color or quality of the subject; and in many cases proves as effectual for restoring, the lustre of the gold as the most corrosive detergents. A rich brocade, flowered with a variety of colors, after being disagreeably tarnished, had the lustre of the gold perfectly restored by washing it with a soft brush dipped in warm spirit of wine, and some of the colors of the silk which were likewise soiled, became at the same time remarkably bright and lively. Spirit of wine seems to be the only material adapted to this intention, and probably the boasted secret of certain artists is no other than this spirit disguised. Dr. Lewis says he does not know of any other that is of sufficient activity to discharge the foul matter, without being hurtful to the silk. As to powders, however fine, and however cautiously used, they scratch and wear the gold, which here is only superficial, and of extreme tenuity. BROCARDICA, BROCARDICS, denote maxims or principles in law; such as those published by Azo, under the title of Brocardica Juris. Vossius derives the word from the Greek πрoraρxia, q. d. first elements. Others, with more probability, from Burchard, or Brochard, bishop of Worms, who made a collection of canons, hence called Brocardica; and as this work abounded much in sentences and proverbs, the appellation was extended to similar works. BROCATEL, or BROCADEL, a kind of coarse brocade; chiefly used for tapestry. BROCATELLO, a name given by lapidaries On broccoli and mutton round the year; BROCHOS, in surgery, a name used by some writers for bandages in general: in some of the old writers, the same word is also used for a person who has a very prominent upper lip, or teeth, and a thick mouth. BROCK', Dan. broak, Sax. broc, Fr. Jonson. BROCKLESBY (Richard), M. D., was of an Irish family, but born in 1722, at Minehead, in Somersetshire. He was educated at Ballytore, in the north of Ireland, under the sane master with Mr. Burke, though not a school-fellow of that statesman. He afterwards went to Edinburgh, and thence to Leyden, where he took his degree of M. D. in 1745. Soon after, he settled in London, and in 1751 was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians. Having obtained a diploma from Cambridge, he became, in 1756, a fellow of the college; and in 1758 was appointed physician to the army, in which capacity he served in Germany during the seven years' war. In October 1760 he was made physician to the hospitals for the British forces, and returned home a little before the conclusion of the peace of 1763. He now acquired in the metropolis an extensive practice, and a general acquaintance with the literary characters and statesmen of the age. Among others he was in terms of close intimacy with Dr. Johnson, and attended him in his last illness. Dr. Brocklesby is characterised in Boswell's Life of Johnson, as a man whose reading, knowledge of life, and good spirits, supplied him with a never-failing source of conversation; and several letters, addressed to him from Dr. Johnson, are preserved in that work. One trait of his character is omitted, however, which does him great honor. Believing that Johnson wished, in the latter part of his life, to remove to the continent for his health, and knowing the benefits that might accrue to him from that measure, Dr. Brocklesby made him an offer of an annuity of £100 during the remainder of his life; and, when this was declined, pressed him to reside in his house, as more suited to his health than the one in which he then lived. In the same noble spirit he transmitted £1000 to Burke, as a legacy he had intended leaving him, but which he thought would be of more use to him in his life time. Dr. Brocklesby died suddenly in 1797. His works are: 1. Dissertatio de Saliva Sana et Morbosa, 4to. 2. Essay concerning the Mortality of Horned Cattle, 8vo. 3. Eulogium Medicum, sivc Oratio Anniversaria Harveiana, 1760, 4to. 4. Economical and Medical Observations tending to the improvement of Medical Hospitals, 2 vols. 8vo. 5. Account of a Poisonous Root found mixed with Gentian. Phil. Trans. n. 486. 6. Case of Diabetes, Med. Observ. 7. Experiments on Seltzer-water, ib. 8. Case of Encysted Tumor of the Eye, ib. 9. Dissertation on the Music of the Ancients. BRODEUS, or BRODEAU (John), a great critic, on whom Lipsius, Scaliger, and Grotius, have oestowed great encomiums, was descended from a noble family in France, and born at Tours in 1500. He was liberally educated, and placed under Alciat to study the civil law; but he gave himself up wholly to languages and the belles lettres. He travelled into Italy, where he became acquainted with Sadolet, Bembo, &c. and applied himself to the study of mathematics, philosophy, and the sacred languages, in which he made no cmall proficiency. Then, returning to his own country, he led a retired, but not an idle, life, as his many learned works abundantly testify. He was a man free from all ambition, and ostentation, and suffered his works to be published rather under the authority of others than under his own. His chief works are: 1. A Commentary or the Anthologia. 2. Tem Books of Miscellanies. 3. Notes on Oppian, Euripides, &c. He died in 1563. BRODERA, a town of Hindostan, in the province of Gujerat, and district of Champoueer, the capital of a Mahratta chief's dominions, called the Guicowar, who is one of the British allies. His revenues are but moderate, and generally collected by an armed force. His territories adjoin Broach, and he is principally supported by the British. BRODIATORES, in the middle age, a kind of librarii, or copyists, who did not write the words and letters plain, but variously flourished and decorated, after the manner of embroidery. BRODIUM, a term used by some writers in pharmacy, for a liquor in which any solid substance has been boiled, is to be preserved, or with which a medicine too strong for use alone is to be diluted. BRODY, a town in the circle of Brody or Zloczow, Austrian Galicia, situated on the borders of the Russian government of Volhynia. It is a trading place of consequence, containing a castle, four parish churches, 2000 Christian inhabitants, and no less than 13,000 Jews. It carries on an extensive commerce with Moldavia, Walachia, the Crimea, and other parts of Turkey and Russia, receiving in return for Polish merchandise, the horses, black cattle, wax, honey, tallow, skins, fur, anise, and fruit, produced in these and other countries. The Jews here are in the habit of frequenting the principal fairs of Germany; and at Brody is a central synagogue. BROGUE. Ital. brog, bruac, Wel. bro-aeg, from bro, country, and aeg, speech. Thus it signifies a country accent, particularly of the Irish. It is also applied to a shoe made of raw leather. Ir. bro given, a country shoe; Wel. gwintas, shoes. Farquhar. His brogue will detect mine. I thought he slept; and put My clouted brogues from off my feet, whose rudeness Answered my steps too loud. Shakspeare. Sometimes it is given out, that we must either take these halfpence, or eat our brogues. Swift. But what vexed me most was that d- d Scottish rogue Goldsmith. With his long-winded speeches, his smiles, and his BROIDERERS. Goth. broda; Dan. brode; Welsh, brodiaw; Fr. brodir, from Goth. brodde, a point. See BROCADE. To adorn with figures in needle-work; flower-work; ornaments wrought upon cloth; to braid, knit, wreathe, or interweave. A robe, and a broidered coat, and a girdle. |