416 BRIDGEPORT-BRIEF, PAPAL. Bridge'port, a sea-port of Conn., at the mouth of the Pequonnock, which empties itself into an inlet of Long Island Sound. Though the harbor does not admit large ships, having only 13 ft. on the bar at high-water, yet B. has considerable coasting-trade, and a number of vessels engaged in the fisheries. Its manufactures are extensive, particularly of carriages, harness, fire-arms, and sewing-machines; pop. 48,866. Bridg'er's Pass, a defile of the Rocky Mountains 5 m. 1., with steep, rocky walls 1,000 to 2,500 ft. h. Bridge'ton, city, port of entry, and cap. of Cumberland, Co., N. J.; on both sides of Cohansey Creek, 20 m. above its entrance into Delaware Bay. Steam-boats can ascend the Cohansey to B., and a draw-bridge connects the two divisions of the city. It is at the junction of the Vineland R.R. and the West Jersey R.R.; 38 m. S. of Philadelphia. B. contains a national bank, a public library, the West Jersey Academy, South Jersey Institute, various churches, glass-works, a rolling-mill, a nail-factory, an iron-foundry, and manufactures of leather, woolen goods, carriages, and machinery. Here are published weekly newspapers and monthly magazines; pop. 11,424. Bridge'town, the cap. of Barbadoes, is situated on the W. coast of the island along the N. side of Carlisle Bay, which forms its roadstead; pop. 21,384. It was founded about the middle of the 17th c. The present city is about 100 yrs. old, the former having been almost destroyed by fire in May, 1766. In 1831 a part of B. was destroyed by a hurricane, and in 1845 it again suffered severely from fire. It is the residence of the Bishop of Barbadoes and of the governor-general. came extinct. By his will he left £8,000, to be paid to the author of the best treatise On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as Manifested in the Creation. The then presi dent of the Royal Society of London, Davies Gilbert, to whom the selection of the author was left, with the advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and a noble friend of the deceased earl, judiciously resolved that, instead of being given to one man for one work, the money should be allotted to 8 different persons for 8 separate treatises, though all connected with the same primary theme. B. also left upward of £12,000 to the British Museum, the interest to be employed in the purchase and care of MSS. for public use. Bridge'water Treat'ises, 8 celebrated works On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, by 8 of the most eminent authors in their respective departments, published under a bequest of the last Earl of Bridgewater, whereby each writer received the sum of £1,000, besides the copyright of his own treatise. Bridg'man, (FREDERICK A.,) a very skillful Amer. artist, b. in Ala. in 1847; studied in Paris with Gérôme; settled for 2 yrs. in the Pyrenees, and later spent 2 yrs. in Algiers and Egypt. For many yrs. he has resided in Paris. His subjects are drawn almost exclusively from Eastern and Algerian life. Bridg'man, (LAURA,) a famous blind mute, b. in Hanover, N. H., 1829. She was a bright, intelligent child, but at 2 yrs. of age was seized with a violent fever which utterly destroyed both sight and hearing. For a time there seemed no hope of recovery; but she rallied and learned to find her way about Bridg'et, Saint, (prop. Birgit or Brigitte,) a famous R.C. the house and neighborhood, and even learned to sew and to saint, b. in Sweden about 1302. Her father was a prince of knit a little. A strong passion for imitation began to develop the blood-royal of Sweden. At 16 she married Ulf Gudmar- itself, and by cultivating this power she was at last enabled son, Prince of Nericia, a stripling of 18, by whom she had 8 to take her place among the educated people of the day. In children, the youngest of whom, named Catherine (b. in 1336, 1839 Dr. Howe, of Boston, undertook her care and education d. 1381) became par excellence the female saint of Sweden. at the Deaf and Dumb School. The first attempt was to give Subsequently, S. B. went to Rome, where she founded a hos- her a knowledge of arbitrary signs, by which she could interpice for pilgrims and Swedish students, which was reorgan- change thoughts with others. Then she learned to read ized by Leo X. After having made a pilgrimage to Palestine, embossed letters by the touch; next, embossed words were she d. at Rome on her return, 1373. Her bones were car-attached to different articles, and she learned to associate ried to Wadstena, and she herself was canonized in 1391 by each word with its corresponding object. A pat on the head told Pope Boniface IX. Her festival is on the 8th of Oct.-Not her when she was right in her spelling-lesson. The next step to be confounded with the Swedish saint is another S. B., or was to procure a set of metal types, with the letters cast at the St. Bride, a native of Ireland, who flourished at the end of ends, and a board with square holes for their insertion, so as the 5th and beginning of the 6th c., and was renowned for to be read by the finger. In six months she could write down her beauty. To escape the temptation to which this gift the names of most common objects, and in two yrs. had made exposed her, as well as the offers of marriage with which great bodily and mental improvement. Her touch grew in she was annoyed, she prayed God to make her ugly. Her accuracy as its power increased; she learned to know people prayer was granted; and she retired from the world, founded almost instantly by the touch alone. In a yr. or two more the monastery of Kildare, and devoted herself to the educa- she was able to receive lessons in geography, algebra, and tion of young girls. Her day falls on the 1st of Feb. She history. She received and answered letters from all parts of was regarded as one of the three great saints of Ireland, the the world, and was always employed, and therefore always others being St. Patrick and St. Columba. happy. Her brain seems to have been unduly excited for a blind person; she not only held imaginary dialogues with herself, but dreamed incessantly by night, and during these dreams, while asleep, talked much on her fingers. She learned to write a fair, legible, square hand, and to read with great dexterity, and at last even to think deeply, and to reason with good sense and discrimination; d. 1889. Bridge'water, a thriving manufacturing town of Mass., seat of the State Normal School; pop. 4,249. Bath or Bridge'water, a town and port of Somersetshire, Eng., on the Parret, which admits vessels of 200 tons up to the town; it rises 36 ft. at spring tides, and is subject to a bore or perpendicular advancing wave, 6 or 8 ft. h., often causing much annoyance to the shipping; pop. 12,101. scouring bricks, peculiar to B., are made here of a mixture of sand and clay found in the river. Admiral Blake was a native of this town. B. suffered severely in the civil wars, when it was besieged by Fairfax, and forced to surrender. The unfortunate Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed king by the corporation of B. before the battle of Sedgmoor, which occurred in 1685, 5 m. S.-E. of B., and in which he was defeated by the royal army. Bridlington, or Burlington, a sea-coast town in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Eng. B. is supposed to have been the site of a Roman station. The Danes had strongholds in this vicinity for nearly 300 yrs. Great numbers of ancient tumuli or barrows still exist. An Augustine priory of immense wealth, and which subsisted for 400 yrs., was founded here by a grand-nephew of the Conqueror. Some parts of it yet remain. In 1643 Henrietta, queen of Charles I., landed here with arms and ammunition from Holland, bought Bridge'water, Duke of, (FRANCIS EGERTON,) styled the with the crown-jewels. Bridlington Quay has a chalybeate "Father of British Inland Navigation," was b. 1736, d. 1803. mineral spring, as well as an intermitting one of pure water. In 1758-60 he obtained acts of Parliament for making a B. is noted for its chalk-flint fossils. In the lacustrine navigable canal from Worsley to Salford, Lancashire, and car-deposits near B. were found, some yrs. ago, the bones of a rying it over the Mersey and Irwell Navigation at Barton by an aqueduct 39 ft. above the surface of the water, and 200 yds. 1., thus forming a communication between his coal-mines at Worsley and Manchester on one level. In this undertaking he was aided by the skill of James Brindley, the celebrated engineer. He was also a liberal promoter of the Grand Trunk Navigation; and the impulse he thus gave to the internal navigation of England led to the extension of the canal system throughout the kingdom. Bridge'water, Earl of, (FRANCIS HENRY EGERTON,) son of John Egerton, Bishop of Durham, b. 1758, succeeded his brother as 8th earl in 1823. He d. 1829, and the title be large extinct elk, with branching horns, measuring 11 ft. from tip to tip. Pop. 8,363. Brid'port, a town in Dorsetshire, Eng., 2 m. from the English Channel; pop. 6,790. B. was a considerable town before the Norman Conquest, and had a mint for coining silver. Brief or Breve, Pa'pal, (Lat. brevis, “short,”) a word which, in the corrupt Latinity of the early ages, was made to signify a short letter written to one or more persons, (hence the German brief, a letter.) It is now used to denote certain pontifical writings, which, however, do not receive their name from the brevity of the composition, but from the smallness official character. BRIEF-BRIGHTON. of the caligraphy. The P. B. differs from the papal bull in several points. It gives decisions on matters of inferior importance, such as discipline, dispensations, release from vows, indulgences, etc., which do not necessarily require the deliberations of a conclave of cardinals. Still, it is not to be confounded with the motus proprii, or private epistle of the pope as an individual, as its contents are always of an Brief, in the practice of the bar, is the name given to the written instructions on which lawyers advocate causes in courts of justice. It is called a B. because it is, or ought to be, an abbreviated statement of the pleadings, proofs, and affidavits at law, or of the bill, answer, and other proceedings in equity, with a concise narrative of the facts and merits of the plaintiff's case, or the defendant's defense. But it is also used in forensic business generally, being applied, not only in the courts of law and equity, but also in all other tribunals, whether inferior or superior, original or appellate. The skill of the attorney or solicitor is shown in the preparation of this important document, which should be characterized by skillful arrangement and compression, without any material omission. Brieg, a town of Silesia, Prussia. The battle-field of Mollwitz lies a little to the W. of B.; pop. 20,154. Briel, Brielle, or The Brill, a fortified sea-port town, on the island of Voorne, Holland; pop. 4,196. B. may be considered as the nucleus of the Dutch Republic, having been taken from the Spaniards by William de la Marck in 1572. This event was the first act of open hostility to Philip II., and paved the way to the complete liberation of the country from a foreign yoke. Brienne-le-Chateau', or Brienne-Napoleon, a small town in the Dept. of Aube, France. It is celebrated as the place where Napoleon I. received his earliest military education. It is likewise noteworthy on account of the important battle fought here between the French troops and the Allies in 1814, which opened the way to Paris, and led to the fall of the empire. Brienz', a town of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, situated at the foot of the Bernese Alps. Its cheese is held in high repute; pop. 2,605. The lake of Brienz, which is about 8 m. 1. and 2 in w., is formed by the river Aar, and by the same river it discharges its surplus waters into Lake Thun. The lake is situated at an elevation of 1,850 ft. above the sea; its average depth is about 500 ft., but in some places it is said to have a depth of more than 2,000 ft. Bri'er Creek, a river of Ga., 100 m. 1. A famous battle in the Revolutionary War was stubbornly contested here in March, 1779. Bri'erly-Hill, an ecclesiastical district of Staffordshire, Eng.; pop. 11,046. The region abounds in coal, iron, and fire-clay, and there are numerous collieries, potteries, iron and brick works, etc. Bries, royal free city of Hungary in the county of Sol; pop. 11,766. Brieuc, Saint, in the Dept. of Côtes-du-Nord, France, is said to owe its origin to an Irishman, Saint Brieuc, who built a monastery here in the 5th c. S. B. has the ruins of an old tower that was partially blown up by the order of Henry IV., 1598, and a cathedral, part of which dates from the 11th c.; pop. 13,682. A B. is a square-rigged vessel Brig, Brig'antine. with two masts. A brigantine, or hermaphrodite B., is a 2-masted vessel, with the mainmast of a schooner and the foremast of a B. A B.'s mainsail is the lowest square sail on the mainmast, whereas the mainsail of a brigantine is a fore-and-aft sail. Brigade, in military affairs, is a group of regiments or battalions combined into one body. Brig. In the U. S. service 4 or more regiments constitute a B., 3 Bs. a division, and 2 or 3 divisions an army corps. When a British army takes the field it is customary for 3 battalions to form a B., and 2 Bs. a division. It is a temporary grouping, which can be broken up whenever the commanding officer thinks fit. Brigade Ma'jor, a military officer whose duties in a brigade are analogous to those of the adjutant of a regiment. He attends to discipline, and to the movements of the men. When regiments or battalions are brigaded a B. M. is ap 417 He conveys pointed, usually from among the captains. orders, keeps the roster, inspects guards and pickets, and directs exercises and evolutions. Brigadier', or Brigadier-gen'eral, in the U. S. army, an officer who commands a brigade, and who is one degree higher than a colonel and one lower than a major-general. In the English army he is an officer of a regiment (usually a colonel or lieutenant-colonel) who, for a limited time and for a special service, is placed upon brigade duties. He is then a general or commander of a brigade, which usually contains his own regiment as one of the number. When the brigade is broken up he falls again back to his colonelcy, unless his services lead to his promotion to the rank of major-general. Brig'andine, among the articles of armor worn during the Middle Ages, was an assemblage of small plates of iron, sewed upon quilted linen or leather, and covered with a similar substance to hide the glittering of the metal. It was highly prized by the medieval knights. Briggs, (CHARLES Augustus, D.D.,) Amer. Presb. minister, b. in New York 1841; studied in the University of Virginia, the Union Theological Seminary, New York, and the University of Berlin, under Prof. Dorner; in 1874 he became professor in Union Theological Seminary, New York; founder and one of the editors of the Presbyterian Review. In 1890 he was elected to the chair of Biblical Theology in the seminary. Tried for heresy by the N. Y. Presbytery 1892, and afterward suspended by the General Assembly. Briggs, (GEORGE NIXON, LL.D.,) an able Amer. judge and philanthropist; Gov. of Mass. 1844-51; b. 1796, d. 1861. Briggs, (HENRY,) a distinguished Eng. mathematician, b. in 1556, at Warleywood, near Halifax, Yorkshire, d. 1631. B. made an important contribution to the theory of logarithms, of which he constructed invaluable tables. His system of logarithms is that now commonly adopted. Briggs, (HENRY F., A.M., M.D.,) an Amer. educator; Prof. of Elocution and Physical Culture; inventor of a shoulder-brace; b. 1818. Briggs, (REV. WILLIAM,) a prominent minister of the Meth. Church of Canada; b. in Ireland 1836; entered the Canada Conference in 1859; elected book steward at Toronto by the General Conference of 1878, which important position he still fills. Brigham, (REV. CHARLES H.,) an Amer. Cong. minister, b. 1820, d. 1879; pastor of churches at Taunton, Mass., and Ann Arbor, Mich.; Prof. of Biblical and Ecclesiastical History in Meadville (Pa.) Theological School, and a prominent member of many scientific societies. Bright, (JESSE D.,) an Amer. legislator, b. at Norwich, N. Y., 1812; U. S. senator 1845-62; d. 1875. Bright, (JOHN,) a popular Eng. statesman, first brought into notice by the Anti-Corn-Law agitation, son of Jacob Bright, a Quaker cotton spinner and manufacturer at Rochdale, Lancashire; b. 1811. When the Anti-Corn-Law League was formed in 1839 he was one of its leading members, and, with Mr. Cobden, engaged in an extensive free-trade agitation throughout the kingdom. At all times an animated and effective speaker, B. was incessant, both at public meetings and in Parliament, in his opposition to the Corn Laws, until they were finally repealed. In 1845 he obtained the appointment of a select committee of the House on the Game Laws, and also one on the subject of cotton cultivation in India. A member of the Peace Society, and strenuously opposed to the war with Russia in 1854, B. was one of the meeting of the Society of Friends by whom a deputation was sent to the Emperor Nicholas to urge upon him the maintenance of peace; and in 1855 he energetically denounced the Crimean War. Elected in 1857 for Birmingham, he seconded the motion against the second reading of the Conspiracy Bill, which led to the overthrow of Lord Palmerston's government. Though Mr. B. only once held office in the administrations of his time-as President of the Board of Trade in 1868 and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancasterhe is credited with having exercised a greater influence upon the conduct of public affairs in England and abroad than perhaps any other man; d. 1889. He was the greatest English orator of modern times. Bright, (RICHARD, M.D.,) Eng. physician, b. at Bristol, Sept. 28, 1789; studied at Edinburgh, Berlin, and Vienna. His name is associated with Bright's Disease, he being the first who investigated its character; d. Dec. 16, 1858. Brigh'ton, originally Brighthelmstone, a town and a much-frequented watering-place on the sea-coast of Sussex, Eng. Dr. Russell, a celebrated physician of George II.'s time. first drew attention to B., and the discovery of a chalybeate spring in the vicinity increased its popularity. It is now a fashionable summer resort; pop. 115,402. Brigh'ton, a village of Washington Co., Ia., 50 m. by rail W.-S.-W. of Muscatine; pop. 542. Brigh'ton, a former village of Middlesex Co., Mass., on the Boston and Albany R.R., 5 m. W. of Boston, and now incorporated with that city. Brigh'ton, a village of Livingston Co., Mich., 43 m. S.-E. of Lansing; pop. 741. Brighton Beach. See CONEY ISLAND. The Bright's Disease', (of the kidneys,) so called after the English physician, DR. BRIGHT, (q. v.,) who first investigated its character, consists of a degeneration of the tissues of the kidney into fat or fibrous tissue. Diet in B. D.-A rigid milk diet has given good results in many cases. Allowed.-Fish, sweet-breads, sago, tapioca, macaroni, baked and stewed apples, prunes, etc.; spinach, celery, lettuce, etc., may be used in moderation in connection with a milk diet, without impairing its effect, and with great comfort and enjoyment to the patient. Avoid.-Strong coffee and tea, alcoholic stimulants, soups, and made dishes. This degenerated condition impairs the excreting powers of the organ, so that the urea is not sufficiently separated from the blood. flow of the latter, when charged with this urea, is retarded through the minute vessels, congestion ensues, and exudation of albumen and fibrine is the result. The patient presents a flabby, bloodless look, is drowsy, and easily fatigued. The disease may succeed any of the eruptive fevers, and is frequently associated with enlargement of the heart. The causes of this malady are any which cause congestion of the kidneys. The indications for treatment are to remove the causes which may be present, rectify the other secretions, relieve any temporary congestion of the kidneys, at the same time endeavoring to increase the number of red blood globules by the administration of iron and vege table bitters. Brignoles, a town in the Dept. of Var, France, situated about 22 m. W.-S.-W. of Draguignan. B., which is a very salubrious place, has manufactures of broadcloth, silk-twist, soap, leather, pottery, etc., and a trade in wines, brandy, olives, and prunes; pop. 5,164. Brill, (MATTHEUS B.,) a celebrated Dutch painter, b. at Antwerp 1550; painted several frescoes in the Vatican. He was also distinguished as an historical and landscape painter; d. 1584. Brill, (PAUL B.,) a younger brother and a pupil of the above, and even more celebrated as a painter, b. 1554 or 1556, d. 1626. His style increased in power and beauty until it exerted a striking influence over landscape-painting. The works of his riper age exhibit high poetical qualities. Brill, (Rhombus vulgaris,) a fish of the same genus with the turbot, found in considerable abundance on some parts of the British coasts. Brill'iant is a popular name given to the DIAMOND (q. v.) when cut in a particular way. The B. is susceptible of many small modifications as regards the size, proportions, and even the number of the facets; but in the most perfect cut there are 58 facets. The general shape of all Bs. is that of two pyramids united at their bases, the upper one being so truncated as to give a large plane surface, the lower one terminating almost in a point. The manner in which the B. is derived from the fundamental octahedral form (a in Fig. 1) is shown in Fig. 1, b and c. The uppermost large flat surface is called the table, and is formed by removing one third of the thickness of the stone; the opposite small end, called the collet or culet, is formed by removing one eighteenth of the thickness of the stone. The girdle is the widest part, and forms the junction-line between the upper part, called the crown, and the lower part, called the pavilion. Fig. 2 shows the top, (a,) side, (b,) and back (c) views of a modern B. cut with 58 facets. Tis the table; C, the collet; G, the girdle; 4, the templets or bezils, (of which there are 4 in all;) B, the upper quoins or lozenges, (of which there are 4 ;) S, star-facets, (of which there are 8 in the crown;) E, skill or half facets, (8 in the crown and the same number in the pavilion) D, cross or skew-facets, (8 in each part ;) P, pavilion-facets, (4 in number;) Q, lower or under-side quoins (of which there are 4)-making 58 facets in all. Sometimes extra faces are cut around the collet, making 66 in all. In Fig. 3, a and b show top and side views of the single cut, or half-B.; c is a top view of the old English single cut. In Fig. 4, a, b, and e show top, side, and back views of a B. with 42 facets. In Fig. 5, a, b, and c show top, side, and back views of the split or double B., with 74 girdle. In Fig. 7, a gives a side view of the double rose, sometimes called the briolette when several more rows of triangular facets are added. Brim'stone, (Sax. Brenne-stone, "a stone that burns,") the commercial name for sulphur, in sticks or rolls. Brin'disi, anc. Brundisium or Brundusium, a sea-port town of Italy and a city of great antiquity. It was taken from the Salentines by the Romans 267 B.C., who some 20 yrs. later established a colony here. It soon became the principal naval station of the Romans in the Adriatic. In BRINDLEY-BRITANNIA. 230 B.C. B. was the starting-place of the Roman troops that took part in the first Illyrian War; and from this point the Romans nearly always directed subsequent wars with Macedonia, Greece, and Asia. And when the Roman power had been firmly established beyond the Adriatic, B. became a city second to none of southern Italy in commercial importance; pop. 14,508. Brind'ley, (JAMES,) an eminent Eng. mechanic and engineer, b. in Thornsett 1716; contrived a water-engine for draining a coal-mine. A silk-mill on a new plan and several others of his works recommended him to the Duke of Bridgewater, who employed him to construct the canal between Worsley and Manchester. Thenceforth he devoted his genius to the construction of navigable canals; commenced the Grand Trunk, and completed the Birmingham, Chesterfield, and others; d. 1772. Brine, the term applied to water highly impregnated with common salt. B. springs are those natural waters, containing much salt, which in many parts of the world gush out from fissures in the ground. Brine Shrimp, of Great Salt Lake, is the only animal, except a species of fly, (Ephydra,) which lives in that briny sea. It is a phyllopod crustacean, with stalked eyes, a deli Brine Shrimp, (Artemia gracilis.) cate, slender body, which is provided with 11 pairs of broad paddle-like or leaf-like feet. It is about of an in. 1. Similar forms live in brine vats in various parts of the world. Brinjaree' Dog, a rough-haired or long-haired variety of greyhound, used in the Deccan. It is said to be the best of the hunting dogs of India, and to be superior in size and strength to the Persian greyhound, but not equal to the British greyhound in swiftness. It is generally of a yellowish or tan color. Brinkley, (JOHN,) Eng. astronomer, b. at Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1763; determined anew the amount of atmospheric refraction, and maintained a celebrated controversy with Pond, the astronomer-royal, on the subject of stellar parallax, in which he claimed to have determined a parallax of several seconds of arc in the case of some stars. His results, though known to be fallacious, have never been satisfactorily explained. He was director of the Observatory of Dublin; d. in 1835. Brin'ton, (DANIEL GARRISON,) an Amer. soldier and scientist, b. 1837; was graduated from Yale Coll. 1858. Served gallantly throughout the civil war, and in 1867 became editor of the Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, and also Prof. of Ethnology and Archæology in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Brinvilliers, Marquise de, (MARIE MARGUERITE,) notorious as a wholesale poisoner in the time of Louis XIV., was the daughter of Dreux d'Aubray, Lieut. of Paris. She was beheaded, after suffering almost unheard-of tortures, in 1676. Brion, (GUSTAVE,) an eminent modern Fr. painter; b. 1824, d. 1877. Brioude, a town of France, in the Dept. of Haute-Loire. 419 Its principal buildings are the college and the church of St. Julien, founded in the 9th c. on the site of a still more ancient edifice erected on the spot where the saint was martyred; pop. 4,815. Brisbane, a sea-port, and the cap. of Queensland, Australia. B. possesses some fine buildings, among the chief of which are the houses of legislature, which cost $500,000, the post-office, 31 churches, and the viceregal lodge. Regular steam communication is kept up with the other Australian ports, and with London. The channel of the river is being deepened to admit of large vessels coming up to B. A spacious dry-dock was opened at South Brisbane 1881. B. is the terminus of the Southern and Western R.R.; and a transcontinental line from B. to the Gulf of Carpentaria has been surveyed; pop. with suburbs 93,657. Brisbane, (SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGAL,) a distinguished soldier and astronomer; b. at Brisbane, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1773, d. 1860. For his conspicuous bravery at the battle of the Nive he received the thanks of Parliament. His astronomical work was done at the observatory which he founded at Paramatta, New South Wales, when governor of that colony. Brissot, (JEAN PIERRE,) one of the first movers in the outbreak of the French Revolution, and afterward numbered among its victims, was b. at Chartres in 1754; d. on the guillotine 1793. Bris'ted, (CHARLES ASTOR,) a well-known Amer. writer, b. 1820, d. 1874. Bris'tol, a town in Hartford Co., Conn.; 18 m. W.-S.-W. of Hartford, on N. Y. & N. E. R.R. Has various churches, banks, foundries, clock works, brass factories, etc.; pop. 7,382. Bris'tol, a town of Pa., on the Delaware River; has machine-shops, rolling-mills, etc., churches, banks, and newspapers; pop. 6,553. Bris'tol, a city of Sullivan Co., Tenn.; it has churches, a furnace, factories, car-works, etc.; is the seat of King Coll., (Presb.,) founded 1868, and other institutions; pop. 6,226. Bris'tol, a town of R. I., on Narragansett Bay; it is a port of entry, and has a considerable coast trade; it has banks, churches, a high-school, a ship-yard, cotton-mills, and a factory for rubber goods, etc.; pop. 5,478. Bris'tol, an important maritime city in the W. of England, upon the rivers Frome and Avon, and partly in the counties of Gloucester and Somerset, joined with the former for ecclesiastical and military purposes, but otherwise a city and county in itself; pop. 221,665. B. is of great antiquity. Bris'tol Bay, an arm of the Pacific Ocean in Russian Am., lying immediately to the N. of the peninsula of Alaska. Bris'tol Chan'nel, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, in the S.-W. of England; it may be regarded as an extension of the estuary of the river Severn, about 80 m. 1. and 5 to 48 m. w. It is the largest inlet or estuary in Britain, having a very irregular coast line of 220 m., and receiving a drainage of 11,000 sq. m. Bris'tol Hot Well is 13 m. from Bath, Eng. The waters are almost pure thermal, slightly acidulated. It contains chlorides of sodium and magnesium, sulphate of soda and lime, carbonate of lime, carbonic acid, oxygen, and azote. Its temperature is 74° Fahr. The Hot Well has long been celebrated. The climate is mild, and the water is esteemed as curative in incipient consumption. Bris'tow, (BENJAMIN HARRIS,) an Amer. lawyer; volunteer in the civil war; U. S. Attorney-Gen. 1873; Sec. of the Treasury 1874-76; b. 1823. Bris'tow, (GEORGE F.,) an Amer. composer and musician, and an organist of marked excellence; b. in New York 1825. Bris'tow Sta'tion, a village of Prince William Co., Va. An engagement took place here Aug., 1862, between Gens. Hooker and Ewell, and another Oct., 1863, between Gens. A. P. Hill and G. K. Warren. Brit, (Clupea minima,) a small species of herring found in New England and on the Atlantic coasts of the Dominion of Canada. Britan'nia, (from Celtic brith or brit, "painted," the ancient Britons being in the habit of painting their bodies blue with woad,) the ancient name of the island of Great Britain. The Romans under Julius Cæsar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 B.C., but they did not for 100 yrs. afterward proceed with vigor to subdue the country. After a desperate resistance by the native British princes, especially Caractacus and Boadicea, the S. half of Britain was conquered by Vespasian, and made a Roman province in the reign of Claudius, about 50 A.D. Agricola, sent by Nero in 79 A.D., consolidated 420 BRITANNIA METAL-BRITISH GUM. these conquests, and extended the influence of Rome to the Firths of Forth and Clyde, between which, in 84 A.D., he erected a chain of forts to repel the inroads of the northern Caledonians, in the line of the stone Wall of Antonius, afterward erected, in 140 A.D., by Lollius Urbicus. Agricola was the first Roman to sail round the island, and the first Roman general to come in contact with the Caledonians, whom, under their leader Galgacus, he overthrew, in 84 A.D., at a hill called the Mons Grampius, the situation of which has not been satisfactorily determined. The Romans made many roads or streets, (strata,) of which there are still numerous remains across the country, all centering in London. They also developed it into a corn-growing country. Druidism was the religion of the Britons at their conquest by the Romans, but the latter introduced Christianity and Roman literature into the country. There are many remains still extant of the presence of the Romans in Britain, such as camps, roads, ruins of houses, baths, flues, altars, mosaic pavements, painted walls, metallic implements and ornaments, weapons, tools, utensils, pottery, coins, sculptures, bronzes, inscriptions, etc. These remains show that the Romans wished to render their British conquest permanent, and that they had greatly improved the arts of the ancient Britains, as is evident on comparing the remains with the far ruder native antiquities of the British pre-Roman or prehistoric era, such as tumuli, barrows, earthworks, so-called druidical monoliths and circles, cromlechs, cairns, pottery, weapons, tools, utensils, ornaments, etc. Many of the Roman remains in Britain also show that the Romans had introduced into the country the refinement and luxuries of Rome itself. Britan'nia Met'al. The present composition of B. M. is usually 90 tin + 8 antimony + 2 copper, without any zine or bismuth; although some manufacturers deviate a little from this formula by adding one or both of the metals last named. The manufacture was begun at Sheffield by Hancock and Jessop in 1770. At first the articles were made by stamping with dies, and soldering up into form; this, being a slow operation, rendered the articles expensive. Afterward the curious process of metal-spinning was introduced; and this, with the subsidiary operation of swagging, rendered a great reduction in price possible. In the spinning process a thin sheet or piece of B. M. is placed upon a wooden model shaped like the article to be made; the model is made to rotate in a lathe, and burnishers and other tools are employed to press the yielding metal into all the curvatures of the model. Its ductility, an essential quality to the attainment of this end with the metal, may be seen in such articles as B. M. teapots and dish-covers. It is also used as a basis for electro-piate. Britan'nia Tu'bular Bridge, a railway bridge over the Menai Strait, remarkable alike for its gigantic dimensions and as being the first construction of the kind ever undertaken; begun in 1846; the first train passed over in 1850. With a view to facilitate communication with Ireland via Holyhead, the directors of the Chester and Holyhead R.R., in Britannia Tubular Bridge. 1845, sought the aid of Mr. Robert Stephenson, the great engineer, to bridge the strait with such a structure as should admit of the safe passage of heavily laden trains without in any way interfering with the navigation of the channel. About a mile above the suspension-bridge, and near Carnarvon, a rock in the middle of the strait rose 10 ft. above the water at low tide; on this site, provided by nature, was erected the central pier of the bridge, which is in the form of a rectangular tube, composed of wrought-iron plates, riveted together in a manner to combine the greatest strength with the greatest lightness. Britan'nicæ In'sulæ, a term used by ancient classic writers, previous to Cæsar, for the British Isles, including Albion (England and Scotland) and Hibernia or Ierne, (Ireland,) with the smaller isles around them. Aristotle, in the beginning of the 3d c. B.C., knew only of Albion and Ierne. Cæsar, about 51 B.C., was the first to apply the name Britannia to Albion. Ptolemy, in the 2d c. A.D., is the first to apply the term Little Britain to Ierne or Ireland, and Great Britain to Albion, or England and Scotland. Herodotus, in the 5th c. B.C., is the first writer to mention Britain with any sort of definiteness; previous Greek writers speak of Britain only in connection with the Phoenician tin trade carried on with the Cassiterides or Tin Isles, (the Scilly Isles and Cornwall,) which they often confound with the Azores. Brit'ish Ar'my. Like other modern armies, the B. A. originated in the feudal system. When regal power, tempered by a Parliament, superseded that system, the people, according to their rank in life, were expected to provide themselves with certain kinds of weapons and defensive armor. When the nation was either actually engaged in war or apprehensive of invasion the sovereign issued commissions to experienced officers, authorizing them to draw out and array the fittest men for service in each county, and to march them to the sea-coast, or to any part of the country known to be most in danger. In the reign of Charles I. the important question arose whether the King of England did or did not possess the right to maintain a military force without the express consent of Parliament; and this question was all the more bitterly discussed when the king billeted his soldiers on the people. After the troubles of the civil war and the Commonwealth, Charles II. found himself compelled to agree, on his restoration, to the abandonment of all the army except a kind of body-guard or household brigade of 5,000 men sanctioned by Parliament. In the 13th yr. of his reign he succeeded in obtaining a statute declaring that "the sole and supreme power, government, command, and disposition of the militia, and of all forces by sea and land, and of all forts and places of strength, is the undoubted right of his majesty; and both or either of the houses of Parliament cannot nor ought not to pretend to the same." It was in the time of William and Mary that the real basis for the modern B. A. was laid. The Declaration of Rights settled, in positive terms, "that the raising and keeping of a standing army in time of peace, without consent of Parliament, is contrary to law." The first Mutiny Act was passed in 1689, to last for 6 months only; but it has been annually renewed ever since, except in 3 particular yrs.; and it constitutes the warrant on which the whole military system of England is exercised by the sovereign, with the consent of Parliament. Since then, with only three interruptions, the ministers of the crown have annually applied to Parliament for permission to raise a military force, and for money to defray the expenses. The sovereign can make war, and can bestow military employments and honors; but the steadiness with which the Commons have always regarded themselves as the representatives of the tax-paying nation has, in however imperfect a degree, provided a check, even in the worst of times, on the grasping by courtiers of lavish military privileges. The great distinction between the B. A. and that of almost every other State in Europe is that service is voluntary. The B. A. is supposed to be commanded by the sovereign, assisted by the secretary of state for war in some matters, and by the officer commanding in chief in others. The "peace establishment" of the B. A. varies according to the political aspect of affairs abroad and to the strength of the economizing principle at home. See GREAT BRITAIN. Brit'ish Associa'tion, an association whose object is, by bringing together men eminent in all the several departments of science, to assist the progress of discovery, and to extend over the whole country the latest results of scientific research, but the honor of being its founder must be ascribed to Sir David Brewster. By his exertions the first meeting of those who were favorable to the design was held at York in 1831. British Association Catalogue of Stars. See B. A. C. British Burmah. See BURMAH. Brit'ish Em'pire, The, comprises England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the Islands; also, as colonies and dependencies, Gibraltar, Malta, etc., India, (including Burmah,) Ceylon, Cyprus, Aden and Socotra, Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, Labuan, British North Borneo, Cape Colony, Natal, St. Helena, Ascension, Sierra Leone, British Guinea, Gold Coast, etc., Mauritius, etc., British South and East Africa, Canada, Newfoundland, British Guiana, British Honduras, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbadoes and other islands, Bahamas, Bermuda, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Fiji and British New Guinea. The latest area and population are as follows: |