up every item of scandal he could find against Lu'ria the noble Moor,
who commanded the army of Florence against the Pisans. The Florentines
hoped to find sufficient cause of blame to lessen or wholly cancel
their obligations to the Moor, but even Braccio was obliged to
confess. This Moor hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so
clear in his great office, that his virtues would plead like angels,
trumpet-tongued, against the council which should censure him.--Robert
Browning, _Luria_.
BRAC'IDAS AND AM'IDAS, the two sons of Mile'sio, the former in love
with the wealthy Philtra, and the latter with the dowerless Lucy.
Their father at death left each of his sons an island of equal size
and value, but the sea daily encroached on that of the elder brother
and added to the island of Amidas. The rich Philtra now forsook
Bracidas for the richer brother, and Lucy, seeing herself forsaken,
jumped into the sea. A floating chest attracted her attention, she
clung to it, and was drifted to the wasted island, where Bracidas
received her kindly. The chest was found to contain property of great
value, and Lucy gave it to Bracidas, together with herself, "the
better of them both." Amidas and Philtra claimed the chest as their
right, and the dispute was submitted to sir Ar'tegal. Sir Artegal
decided that whereas Amidas claimed as his own all the additions which
the sea had given to his island, so Lucy might claim as her own the
chest which the sea had given into her hands.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
v. 4 (1596).
BRAEKENBURY _(Lord)_, English peer of nomadic tastes. He disappears
from his world, leaving the impression that he has been murdered, that
he may live unhampered by class-obligations.--Amelia B. Edwards, _Lord
Brackenbury_.
Bracy _(Sir Maurice de_), a follower of prince John. He sues the lady
Rowen'a to become his bride, and threatens to kill both Cedric and
Ivanhoe if she refuses. The interview is interrupted, and at the close
of the novel Rowena marries Ivanhoe.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time,
Richard I.).
BRAD'AMANT, daughter of Amon and Beatrice, sister of Rinaldo, and
niece of Charlemagne. She was called the _Virgin Knight._ Her armor
was white, and her plume white. She loved Roge'ro the Moor, but
refused to marry him till he was baptized. Her marriage with great
pomp and Rogero's victory over Rodomont form the subject of the last
book of _Orlando Furioso_. Bradamant possessed an irresistible spear,
which unhorsed any knight with a touch. Britomart had a similar
spear.--Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495); Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516).
BRAD'BOURNE (_Mistress Lilias_), waiting-woman of lady Avenel
(2 _syl_.), at Avenel Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _The Abbot_ (time,
Elizabeth).
BRADWARDINE (_Como Cosmyne_), baron of Bradwardine and of Tully
Veolan. He is very pedantic, but brave and gallant.
_Rose Bradwardine_, his daughter, the heroine of the novel, which
concludes with her marriage with Waverley, and the restoration of the
manor-house of Tully Veolan.
_Malcolm Bradwardine_ of Inchgrabbit, a relation of the old
baron.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
BRADY (_Martha_), a young "Irish widow" twenty-three years of age,
and in love with William Whittle. She was the daughter of sir Patrick
O'Neale. Old Thomas Whittle, the uncle, a man of sixty-three, wanted
to oust his nephew in her affections, for he thought her "so modest,
so mild, so tenderhearted, so reserved, so domestic. Her voice was so
sweet, with just a _soupçon_ of the brogue to make it enchanting." In
order to break off this detestable passion of the old man, the widow
assumed the airs and manners of a boisterous, loud, flaunting,
extravagant, low Irishwoman, deeply in debt, and abandoned to
pleasure. Old Whittle, thoroughly frightened, induced his nephew to
take the widow off his hands, and gave him £5000 as a _douceur_ for so
doing.--Garrick, _The Irish Widow_ (1757).
BRAG (_Jack_), a vulgar boaster, who gets into good society, where his
vulgarity stands out in strong relief.--Theodore Hook, _Jack Brag_ (a
novel).
_Brag_ (_Sir Jack_), general John Burgoyne (died 1792).
BRAGANZA (_Juan duke of_). In 1580 Philip II. of Spain claimed the
crown of Portugal, and governed it by a regent. In 1640 Margaret was
regent, and Velasquez her chief minister, a man exceedingly obnoxious
to the Portuguese. Don Juan and his wife Louisa of Braganza being
very popular, a conspiracy was formed to shake off the Spanish yoke.
Velasquez was torn to death by the populace, and don Juan of Braganza
was proclaimed king.
_Louisa duchess of Braganza_. Her character is thus described:
Bright Louisa, To all the softness of her tender sex, Unites the
noblest qualities of man: A genius to embrace the amplest schemes...
Judgment most sound, persuasive eloquence... Pure piety without
religious dross, And fortitude that shrinks at no disaster. Robert
Jephson, _Braganza_, i. 1 (1775).
Mrs. Bellamy took her leave of the stage May 24, 1785. On this
occasion Mrs. Yates sustained the part of the "duchess of Braganza,"
and Miss Farren spoke the address.--F. Reynolds.
BRAGELA, daughter of Sorglan, and wife of Cuthullin (general of the
Irish army and regent during the minority of king Cormac).--Ossian,
_Fingal_.
BRAGGADO´CIO, personification of the intemperance of the tongue. For a
time his boasting serves him with some profit, but being found out,
he is stripped of his borrowed plumes. His _shield_ is claimed by
Mar´inel; his _horse_ by Guyon; Talus shaves off his beard; and his
lady is shown to be a sham Florimel.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iii. 8
and 10, with v. 3.
It is thought that Philip of Spain was the academy figure of
"Braggadocio."
_Braggadocio's Sword_, San´glamore (_3 syl_).
BRAGMAR´DO (_Jano´tus de_), the sophister sent by the Parisians to
Gargantua, to remonstrate with him for carrying off the bells
of Notre-Dame to suspend round the neck of his mare for
jingles.--Rabelais, _Gargantua and Pantag´ruel´_, ii. (1533).
BRAHMIN CASTE OF NEW ENGLAND, term used by Oliver Wendell Holmes in
_Elsie Venner_ to describe an intellectual aristocracy: "Our scholars
come chiefly from a privileged order just as our best fruits come from
well-known grafts."--_Elsie Venner_ (1863).
BRAIN'WORM, the servant of Knowell, a man of infinite shifts, and a
regular Proteus in his metamorphoses. He appears first as Brainworm;
after as Fitz-Sword; then as a reformed soldier whom Knowell takes
into his service; then as justice Clement's man; and lastly as valet
to the courts of law, by which devices he plays upon the same clique
of some half-dozen men of average intelligence.--Ben Jonson, _Every
Man in His Humour_ (1598).
BRAKEL (_Adrian_), the gipsy mountebank, formerly master of Fenella,
the deaf and dumb girl.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time,
Charles II.).
BRAMBLE (_Matthew_), an "odd kind of humorist," "always on the fret,"
dyspeptic, and afflicted with gout, but benevolent, generous, and
kind-hearted.
_Miss Tabitha Bramble_, an old maiden sister of Matthew Bramble, of
some forty-five years of age, noted for her bad spelling. She is
starched, vain, prim, and ridiculous; soured in temper, proud,
imperious, prying, mean, malicious, and uncharitable. She contrives at
last to marry captain Lismaha'go, who is content to take "the maiden"
for the sake of her £4000.
_Bramble (Sir Robert_), a baronet living at Blackberry Hall, Kent.
Blunt and testy, but kind-hearted; "charitable as a Christian, and
rich as a Jew;" fond of argument and contradiction, but detesting
flattery; very proud, but most considerate to his poorer neighbors. In
his first interview with lieutenant Worthington, "the poor gentleman,"
the lieutenant mistook him for a bailiff come to arrest him, but sir
Roflert nobly paid the bill for £500 when it was presented to him for
signature as sheriff of the county.
_Frederick Bramble_, nephew of sir Robert, and son of Joseph Bramble,
a Russian merchant. His father having failed in business, Frederick is
adopted by his rich uncle. He is full of life and noble instincts,
but thoughtless and impulsive. Frederick falls in love with Emily
Worthington, whom he marries.--G. Colman, _The Poor Gentleman_ (1802).
BRA´MINE (_2 syl._) AND BRA´MIN (_The_), Mrs. Elizabeth Draper and
Laurence Sterne. Sterne being a clergyman, and Mrs. Draper having been
born in India, suggested the names. Ten of Sterne's letters to Mrs.
Draper are published, and called _Letters to Eliza_.
BRAN, the dog of Lamderg the lover of Gelchossa (daughter of
Tuathal).--Ossian, _Fingal_, v.
[Illustration] Fingal king of Morven had a dog of the same name, and
another named Luäth.
Call White-breasted Bran and the surly
strength of Luäth.--Ossian, _Fingal_, vi.
BRAND (_Ethan_), an ex-lime burner in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story of
the same name, who, fancying he has committed the Unpardonable Sin,
commits suicide by leaping into the burning kiln.
_Brand_ (_Sir Denys_), a county magnate, who apes humility. He rides a
sorry brown nag "not worth £5," but mounts his groom on a race-horse
"twice victor for a plate."
BRAN´DAMOND of Damascus, whom sir Bevis of Southampton defeated.
That dreadful battle where with Brandamond he fought. And with his
sword and steed such earthly wonders wrought As e'en among his foes
him admiration won. M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ii. (1612).
BRAN'DAN (_Island of St_.) or ISLAND of SAN BORANDAN, a flying island,
so late as 1755 set down in geographical charts west of the Canary
group. In 1721 an expedition was sent by Spain in quest thereof.
The Spaniards say their king Rodri'go has retreated there, and the
Portuguese affirm that it is the retreat of their don Sebastian. It
was called St. Brandan from a navigator of the sixth century, who went
in search of the "Islands of Paradise."
Its reality was for a long time a matter of firm belief ... the garden
of Armi'da, where Rinaldo was detained, and which Tasso places in
one of the Canary Isles, has been identified with San Borandan.--W.
Irving.
(If there is any truth at all in the legend, the island must be
ascribed to the Fata Morgana.)
BRAN'DEUM, plu. _Brandea_, a piece of cloth enclosed in a box with
relics, which thus acquired the same miraculous powers as the relics
themselves.
Pope Leo proved this fact beyond a doubt, for when some Greeks
ventured to question it, he cut a brandeum through with a pair of
scissors, and it was instantly covered with blood.--J. Brady, _Clavis
Calendaria_, 182.
BRAN'DIMART, brother-in-law of Orlando, son of Monodantês, and husband
of For'delis. This "king of the Distant Islands" was one of
the bravest knights in Charlemagne's army, and was slain by
Gradasso.--Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorata_ (1495); Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516).
BRAND, a term often applied to the sword in medaeval romances.
Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur,
Which was my pride--
Tennyson, _The Morte d'Arthur._
BRANGTONS (_The_), vulgar, jealous, malicious gossips in _Evelina_, a
novel by Miss Burney (1778).
BRANNO, an Irishman, father of Evirallin. Evirallin was the wife of
Ossian and mother of Oscar.--Ossian.
BRASS, the roguish confederate of Dick Amlet, and acting as his
servant.
"I am your valet, 'tis true; your footman
sometimes ... but you have always had the
ascendant, I confess. When we were school-fellows,
you made me carry your books, make your
exercise, own your rogueries, and sometimes take
a whipping for you. When we were fellow-'prentices,
though I was your senior, you made
me open the shop, clean my master's boots, cut
last at dinner, and eat all the crusts. In your
sins, too, I must own you still kept me under;
you soared up to the mistress, while I was content
with the maid."--Sir John Yanbrugh, _The Confederacy_,
iii. 1 (1695).
_Brass (Sampson)_, a knavish, servile attorney, affecting great
sympathy with his clients, but in reality fleecing them without mercy.
_Sally Brass_, Sampson's sister, and an exaggerated edition of her
brother.--C. Dickens, _Old Curiosity Shop_ (1840).
BRAVE (_The_), Alfonzo IV. of Portugal (1290-1357).
_The Brave Fleming_, John Andrew van der Mersch (1734-1792).
_The Bravest of the Brave_, Marshal Ney, _Le Brave des Braves_
(1769-1815).
BRAY (_Mr._), a selfish, miserly old man, who dies suddenly of
heart-disease, just in time to save his daughter from being sacrificed
to Arthur Gride, a rich old miser.
_Madeline Bray_, daughter of Mr. Bray, a loving, domestic, beautiful
girl, who marries Nicholas Nickleby.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_
(1838).
_Bray (Vicar of)_, supposed by some to be Simon Aleyn, who lived
(says Fuller) "in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and
Elizabeth. In the first two reigns he was a _protestant_, in Mary's
reign a _catholic_, and in Elizabeth's a _protestant_ again." No
matter who was king, Simon Aleyn resolved to live and die "the vicar
of Bray" (1540-1588).
Others think the vicar was Simon Symonds, who (according to Ray) was
an _independent_ in the protectorate, a _high churchman_ in the reign
of Charles II., a _papist_ under James II., and a _moderate churchman_
in the reign of William III.
Others again give the cap to one Pendleton.
[Illustration] The well-known song was written by an officer in
colonel Fuller's regiment, in the reign of George I., and seems to
refer to some clergyman of no very distant date.
BRAY´MORE (_Lady Caroline_), daughter of lord Fitz-Balaam. She was to
have married Frank Rochdale, but hearing that her "intended" loved
Mary Thornberry, she married the Hon. Tom Shuffleton.--G. Colman,
jun., _John Bull_ (1805).
BRAZEN (_Captain_), a kind of Bobadil. A boastful, tongue-doughty
warrior, who pretends to know everybody; to have a liaison with every
wealthy, pretty, or distinguished woman; and to have achieved in war
the most amazing prodigies.
BRAZEN HEAD. The first on record is one which Sylvester II.
(_Gerbert_) possessed. It told him he would be pope, and not die till
he had sung mass at Jerusalem. When pope he was stricken with his
death-sickness while performing mass in a church called Jerusalem
(999-1003).
The next we hear of was made by Rob. Grosseteste (1175-1253).
The third was the famous brazen head of Albertus Magnus, which cost
him thirty years' labor, and was broken to pieces by his disciple
Thomas Aqui´nas (1193-1280).
The fourth was that of friar Bacon, which used to say, "Time is, time
was, time comes." Byron refers to it in the lines:
Like friar Bacon's brazen head, I've spoken,
"Time is, time was, time's past [?]"
_Don Juan_, i. 217 (1819).
Another was made by the marquis of Vilena of Spain (1384-1434). And a
sixth by a Polander, a disciple of Escotillo an Italian.
_Brazen Head_ (_The_), a gigantic head kept in the castle of the giant
Fer´ragus of Portugal. It was omniscient, and told those who
consulted it whatever they desired to know, past, present, or
future.--_Valentine and Orson_.
BREAKFAST TABLE (_Autocrat of_). See AUTOCRAT.
BREAKING A STICK is part of the marriage ceremony of the American
Indians, as breaking a glass is still part of the marriage ceremony
of the Jews.--Lady Augusta Hamilton, _Marriage Rites, etc._, pp. 292,
298.
In one of Raphael's pictures we see an unsuccessful suitor of the
Virgin Mary breaking his stick, and this alludes to the legend that
the several suitors of the "virgin" were each to bring an almond stick
which was to be laid up in the sanctuary over night, and the owner of
the stick which budded was to be accounted the suitor God ordained,
and thus Joseph became her husband.--B.H. Cowper, _Apocryphal Gospel_
("Pseudo-Matthew's Gospel," 40, 41).
In Florence is a picture in which the rejected suitors break their
sticks on the back of Joseph.
BREC´AN, a mythical king of Wales. He had twenty-four daughters by one
wife. These daughters, for their beauty and purity, were changed into
rivers, all of which flow into the Severn. Brecknockshire, according
to fable, is called after this king. (See next art.)
Brecan was a prince once fortunate and great
(Who dying lent his name to that his noble seat),
With twice twelve daughters blest, by one and only wife.
They, for their beauties rare and sanctity of life,
To rivers were transformed; whose pureness doth declare
How excellent they were by being what they are ...
..._[they]_ to Severn shape their course.
M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1612).
BREC'HAN (_Prince_), father of St. Cadock and St. Canock, the former a
martyr and the latter a confessor.
BRECK (_Alison_), an old fishwife, friend of the Mucklebackits.--Sir
W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, Greorge III.).
_Breck (Angus)_, a follower of Rob Roy M'Gregor, the outlaw.--Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, Greorge I.).
BREITMAN (_Hans_), the giver of the entertainment celebrated in
Charles Godfrey Leland's dialect verses, _Hans Breitman gave a Party_.
A favorite with parlor and platform "readers." (1871.)
BREN´DA [TROIL], daughter of Magnus Troil and sister of Minna.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
BRENG´WAIN, the confidante of Is´olde (_2 syl._) wife of sir Mark
king of Cornwall. Isolde was criminally attached to her nephew sir
Tristram, and Brengwain assisted the queen in her intrigues.
_Breng´wain_, wife of Gwenwyn prince of Powys-land.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
BRENNETT (_Maurice_), a man whom "life had always cast for the leading
business" and who "bears himself in a manner befitting the title
rôle." In pursuance of this destiny he becomes a mining speculator,
betrays his confiding partner and everybody else who will trust, and
when success seems within his grasp is thwarted by the discovery of
a man he had supposed to be dead. The woman he would have married to
secure her fortune, around which he had woven the fine web of his
schemes, breaks out impetuously:
"If you will prove his complicity ... I will pursue him to the ends of
the earth."
At that moment through the window she sees the head-light of the train
that is bearing Maurice Brennett away into the darkness. The thorough
search made for him afterward is futile.--Charles Egbert Craddock,
_Where the Battle was Fought_ (1885).
BRENTA´NO (_A_), one of inconceivable folly. The Brentanos, Clemens
and his sister Bettina, are remarkable in German literary annals for
the wild and extravagant character of their genius. Bettina's work,
_Göthe's Correspondence with a Child_ (1835), is a pure fabrication of
her own.
At the point where the folly of others ceases,
that of the Brentanos begins.--_German Proverb_.
BRENTFORD (_The two kings of_). In the duke of Buckingham's farce
called _The Rehearsal_ (1671), the two kings of Brentford enter
hand-in-hand, dance together, sing together, walk arm-in-arm, and to
heighten the absurdity the actors represent them as smelling at the
same nosegay (act ii. 2).
BRETWALDA, the over-king of the Saxon rulers, established in England
during the heptarchy. In Germany the over-king was called emperor. The
bretwalda had no power in the civil affairs of the under-kings, but in
times of war or danger formed an important centre.
BREWER OF GHENT (_The_), James van Artevelde, a great patriot. His son
Philip fell in the battle of Rosbecq (fourteenth century).
BREWSTER (_William_). _The Life and Death of William Brewster_, elder
in the first church planted in Massachusetts, was written by his
colleague William Bradford (1630-1650). After a feeling eulogy upon
his departed friend, he remarks, parenthetically: "He always thought
it were better for ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers,
than be long and tedious in the same (except upon solemn and special
occasions, as in days of humiliation and the like). His reason was
that the hearts and spirits of all, especially the weak, continue and
stand bent (as it were) so long towards God as they ought to do in
that duty without flagging and falling off." This is a remarkable
deliverance for a day when two-hour prayers were the rule, and from
a man who, his biographer tells us, "had a singular good gift in
prayer."
BRIA´NA, the lady of a castle who demanded for toll "the locks of
every lady and the beard of every knight that passed." This toll was
established because sir Crudor, with whom she was in love, refused
to marry her till she had provided him with human hair sufficient to
"purfle a mantle" with. Sir Crudor, having been overthrown in knightly
combat by sir Calidore, who refused to pay "the toll demanded," is
made to release Briana from the condition imposed on her, and Briana
swears to discontinue the discourteous toll.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
vi. 1 (1596).
BRI´ANOR (_Sir_), a knight overthrown by the "Salvage Knight," whose
name was sir Artegal.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. 5 (1596).
BRIAR´EOS (_4 syl._), usually called Briareus [_Bri´.a.ruce_], the
giant with a hundred hands. Hence Dryden says, "And Briareus, with
all his hundred hands" (_Virgil_, vi.); but Milton writes the name
Briareos (_Paradise Lost_, i. 199).
Then, called by thee, the monster Titan came,
Whom gods Briareos, men Ægeon name.
Pope, _Iliad_, i.
BRI´AREUS (_Bold_), Handel (1685-1757).
BRI´AREUS OF LANGUAGES, cardinal Mezzofanti, who was familiar with
fifty-eight different languages. Byron calls him "a walking polyglot"
(1774-1849).
BRIBO´CI, inhabitants of Berkshire and the adjacent counties.--Cæsar,
_Commentaries_.
BRICK (_Jefferson_), a very weak pale young man, the war correspondent
of the _New York Rowdy Journal_, of which colonel Diver was
editor.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).
BRIDE OF ABY´DOS (_The_), Zulei´ka (_3 syl._), daughter of Giaffer (_2
syl._), pacha of Abydos. She is the troth-plight bride of Selim; but
Giaffer shoots the lover, and Zuleika dies of a broken heart.--Byron,
_Bride of Abydos_ (1813).
BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR, Lucy Ashton, in love with Edgar master of
Ravenswood, but compelled to marry Frank Hayston, laird of Bucklaw.
She tries to murder him on the bridal night, and dies insane the day
following.--Sir W. Scott, _The Bride of Lammermoor_ (time, William
III.).
[Illustration] _The Bride of Lammermoor_ is one of the most finished
of Scott's novels, presenting a unity of plot and action from
beginning to end. The old butler, Caleb Balderston, is exaggerated and
far too prominent, but he serves as a foil to the tragic scenes.
In _The Bride of Lammermoor_ we see embodied
the dark spirit of fatalism--that spirit which
breathes on the writings of the Greek tragedians
when they traced the persecuting vengeance of
destiny against the houses of Laius and Atreus.
From the time that we hear the prophetic rhymes
the spell begins, and the clouds blacken round us,
till they close the tale in a night of horror.--Ed.
Rev.
BRIDE OF THE SEA, Venice, so called from the ancient ceremony of the
doge marrying the city to the Adriatic by throwing a ring into it,
pronouncing these words, "We wed thee, O sea, in token of perpetual
domination."
BRIDGE. The imaginary bridge between earth and the Mohammedan paradise
is called "Al Sirat´."
The rainbow bridge which spans heaven and earth in Scandinavian
mythology is called "Bif´rost."
BRIDGE OF GOLD. According to German tradition, Charlemagne's spirit
crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge, at Bingen, in reasons of plenty,
and blesses both cornfields and vineyards.
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold.
Longfellow, _Autumn_.
BRIDGE OF SIGHS, the covered passageway which connects the palace
of the doge in Venice with the State prisons. Called "the Bridge of
Sighs," because the condemned passed over it from the judgment hall to
the place of execution. Hood has a poem called _The Bridge of Sighs_.
BRIDGEMORE (_Mr._), of Fish Street Hill, London. A dishonest merchant,
wealthy, vulgar, and purse-proud. He is invited to a _soirée_ given by
lord Abberville, "and counts the servants, gapes at the lustres, and
never enters the drawing-room at all, but stays below, chatting with
the travelling tutor."