BRIDGET, ST., an Irish saint, born at Dundalk; entered a monastery
at 14; founded monasteries; takes rank in Ireland with St. Patrick and
St. Columba. Festival, Feb. 1 (453-523). Also the name of a Swedish saint
in the 14th century; founded a new Order, and 72 monasteries of the
Order.
BRIDGETON, a manufacturing town in New Jersey, 38 m. S. of
Philadelphia.
BRIDGETOWN (21), capital of Barbadoes, seat of the government, the
bishop, a college, &c.; it has suffered frequently from hurricane and
fever.
BRIDGEWATER, FRANCIS EGERTON, 3RD DUKE OF, celebrated for his
self-sacrificing devotion to the improvement and extension of canal
navigation in England, embarking in it all his wealth, in which he was
aided by the skill of Brindley; he did not take part in politics, though
he was a supporter of Pitt; died unmarried (1736-1803).
BRIDGEWATER, FRANCIS HENRY EGERTON, 8TH EARL OF, educated for the
Church, bequeathed £8000 for the best work on natural theology, which his
trustees expended in the production of eight works by different eminent
men, called "Bridgewater Treatises," all to be found in Bohn's Scientific
Library (1758-1829).
BRIDGMAN, LAURA, a deaf, dumb, and blind child, born in New
Hampshire, U.S.; noted for the surprising development of intellectual
faculty notwithstanding these drawbacks; Dickens gives an account of her
in his "American Notes" (1829-1889).
BRIDGWATER, a seaport town in Somersetshire, 29 m. SW. of Bristol.
BRIDLEGOOSE, JUDGE, a judge in Rabelais' "Pantagruel," who decided
cases by the throw of dice.
BRIDLINGTON, a watering-place in Yorkshire, 6 m. SW. of Flamborough
Head, with a chalybeate spring.
BRIDPORT, VISCOUNT, a British admiral, distinguished in several
engagements (1797-1814).
BRIEG (20), a thriving, third, commercially speaking, town in
Prussian Silesia, 25 m. SE. of Breslau.
BRIENNE, JEAN DE, descendant of an old French family; elected king
of Jerusalem, then emperor of Constantinople; _d_. 1237.
BRIENZ, LAKE OF, lake in the Swiss canton of Bern, 8 m. long, 2 m.
broad, over 800 ft. above sea-level, and of great depth in certain parts,
abounding in fish. Town of, a favourite resort for tourists.
BRIEUC, ST., (19), a seaport and an episcopal city in the dep. of
Côtes-du-Nord, France.
BRIGADE, a body of troops under a general officer, called brigadier,
consisting of a number of regiments, squadrons, or battalions.
BRIGANTES, a powerful British tribe that occupied the country
between the Humber and the Roman Wall.
BRIGGS, HENRY, a distinguished English mathematician; first Savilian
professor at Oxford; made an important improvement on the system of
logarithms, which was accepted by Napier, the inventor, and is the system
now in use (1561-1631).
BRIGHAM YOUNG, the chief of the Mormons (1801-1877).
BRIGHT, JAMES FRANCK, historian, Master of University College,
Oxford; author of "English History for the Use of Public Schools," a book
of superior literary merit; _b_. 1832.
BRIGHT, JOHN, English statesman, son of a Lancashire cotton spinner,
born near Rochdale; of Quaker birth and profession; engaged in
manufacture; took an early interest in political reform; he joined the
Anti-Corn-Law League on its formation in 1839, and soon was associated
with Cobden in its great agitation; entering Parliament in 1843, he was a
strong opponent of protection, the game laws, and later of the Crimean
war; he advocated financial reform and the reform of Indian
administration; and on the outbreak of the American Civil War supported
the North, though his business interests suffered severely; he was
closely associated with the 1867 Reform Act, Irish Church
Disestablishment 1869, and the 1870 Irish Land Act; his Ministerial
career began in 1868, but was interrupted by illness; in 1873, and again
in 1881, he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; he seceded from
Gladstone's Government on the Egyptian policy in 1882, and strenuously
opposed Home Rule in 1886; in 1880 he was Lord Rector of Glasgow
University; he was a man of lofty and unblemished character, an animated
and eloquent orator; at his death Mr. Gladstone pronounced one of the
noblest eulogiums one public man has ever paid to another (1811-1889).
BRIGHTON (128), a much-frequented watering-place in Sussex, 50 m. S.
of London, of which it is virtually a suburb; a place of fashionable
resort ever since George IV. took a fancy to it; a fine parade extends
along the whole length of the sea front; has many handsome edifices, a
splendid aquarium, a museum, schools of science and art, public library
and public gallery; the principal building is the Pavilion or Marine
Palace, originally built for George IV. Also the name of a suburb of
Melbourne.
BLIGHT'S DISEASE, a disease in the kidneys, due to several diseased
conditions of the organ, so called from Dr. Richard Bright, who first
investigated its nature.
BRIL BROTHERS, MATTHEW AND PAUL, landscape painters, born at
Antwerp; employed in the 16th century by successive Popes to decorate the
Vatican at Rome; of whom Paul, the younger, was the greater artist; his
best pictures are in Rome.
BRILLAT-SAVARIN, a French gastronomist, author of "Physiologie du
Goût," a book full of wit and learning, published posthumously; was
professionally a lawyer and some time a judge (1755-1825).
BRIN`DISI (15), a seaport of Southern Italy, on the Adriatic coast;
has risen in importance since the opening of the Overland Route as a
point of departure for the East; it is 60 hours by rail from London, and
three days by steam from Alexandria; it was the port of embarkation for
Greece in ancient times, and for Palestine in mediæval.
BRINDLEY, JAMES, a mechanician and engineer, born in Derbyshire;
bred a millwright; devoted his skill and genius to the construction of
canals, under the patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater, as the greatest
service he could render to his country; regarded rivers as mere "feeders
to canals" (1716-1772).
BRINK, JAN TEN, a Dutch writer, distinguished as a critic in the
department of belles-lettres; _b_. 1834.
BRINVILLIERS, MARQUISE DE, notorious for her gallantries and for
poisoning her father, brother, and two sisters for the sake of their
property; was tortured and beheaded; the poison she used appears to have
been the Tofana poison, an art which one of her paramours taught her
(1630-1676). See AQUA TOFANA.
BRISBANE (49), capital of Queensland, on the Brisbane River, 25 m.
from the sea, 500 m. N. of Sydney, is the chief trading centre and
seaport of the Colony; it has steam communication with Australian ports
and London, and railway communication with Sydney, Melbourne, and
Adelaide; prosperity began when the colony was opened to free settlement
in 1842; it was dissociated from New South Wales and the city
incorporated in 1859.
BRISBANE, ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES, a naval officer of distinction under
Lords Hood and Nelson; captured in 1796 Dutch warships, three ships of
the line among them, in Saldanha Bay, and in 1807 the island of Curaçoa;
was made governor of St. Vincent (1769-1829).
BRISBANE, SIR JAMES, naval officer, brother of the preceding, served
under Lord Howe and under Nelson at Copenhagen (1774-1829).
BRISBANE, SIR THOMAS MACDOUGALL, British general, a man of science
and an astronomer, born near Largs, Ayrshire; saw service as a soldier;
was appointed governor of New South Wales to the profit of the colony;
gave name to the capital of Queensland; catalogued over 7000 stars;
succeeded Scott as president of the Royal Society (1773-1860).
BRISE`IS, a young virgin priestess, who fell to the lot of Achilles
among the spoil of a victory, but whom Agamemnon carried off from him,
whereupon he retired to his tent and sullenly refused to take any further
part in the war, to its prolongation, in consequence, as Homer relates,
for ten long years; the theme of the "Iliad" being the "wrath of
Achilles" on this account, and what it led to.
BRISSAC, the name of a noble family which supplied several marshals
to France.
BRISSON, HENRI, French publicist and journalist; after holding
presidentships in the Chamber became premier in 1885, but resigned after
a few months; formed a Radical administration in 1898, which was
short-lived; _b_. 1835.
BRISSOT DE WARVILLE, JEAN PIERRE, a French revolutionary, born at
Chartres, son of a pastry-cook; bred to the bar, took to letters; became
an outspoken disciple of Rousseau; spent some time in the Bastille;
liberated, he went to America; returned on the outbreak of the
Revolution, sat in the National Assembly, joined the Girondists; became
one of the leaders, or rather of a party of his own, named after him
Brissotins, midway between the Jacobins and them; fell under suspicion
like the rest of the party, was arrested, tried and guillotined
(1754-1793).
BRISTOL (286), on the Avon, 6 m. from its mouth, and 118 m. W. of
London, is the largest town in Gloucestershire, the seventh in England,
and a great seaport, with Irish, W. Indian, and S. American trade; it
manufactures tobacco, boots and shoes; it has a cathedral, two colleges,
a library and many educational institutions; by a charter of Edward III.
it forms a county in itself.
BRISTOL CHANNEL, an inlet in SW. of England, between S. Wales and
Devon and Cornwall, 8 m. in length, from 5 to 43 in breadth, and with a
depth of from 5 to 40 fathoms; is subject to very high tides, and as such
dangerous to shipping; numerous rivers flow into it.
BRITANNIA, a name for Britain as old as the days of Cæsar, and
inhabited by Celts, as Gaul also was.
BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE, a railway bridge spanning the Menai
Strait, designed by Robert Stephenson, and completed in 1850; consists of
hollow tubes of wrought-iron plates riveted together, and took five years
in erecting.
BRITANNICUS, the son of Claudius and Messalina, poisoned by Nero.
BRITISH ARISTIDES, name applied to Andrew Marvell from his
corresponding incorruptible integrity in life and poverty at death.
BRITISH ASSOCIATION, an association, of Sir David Brewster's
suggestion, of men of all departments of science for the encouragement of
scientific research and the diffusion of scientific knowledge, which
holds its meetings annually under the presidency of some distinguished
scientist, now in this, now in that selected central city of the country;
it is divided into eight sections--mathematical, chemical, geological,
biological, geographical, economic, mechanical, and anthropological.
BRITISH COLUMBIA (98), a western fertile prov. of British America,
extending between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, and from the
United States on the S. to Alaska on the N., being 800 m. long and four
times the size of Great Britain; rich in timber and minerals; rain is
abundant, and cereals do well.
BRITISH LION, the name given to John Bull when roused by opposition.
BRITISH MUSEUM, a national institution in London for the collection
of MSS., books, prints and drawings, antiquities, and objects of natural
history, ethnology, &c.; founded as far back as 1700, though not opened,
in Montagu House as it happened, for the public benefit till 1759.
BRITOMART, is a lady knight in the "Faërie Queene," representing
chastity with a resistless magic spear.
BRITTANY (3,162), an old French prov., land of the Bretons,
comprising the peninsula opposite Devon and Cornwall, stretching westward
between the Bays of Cancale and Biscay, was in former times a duchy; a
third of its inhabitants still retain their Breton language.
BRITTON, JOHN, topographer and antiquary, born in Wiltshire in
humble position; author of "Beauties of Wiltshire," instalment of a work
embracing all the counties of England and Wales; his principal works, and
works of value, are "Antiquities of Great Britain" and "Cathedral
Antiquities of England"; his chief work is 14 volumes; the "Antiquities
in Normandy" did much to create an interest in antiquarian subjects
(1771-1857).
BRIXTON, a southern suburb of London, on the Surrey side, a district
of the city that has of late years extended immensely.
BROAD ARROW, a stamp like an arrow-head to indicate government
property.
BROAD BOTTOM MINISTRY, a coalition of great weight under Mr. Pelham,
from Nov. 1744 to Mar. 1755, so called from the powerful parties
represented in it.
BROAD CHURCH, that section of the Church which inclines to liberal
opinions in theology, and is opposed to the narrowing of either spirit or
form, perhaps to an undue degree and to the elimination of elements
distinctive of the Christian system.
BROADS, THE NORFOLK, are a series of inland lakes in the E. of
Norfolkshire, which look like expansions of the rivers; they are
favourite holiday resorts on account of the expanse of strange scenery,
abundant vegetation, keen air, fishing and boating attractions.
BROB`DINGNAG, an imaginary country in "Gulliver's Travels,"
inhabited by giants, each as tall "as an ordinary spire-steeple";
properly a native of the country, in comparison with whom Gulliver was a
pigmy "not half so big as a round little worm plucked from the lazy
finger of a maid."
BROCA, PAUL, an eminent French surgeon, anthropologist, and one of
the chief French evolutionists; held a succession of important
appointments, and was the author of a number of medical works
(1824-1880).
BROCHANT DE VILLIERS, a mineralogist and geologist, born in Paris;
director of the St. Gobin manufactory (1773-1810).
BROCHS, dry-stone circular towers, called also Picts' towers and
Duns, with thick Cyclopean walls, a single doorway, and open to the sky,
found on the edge of straths or lochs in the N. and W. of Scotland.
BROCKEN, or BLOCKSBERG, the highest peak (3740 ft.) of the Harz
Mts., cultivated to the summit; famous for a "SPECTRE" so called,
long an object of superstition, but which is only the beholder's shadow
projected through, and magnified by, the mists.
BROCKHAUS, FRIEDRICH ARNOLD, a German publisher, born at Dortmund; a
man of scholarly parts; began business in Amsterdam, but settled in
Leipzig; publisher of the famous "Conversations Lexikon," and a great
many other important works (1772-1823).
BROCOLIANDO, a forest in Brittany famous in Arthurian legend.
BRODIE, SIR BENJAMIN, surgeon, born in Wiltshire; professor of
surgery; for 30 years surgeon in St. George's Hospital; was medical
adviser to three sovereigns; president of the Royal Society (1783-1862).
BRODIE, WILLIAM, a Scottish sculptor, born in Banff; did numerous
busts and statues (1815-1881).
BROGLIE, ALBERT, son of the following, a Conservative politician and
littérateur, author of "The Church and the Roman Empire in the 4th
century"; _b_. 1821
BROGLIE, CHARLES VICTOR, DUC DE, a French statesman, born at Paris;
a Liberal politician; was of the party of Guizot and Royer-Collard; held
office under Louis Philippe; negotiated a treaty with England for the
abolition of slavery; was an Orleanist, and an enemy of the Second
Empire; retired after the _coup d'état_ (1785-1870).
BROGLIE, VICTOR FRANÇOIS, DUC DE, marshal of France, distinguished
in the Seven Years' War, being "a firm disciplinarian"; was summoned by
royalty to the rescue as "war god" at the outbreak of the Revolution;
could not persuade his troops to fire on the rioters; had to "mount and
ride"; took command of the Emigrants in 1792, and died at Münster
(1718-1804).
BROKE, SIR PHILIP BOWES VERE, rear-admiral, born at Ipswich,
celebrated for the action between his ship _Shannon_, 38 guns, and the
American ship _Chesapeake_, 49 guns, in June 1813, in which he boarded
the latter and ran up the British flag; one of the most brilliant naval
actions on record, and likely to be long remembered in the naval annals
of the country (1776-1841).
BROMBERG (41), a busy town on the Brahe, in Prussian Posen; being a
frontier town, it suffered much in times of war.
BROME, ALEXANDER, a cavalier, writer of songs and lampoons instinct
with wit, whim, and spirit; and of his songs some are amatory, some
festive, and some political (1626-1666).
BROME, RICHARD, an English comic playwright, contemporary with Ben
Jonson, and a rival; originally his servant; his plays are numerous, and
were characterised by his enemies as the sweepings of Jonson's study;
_d_. 1652.
BROMINE, an elementary fluid of a dark colour and a disagreeable
smell, extracted from bittern, a liquid which remains after the
separation of salt.
BROMLEY (21), a market-town in Kent, 10 m. SE. of London, where the
bishops of Rochester had their palace, and where there is a home called
Warner's College for clergymen's widows.
BROMPTON, SW. district of London, in Kensington, now called S.
Kensington; once a rustic locality, now a fashionable district, with
several public buildings and the Oratory.
BRÖNDSTED, PETER OLAF, a Danish archæologist; author of "Travels and
Researches in Greece," where by excavations he made important
discoveries; his great work "Travels and Archæological Researches in
Greece" (1780-1842).
BRONGNIART, ADOLPHE, French botanist, son of the succeeding, the
first to discover and explain the function of the pollen in plants
(1801-1876).
BRONGNIART, ALEXANDRE, a French chemist and zoologist, collaborateur
with Cuvier, born at Paris; director of the porcelain works at Sèvres;
revived painting on glass; introduced a new classification of reptiles;
author of treatises on mineralogy and the ceramic arts (1770-1847).
BRONTE (16), a town in Sicily, on the western slope of Etna, which
gave title of duke to Nelson.
BRONTË, the name of three ladies, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne,
daughters of a Yorkshire clergyman of Irish extraction: CHARLOTTE,
born at Thornton, Yorkshire; removed with her father, at the age of four,
to Haworth, a moorland parish, in the same county, where she lived most
of her days; spent two years at Brussels as a pupil-teacher; on her
return, in conjunction with her sisters, prepared and published a volume
of poems under the pseudonyms respectively of "Currer, Ellis, and Acton
Bell," which proved a failure. Nothing daunted, she set to novel writing,
and her success was instant; first, "Jane Eyre," then "Shirley," and then
"Villette," appeared, and her fame was established. In 1854 she married
her father's curate, Mr. Nicholls, but her constitution gave way, and she
died (1816-1855). EMILY (Ellis), two years younger, poet rather than
novelist; wrote "Wuthering Heights," a remarkable production, showing
still greater genius, which she did not live to develop. ANNE
(Acton), four years younger, also wrote two novels, but very ephemeral
productions.
BRONZE AGE, the age in the history of a race intermediate between
the Stone Age and the Iron, and in some cases overlapping these two, when
weapons and tools were made of bronze.
BRONZI`NO, a Florentine painter, painted both in oil and fresco; a
great admirer of Michael Angelo; his famous picture, "Descent of Christ
into Hell" (1502-1572).
BROOK FARM, an abortive literary community organised on Fourier's
principles, 8 m. from Boston, U.S., by George Ripley in 1840; Nathaniel
Hawthorne was one of the community, and wrote an account of it.
BROOKE, HENRY, Irish dramatist and novelist, born in co. Cavan;
author of the "Fool of Quality," a book commended by John Wesley and much
lauded by Charles Kingsley, and the only one of his works that survives;
wrote, among other things, a poem called "Universal Beauty," and a play
called "Gustavus Vasa" (1703-1783).
BROOKE, SIR JAMES, rajah of Sarawak, born at Benares, educated in
England; entered the Indian army; was wounded in the Burmese war,
returned in consequence to England; conceived the idea of suppressing
piracy and establishing civilisation in the Indian Archipelago; sailed in
a well-manned and well-equipped yacht from the Thames with that object;
arrived at Sarawak, in Borneo; assisted the governor in suppressing an
insurrection, and was made rajah, the former rajah being deposed in his
favour; brought the province under good laws, swept the seas of pirates,
for which he was rewarded by the English government; was appointed
governor of Labuan; finally returned to England and died, being succeeded
in Sarawak by a nephew (1803-1868).
BROOKE, STOPFORD, preacher and writer, born in Donegal; after other
clerical appointments became incumbent of Bedford Chapel, Bloomsbury, and
Queen's chaplain; from conscientious motives seceded from the Church, but
continued to preach in Bloomsbury; wrote the "Life of Robertson of
Brighton," a "Primer of English Literature," "History of English Poetry,"
"Theology in the English Poets," and "Life of Milton," all works in
evidence of critical ability of a high order; _b_. 1832.
BROOKLYN (806), a suburb of New York, on Long Island, though ranking
as a city, and the fourth in the Union; separated from New York by the
East River, a mile broad, and connected with it by a magnificent
suspension bridge, the largest in the world, as well as by some 12 lines
of ferry boats plied by steam; it is now incorporated in Greater New
York; has 10 m. of water front, extensive docks and warehouses, and does
an enormous shipping trade; manufactures include glass, clothing,
chemicals, metallic wares, and tobacco; there is a naval yard, dock, and
storehouse; the city is really a part of New York; has many fine
buildings, parks, and pleasure grounds.
BROOKS, CHARLES WILLIAM SHIRLEY, novelist and journalist, born in
London; was on the staff of the _Morning Chronicle_; sent to Russia to
inquire into and report on the condition of the peasantry and labouring
classes there, as well as in Syria and Egypt; his report published in his
"Russians of the South"; formed a connection with _Punch_ in 1851,
writing the "Essence of Parliament," and succeeded Mark Lemon as editor
in 1870; he was the author of several works (1816-1874).
BROSSES, CHARLES DE, a French archæologist, born at Dijon; wrote
among other subjects on the manners and customs of primitive and
prehistoric man (1709-1777).
BROSSETTE, a French littérateur, born at Lyons; friend of Boileau,
and his editor and commentator (1671-1743).
BROTHERS, RICHARD, a fanatic, born in Newfoundland, who believed and
persuaded others to believe that the English people were the ten lost
tribes of Israel (1757-1824).
BROUGHAM, HENRY, LORD BROUGHAM AND VAUX, born in Edinburgh, and
educated at the High School and University of that city; was admitted to
the Scotch bar in 1800; excluded from promotion in Scotland by his
liberal principles, he joined the English bar in 1808, speedily acquired
a reputation as a lawyer for the defence in Crown libel actions, and, by
his eloquence in the cause of Queen Caroline, 1820, won universal popular
favour; entering Parliament in 1810, he associated with the Whig
opposition, threw himself into the agitation for the abolition of
slavery, the cause of education, and law reform; became Lord Chancellor
in 1830, but four years afterwards his political career closed; he was a
supporter of many popular institutions; a man of versatile ability and
untiring energy; along with Horner, Jeffrey, and Sidney Smith, one of the
founders of the _Edinburgh Review_, also of London University, and the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; a writer on scientific,
historical, political, and philosophical themes, but his violence and
eccentricity hurt his influence; spent his last days at Cannes, where he
died (1778-1868).
BROUGHTON, LORD. See HOBHOUSE.
BROUGHTON, RHODA, novelist, her best work "Not Wisely but Too Well";
wrote also "Cometh Up as a Flower," "Red as a Rose is She," &c.; _b_.
1840.
BROUGHTON, WILLIAM ROBERT, an English seaman, companion of
Vancouver; discovered a portion of Oceania (1763-1822).
BROUGHTY FERRY (9), a watering-place, with villas, near Dundee, and
a favourite place of residence of Dundee merchants.
BROUSSA (37), a city in the extreme NW. of Asiatic Turkey, at the
foot of Mt. Olympus, 12 m. from the Sea of Marmora; the capital of the
Turkish empire till the taking of Constantinople in 1453; abounds in
mosques, and is celebrated for its baths.
BROUSSAIS, JOSEPH VICTOR, a French materialist, founder of the
"physiological school" of medicine; resolved life into excitation, and
disease into too much or too little (1772-1838).
BROUSSEL, a member of the Parlement of Paris, whose arrest, in 1648,
was the cause of, or pretext for, the organisation of the Fronde.
BROUSSON, a French Huguenot who returned to France after the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was broken on the wheel, 1698.
BROUWER, a Dutch painter, mostly of low, vulgar life, which, as
familiar with it, he depicted with great spirit (1605-1638).
BROWN, AMY, the first wife of the Duc de Berri, born in England,
died in France; the Pope, in 1816, annulled her marriage, but declared
her two daughters legitimate (1783-1876).
BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN, an American novelist, born in Philadelphia,
of Quaker connection; his best-known fictions are "Wieland," "Edgar
Huntly," &c. (1771-1810).
BROWN, FORD MADOX, an English painter, born at Calais; his subjects
nearly all of a historical character, one of which is "Chaucer reciting
his Poetry at the Court of Edward III."; anticipated Pre-Raphaelitism
(1821-1893).
BROWN, SIR GEORGE, British general, born near Elgin, distinguished
both in the Peninsular and in the Crimean war, was severely wounded at
Inkerman, when in command of the Light Division (1790-1863).
BROWN, HENRY KIRKE, an American sculptor, did a number of statues, a
colossal one of Washington among them (1814-1886).
BROWN, JOHN, American slavery abolitionist; settled in Kansas, and
resolutely opposed the project of making it a slave state; in the
interest of emancipation, with six others, seized on the State armoury at
Harper's Ferry in hope of a rising, entrenched himself armed in it, was
surrounded, seized, tried, and hanged (1800-1859).
BROWN, JOHN, of Haddington, a self-educated Scotch divine, born at
Carpow, near Abernethy, Perthshire, son of a poor weaver, left an orphan
at 11, became a minister of a Dissenting church in Haddington; a man of
considerable learning, and deep piety; author of "Dictionary of the
Bible," and "Self-interpreting Bible" (1722-1787).
BROWN, JOHN, M.D., great-grandson of the preceding, born at Biggar,
educated in Edinburgh High School and at Edinburgh University, was a
pupil of James Syme, the eminent surgeon, and commenced quiet practice in
Edinburgh; author of "Horæ Subsecivæ," "Rab and his Friends," "Pet
Marjorie," "John Leech," and other works; was a fine and finely-cultured
man, much beloved by all who knew him, and by none more than by John
Ruskin, who says of him, he was "the best and truest friend of all my
life.... Nothing can tell the loss to me in his death, nor the grief to
how many greater souls than mine that had been possessed in patience
through his love" (1810-1882).
BROWN, JOHN, M.D., founder of the Brunonian system of medicine,
born at Bunkle, Berwickshire; reduced diseases into two classes, those
resulting from redundancy of excitation, and those due to deficiency of
excitation; author of "Elements of Medicine" and "Observations on the Old
and New Systems of Physic" (1735-1788). See BROUSSAIS.
BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON, three middle-class Englishmen on their
travels abroad, as figured in the pages of _Punch_, and drawn by Richard
Doyle.
BROWN, MOUNT (16,000 ft.), the highest of the Rocky Mts., in N.
America.
BROWN, OLIVER MADOX, son of Ford Madox, a youth of great promise
both as an artist and poet; died of blood-poisoning (1855-1874).
BROWN, RAWDON, historical scholar, spent his life at Venice in the
study of Italian history, especially in its relation to English history,
which he prosecuted with unwearied industry; his great work, work of 20
years' hard labour, "Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts relating to
English Affairs existing in the Archives of Venice and Northern Italy,"
left unfinished at his death; died at Venice, where he spent a great part
of his life, where Ruskin found him and conceived a warm friendship for
him (1803-1883).
BROWN, ROBERT, a distinguished botanist, born at Montrose, son of an
Episcopal clergyman; accompanied an expedition to survey the coast of
Australia in 1801, returned after four years' exploration, with 4000
plants mostly new to science, which he classified and described in his
"Prodromus Floræ Novæ Hollandiæ"; became librarian to, and finally
president of, the Linnean Society; styled by Humboldt _botanicorum facile
princeps_; he was a man of most minute and accurate observation, and of a
wide range of knowledge, much of which died along with him, out of the
fear of committing himself to mistakes (1773-1858).
BROWN, SAMUEL, M.D., chemist, born in Haddington, grandson of John
Brown of Haddington, whose life was devoted, with the zeal of a mediæval
alchemist, to a reconstruction of the science of atomics, which he did
not live to see realised: a man of genius, a brilliant conversationist
and an associate of the most intellectual men of his time, among the
number De Quincey, Carlyle, and Emerson; wrote "Lay Sermons on the Theory
of Christianity," "Lectures on the Atomic Theory," and two volumes of
"Essays, Scientific and Literary" (1817-1856).
BROWN, THOMAS, Scottish psychologist, born in Kirkcudbrightshire,
bred to medicine; professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of
Edinburgh, colleague and successor to Dugald Stewart; his lectures, all
improvised on the spur of the moment, were published posthumously;
"Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind" established a sixth sense,
which he called the "muscular." He was a man of precocious talent, and a
devoted student, to the injury of his health and the shortening of his
life; he was obliged from ill-health to resign his professorship after 10
years (1778-1820).
BROWN WILLY, the highest peak (1368 ft.) in Cornwall.
BROWNE, CHARLES FARRAR, a humorist and satirist, known by the
pseudonym of "Artemus Ward," born in Maine, U.S.; his first literary
effort was as "showman" to an imaginary travelling menagerie; travelled
over America lecturing, carrying with him a whimsical panorama as
affording texts for his numerous jokes, which he brought with him to
London, and exhibited with the same accompaniment with unbounded success;
he spent some time among the Mormons, and defined their religion as
singular, but their wives plural (1834-1867).
BROWNE, HABLOT KNIGHT, artist, born in London; illustrated Dickens's
works, "Pickwick" to begin with, under the pseudonym of "Phiz," as well
as the works of Lever, Ainsworth, Fielding, and Smollett, and the
Abbotsford edition of Scott; he was skilful as an etcher and an
architectural draughtsman (1815-1882).
BROWNE, ROBERT, founder of the Brownists, born in Rutland; the first
seceder from the Church of England, and the first to found a Church of
his own on Congregational principles, which he did at Norwich, though his
project of secession proved a failure, and he returned to the English
Church; died in jail at Northampton, where he was imprisoned for
assaulting a constable; he may be accounted the father of the
Congregational body in England (1540-1630).
BROWNE, SIR THOMAS, physician and religious thinker, born in London;
resided at Norwich for nearly half a century, and died there; was
knighted by Charles II.; "was," Professor Saintsbury says, "the greatest
prose writer perhaps, when all things are taken together, in the whole
range of English"; his principal works are "Religio Medici," "Inquiries
into Vulgar Errors," and "Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, a Discourse of the
Sepulchral Urns found in Norfolk"; "all of the very first importance in
English literature,..." adds the professor, "the 'Religio Medici' the
greatest favourite, and a sort of key to the others;" "a man," says
Coleridge, "rich in various knowledge, exuberant in conceptions and
conceits, contemplative, imaginative, often truly great, and magnificent
in his style and diction.... He is a quiet and sublime enthusiast, with a
strong tinge of the fantastic. He meditated much on death and the
hereafter, and on the former in its relation to, or leading on to, the
latter" (1605-1682).
BROWNE WILLIAM, English pastoral poet, born at Tavistock; author of
"Britannia's Pastorals" and "The Shepherd's Pipe," a collection of
eclogues and "The Inner Temple and Masque," on the story of Ulysses and
Circe, with some opening exquisitely beautiful verses, "Steer hither,
steer," among them; was an imitator of Spenser, and a parallel has been
instituted between him and Keats (1590-1645).
BROWNIE, a good-natured household elf, believed in Scotland to
render obliging services to good housewives, and his presence an evidence
that the internal economies were approved of, as he favoured good
husbandry, and was partial to houses where it was observed.
BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT, _née_ BARRETT, poetess, born at
Carlton Hall, Durham; a woman of great natural abilities, which developed
early; suffered from injury to her spine; went to Torquay for her health;
witnessed the death by drowning of a brother, that gave her a shock the
effect of which never left her; published in 1838 "The Seraphim," and in
1844 "The Cry of the Children"; fell in with and married Robert Browning
in 1846, who immediately took her abroad, settling in Florence; wrote in
1850 "Sonnets from the Portuguese," in 1851 "Casa Guidi Windows," and in
1856 "Aurora Leigh," "a novel in verse," and in 1860 "Poems before
Congress"; ranks high, if not highest, among the poetesses of England;
she took an interest all through life in public affairs; her work is
marked by musical diction, sensibility, knowledge, and imagination, which
no poetess has rivalled (1806-1861).
BROWNING, ROBERT, poet, one of the two greatest in the Victorian
era, born in Camberwell; early given to write verses; prepared himself
for his literary career by reading through Johnson's Dictionary; his
first poem "PAULINE" (q. v.) published in 1833, which was
followed by "Paracelsus" in 1835, "Sordello" in 1840; after a time, in
which he was not idle, appeared, with some of his "Dramatic Romances and
Lyrics," in 1855 his "Men and Women," and in 1868 "THE RING AND THE
BOOK" (q. v.), his longest poem, and more analytic than poetic;
this was succeeded by a succession of others, finishing up with
"Asolando," which appeared the day he died at Venice; was a poet of great
subtlety, deep insight, creative power, and strong faith, of a genius and
learning which there are few able to compass the length and breadth of;
lies buried in Westminster Abbey; of Browning it has been said by
Professor Saintsbury, "Timor mortis non conturbabat, 'the fear of death
did not trouble him.' In the browner shades of age as well as in the
spring of youth he sang, not like most poets, Love and Death, but Love
and Life.... 'James Lee,' 'Rabbi Ben Ezra,' and 'Prospice' are among the
greatest poems of the century." His creed was an optimism of the
brightest, and his restful faith "it is all right with the world"
(1812-1889).
BROWN-SÉQUARD, physiologist, born in Mauritius, of American
parentage; studied in Paris; practised in New York, and became a
professor in the Collège de France; made a special study of the nervous
system and nervous diseases, and published works on the subject; _b_.
1818.
BRUANT, a French architect, born in Paris; architect of the
Invalides and the Salpétrière; _d_. 1697.
BRUAT, a French admiral, commanded the French fleet at the Crimea
(1796-1885).
BRUCE, a family illustrious in Scottish history, descended from a
Norman knight, Robert de Bruis, who came over with the Conqueror, and who
acquired lands first in Northumberland and then in Annandale.
BRUCE, JAMES, traveller, called the "Abyssinian," born at Kinnaird
House, Stirlingshire, set out from Cairo in 1768 in quest of the source
of the Nile: believed he had discovered it; stayed two years in
Abyssinia, and returned home by way of France, elated with his success;
felt hurt that no honor was conferred on him, and for relief from the
chagrin wrote an account of his travels in five quarto vols., the general
accuracy of which, as far as it goes, has been attested by subsequent
explorers (1730-1794).
BRUCE, MICHAEL, a Scotch poet, born near Loch Leven, in poor
circumstances, in the parish of Portmoak; studied for the Church; died of
consumption; his poems singularly plaintive and pathetic; his title to
the authorship of the "Ode to the Cuckoo" has been matter of contention
(1746-1767).
BRUCE, ROBERT, rival with John Baliol for the crown of Scotland on
the death of Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, against whose claim Edward
I. decided in favour of Baliol (1210-1295).
BRUCE, ROBERT, son of the preceding, earl of Carrick, through
Marjory his wife; served under Edward at the battle of Dunbar for one
instance; sued for the Scottish crown in vain (1269-1304).
BRUCE, ROBERT, king of Scotland, son of the preceding, did homage
for a time to Edward, but joined the national party and became one of a
regency of four, with Comyn for rival; stabbed Comyn in a quarrel at
Dumfries, 1306, and was that same year crowned king at Scone; was
defeated by an army sent against him, and obliged to flee to Rathlin,
Ireland; returned and landed in Carrick; cleared the English out of all
the fortresses except Stirling, and on 24th June 1314 defeated the
English under Edward II. at Bannockburn, after which, in 1328, the
independence of Scotland was acknowledged as well as Bruce's right to the
crown; suffering from leprosy, spent his last two years at Cardross
Castle, on the Clyde, where he died in the thirty-third year of his reign
(1274-1329).
BRUCIN, an alkaloid, allied in action to strychnine, though much
weaker, being only a twenty-fifth of the strength.
BRÜCKENAU, small town in Bavaria, 17 m. NW. of Kissingen, with
mineral springs good for nervous and skin diseases.
BRUCKER, historian of philosophy, born at Augsburg, and a pastor
there; author of "Historia Critica Philosophiæ" (1696-1770).
BRUEYS, DAVID AUGUSTIN DE, French dramatist, born at Aix, an abbé
converted by Bossuet, and actively engaged in propagating the faith;
managed to be joint editor with Palaprat in the production of plays
(1650-1725).
BRUGES (49), cap. of W. Flanders, in Belgium, intersected by canals
crossed by some 50 bridges, whence its name "Bridges"; one of these
canals, of considerable depth, connecting it with Ostend; though many of
them are now, as well as some of the streets, little disturbed by
traffic, in a decayed and a decaying place, having once had a population
of 200,000; has a number of fine churches, one specially noteworthy, the
church of Notre Dame; it has several manufactures, textile and chemical,
as well as distilleries, sugar-refineries, and shipbuilding yards.
BRUGSCH, HEINRICH KARL, a German Egyptologist, born at Berlin; was
associated with Mariette in his excavations at Memphis; became director
of the School of Egyptology at Cairo; his works on the subject are
numerous, and of great value; _b_. 1827.
BRÜHL, HEINRICH, COUNT VON, minister of Augustus III., king of
Poland, an unprincipled man, who encouraged his master, and indulged
himself, in silly foppery and wasteful extravagance, so that when the
Seven Years' War broke out he and his master had to flee from Dresden and
seek refuge in Warsaw (1700-1763).