ページの画像
PDF
ePub

follows so many cows.' Hence, in all likelihood, the term | cows; for cutting or maiming the limbs, a heifer; for the Bally-boe, i. e. cow-land, a term which has perplexed branches, a two-year old. Athair timber, viz. alder, willow, many writers, in consequence of the varying extent repre- hawthorn, quick-beam, birch, and elm-for cutting the sented by it at different times and in different districts. It trunk, a cow; for the branches, a heifer. Foghla timber, appears therefore that by levying all mulets for infringe- viz. black thorn, elder, spindle-tree, white hazle, aspen, ments of the law in living money, the Irish brehons took the arbutus-for each, a heifer. Losa timber or fire-wood, viz. most effectual mode of making their punishments tell on the fern, furze, briar, heath, ivy, broom, dwarf thorn-the whole condition and standing of the offender in his tribe, for penalty for destroying these to be at the discretion of the punishments so inflicted showed themselves, more or less, brehon. Full as the classification here is, it scarcely equals in every circumstance of his life and fortunes, and affected in minuteness that law of Ina, a king of the West Saxons his landed property in all cases for a whole year at least. in the tenth century, which estimates the value of a tree In calculating by the measure, it was necessary again to by the number of swine its branches could give shelter to*. fix a standard of available aliquot parts. The number three But perhaps a more remarkable law is that of the Irish was found most convenient, and accordingly the cumhal, a brehon regulating the property in bees. Honey and wax general expression of fixed value, was made to consist of must have formed a large portion of the wealth of those three in-calf cows, and by multiples and fractions of this days, else the various contingent interests in a species of quantity all other proportions of value were usually regu- property so hard to fix as that in a swarm of wandering lated. Seven cumhals, or twenty-one cows, was the usual bees had never been calculated and laid down with such eric for murder on the highway. This will appear, at first scrupulous nicety. In the first place, the bees themselves sight, a very inadequate retribution, but as it is not quite are protected by severe enactments against injury of whatclear whether the relatives of the deceased could not seveever kind. Next, they are to be left free, under heavy rally recover an eric from the murderer, and as it is an penalties, to choose their own place of swarming: 'to blind accompaniment of the punishment in this offence, that the the bees' by casting up dust, or taking any other means to criminal loses all right in the common tillage lands of his force them to descend and swarm on one's own land, while tribe, no matter how numerous his herds may be, after they are flying out of the lands of another, was an offence for satisfying the judgment of the brehon, his punishment may which the punishment was no less than expulsion from the not perhaps have been so much disproportioned as it would tribe and territory. The bees having voluntarily selected and otherwise appear. Still the possession of numerous herds settled on a tree, it then depended on the rank and privileges might thus purchase the wealthy man a privilege of violence. of the owner as well of the bees as of the tree they had To guard against this, the liability increased with the rank chosen, what was to be the portion of wax and honey reof the culprit. Taking the liability of the ordinary clans- served for each, and how long the original owner should man at one, that of the wealthy boor (bo-aireagh, pro- continue to receive that share, as the bees in all cases ultinounced boouré, i. e. a person rich in cattle,) would be mately became the property of him upon whose tree they represented by two, that of the flaith or petty chief by had alighted. The commentators on the old text here comthree and a half, and so on to the righ or lord of his plain very bitterly of the clergy, who, it would appear, were country, whose liability is raised in the proportion of seven particularly fortunate in attracting such wandering swarms to one. Robbery was punished, in like manner, with this to their abbey orchards, where they did not scruple to cover salutary provision, that if the robber could not be disco- them with sheets, and take other unfair means of securing vered, the holder of the stolen goods should pay his eric. their stay among them. If the bees, however, were found The sanctity of marriage was strictly guarded: the injured beyond the sound of a church bell, or the crowing of a cock, husband had his first redress at the hands of his father-in- in the woods or meadows, the finder was entitled to the law; failing him, he might levy retribution on his wife's whole proceeds, excepting a ninth part, which he had to pay brothers; failing them again, on her foster-children; and by way of tribute to the chief. If these laws have been finally, if she had no relations, or if none of them were sol- rightly translated, the old Irish must have possessed the vent, her tribe at large had to pay the penalty of her crime. secret of abstracting the wax and honey without destroying Next to these, the fines for trespass appear to have been the swarm. In no other collection of laws are the regula attended to with peculiar strictness and care. Hitherto we tions regarding this species of property so copious; in fact have spoken of lands held in common, whether for pasturage it would require all the space here devoted to this subject to or tillage, where there could be no fences, and consequently explain the minute and complicated decrees of the brehon little trespass; but, before we enter on the code of trespass-law regarding bees alone. eric, it will be necessary to recur to those lands which we have denominated the private demesne lands of the tribe in which the Deirbh-finné possessed their distinct inheritance. In the present state of the inquiry, it cannot be precisely ascertained how this inheritance was acquired; but such lands are frequently alluded to in the original laws, and distinctly recognized by Sir James Ware, who admits them to have been freeholds. These lands not being subject to yearly repartition, were permanently defined and fenced, and the exclusive possession enjoyed by their holders is evinced by the extreme jealousy of the law decreeing their inviolability. First, we have the legal fence defined; viz. a trench, two feet in width at bottom, three feet in depth, and three feet in width at top, with a ditch raised on one side, of these dimensions and materials, viz. twelve hands of stone work three feet thick, twelve hands of sod The law of rivers and sea coasts is also laid down at some over that, then wooden stakes two feet asunder driven length; but of the law of roads only one section hitherto firmly into the sod, laced with wattles, and rising three hands has been found. This section, however, is well worth over all. For breaking through a fence so constructed, the notice, as it contains proof of a much more general design legal fine was thus proportioned: for every breach up to the in these laws than we might otherwise be disposed to give breadth of three stakes, a heifer or young bull; for every them credit for. It provides that the space of the cast of a breach above three and under five stakes, a bull full grown; dart shall be left from high-water mark along the sea-shore for every breach over five and under eight ditto, an in-calf for the construction of a public coast-road round the whole cow; up to twelve ditto, five cows; and so on in progressive kingdom. It is said that some traces of such a road are still increase. That these lands were considerable enough to to be seen upon the Irish coast. Vallancy states that in his be extensively wooded, appears also from the penalties day the country people called it Brian Boru's road; and against trespass on timber. The classification and com- other writers mention the remains of a great inland causeway parative valuation of trees in a country which has usually somewhat similar to the British Watling Street, crossing the been considered a wilderness of forests cannot fail to be in-country from Dublin to Limerick, which was probably the teresting. Timber was divided into four classes-airigh, effect of a similar provision for inland communication. athair, foghla, and losa timber; and the fines for trespass The law of fosterage is more fully stated. Every member on each were thus proportioned: airigh timber, viz. oak, of the Dathaig-finné, or gentry of the clan, was bound to ash, hazle, holly, yew, and fir-for cutting the trunk, five Leges Ina, Lambard, No, 43.

It is equally impracticable to enter fully into the law of watercourses, the enactments on which are very remarkable, inasmuch as the property of the whole water of a stream vests in him out of whose land it first springs, so that the owner of the fountain could levy tribute even on those bridges which crossed the river between banks belonging to other men, as well as on all houses (save those of the chief, the head villager, and the miller,) whose occupants drew water either from the fountain or the stream. Millers were a class peculiarly favoured in these laws: their mill-races were tax free; their mill-wrights, while pursuing their trade, could not be prosecuted for trespass; and, as above stated, their households were exempt from tribute on all water drawn for their consumption. It is worthy of remark that by the Jewish law the mill-stone could not be confiscated.

VOL. V.-3 D

send his male children to foster with some family of the In finné or commonalty; for it was provided that none but fosterers could claim full eric. The Eguirer or foster-fee was a stated sum payable by instalments during the child's minority. While the child was thus under age, the fosterfather was bound to pay one-half of his fines, in returr. for which the young noble or idil-man was ever after bound to protect his new kindred, and in particular to pay all fines incurred by his foster-mother, except in case of adultery, when the liability first fell upon her father and brothers, if alive and solvent.

The law of tuition provides for three chief branches of education, viz. knowledge of cattle, as being the first and most important in a pastoral community; next, knowledge of agriculture, and finally of navigation, instruction in letters being an indispensable branch of each. These attainments were acquired under tutors hired for the purpose, and paid by the father or foster father, according to the arrangement of the Egairer, the foster-father himself being always the youth's instructor in all military and athletic exercises. The tutors alluded to were the ollamhs or bards, who also acted as clerks and notaries under the brehon. The offices of these functionaries, as well as of the physician, were hereditary, but not, as is generally supposed, subject to the law of primogeniture: the judge, poet, or doctor, being at liberty to select from all of his own name those apprentices whom he might think most promising in his peculiar profession. The law of physic proportioned doctors' fees to the rank of the patient and the nature of the complaint. If a cure was not effected the doctor had no pay, but where the treatment proved successful the recompense was very liberal, as fourteen cumhals or forty-two cows for the cure of a bishop or provincial king, seven and a half cumhuls for that of a lord of a country, three for that of a bovaré, and two for a member of the commonalty.

mere Irishism, by which he acknowledged the brehon code alone, was anxiously encouraged by his dependents; and such were the inducements of the system itself for turbulent and ambitious spirits, that few of the adventurous nobles who first established themselves in Ireland resisted the temptation. To guard against defection so ruinous to the whole policy of the conquest, many statutes were enacted in the parliaments of both countries. These at first were for the encouragement of the English law only, but afterwards it became necessary to take measures of prevention as well as of discouragement. The first positive act against the prac tice of the brehon law within the pale was passed by the parliament held at Kilkenny by Lionel Duke of Clarence, anno 1362; by which the offence is declared high treason. This was followed by the 18th Hen. VI. c. i. ii. iii., and the 28th do., c. i., with similar prohibitions and penalties. The prohibition, however, had little effect. The open defection of the great families of De Burgho, Bermingham, and various branches of the Fitzgeralds, in Ulster, Connaught and Munster, kept the dangerous example constantly before the eyes of the nobility on the borders of the pale, and each succes sive rebellion tended to increase the evil: for if the government were successful, the border barons, on whom the maintenance of that advantage afterwards depended, were proportionably more indulged; and, if the Irish prevailed, their yielding under such compulsion was the more excusable. A good example of the anomalous state of society produced by the intermixture of the two systems on the borders of the pale may be adduced from the reports made by various corporate towns of Leinster to the commissioners appointed by Henry the Eighth to inquire into the abuses of the Irish nobility anno 1537. The following is an abstract of some of the most remarkable complaints. All the freeholders, lay and spiritual, charged their tenants with coyne and livery, with foy and pay, with summer-oats, with cudies and cashies, with black-men, with black-money, with the maintenance of mustrons, and with carriage and service in general. Lord Kildare and Lady Catherina Poer not only required coyne and livery for their own horses and boys, but also for those of all their guests, English or Irish, particularly when they kept Easter or Christmas. When either he (Kildare) or Poer, or Ossory, hunted, their dogs were supplied with bread, milk or butter. When the deputy or any great man came to Lady Poer she levied a subsidy at her pleasure for meat, drink, and candle, under the name of mertyagh.' When Ossory or Poer married a daughter, the former demanded a sheep from every husbandman, and a cow from every village; and when their sons were sent to England, a tribute was levied on every village or ploughland. Lady Poer took of a tenant who had his horse or cattle stolen, marks for his want of vigilance. Sir Thomas Butler exacted 10 marks at Easter, if his subjects had passed the year without galenglass or spearsmen. William Bermyngham required 16 quarts to the gallon, in payments As to forms of trial, there is nothing preserved which so by liquid measure. Some lords took the tenants' produce far throws any light upon this portion of the inquiry, except at prices fixed by themselves, and thereby were enabled to one very interesting fragment, viz., cases of disputed inhe-forestall the markets. The brehon, who was kept by ritance of lands were to be judged by twelve voices, one dissentient voice invalidating the verdict. This was the ancient law, and the commentator observes that the hardship of its extreme strictness occasioned its practical repeal.

It is disputed whether the new series of enactments were sumptuary or merely valuatory. Doctor Ledwich adopts the latter opinion, but the tenor of the translated fragments would seem rather to imply the former. They are said to have been enacted by Mugdories, the daughter of Mogha Muadhad, a king who lived in the second century. By them a certain value is established for various articles of dress and luxury, as, for example, a mantle wrought with the needle is valued at a steer or heifer. The dress of a petty-chieftain's lady is estimated at three cows; that of a head villager's wife at two; that of a bard and his wife together at three; and that of a bishop at six. The bodkin or brooch of any one under the rank of a bovaré was in like manner priced at three heifers; that of bovaré at five; that of a Flaith or petty-chief at ten; and that of a king or lord of a country at thirty. Of the same value in each degree was the bridle. The belt was estimated proportionately at about a third; and in like manner with regard to arms and armour, drinking-cups, &c. &c.

Such, so far as can be collected from the present ill-arranged and defective materials, would appear to have been the old system of rude jurisprudence under which the Irish people lived prior to the invasion of the Anglo-Normans in the twelfth century. The conquerors brought their own laws with them; but the progress of the more complicated and formal feudal eystem of the continent in displacing its primitive originator and rival was necessarily very slow. The brehon law offered many attractions to ambitious individuals desi- | rous of establishing a self-contained despotism in each of their several territories; and while the particular duties and services done by the new feudal law were rigorously exacted, the general privileges of the English constitution were denied. The subjects of the Anglo-Norman conquerors thus participated in the evils of both systems; for the protection of judicial trial by the law of England could not be claimed by the serfs of remote districts; and the power of the conquerors was too arbitrary to permit any operation of the brehon law within their bounds which was not for the sole interest of the lord: thus the poor native of the pale was mulcted under both laws and protected by neither. It is not surprising therefore that the lapse of a Norman noble into

Lady Catherine Poer, took for his judgment, called sylogag,' 16d. of every mark sterling, both of the plaintiff and defendant, &c. &c. By these tyrannical practices, resulting from the union of the worst parts of both systems, the brehon law fell into extreme odium, but they are chiefly the exorbitancies_and_malpractices of this class which have been quoted by English writers who censure it; so that if the views here taken be correct, that odium has been in great measure undeserved. Indeed the nobles of the pale seem to have established a separate code of laws for their own government, known as the Statutes of Kileash; and we find them, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, inflicting a penalty of five marks on the individual who would sue by any other law. If these statutes be the index to such practices as those quoted above, it is little to be wondered at that the brehon law, which bore the blame of all, should have been denounced as it was. Great efforts were accordingly made, both in this reign and in Elizabeth's, to supplant the brehon law; the 3rd and 4th Philip and Mary, e. V., is also directed against some of its effects; but it was not till the 3rd of James that the final extirpation of the old law was effected. The whole kingdom being then divided into counties, with their several sheriffs and circuits of assize, the brehon law became a mere subject of inquiry to the antiquary, and as such, at the present day, possesses perhaps greater interest than any other branch of

Irish or Celtic archæology. The sketch here attempted cannot be free from numerous defects, and perhaps from some actual errors, for the materials are often vague and sometimes defective. The original MSS. are written in a dialect so antiquated as to baffle almost all Irish scholars, and the accuracy of some of the existing translations, meagre as they are, has been seriously called in question. It remains for the Learned Societies of Ireland, with whom there is no lack of means for the undertaking, to make that use of the brehon law manuscripts in their possession, to which bodies professing similar objects in any other country of Europe would long since have turned them. A professorship of the Irish language is about to be established in the University of Dublin: and it is to be hoped that a step so long and unaccountably delayed may now lead to some result which will do away with the reproach in this regard attaching to that institution. (MSS. in the library of the Royal Irish Academy; Transactions of do., vols, xiv. xv.; Vallencey's Collectanea, vols. i. and iii.; Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland; State Papers of the reign of Henry the Eighth (Ireland); Statutes of Ireland; Õriginal Communications.)

BREISACH, OLD BREISACH or BRISACH, an antient town on the Rhine, about 12 m. S. of Freiburg, is in the circle of the Upper Rhine in the grand duchy of Baden. It was considered the bulwark of Germany on the line of the Upper Rhine, and was termed the pillow (kissen) or key of the empire;' even at present it is one of the strongest fortresses in Germany. The castle was built by Berthold, duke of Zähringen. Its vicinity was the theatre of obstinate conflicts during the Thirty-years' war, and the scene of two victories gained by the Swedes over the Imperialists; the one in 1634, and the other in 1638. By the treaty of Westphalia in 1648 Breisach was ceded to the French, but the peace of Ryswick in 1697 restored it to the Austrians. Six years afterwards it was invested by Marshal Vauban, and betrayed into his hands by the Imperial generals, Counts Arco and Marsigli, of whom the former was tried, convicted of treason, and beheaded at Bregenz. Austria regained possession of the place by virtue of the treaty of Rastadt in 1715, and its works were afterwards rendered much stronger by the erection of a citadel on Mount Eckhardt. The events of the campaign of 1743 and 1744 threw it once more into the power of the French; but they evacuated it and recrossed the Rhine, after destroying the town and its fortifications, as well as the antient tower, the only remains of the original castle which the hand of time had spared. Part of the town was burnt by the French during the revolutionary campaign in 1793; three years afterwards, General Moreau, upon re-crossing the Rhine between Breisach and Hüningen in his retreat out of Swabia, left a garrison in Breisach; and the French retained possession of it in spite of the efforts of the Austrians. In 1806 the French government transferred it, together with the Brisgau, to the house of Baden. Breisach is situated on a circular hill on the E. bank of the Rhine, between Basle and Strasburg; and in conjunction with the par. of Hochstetten, which has been incorporated with it, contains about 400 houses and 3200 inh., who are engaged in mechanical pursuits, trade, and navigation. There is likewise a considerable tobacco manufactory in the town. The Minster of St. Stephen, which has survived every calamity that has befallen Breisach, and is built in the old style of German architecture, contains the monuments of several old warriors, as well as of other individuals of note. 48° 1' N. lat., 7° 34′ E. long.

servations, 'Saggio d' Osservazioni sulla Tolfa, Oriolo e Latera,' in 1786. Afterwards, on his going to Naples, he was employed by that government in several mining researches, and in constructing a vast distilling apparatus on the volcanic mountain called La Solfatara. His health becoming seriously affected by these labours, he was obliged to desist, and was appointed teacher to the students of artillery in the royal military college of Naples. He made frequent perambulations through the province of Terra di Lavoro for the sake of geological research; the results of his observations are contained in his Topograpia fisica della Campania,' Florence, 1796, afterwards translated into French, with additions; and an essay on the volcanic formation of the seven hills of Rome, Voyages dans la Campanie,' Paris, 1801. Breislak had been driven to Paris by the events of 1799. At Paris he was cordially received by Fourcroy, Chaptal, Cuvier, and the other scientific men of that capital. Having returned to Italy at the end of that war, he was appointed in 1802 inspector of the national manufactory of saltpetre and gunpowder of the Italian republic, and member of the Italian institute. From that time he resided chiefly at Milan. He wrote several treatises on the manufacture of saltpetre. 'Del Salnitro e dell' Arte del Salnitrajo,' Memoria sulla Fabbricazione e Raffinazione dei Nitri,'Istruzione Pratica per le piccole Fabbricazione di Nitro, da farsi dalle persone di campagna.' Breislak continued in his office of inspector through the various changes of government, and also under the Austrian administration till his death. In order to encourage the study of geology, which was then still in its infancy in Italy, Breislak published in 1811 his Introduzione alla Geologia,' which he afterwards enlarged and published in French under the title of Institutions Géologiques, Milan, 1819. This work was well received, and was immediately translated into German. Breislak was elected a member of most scientific societies in Europe. In 1816, together with Monti, Giordani, and Acerbi, he formed the plan of a new scientific and literary journal for Italy, called Biblioteca Italiana,' which still holds, after twenty years, the first rank among the periodicals of that country. Breislak was one of the original contributors. In 1822 he published Descrizione Geologica della Provincia di Milano,' which was printed at the expense of the Austrian government of Lombardy. Breislak died at Milan, February 15, 1826, universally regretted both for his scientific merit and his personal qualities. His rich collection of minerals has passed into the hands of the Borromeo family.

BREMEN, a duchy in the N.W. part of the kingdom of Hanover, bounded on the N. by the German Ocean, on the N.E. by the Elbe, which separates it from Holstein, on the E. by Lüneburg, on the S. by the Hanoverian earldom of Hoya and Brunswick, on the S.W. by the territory of the free town of Bremen, and on the W. by the Weser, which forms the boundary between this duchy and Oldenburg. Its area is about 2020 sq. m. It was merged into the bailiwick (Landdrostei) of Stade in 1823, and contains two municipal towns, viz., Stade, the seat of administration, and Verden, 30 royal justiceships (Aemter and königliche Gerichte), and 21 seignorial justiceships; and a pop. of about 190,000 souls (in 1827, according to Ubbelohde, 187,600). The soil, which borders upon the sea and the rivs., is a rich and fertile marsh-land, on the banks of the Elbe, from 14 to 7 ft. deep. The interior of the duchy is full of heaths and moors, some of considerable extent and altogether extremely unproductive; it is a uniform level, lies very low, and consists either of tracts of sand or swamps, interspersed with large blocks of granite, and very sparingly sheltered BREISLA'K, SCIPIO'NE, was born at Rome in 1748, by isolated groups of trees. Of late years however successof a family originally from Germany. Cardinal Scipione ful attempts have been made to render the best parts of this Borghese stood godfather to him, and gave him his own dreary region available to cultivation in 1820, for instance, Christian name. Brieslak early distinguished himself for 64,000 Hanoverian or 41,000 English acres were brought his application to the physical sciences, by which he attracted under cultivation, and 67 vils. were laid out upon them. the attention of the learned Stay of Ragusa, who offered Dykes are maintained at much expense to preserve the him a professorship of mathematics and physics in a col- marsh-land from inundation. The principal streams in this lege newly established at Ragusa. In that city Breislak duchy are the Este, Bremer, Lühe, and Schwinge, which became acquainted with the Abate Fortis, from whose con- flow through it into the Elbe; and the Aller, Wumme (called versation he derived a fresh impulse toward the study the Lesum or Lossum near its mouth), and the Gerste, which of natural philosophy. After remaining several years at fall into the Weser: all these rivs. become navigable as they Ragusa Breislak returned to Rome, where he was ap approach their mouths. The native rivs. of Bremen are the pointed professor in the College Nazareno. He mainly Oste, which rises on the Wintermoor near Testedt, traverses contributed to form the rich cabinet of mineralogy of that the country from S. to N., and is navigable along one half of institution, and he made excursions to the hills near the its line; and the lesser Medem, which, as well as the Oste, lake of Bracciano, N.W. of Rome, to investigate their geo-enters the sea at the mouth of the Elbe. The largest can. is logy and mineralogy. He published the result of his ob- that which unites Hamme and Oste, and thus establishes a

communication between the Elbe and Weser. There are several pieces of water, but none deserving the name of lakes; nor has the duchy any mineral springs. The climate is temperate but variable, and the districts along the coast subject to storms. The quantity of land under the plough and spade is estimated at about 460,000 Hanoverian or 294,680 English acres, and the extent of pasture and meadow land at about 323,000 Hanoverian or 206,920 English acres. The growth of grain and other agricultural produce is more than sufficient for the consumption. Flax and hemp and fruit in abundance, as well as vegetables, are raised; peat supplies the want of wood for fuel. Considerable numbers of horses (about 47,600), and particularly horned cattle (about 115,000), which latter are one of the main resources of Bremen, are reared; the breed of sheep, which yield a coarse sort of wool, is less attended to, and the stock does not exceed 240,000; the number of swine is between 70,000 and 73,000; geese are reared in all parts; and honey and wax are objects of attention. The stock of game is inconsiderable; there are no fisheries of importance on the rivs., but productive ones along the sea coast.

The only mineral productions of the duchy are clay and fine fuller's earth: peat also is dug. There are no large manufactories, though the spinning of linen yarn and the weaving of hempen linens and sailcloth, the making of potter's ware and tiles, as well as the manufacture of brandy and the extracting of oil from rapeseed, afford employment to numbers of families. Trade is chiefly confined to the immediate produce and wants of the country; the exports consist of grain, beans, rapeseed, peat, and fatted catile for the Hamburg and Bremen markets, wool, rags, fruit, oil, tiles, and coarse linen. The want of a harb. on the coast had long been a great drawback upon the prosperity of the duchy; but the establishment of the Bremer-haven,' on the right bank of the Lower Weser and left bank of the Gerste, bids fair to remove it. Many vessels are built and navigated by the inh. of those parts adjacent to the sea; some few are engaged in the whale fishery.

The inh. are all of Low-German (Platt-Deutsch) extraction, and speak the Low-German dialect. They are exclusively Protestants, and the majority profess the Lutheran form of faith. There are 128 Lutheran and 7 Reformed cures of souls. There are 4 grammar-schools and gymnasia in the duchy, and a sufficient number of national schools.

This duchy was originally a bishopric, instituted in the year 788, and was raised to an archbishopric in 849; it was secularized under the treaty of Westphalia, made over to Sweden in 1648, conquered by Denmark in 1712, and sold, with the consent of both parties, to Hanover, or rather the Electorate of Brunswick in those days; namely, by Denmark in 1715 for 600,000 dollars, and by Sweden in 1719 for 1,090,000. One portion of it formed the earldom of Stade, which, for default of male heirs, was merged in the archbishopric in the middle of the 12th century; an incorporation which subsequently gave occasion to violent disputes between the prelates in possession and the dukes of Brunswick.

BREMEN, the free Hanseatic state of, in the N.W. of Germany, is situated on each side of the Weser, between 50 and 55 m. from its entrance into the N. Sea, and as an independent power, it is one of the thirty-eight constituent members of the German Confederation. Its territory, which extends from 53° 1' to 53° 11' N. lat., and from 8° 32' to 8° 58' E. long., is intersected by the Weser, and is divided into the domain on the right bank,' and the domain on the left bank,' of the Weser, together with the bailiwicks of Vegesack and Bremer-haven: it contains an area of about 67 sq. m. On the N. and E. it is bounded by the duchy of Bremen, and on the S. and W. by the Hanoverian earldom of Hoya and the duchy of Oldenburg. The surface lies low, is almost level, and consists chiefly of marsh-land. It is watered not only by the Weser, but by the Wumme and Worpe, which, after their junction with the Hamme, bear the common name of the Lesum or Lossum, and flow into the Weser on its right bank, and the Ochum, Ochmu, or Ochte, which flows into it on its left bank. In addition to those rivers, it is full of watercourses and canals. It is better adapted for rearing cattle than raising grain, and little corn is grown, except on some of the more elevated spots. Fruit and vegetables are cultivated in the more immediate vicinity of the town; but the country is destitute of woods. The pastures are remarkably rich, and the breed of horned cattle is very fine. The territory contains one

town, two m. t., Vegesack and Bremer-haven, and 58 vils, and hamlets, and is divided into 14 pars. The number of houses is estimated at 8500, and the present pop. at about 57,000 souls; in 1823 it was officially stated to be 55,453; and of this pop. about 41,500 inhabit the town, and 15,500 the adjacent dependencies. The inh. are of the Protestant faith, with the exception of about 1500 Roman Catholic and a few Jewish families. The legislative power is vested in the senate,' which consists of four burgomasters, two syndics, and 24 senators, and in the convention of burgesses' (Bürger-convent), which is composed of all resident citizens who pay any considerable amount of taxes; it is called together by the senate, and no person is excluded from it on account of his religious opinions. The senators are chosen out of a certain number of candidates proposed by the burgesses, and elected by ballot by the senate: the senatorship is an appointment for life. The senators also discharge the executive functions, and are responsible ministers in this capacity: they are responsible to the convention for the due administration of the finances, and constitute the highest court of appeal in judicial matters. Some one member of the senate is placed at the head of each public dep., and civic deputies take part in every branch of the executive. The rights and control exercised by the former bishops now rest in the hands of the senate. The ministers of religion are elected by the flocks, but they cannot enter upon their functions without license from the senate, which enjoys sovereign prerogatives with respect to the privilege of granting pardons, administering justice, regulating the police and civil affairs, controlling public instruction, exercising seignorial rights over the territorial possessions of the commonwealth, and conducting foreign affairs. But the convention participates with the senate in respect of all legislative measures, of imposing taxes, determining the amount and application of the revenues, directing military affairs, and especially determining all important matters which concern trade and navigation. Nothing was officially known on the subject of the public income and expenditure until a vote of the senate and convention, passed in January, 1831, decreed that the accounts should be annually brought before them. It appears from those which since have been presented that the ordinary receipts for 1833 amounted to 515,398 dollars, and the extraordinary to 169,131, making a total of 684,529 dollars, or about 119,7907.: and that the ordinary expenditure amounted to 519,512, and the extraordinary to 187,478; making a total of 706,990 dollars, or about 123,720.: from which data, the excess of expenditure over income was computed at about 39337. At the close of the next year, however, the deficit disappeared, and a surplus revenue of 35,000 dollars (about 61207.) was passed to the credit of the ensuing year. The capital of the public debt was in 1833 stated to be 3,500,000 dollars (about 612,500l.), and the yearly interest upon it, 141,000 (about 24,6757.). After deducting this interest, and the amount of the vote proposed for the annual reduction of the capital, the remaining expenses of the state were calculated at a future average of about 375,000 dollars, or about 65,620%. a year. The regular soldiery compose the contingent of 485 men, which the state is bound to furnish to the army of the German confederation; besides these, there is a militia composed of all males, excepting government servants, ecclesiastics, surgeons, physicians, &c., between the ages of 20 and 35; it consists of four battalions, and musters about 2800 officers and privates, of whom those between the ages of 20 and 25 form the light infantry battalion. It is obligatory upon them to assemble once at least in the year, namely, on the 18th of October, the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig.

Bremen carries on a very extensive trade, both with foreign parts and the interior of Germany. In 1832 its imports by sea amounted to 31,284,828 pounds of tobacco, 39,500 tons of South Sea whale oil, 14,000,000 pounds of coffee, about 29,000,000 pounds of sugar, and 33,000 hogsheads and pipes of wine, besides other articles; the whole value of these imports was estimated at 13,313,127 dollars, about 2,329,7907. The exports, valued at about 13,000,000 dollars annually, both by land and sea, consist principally of the productions of other countries, particularly the states of the interior of Germany, such as lead, copper, iron and iron ware, glass, grain, oak and fir timber, bark, potashes, drugs, hemp and flax, wool, rags, paper, tobacco-pipes, and other manufactured goods, &c. The number of vessels which arrived in 1832 was 1116, of

which 120 were from Great Britain, and 123 from the United | is said to contain old hock of as remote a vintage as States; and in 1835, 1085, of which 120 were also from the year 1624; while another, the 'Apostles' Cellar, conGreat Britain. The immediate superintendence over such tains, we are told, Hochheimer and Rüdesheimer, made in matters as affect trade and navigation is vested in the the early part of the 18th century, and preserved in a dozen 'college of elders,' who are the gerents for the commercial vats, called the Twelve Apostles. Along one side of this body only, but are no way connected with the government vault are a number of small apartments, for the convenience or legislature otherwise than as its members may be indi- of visiters who wish to regale themselves; at the extremity vidual members of the one or the other. Bremen, as one of these apartments is the acoustic-room, a sort of whispering of the three remaining Hanse-towns, holds a share in gallery. Besides the buildings enumerated there are, the common with Hamburg and Lübeck in two considerable Exchange, with its noble concert and ball-rooms; the properties in foreign countries-the 'Steel-yard' in London, Schütting, in which the elders of the mercantile body hold and the Hanseatic House' in Antwerp. their sittings; the Waterworks next the bridge, the great The town of Bremen first rose into note in the year 787 wheel of which performs 51 revolutions in an hour, and or 788, at which time Charlemagne made it the seat of a throws up 120 hogsheads of water into a large reservoir at bishopric. Its incorporation with the archbishopric of every revolution; the Arsenal, Weighing-house, and GraHamburg in 858 occasioned such violent contests between naries; the Museum, erected in 1801, which contains a large the chapters of the two towns, that it was finally deter- library, collections in natural history, mechanics, the arts, &c. mined, in 1223, that Bremen should be the seat of the arch- and lecture and reading-rooms; the two Gymnasia, and bishopric. It prospered greatly under its ecclesiastical High-school; the schools for trade and navigation; the city rulers, who promoted its union with the league of the Library; Dr. Olber's Observatory, from which he discoHanse Towns; but notwithstanding the archbishop's repug-vered the two planets Pallas and Vesta; the Theatre, and nance, it was recognized as a free town of the holy Roman a variety of private cabinets. There are a number of public empire so early as the reign of the Emperor Otho I. wells in the town. It has nine gates, of which three are in The chapter was abolished when the archbishopric was the new town and six in the old. There are altogether 30 converted into a secular duchy by the Swedes, but the parochial and elementary schools in Bremen and its depenfreedom of the town was never fully established, owing to dencies. The principal manufactures carried on as well the opposition of the dukes of Brunswick, until the year without as within the city are those of woollens, leather, 1731, when an adjustment of their claims was effected. In hats, tobacco, (of which there are 90), refined sugar (nine of 1810 Napoleon incorporated it with the French empire, as the largest class), beer, brandy, and spirits, rape oil, whaleone of his good towns' in the dep. of the Mouths of the bone, flour, soap, starch, cables and ropes, cotton-yarn, cotWeser. In 1813 the battle of Leipzig restored its inde- tons and silks, white lead, &c. No large vessels can pass pendence; and it was afterwards admitted a member of the up the Weser beyond Braake, an Oldenburg port; smaller German Confederation, as one of the three Hanse Towns, vessels ascend as high as Vegesack, a port belonging to by the Congress of Vienna. Bremen, and forward their cargoes by lighters and boats. Bremen is a place of great resort for the warehousing and transit of foreign and German commodities: it possesses a bank, a discount office, and five Insurance Companies; besides an hospital, two Orphan Asylums, where between 300 and 400 orphans are maintained and educated; three almshouses for widows; and many other charitable establishments. 53° 4' N. lat., 8° 47' E. long.

The city of Bremen is situated on the Weser, which divides it into two unequal portions, the larger of which, the Altstadt or old town, is on the right, and the other, the Neustadt or new town, on the left bank of the river. The old town has large suburbs, but the new town none; the latter was begun in the year 1625, is built with much regularity, and the streets are straight and broad. The old town, though not without some handsome streets and dwellings, is full of narrow, crooked streets, which are rendered still more gloomy by the height of the houses. These two quarters are also separated by an isl. of the Weser, called the Werder, the lower part of which has been built upon and included within the limits of the town. The Weserbridge crosses the isl. and unites the two towns. The ramparts and bastions round the old town have been levelled and converted into delightful promenades, with six roads of entrance intersecting them. The quays which line both sides of the riv. afford a fine view of the town in all its length; and the suburb beyond the old town is diversified with handsome mansions, villas, and gardens. The number of houses is about 5900, independently of granaries, warehouses, mills, manufactories, &c. which, if included, would make the number of buildings upwards of 7000; and the pop. amounts to about 41,500, of whom about 14,000 are of the reformed religion, 1500 Roman Catholics, and 1000 Jews: the remainder are Lutherans. There are no open spaces of any magnitude in the town excepting the cathedral-yard (domhof), which as well as the market-place and doms-haide (or cathedral-place), are in the old town. Several deserted churchyards have been left unoccupied in both towns for the purpose of affording freer circulation to the air, and instead of them three cemeteries have been made outside of the city. Among the more remarkable buildings in Bremen are its 9 churches, of which 5 Protestant and 1 Roman Catholic are in the old town: the cathedral, a venerable structure in the Gothic style, was built in 1160: its length is 296 ft., breadth 124, and height 105. Underneath it is the celebrated bleikeller (or lead cellar), which derives its name from having been the spot where the lead for the roof was melted and prepared; in this cellar are a number of bodies in a state of mummy-like preservation, which have lain here for upwards of 200 years. The church of St. Augarius has a steeple of handsome appearance, 324 ft. in height. The old Gothic town-hall, formerly the archiepiscopal palace, has undergone complete renovation, and the piazzas round it have been thrown open for public accommodation. Here is the former town-hall, built in 1405, and below it the far-famed Rathsweinkeller (council's wine vault), one section of which, the Rose,'

(T. W. Streit's Free Towns; Hassel's Free Hanse Town of Bremen; Orome's Germ. Confed.; Stein and Hörschelmann's Manual; Stein's Travels; Official Documents, &c.) BRENNUS, the latinised form of the Celtic brenin, 'king.' Two individuals are known in history by this name.

1. The first was the hero of an early Roman legend, which relates to the migration of the Gauls into Italy and their march to Clusium and Rome. In the account given by Diodorus (xiv. 113, &c.) of this singular invasion, the name of Brennus is not mentioned; in the narrative of Livy (v. 33, &c.), he figures as the 'regulus Gallorum,' or chieftain of the Gauls. When he arrived at Clusium, the inhabitants called on the Romans for aid. He engaged with and defeated the Romans on the banks of the Allia, the name of which river they ever after held in detestation, (Virg. Æn. vii. 717). The whole city was afterwards plundered and burnt; and the capitol would have been taken but for the bravery of Manlius. At last, induced by famine and pestilence, the Romans agreed that the Gauls should receive 1000 lbs. of gold, on the condition that they would quit Rome and its territory altogether: the barbarian brought false weights, but his fraud was detected. The tribune Sulpicius exclaimed against the injustice of Brennus, who immediately laid his sword and belt in the scale, and said Woe to the vanquished. The dictator Camillus arrived with his forces at this critical time, annulled the capitulation, and ordered him to prepare for battle. The Gauls were defeated; there was a total slaughter, and not a man survived to carry home the news of the defeat. The date of the taking of Rome, assigned by Niebuhr, is the 3rd year of the 39th Olympiad, B.C. 382: (see Hist. Rom., vol. ii. p. 509-567, English Translation.)

2. A king of the Gauls, who (B.C. 279; Clinton, vol. i. p. 237) made an irruption into Macedonia with a force of 150,000 and 10,000 horse. Proceeding into Greece, he attempted to plunder the temple at Delphi. He engaged in many battles, lost many thousand men, and himself received many wounds. In despair and mortification, he called a council of war, and advised the Gauls to kill him and all the wounded, to burn the waggons, and, returning home with all speed, to choose Cichorius (or Acichoriussee PAUSANIAS) king. Soon, however, in a fit of intoxica

« 前へ次へ »