penny. Other passengers were exempt. The state of the bridge was long a cause of complaint, and various alterations were made to adapt it to the increasing number of passengers. In 1824 the present bridge was built, which is of stone, of one arch, 34 ft. between the parapets, 50 ft. wide in the water-way under the bridge, and 15 ft. high to the summit within the arch.

New Brentford church was rebuilt in 1764. The living is a curacy subordinate to Hanwell, and was at one time held by John Horne Tooke. There are seven daily schools, of which two are national, and three Sunday schools, in New Brentford; in Ealing, which includes Old Brentford, there are 17 daily schools, one of which is endowed, and two others are partly endowed; eight boarding schools, and four Sunday schools. At Ealing there is a labour-school for the poorer classes. Some organic remains were dug up in a field near Brentford, of which an account is given in the Phil. Trans.' for 1813. The Grand Junction Canal comes into the Brent a little below Hanwell, and is thus carried to the Thames at Brentford.

In 1616, Edmund Ironside, having obliged the Danes to raise the siege of London, pursued them to Brentford, and defeated them with great slaughter. On the 14th of November, 1642, an action occurred between the royalist and parliamentary forces at Brentford, in which the latter were defeated. Patrick Ruthen, earl of Forth, in Scotland, was, for his services in this action, created, by Charles I., earl of Brentford, a title which became extinct with him in 1651. In 1689 the title was revived by King William, who gave it to Duke Schomberg; Schomberg's son, who died in 1719, was the last earl of Brentford. Six Protestants suffered at the stake in the town of Brentford on 14th July, 1558.

tion, he killed himself. (Diodorus Siculus, xxii.; Fragm. Jon horseback were to pay a penny; those on foot a halfp. 300, Bipont. edit.; Pausanias, x. 19-23.) BRENT GOOSE (zoology). [GOOSE.] BRE'NTA, called by the Romans Medoacus Major, a riv. of North Italy, derives its source from two small lakes near Pergine, in the mountains of the Tyrol, a few miles to the E. of Trento, flows E. through a long and narrow valley between high mountains, then turns towards the S. at Primolano, where it enters the Venetian territory. At Bassano the Brenta issues from the mountains into the great Paduan plain. At Limena there proceeds from it a canal called La Brentella, which joins the Bacchiglione. The Brenta continues its course in a S.E. direction, passing near Padua to the N. of it; it then assumes a course nearly due E. towards the lagoons of Venice. Near Strà, it receives a canal from the Bacchiglione, which passes through Padua. At Dolo, below Strà, a cut was made by the princes of Carrara, lords of Padua, which carries part of the waters of the Brenta in a S. direction for nearly 20 m. to Brondolo, at the S. extremity of the Venetian lagoons. This cut is called Brenta Nuova. The main stream of the Brenta, however, continuing its course to Fusina, where it entered the lagoons opposite to Venice, occasioned considerable mischief by the violence of its current and its frequent overflowing, to prevent which the Venetians made a second cut at La Mira, a little below Dolo, which cut runs nearly parallel to the other, and E. of it, until both streams join near Brondolo, where they enter the sea. This second cut is called Brenta Nuovissima. The original bed of the Brenta, from La Mira to Fusina, was at the same time embanked and made into a canal with locks, and it took the name of Brenta Morta, 'the Dead Brenta. Some call it also Brenta Magra, the Shrunk Brenta. The communication between Padua and Venice is carried on by means of this canal, by which the boats from the interior Supply Venice with provisions. (Coronelli Atlante Veneto.) The banks of the Brenta below Padua have been long celebrated for the number of fine mansions and villas of the Venetian patricians, which follow each other for several miles. In the time of Venetian wealth and greatness, the banks of the Brenta were like a splendid suburb of Venice. The most remarkable palaces are those of Giovannelli at Noventa; Imperiali, formerly Pisani, at Strà; and near it, the palace Tiepolo; the palace Tron, at Dolo; the palace Bembo, at La Mira; that of Foscari, near Moranzano; the palace Foscarini, adorned with paintings by Titian and Paul Veronese, &c. The country, however, being flat and low, is unfavourable to landscape effect. A recent traveller (Valéry, Voyages en Italie) thinks the banks of the Brenta have been overpraised; he considers the arrangement of the pleasure grounds too symmetrical, being in the old style of ornamental gardening, the trees cut into artificial shapes, &c. Several of the handsomest palaces have been pulled down since the fall of the Venetian republic, and there is an air of decay about most of those that remain. The whole course of the Brenta, with its numerous windings, is nearly 100 miles. BRENTFORD, a m. t. of Middlesex, on the N. bank of the Thames, about 8 m. from the general post-office. It is divided into Old and New Brentford by the riv. Brent, which rises near Chipping Barnet, on the borders of Middlesex and Hertfordshire, and, after traversing a large portion of Middlesex, falls into the Thames in Isleworth parish. Old Brentford is in the par. of Ealing, Ossulston hund.; New Brentford in the par. of Hanwell, Elthorne hund. In 1831, the pop. of New Brentford was 2,085; of Old Brentford, including Ealing, 7,783.

Brentford is situated on the great western road leading from the metropolis. It is a long, straggling, ill-built town. In the par. of Ealing, the market gardens afford employment to many labourers as well as women and children. The trade of the town is derived from the traffic of the thoroughfare, and from flour-mills, malting, and brickmaking. There are two annual fairs, held in May and September, which last three days each, for horses, cattle, hogs, &c. The market-day is Tuesday.

Brentford has derived some notoriety as having been the place of county election for members to serve in parliament. It is considered as the county town, though it possesses no town-hall nor separate jurisdiction; it is still the place of nomination, and one of the polling places for the county. There was a bridge at Brentford over the riv. Brent from a very early date. In 1280 Edward I. granted a toll in aid of this bridge, by which all Jews and Jewesses passing over

(Lysons Environs of London; Report of Middlesex Magistrates on the Bridges of the County, 1826; Popu lation and Education Returns.)

BRENTWOOD. [ESSEX.]

BRENTI'DES, a family of coleopterous insects, belonging to the section Rhynchophora and sub-section Recticornes. Distinguishing characters:-body much elongated; tarsi with the penultimate joints bilobed; antennæ filiform, or in some with the terminal joint formed into a club; proboscis projecting horizontally, generally long; in the male longer than in the female; palpi minute.

The insects constituting this family are among the most remarkable of the beetle tribe, and are almost entirely confined to tropical climates: only one species has yet been discovered in Europe. But little is known of the habits of these insects, except that they are generally found crawling on trees, or under the bark, and sometimes on flowers. The most common colouring of the species is black, or brown, with red spots and markings.

The four principal genera of the brentides are as follows:-Brentus, Arrhenodes, Ulocerus, and Cyclas. The genus Brentus is chiefly distinguished by having the antennæ eleven-jointed, either filiform or sometimes slightly enlarged towards the apex, and the body linear.

Brentus Temminckii (Klüg), one of the most remarkable species of the tribe, will give an idea of their general form: it is found in Java, and is of a blackish colour, varied with red markings, and has deeply-striated elytra.

Brentus Temminckii (Klüg).

In the genus Arrhenodes the rostrum is short and terminated by two distinct mandibles, which are straight and project considerably in the males. The species inhabit North America, and one is found in Europe, A. italica.

Ulocerus has the antennæ nine-jointed, the last of which I worked at Rezzato, Virle, and Botticino, near Brescia: the forms a club. white marble of Botticino is much valued.

it was ravaged by the Goths, the Huns, and lastly was taken by the Longobards, and became one of the principal towns of their kingdom. Desiderius, their last king, was a native of Brescia, where he founded the monastery of St. Salvatore, called afterwards Sta. Giulia, of which his daughter Ansperga was the first Abbess. A cross, richly ornamented with cameos, representing mythological subjects, which was given by Desiderius to his daughter, is preserved in the library. After the fall of the Longobards, Brescia passed under the Carlovingians: it afterwards submitted to Otho of Saxony, who gave it municipal privileges and franchises, by which it governed itself for nearly three hundred years under its own consuls. It joined the Lombard League against Frederic Barbarossa, and afterwards resisted the attacks of Frederic II. Being distracted by the factions of the Guelphs and Guibelins, it was taken successively by Eccelino the tyrant of Padua, by the Pallavicini of Piacenza, the Torriani of Milan, the Scaligeri of Verona, and other feudal lords, until it submitted to the Visconti, of whose yoke the citizens growing tired gave themselves up to the Venetians in 1426. The league of Cambrai took it from Venice in 1509, when it passed under the French, from whom having revolted in 1512, it was retaken by storm by Gaston de Foix, who gave it up to all the horrors of pillage and massacre. It was on this occasion that Bayard was severely wounded. Soon after, by the retreat of the French, Venice recovered all its possessions, and Brescia among the rest. From that time Brescia remained under the republic till 1797, when a party of nobles and citizens, dissatisfied with the Senate, and encouraged and assisted by the French and the Milanese, revolted against Venice. Bonaparte annexed Brescia with Bergamo to the Cisalpine republic. By the peace of 1814 Brescia, with the rest of Lombardy, passed under the dominion of Austria. (In addition to the authorities cited, see Nuova Guida per la Città di Brescia, by P. Brognoli, Brescia, 1826.)

BRE/SCIA, (the Roman Brixia) the capital of the prov. I of Brescia, is situated in a plain between the river Mella and the naviglio or canal which comes out of the river Chiese, and joins the Oglio in 45° 32′ N. lat. and 10° 13' E. long. The hills from the N. come close to the town. Brescia is nearly square, surrounded by walls, about four m. in eircuit, and has a castle on a hill which is inclosed within the walls in the N.E. quarter of the town. The pop., in 1833, was 34,000 (Serristori Saggio Statistico). It is a bustling, lively, well-built t., a bishop's see, and the residence of the delegate or governor of the province. Brescia has many fine churches with numerous paintings by the great masters, principally of the Venetian school. The rotunda of the old duomo or cathedral is a structure of the Longobards of the 7th century. The new cathedral is a splendid building, as well as the churches of Sta. Maria dei Miracoli, Sta. Maria delle Grazie, del Carmine, La Pace, Sta. Afra, S. Pietro, &c. They abound in paintings by native artists, among others by Moretto, a delightful painter, whose works alone, Lanzi says, are worth a journey to Brescia to see them. Among the palaces, the town-house called la Loggia, the episcopal palace, and the palaces Martinengo, Avogadri, Lecchi, Gambara, Fenaroli, &c., deserve visiting. Of the galleries of paintings those of Count Lecchi and Count Tosi are the principal. The public library, founded by the learned Cardinal Querini, Bishop of Brescia, in the 18th century, has 28,000 volumes. Querini's voluminous correspondence with D'Aguesseau, Fleury, Montfaucon, Dom Calmet, Voltaire, &c. is preserved in the library. The rich cabinet of medals of the learned Count Mazzuchelli has been described in the Museum Mazzuchellianum, 2 vols. fol. Brescia, next to Rome, has most fountains of any town in Italy. There are 72 public fountains in the streets and squares, besides some hundreds of private ones. The water comes from the hills in the neighbourhood. Many antient inscriptions have been found at Brescia, and of late years the remains of a handsome temple have been excavated. The temple appears to have been raised by Vespasian to commemorate his victory over the troops of Vitellius near Cremona. (Tacit. Hist. iii. 27.) Fine marble pillars, statues, and among the rest a very beautiful bronze statue of Victory have been found. (Antichi monumenti nuovamente scoperti in Brescia illustrati e delineati con tavole in rame, Brescia, 1829.)

The climate of Brescia is healthy, but subject to sudden storms. Provisions of every kind are abundant, and fish is brought from the lakes of Garda and Iseo. Science and literature have been cultivated at Brescia for ages past. Among the men of learning it has produced, we may mention Arnaldo da Brescia, the mathematician Tartaglia, two learned ladies, Veronica Gambara and Laura Fereta, in the 16th century; the naturalist Father Terzi Lana, Mazzuchelli, Gagliardi, Corniani, in the 18th, and in the present century the poet Arici, the archæologist Dr. Labus, and the philologist and historian Ugoni. The painters Gambara, Moretto, Vincenzo called il Bresciano, and others were natives of Brescia. The priest Giuseppe Beccarelli, who had been for more than twenty years at the head of a large establishment of education at Brescia, being accused of immorality and heresy, was condemned, in 1710, by the Inquisition to the galleys, which penalty the Senate of Venice commuted into perpetual imprisonment, in which he died. This was the last act of the Inquisition of Brescia. A copy of Beccarelli's interrogatory and other inedited documents concerning the same, are in the possession of Dr. Labus. A large painting in the town palace represents Beccarelli's condemnation. For a full account of the learned men of Brescia, see Cozzando Libreria Bresciana.

The Ateneo, or Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres of Brescia, publishes yearly its Commentarii,' or Memoirs. A weekly journal is published at Brescia, Giornale della provincia Bresciana. There is a handsome theatre, a casino or assembly-rooms, a large building outside of the town for the annual fair, and a new camposanto or cemetery, begun in 1815, in which the tombs are placed in rows one above the other against the walls, after the manner of the antient columbaria.

Brixia was the chief town of the Cenomani, a Gallic tribe said to have emigrated into Italy with Bellovesus, and to have settled between the Oglio, the Adige, and the Po. They were conquered by the Romans under Cornelius Cethegus, about 200 years B. C., and Brixia became a Roman colony and afterwards a municipium. After the fall of the empire

BRESLAU, one of the 25 government circles (regierungs-bezirke) of the kingdom of Prussia, includes the central districts of the prov. of Silesia, among which was the former principality of Breslau, has an area of about 5208 sq. m., with a pop. of about 970,000, of which nearly onethird resides in the 55 towns in the circle about fiveeighths are Protestants; and the remainder, with the exception of about 8000 Jews, are Roman Catholics. In 1805, the inh. of the districts composing this circle amounted to 478,560. It is the principal seat of the Silesian manufactures. Owing to the lofty ranges which separate it from Bohemia and Moravia, it is very mountainous in the S., but the rest of the circle is an almost uninterrupted level. Those parts which lie on the left bank of the Oder are naturally productive; but the country on the right bank, being either sandy or wooded, is much less adapted to cultivation. The spinning both of flax and cotton yarn, and weaving and bleaching of linen, are carried on to a considerable extent. Breslau also manufactures glass, paper, wax, porcelain, tar, potashes, saltpetre, copper, iron, &c., and produces silver, iron, tin, copper, and coals. The agricultural part of the pop. are engaged in breeding horses and cattle, and growing flax, tobacco, hops, grain, fruit, and vegetables. Mining, felling timber, and working stone and wood, give employment likewise to thousands. Besides the 55 towns, of which the largest are Breslau, the capital, and next to this, Brieg (about 10,500 inh.), Schwiednitz (9000), Glatz (6700), Oels (5400), and Frankenstein (5600); the circle contains 8 m. t. and 2245 vils., including isolated farms. In 1818, it contained 82,040 hearths; but in 1831, 118,946. The circle of Breslau has 22 minor circles, one of which, also called Breslau, has an area of about 302 sq. m., and contains about 130,000 inh.

BRESLAU, a large city and university at the confluence of the Ohlau and Oder, in a spacious plain, at an elevation of 452 ft. above the level of the sea, is not only the capital of the circle of this name, but of the prov. of Silesia, and ranks as the third of the royal residence towns. The plain in which it is situated is skirted at a distance of about 9 m. to the N. by the Trebnitz mountains, and about 23 m. to the S. by the Zobten mountains, behind which the Glatz, Schweidnitz, and Giant mountains may be seen from Breslau in clear weather. Its present form, an oblong quadrangle, was given to it by the Emperor Charles IV., after the great fire in 1342. In the centre of the town stands the great market, from which the four main streets branch off to the four principal gates: the suburbs, separated by the Ohlau. but connected with the city by six large and several smaller

is no reason to believe it was a place of any great importance in the Roman time; and subsequently it appears to have sunk into complete obscurity.

BRESSE, a considerable district included in the former | its Celtic signification, great harbour or roadsted,' is suffigovernment of Bourgogne in France, from the main part of ciently appropriate to Brest. However this may be, there which it was separated by the river Saône. It was bounded on the N. by the duchy of Bourgogne and by the Franche Comté, on the E. by the district of Bugey, on the S. by the government of Dauphiné, and on the W. by the Beaujolois and Lyonnois, and by the principality of Dombes, which was inclosed on three sides by Bresse. Bresse presents vast naked plains, very productive in grain of all kinds: there are also pools abounding in fish, and much poultry is reared. Bourg, the chief town, was sometimes distinguished from other places of the same name by the designation of Bourg en Bresse. Pop. in 1832, 7826 for the town, 8996 for the commune. [BOURG EN BRESSE.] Bresse is now comprehended in the dep. of Ain. The chief rivers are the Ain, Saône, and Rhône.

Under the Romans Bresse was inhabited by the Ambarri, who were kinsmen of the Aedui, the predominant people of this part of Gaul. In the division of the province of Gaul under the later Roman emperors, Bresse was included in Viennensis. It formed part of the kingdom of the Burgundians, and was included in that subsequent kingdom of Bourgogne, the sovereigns of which ascended the imperial throne. The feeble authority which these princes exercised in this extreme point of their dominion enabled the nobles of the district to acquire considerable power: the chief of these nobles were the lords of Baugé, Coligny, Thoire, Villars, &c. Bresse had subsequently its states or local legislature subordinate to those of Bourgogne. Bresse had come partly into the hands of the dukes of Savoy, who ceded it to France by the treaty of 1601, together with Bugey, in exchange for the marquisate of Saluzzo, &c.

The chief towns of Bresse, with their pop., in 1832, were as follows:-Bourg en Bresse, Montluel, 2588 for the town, 2927 for the whole comm.; Pont de Vaux, 2539 for the town, 3189 for the whole comm.; Châtillon (according to the Dict. Univ. de la France, Paris, 1804), 2179; Pont de Vesle, or Pont de Veyle (according to the same authority), 1364; and Baugé, or Bagé (according to the same authority), 810.

The designation Bresse was given also to a 'lieutenancegénérale of the government of Bourgogne, which seems to have included not only Bresse proper, but also Bugey, Valromey, and, according to the Map published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the principality of Dombes, which other maps assign to the Lyonnois. The country was in the arch-diocese of Lyon.

The name Bresse comes from the name of a forest (Saltus Brexius, or Brexia), which, about A.D. 1000, overspread the greater part of this country. (Encyc. Méthod.)

BRESSUIRE, a small town in the dep. of Deux Sevres in France, deserving notice only from its rank of chief place of an arrond. or sub-prefecture. It is on a small stream which runs into the Argenton, a feeder of the Thoué, which falls into the Loire; and is in 46° 50' N. lat., and 0° 29′ W. long. In the war of La Vendée, which ensued upon the French revolution, Bressuire was almost entirely destroyed. Before that war it had contained eighty manufacturers of woven fabrics, besides dyers and fullers; after the war only one house and the church remained standing. Since that period it has revived: serges and cotton goods were made, and the population rose to 1947. (Dict. Univ. de la France, Paris, 1804.) Woollens and linens are made there at present. The arrond. of Bressuire contained, in 1832, 60,826 inhab. BREST, a town in the dep. of Finistère, in France, the capital of an arrond., and well known as one of the great naval stations of that kingdom. It lies on the N. side of a deep bay, called the Road of Brest, land-locked, and entered by a narrow channel called le Goulet. It is about 310 m. in a straight line W. by S. of Paris, according to Brue's map of France, and 362 m. by the road through Dreux, Alençon, Mayenne, Laval, and Rennes. By passing however from Mayenne to Rennes through Fougères instead of through Laval, 14 or 15 m. may be saved. Brest is in 48° 24′ Ñ. lat. and 4° 28′ W. long.

D'Anville would identify Brest with the Brivates Portus (Вpiovárns iμm) of the geographer Ptolemy, who has however, if D'Anville's hypothesis be correct, very much misplaced it; for he states that it was between the mouth of the Liger. Alyap (Loire), and the Herius, 'Hpiog (Vilaine). D'Anville also considers that this place is mentioned in the Theodosian Table under the name of Gesocribate, or, as he would correct it, Gesobricate or brivate; a name which in

In the war for the possession of the Duchy of Bretagne, between Charles de Blois and Jean de Montfort, in the 14th century, the castle of Brest is mentioned, and the contests for its possession indicate that it was a place of strength and importance in a military point of view. Between 1341 and 1346 it was taken by the partisans of de Montfort from those of de Blois : and in 1373 it was defended by an Englishman, Robert Knolles, against the attacks of the French under Duguesclin; the English and French having engaged in the war as the auxiliaries of de Montfort and de Blois respectively. In 1386, de Montfort having defeated his competitor and become Duke of Bretagne, besieged Brest, held by his former allies the English (with whom he had now broken), as security for a debt; but the attack failed, and the town was not restored till 1395, when it was given up on payment of the money for which it was held in pledge. Early in the 15th century the English were repulsed in an attempt to force an entrance into Brest harbour in order to burn some vessels that were lying there. In the war of the League, in the latter part of the 16th century, Brest was again the object of contest: it was successfully defended by De Sourdeac, in the interest of Henry IV., against an attack of the troops of the League; and in 1597 it was preserved by an opportune tempest from an attack by an overwhelming armament of Spanish ships of war. It was not however till 1631 that the real greatness of Brest commenced: hitherto it had been a mere fortress. Cardinal Richelieu, perceiving its capability for an important naval station, caused magazines to be built, and fortifications to be erected. The favour of Louis XIV. further augmented the growth of the place: that monarch established the magnificent arsenal. In 1694 Brest was attacked by a combined fleet of English and Dutch vessels, from which a body of troops was landed in the hope of carrying the place by a coup-de-main. But the fleet was driven off the coast by a storm, and the troops, deprived of the protection of the fleet, were for the most part cut in pieces. General Tollemache, who commanded the English land forces, was mortally wounded in the thigh.

The town of Brest is of triangular form; the sides of the triangle facing the W., N.E. and S.E., respectively. The S.E. side of the triangle lies along the roadsted or bay. The port is formed by the river Penfeld, which, entering the town near the northern angle of the walls, passes through it into the roadsted with a winding course, dividing it into two parts, that on the left bank of the stream being Brest, strictly so called, while that on the right bank is known as the suburb or quarter of Recouvrance. In Brest, just at the point where the river falls into the roadsted, placed so as to command the entrance to the port, is the castle, the importance of which in the middle ages is evident from the particulars contained in the above brief historical sketch, and the strength of which is very much owing to its situation. The whole town is strongly fortified. The site of this place is very uneven; and hence has arisen the division of it into the upper and lower towns. So steep is the declivity, that the communication is made in some parts by means of steps, which in wet or frosty weather are rather dangerous; and the gardens of some of the houses are on a level with the fifth story of others. The streets in the upper town are winding as well as steep, and improvements there proceed but slowly; in the lower town they are carried on with more rapidity. In Recouvrance modern houses are rapidly superseding the Gothic edifices of a former day. Brest had, before the revolution, two par. churches, St. Louis in Brest, and St. Sauveur in Recouvrance. In the most antient time Brest seems to have been included in the neighbouring par. of Lambezellec, which is just to the N. of the town, but its ecclesiastical state and division have undergone many changes. The Jesuits had at one time a house here with a fine garden. They conducted a seminary for training chaplains for the king's ships; but before the revolution they had been expelled; and in a map now before us (Paris, 1779) their house is said to be used as an hospital. There were also a considerable establishment of the reformed or barefooted Carmelite monks, a Capuchin monastery, and several other religious establishments.

Besides the arsenal, established as already noticed by