The imports are chiefly coals from Sunderland and Newcastle, timber from America and the Baltic, and general merchandise from London and Hull: the port is a member of the port of Hull. Two fairs are held annually in a large open area between the priory gate, called also the Bayle Gate, and the church. This area is called the Green, and is supposed to have been the antient market-place. On the S. verge stands the par. poor-house, a large old building, said to be unhappily crowded with inmates. At a short distance are two circular mounds of earth 104 yards asunder, called butt-hills, thrown up for the practice of archery before the introduction of fire-arms. (Historical Sketches.) BRIDLINGTON QUAY is a small modern town in the recess of the bay on the sea-coast, the principal street of which runs directly to the har. and is very wide. The N. pier commands a view of Flamborough Head at 5 m. dis tance. There is good anchorage in this bay, particularly when the wind is unfavourable for coasting-vessels proceeding round Flamborough Head N. The amusements of Quay during the bathing season are chiefly those of riding and sailing. The beach has a fine hard sand, which affords a good walk at low water. There are warm and cold seawater baths for invalids and rooms which possess all the requisite accommodations. At a short distance there is a chalybeate spring of reputed efficacy, resembling the waters of Scarborough and Cheltenham, but not so purgative. An ebbing and flowing spring, which was discovered in 1811, furnishes an abundant supply of water of remarkable purity. This spring was discovered in 1811 by the late Benjamin Milne, Esq., collector of the customs at this port; a man who, for this and other services, is justly entitled to rank first among the benefactors of Bridlington. The fossils of the chalk cliffs near Bridlington are numerous and well known. A few years ago a head of the great extinct elk with branching horns, measuring 11 ft. from tip to tip, was found in the lacustrine deposit in this vicinity. The peat bogs and shell marl deposits in which the remains of this noble extinct animal have been found in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, are extremely similar to the lacustrine accumulations of Holderness. The entrance to the port and bay is defended by two batteries, one on the S. side of the town, mounting 6 guns (18-pounders), and the other on the N. side, mounting six guns (12-pounders). These batteries enfilade the mouth of the har. and form a cross-fire with each other at right angles. The environs of Bridlington and Quay are exceedingly beautiful. On the 17th February, 1836, Bridlington was visited by one of the heaviest storms ever known. Several houses were destroyed, others much damaged, and the piers were much injured. (Historical Sketches of Bridlington, by J. Thompson; Prickett's Description of the Priory Church of Bridlington; Communication from Bridlington, &c.) this harbour. In 1318, one John Huderesfield obtained from Richard II. a grant, for improving the port, of a halfpenny toll for every horse-load of goods imported or exported here. Other attempts were unsuccessfully made, but the haven was repeatedly rendered almost useless, by the tides barring it up with sand. In 1722, an act was obtained, of which the preamble states, that by reason of a great sickness, which swept away the greatest part of the most wealthy inhabitants, and other accidents, the haven became neglected and choked with sand, the piers fell to ruin, and the town consequently to decay. The works, for which this act was obtained, were not begun till 1741, and the pier was finished in 1742, towards the expense of which the two representatives of the borough contributed 35007., an individual 10007., and the town 500l. Further improvements were made in 1756, sluices were constructed, the fresh-water bayed back, and at the ebb of the tide discharged with rapidity, in order to scour the sand. Until 1822, the corporation were the exclusive trustees of the harbour; but in that year a new act was obtained for its improvement, by which, besides the bailiffs and burgesses, many individuals were made commissioners for the execution of the act. This act fixed a maximum of tonnage dues on vessels, and of dues to be received on exports and imports. A sum of 17,800l. was borrowed, and together with the surplus dues applied to the improvement of the harbour, which has thereby been rendered safe and commodious for shipping not exceeding 250 tons burthen. The trade of the port is rapidly increasing. In 1804, the number of vessels which entered was 128, their tonnage 9926, the harbour dues 4591. In 1833, it stood thus: Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. 27 2,404 15 Foreign trading vessels 432 Coasting trading vessels 233 21,722 114 6,575 Bridport was made a bonding port in 1832. The total amount of harbour duties in 1833 was 52247. The staple productions of the town are twine, lines, and fishing-nets. Of late years the manufacture of sail-canvas and shoe-thread has become extensive. The exports consist principally of these manufactures, and of butter, for which the county of Dorset is celebrated; and the imports of hemp, flax, deals from the Baltic, wines, spirits, skins, coals, culm, and slates. The town is also celebrated for the skill of its ship-builders. The pop. of the bor. and par. of Bridport, which were formerly co-extensive, has considerably increased since the beginning of the present century. The pop. of the new bor. created by the Reform Bill, which is more extended than the old one, cannot be ascertained with certainty, but is probably about 7000. The borough returns two members to Parliament. The old mail road from London to Exeter passes through Bridport, and forms the main street. The principal streets are spacious, and tolerably well built. The church of St. Mary's, near the lower end of South-street, is an antient building, in the form of a cross. There are four dissenting chapels. There were several religious foundations and chantries, few relics of which now appear. In the bor. and par. there are sixteen daily schools, one of which contains eighty-two children, and is supported by an endowment. BRIDPORT, a bor. and m. t. in Dorsetshire, on the highway from London to Exeter, and distant from London by the road, about 135 m. It appears from a notice in Domesday Book, to have been a considerable place before the Norman Conquest, and has been noted from an early period for its hempen manufactures: the soil in the surrounding country being strong and deep, formerly produced excellent hemp. That now used is imported principally from Russia. There is an old saying in allusion to a man who has been hanged, He has been stabbed with a Brid-There are four Sunday schools, all supported by voluntary port dagger,' which shows the antiquity of the manufacture of hemp at Bridport. The earliest charter of which any certain memorial remains is dated the 22nd June, 37 Hen. III. This charter received subsequent confirmations, the governing charter was dated the 15th Aug., 18 Charles II. By the Municipal Reform Act, Bridport is divided into two wards, and has 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. The town is lighted by gas. Queen Elizabeth, in her 36th year, granted to the bailiffs and burgesses a market on Saturdays. on which cattle might be sold, from the Friday before Palm Sunday to Midsummer-day; and three fairs, viz., on March 25th, on Holy-Thursday and two following days, and on Michaelmas day, with a court of pie-poudre. The profits and tolls of the fairs and markets average about 2037. annually. The present market-house was built under an act obtained in 1785. The prosperity of Bridport is materially dependent on that of the harbour, which is at the mouth of the riv. Brit, about a mile from the town, the communication being by an excellent road. Many efforts have been made to improve contribution. Within the last two years a mechanics' institute has been established, and handsome and commodious reading and lecture rooms have been erected. (Hutchins's Dorset, corrected by Gough and Nichols ; Boundary Reports; Municipal Corporations Report; Education Returns.) BRIE, a district in France comprehended partly in Chainpagne, and partly in the Ile de France. It extended from the banks of the Seine toward the N.E.; its dimensions were, greatest length N.E. and S. W. nearly 70 m.; greatest breadth measured nearly at right angles to the length about 65 m. (Atlas to Encyclop. Méthod.). It was formerly divided into Brie Françoise, Brie Champenoise (subdivided into Upper and Lower Brie), and Brie Pouilleuse afterwards incorporated with Brie Champenoise. The whole was bounded on the N. by the Ile de France (proper), Valois, and Soissonnois, on the E. and part of ⚫ the S. by Champagne proper, on the remaining part of its S. frontier by Senonois, and on the W. by Hurepoix, from which it was divided by the Seine. The chief towns within its limits (with their pop. in 1832) were as follow: very early periods of the history of the church, were given as credentials to mendicant friars, who collected money from country to country, and from town to town, for the building of churches and other pious uses. It is probable that, as soon as the authority of the pope ceased in England, these briefs began to be issued in the king's name. They appear to have been always subject to great abuse; and the stat. 4 Anne, c. 14, after reciting that 'many inconveniences arose and frauds were committed in the common method of collecting charity money upon briefs,' enacted a variety of provisions for their future regulation, and, among others, prohibited, by heavy penalties, the practice, which had previously prevailed, of farming briefs, or selling, upon a kind of speculation, the amount of charity money to be collected. Still these provisions were evaded, and heavy abuses arose; and the collection by briefs in modern times was found to be a most inconvenient and expensive mode of raising money for charitable purposes. According to the instance given in Burns's Ecclesiastical Law,' tit. Brief, the charges of collecting 614l. 128. Id., for repairing a church in Westmoreland, amounted to 3301. 16s. 6d., leaving therefore only a clear collection of 2831. 16s. 3d. This expensive and objectionable machinery (in the exercise of which the interests of the charity to be promoted were almost overwhelmed in the payment of fees to patent officers, undertakers of briefs and clerks of the briefs, charges of the king's printers, and other contingent expenses) was abolished by the stat. 9 Geo. IV., c. 42, which wholly repealed the statute of Anne, except as to briefs then in course of collection. By the 10th section of the late statute, it is enacted That, as often as his Majesty shall be pleased to issue his royal letters to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York respectively, authorizing collection within their provinces for the purpose of aiding the enlarging, building, rebuilding, or repairing, of churches and chapels in England and Wales, all contributions so collected shall be paid over to the treasurer of the Incorporated Society for promoting the enlargement, building, and repairing of churches and chapels,' and be employed in carrying the designs of the society into effect. This statute does not interfere with the authority of the crown as to granting briefs; its only effect is to abolish the machinery introduced by the statute of Anne. Under the provisions of the stat. 9 Geo. IV., c. 42, a brief was issued and collected, in the year 1834, in aid of the funds of the church building society; and, under the common law authority of the crown, a brief was issued, in 1835, to increase the funds of the 'Society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts,' with a view to the building of schools and chapels for the emancipated Negroes in the West Indies. The brief in the latter case recites that similar letters had been at various times granted, in aid of the Society's funds, by previous kings. Brie had antiently its own feudal lords, who bore the title of counts of Meaux; but Herbert of Vermandois, count of Meaux or of Brie, having become count of Troyes or Champagne in the 10th century, united the two countries. Brie ever after followed the fate of Champagne. The territory is now divided between the dep. of Aisne, Aube, Marne, Seine et Marne, and Seine et Oise, to which the reader is referred. BRIEF (PAPAL) is the name given to the letters which the pope addresses to individuals or religious communities upon matters of discipline. The Latin name is brevis,' or breve,' which in the latinity of the lower ages meant an epistle or written scroll. The French in the old times used to say brief' for a letter, and the Germans have retained the word brief with the same meaning to this day. The difference between a Brief and a Buil in the language of the Papal Chancery is this: the briefs are less ample and solemn instruments than bulls, and are like private letters addressed to individuals, giving the papal decision upon particular matters, such as dispensations, release from vows, appointments to benefices in the gift of the see of Rome, indulgences, &c.; or they are mere friendly and congratula tory letters to princes and other persons high in office. The apostolical brief is usually written on paper, but sometimes on parchment; it is sealed in red wax with the seal of the Fisherman (sub annulo Piscatoris), which is a symbol of St. Peter in a boat casting his net into the sea. (Ciampini, Dissertatio de Abbreviatorum Munere, cap. iii.) A bull is a solemn decree of the pope in his capacity of head of the Catholic Church: it relates to matters of doctrine, and as such is addressed to all the members of that church for their general information and guidance. The bulls of excommunication launched by several popes against a king, or a whole state, are often recorded in history. The briefs are not signed by the pope, but by an officer of the Papal Chancery, called Segretario dei Brevi: they are indited without any preamble, and, as just observed, are written generally upon paper. The bulls are always on parchment, and sealed with a pendent seal of lead or green wax, representing on one side the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and on the reverse the name of the pope, and the year of his pontificate: their name comes from the Latin 'bulla,' a carved ornament or stamp. The bulls of indulgences are general, and addressed to all the members of the church; the briefs of indulgences are addressed to particular individuals, or monastic orders, for their particular benefit. BRIEF, commonly called CHURCH BRIEF or KING'S LETTER. This instrument consisted of a kind of open letter in the king's name, and sealed with the privy seal, directed to the archbishops, bishops, clergymen, magistrates, churchwardens, and overseers of the poor throughout England. It recited that the crown thereby licensed the petitioners for the brief to collect money for the charitable purpose therein specified, and required the several persons to whom it was directed to assist in such collection. The origin of this custom is not altogether free from doubt; but as such documents do not appear to have been issued by the crown, previously to the Reformation, they may possibly be derived from the papal briefs, which, from BRIEF (in law) means an abridged relation of the facts of a litigated case, with a reference to the points of law supposed to be applicable to them, drawn up for the instruction of an advocate in conducting proceedings in a court of justice. Briefs vary in their particular qualities according to the nature of the court in which the proceedings are pending, and of the occasion in which the services of an advocate are required; but in general they should contain the names and descriptions of the parties, the nature and precise stage of the suit, the facts of the litigated transaction, the points of law intended to be raised, the pleadings, the proofs, and a notice of the anticipated answers to the client's case. BRIEG, a t. in the government circle of Breslau in Prussian Silesia, and the chief place of a lesser circle of the same name, which forms part of the principality of Brieg, and contains about 228 sq. m. and about 37,000 inh., of whom about 5-6ths are Protestants. The t. itself lies on the Oder, is surrounded by fortifications of no great strength, some of which have been converted into promenades, is well built, with broad, straight streets, has a castle now in ruins, 5 gates, 4 Lutheran and 3 Roman Catholic churches, 5 hospitals, an infirmary, a house of correction (in which the prisoners are employed in weaving cottons), a lunatic asylum and other charitable institutions, a gymnasium and an arsenal, and contains about 570 houses, and a pop. of about 5200 souls. The manufactures consist of linens, woollens, woollen gloves and stockings, cottons, lace, leather, &c. It is the seat of a head office for the royal Silesian mines, of a royal salt factory, and of district courts of justice, and has 3 fairs in the year, besides being a large m. t. for cattle, and having considerable trade in timber, which is felled in the neighbouring forests, A long wooden bridge of solid con struction crosses the Oder at this place. Brieg is about 465 ft. above the level of the sea, and about 26 m. S.E. of Breslau. BRIEL, or BRIELLE; sometimes also called the Brill; a sea-port town on the N. side of the isl. of Voorn in the prov. of S. Holiand; is situated near the mouth of the Maas in 51° 54' N. lat., and 4° 8' E. long. The confederates, having been driven from the Netherlands by the duke of Alba, equipped a fleet in England and entered the harbour of Briel, which surrendered to them, and thus became the earliest seat of the independence of the Dutch republic. This occurred in 1572. In 1585 this town was given up to Elizabeth, queen of Eng. land, as security for advances made by her to the States of Holland, and it continued garrisoned by English soldiers until 1616, when it was restored. The town is well built and strongly fortified. The har. is commodious, and capable of containing 300 vessels. The inh. consisted, in Jan. 1830, of 2000 males and 2195 females; the men are principally occupied as fishermen and pilots. Briel was the birth-place of the Admirals Van Tromp and De Witt. The town is 6 m. N. of Helvoetsluys, 12 m. W. of Rotterdam, and 24 m. W.N.W. from Dordrecht. BRIENNE. [BONAPARTE and AUBE] BRIENNE, JOHN OF, third son of Erard II., Count of Brienne sur Aulie, a small town in Champagne near Troyes, and of Agnes of Montbelliard, was married by the recommendation of Philippe Auguste, to Mary, daughter of Isabella, wife of Conrad, marquis of Montferrat. Isabella was youngest daughter of Amaury king of Jerusalem, an empty title which Mary thus inherited from her maternal grandfather. Of the early life of John of Brienne nothing is known, but he was named by the king of France as the most worthy champion whom he could offer for the defence of the Holy Land, as good in arms, faithful in war, and provident in action.' He was crowned at Tyre, A.D. 1209, and he maintained himself against the Saracens as well as his scanty force would allow. In the fifth crusade he headed a large band of adventurers in the invasion of Egypt, whom he led to the capture of Damietta, after sixteen months' siege; and when the pride, obstinacy, and avarice of the Cardinal Pelagius, the papal legate, had compromised the safety of the Christian army, which was enclosed on one side by an overpowering host of Moslems, on the other by the waters of the Nile, the king of Jerusalem became one of the hostages for the evacuation of Egypt. ་ When the emperor Frederic II., stimulated by ambition, undertook to fulfil his often evaded vows of joining the crusade, upon receiving the nominal sovereignty of the Holy Land, John of Brienne, wearied with the ineffectual struggle which he had long supported against the infidels, agreed to abdicate in his favour, and brought his eldest daughter and heiress, Yolande or Iolante, to Italy, where Frederic received her in marriage; yet in the subsequent wars between the pope and the emperor, John commanded the pontifical army against his son-in-law. In the year 1225, the emperor, during his successful expedition to Palestine, entered the Holy City; and, upon a demur of the patriarch, crowned himself with his own hands. From this union of Frederic with Iolante, the present royal house of Naples derives a claim to the title of king of Jerusalem, which it still preserves. (Giannone, xvi. 2; Hallam, Middle Ages, i. 264, 4to.) John of Brienne, in 1222, had married as a second wife Berengaria, sister of Ferdinand king of Castile; but his services in more advanced life were again needed in the east. On the death of Robert of Courtenaye, and the succession of his youngest brother Baldwin II. to the imperial throne of Constantinople, the barons of Romania, seeing that the Latin dynasty required a protector of greater vigour and maturer years than their boy-sovereign, invited John of Brienne to share the throne during his life-time, a proposal which he accepted upon condition that Baldwin should espouse his youngest daughter. In 1229 he accordingly assumed the imperial dignity, and for the ensuing nine years he nobly maintained himself against the increasing power of Vataces, emperor of Nicæa. A contemporary poet affirms that the achievements of John of Brienne (who at that time had passed his 80th year, according to the representation of the Byzantine historian Acropolita) exceeded those of Ajax, Hector, Roland, Uggier, and Judas Maccabæus; and we should readily acquiesce in this assertion, if we were to believe the exploits related of him when Constantinople was besieged by the confederate forces of Vataces and of Azan king of Bulgaria. Their allied army amounted to 100,000 men; their fleet consisted of 300 ships of war; against which the Latins could oppose only 160 knights and a few serjeants and archers. I tremble to relate,' says Gibbon, with well-justified apprehension, that instead of defending the city, the hero made a sally at the head of his cavalry, and that of forty-eight squadrons of the enemy no more than three escaped from the edge of his invincible sword.' The ensuing year was distinguished by a second victory; soon after which John of Brienne closed a life of military glory by an act of devotion which raised him equally high in spiritual reputation also. During his last illness, in 1237, he clothed himself in the habit of a Franciscan monk, and thus expired in that which superstition considered to be the richest odour of sanctity. The reign of John of Brienne is given at length by Du Cange, in the third book of his Hist. Constantinop., and a life of him was published at Paris, in 1727 (12mo), by Lafitau, a Jesuit. BRIENZ, Lake. [BERN.] BRIES (Brezno-Banya, Hungar., and Brezno, Sclavon.), a royal free t. in the N.E. part of the co. of Sohl or Zolyom, in Hungary, lies between the Viopar and Csertova ranges, in a valley of considerable elevation, and upon the banks of the Gran. This t. was founded as a centre for mining operations, in the year 1380, when it received its privileges: it was raised to the rank of a royal free town in 1655. There are 18 adjacent vills. within its jurisdiction, which, with the t., contain about 820 houses and 6300 inh., of whom Bries itself contains about 3500. There are excellent grazing grounds in the neighbourhood; and the breeding of sheep and sale of wool are carried on to a great extent. This is also the case with the articles of honey and wax, the produce of which is occasionally much diminished by the havoc which the bears from the adjoining woods commit on the hives. Bries is also celebrated for its cheese, made from sheep's milk. In the neighbourhood are several iron-works and quarries; precious stones, particularly rubies, are found in the beds of the mountain-streams, as well as in the rivulets in the Vale of Michalof. The t. has a piarist college, a Roman Catholic gymnasium, a headschool for elementary instruction, and two churches. 48° 49' N. lat. 19° 40′ E. long. BRIEUC (SAINT), or BRIEUX (SAINT), a city in France, capital of the dep. of Côtes du Nord. It is situated very near the coast of the Manche or channel on the small bay of St. Brieuc, and on the high road from Paris by Rennes to Brest; 278 m. W. from Paris; 48° 30′ or 32′ N. lat., and 2° 45′ W. long. This city owes its origin to a monastery built in the fifth or sixth century by St. Brieuc, an Irishman, and raised in the ninth century to the rank of a bishopric. It is near the little river Gouet, over which is a handsome granite bridge, and in a bottom surrounded by hills sufficiently high to intercept the view of the sea, although so near. The river Gouet is navigable, and at its mouth is the village of Legué-Saint-Brieuc, which forms the port of the town. Saint Brieuc is a neat town, tolerably well laid out and built, with streets sufficiently wide, and well-looking places or squares. It has a cathedral, a Gothic building of the thirteenth century; and before the Revolution there were a collegiate church of St. Guillaume and several parish churches; two monasteries (Cordeliers and Capuchins) and several nunneries. The garden of the Cordeliers is now a public promenade. Of the present commerce of the town we have little trust-worthy information. Among its manufactures may be enumerated linens, serges and other similar woollen stuffs, unbleached thread or yarn, leather, paper, earthenware, and beer. It is engaged also by means of the port of Legué in the French colonial trade, and in the Newfoundland cod fishery, and in ship-building. The pop. in 1832 amounted to 10,420. The town does not appear to have been walled. St. Brieuc is remarkable for its literary establishments. Its public library contains 24,000 volumes. It has a college or high school, a school of hydrography, and an agricultural society. A theatre and a fine hospital are among its establishments; and there are horse-races at the beginning of July every year.-(Malte Brun; Balbi; Dictionnaire de Bretagne, by Ogée.) The bishopric of St. Brieuc includes the dep. of the Côtes du Nord, which has a pop. of 598,872. The bishop is a suffragan of the archbishop of Tours. The arrond. of St. Brieuc is the most populous in the dep. It had, in 1832, 171,730 inhabitants. crops. From the nature of the ground and the superior | a magnificent assemblage of private houses erected on the advantage of a sea-frontage, the town has not increased estate of Mr. Kemp. When first built, a few years ago, towards the N. so much as along the coast; but it has run it was quite detached from the town, but is now united with up the depressions in the chalk, along which the Lon- it. On the W. side, in the par. of Hove, is Brunswick don and Lewes roads respectively are formed. The entire square, one of the best parts of Brighton: beyond this a sea frontage of the par. of Brighton, a space of near 3 m. crescent named Adelaide-crescent is in the course of buildin length, is occupied with houses, and the line is ex- ing. Indeed the best part of Brighton may be briefly detending W. into the par. of Hove. The pop. of the town has scribed as composed of ranges of splendid houses, formed into increased with astonishing rapidity during the present cen- squares and crescents. The parish church of St. Nicholas, an tury in 1801 it was 7339; in 1811, 12,012; in 1821, antient edifice, stands on a hill N.W. of the town; the living 24,429; in 1831, 40,634. At present the number of resi- is a vic., in the archdeaconry of Lewes, and diocese of Chidents during the summer occasionally amounts to 70,000. chester; the rec. of West Blatchington, a par. N.W. of The number of houses within the town in 1831, taxed at Brighton, is annexed to it. The town-hall, begun in 1830, 107. and upwards, was 2763; the entire number within the on the site of the old market, nearly in the centre of the parliamentary boundary was 8885. The amount of assessed town, is a large but ill-designed edifice. The places of taxes in 1830 in the par. of Brighton was 31,800., and worship belonging to the Establishment and to the Diswithin the boundary 35,580. The place is rapidly and senters are numerous. The royal chapel stands on the site daily increasing. of the former assembly rooms, or rather the building has been converted to its present use; its internal decorations are very fine, particularly the seats appropriated to the royal family. St. Peter's Church, erected in 1827, is a handsome Gothic structure, of Purbeck stone, situated near the entrance of the town by the London road. There are several chapels of ease subordinate to the parish church. Some of the dissenting chapels are handsome edifices. The origin of Brighton is uncertain. Its name is commonly derived from a Saxon bishop supposed to have resided here, named Brighthelm; but this is mere conjecture. Roman coins have been dug up in the vicinity. At the Conquest the lordship of the manor was included in the possessions of Harold, and was given by the Conqueror to his son-in-law, William de Warren. About this time a colony of Flemings are supposed to have established themselves for the purpose of fishing. From the exposed nature of the coast the town has occasionally suffered from hostile invasion. It was plundered and burned by the French in 1513. During the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth fortifications were erected to protect it. The town has also suffered from storms and the encroachments of the sea, by which the cliffs have been undermined, and at different times many houses destroyed. Wooden groins have lately been formed, running from the cliff to low water mark, within which the loose shingle is deposited; the shingle in this part of the channel is always driven eastward. A sea wall is also partly built and still in progress along the E. cliff. During part of the 17th century Brighton is stated to have contained upwards of 600 families, chiefly engaged in fishing. It was from Brighton that Charles II. effected his escape to France after the battle of Worcester, being conveyed across the channel by the captain of a coal brig, who afterwards enjoyed a pension for his services. About the middle of the 18th century attention was directed to Brighton as a suitable watering-place, and chiefly by Dr. Richard Russell, an intelligent medical man, whose work on the use of sea water created considerable interest. But the progress of the place was slow until it was rendered a fashionable resort by Geo. IV., then prince of Wales, who selected it as his summer residence. In 1784 the foundation of the Marine Pavilion was laid. This royal palace may be regarded as the nucleus of modern Brighton. It is a singular structure. The original design has received many alterations and additions. The appearance of the exterior is rather fantastic than striking, presenting an assemblage of domes, minarets, and pinnacles. The furniture of the interior is of a very expensive character. The pleasure grounds attached occupy upwards of seven acres. Adjoining the palace is the fashionable promenade of Brighton termed the Steine, which, prior to 1793, was a piece of common land used by the inh. for repairing and drying their boats, nets, &c. It is now a spacious lawn, surrounded by fine houses. On the N. side of it is a bronze statue by Chantrey of George IV. The rapid increase of Brighton caused the want of a suitable landing-place to be strongly felt. A company was accordingly formed for the erection of a suspension or chain pier, which was begun in October, 1822, under the direction of Captain Brown, and opened in November of the following year. It is composed of four spans or chain bridges, each 255 ft. in length, and at the end, on a framework of strong oaken piles, is a platform paved with blocks of granite. The main chains, which are eight in number, are carried over pyramidal cast-iron towers 25 ft. high, which rest on clusters of piles. The entire length of the pier is 1136 ft., the breadth of the platform being 13 ft. This structure, which stood several severe storms uninjured, was seriously damaged in a tremendous gale on the night of the 15th October, 1833, by which the third bridge or span was broken down, the suspension rods and chains being snapped and dislocated. It has been since repaired. On the E. side of the par. of Brighton is Kemp Town, The charities consist principally of the poor-house, a wellregulated establishment on the top of Church Hill; the Dispensary and County Infirmary, founded in 1809, under the patronage of George IV.; the Sussex County Hospital, near Kemp Town, founded by the earl of Egremont and T. R. Kemp, Esq.; the United Fishermen's Society, for the relief of the fishermen of Brighton; with several other institutions of a benevolent character. Of charity schools there are two national schools which are partly endowed; the Union charity schools, founded by Edward Goff, Esq. in 1805, who left 400l. to the boys' school, and 2007. to the girls', are supported by voluntary contributions; and there is a school founded by Swan Downer, Esq. in which fifty girls are educated and clothed. The education returns of 1835 give 158 daily schools, 43 boarding-schools, 14 Sunday schools, and three infant schools. The number of private schools at Brighton is very considerable, a circumstance owing to the salubrity of the place, and the desire of many parents who live in London to send their children out of the metropolis. The inns, hotels, and baths of Brighton are numerous. There is a chalybeate spring in the par. of Hove, which has been inclosed, and has considerable celebrity. The water has been analysed by Professor Daniel, and is held in high estimation for its medicinal qualities. An establishment, termed the German Spa, was formed in 1825 for the manu facture of artificial mineral waters. Brighton contains several places of amusement; a theatre, an assembly room, a club house, and about a mile E. of the town, on the summit of a beautiful part of the Downs, a fine race-course, at which races take place annually either in July or August. The trade of Brighton is confined exclusively to the supply of the wants of a rich population. There is an annual fair on September 4th; the principal market days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. At the market, which is excellent and convenient, all kinds of fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish are sold. The market was originally a weekly one, held under charter; in 1773 an act was obtained for a daily market. A fish market is also held by the fishermen on the open beach. There is no vestige of the fortifications erected in the 16th century. The present battery was originally erected in 1793, and rebuilt in 1830. The gas with which Brighton is lighted is supplied by two gasometers; one to the E. of Kemp Town, the other to the W. of Brunswick Town, near Hove Church. About 5 m. from Brighton, by a pleasant road across the Downs, is the Devil's Dyke, an extensive entrenchment, about a mile in circumference, of an oval form, which is conjectured, from the finding of an urn filled with coins of the later Roman emperors, to have been a Roman encampment. It is separated from one part of the Downs by a natural chasm, which appears to have been made deeper in order to form a high rampart called Poor Man's Wall. From this height there is a fine view of the Weald of Sussex, and some of the adjoining parts of Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent. The ground around Brighton affords a number of fine drives and walks. Since the establishment of steam-boats and the erection of the chain-pier, Brighton has become a packet station, which is much used by those who prefer going and returning from Paris by way of Dieppe and Rouen, instead of the old route of Dover and Calais. Four different lines of railroad have been projected, and are now (March, 1836) before the public. (Lee's Lewes and Brighthelmstone; Dr. Relhan's Nat. Hist. of Brighton; Boundary Reports.) BRIGNOLLES or BRIGNOLES, a town in France, capital of an arrond. in the dep. of Var. It is on the riv. Calami or Calanis, whose waters flow ultimately into the Argens; and on the road from Paris to Draguignan, 513 m. S.S.E. of Paris, 43° 24′ N. lat. and 6° 4' E. long. The town is delightfully situated in a hollow, surrounded by wood-crowned heights. The salubrity of the air was in such esteem formerly, that the countesses of Provence were accustomed to resort hither for the purpose of lying-in, and had their young children brought up here. The trade of the place, in the early part of the present century, was considerable: it was especially famous for the manufacture of leather. The Dictionnaire Universel de la France (1804) gives the number of tan-yards at forty-two, and adds, that there were seven soap manufactories, seven brandy distilleries, besides manufactories of silk goods, woollen cloths, wax, hats, glue, starch, candles, earthenware, and liqueurs. But the trade of the town has probably been much reduced, for there has been a remarkable diminution of the population. In the work just cited it is given at 9060: in 1832 it was only 5432 for the town, or 5940 for the whole com mune. The country around Brignolles is exceedingly fertile: the vine and the olive are cultivated on the surrounding hills; and the fruits, especially the dried plums, are in high estimation. The arrond. of Brignolles had in 1832 a pop. of 71,062. BRIMSTONE. [SULPHUR.] 267 B.C. the two harbours, but they failed. In the 18th century the pop. of Brindisi was reduced to less than 3000, and was threatened with total destruction by the pestilential state of the atmosphere, when King Ferdinand IV. in 1775 ordered the communication with the inner har. to be restored. A cut was made across the isthmus, and the sea water being thus let in, and the other marshes at the same time partially dried up, the air of Brindisi evidently improved. (Pigonati, Memoria del riaprimento del porto di Brindisi 1781.) The depth of the channel however is not more than about 8 ft., and the vessels are obliged to remain in the roads, in which there is good anchorage partly protected by an isl. having a castle upon it called Forte di Mare. New works have been lately (1830) undertaken to keep the channel of communication clear and to cleanse the inner har. of the mass of sea weeds which accumulate very fast, and by their decay corrupt the atmosphere. (Afan di Rivera, Considerazioni sulle dua Sicilie.) [Coin of Brundisium. Copper. Brit. Mus.] The present town of Brindisi occupies but a small part of the site of the antient city. It is surrounded on the land side by walls and ditches, and has a castle called Forte di Terra, commanding the northern arm of the inner harbour. Outside the town and not far from the castle is a fountain said to be of Roman construction, with a niche on each side, from which flow two rills of very good water, probably the fountain mentioned by Pliny from which the ships were supplied. The water in the town is brackish. The town is ill built and looks miserable, and the air is still unwholesome in summer. The pop., which is 6000, carries on some trade by sea; part of the oil of Puglia is shipped off at Brindisi. The principal object of antiquity is a pillar about 50 ft. high, which forms a conspicuous object. Another, which stood near it, has been removed to Lecce, and the pedestal alone remains. The cathedral is a large but not handsome building of the Norman times, with a mosaic pavement. Brindisi is an archbishop's see. It lies about 200 m. E. by S. of Naples, 40 m. N.E. of Taranto, 40 N. of Gallipoli, and 20 N.N.W. of Lecce. BRINDISI, the Roman Brundisium, and Greek Brentesium (BPETEσov), a town in the prov. of Terra d'Otranto n the kingdom of Naples, in 40° 38' N. lat., and 18° E. ong., well known in Roman history for its capacious and safe har, which was the chief port of embarkation from Italy to Greece. The origin of Brundisium is lost in the obscurity of the ante-Roman times. Tradition spoke of a Cretan colony having early settled here. It was one of the hief towns of the Messapian pen., and of that part of it alled Calabria by several antient geographers. The name of Brundisium or Brundusium is said by Strabo (p. 282) and others to be derived from a word, which in the old Messapian language signified a stag's head, a shape somewhat resembling that of its double har., the inner part of which forms two horns which half encircle the town. The Brundisians and the other Messapians were often at BRINDLEY, JAMES, was born in 1716, at Thornsett, variance with the Greek colony of Tarentum, before the a few miles from Chapel-en-le-Frith, in the county of Romans extended their conquests into Apulia. After the Derby. The great incident of his life was his introduction war of Pyrrhus and the subjugation of Tarentum, the Ro-to the duke of Bridgewater, and the application of his talents mans, under the consuls M. Attilius Regulus and Lucius to the promotion of artificial navigation. [BRIDGEWATER.] Junius Libo, turned their arms against the other towns of But he had previously acquired reputation by his improveMessapia and seized Brundisium among the rest, about ments in machinery; and at an early age, although deprived Brundisium was made a Roman colony. The of the advantages of even a common education, he evinced Via Appia terminated at Brundisium. [ANTONINUS, ITI- a mind fruitful in resources far above the common order. NERARY.] The poet Pacuvius was a native of this town, Brindley followed the usual labours of agriculture until and Virgil died here. Pompey, having left Rome at the about his seventeenth year, when he was apprenticed to a beginning of the civil war, repaired to Brundisium, where millwright named Bennet, residing near Macclesfield. This he was besieged by Cæsar, who endeavoured to prevent his individual being generally occupied in distant parts of the escape by blocking up the inner har. by means of two piers country, young Brindley was left at home with few or only which he raised, one on each side of the entrance. Before indefinite directions as to the proper manner of executing however he could accomplish his object Pompey embarked the work which had been put into his hands. This circumhis troops in secrecy and sailed away for Greece. To these stance, however, was well calculated to call forth the peculiar two piers raised by Cæsar the beginning of the deterioration qualities of his mind; his inventive faculties were brought of the inner port has been attributed. The passage having into exercise, and he frequently astonished his employer by become very narrow, the sands carried by the sea accumu- the ingenious improvements which he effected. Mr. Bennet, lated and formed a bar across which gradually choked up on one occasion, was engaged in preparing machinery of a the entrance, and an isthmus was created separating the new kind for a paper-mill, and although he had inspected a inner from the outer har, or roadsted. This however was mill in which similar machinery was in operation, it was the slow work of centuries. The calamities which befell reported that he would be unable to execute his contract. Brindisi after the fall of the Roman empire, when it was Brindley was informed of this rumour, and as soon as he taken and retaken by the northern barbarians, the Greeks had finished his week's work, he set out for the mill, and the Saracens, contributed to the deterioration of the took a complete survey of the machinery, and, after a har. by preventing the inh. from attending to its repair. walk of fifty miles, reached home in time to commence Frederick II. built a castle for the defence of the town. work on Monday morning. He had marked the points in Under the Angevins the inner har. was already become a which Mr. Bennet's work was defective, and by enabling stagnant pool separated from the sea. Other marshes him to correct them, Bennet's engagement was satisfactorily formed themselves in the neighbourhood, and the air of the fulfilled. town became seriously affected. Attempts were made by the Aragonese kings to re-open the communication between When the period of his apprenticeship had expired, Brindley engaged in business on his own account, but he VOL. V.-3 I |