The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 89

BRIDGWATER, a seaport town in Somersets.h.i.+re, 29 m. SW. of Bristol.

BRIDLEGOOSE, JUDGE, a judge in Rabelais' "Pantagruel," who decided cases by the throw of dice.

BRIDLINGTON, a watering-place in Yorks.h.i.+re, 6 m. SW. of Flamborough Head, with a chalybeate spring.

BRIDPORT, VISCOUNT, a British admiral, distinguished in several engagements (1797-1814).

BRIEG (20), a thriving, third, commercially speaking, town in Prussian Silesia, 25 m. SE. of Breslau.

BRIENNE, JEAN DE, descendant of an old French family; elected king of Jerusalem, then emperor of Constantinople; _d_. 1237.

BRIENZ, LAKE OF, lake in the Swiss canton of Bern, 8 m. long, 2 m.

broad, over 800 ft. above sea-level, and of great depth in certain parts, abounding in fish. Town of, a favourite resort for tourists.

BRIEUC, ST., (19), a seaport and an episcopal city in the dep. of Cotes-du-Nord, France.

BRIGADE, a body of troops under a general officer, called brigadier, consisting of a number of regiments, squadrons, or battalions.

BRIGANTES, a powerful British tribe that occupied the country between the Humber and the Roman Wall.

BRIGGS, HENRY, a distinguished English mathematician; first Savilian professor at Oxford; made an important improvement on the system of logarithms, which was accepted by Napier, the inventor, and is the system now in use (1561-1631).

BRIGHAM YOUNG, the chief of the Mormons (1801-1877).

BRIGHT, JAMES FRANCK, historian, Master of University College, Oxford; author of "English History for the Use of Public Schools," a book of superior literary merit; _b_. 1832.

BRIGHT, JOHN, English statesman, son of a Lancas.h.i.+re cotton spinner, born near Rochdale; of Quaker birth and profession; engaged in manufacture; took an early interest in political reform; he joined the Anti-Corn-Law League on its formation in 1839, and soon was a.s.sociated with Cobden in its great agitation; entering Parliament in 1843, he was a strong opponent of protection, the game laws, and later of the Crimean war; he advocated financial reform and the reform of Indian administration; and on the outbreak of the American Civil War supported the North, though his business interests suffered severely; he was closely a.s.sociated with the 1867 Reform Act, Irish Church Disestablishment 1869, and the 1870 Irish Land Act; his Ministerial career began in 1868, but was interrupted by illness; in 1873, and again in 1881, he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; he seceded from Gladstone's Government on the Egyptian policy in 1882, and strenuously opposed Home Rule in 1886; in 1880 he was Lord Rector of Glasgow University; he was a man of lofty and unblemished character, an animated and eloquent orator; at his death Mr. Gladstone p.r.o.nounced one of the n.o.blest eulogiums one public man has ever paid to another (1811-1889).

BRIGHTON (128), a much-frequented watering-place in Suss.e.x, 50 m. S.

of London, of which it is virtually a suburb; a place of fas.h.i.+onable resort ever since George IV. took a fancy to it; a fine parade extends along the whole length of the sea front; has many handsome edifices, a splendid aquarium, a museum, schools of science and art, public library and public gallery; the princ.i.p.al building is the Pavilion or Marine Palace, originally built for George IV. Also the name of a suburb of Melbourne.

BLIGHT'S DISEASE, a disease in the kidneys, due to several diseased conditions of the organ, so called from Dr. Richard Bright, who first investigated its nature.

BRIL BROTHERS, MATTHEW AND PAUL, landscape painters, born at Antwerp; employed in the 16th century by successive Popes to decorate the Vatican at Rome; of whom Paul, the younger, was the greater artist; his best pictures are in Rome.

BRILLAT-SAVARIN, a French gastronomist, author of "Physiologie du Gout," a book full of wit and learning, published posthumously; was professionally a lawyer and some time a judge (1755-1825).

BRIN'DISI (15), a seaport of Southern Italy, on the Adriatic coast; has risen in importance since the opening of the Overland Route as a point of departure for the East; it is 60 hours by rail from London, and three days by steam from Alexandria; it was the port of embarkation for Greece in ancient times, and for Palestine in mediaeval.

BRINDLEY, JAMES, a mechanician and engineer, born in Derbys.h.i.+re; bred a millwright; devoted his skill and genius to the construction of ca.n.a.ls, under the patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater, as the greatest service he could render to his country; regarded rivers as mere "feeders to ca.n.a.ls" (1716-1772).

BRINK, JAN TEN, a Dutch writer, distinguished as a critic in the department of belles-lettres; _b_. 1834.

BRINVILLIERS, MARQUISE DE, notorious for her gallantries and for poisoning her father, brother, and two sisters for the sake of their property; was tortured and beheaded; the poison she used appears to have been the Tofana poison, an art which one of her paramours taught her (1630-1676). See AQUA TOFANA.

BRISBANE (49), capital of Queensland, on the Brisbane River, 25 m.

from the sea, 500 m. N. of Sydney, is the chief trading centre and seaport of the Colony; it has steam communication with Australian ports and London, and railway communication with Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide; prosperity began when the colony was opened to free settlement in 1842; it was dissociated from New South Wales and the city incorporated in 1859.

BRISBANE, ADMIRAL SIR CHARLES, a naval officer of distinction under Lords Hood and Nelson; captured in 1796 Dutch wars.h.i.+ps, three s.h.i.+ps of the line among them, in Saldanha Bay, and in 1807 the island of Curacoa; was made governor of St. Vincent (1769-1829).

BRISBANE, SIR JAMES, naval officer, brother of the preceding, served under Lord Howe and under Nelson at Copenhagen (1774-1829).

BRISBANE, SIR THOMAS MACDOUGALL, British general, a man of science and an astronomer, born near Largs, Ayrs.h.i.+re; saw service as a soldier; was appointed governor of New South Wales to the profit of the colony; gave name to the capital of Queensland; catalogued over 7000 stars; succeeded Scott as president of the Royal Society (1773-1860).

BRISE'IS, a young virgin priestess, who fell to the lot of Achilles among the spoil of a victory, but whom Agamemnon carried off from him, whereupon he retired to his tent and sullenly refused to take any further part in the war, to its prolongation, in consequence, as Homer relates, for ten long years; the theme of the "Iliad" being the "wrath of Achilles" on this account, and what it led to.

BRISSAC, the name of a n.o.ble family which supplied several marshals to France.

BRISSON, HENRI, French publicist and journalist; after holding presidents.h.i.+ps in the Chamber became premier in 1885, but resigned after a few months; formed a Radical administration in 1898, which was short-lived; _b_. 1835.

BRISSOT DE WARVILLE, JEAN PIERRE, a French revolutionary, born at Chartres, son of a pastry-cook; bred to the bar, took to letters; became an outspoken disciple of Rousseau; spent some time in the Bastille; liberated, he went to America; returned on the outbreak of the Revolution, sat in the National a.s.sembly, joined the Girondists; became one of the leaders, or rather of a party of his own, named after him Brissotins, midway between the Jacobins and them; fell under suspicion like the rest of the party, was arrested, tried and guillotined (1754-1793).

BRISTOL (286), on the Avon, 6 m. from its mouth, and 118 m. W. of London, is the largest town in Gloucesters.h.i.+re, the seventh in England, and a great seaport, with Irish, W. Indian, and S. American trade; it manufactures tobacco, boots and shoes; it has a cathedral, two colleges, a library and many educational inst.i.tutions; by a charter of Edward III.

it forms a county in itself.

BRISTOL CHANNEL, an inlet in SW. of England, between S. Wales and Devon and Cornwall, 8 m. in length, from 5 to 43 in breadth, and with a depth of from 5 to 40 fathoms; is subject to very high tides, and as such dangerous to s.h.i.+pping; numerous rivers flow into it.