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was built over the Rhine, which is there 400 feet wide: there was a pier in the middle of the river, but it is doubtful whether the bridge rested upon it a man of the lightest weight felt the bridge totter under him, yet waggons heavily laden passed over without danger. This bridge was destroyed by the French in 1799. BRIDGES IN ENGLAND. The ancient bridges in England were of wood, and were fortified with planks and merlined; the first bridge of stone was built at Bow, near Stratford, A.D. 1087. Westminster bridge, then the finest erected in these realms, and not surpassed by any in the world, except in China, was completed in twelve years, 1750. The first iron bridge, on a large scale, was erected over the Severn, in Shropshire, 1779. The finest chain suspension bridge is that of the Menai Strait, completed in 1825. Hungerford suspension bridge was completed and opened May 1, 1845. See Blackfriars, Hungerford, London, Menai Strait, and other bridges. BRIDGETINS, an order of nuns, whose founder was St. Bridget. Several communities of Bridgetins obtained in Catholic countries in A.D. 1344, et seq. Henry V. of England built the English order a nunnery near Richmond in 1415. BRIDGEWATER, incorporated by king John, and made a distinct_county by Henry VII. In the wars between Charles I. and the parliament, the forces of the latter reduced great part of the town to ashes. The canal, the first great work of the kind in England, was begun by the duke of Bridgewater, styled the father of canal navigation in this country, in 1758 Mr. Brindley was the architect. The canal commences at Worsley, seven miles from Manchester; and at Barton-bridge is an aqueduct which, for upwards of 200 yards, conveys the canal across the navigable river Irwell; its length is twenty-nine miles.

BRIEF. A written instrument in the Catholic church, of early but uncertain date. Briefs are the letters of the pope despatched to princes and others on public affairs, and are usually written short, and hence the name, and are without preface or preamble, and on paper; in which particulars they are distinguished from bulls. The latter are ample, and always written on parchment; a brief is sealed with red wax, the seal of the fisherman, or St. Peter in a boat, and always in the presence of the pope; they are used for graces and dispensations, as well as business. BRIENNE, BATTLE OF, between the allied armies of Russia and Prussia, and the French, fought on the 1st, and resumed on the 2d February, 1814. The allies were defeated with great loss; this was one of the last battles in which the French achieved victory, previously to the fall of Napoleon.

BRIGHTON. Now a place of most fashionable resort, though formerly inhabited chiefly by fishermen. From here Charles II. embarked for France, after the disastrous battle of Worcester, in 1651. The prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., built a fanciful yet magnificent marine palace at Brighton, formerly known as the Pavilion, 1784. It was afterwards greatly enlarged, and the entire exterior altered into a general resemblance of the kremlin at Moscow: it is still distinguished as a royal palace. The Block-house was swept away, March 26, 1786. Part of the cliff fell, doing great damage, Nov. 16, 1807. The chain pier, 1134 feet long and thirteen wide, was completed in 1823. The length of the esplanade here from the Steyne is about 1250 feet.

BRISTOL. This city, one of the principal in England, was built by Brennus, a prince of the Britons, 380 B.C. It was granted a charter and became a distinct county in the reign of Edward III. Taken by the earl of Gloucester, in his defence of his sister Maude, the empress, against king Stephen, 1138. St. Mary's church was built 1292. A new charter was obtained in 1581. Bristol was attacked with great fury by the forces of Cromwell, 1655. An act was passed for a new exchange in 1723, but it was not erected until 1741. The bridge was built by act, May 1760. The memorable attempt to set the shipping on fire was made Jan. 22, 1777. BRISTOL RIOTS. Riot at Bristol on account of a toll, when the troops fired on the populace, and many were wounded, Oct. 25, 1793. Riot on the entrance of sir Charles Wetherell, the recorder, into the city, attended by a large police and special force, to open the sessions. He being politically obnoxious to the lower order of the citizens, a riot ensued, which was of several days' continuance, and which did not terminate until the mansion-house, the bishop's palace, several merchants' stores, some of the prisons (the inmates liberated), and nearly 100 houses were burned, and

many lives lost, Oct. 29, 1831. and twenty-two transported. martial, Jan. 9, same year. BRISTOL, SEE of. One of the six bishoprics erected by Henry VIII. out of the spoils of the monasteries and religious houses which that monarch had dissolved. The cathedral was the church of the abbey of St. Austin, founded here by Robert FitzHarding, son to a king of Denmark, and a citizen of Bristol, A.D. 1148. It is valued in the king's books at 3381. 8s. 4d. Paul Bushe, provincial of the Bons-hommes, was the first bishop, in 1542-deprived for being married, 1554. The see of Bristol was united by an order in council with that of Gloucester, in 1836, and they now form one see under the name of Bristol and Gloucester.

Trial of the rioters, Jan. 2, 1832; four were executed,
Suicide of col. Brereton during his trial by court-

BRITAIN. The earliest records of the history of this island are the manuscripts and poetry of the Cambrians. The Celts were the ancestors of the Britons and modern Welsh, and were the first inhabitants of Britain. Britain, including England, Scotland, and Wales, was anciently called Albion, the name of Britain being applied to all the islands collectively-Albion to only one.-Pliny. The Romans first invaded Britain under Julius Cæsar, 55 B.C., but they made no conquests. The emperor Claudius, and his generals, Plautius, Vespasian, and Titus, subdued several provinces after thirty pitched battles with the natives, A.D. 43 and 44. The conquest was completed by Agricola, in the reign of Domitian, A.D. 85.

The Saxons, although they were divided into seven different kingdoms, yet were for the most part subject to one king alone, who was entitled Rex gentis Anglorum, or King of the English nation; those which were stronger than the rest giving the law to them in their several turns, till, in the end, they all became incorporated in the empire of the West Saxons. were kings or octarchs during the Heptarchy :

KINGS, OR OCTARCHS, OF THE ENGLISH SAXONS.
457. Hengist, first king of Kent.
490. Ella, king of the South Saxons.
519. Cerdic, king of the West Saxons.
533. Kenric, ditto.

559. Cealwin, ditto.

593. St. Ethelbert, ditto, and of Kent.
616. Redwald, king of the East Angles.
630. Edwine, king of Northumbria.

€55. Oswald, ditto; slain.

64. Osweo, or Oswy, ditto.

670. Wulfhere, king of Mercia.

675. Ethelred, ditto.

The following also

That Britain formerly joined the Continent has been inferred from the similar cliffs of the opposite coasts of the English Channel, and from the constant encroachments of the sea in still widening the channel. For instance, a large part of the cliffs of Dover fell, estimated at six acres, Nov. 27, 1810.-Phillips's Annals. BRITISH INSTITUTION, Pall Mall, founded in 1805, and opened Jan. 18, 1806, on a plan formed by sir Thomas Bernard, for the encouragement of British artists. The gallery that was purchased for this institution was erected by Alderman Boydell, to exhibit the paintings that had been executed for his edition of Shakspeare.-Leigh.

BRITISH MUSEUM. The origin of this great national institution was the grant by parliament of 20,0007. to the daughters of sir Hans Sloane, in payment for his fine library, and vast collection of the productions of nature and art, which had cost him 50,000%. The library contained 50,000 volumes and valuable MSS., and 69,352 articles of vertù were enumerated in the catalogue of curiosities. The act was passed April 5, 1753; and in the same year Montagu-house was obtained by government as a place for the reception of these treasures. The museum has since been gradually increased to an immense extent by gifts, bequests, the purchase of every species of curiosity, MSS., sculpture and work of art, and by the transference to its rooms of the Cottonian, Harleian, and other libraries, the Elgin marbles, &c. George IV. presented to the museum the library collected at Buckingham-house by George III. -See Cottonian Library, and other collections.

BROAD SEAL OF ENGLAND, first affixed to patents and other grants of the crown, by Edward the Confessor, A.D. 1048.-Baker's Chron. See Great Seal. BROCADE. A silken stuff variegated with gold or silver, and raised and enriched with flowers and various sorts of figures, originally made by the Chinese.—Johnson. The trade in this article was carried on by the Venetians.-Anderson. Its manufacture was established with great success at Lyons, in 1757.

BROCOLI: an Italian plant.-Pardon. The white and purple, both of which are varieties of the cauliflower, were brought to England from the Isle of Cyprus, in the seventeenth century.-Anderson. About 1603.-Burns. The cultivation of this vegetable was greatly improved in the gardens of England and came into great abundance about 1680.-Anderson.

BROKERS. Those both of money and merchandise were known early in England. See Appraisers. Their dealings were regulated by law, and it was enacted that they should be licensed before transacting business, 8 and 9 William III. 1695-6. The dealings of stock-brokers were regulated by act 6 George I. 1719, and 10 George II. 1736.-Statutes at large. See Pawnbrokers.

BRONZE, known to the ancients, some of whose statues, vessels, and various other articles, made of bronze, are in the British Museum. The equestrian statue of Louis XIV., 1699, in the Place Vendome at Paris, (demolished Aug. 10th, 1792,) was the most colossal ever made; it contained 60,000 lbs. weight of bronze. Bronze is two parts brass and one copper, and the Greeks added one fifteenth of lead and silver. BROTHELS, were formerly allowed in London, and considered a necessary evil, under the regulation of a good police. They were all situated on the Bankside, Southwark, and subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of Winchester; and they were visited weekly by the sheriff's officers, the severest penalties being enacted against keeping infected or married women, 8 Henry II. 1162.-Survey of London. Brothels tolerated in France, 1280. Pope Sixtus IV. licensed one at Rome, and the prostitutes paid him a weekly tax, which amounted to 20,000 ducats a year, 1471.—Ital. Chron. BROWNISTS, a sect founded by a schoolmaster in Southwark, named Robert Brown, about 1615. It condemned all ceremonies and ecclesiastical distinctions, and affirmed that there was an admixture of corruptions in all other communions. But the founder subsequently recanted his doctrines for a benefice in the church of England.-Collins's Eccles. Hist.

BRUCE'S TRAVELS, undertaken to discover the source of the Nile. The illustrious Bruce, the "Abyssinian Traveller," set out in June 1768, and proceeding first to Cairo, he navigated the Nile to Syene, thence crossed the desert to the Red Sea, and, arriving at Jidda, passed some months in Arabia Felix, and after various detentions, reached Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, in Feb. 1770. On Nov. 14th, 1770, he obtained the great object of his wishes-a sight of the sources of the Nile. Bruce returned to England in 1773, and died in 1794.

BRUNSWICK, HOUSE OF. This house owes its origin to Azo, of the family of Este. Azo died in 1055, and left, by his wife Cunegonde (the heiress of Guelph III., duke of Bavaria), a son who was Guelph IV., the great-grandfather of Henry the Lion. This last married Maude, daughter of Henry II. of England, and is always looked upon as being the founder of the Brunswick family. The dominions of Henry the Lion were the most extensive of any prince of his time; but having refused to assist the emperor Frederick Barbarossa in a war against pope Alexander III., he drew the emperor's resentment on him, and in the diet of Wurtzburg, in 1179, he was proscribed. The duchy of Bavaria was given to Otho, from whom is descended the family of Bavaria; the duchy of Saxony, to Bernard Ascanius, founder of the house of Anhalt; and his other territories to different persons. On this, he retired to England; but on Henry's intercession, Brunswick and Lunenburg were restored to him. The house of Brunswick has divided into several branches. present duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel is sprung from the eldest; the duke of Brunswick-Zell was from the second; and from this last sprang the royal family of England. A revolution took place at Brunswick, when the ducal palace was burnt, and the reigning prince obliged to retire and seek shelter in England, Sept. 8, 1830.

The

BRUNSWICK CLUBS. Established to maintain the principles of the revolution, the integrity of the house of Hanover, and Protestant ascendency in church and state. The first was formed in England at a meeting held at Maidstone, in Sept. 1828. The first general meeting for the formation of Brunswick clubs in Ireland was held at the Rotunda in Dublin, Nov. 4, same year.

BRUSSELS, founded by St. Gery of Cambray, in the seventh century.

The memor

able bombardment of this city. by Marshal Villeroy, when 14 churches and 4000 houses were destroyed, 1695. Taken by the French, 1746. Again, by Dumouriez,