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, a French antiquary, was born at Lyons, Jan. 28, 1680, of parents who gave him an excellent education. He attached himself at first to jurisprudence, but antiquities and medals soon occupied him entirely. The chancellor de Pontchartrain, the abbe Bignon, Vaillant, Haruouin, admired him for the amiableness of his manners, and the depth of his learning. In 1705 he published some ingenious dissertations upon medals and other monuments, which procured him to be admitted into the academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, under the title of pupil; and the year following he became perpetual secretary. The French academy too admitted him of their society in 1715, as successor to M. Fenelon. He was made keeper of the royal cabinet of medals in 1719; and the year after he set out for Holland, with the view of augmenting that grand collection. On returning to Paris he devoted the whole of his time to the academy of belles-lettres, to which he contributed a great many memoirs, and the cabinet of medals. He had the inspection of the library in 1745, during the illness of M. Maboul, before which time he resigned the place of secretary to the academy. He died the 10th of September, 1753, aged seventy-four. He was as estimable for the sweetness of his temper as for the depth of his knowledge. Among his works, are: 1. The edition of the first 15 vols. of the “Memoires de l'academie des inscriptions et belleslettres.” The historical panegyrics which embellish these memoirs were printed separately in 2 vols. 12mo. They are ingenious and agreeable; they may contain fewer of those delicate strokes with which the éloges of Fontenelle abound, but perhaps they exceed them in elegance and taste! They are, however, unequal. 2. The second edition of the “Medallic history of Louis XIV.” brought down to his death, 1723, folio. He gives the drawings and impresses of many of them. 3. “The history of the emperor Tetricus illustrated by medals.” 4. Several dissertations on the ancient medals, dispersed for the most part throughout the “Memoires de l'academie des belles-lettres.” 5. He published the “Catalogue of his library,” 1745, fol. which was well chosen, and full of rare and curious books. This catalogue is very much in request among the bibliographers, and sells at a high price. Another was published after his death, Paris, 1753, 8vo. There is also attributed to him a work called the “Yellow Book,” “Livre jaune, contenant quelques conversations sur les logomachies, disputes de mots, abus de termes,” &c. Bale, 1748, 8vo, of which only thirty copies were printed, on what is called vegetable paper.

, an Italian poet of some celebrity, known by the name of Bracciolini Dell’ Api, a surname given him by the pope, was born at Pistoia, in Tuscany, 1566, and was fellow-student with Maffei Barberini, whose love of poetry and polite literature resembled his own, and increased their friendship. When Barberini was afterwards appointed nuncio in France, under the pontificate of Clement VIII. he engaged Bracciolini as his secretary, who accepted the office in hopes that his patron might become a cardinal, and serve his interest more essentially, for Bracciolini was not free from the unpoetical failing of avarice; but this event not taking place so soon as he expected, he retired to Pistoia, where he composed a part of his works. Barberini, however, being not only made cardinal, but also pope in 1622, under the title of Urban VIII. Bracciolini waited upon him with a poem of congratulation, amounting to twenty-three books, which the pope liked so well, that he ordered him to adopt the surname Dell' Api, and to add to his arms three bees, which are the arms of the Barberini family. He gave him at the same time more substantial rewards, and placed him as secretary under his brother, cardinal Antonio Barberini. After the death of Urban VIII. in 1644, Bracciolini again retired to Pistoia, where he died the following year. He wrote a great number of poems of every species, epics, tragedies, comedies, pastorals, lyrics, satires, and burlesque verses. Of these, the only ones worthy of notice, seem to be: 1. “La Croce Racquistata,” a heroic poem in fifteen cantos, Paris, 1605, 12mo; and again, enlarged and divided into thirty-five cantos, Venice, 1611, 4to. This, his countrymen once did not hesitate to rank immediately after the works of Ariosto and Tasso, but modern critics have placed a greater distance between them. 2. “Lo Scherno degli Dei,” a mock-heroic, in ridicule of the heathen mythology, Florence, 1618, 4to, a better edition in 1625, 4to. This poem has given him some title to the invention of the mock-heroic, because in the preface it is asserted that the “Lo Scherno” although printed some years after Tassoni’s “La Secchia Rapita,” was written many years sooner. It is, however, a poem of considerable merit in that style.

, an Italian historian and antiquary, was a native of Sarzano, in Tuscany, in the fifteenth century. He was secretary to the republic of Genoa, but refused the honour of that appointment when offered by pope Nicholas V. who was his countryman. He died in 1460. He wrote in elegant Latin five books, “De Bello inter Hispanos et Genuenses,” from 1412 to 1444, which were published at Paris in 1520, 4to, and afterwards at Haguenau, 1530, and Rome, 1537, and 1573, and were afterwards inserted in Graevius’s Thesaurus. He wrote also a biography of eminent men of Genoa, “De Claris Genuensibus,” and “Orae Ligusticae descriptio,” Rome, 1573, 4to, inserted likewise in Graevius’ and in Schottus 1 collections. Mabillon, in his “Jter Italicum,” has printed a small work by Bracelli, “De praecipuis Genuensis urbis familiis.” His letters, “Epistoloe,” were printed at Pc.ris, 1520. All these were collected by Augustin Justinian, and published at Paris, in 1 vol. 4to, in the last-mentioned year, with a preface containing some brief notices of the author.

, a celebrated English lawyer in the thirteenth century, was, according to Mr. Prince, born in Devonshire; and studied at Oxford, where he took the degree of LL. D. Applying himself afterwards to the study of the laws of England, he rose to great eminence at the bar; and, in 1244, was by king Henry III. made one of the judges itinerant. At present he is chiefly known by his learned work, “Delegibus et consuetudinibus Angliae,” the first printed edition of it was in 1569, folio, Jn 1640 it was printed in 4to, and great pains was taken to collate various Mss. One of the most authentic manuscripts of this work was burnt in the fire which consumed a part of the Cotton library, Oct. 23, 1731. It is a finished and systematic performance, giving a complete view of the law in all its titles, as it stood at the time it was written. It is divided into five books, and these into tracts and chapters. Consistently with the extensiveness and regularity of the plan, the several parts of it are filled with a curious and accurate detail of legal learning, so that the reader ever fails of deriving instruction or amusement from the study of this scientific treatise on our ancient laws, and customs. It is written in a style much beyond the generality of the writers of that age; being though not always polished, yet sufficiently clear, expressive, and nervous. The excellence of Bracton’s style must be attributed to his acquaintance with the writings of the Roman lawyers and canonists, from whom likewise he adopted greater helps than the language in which he wrote. Many of those pithy sentences which have been handed down from him as rules and maxims of our law, are to be found in the volumes of the imperial and pontifical jurisprudence. The familiarity with which Bracton recurs to the Roman code has struck many readers more forcibly than any other part of his character; and some have thence pronounced a hasty judgment upon his fidelity as a writer upon the English law. It seems, indeed, to be a fashion to discredit Bracton, on a supposition of his having mingled too much of the civilian and canonist with the common lawyer; any notion that has got into vogue on such a subject is likely to have many to retail it, and few to examine its justness. Among others who have most decidedly declared against Bracton, we find M. Houard, the Norman advocate: this gentleman was at the pains to give an edition of Glanville, Jb'leta, and Britton but has omitted Bracton, because his writings had corrupted the law of England. But his conceptions about the purity of the law of England have seduced him into a very singular theory. He lays it down that Littleton’s tenures exhibit the system introduced by William the Conqueror in all its genuine purity; that this system was corrupted by a mixture from other polities in the writings of Britton, Fleta, and Glanville, but more particularly in those of Bracton. Full of this preposterous idea, he published an edition of Littleton, with a commentary, and, to decide the point without more debate, has entitled it “Anciennes Loix des Francois.” After this, the admirers of Bracton will not apprehend much from this determined enemy to his reputation as an English lawyer.

The value set on this work soon after its publication is evinced by the treatises of Britton, and Fleta, which are nothing more than appendages to Bracton. The latter was intended as an epitome of that author; and the merit of the former is confined to the single office of supplying some few articles that had been touched lightly by him, with the addition of the statutes made since he wrote. In after-times he continued the great treasure of our ancient jurisprudence. Thus was Bracton deservedly looked up to as the first source of legal knowledge, even so low down as the days of lord Coke, who seems to have made this author his guide in all his inquiries into the foundation of our law.

, a facetious preacher among the dissenters, whose oddities are still traditionary, was born in 1677, at Wakefield, in Yorkshire. His father belonged to a dissenting meeting at Alverthorp, near that town, of which Mr. Peter Naylor, an ejected minister, was pastor. Under his care, and at the free-school at Leeds, he received the first rudiments of learning. He was afterwards sent to an academy kept by Mr. Jollie, at Attercliffe. He began to preach at the early age of eighteen, about the year 1696, when his juvenile figure procured him some rebuffs, which he soon disregarded, and convinced his hearers that he was a boy only in appearance. His conquest over these remarks at this time seems to have formed an aera in his history, as he used to “bless God that from that hour he had never known the fear of man.” He soon after left the academy, and was taken into the family of Mr. Whitaker, who, according to his biographer, checked his ardour, at least so far that he preached but seldom. In 1697 he went to Beverley, where he continued two years, and then became assistant to Dr. Gilpin, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and remained there three years, with almost unbounded popularity. He then removed to Stepney, near London, and in 1707 was chosen pastor of a meeting in Fetter-lane, vacant by the death of Mr. Benoni Rowe. After preaching here to a crowded congregation for twenty years, a quarrel took place; about what, his biographer does not inform us; but Mr. Bradbury was immediately invited to succeed the noted Daniel Burgess, in the meeting at New-court, Carey-street, and in less than a fortnight exchanged his former for his latter pulpit, carrying with him such of his Fetter-lane hearers as adhered to him in the late contest. Here he succeeded Daniel Burgess as a wit as well as a divine, and his biographer gravely informs us, that “this pulpit a se*cond time presented a phenomenon as rare as it is beneficial, wit consecrated to the service of serious and eternal truth.” Of this wit, however, Mr. N. Neal, in a letter to Dr. Doddridge, (1749,) gives a different opinion. “I have seen Mr. Bradbury’s sermons, just published, the nonsense and buffoonery of which would make one laugh, if his impious insults over the pious dead did not make one tremble.” After entertaining the public by this species of comic preaching for thirty-two years, he died at Warwick-court, Gray’s-inn, Sept. 9, 1759, aged eighty-two. Of his character it is said, that “had he possessed as much judgment as quickness of wit, and as much temper as zeal, he would have been a man of much greater consideration. His usefulness was much abated after the Sailers’ -hall synod, for though he was warm on the orthodox side, his ill-conducted zeal did much mischief.” Among his other differences of opinion from his brethren, he made it his business in the pulpit to lampoon and satirize the hymns and psalms of Dr. Watts. It is said, indeed, that whentever he gave out one of the former, it was prefaced with “Let us sing one of Watts’s whims.” Among the numerous anecdotes of Tom Bradbury, as he was familiarly called, we shall give only the following, which contains some characteristic features. “Tom generally gave audience at supper-time, and the ceremony was thus conducted. On a little table lay two pocket bibles, one of which was taken up by Bradbury, and the other by his daughter, and each having read a portion, one of the visiting ministers was desired to pray: they then adjourned to supper; after which, Tom entertained the company with ‘ The roast beef of old England,’ which, it is said, he sung better than any man in England.” His printed works amply justify the character usually given of him, that with much zeal he was totally destitute of judgment, and regardless of the dignity of his sacred calling, dwelling perpetually on political topics, and enforcing them in a strain of ridicule totally unfit for the place in which he stood. These works consist of “Fifty-four Sermons,” 1762, in 3 volumes octavo, all of which, except seven, had been printed separately. They are principally of the political kind, and it was justly remarked of them at the time of publication, that " from the great number of satred texts applied to the occasion, one would imagine the bible was written only to confirm, by divine authority, the benefits accruing to this nation from the accession of king William III.

, one of the most eminent of the protestant divines who suffered martyrdom in the reign of queen Mary, was born in the former part of Henry Vjii.'s reign in Manchester, where he was educated in grammar, Latin, and accounts, in which last he was reckoned so expert that he was employed as clerk or secretary to sir John Harrington, treasurer and paymaster of the English forces in France; and in this employment he lived many years in great credit. His exchanging so profitable a situation for the clerical profession is rather obscurely accounted for by his biographers, some attributing it to his having imbibed the principles of the reformers, and being encouraged to join their number; others to certain abuses in sir John Harrington’s office, in which he either participated, or at which he connived, and the iniquity of which first struck him on hearing a sermon of bishop Latimer upon the subject of restitution as constituting the only basis of repentance. There is much reason, however, to doubt whether this sermon was not subsequent to the restitution he made of about 500l. which he apprehended the king had lost by some error in his and sir John Harrington’s accounts. The author of his life in the Biog. Brit, dwells with tiresome prolixity on this affair, as a new discorery of greater importance than, upon a perusal of the whole, we have beeri able to attach to it. The fact seems to have been, that Bradford was a man of great tenderness of conscience, and where he imagined he had done an injury, was restless until he had made restitution; and lamented his crime on this occasion with more bitterness than will be thought necessary by many persons who have been, intrusted with, much larger public accounts.

It appears that after he left the army, he studied for some time in the Inner Temple, but is said to have heard more sermons than law-lectures, and at length determined to study divinity. With this view he went to Cambridge about the month of August 1548, and took his degree of master of arts at Katherine-hall, and not Queen’s college, as some authors have reported. Dr. Ridley, bishop of Rochester, and afterwards of London, being then master of Pembroke-hall, invited him and his pious companion Thomas Horton, to become fellows of that hall, to which he was chosen. When urged by Bucer to take orders, he pleaded his inability, notwithstanding the high reputation for learning which he had established in college; but Bucer reconciled him by saying, “Though thou couldst not feed the flock with fine cakes and white bread, yet should thou satisfy them with barley-bread.” In 1550, when Ridley was translated to the see of London, he sent for him to take upon him deacon’s orders, after which he became one of the most celebrated and popular preachers of his time, and was made one of the king’s chaplains. The bishop afterwards gave him a prebend in St. Paul’s, and lodged him in his house.

For some time after the death of Edward VI. Bradford continued his public services; but a man of such zeal against popery could not be long safe, and the method that was taken to bring him to the stake is one of the most tyrannical measures of Mary’s reign. It is thus related by his biographers: On the 13th of August, in the first year of queen’s Mary’s reign, Gilbert Bourne, then preacher at Paul’s Cross, but not then bishop of Bath as Fox mistakes, he not being elected to that see before the beginning of the next year, made a seditious sermon at the said cross; wherein he so much traduced the late king, and harangued so intolerably in favour of popery, that the auditory were ready to pull him out of the pulpit. Neither could the reverence of the place, nor the presence of the bishop of London, nor the authority of the lord mayor, restrain their rage. Bourne, seeing himself in this peril, and his life particularly aimed at by a drawn dagger that was hurled at him in the pulpit, which narrowly missed him, turned about, and perceiving Bradford behind him, he earnestly begged him to come forwards and pacify the people. Bradford was no sooner in his room, and recommended peace and concord to them, than with a joyful shout at the sight of him, they cried out, ‘ Bradford, Bradford, God save thy life, Bradford!’ and then, with profound attention to his discourse, heard him enlarge upon peaceful and Christian obedience; which when he had finished, the tumultuous people, for the most part, dispersed; but, among the rest who persisted, there was a certain gentleman, with his two servants, who, coming up the pulpitstairs, rushed against the door, demanding entrance upon Bourne; Bradford resisted him, till he had secretly given Bourne warning, by his servant, to escape; who, flying to the mayor, once again escaped death. Yet conceiving the danger not fully over, Bourne beseeched Bradford not to leave him till he was got to some place of security; in which Bradford again obliged him, and went at his back, shadowing him from the people with his gown, while the mayor and sheriffs, on each side, led him into the nearest house, which was Paul’s school; and so was he a third time delivered from the fury of the populace. It is added that one of the mob, most inveterate against Bourne, exclaimed, ‘ Ah! Bradford, Bradford, dost thou save his life who will not spare thine? Go, I give thee his life; but were it not for thy sake, I would thrust him through with my sword.’ The same Sunday, in the afternoon, Bradford preached at Bow church in Cheapside, and sharply rebuked the people for their outrageous behaviour. Three days after this humane interposition, Aug. 16, he was summoned by the council and bishops to the Tower of London, where the queen then was, and charged with sedition, and preaching heresy; and notwithstanding the defence he made, was committed to prison in the Tower, where he lay for a year and a half. This forbearance is the more remarkable, because, when in the Tower, or other prisons, by his discourses, exhortations, and especially by his letters, he did nearly, if not quite as much service to the protestant cause, as when he was at large. In his letters, he evinced a spirit of inflexible constancy in his principles, a primitive and apostolic zeal for the propagation of truth, and a sincere abhorrence of the delusions of the church of Rome; and strengthened the minds of the adherents of the reformation to such a degree that his enemies at last determined to cut him off. In 1554, he was removed to the court of king’s bench, Southvvark, and on Jan. 22, examined before Gardiner, bishop of Winchester and chancellor, Bonner bishop of London, and others. For this and his other examinations we refer to Fox. After it was over, he was sent back to the same prison under stricter restraint than before, especially as to the exercise of his pen: but the sweetness of his comportment towards his keepers so won upon them, that it defeated the severity of his enemies’ commands in that particular; and his arguments, thus discharged out of prison, did their cause more hurt, than all the terror of their tyrannical treatment did it good. A week after, on the 29th, he was brought before them in the church of St. Mary Overies to his second examination, and next day to a third, in all which he acknowledged and adhered to his principles with undaunted constancy, and answered every thing offered in the shape of argument with authority from the scriptures, and every reproach with meekness. He was now condemned to die, but he lay after this in the Poultry counter for five months, visited constantly by some of the popish bishops, their chaplains or priests, so desirous were they to gain over a champion of his consequence. We are told that both while he lay in the king’s bench, and in the counter, he preached twice a-day, unless sickness hindered him. The Sacrament was often‘ ministered; and, through his keeper’s indulgence, there was such a resort of pious people to him, that his chamber was usually almost filled with them. He made but one short meal a-day, and allowed himself but four hours rest at night. His gentle nature was ever relenting at the thoughts of his infirmities, and fears of being betrayed into inconstancy; and his behaviour was so affecting to all about him, that it won even many papists to wish for the preservation of his life. His very mien and aspect begat veneration; being tall and spare, or somewhat macerated in his body; of a faint sanguine complexion, with an auburn beard; and his eyes, through the intenseness of his pious contemplations, were often so solemnly settled, that the tears would silently gather in them, till he could not restrain them from overflowing their banks, and creating a sympathy in the eyes of his beholders. The portions of his time he did not spend in prayer or preaching, he allotted to the visitation of his fellow-prisoners; exhorting the sick to patience, and distributing his money to the poor, and to some who had been the most violent opposers of his doctrines; nor did he leave the felons themselves without the best relief they were capable of receiving, under the distresses they had brought upon themselves, which excited them to the most hearty and sincere repentance. On the last day of June 1555, he was carried to Newgate, attended by a vast multitude of people, who, because they had heard he was to suffer by break of day, that the fewer spectators might be witnesses of his death, either stayed in Smithfield all night, or returned in greater numbers thither by four o’clock the next morning, the 1st of July; but Bradford was not brought thither till nine o'clock, and then came under a stronger guard of halberdeers than was ever known on the like occasion. As he came out of Newgate, he gave his velvet cap and his handkerchief to an old friend, with whom he had a little private talk. Such was the inveteracy of his enemies, that his brother-in-law, Roger Beswick, for only taking leave of him, had his head broke, till the blood ran down his shoulders, by the sheriff Woodrofe. When he came to Smithfield, and in his company a Yorkshire youth, who was an apprentice in London, named John Lyefe, and to be burnt at the same stake with him, for maintaining the like faith in the sacrament, and denying that priests had any authority to exact auricular confession, Bradford went boldly up to the stake, laid him down flat on his face on one side of it, and the said young man, John Lyefe, went and laid himself on the other; where they had not prayed-to themselves above the space of a minute, before the sheriff bid Bradford arise, and make an end; for the press of the people was very great. When they were on their feet, Bradford took up a faggot and kissed it, and did the like to the stake. When he pulled off his clothes, he desired they might be given to his servant; which was granted. Then, at the stake, holding up his hands and his face to Heaven, he said aloud, “O England, England, repent thee of thy sins! Beware of idolatry, beware of antichrists, lest they deceive you.” Here the sheriff ordered his hands to be tied; and one of the fire-rakers told him, if he had no better learning than that, he had best hold his peace. Then Bradford forgiving, and asking forgiveness of, all the world, turned his head about, comforted the stripling at the same stake behind him, and embracing the flaming reeds that were near him, was heard among his last words to say, “Strait is the way, and narrow is the gate,” &c.

, D. D. bishop of Rochester, was a native of London, the son of William Bradford, of whom it is recorded, that being a parish-officer in the time of the plague, he looked upon it as his duty to take care in person both of the dead and living, although he removed his family to Islington. The subject of this article was born Dec. 20, 1652, in St. Anne’s Blackfriars, and was educated at St. Paul’s school, and afterwards in the Charter-house. In 1669, he was admitted a student of Bene't college, Cambridge, and matriculated March 27, 1672, but left it without taking a degree, having at that time some scruples of conscience respecting the subscriptions, declarations, and oaths then required. He pursued his studies, however, in private, and after studying divinity, having overcome his scruples by a careful examination of the matters in controversy, he became desirous of orders in the church of England; but as he was then twenty-eight years old, and could not return to the university and go regularly on in the statutable course of taking his degrees, archbishop Sancroft procured him a royal mandate for M. A. in 1680, and he was admitted to the same at Oxford in 1697. As the state of affairs, however, was critical at the time he received his degree at Cambridge, he declined proceeding in his design, living as a private tutor to gentlemen’s families, until after the revolution, when he was ordained deacon and priest in 1690, and in the spring following was elected minister of St. Thomas’s church, Southwark, by the governors of that hospital.

He was soon aften chosen lecturer of St. Mary-le-Bow, and engaged by archbishop Tillotson to educate his grandsons, which occasioned him to reside at Carlisle-house in Lambeth. While here, the rector of St. Mary-le-Bow died, and the parishioners were so pleased with Mr. Bradford, as to solicit the archbishop to give him the living, with which his grace complied, but not without acquainting them with the informality of such applications. On this Mr. Bradford resigned St. Thomas’s, and the lectureship of Bow;‘ but soon after accepted that of Allhallows, in Bread-street. In 1698, he preached on the 30th of January before king William, who was so well pleased with the sermon, as to command it to be published; and also, in March following, appointed him one of his chaplains in ordinary, in which office he was retained by queen Anne. In 1705, when she visited Cambridge, he was made D. D. and in 1707, her majesty gave him a prebend of Westminster. He now was exemplary in a diligent and conscientious discharge of his parochial duties, and enjoyed the esteem of his superiors, the good opinion and friendship of his brethren the clergy, and the affection of his parishioners. In 1710, he refused the bishoprick of St. David’s, as the then ministry would not suffer him to hold his prebend in commendam, nor the rectory of Bow, either of which was necessary to enable him to keep up his rank as a bishop. In 1716, he was unanimously elected master of Bene’t college, and in 1718 was consecrated bishop of Carlisle, whence in 1723 he was translated to Rochester, which he held with the deanry of Westminster. About a year afterwards he resigned the mastership of the college. He died May 17, 1731, and was buried in Westminsterabbey. His character appears to have been excellent, according to every account. His Boylean lectures were published in 4to, 1699, under the title of “The Credibility of the Christian Religion from its intrinsic evidence, being eight sermons, &c. with a ninth as an appendix, in reply to an objection from the imperfect promulgation of the gospel,” 4to. He published also separately twenty-three sermons preached on public occasions, and assisted in the publication of Tillotson’s works. He left two daughters, one married to Dr. Reuben Clarke, archdeacon of Essex, and the other to Dr. John Denne, archdeacon of Rochester.

, D. D. Savilian professor of astronomy in Oxford, F. R. S. and member of the academies of sciences and belles-lettres of Paris, Berlin, Petersburgh, and Bologna, was born at Shireborn in Gloucestershire in 1692, and educated at Northleach in the same county. Thence he was admitted a commoner of Balliol-college in Oxford, March 15, 1710: where he took the degree of B. A. Oct. 14, 1714, and of M. A. Jan. 21, 1716. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1719, and instituted the same year to the vicarage of Bridstow in Herefordshire. He never had any other preferment in the church, except the small rectory or sinecure of Landewy Welfry, in the county of Pembroke, and diocese of St. David: and his institution to this bears date the Jst of March 1719. It is presumed that the bishop of Hereford, to whom he was chaplain, was his patron to the vicarage; and Mr. Molyneux, who was then secretary to the prince of Wales, procfcred him the sinecure.

It appears that thus early in life he had many friends; and it is probable that by some of them he might have risen to eminence in the church, had not his natural inclination led him to pursue other studies, in which he afterwards shone so conspicuously. He received his first rudiments of the mathematics from his uncle Dr. James Pound, who resided at his living of Wanstead in Essex, where our astronomer was some time curate: this gentleman was his mother’s brother, a man of singular capacity and genius, and eminent as a divine, a physician, and a mathematician. In the two former capacities he went to the East-Indies in the company’s service; and was one of those who had the good fortune to escape from the massacre of the factory, on the island of Pulo Condore, in Cochin China. An account of this shocking scene remains amongst Dr. Bradley’s papers, written by Dr. Pound, together with a journal kept by him on board the Rose sloop, until, after many difficulties* and distresses, they arrived at Batavia the 18th of April 1705. The public suffered much in this catastrophe, by the loss of Dr. Pound’s papers, and other valuable curiosities collected by him, which all perished in the conflagration; as he had no time to save any thing but his own life. With this relation, to whom he was dear even more than by the ties of blood, he spent all his vacations from other duties: it was whilst with him at Wanstead, that he first began the observations with the sector, which led to his future important discoveries.

On the death of John Keill, M. D. he was chosen Savilian professor of astronomy in Oxford, Oct. 31, 1721. On this promotion, so agreeable to his taste, he resigned the living of Bridstow, and also the sinecure of Landewy Welfry, and henceforward devoted his time and studies to his beloved science; nor was he sooner known, than distinguished by the friendship of lord Macclesfield, sir Isaac Newton, his colleague in the Savilian professorship, Dr. Halley, and other great mathematicians, astronomers, and patrons of science. In the course of his observations, which were innumerable, he discovered and settled the laws of the alterations of the fixed stars, from the progressive motion of light, combined with the earth’s annual motion about the sun, and the nutation of the earth’s axis, arising from the unequal attraction of the sun and moon on the different parts of the earth. The former of -these effects is called the aberration of the fixed stars, the theory of which he published in 1727; and the latter the nutation of the earth’s axis, the theory of which appeared in 1737: so that in the space of about 10 years, he communicated to the world two of the finest discoveries in modern astronomy; which will for ever make a memorable epoch in the history of that science. In 1730, he succeeded Mr. Whiteside, as lecture-reader of astronomy and experimental philosophy in Oxford: which was a considerable emolument to himself, and which he held till within a year or two of his death, when the ill state of his health made it necessary to resign it. At the decease of Dr. Halley, he was appointed astronomical observator at the royal observatory at Greenwich, February 3, 174-1-2. From letters found amongst his papers, it appears that Dr. Halley was very desirous that our astronomer should succeed him; and in one letter, when he found himself declining, he desires his leave to make interest for him: but he owed this new acquisition chiefly to the friendship of lord Macclesfield, the late president of the royal society. Upoa this promotion he was honoured with the degree of doctor of divinity, by diploma from Oxford.

In 1747, he published his Letter to the earl of Macclesfield, concerning an apparent motion observed in some of the fixed stars; on account of which he obtained the annual gold prize-medal from the royal society. It was in consequence of the royal society’s annual visit to the observatory at Greenwich, during which he represented to them the necessity of repairing the old instruments, &c. that in 1748 George II. by his sign manual, directed to the commissioners and principal officers of his navy, ordered the payment of 1000 to James Bradley, D. D. his astronomer, and keeper of the royal observatory, in order to repair the old instruments in the said observatory, and to provide new ones. This enabled him to furnish it with the noblest and most accurate apparatus in the known world, suited to the 'dignity of the nation and the royal donor: in the executive part of this useful work, those eminent artists, Mr. George Graham and Mr. Bird, deserve honourable mention, who contributed much towards the perfection of those instruments, which enabled Dr. Bradley to leave behind him the greatest number of the most accurate observations that were perhaps ever made by any one man. Nor was this the last instance by which his late majesty distinguished his royal astronomer; for, upon his refusing to accept the living of Greenwich from a conscientious scruple, “that the duty of a pastor was incompatible with his other studies and necessary engagements,” his majesty granted him an annuity or yearly pension of 250l. during pleasure in consideration (as the sign manual, dated Feb. 15, 1752, expresses it) of his great skill and knowledge in the several branches of astronomy, and other parts of the mathematics, which have proved so useful to the trade and navigation of this kingdom. This pension was continued to the demise of the late, and renewed by the present king. The same year he was chosen one of the council of the royal society.

About 1748, he became entitled to bishop Crew’s benefaction of 30l. per aim. to the lecture reader in experimental philosophy in Oxford. He was elected member of the royal society in 1752; of the academy of sciences at Paris, in 1748; of that at Petersburg, in 1754; of the academy of sciences at Bologna, in 1757; and also of the royal Prussian academy of sciences and belles lettres, but the time when does not appear amongst his papers.

By too close application to his observations and studies, as is probable, he was afflicted for near two years before his death, with a grievous oppression on his spirits, which quite put an end to his labours: his chief distress arose from an apprehension, that he should survive his rational faculties; but this so much dreaded evil never came upon him. In June 1762, he was taken with a suppression of urine, occasioned (as it afterwards appeared) by an inflammation in his kidnies, which proved fatal the 13th of July following. He died at Chalford in Gloucestershire, in the 70th year of his age, and lies interred at Minchinhampton in the same county, near to the remains of his wife and mother. In 1744, he had married a daughter of Samuel Peach, of Chalford, esq. by whom he left one daughter, who in 1769, gave her father’s portrait, by Hudson, to the picture gallery, Oxford.

Dr. Bradley was extremely amiable in his private character, as well as illustrious for his scientific knowledge. His temper was gentle and placid, and he was eminently characterised by his modesty. He appears to have taken, little pains to attract the notice of mankind, and it was his singular merit alone which procured him the general esteem and regard of the friends of learning and science. Among his acquaintance and friends were many of the first persons in this kingdom, both for rank and abilities; and it is said, that there was not an astronomer of any eminence in the world, with whom he had not a literary correspondence. He spoke well, and expressed his ideas with great precision and perspicuity; but in general was silent, and seldom spoke, except when he conceived it absolutely necessary. He was, however, very ready to communicate useful knowledge to others, and especially in that science which he more particularly professed, whenever he thought there was. a proper opportunity. He also encouraged those who attended his lectures to propose questions to him, by the exactness with which he answered them, and his obvious solicitude to accommodate himself to every capacity. He was censured by some, for having withheld his observations from the public use; but this charge appears not to have been well founded: and it has been alleged, on the contrary, that an improper use was made of the facility with which he made his communications; that his observations were very ungenerously transmitted abroad; and that, by such practices, foreigners have been enabled to gain reputation, and to adopt the fruits of his labour as their own. He was extremely temperate, even to abstinence; and he enjoyed a great share of health, and was active and robust, till towards the close of his life. Eminently remarkable for the equanimity of his temper, he was yet in a very great degree compassionate and liberal; and was extremely generous to such of his relations as needed his assistance. Though he was unquestionably one of the greatest astronomers of the age, - he has published very little which seems to have arisen from his natural diffidence, and from that solicitous accuracy, which made him always apprehensive that his works were imperfect. His papers which have been inserted in the Philosophical Transactions are, 1. Observations on the comet of 1703; vol. 33, p. 41. 2. The longitude of Lisbon and of the fort of New York from Wansted and London, determined by the eclipse of the first satellite of Jupiter; vol. 34, p. 85. 3. An account of a new discovered motion of the fixed stars; vol. 35, p. 637. 4. On the going of clocks with isochronal pendulums; vol. 38, p. 302. 5. Observations on the comet of 1736-7; vol. 40, p. 111. 6. On the apparent motion of the fixed stars; vol. 45, p. 1. 7. On the occultation of Venus by the moon, the 15th of April 1751; vol. 46, p. 201. 8. On the comet of 1757; vol. 50, p. 408. 9. Directions for using the common micrometer; vol. 62, p. 46. His observations made at the royal observatory during 20 years, comprized in 13 folio and two quarto volumes, unfortunately for the interests of science, were taken away at his death by his representatives , who, upon preparations being made by government for recovering them by process of law, (and an actual commencement of a suit for that purpose,) presented them to lord North, by whom they were transferred, in 1776, to the university of- Oxford, of which he was chancellor, on condition of their printing and publishing them. Accordingly the first volume was published in, 1798, by the late Dr. Hornsby, in a splendid form, entitled “Astronomical Observations made at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, from the year 1750 to the year 1762,” fol. The remainder are in the possession of Dr. Hornsby’s very learned successor in the astronomical chair, Dr. Abraham Rpbertson.

, a popular and very voluminous writer on gardening and agriculture in the last century, was one of the first who treated these subjects in a philosophical manner, and certainly possessed considerable botanical knowledge, although his general conduct was little entitled to respect. He first made himself known to the public by two papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions: one on the motion of the sap in vegetables, the other on the quick growth of mouldiness in melons. He became a fellow of the royal society, and was chosen, Nov. 10, 1724, professor of botany at Cambridge, but in a manner which reflects little credit on him. His election was procured by a pretended verbal recommendation from Dr. Sherrard to Dr. Bentley, and pompous assurances that he would procure the university a public botanic garden by his own private purse and personal interest. The vanity of his promises was soon discovered, as well as his almost total ignorance of the learned languages; and as he neglected to read lectures, the university made no difficulty in permitting Dr. Martyn to do it. Mr. Bradley, however, read a course of lectures on the Materia Medica in 1729 at the Bull inn, which he published next year at London, 8vo, and of which the reader may see a humorous criticism in the Grub-street Journal, No. 11* In 1731, his conduct became so scandalous, that it was in agitation to dismiss him. from his professorship, but he died soon after, Nov. 5, 1732. He was the author of several publications, chiefly on gardening and agriculture, consisting of two folio volumes, four quarto, and nearly twenty in octavo, which are enumerated in Mr. Nichols’s Life of Bowyer. His “New Improvement of Planting and Gardening, both philosophical and practical,” 1717, 8 vo, went through repeated impressions, as did his “Gentleman’s and Gardener’s Kalendar.” His “Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature,” 1721, 4to, was a popular, instructive, and entertaining work, and continued in repute several years. The same may be said of his “General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening,” 1726, 2 vols. 8vo; and of his “Practical Discourses concerning the four elements, as they relate to the growth of plants,” 1727, 8vo. His “Dictiona-ium Botanicum,” 1728, 8vo, Dr. Pulteney thinks, was the first attempt of the kind in England. Exotic botany was indebted to him for an undertaking, which there is reason to regret he was not enabled to pursue and perfect. This work was entitled “Historia plantarum Suceuientarum,” 1716, 4to, published in decads from 1716 to 1727, but only five were completed. The industry and talents of Bradley were not mean; and though^ unadorned by learning, were sufficient to have secured him that reputable degree of respect from posterity, which it will ever justly withhold from him who fails to recommend such qualifications by integrity and propriety of conduct, but in these, unhappily, Bradley was deficient. Among his other publications appears a translation of Xenophon’s GEconomicks from the Greek. It was, however, only an old translation modernized, to pass oft' which the booksellers paid him a sum of money for his name, then a popular one. There are obvious coincidences between his character and that of the more recently celebrated botanical and miscellaneous writer, sir John Hill.

, an early English poet, was a native of Chester, where he was born about the middle of the fifteenth century. Discovering an early propensity to religion and literature, he was received, while a boy, into the monastery of St. Werbergh, in that city; and having there imbibed the rudiments of his education, he was sent afterwards to Gloucester college (now Worcester) in the suburbs of Oxford, where, for a time, he studied theology, with the novices of his order, and then returned to his convent at Chester: here in the latter part of his life, he applied himself chiefly to the study of history, and wrote several books. He died either in 1508, or in 1513. Before the year 1500, he wrote the “Life of St. Werburgh,” in English verse, declaring that he does not mean to rival Chaucer, Lydgate, Barklay, or Skelton, which two last were his contemporaries, and his versification is certainly inferior to Lydgate’s worst manner. This piece was first printed by Pinson in 1521, 4to. a volume of great rarity^ but amply analysed by Mr. Dibdin in his second volume of Typographical Antiquities, who thinks that he may stand foremost in the list of those of the period wherein he wrote. His descriptions are often happy as well as minute: and there is a tone of moral purity and rational piety in his thoughts, enriched by the legendary lore of romance, that renders many passages of his poem exceedingly interesting. It comprehends a variety of other subjects, as a description of the kingdom of the Mercians, the lives of St. Ethelred and St. Sexburgh, the foundation of the city of Chester, and a chronicle of our kings.

, president of what was called the “high court of justice” in which Charles I. was condemned to be beheaded, was oue of an antient family in the county of Lancaster, but of a branch seated, some say, at Bradshaw, or Bradshaigh, in Derbyshire, others at Marple, in Cheshire: where he was educated is not recorded; the first notice we have of him is that he studied law in Gray’s-inn, and after being admitted to the bar, had much chamber practice among the partizans of the parliament, to which he was zealously devoted. Lord Clarendon says he was not without parts, but insolent and ambitious. In 1644, he was appointed by the parliament to prosecute lord Macquire and Macmahon, the Irish rebels. In Oct. 1646, he was a joint commissioner of the great seal for six months, by a vote of the house of commons, and in Feb. following, both houses voted him chief justice of Chester. In June of the same year (1647) he was named by parliament one of the counsel to prosecute the loyal judge Jen kins; and was called to the rank of Serjeant Oct. 12, 1648. When the death of the king was determined upon, Bradshaw was one of die few lawyers who could be preraile4 upon to act, and was appointed President, an office which, had he declined, there is some reason to think it would hav$ been difficult to find a substitute. When called upon, Jan, 12, 1648, by the court to take his seat as President^ he affected to make an earnest apology and excuse. Lord Clarendon, says that he seemed much surprized and very resolute tp refuse it, and even required time to consider of it, but next day accepted the office, and soon demonstrated tba.t he was exactly fitted for it, by his contemptuous treatment of his unnappy sovereign, The court then bestowed on him the title of Lord President, without as well as within the court, during the commission and sitting of the court. A retinue of officers was appointed to attend him, going and returning from Westminster-hall; lodgings were provided for him in New Palace-yard; he was to be preceded by a sword and a mace, carried by two gentlemen, and in court he had a guard of two hundred soldiers; he had a chair of crimson velvet in the middle of the court; he wore his hat when his majesty appeared, and was highly offended that his sovereign should not be uncovered in his presence, which was, however, after the first day of the trial, duly enjoined. Besides these pompous honours, he was rewarded for his coarse and brutal behaviour on his majesty’s trial, with the deanery house in Westminster, as his residence; the sum of 3000l. was given him to procure an equipage suitable to his new rank: he received also the seat of the duke of St. Alban’s called Summer-hill, and lord Cottington’s estate in Wiltshire, valued at 1500l. -per annum, with other landed property, amounting in all to about 4000l. per annum, to him and his heirs. He was also made chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Those writers, therefore, who represent him as no more accessary to the murder of Charles I. than any other members of the council, or court, must see from these circumstances, which would not otherwise be worth repeating, that the republicans attached the greatest importance to the part he had to perform, and considered it as worthy, not only to be honoured with the most splendid accompaniments, but to be rewarded with the richest gifts and -grants. Bradshaw was in truth a more thorough republican than most of the party, and became obnoxious to Cromwell for disapproving of the latter placing himself at the head of the government. This occasioned frequent disputes between them, ajid Cromwell at length prevailed in depriving him of the office of chief justice of Chester. On the death of Cromwell, when the long parliament was restored, Bradshaw obtained a seat in the council, was elected president, and would have been appointed commissioner of the great seal, but his infirm state of health obliged him to decline the latter. He died Nov. 22, 16.59, declaring, consistently enough with his former principles, that if the king were to be tried and condemned again, he would be the first man that should do it. He was pompously interred in Westminster abbey, from whence his body was taken up, at the restoration) and exposed on the gibbet with those of Cromwell and Ireton. Doubts have been entertained as to this fact, and some have supposed he went abroad and died at Jamaica, because a cannon was found therewith an inscription signifying that his dust was deposited near it. Nothing, however, can be better ascertained than his death in. England.

, an eminent puritan divine, was born in 1571 at Market-Bosworth, in Leicestershire, of an ancient but reduced family, and was first educated at Worcester free school, at the expense of an uncle, ou whose death he was obliged to return to Bosworth, but afterwards found a friend in Mr. Ainsworth, schoolmaster at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, who continued his education in that school. In 1589, he was admitted along with Joseph Hall, afterwards the celebrated bishop of Exeter, into Emmanuel college, Cambridge, and took in course his degree of B. A. and M. A. but could not obtain a fellowship, according to the statutes, which allow but of one of a county at time, and that for Leicestershire was gained by Mr. Hall. The master of the college, however, Dr. Chaderton, who had a high respect for him, first procured him to be tutor to the children of sir Thomas Leighton, governor of Guernsey, and afterwards to be fellow of Sidney Sussex college, then newly founded. He then entered into holy orders, and preached first as a lecturer at Abington, near Cambridge, and at Steeple Morton. Afterwards, by the recommendation of Dr. Chaderton, he was in 101i settled at Chatham, in Kent; but before he had been there a year, he was sent for by the archbishop of Canterbury (Whitgift) and commanded to subscribe, which he refusing, was suspended. He therefore was obliged to remove, but was afterwards licensed by the bishop of Litchfield and Coventry (Dr. Overton) to preach any where in his diocese, and at length coming to London, was chosen lecturer of Christ Church, Newgate-street. Here, however, he published a treatise against the Ceremonies, which obliged him, to leave the city and retire to the house of his friend and patron, Mr. Redriche, at Newhall, in Leicestershire, and he remained here until near his death, which happened when, on a visit at Chelsea in 1618. Bishop Hall says of him$ that he was “of a strong brain and of a free spirit, not suffering himself for small differences of judgment to be alienated from his friends, to whom, notwithstanding his seeming austerity, he was very pleasing in conversation, being full of witty and harmless urbanity. He was very strong and eager in arguing, hearty in friendship, regardless of the world, a despiser of compliments, a lover of reality, full of digested and excellent notions, and a painful labourer in God’s vineyard.” The rev. Thomas Gataker, of Ilotherhiihe, wrote his life, a long and not uninteresting account.

, archbishop of Canterbury, is supposed to have been born at Hortfield, in Cheshire, about the middle of the reign of king Edward I. in the fourteenth century. He was of Merton colle'ge, Oxford, and was one of the proctors of that university in 1325. He excelled in mathematical knowledge, and was in general distinguished for his accurate and solid investigations in divinity, which procured him the title of the “profound Doctor.” He was confessor to Edward III. and attended that monarch in his French wars, often preaching before the army. Sir Henry Savile informs us that some writers of that time attributed the signal victories of Edward, rather to the virtues and holy character of his chaplain, than to> the bravery or prudence of the monarch or of any other person. He made it his business to calm and mitigate the fierceness of his master’s temper when he saw him eitherimmoderately fired with warlike rage, or improperly flushed with the advantages of victory. He also often addressed the army, and with so much meekness and persuasive discretion, as to restrain them from those insolent excesses which are too frequently the attendants of military success. When the see of Canterbury became vacant, the monks of that city chose him archbishop, but Edward, who was fond of his company, refused to part with him. Another vacancy happen ing soon after, the monks again elected him^ and Edward yielded to their desires. The modesty and innocence of his manners, and his unquestionable piety and integrity, seem to have been the principal causes of his advancement. He was, however, by no means adapted to 'a court, where his personal manners and character became an object of derision, the best proof history can afford us of their excellence. Even when he was consecrated at Avignon, cardinal Hugh, a nephew of the pope, ridiculed the prelate by introducing into the hall a person in a peasant’s habit, ridiog on an ass, petitioning the pope to make him archbishop of Canterbury, but the jest was so ill relished that the pope and cardinals resented the indignity, and frowned on the insolent contriver. Bradwardine was consecrated in 1349; but not many weeks after his consecration, and only seven days after his return into England, he died at Lambeth. His principal work “De Causa Dei,” against the Pelagian heresy, was edited from the ms. in Merton college library by sir Henry Savile, 1618, fol. with a biographical preface, in which he informs us that Bradwardine devoted his principal application to theology and mathematics; and that particularly in the latter he distanced, perhaps, the most skilful of his contemporaries. These mathematical works are, 1. “Astronomical tables,” in ms. in the possession of Sir Henry. 2. “Geometria Speculativa, cum Arithmetica specuiativa,” Paris, 1495, 1504, fol. The arithmetic had been prAited separately ia 1502, and other editions of both appeared in 1512 and 1530. 3. “De proportionibus,” Paris, 1495, Venice, 1505, fol. 4. “De quadratura circuli,” Paris, 1495, fol. Sir Henry Savile informs us that the treatise against Pelagius was first delivered in lectures at Oxford, and the author, at the request of the students of Merton college, arranged, enlarged, and polished them, while he was chancellor of the diocese of London. As Bradwardine was a very excellent mathematician, he endeavoured to treat theological subjects with a mathematical accuracy, and was the first divine, as far as I know, says sir Henry, who pursued that method. Hence this book against Pelagianism is one regular, connected series of reasoning, from principles or conclusions which have been demonstrated before; and if, in the several lemmas and propositions, a mathematical accuracy is not on all occasions completely preserved, the reader must remember to ascribe the defect to the nature of the subject, rather than to the author.

, an English divine of good parts and learning, the son of Nicholas Brady, an officer in the king’s army in the civil wars of 1641, was born at Bandon, in the county of Cork, Oct. the 28th, 1659; and continued in Ireland till he was 12 years of age. Then he was sent over to England to Westminster-school; and from thence elected stuJent to Christ-church in Oxford. After continuing there about four years, he went to Dublin, where his father resided; at which university he immediately commenced B. A. When he was of due stanuing, his diploma for the degree of D. D. was, on account of his uncommon merit, presented to him by that university while he was in England; and brought over by Dr Pratt, then senior travelling fellow, afterwards provost of that college. His first ecclesiastical preferment was to a prebend in the cathedral of St. Barry, at Cork; to which he was collated by bishop Wettenhal, whose domestic chaplain he was. He was a zealous promoter of the revolution, and in consequence of his zeal suffered for it. In 1690, when the troubles broke out in Ireland, by his interest with king Tatnes as general, M'Carty, he thrice prevented the burning of the town of Bandon, after three several orders given by that prince to destroy it. The same year, having been deputed by the people of Bandon, he went over to England, to petition the parliament for a redress of some grievances they had suffered while king James was in Ireland; and afterwards quitting his preferments in Ireland, he settled in London; where, being celebrated for his abilities in the pulpit, he was elected minister of St. Catherine Cree church, and lecturer of St. Michael’s Wood-street. He afterwards became minister of Richmond in Surry. and Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire, and at length rector of Clapham in Surry; which last, together with Richmond, he held till his death. His preferments amounted to 600l. a year, but he was so little of an Œconomist as to be obliged to keep a school at Richmond. He was also chaplain to the duke of Ormond’s troop of horse-guards, as he was to their majesties king William and queen Mary. He died May 20, 1726, aged 66, leaving behind him the character of being a person of an agreeable temper, a polite gentleman, an excellent preacher, and a good poet. He has no high rank, however, among poets, and would have long ere now been forgotten in that character, if his name was not so familiar as a translator of the new version of the “Psalms,” in conjunction with Mr. Tate, which version was licensed 1696. He translated also the Æneids of Virgil,“published by subscription in 1726, 4 vols. 8vo,­and a tragedy, called” The Rape, or the Innocent Impos-­tors,“neither performances of much character. His prose works consist of” Sermons," three volumes of which were published by himself in 1704, 1706, and 1713, and three others by his eldest son, who was a clergyman at Tooting, in Surry, London, 1730, 8vo.

, a noted historian and physician of the seventeenth century, was born in the county of Norfolk, and admitted in Caius college in Cambridge, February 20, 1643. He took his degree of bachelor of physic in 1653, and was created doctor in that faculty September 5, 1660, by virtue of the king’s mandatory letters. On the first of December the same year, he was, in pursuance of king Charles’s mandate, elected master of his college, upon the resignation of Dr. Bachcroft. About the year 1670, or as some think not until 1685, he was appointed keeper of the records in the Tower of London; in which office he employed himself in perusing those most valuable monuments in his possession, with a view to his historical works. Some time after, he was chosen regius professor of physic in the university of Cambridge. In 1679, he wrote a letter to Dr. Sydenham, on the influence of the air, &c. which is published among that learned person’s works. But his largest and most considerable performance was, “An Introduction to the old English History,” in which he maintains these three propositions: 1. That the representatives of the commons in parliament, viz. knights, citizens, and burgesses, were not introduced till the forty-ninth of Henry III.; 2. That William, duke of Normandy, made an absolute conquest of the nation; 3. That the succession to the crown of England is hereditary (descending to the nearest of blood), and not elective: And “A complete History of England, from the first entrance of the Romans, unto the end of the reign of king Richard II.” in three vols. fol. about which he was employed several years, and which was printed 1685 and 1700, usually bound in two volumes. In the year 1681 he was chosen one of the representatives for the university of Cambridge, in that parliament which met at Oxford; and again in 1685, in the parliament of king James II. He was likewise physician in ordinary to this king; and, on the twenty -second of October, 1688, was one of those persons who gave in their depositions concerning the birth of the pretended prince of Wales. He died on the nineteenth of August, 1700. He was an accurate writer, and a curious and diligent searcher into our ancient records; but his impartiality has been called in question, particularly by those who contend for the higher antiquity of parliaments, and a larger proportion of popular influence in the constitution. Tyrell wrote his “General History of England,” in opposition to that of Brady. Dr. Gilbert Stuart, who hated all Scotch historians except himself, maintains that Hume executed his History on Brady’s principles; allowing Brady to pdssess an excellent understanding and admirable quickness, Dr. Stuart asserts also, that he was the slave of a faction. Dr. Brady’s other publications were, “An Answer to Mr. Petyt’s Book on Parliaments,” London, 1681, 8vo;- and “An Historical Treatise of Cities and Burghs or Boroughs,” ibid. 1690, fol. reprinted 1704.

, a very celebrated astronomer, descended from a noble and illustrious Danish family, was born in 1546 at Knudstorp, a small lordship near Helsingborg, in Scania. His father, Otto Brahe, having a large family, Tycho was educated under the care and at the expence of his uncle George Brahe, who, having no children, adopted him as his heir. Finding his nephew a boy of lively capacity, and though only seven years of age, strongly inclined to study, he had him instructed in the Latin tongue unknown to his father, who considered literature as inglorious, and was desirous that all his sons should follow the profession of arms. In the twelfth year of his age, Tycho was removed to the academy of Copenhagen; and his mind, which, had not yet taken any direction, was casually incited to the study of astronomy by fin eclipse of the sun, which happened on. Aug. 21? 1560. He had for some time examined the astrological diaries or almanacks, which pretended to predict future events from the inspection of the stars; but when he observed that the eclipse happened at the precise time at which it was foretold, he considered that science 'as divine, which could thus so thoroughly understand the motions of the heavenly bodies as to foretel their places and relative positions: and from that moment he devoted himself to astronomy.

In 1562, he was sent to Leipsic for the purpose of studying civil law; but attending to it no farther than he was compelled, continued his astronomical pursuits, and from his tutor’s remonstrances conceived a greater disgust for law studies. All the money his uncle allowed him for pocket-expences, he laid out in the purchase of astronomical books; and having obtained a small celestial globe, he took the opportunity, while his preceptor was in bed, of examining the heavenly bodies, and before a month had elapsed, he made himself acquainted with all the stars which at that time appeared above the horizon. Inspired with the same ardent zeal in pursuit of his favourite science, he learned geometry and mathematics without a master, and invented a radius, and several mathematical instruments.

Having passed three years at Leipsic, he was preparing to pursue his travels though Germany ', but the death of his uncle obliged him to return to his native country, in order to superintend and settle his estates, which he largely inherited. Instead of finding himself encouraged and esteemed for the wonderful progress which at his early age he had made in the science of astronomy and its concomitant studies, he was mortified at being treated with contempt by his relations and and acquaintance for following a science which they considered as degrading, and who reproached him for not pursuing the study of the law. Disgusted at their behaviour, he settled his affairs, and before a year had elapsed set out upon his travels. He proceeded to Wittenberg, and afterwards to Rostoc, where an accident happened which had nearly occasioned his death. Being invited to a wedding feast, he had a dispute with a Danish nobleman relative to some subject in mathematics; nd as they were both of choleric dispositions, the dispute ended in a duel. In the conflict part of Tycho’s nose was cut off. Jn order to remedy this defect, Tycho contrived a nose made of gold and silver, which he fastened by means of a glue, so artfully formed, it is said, as to bear the appearance of the real membe and to deceive many who were not acquainted with his loss.

From Rostoc Tycho continued his travels, and prosecuted his studies in the principal towns of Germany and Italy, and particularly at Ausburgh, where he formed an acquaintance with the celebrated Peter Ramus; invented and improved various mathematical instruments, superintended the building of an observatory at the expence of the burgomaster Paul Hainzell, after a plan communicated by himself, and formed a series of astronomical observations and discoveries, which astonished and surpassed all who had hitherto been considered as the greasest proficients in that science. On his return to Copenhagen, in 1570, he was soon disgusted with the necessity of going to court; and meeting with innumerable interruptions of his studies, he removed to Herritzvold, near Knudstorp, the seat of his maternal uncle, Steno Bille, who alone of all his relations encouraged him to persevere in his astronomical labours. Steno consigned to his nephew a commodious apartment, and a convenient place for the construction of his observatory and laboratory. Here Tycho, besides his astronomical researches, seems to have followed with no less zeal the study of chemistry, or rather of alchemy, from the chimerical view of obtaining the philosopher’s stone, that he might amass sufficient riches to settle in some foreign country, but neither his philosophy, or the unwearied zeal with which he prosecuted his studies, could exempt him from the passion of love. Being a great admirer of the fair sex, he conceived a violent inclination for Christina, a beautiful country girl, the daughter of a neighbouring peasant, and alienated his family, who conceived themselves disgraced by the alliance, and refused to hold any intercourse with him, until Frederick II. commanded them to be reconciled. Tycho, who chose her because she might be more grateful and subservient than a lady of higher birth, never seems to have repented, but ever found his Christina an agreeable companion and an obedient wife. About this period, he first appeared as a public teacher, and read lectures on astronomy at the express desire of the king. He explained the theory of the planets, and preceded his explanation by a very learned oration concerning the history and excellency of astronomy and its sister sciences, with some remarks in favour of judicial astrology, a study as congenial to the time as to the inclinations of our philosopher.

Offended with his relations, and disgusted with his countrymen, he had long determined to quit Denmark, and to settle abroad; and after travelling through Germany and Italy, he at length fixed upon Basil: which he preferred, for the wholesomeness of the air, the cheapness of the living, and the celebrity of the university; and irom whence he might hold a correspondence with the astronomers of France, Germany, and Italy. On his return to Denmark he was preparing with the utmost secrecy to transport his library, &c. but was prevented by an unexpected summons from the king, who, in order to retain him, offered him his protection and encouragement, presented him with the island of Huen as a proper retirement, and promised to erect, at his own expence, whatever buildings and apparatus should be found necessary for his astronomical pursuits. He settled upon him likewise a pension of a thousand crowns a year, and gave him a canonry of Roschild, worth two thousand more. Tycho, delighted with this liberality, did not hesitate to accept the king’s offer, but immediately repaired to Huen, Aug. 8, 1576, and was present at the foundation of a magnificent house, which he afterwards called Uranienburgh, or the Castle of the Heavens, and which contained a large suite of apartments, an observatory, and a subterraneous laboratory; and although the king supplied 190,000 rix-dollars, Tycho Brahe did not expend less than the same sum. He afterwards constructed a detached building, which he culled Stiernberg, or the, Mountain of the Stars.

In this retreat Tycho Brahe passed twenty years, and greatly improved the science of astronomy by the diligence and exactness of his observations. He maintained several scholars in his house for the purpose of instructing them in geometry and astronomy, some of whom were sent and their expences defrayed by the king; others, who voluntarily offered themselves, he received and supported at his own expence. He lived at the same time in a most sumptuous manner, kept an open house with unbounded hospitality, and was always happy to entertain and receive all persons, who flocked in crowds to pay their respects to a person of his renown. During his residence in the island of Huen, he received numerous visits from persons of the highest rank. Among these must be particularly mentioned Ulric duke of Mecklenburgh, in company with his daughter Sophia, queen of Denmark; William, landgrave of Hesse Cassel, whose correspondence with Brahe on astronomical subjects has been given to the public, and who had shewn himself a constant patron to the Danish astronomer. In 1590 Tycho was honoured with a visit from James the First, then king of Scotland, when that monarch repaired to the court of Copenhagen, to conclude his marriage with the princess Anne, and was so delighted with Brahe’s apparatus and conversation, that he remained eight days at Uranienburgh. On retiring he presented Tycho with a magnificent present, and afterwards accompanied his royal licence for the publication of Tycho Brahe’s works with the following flattering testimony of his abilities and learning: “Nor am I acquainted with these things from the relation of others, or from a mere perusal of your works; but I have seen them with my own eyes, and heard them with my own ears, in your residence at Uranienburgh, during the various learned and agreeable conversations which I there held with you, which even now affect my mind to such a degree, that it is difficult to decide, whether I recollect them with greater pleasure or admiration; which I now willingly testify by this licence to present and future generations, &c.” His majesty also, at his particular request, composed, in honour of the Danish astronomer, some Latin verses, more expressive indeed of his esteem and admiration than remarkable for classic elegance.

In 1592 he was honoured with a visit from his own sovereign, Christian the Fourth, then in the fifteenth year of his age, who continued some days at Uranienburgh. That promising young prince shewed great curiosity in examining the astronomical and chemical apparatus,- expressed the highest satisfaction in receiving explanations and instructions, proposed various questions on several points of mathematics and mechanics, to which his majesty was attached, and particularly on the principles of fortification, and the construction of ships. He was also highly delighted with a gilt tin globe, which represented the face of the heavens, and so contrived, that, being turned on its own axis, it shewed the rising and setting of the sun, the motions of ths planets and heavenly bodies; a wooclerful contrivance for that age. Tycbo, observing the delight which the young king shewed in observing these phenomena, presented it to him, who in return gave him a gold chain, and assured him of his unalterable protection, and attachment.

Notwithstanding, however, these assurances, the king’s youth was worked upon by those courtiers who were envious of Brahe’s merit, or who had been offended by the violence of his temper, and the severity of his satire, and under various pretences, prevailed upon Christian to deprive him of his pension, and the canonry of Roschild, Being thus deprived of the means of supporting his establishment at Uranienburgh, he repaired to his house at Copenhagen, and having afterwards transported from Uranienburgh all such instruments as could be removed, he left Copenhagen, landed at Rostock, and remained a year at Wansbeck with his learned friend Henry Rantzau. Having dedicated a treatise on astronomy to the emperor Rhodolph II. who was extremely addicted to astronomy, chemistry, and judicial astrology, he at length received a very flattering invitation from that monarch, which he accepted without hesitation, and repaired to Prague in 1599. The emperor received him in the kindest and most honourable manner, built for him an observatory and elaboratory, settled on him an ample pension, and treated him with the highest marks of deference and respect.

In the service of Rhodolph he passed the remainder of his days, but did not live long to enjoy his protection. He had had a good state of health till the year previous to his death, when his constitution, somewhat weakened by the intenseness of his application, was still farther shattered by the chagrin occasioned by his removal from Uranienburgh. At that period he began to experience symptoms of complaints which announced his approaching dissolution, but which he concealed as much as possible from his friends. He was reduced, however, to so low a state as to be affected with the most trifling circumstances, which he considered as prodigies, and would frequently interrupt his sallies of wit with sudden reflections on death. The immediate cause of his death was a strangury, occasioned by an imprudent retention, from delicacy, while in company, which being attended with the most excruciating torments, brought on a violent fever, and a temporary delirium, in the midst of which he was heard repeatedly to cry out, “Ne frustra vixisse videar.” His delirium at length subsiding, he became calm and composed, and perfectly sensible. Being extremely debilitated by the violence of his disorder, he perceived that he had not many hours to live. Accordingly he gave orders with the utmost coolness and resignation; even amused himself with composing an extempore copy of verses, sung various hymns; offered up prayers and supplications to the Supreme Being; recommended to his family and friends piety and resignation to the divine will; exhorted his pupils to persevere in their studies; and conversed with Kepler on the most abstruse parts of astronomy. Thus, amidst prayers, exhortations, and literary conversation, he expired so peaceably, that he was neither heard nor seen, by any of those who were present, to breathe his last. He died in October 1601, in the fifty-fifth year of his age.

It is remarkable, that so sensible a man, and so accurate an observer as Tycho Brahe, should be so infected with the rage of system-making as to reject the simple and beautiful system of Copernicus, established by the most incontrovertible proofs, and to endeavour to reconcile the absurdities of the Ptolemaic system. He was, indeed, too well acquainted with the motions of the heavenly bodies, not to be sensible that the sun was the centre of the system; and though he was struck with the simplicity and harmony of the Pythagorean system, which Copernicus had lately revived, yet, out of respect, it is said, for several passages in scripture, he absurdly endeavoured to reconcile (what were never intended to be reconciled) his learning with his faith: he rejected the diurnal rotation of the earth on its own axis; supposed that the earth was quiescent; that the sun, with all the planets, was carried about the earth in the space of a year; and that the planets, by their proper motions, revolved round the sun in their several periods; thus retaining the most absurd part of the Ptolemaic hypothesis, which makes the whole planetary system revolve round the earth in the space of every twenty-four hours. Tycho, indeed, was so bigotted to his own hypothesis, and shewed, even in his last moments, such an attachment to his own system, as to desire his favourite scholar, the great Kepler, to follow his system rather than that of Copernicus.

If we were to estimate the merits of Tycho Brahe as an astronomer, we should compare the science as he left it with the state in which he found it. His great merit consisted in his inventions and improvements of mathematical instruments, and in the diligence and exactness with which he made astronomical observations for a long series of years. And as his instruments were remarkably good, he composed a catalogue of 777 fixed stars, all observed by himself, with an accuracy unknown to former astronomers. He likewise discovered the refraction of the air; demonstrated, against the prevailing opinion of those times, that the comets were higher than the moon; and from his observations on the moon and the other planets, the theories of their motions were afterwards corrected and improved. He was also the first astronomer who composed a table of refractions, and shewed the use to be made of them in astronomy. Such is the reputation of Tycho Brahe, for his great proficiency in that science, that Costard, in his History of Astronomy, has fixed upon his name as marking the beginning of a new period.

He seems to have embraced a large circle of the arts and sciences. He cultivated poetry, and wrote Latin verses, not without some degree of classic elegance. He drew the plan for building the castle of Cronberg, and sketched the design for the noble mausoleum of Frederic the Second, which was executed in Italy, and is erected in the cathedral of Roschild. He dabbled also in physic. He was fond of being consulted, and readily gave his advice and medicines gratis to those who consulted him. He invented an elixir, which he calls an infallible cure for epidemic disorders, of which he has published the recipe in a letter to the emperor Rhodolph. He was a good mechanic. He possessed several automates, and took great delight in showing them to the peasants, and was always pleased if they took them for spirits. He was no less fond of being consulted as a fortune-teller, and willingly encouraged an opinion, that his knowledge of the heavenly bodies enabled him to observe horoscopes, and foretel events. Many traditional fables of his predictions have been handed down to posterity, which shew his proneness to judicial astrology, and the weakness of those who beheved his predictions. In many instances astrological predictions, by alarming, occasion the event which they foretel, and have thus gained a false credit from the weak or the unwary. Thus Tycho Brahe’s astrological predictions proved fatal to the emperor Rhodolph II. for, being informed by Tycho, that a star Which presided at his nativity threatened him with some sinister designs to his prejudice, from his relations, he was thrown into such a panic, that he did not venture to quit his palace, or appear before any person; and, as the conduct of his brother Matthias conlirmed the astrologer’s informations, he fell at last a prey to his grief, and died 18th of January 1612, aged fiftynine years.

At Uranienburgh Tycho Brahe had several contrivances calculated to deceive and astonish those who came to visit and consult him. Among others, several bells, communicating with the rooms in the “upper story, inhabited by his scholars, the handles of which were concealed in his own apartments. Frequently, when company was with him, he would pretend to want something, and having secretly pulled the bell, would cry out,” Come hither Peter, come hither Christian,“and was pleased to observe the astonishment of the company, who not hearing the bells, were surprized at the appearance of the person who was thus summoned. He was no less devoted to the study of chemistry than to astronomy, and expended as much on the terrestrial astronomy, as he styles it, as on the celestial. He left, indeed, no writings upon that science, although it seems to have been his intention to have given to the public a selection of his experiments, which he had made with so much labour and expence; yet, he adds, in the true cant of alchymy,” On consideration, and by the advice of the most illustrious as well as the most learned men, he thought it improper to unfold the secrets of the art to the vulgar, as few people were capable of using its mysteries to advantage, and without detriment."

His foibles were as prominent as his virtue and capacity. He was of a morose and unbending disposition, indulged himself in too great freedom of speech, but while he rallied others was not pleased to be rallied himself. He was greatly addicted to judicial astrology, and prone to a credulity and superstition below his learning and judgment. If he met an old woman in going out of his house, he would instantly return home; and considered an hare as an ill omen. While he lived at Uranienburgh he had a fool, whose name was Sep, who was accustomed during dinner to sit at his feet, and whom he used to feed with his own hand, This man was continually uttering incoherent expressions, which Tycho observed and noted down, from a persuasion that the mind, in a state of emotion, was capable of predicting future events, and he even believed, if any inhabitant of the island was taken ill, that this madman could predict whether he should live or die. He maintained, that the cabala and magic, if they did not act to the offence of God or man, could lay open many abstruse things by figures, images, and marks. But upon the whole, with all these weaknesses, we may assent to the truth of the eulogium given in his “Oratio funebris,” that to him his studies were life; meditation his delight; science riches; virtue nobility; and religion his constant direction.

Gassendus, in his “Equitis Dani Tychonis Brahe Astronomorum Coryphaei vita,” gives the following list of his principal writings: 1. “An account of the new star which appeared Nov. 12th, 1572, in Cassiopeia,” Copenhagen, 1573, 4to. 2. “An oration concerning the mathematical sciences, pronounced in the university of Copenhagen, in 1574,” published by Conrad Aslac, of Bergen, in Norway. 3. “A treatise on the comet of the year 1577, immediately after it disappeared.” Upon revising it nine years afterwards, he added a tenth chapter, printed at Uraniburgh, 1589. 4. “Another treatise on the new phenomena of the heavens;” in the first part of which he treats of the restitution, as he calls it, of the sun, and of the fixed stars; and in the second part, of a new star which had then made its appearance. 5. “A collection of' astronomical epistles,” Uraniburgh, 1596, 4to; Nuremberg, 1602, and Francfort, 1610. It was dedicated to Maurice, landgrave of Hesse, because it contains a considerable number of letters of the landgrave William, his father, and of Christopher Rothmann, the mathematician of that prince, to Tycho, and of Tycho to them. 6. “The mechanical principles of Astronomy restored,” Wandesburg, 1598, folio. 7. “An answer to the letter of a certain Scotchman concerning the comet in the year 1577.” 8. “On the composition of an elixir for the plague; addressed to the emperor Rodolphus.” 9. “An elegy upon his exile,” Rostock, 1614, 4to. 10. “The Rodolphine tables,” revised and published by Kepler, according to Tycho’s desire. 11. “An accurate enumeration of the fixed stars, addressed to the emperor Rodolphus.” 12. “A complete catalogue of 1000 of the fixed stars, which Kepler has inserted in the Rodolphine tables.” 13. “Historia caelestis or a history of the heavens, in two parts” the first containing the observations he had made at Uraniburgh, in 16 books; the latter containing the observations made at Wandesburg, Wittenberg, Prague, &c. in four books. 14. “An epistle to Caster Pucer,” printed at Copenhagen, 1668.

The apparatus of Tycho Brahe, after having been transported from place to place during his life, was, after his death, purchased of his heirs by the emperor Rodolph, for 22,000 crowns of gold. The persons to whose custody he committed them, concealed them from inspection; and thus they remained useless till the time of the troubles of Bohemia, when the army of the elector palatine plundered them, breaking some of them, and applying others to different uses. The great celestial globe of brass was preserved, carried from Prague, and deposited with the Jesuits of Neyssa, in Silesia, whence it was afterwards taken, about the year 1633, by Udalric, son of Christian, king of Denmark, and placed in the hall of the royal academy at Copenhagen.

, or Donato Lazzari, but celebrated under the former name, a painter and architect, was born at Castel Durante, in the territory of Urbino, irv 1444, and at Urbino studied the works of Fra Carnevale, er Corradini. His fame as an architect has nearly obliterated his memory as a painter, though many of his works remain at Milan and its district, and are repeatedly mentioned by Cesariani and Lomazzo, who observe that his style on the whole resembled that of Andrea Mantegna. He painted portraits, sacred and profane history, in distemper and in fresco. He too, like Mantegna, studied much after casts, thence perhaps the too salient lights of his flesh. Like him, he draped models in paper or glued linen, to avoid stiffness. Lomazzo, who cleaned one of his pictures in distemper, found that, like Mantegna, he made use of a viscous liquid. The public frescoes of Bramante at Milan, mentioned by Lomazzo and Scaramuccia, are either no more, or spoiled; but a considerable number of private ones still remain in certain apartments of the palaces Borri and CastiglionL In the Certosa of Pavia there is likewise a chapel said to have been painted by him: the proportions are square, and rather heavy; the faces full, the aged heads grand; the colour vivid and salient, not without some crudity. The same style prevails in a picture of his belonging to the Melzi family, representing several saints and a beautiful perspective; it recurs again in an altar-piece of the Incoronata at Lodi, a charming temple built from the design of Bramante, by Gio. Bataggio, a native of the place; but his master-piece at Milan is at the church of S. Sebastian, the patron saint, in whose style no trace of Quattrocento appears.

His talents, however, being more strongly 'turned for architecture, he devoted himself to it with great success. His first patron, after his arrival at Rome, was cardinal Oliver Carafta, for whom he designed and completed the choir in the convent of the Frati della pace. This specimen of his talents recommended him to the notice of Alexander VI. in whose service he executed many designs. Under Julius II. he was employed as superintendant of his buildings, in accomplishing the grand project of joining the Belvidere with the Vatican, by means of two galleries extended across a valley. In 1504 he accompanied pope Julius to Bologna, and was engaged in fortifying the town; and during the war of Mirandola, he had several opportunities of exercising his talents in the military art. After his return to Rome, he adorned the city with many fine buildings; and at length undertook to demolish the cathedral of St. Peter’s, and to supply its place with another edifice suited to the capital of the Christian world. His plan for this purpose was adopted; and before the death of the pope, in 1513, the new structure was advanced as far as the entablature; and at the time of his own death, in 1514, the four great arches for the support of the dome were erected. The original design was abandoned by the architects who succeeded him, not without injury to the structure; but the prosecution of the work was entrusted with Michael Angelo, who praised his plan, and conformed as much as possible to his ideas. Bramante was no less estimable for his general character than for his extraordinary talents as an artist. Obliging in his disposition, he took pleasure in encouraging young persons of the profession; and he invited the celebrated Raphael, who was his cousin, to Rome, instructed him in architecture, and procured for him employment in the Vatican. He was also skilled in poetry and music, and composed extemporaneously for his harp. To him is ascribed the invention of constructing arches by casting in wooden moulds a mixture of lime, marble dust, and water, supposed to be a revival of the stucco of the antients. His poetical works were printed at Milan, in 1756. The knowledge and practice of the art of engraving may also be added to his other accomplishments. This art he probably acquired at Milan, and his execution of it exactly resembles the style of Andrea Mantegna, that is, with the strokes running from one corner of the plate to the other, without any crossing. He died in 1514.

, a Flemish historical painter, was born at Delft, in 1596, and acquired the art of painting in the school of Rembrandt, whose manner in small he imitated. At the age of 18 years he went to Rome for further improvement, but could never wholly divest himself of the Flemish style. With a fine taste of design he combined an expression generally good, and occasionally noble. His pencil is delicate, and his colouring very peculiar in Che tints, and by great skill in the management of the chiaro-scuro, light, bold, and full of lustre, particularly in the vases, which he was fond of introducing, and to which he gave a rich and fine relievo. To his pictures he was accustomed to give a great degree of transparence, by painting witk a very thin body of colour, especially in the brown and shadowy parts. His name was famous, not only at Rome, but in several other cities of Italy, anu his works, but of Italy, are scarce but when“they occur in an undamaged state, they fetch high prices. Among his most capital pictures are the” Raising of Lazarus,“exhibiting a charming contrast of light and shadow; his” Denial of St. Peter,“both executed in his best manner, and preserved at Rome; and particularly a small picture on copper, representing the” Story of Pyramus and Thisbe."

, an eminent prelate, was descended from the antient family of the Bramhalls, of Cheshire, and born at Pontefract, in Yorkshire, about 1593. He received his school education at the place of his birth, and was removed from thence to Sidney-college, Cambridge, in 1608. After taking the degrees of B A. and M. A. he quitted the university; and, entering into orders, had a living given him in the city of York. About the same time he married a clergyman’s widow of the Hally’s family, with whom he received a good fortune, and a valuable library, left by her former husband. In 1623 he had two public disputations, at North-Allerton, with a secular priest and a Jesuit. The match between prince Charles and the infanta of Spain was then depending; and the papists expected great advantages and countenance to their religion from it. These two, therefore, by way of preparing the way for them, sent a public challenge to all the protestant clergy in the county of York; and when none durst accept it, our author, though then but a stripling in the school of controversy, undertook the combat. His success in this dispute gained him. so much reputation, and so recommended him in particular to Matthews, archbishop of York, that he made him his chaplain, and took him into his confidence. He was afterwards made a prebendary of York , and then pf Rippon; at which last place he went and resided after the archbishop’s death, which happened in 1628, and managed most of the affairs of that church, in the quality of sub-dean. He had great political influence, especially in elections, in the town of Rippon, and was also appointed one of his majesty’s high commissioners, in the administration of which office he was by some accounted severe, although far less so than some of his brethren.

In 1630 he took a doctor of divinity’s degree at Cambridge; and soon after was invited to Ireland by the lord viscount Wentworth, deputy of that kingdom, and sir Christopher Wandesford, master of the rolls. He went over in 1633, having first resigned all his church preferments in England; and a little while after obtained the archdeaconry of Meath, the best in that kingdom. The first public service he was employed in was a royal visitation, when, finding the revenues of the church miserably wasted, the bishoprics, in particular, wretchedly dilapidated by fee-farms and long leases, and small rents, the discipline scandalously despised, and the ministers but meanly provided, he applied in process of time proper remedies to these several evils. In 1634 he was promoted to the bishopric of Londonderry; and improved that see very much, not only by advancing the rents, but also by recovering lands detained from his predecessors. But the greatest service he did the church of Ireland, was by getting, with the lord deputy’s assistance, several acts passed in the parliament which met in that kingdom on the 14th of July, 1634, for the abolishing fee-farms, recovering impropriations, &c. by which, and other means, he regained to the church, in the space of four years, 30 or 40,000^. a year. In the convocation that met at the same time, he prevailed upon the church of Ireland to be united in the same faith with the church of England, by embracing the thirty-nine articles of religion, agreed upon in the convocation holden at London in 1562. He would fain, also, have got the English canons established in Ireland; but could obtain no more than that such of our canons as were proper for the Irish should be extended thither, and others new framed, and added to them. Accordingly, a book of canons was compiled, chiefly by our bishop, and having passed in convocation, received the royal confirmation; but these efforts were either misunderstood or misrepresented, and his zeal for uniformity of opinion was branded by one party as Arminianism, and by another, as Popery, neither of which charges, however, diverted him from his steady purpose.

In 1637, he took a journey into England, and was there surprised with the news of an information exhibited against him in the star-chamber, “for being present at Rippon when one Mr. Palmes had made some reflecting discourse upon his majesty, and neither reproving nor informing against him.” The words deserved no very great punishment if they had been true, being no more than, that “he feared a Scottish mist was come over their town,” because the king had altered his lodgings from Rippon, where he had designed them, to sir Richard Graham’s house, not far from that place. But the bishop easily cleared himself and the whole company. After having received much honour from Charles 1. and many civilities from archbishop Laud and other persons, he returned to Ireland, and, with 6000l. for which he sold his estate in England, purchased another at Omagh, in the county of Tyrone, and began a plantation, which the distractions of that kingdom hindered him from perfecting. In March 1641 articles of high treason were exhibited against him in Ireland, wherein he was charged with having conspired with others to subvert the fundamental laws of that kingdom, to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government, &c. The bishop was at Londonderry, when he received intelligence of this accusation. All his friends wrote to him to decline the trial; but, thinking it dishonourable to fly, he went directly to Dublin, and was made a close prisoner by the parliament. In this distress he wrote to the primate Usher, then in England, for his advice and comfort; who mediated so effectually in his behalf with the king, that his majesty sent a letter to Ireland, to stop proceedings against him. This letter was very slowly obeyed; however, the bishop was at length restored to liberty, but without any public acquittal, the charge lying still dormant against him, to be awakened when his enemies pleased. Shortly after his return to Londonderry, sir Phelim O'Neil laid a plot to affect his life, in the following manner. He directed a letter to him, wherein he desired, “that, according to their articles, such a gate of the city should be delivered to him;” expecting that the Scotch in the place would, upon the discovery, become his executioners: but the person who was to manage the matter, ran away with the letter. But, though this design faded, the bishop did not find any safety there: the city daily being crowded with discontented persons out of Scotland, he began to be afraid lest they should deliver him up. One night they turned a cannon against his house to affront him; and, being persuaded by his friends to consider that as a warning, he took their advice, and privately embarked for England. Here he continued active in the king’s service, till his majesty’s affairs were grown desperate; and then, embarking with several persons of distinction, he landed at Hamburgh on July 8, 1644. Shortly after, at the treaty of Uxbridge, the parliaments of England and Scotland made this one of their preliminary demands, that bishop Bramhall, together with archbishop Laud, &c. should be excepted out of the general pardon.

From Hamburgh he went to Brussels, where he continued for the most part till 1648, with sir Henry de Vic, the king’s president; constantly preaching every Sunday, and frequently administering the sacrament. In that year he returned to Ireland; from whence, after having undergone several difficulties, he narrowly escaped in a little bark: all the while he was there, his life was in continual danger. At Limerick he was threatened with death, if he did not suddenly depart the town. At Portumnagh, indeed, he afterwards enjoyed more freedom, and an allowance of the church service, umler the protection of the marquis of Clanrickard: but, at the revolt of Cork, he had a very narrow deliverance; which deliverance, however, troubled Cromwell so, that he declared he would have given a good sum of money for that Irish Canterburv, as he called him. His escape from Ireland is accounted wonderful: for the vessel he was in was closely chased hy two of the parliament frigates, and when they were come so near, that all hopes of escape vanished, on a sudden the wind sunk into a perfect calm, by which it happened wonderfully that his ship got off, while the frigates were unable to proceed at all. During this second time of being abroad, he had many disputes about religion with the learned of all nations, sometimes occasionally, at other times by appointment and formal challenge; and wrote several things in defence of the church of England. He likewise purposed to draw a parallel between the liturgy of the church of England, and the public forms of the protestant churches abroad; and with this view he designed to travel about. But he met with a very unexpected interruption in his first day’s journey: for he no sooner came into the house where he intended to refresh himself, but he was known and called by his name by the hostess. "While the bishop was wondering at his being discovered, she revealed the secret by shewing him his picture, and assured him there were several of them upon the road, that, being known by them, he might be seized; and that her husband, among others, had power to that purpose, which he would certainly make use of if he found him. The bishop saw evidently he was a condemned man, being already hanged in effigy; an'd therefore, making use of this intelligence, prudently withdrew into safer quarters.

Upon the restoration of the church and monarchy, he returned to England, and was from the first designed for higher promotion. Most people imagined it would be the archbishopric of York; but at last he was appointed archbishop of Armagh, to which he was translated upon the 18th of January, 1660-1. The same year he visited his diocese, where he found great disorder; some having committed horrible outrages; and many imbibed very strong prejudices, both against his person and the doctrine and discipline of the church; but, by argument, persuasion, and long suffering, he gained upon them even beyond his own expectation. His biographer affords one instance of his prudence, in turning the edge of the most popular objection of that time against conformity. When the benefices were called over at the visitation, several appeared, and exhibited only such titles as they had received from the late powers. He told them, “they were no legal titles, but in regard he heard well of them, he was willing to make them such to them by institution and induction;” which they thankfully accepted of. But when he desired to see their letters of orders, some had no other but their certificates of ordination by some presbyterian classes, which, he told them, did not qualify them for any preferment in the church. Upon this, the question arose, “Are we not ministers of the gospel r” To which his grace answered, That is not the question; at least, he desired for peace sake, that might not be the question for that time. “I dispute not,” said he, “the value of your ordination, nor those acts you have exercised by virtue of it; what you are, or might be here when there was no law, or in other churches abroad. But we are now to consider ourselves as a national church limited by law, which among other things takes chief care to prescribe about ordination: and I do not know how you could recover the means of the church, if any should refuse to pay you your tithes, if you are not ordained as the law of this church requireth; and I am desirous that she may have your labours, and you such portions of her revenue, as shall be allotted you in a legal and assured way.” By this means he gained such as were of the moderate kind, and wished to be useful. As he was by his station president of the convocation, which met upon the 8th of May, 166 1, so was he also chosen speaker of the house of lords, in the parliament which met at the same time: and so great a value had both houses for him, that they appointed committees to examine what was upon record in their books concerning him and the earl of Strafford, and ordered the scandalous charges against them to be torn out, which was accordingly done. In this parliament many advantages were procured, and more designed, for the church, in which he was very industrious. About this time he had a violent sickness, being a second fit of the palsy, which was very near putting an end to his life; but he recovered. A little before his death, he visited his diocese; and having provided for the repair of his cathedral, and other affairs suitable to his pastoral office, he returned to Dublin about the middle of May 1663. The latter end of June, he was seized with a third fit of the palsy; of which he soon died, being then 70 years old. At this time he had a trial for some part of his temporal estate at Omagh, with sir Audley Mervyn, depending in the court of claims; and there, at the time of hearing, the third fit of the palsy so affected him, that he sunk in the court, was carried out senseless, and never recovered. The cause, however, was determined in his favour.

Of his person and character, his biographer informs us that he “was of a middle stature, and active, but his mien and presence not altogether so great as his endowments of mind. His complexion was highly sanguine, pretty deeply tinctured with choler, which in his declining years became predominant, and would sometimes overflow, not without some tartness of expression, but it proceeded no farther. As he was a great lover of plain-dealing and plain-speaking, so his conversation was free and familiar, patient of any thing in discourse but obstinacy; his speech ready and intelligible, smooth and strong, free from affectation of phrase or fancy, saying it was a boyish sport to hunt for words, and argued a penury of matter, which would always find expression for itself. His understanding was very good, and greatly improved by labour and study. As a scholar, his excellency lay in the rational and argumentative part of learning. He was also well acquainted with ecclesiastical and other histories; and in the pulpit an excellent persuasive orator. He was a firm friend to the church of England, bold in the defence of it, and patient in suffering for it; yet he was very far from any thing like bigotry. He had a great allowance and charity for men of different persuasions, looking upon those churches as in a tottering condition that stood upon nice opinions. Accordingly, he made a distinction between articles necessary for peace and order, and those that are necessary to salvation; and he often declared, that the church was not to be healed but by general propositions.”

His various works, published at different times, were reprinted at Dublin in 1677, in one vol. fol. with his Life by the editor, Dr. Vesey, bishop of Limerick. His funeral sermon, with a shorter account of his life, was preached and published by Dr. Jeremy Taylor, bishop of Down and Connor, Dublin, 1663, 4to. His works are chiefly levelled at the Roman catholics and the sectaries, some of both parties, in his opinion, uniting for the destruction of the established government and church. But perhaps the most valuable part of his works is that in which he contended with Hobbes. He argued with great acuteness against Hobbes’s notions on liberty and necessity, and attacked the whole of his system in a piece called the “Catching of the Leviathan,” originally published in 1658, in which he undertakes to demonstrate, out of Hobbes’s own works, that no sincere Hobbist can be a good Christian, or a good Common-wealth’s-man, or reconcile himself to himself. For some time an answer to Milton’s “Defensio populi,” was attributed to archbishop Bramhall, but with what injustice Mr. Todd has lately shewn, in his accurate and valuable Life of Milton.

, vicar of Starting in Sussex. Of this gentleman we have only been able to discover that he was educated at Westminster-school, whence he was elected to Christ church, Oxford, in 1713, and took his degree of A. M. in that university, April 5, 1720. He died March 16, 1744. He wrote two excellent poetical satires, “The Art of Politics,” in imitation of Horace’s Art of Poetry, and “the Man of Taste,” occasioned by Pope’s Epistle on that subject; both in Dodsley’s Collection, vol. I.; and ft The Crooked Sixpence,“in imitation of Phillips’s Splendid Shilling, inserted in the” Repository,“vol. I. Dr. Warton objects to his” Man of Taste," that he has made his hero laugh at himself and his own follies. The satire, however, in other respects, is truly legitimate.

, abbe d'Aulnay, who was born in the comtat Venaissin, and died April 11, 1758, is known by several works in physics and astronomy. The abundance of words, the frequent repetitions, the great number of insignificant ideas perceived in his writings, have disgusted many readers; though they contain much excellent matter. The principal are, 1. “Letters on cosmography,” 1744, 4to. 2. “Modern system of cosmography and general physics,” 1747, 4to. 3. “Explication of the flux and reflux of the sea,” 1739, 4to. 4. “Cosmographical ephemerides,” 1750, 12mo, 5. “History or police of the kingdom of Gala,” 1754, 12mo, pretendedly translated from the Italian into English, and from English into French.

, an eminent mathematician of the seventeenth century, son of Thomas Brancker, some time bachelor of artsj,in Exeter college, Oxford, was born in Devonshire in 1636, and was admitted batler (and not butler, as some late biographical compilations blunderingly assert), of the said college, Nov. 8, 1652, in the seventeenth year of his age. In 1655, June 15, he took the degree of bachelor of arts, and was elected probationary fellow the 30th of the same month. In 1658, April 22, he took the degree of master of arts, and became a preacher; but after the restoration, refusing to conform to the ceremonies of the church of England, he quitted his fellowship in 1662, and retired to Chester: but not long after, he became reconciled to the service of the church, took orders from a bishop, and was made a minister of Whitegate. He had, however, for some time, enjoyed great opportunity and leisure for pursuing the bent of his genius in the mathematical sciences; and his skill both in the mathematics and chemistry procured him the favour of lord Brereton, who gave him the rectory of Tilston. He was afterward chosen master of the well-endowed school at Macclesfield, in that county, where he spent the remaining years of his life, which was terminated by a short illness in 1676, at 40 years of age; and he was interred in the church at Macclesfield.

Brancker wrote a piece on the doctrine of the sphere, in Latin, which was published at Oxford in 1662; and in 1668, he published at London, in 4to, a translation of Rhonius’s Algebra, with the title of “An Introduction to Algebra” which treatise having communicated to Dr. John Pell, he received from him some assistance towards improving it which he generously acknowledges in a letter to Mr. John Collins; with whom, and some other gentlemen, proficients in this science, he continued a correspondence during his life.

, secretary to the society of antiquaries, and rector of the united parishes of St. Mary-hill and St. Andrew Hubbard, in the city of London, was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, about 1743, and educated at Lincoln college, Oxford, where he took his bachelor’s degree, but left college in 1774, on being presented by Matthew Ridley, esq. to the curacy of Cramlington, a chapel of ease to St. Nicholas at Newcastle, from which it is distant about eight miles. While at the university, he published a poem “On Illicit Love; written among the Ruins of Godstow Nunnery,” 1775, 4to. The spot where this poem was written is the burial-place of the celebrated Rosamond, mistress of Henry II. whose history has afforded subject for various productions both of the amorous and elegiac kind; but perhaps none in which the criminality of an unlawful passion is more forcibly exposed, or chastity recommended in a warmer strain of poetry than in this production by Mr. Brand. The sentiments are glowing and just, the imagery is animated, and the poem is in general beautiful, pathetic, and moral. Mr. Brand, however, does not appear to have much cultivated his poetical talent, and had already begun to devote himself to researches into the antiquities of his native country. In 1777 he evinced a general knowledge of ancient manners and customs, by publishing “Observations on Popular Antiquities, including the whole of Mr. Bourne’s Antiquitates Vulgares, with Addenda to every chapter of that work; as also an Appendix, containing such articles on the subject as have been omitted by that author,” 8vo. This work is dated from Westgate-street, Tyne, where the author then resided. He afterwards continued to augment his materials by subsequent and more extensive researches, and left a much enlarged edition in ms. which is now in the hands of an eminent antiquary, and is intended for publication. About the time of the publication of his “Popular Antiquities,” he was admitted a member of the society of Antiquaries, and in 1784 was presented by the duke of Northumberland, who, if we mistake not, had been his earliest friend and patron, to the rectory of St. Mary-hill. In the same year he was elected resident secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, on the death of Dr. Morell, the duties of which office he performed with uncommon ability, and to the entire satisfaction of the society, who continued to re-elect him annually until his death.

In 1789, he published “The History and Antiquities of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,” 2 vols. 4to, a very elaborate work, embellished with views of the public buildings, engraved by Fittler, at an expence of 500l. In the sale, however, from various circumstances, and particularly the death of his bookseller, he was peculiarly unfortunate, notwithstanding its high merit as a piece of local history. Mr. Brand also communicated manypapers on subjects of antiquity to the society, the principal of which are printed in the Archseologia, vols. VIII. X. XIII. XIV. and XV.

He was twice prosecuted by common informers for nonresidence, having let his parsonage-house when he went to reside in the society’s apartments at Somerset-house; although none could exceed him in the punctual discharge of his parochial duties, both on Sundays and week-days. After the late regulations respecting residence, he constantly slept in the rectory-house. He always took much exercise, and on the day before his death, had a long ramble with two much-valued friends, with whom he parted in the evening apparently in perfect health, Sept. 10, 1806. He rose next morning about seven o'clock, his usual hour, and went into his study, when his servant took him an egg, which he usually ate before he went to Somerset- house. The servant afterwards wondering at his remaining so long in his study, went into the room and found him lying on the floor lifeless. He died unmarried, and without leaving any relation except a very aged aunt. He was buried in the chancel of his church Sept. 24. In him the Society of Antiquaries sustained a very great loss. Although his publications were few, his knowledge of antiquities was very extensive, and he had accumulated a very numerous and curious library, rich in old English literature, which was sold by auction some time after his death. His manners, somewhat repulsive to a stranger, became easy on closer acquaintance, and he loved to communicate to men of literary and antiquary taste, the result of his researches on any subject in which they might require information. Many of his books were supplied with portraits drawn by himself in a style not inferior to the originals, of which they were at the same time perfect imitations. A small silhouette likeness of him is in the frontispiece to his “History of Newcastle.”

, M. A. rector of St. George the Martyr, Southwark, and vicar of Wickham-Skeith, a political writer, who has been sometimes mistaken for the subject of our last article, was, however, probably of the same age, although we have no account of his early life. He was of Caius college, Cambridge, where he proceeded B. A. 1766, and M. A. 1769. When he had obtained the latter degree, he wrote an ethical essay, entitled “Conscience,” intended for one of the Seatonian prizes; but an accidental delay which it met with on the road, occasioned its being presented to the vice-chancellor two days after the appointed time, and on that account it could not be admitted to the competition. Mr. Brand, however, published his poem in a quarto pamphlet in 1772, and it was allowed to possess considerable merit, but not enough to procure it a place among the favourite poems of the day. From this time we find him devoting his attention to political subjects, which produced in succession; 1. “Observations on some of the probable effects of Mr. Gilbert’s bill, with remarks deduced from Dr. Price’s account of the national debt,” 1776, 8vo. 2. “The Alteration of the Constitution of the House of Commons, and the inequality of the Land-Tax, considered conjointly,” 1793, 8vo. 3. “A Defence of the pamphlet ascribed to John Reeves, esq. and entitled ‘ Thoughts on the English government,’ addressed to the members of the loyal associations against republicans and levellers,” 1796, 8vo; a clear and methodical tract, but exceeded in general utility by, 4. “An historical essay on the principles of Political Associations in a state; chiefly deduced from the French, English, and Jewish Histories; with an application of those principles, in a comparative view of the associations of the year 1792, and that recently instituted by the Whig Club,” 1796, 8vo. 5. “A determination of the average depression of the price of wheat in war, below that of the preceding peace; and of its readvance in the following; according to its yearly rules, from the Revolution to the end of the last peace; with remarks on their greater variations in that entire period/* 1800, 8vo. 6.” A Letter to **** ******, esq. on Bonaparte’s proposals for opening a negociation for peace; in which the British guarantee of the crown of France to the house of Bourbon, contained in the triple and quadruple alliances, and renewed by the treaty of 1783, is considered; together with the conduct of our national parties relating to it,“1800, 8vo, an argument more ingenious than satisfactory, and unfortunately leading to an impracticable conclusion. 7.” A Refutation of the Charge brought against the marquis Wellesley, on account of his conduct to the nabob of Oude. From authentic documents,“1807, 8vo. This was the last of Mr. Brand’s political works. As a divine, we know only of a” Fast Sermon,“published by him in 1794, and a” Visitation Sermon," 1800. In 1797, he was presented by the lord chancellor (Loughborough) to the rectory of St. George’s in Southwark, vacant by the death of the rev. Joseph Pote, the value of which Mr. Brand procured to be increased by act of parliament, in 1807, but did not live long enough to profit by it, as he died Dec. 23, 1808, leaving a numerous family.

, a painter of portrait and history, was born at Prague, in 1660; and having spent about four years in the school of John Schroeter, principal painter at that court, a kind of jealousy of his rising merit was excited in the mind of his master, which Brandel resented, and removed from him; and at the age of about iy years, commenced a master himself. Schroeter’s jealousy is thus accounted for by one of Brandel’s biographers. When in the fourth year of his apprenticeship, he was ordered 'to paint an altar-piece, which having executed in one day, he devoted the remainder of the time allowed to his pleasures, and when his master upbraided him with this apparent negligence of his orders, he produced the picture, which excited in Schroeter equal jealousy and astonishment. Most of the churches at Prague and Breslau are embellished with his works; and the prince of Hazfeld is said to have given 100 ducats for one picture of St. Jerome at half length. He spent most of his time at Prague, where the wealth which he acquired was dissipated by profusion and irregular conduct so that he died poor, in 1739, and was buried by charitable contributions. The Jesuits and monks, however, honoured his memory by appointing for him a solemn funeral procession, in which 300 tapers of wax were carried by ecclesiastics. Brandel was distinguished by a ready invention, an expeditious manner of painting, and natural colouring, except that his shadows were sometimes too black. His pencil was broad, easy, and free.

, esq. F. R. S. and F. S. A. and a trustee of the British Museum, was a Swede by family, born about the year 172u, and brought up to trade, which he carried on so successfully as to fill the honourable office of Director of the Bank for many years; and having inherited the accumulated fortune of his uncle, Mr. Spicker, he indulged his favourite pursuits in literature and the fine arts. He had a mind strongly tinctured with the love of literature, and a heart which was always most gratified in employing his great fortune in acts of beneficence, and in forming those collections which administer to the researches of literary men. Atnong his principal curiosities was the magnificent chair in which the first emperors of Germany used to be crowned; which being taken by Gustavus Adolphus in his wars, and carried into Sweden, was brought over from thence, and purchased by Mr. Brander; and afterwards sold to lord Folkestone, on his going to Christchurch. It contained all the Roman history, from its beginning to the emperors, wrought in polished iron. In 1766 he removed from London to Westminster, and afterwards into Hampshire, where he purchased the site of the old priory at Christ- church, in removing the ruins of which several curious discoveries were made, some of which are inserted in the Archaeologia, vol. IV. Having completed his villa and gardens in this beautiful spot, commanding an extensive view of the British channel, and the Isle of Wight, he married Jan. 1780, Elizabeth, widow of John, Lloyd, vice-admiral of the blue, daughter of Gulston of Widdial, Hertfordshire and spent the greatest part of the year in the society of his friends and neighbours of the adjacent counties, and of others who visited him from London. In the winter of 1786, he had just completed the purchase of a capital house in St. Alban’s street, when he was unexpectedly seized with a strangury, which carried him off, Jan. 21, 1787.

A singular accident happened to him in 1768, which had so strong an effect upon his mind, that it infused into his character an ardent sense of piety, and a peculiar reliance upon the superintendance of Providence, both which he preserved to the last. As his carriage was passing down, Temple-lane, the horses suddenly took fright, and ran with the most violent rapidity down three flights of steps into the Thames, and would have proceeded into the middle of it, if the wheels had not been so clogged by the mud, that the horses could not drag them any further. The servant behind was so absorbed in terror, that he was unable to throw himself from the carriage; but as soon as it stopped he jumped off, and procured the assistance of some persons from a neighbouring public house, who, after disengaging the horses, pulled the carriage on shore. In consequence of the above circumstance, the present gateway at the Temple-stairs was erected to prevent any future accident of the same kind. Mr. Brander from a sense of this singular preservation, made the following bequest “Two guineas to the vicar, ten shillings to the clerk, and five to the sexton of the parish of Christ-church, for a commemoration sermon on the third Sunday in August, as an everlasting memorial, and us expressive of my gratitude to the Supreme Being for my signal preservation in 1768, when my horses ran violently down the Temple-lane, in London, and down three flights of steps into the Thames in a dark night; and yet neither horses nor carriage, myself, or servants, received the least injury; it was fortunately low water.”

To Mr. Brander, the British Museum is indebted for a capital collection of fossils found in the cliffs about Christchurch and the coast of Hampshire; which were published at his expence, in a thin quarto volume, entitled “Fossilia Hantohiensia collecta, et in Museo Britannico deposita, a Gustavo Brander,” 1766. Of these curious fossil-shells, collected pat of the cliffs between Christ-church and Lymington, very few are known to be natives of our own, or indeed of any of the European shores; the greater part, upon a comparison with the recent, are wholly unknown to us. The copper-plates are exact draughts, en^ -aved from the originals, by the late Mr. Green. To the figures were annexed a scientific Latin description by Dr. Solander (whilst composing a scientific catalogue of all the natural productions in the British Museum), and a prefatory account of these phenomena in Latin and English. Mr. Bra;ider also communicated an account of the effect of lightning on the Danish church in Wellclose-square, Phil. Trans, vol. XLIV. And from a ms. in his possession, “The Forme of Cury” was printed for private use, with notes by the rev. Dr. Pegge, for whose fine portrait, by Basire, we are likewise indebted to Mr. Brander’s munificence. It yet remains to be noticed that he was one of the first supporters of the society for the encouragement of arts.

, a painter, was born at Poli, not far from Rome, in 1633, and studied in the school of Lanfranc. The greater part of the churches and palaces at Rome were embellished by his pencil. His best pictures arc his “St. Rocco,” in the church of Ripatta, and the “Forty Martyrs” in the Stigmata. An imagination full of fire, a great facility, a feeble and incorrect colouring, characterise his performances. He worked with uncommon rapidity, always preferring his pleasures and money to fame. He died at Rome in 1691, aged 58, prince of the academy of St. Luc, and chevalier of the order of Christ. His daughter was married to the celebrated Rosa da Tivoli, of whom Giacinto conceived a mean opinion, because he painted only beasts. By this contemptuous behaviour Rosa was so incensed, that he collected all the clothes belonging to his bride, on the morning after marriage, and sent them back to her father with a message, “that his daughter’s person was fortune enough to make her husband happy; and that a good painter of beasts was as likely to become rich, as a bad painter of men.”

, considered in the Helvetic school as an artist of the first rank, was born at Basil, in 1661. He acquired the knowledge of design by studying and copying some good punis which were in the possession of his father; and from the appearapce of his having a strong natural talent, he was placed as a disciple with Caspar Meyer. When he quitted Basil, he went to Paris, and had the good fortune to be received into the school of Le Brun and the variety of works in which that eminent master was employed, proved an excellent means of instruction to the young artist. He so pleased Le Brun by the progress he made, that he was intrusted with several designs, under the immediate inspection of that great painter; but the particular respect and preference shewn by the master to the disciple, excited the envy and jealousy of others to such a degree, as might have been attended with unhappy consequences, if Brandmulier had not retired to his own country; though not before he had obtained the prize in the royal academy at Paris. He excelled in history and portrait, and his genius resembled that of Le Brun; his subjects being full of fire, and treated with elevation and grandeur. His design is correct, and his expression animated and just. He had a good method of colouring, laying on each mass in so proper a manner as to avoid breaking or torturing his tints; which made his colours retain their original beauty and strength without fading. He was fond of painting portraits in an historical style, and was generally commended for the resemblance of the persons who were his mpdels, and the agreeable taste in his compositions. He died in 1691, aged only thirty.

, the eldest of a family who have made some figure in Swisserland, was a native of Biberach, in Suabia, where he was born in 1533. He imbibed the principles of the reformation from CEcolampadius, and became himself a preacher in various reformed churches. In 1576 the magistracy of Basil bestowed the rank of citizenship on him and his posterity, and in 1581 he was appointed professor of Hebrew in that city. He had studied medicine and law, as well as divinity, but confined himself chiefly to the latter, which he taught for many years at Basil, where he died in 1596. He wrote many funeral discourses, or “consciones funebres,” as they were called, taken from the Old and New Testament, which were printed at Basle, in 1752, and some dialogues in the German language. We have seen only a part of the former, entitled “Consciones Funebres,” Hanov. 1603, 8vo.

, son of the preceding, was born in 1565, was master of arts in 1585, and two years after, professor of poetry at Basil. In 1589 he received a call from the church of Oberweiller, and preached there for upwards of forty years. When Buxtorf went home to Westphalia, Brandtnuller officiated for him as Hebrew professor: he died Nov. 1, 1629, after having published “Analysis typica librorum Veteris et Novi Testamenti,” Basil, 1621, and 1622, 3 vols. 4to. The first two were by Moses Phlacer, and that only which contains the epistles and the apocalypse, by Brandmuller.

, grandson of James, the subject of the last article, followed the profession of the law, in which he became very eminent. He was born at Basil, Sept. 1617, and was educated partly in that city, and partly at Montbeliard. After taking his master’s degree, in 1634, he applied particularly to the study of civil law, but without neglecting philology and philosophy. According to the custom of his countrymen, he travelled fot some time in France, England, Holland, and Germany, where he became acquainted, and established a correspondence with the literati of those countries, particularly with Salmasius. In 1649 he was made doctor of laws, and in 1652 professor of the institutes at Basil: and fourteen years afterwards professor of the Pandects. He was also twice rector of the university. His reputation brought a great concourse of students thither, particularly foreigners, and his agreeable conversation and temper not a little contributed to increase the number of his pupils. Besides his fame as a lawyer, he was not less esteemed for his acquaintance with Roman antiquities and polite literature in general. It is said he wrote verse with as great facility as prose, but his talents in versification have probably been over- rated. He had more reputation from his success as a teacher, and the perspicuous manner in which he lectured on subjects of law. He died Sept. 1677, leaving several professional works “Dispntationes de lege” “Manuductio ad jus canonicum et civile” “Dubia Juridica,” &c.

, of a noble family of Florence, in the fifteenth century, was surnamed Lippus, on account of the loss of his sight, which did not, however, prevent his becoming a scholar of much reputation, and an orator, musician, and poet. His fame procured him an invitation from Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, to teach oratory, which he accepted, and taught at the university of fiada. After returning to Florence, he took the habit of the friars of St. Augustin, was made priest some time after, and preached to numerous auditories. He died of the plague at Rome, in 1497. Wonders are told of his powers of extempore versification, and he is classed among the first of the improvisator!. As to his preaching, Bosso says that those who heard him might fancy they listened to a Plato, an Aristotle, and a Theopfcrastus; he is yet more extravagant in noticing his extempore effusions. The circumstance, says he, which placed him above all other poets, is, that the verses they compose with so much labour, he composed and sang impromptu, displaying all the perfections of memory, style, and genius. At Verona, on one occasion, before a numerous assemblage of persons of rank, he took up his lyre, and handled every subject proposed in verse of every measure, and being asked to exert his improvisitation on the illustrious men of Verona, without a moment’s consideration or hesitation, he sang the praises, in beautiful poetry, of Catullus, Cornelius Nepos, and Pliny the elder; nay, he delivered in the same extempore manner all the subjects in Pliny’s thirty-seven books of natural historj r without omitting any one circumstance worthy of notice. Whatever credit may be given to these prodigies, his works prove him to have been a man of real learning. The principal of these are: 1. “Libri duo paradoxorum Chris ­tianorum,” Basil, 1498, Rome, 1531, Basil, 1543, and Cologn, 157,3. 2. “Dialogus de humanae vitae conditione et toleranda corporis aegritudine,” Basil, 1493, and 1543, and Vienna, 1541. 3. “De ratione scribendi Epistolas,” Basil, 1498, 1549, Cologn, 1573. Among his manuscripts, which are very numerous, Fabricius mentions one “de laudibus musicae.” Julius Niger mentions also some works of his on the laws commentaries on St. Paul’s epistles, and the Bible histories, in heroic verse, but, whether printed, does not appear.

, a learned ecclesiastical historian, was born at Amsterdam, July 2 5, 1626, and after having made distinguished progress in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, philosophy, and divinity, he was invited to be pastor of a church of remonstrants at Nieukoop, where he married Susanna, daughter of the celebrated professor Gaspard Barleus. In 1660, he came to Hoorn, and in L667 to Amsterdam. He died Oct. 11, 1685, leaving two sons, both excellent scholars, Caspar and Gerard. He wrote in German, 1. “A short history of the Reformation,” and of the war between Spain and the Netherlands, until 1600, Amst. second edit. 1658, which has a continuation, in the form of a chronicle, until that year. 2. Also in German, “A history of the Reformation in the Low Countries, &c.” 4 vols. 4to, 1671, and following years, a work of which the pensionary Fagel said to bishop Burnet, that it was worth while to learn German on purpose to read it. The English public, however, has been long acquainted with it, in a translation in 4 vols. fol. 1720, & seqq. The translator was John Chamberlayne, whom Foppen has converted intoRichardCumberland, merely that he may add,with true Popish bigotry, that he was “pseudo-episcopus Petro^ burgensis.” Brandt’s history was also abridged in 1725, in English, in 2 vols. 8vo, apparently from a French abridgement. Ruleus or Ruillius, a minister of the reformed church, having attacked some parts of his history, Brandt published an apology. 3. “A history of Enkhuisen,” a celebrated mercantile town. 4. “The Life of De Ruyter,” the celebrated Dutch admiral, Amst. 1684, fol. translated into French, ibid. 1690. 5. “Historical Diary,” with biographical notices of eminent men, Amst. 1689, 4to. 6. “Poemata,” Rotterdam^ 1649, 8vo. 7. “Poemata sacra et prophana,” Amst. 1638, 4to, and 1726, in. 2 vols. 8. “Historia judicii habiti annis 1618 and 1619^ de tribus captivis, Barnevelt, Hogerbeets, et Grotio,” Rotterdam, 1708, and 1710, 4to, with some other works, enumerated by Foppen, and Adrian a Cattenburg in his “Bibl. Scriptorum Remonstrantium.”

, eldest son of the preceding, was born in 1653, at Nieukoop, educated at Hoorn and Amsterdam, and studied philosophy and divinity under Philip Limborch. After passing the usual examinations, he was licensed, in 1673, to the office of the ministry at Schoonhoven, where he remained tiiree years. He then removed to the Arminian congregation at Hoorn; to Alomar, in 1631; Rotterdam, in 1683; and finally to Amsterdam, where he died in 1696. He published some sermons and religious tracts in German, and in Latin the lives of Grotius and Arminius; the latter was republished at Brunswick, with a preface and notes by Mosheim, in 1725, 8vo.

, second son of Gerard, and brother to the preceding, was born in 1657. (Saxius says 1653, which is the year of the preceding), at Nieukoop, and studied with his brother for eight years, philosophy and divinity under Limborch, to which he joined the knowledge of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Italian, French, and English. He was minister at Schoonhoven, at Dokkum, and at Rotterdam, where he died at the age of twenty-six, but Saxius says thirty, in 1683. He translated Dr. HeyJyn’s Quinqu articular History, or History of the Five Articles. In 1678, he published in German, without his name, and with only the letters V. T. V. a history of events in Europe for the years 1674 and 1675, and sixtyfive sermons.

, the youngest son of Gerard, and brother to the two preceding, was born at Nieukoop, July 6, 1660, 'and having gone through his divinity course, was chosen minister at Warmont in 1682, whence he was, the following year, invited to Hoorn. He was afterwards called to the Arminian church at the Hague, and some time after that, to Amsterdam, where he died Jan. 13, 1708. He wrote in German a life of St. Paul, 1695, 4to; a funeral oration on Mary queen of England, and a treatise against Leidekker. In 1702 he published a collection of letters, “Clarorum virorum Epistolae centum ineditae de vario eruditionis genere, ex museo Joan. Brandt, G. F. Gerardi filii,” comprising some from Nich. Heinsius, Grotius, Guy Patin, Huet, Rabelais, &c. He wrote also some poems.

, or Brantz, a learned philologer, was born at Antwerp in Sept. 1554, and after receiving the early part of his education at home, studied philosophy at Louvain. The troubles in the Netherlands obliging him to remove to France, he took that opportunity to study law at Orleans under John and William Fournier, and then at Bourges under the celebrated Cujacius. After travelling for some time in Italy, he settled at Brussels, and for five years practised as an advocate; but in 1591 was invited to Antwerp, and appointed secretary to the city, which office he discharged for more than thirty years with much reputation, and there he died iti 1639. He was considered as a man of great learning, modesty, and candour, laborious in his own studies, and always desirous of assisting others in theirs. His motto was “Libenter, Ardenter, Constanter,” not inapplicable to a man of studious industry. His principal works were, 1. “Notae cum Politico turn CriticiE in C. Julii Cæsaris et A. Hirtii Commentaries,” with the text of Cæsar in Greek and Latin, &c. Francfort, 1606, 4to, the same year in which Jungerman’s edition appeared, which is said to have been the first in which theGreek translation of the commentaries was published, but none of our bibliographers have noticed this contemporary edition by Brandt. 2. “Elogia Ciceroniana llomanoruni domi militiaque illustrium,” Antwerp, 1612, 4to. This contains biographical notices of the eminent political and military Romans, extracted from the works of Cicero, and in his words. Brandt intended to have compiled a volume on the same plan, respecting the orators, poets, and philosophers mentioned by Cicero, but this, if ever executed, has not been printed. 3. “Vita Philippi Rubenii,” with Rnbenius* posthumous works, 1615, 4to. 4. “Senator, sive de perfect! et veri Senatoris officio,” ibid. 1633, 4to. 5. “Spicilegium Criticum in Apuleium,” 1621, &c.

, a lawyer, poet, and historian, was born at Strasburgh, in 1448, and after prosecuting his first studies in that city, removed to Basil, where he took his master’s degree in arts, and superintended the education of youth, as public professor, both at Basil and Strasburgh. Here he arrived at the highest honours of the law, being made count Palatine, and counsellor and chancellor of Strasburgh. He died in 1520, leaving a great many works on subjects of law and'divinity, some volumes of poetry, and the celebrated “Ship of Fools,” which has chiefly perpetuated his memory. It was originally written in the German language. Locher, his disciple, tran shite d it into Latin, Strasburgh, 1497, 4to. A French translation of it by Bouchet and Riviere, was published at Paris, in small folio, in the same year, entitled “La nef des folz du monde.” Our countryman Alexander Barclay (See Barclay) was the author of the English metrical version printed by Pynson in 1509. The bibliographical history of Brandt’s work may be seen in our authorities.

, or, as some call him, Sebastian, a German chemist, much addicted to the fanciful researches of the period in which he lived, was born in 1458, and died in May 1521. Leibnitz, in the Melanges de Berlin for 1710, cited by Chaptal, in his “Elements of Chemistry,” vol. III. p. 350, mentions Brandt as a chemist of Hamburg, who, during a course of experiments upon urine, with a view of extracting a fluid proper for converting silver into gold, discovered phosphorus in 1667, or, as others say, in 1669. He communicated his discovery to Kraft, who imparted it to Leibnitz, and, as it is pretended, to Boyle. Leibnitz, says Chaptal, introduced Brandt to the duke of Hanover, before whom he performed the whole operation; and a specimen of it was sent to Huygens, who shewed it to the academy of sciences at Paris. It is said that Kunckel had associated himself with Kraft to purchase the process from Brandt; but Kunckel having been deceived by Kraft, who kept the secret to himself, knowing that urine was made use of, set to work, and discovered a process for making the substance and hence it has been called Kunckel’s phosphorus.

, a famous physician, was born at Ferrara, in 1500, of a noble family. His knowledge was not confined to medicine. In consequence of his having maintained at Paris, for three days successively, theses “de omni scibile,” the surname of Musa was given him by Francis I. He was physician to that prince, who made him chevalier of the order of St. Michael; to the emperor Charles V. who bestowed on him the title of count palatine; and to Henry VIII. of England. He was not of less consequence in his own country. Successively first physician to the popes Paul III. Leo X. Clement VII. and Julius III. cherished and favoured by all the other princes of Italy, and particularly the dukes of Ferrara, he was proceeding in this brilliant career, when he died at Ferrara in 1555, at the age of 55, after having long been a professor of medicine there with universal applause; leaving a great number of works, principally on medicine, and among others, 1. “Commentaries on the aphorisms of Hippocrates and Galen,” printed at Basle, in 1542, folio. 2. “Index refertissimus in Galeni libros,” Venice, 1623, fol. which Castro, in his Biblioth. Med. styles “opus indefessse elucubrationis & utilitatis inexplicabilis.”

, whom Warton calls one of the minor pastoral poets of the reign of James I. was the second son of Thomas Brathwaite, of Warcop, near Appleby, in Westmoreland, descended of a respectable family. He was born in 1588, and at the age of sixteen became a commoner of Oriel-college, Oxford, being matriculated as a gentleman’s son, and a native of Westmoreland. While he continued in that college, which was at least three years, Wood informs us, that “he avoided as much as he could the rough paths of logic and philosophy, and traced those smooth ones of poetry and Roman history, in which, at length, he did excel.” He afterwards removed to Cambridge, where he spent some time “for the sake of dead and living authors,” and then going into the north, his father gave him the estate of Barnside, where he lived many years, having a commission in the militia, and being appointed deputylieutenant in the county of Westmoreland, and a justice of peace. In his latter days he removed to Appleton, near Richmond, in Yorkshire, where he died May 4, 1673, and was buried in the parish church of Catterick, near that place, leaving behind him, says Wood, the character of a “well-bred gentleman, and a good neighbour.” Wood has enumerated as his publications: 1. “Golden Fleece, with other poems,” Lond. 1611, 8vo. 2. “The Poet’s Willow, or the passionate shepherd,” ibid. 1614, 8vo. 3. “The Prodigal’s Tears, or his farewell to vanity,” 1614, 8vo. 4. “The Scholar’s Medley, or an intermixt discourse upon historical and poetical relations, &c.” 1614, 4to. 5. “Essays upon the Five Senses,” 1620, 8vo, 1635, 12mo. 6. “Nature’s Embassy, or the wild man’s measures, danced naked by twelve Satyrs,” 1621, 8vo. To these are added, Divine and moral essays, Shepherds’ tales, Odes, &c. 7. “Time’s curtain drawn: divers poems,” 1621, 8vo. 8. “The English Gentleman,” 1630, 1633, 1641, 4to. 9. “The English Gentlewoman,” 1631, 1633, 4to; 1641, fol. 10. “Discourse of Detraction,” 1635, 12mo. 11. “The Arcadian Princess, or the triumph of justice,” 1635, 8vo. 12. “Survey of History, or a nursery for gentry; a discourse historical and poetical,” 1638, 4to. 13. “A spiritual Spicery, containing sundry sweet tractates of devotion and piety,” 1638, 12mo. 14. “Mercurius Britannicus, or the English intelligencer,” a tragi-comedy, acted at Paris, and a satire upon the republicans, 16-H, second edit. 4to. 15. “Time’s Treasury, or Academy for the accomplishment of the English gentry in arguments of discourse, habit, fashion, &c.” 1655, 1656, 4to. 16. “Congratulatory poem on his Majesty, upon his happy arrival in our late discomposed Albion,” 1660, 4to. 17. “Regicidium,” a tragi-comedy, 1665, 8vo. To these Mr. Ellis has added “Panedone, or health from Helicon,” 1621, 8vo; and Mr. Malone thinks that “The description of a Good Wife, or a rare one among women,” 1619, 8vo, was also his. Specimens of the former are given by Mr. Ellis, and of the latter, by Mr. Park, in the Censura Literaria. Mr. Ellis’s specimens of Brathvvaite’s powers as a poet are, perhaps, less favourable than some given by Mr. Dibdin in his Bibliomania, from the “Arcadian Princess.” It appears to us, that in his poetry, as in his prose, he excels’most as a painter of manners, a subject which he had studied all his life, and of which he delivered some of the earliest precepts. His style, however, must still render his works more acceptable to the curious, than to the common reader.

, in Latin Braunius, Bruinus, or Brunus, was archdeacon of Dortmund, and dean of Notre Dame at Cologne, and flourished about the beginning of the seventeenth century. He wrote a “Latin oration against the Fornicating Priests,” 1566 5 a Life of Jesus Christ, and another of the Virgin Mary, and some controversial works against the reformed churches; but he is best known by his magnificent work, “Civitates orbis terrarum in aes incisse et excusce, et descriptione topographica, morali, politica, illustrate,” 6 vols. large fol. with five coloured plates by Hohenberg and Hoeft'nagel, 1572, &c. reprinted in 5 vols. 1612. He died in 1622.

, was second son of sir Richard Bray, one of the privy council to king Henry VI. who lies buried in the north aile of Worcester cathedral, in which county sir Reginald was born. One of this family (which were lords of Braie, or Bray, in Normandy) came with William the Conqueror into England, where they flourished in the counties of Northampton and Warwick; but Edmond, the father of sir Richard, is styled of Eton Bray, in the county of Bedford, which county they had represented in parliament in 18 Ed. I. and 6 Ed. II. In 1 Rich. III. this Reginald had a general pardon granted to him, probably on account of his having taken part with Henry VI. to whose cause he had a personal as well as hereditary attachment being receiver- general to sir Henry Stafford, who married Margaret, countess of Richmond, mother to the earl of Richmond, afterward king Henry VII. and continued in her service after the death of sir Henry, and was put in trust for her dowry, on her marriage to Thomas, earl of Derby. When the duke of Buckingham had concerted with Morton, bishop of Ely (then his prisoner at Brecknock in Wales), the marriage of the earl of Richmond with the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward I V. and the earl’s advancement to the throne, the bishop recommended sir Reginald for the transaction of the affair with the countess, telling the duke he had an old friend with her, a man sober, secret, and well-witted, called Reginald Bray, whose prudent policy he had known to have compassed matters of great importance; and accordingly wrote to him in Lancashire, where he then was with the countess, to come to Brecknock with all speed. He readily obeyed the summons, entered heartily into the design, and was very active in carrying it on; and soon engaged sir Giles Daubeney (afterwards lord Daubeney), sir John Ciieney, Richard GuiUbrd, esq. and many other gentlemen of note, to take part with Henry. After the success at Bosworth, he gradually rose into great favour with the king, who eminently distinguished and liberally rewarded his services. His attachment to that prince was sincere and uriremitted; and such were his ptudence and abilities, that he never forfeited the confidence he had acquired, during an attendance of seventeen years on the most suspicious monarch of his time. He was made a knight banneret, probably at the battle of Bosworth; a knight of the bath at the king’s coronation, and afterwards a kni“ht of the garter. In the first year of the kind’s reign he had a grant of the constableship of the castle of Oakham in Rutlandshire, and was appointed joint chie‘ justice, with the lord Fitzwalter, of all the forests south of Trent, and chosen of the privy council. After this he was appointed high-treasurer, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and nigh steward of the university of Oxford. At the queen’s coronation, the ducliess of Norfolk, &c. sat at one side-table at the other, lady Ferrars, v>f Chartley, lady Bray, &c. At the christening of prince Arthur, sir Reginald bore a rich salt of gold which was given by the earl of Derby. He was amongst the knights bannerets when Henry, the king’s second son, was created duke of York in 1494. In the 7th year of the king, he by indenture covenanted to serve him in his wars beyond sea a whole year, with twelve men, himself accompted, each having his custrell and page, twenty-four demy lances, seventy-seven archers on horseback, two hundred and thirty-one archers, and bil’.es on foot twenty-four. In the 10th year he had a grant for life of the Isle of Wight, castle of Carisbrook, and the manors of Swainston, Brixton, Thorley, and Welow, in that isle, at th^ rent of 308l. 6s. 8rf. Camden mentions the grant of the Isle of Wight at the rent of 300 marks. In June 1497 he was at the battle of Blackheath, when the lord Audley, having joined the Cornish rebels, was taken prisoner; on whose execution and attainder, his manor of Shire Vachery and Crap ley in Surry, with a large estate there, was given to sir Reginald. He received many other marks of the king’s bounty and favour, and died 5th August 1503, possessed of a very great estate; notwithstanding which, and his activity as a minister, under a monarch whose love of, money was the cause of great and just complaints amongst the people, historians call him the father of his country, a sage and grave person, a fervent lover of jusuce, and one who would often admonish the king when he did any thing contrary to justice or equity. That he should do this, and the king still continue his favour, is an ample proof of the sense which his sovereign entertained of his services and abilities. He appears to have taken great delight in architecture, and to have had no small skill in it, as he had a principal concern and direction in building Henry Vllth’s chapel in Westminster-abbey, and in the finishing and bringing to perfection the chapel of St. George at Windsor, to which he was a liberal benefactor in his life-time, and for the completion of which he made farther provision by his will. His arms, crest, and device (R. B.) are exhibited on the cieling of the chapel at Windsor in many places; and in the middle of the south aile is a spacious chapel erected by him, and still called by his name, in which also, by his own particular direction, he was interred, though his executors neglected to erect a tomb for him, as he desired. Perhaps they thought his merit would be the most lasting monument. It is supposed that he is buried under the stone which covers Dr. Waterland; for, on opening the vault for that gentleman, who died in 1740, a leaden coffin, of ancient form and make, was found, which by other appearances also was judged to be that of sir Reginald, and was, by order of the dean, immediately arcned over with great decency. He was of great devotion, according to the piety of the times, and a bountiful friend, in his life-time, to many churches. In one of the letters of the dean and chapter of Westminster, John, abbot of Newminster in Northumberland, addresses him as founder of the monastery of Pipwell (in Northamptonshire); but this must be on account of some donations, as that house was founded by William Boutevileyr in 1143. In 1494, being then high steward of Oxford, he gave 40 marks to repair the church of St. Mary’s, in a window of which were the figures of him and his wife kneeling, their coats of arms on their backs, remaining in 1584. The dean and chapter of Lincoln, in recompence for his services to them, receive him and my lady his wife to be brother and sister of their chapter, and to be partakers of all suffrages, prayers, masses, fastings, almsdeeds, and other good deeds, whatever they be, done in the said church, both in their lives and after their deceases. The prior of the cathedral church of Durham receives him in like manner. In a south window of the priory church of Great Malvern in Worcestershire, were the portraits of Henry VII. Elizabeth his queen, prince Arthur, sir Reginald Bray, John Savage, and Thomas LoveJ), esquires, with their coats of arms on their armour, and the following words underneath:” Orate pro bono statu nobilissimi et excellentissimi Regis Henrici Septimi et Elizabeths Reginse, ac Domini Arthuri Principis filii eorundem, nee not) praedilectissimae consortis suoe, ac suorum trium militum." The portraits of the king and sir Reginald remained in 1774, and are engraved in Mr. Strutt’s View of the Arms and Habits of the English, vol. II, plate 60. The others have been broken and destroyed. He had no issue, and his elder brother John having only one daughter, married to sir William Sandes, afterwards lord Sandes of the Vine, he left the bulk of his fortune to Edmund, eldest son of his younger brother John (for he had two brothers of that name). This Edmund was summoned to parliament in 1530, as baron of Eaton Bray; but his son John lord Bray dying without issue in 1557, the estate was divided amongst six daughters of Edmund. Sir Reginald left very considerable estates to Edward and Reginald, younger brothers of Edmund. From Edward the manor of Shire Vachery and Cranley, above mentioned, has descended to the rev. George Bray, who was owner in 1778. Reginald settled at Barrington in Gloucestershire, where the male line of that branch became extinct about sixty years ago.

, D.D. an eminent learned and pious divine of the seventeenth century, was born at Marton in Shropshire, in 1656, where his parents were persons of good reputation. His infancy discovering promising parts, he was early sent to the school at Oswestry, in the same county, and his close application to school-learning, determining his parents to dedicate him to religion and learning, he was entered of Hart-hall, Oxford. Here he soon made a considerable proficiency in divinity, as well as other studies necessary for the profession for which he was intended: but, labouring under the common disadvantages of a narrow fortune, his circumstances not permitting a longer residence at Oxford, he left the university soon after he had commenced bachelor of arts. Much about this time he entered into holy orders; and the first duty he had was that of a parish near Bridgenorth in Shropshire, his native county, from which curacy he soon removed into Warwickshire, officiating as chaplain in sir Thomas Price’s family, of Park-hall, and had the donative of Lac Marsin given him by sir Thomas, which proved very advantageous; for living now in the neighbourhood of Coieshill, his exemplary behaviour, and distinguished diligence in his calling, introduced him into the acquaintance of Mr. Kettlewell, sir Charles Holt, and the lord Simon Digby. One incident which contributed to establish his character at this juncture, was his preaching the assize sermon at Warwick, on which occasion Mr. Bray, though but young, acquitted himself to the satisfaction of the whole audience, particularly the lord Digby, who was afterwards pleased to honour him with many proofs of his friendship and esteem, recommending him to the worthy and honourable patronage of his brother, the fifth lord Digby, who some time after gave him the vicarage of Over-Whitacre in the same county, since augmented, by his patron’s uncommon generosity, with the great tithes. In 1690, the rectory of Sheldon being vacant, by Mr. Digby Bull’s refusing to take the oaths at the revolution, his lordship presented Mr. Bray to it; which preferment he held till about a quarter of a year before his death, when he resigned it by reason of his advanced age, and the known worth and abilities of his appointed successor, the Rev. Mr. Carpenter. Dec. 12, 1693, he took his master of arts degree in Hart-hall, Oxford. In this parish of Sheldon he composed his “Catechetical Lectures,” a work which met with general approbation and encouragement, and produced to him the sum of 700l. This publication, which drew him out of his rural privacy to London, determined Dr. Compton, bishop of London, to pitch upon him as a proper person to model the infant church of Maryland, and establish it upon a solid foundation. Accordingly, in April 1696, he proposed to Mr. Bray to go, on the terms of having the judicial office of commissary, valued, as was represented to him, at four hundred pounds per annum, conferred upon him, for his support in that service. Mr. Bray, disregarding his own interest, and the great profit which would have arisen from finishing his course of lectures on the plan he had formed, soon determined, in his own mind, that there might be a greater field for doing good in the Plantations, than by his labours here, and no longer demurred to the proposal, than to inquire into the state of the country, and inform himself what was most wanting to excite good ministers to embark in that design, as well as enable them most effectually to promote it. With this view he laid before the bishops the following considerations: That none but the poorer sort of clergy could be persuaded to leave their friends, and change their native country for one so remote; that such persons could not be able sufficiently to supply themselveswith books; that without such a competent provision of books, they could not answer the design of their mission; that a library would be the best encouragement to studious and sober men to undertake the service; and that, as the great inducement to himself to go, would be to do the most good of which he could be capable, he therefore purposed, that if they thought fit to encourage and assist htm in providing parochial libraries for the ministers, he would then accept of the commissary’s office in Maryland. This proposal for parochial libraries being well approved of by the bishops, and due encouragement being promised in the prosecution of the design, both by their lordships and others, he set himself with all possible application to provide missionaries, and to furnish them with libraries, intending, as soon as he should have sent both, to follow after himself. But, upon his accepting of this employment of commissary of Maryland, it fell to his share to solicit at home whatever other matters related to that church, more particularly to the settlement and establishment thereof, which he laboured to promote with unwearied diligence, and spared neither expence or trouble. But, above all, it was his greatest care, to endeavour to send over to Maryland, and the other colonies, pious men, of exemplary lives and conversations, and to furnish those whom he had a hand in sending, with good libraries of necessary and useful bdbks, to render them capable of answering the ends of their mission, and instructing the people in all things ecessary to their salvation. The sense of the clergy and inhabitants, with respect to these'important services, was testified by the solemn letters of thanks, returned him from the assemblies of Maryland, from the vestries of Boston and Baintrie in New England, from Newfoundland, Rhode Island, New York, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Bermudas, and by the acknowledgments of the royal African company, on account of those procured for their factories. About the same time it was, that the secretary of Maryland, sir Thomas Lawrence, with Mr. Bray, waited on the then princess of Denmark, in behalf of that province, humbly to request her gracious acceptance of the governor’s and country’s dutiful respects, in having denominated the metropolis of the province, then but lately built, from her royal highness’s name, Annapolis: and Mr. Bray being soon after favoured with a noble benefaction from the same royal hand, towards his libraries in America, he dedicated the first library in those parts, fixed at Annapolis, and which had books of the choicest kind belonging to it, to the value of four hundred pounds, to her memory, by the title of the Annapolitan Library, which words were inscribed on the several books. Another design was also set on foot, much about the same time, by Dr. Bray, to raise lending libraries in every deanery throughout England and Wales, out of which the neighbouring clergy might borrow the books they had occasion for, and where they might consult upon matters relating to their function, and to learning. Upon this, many lending libraries were founded in several parts of the kingdom, besides above a hundred and fifty parochial ones in Great Britain and the plantations, from ten to fifty pounds value, those in South Britain being afterwards secured to posterity, by an act of parliament passed for that purpose in 1708. Soon after, upon the repeated instances of the governor and some of the country, Mr. Bray was at the charge of taking the degree of doctor of divinity, which, though it might be of some use, as procuring a certain degree of respect, did then but ill comport with his circumstances. He took his degrees of bachelor of divinity, and doctor, together, by accumulation, not of Hart hall where he was entered, but of Magdalen college, Dec. 17, 1696. Soon after, the better to promote his main design of libraries, and to give the missionaries directions in prosecuting their theological studies, he published two books, one entitled, “Bibiiothee* Paroctnalis or, a Scheme of such Theological and other heads, as seem requisite to be perused, or occasionally consulted by the reverend Clergy, together with a catalogue of books, which may be profitably read on each of those points,” &c. The other, “Apostolic Charity, its nature and excellency considered, in a discourse upon Daniel xii. 3. preached at St. Paul’s, at the ordination of some Protestant Missionaries to be sent into the plantations. To which is prefixed, a general view of the English colonies in America, in order to show what provision is wanting for the propagation of Christianity in those parts, together with proposals for the promoting the same r to induce such of the clergy of this kingdom, as are persons of sobriety and abilities, to accept of a mission.” During this interval, viz. in the year 1697, a bill being brought into the house of commons to alienate lands given, to superstitious uses, and to vest them in Greenwich hospital, he preferred a petition to the house, that some share thereof might be appropriated for the propagation of religion in the Plantations, and that the same should be vested in a body politic, to be erected for that purpose; which petition was received very well in the house, and a fourth part of all that should be discovered, after one moiety to the discoverer, was readily and unanimously allotted by the committee for that use, it being thought by far more reasonable, to appropriate some part at least of what was given to superstitious uses, to uses truly pious, than altogether to other, though charitable purposes: but the bill was never suffered to be reported. In the year 1698, failing of a public and settled provision by law, for carrying on the service of the church in Maryland, and the other plantations, he addressed his majesty for a grant of some arrears of taxes due to the crown; and some time after, was obliged to be at the charge and trouble of going over to the king in Holland, to have the grant completed. The recovery of these arrears of taxes was represented as very feasible and very valuable, and also without any grievance *o the subject: but as they proved troublesome to be recovered, so they were scarcely of any value. All designs failing of getting a public fund for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, he thereupon formed a design, of which he then drew the plan, of having a Protestant confregation, pro jide propaganda, by charter from the king, ut this he was obliged to defer till a more favourable opportunity. However, to prepare the way for such a charlet-society, he soon after made it his endeavour, to find worthy persons ready to form a voluntary society, both to carry on the service already begun for the Plantations, and to propagate Christian knowledge as well at home as abroad, hoping afterwards to get such a society incorporated. This he laid before the bishop of London, in the year 1697, and a society was constituted on this plan; and though the design of having them incorporated by charter could not then be brought to bear, yet they still subsisted and acted as a voluntary society. But their number and benefactions at last increasing, a different constitution and more extensive powers appeared necessary for the success of the undertaking: application was therefore made, by Dr. Bray, to his then majesty king William, for his royal charter. The doctor’s petition to his majesty, with other papers relating to the corporation to be erected for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, was read May 5, 1701; and his majesty’s letters patent, under the great seal of England, for erecting a corporation, by the name of “The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts,” was laid before the society, and read the ninth of June following. He received no advantage all this time from his commissary’s place in Maryland; neither was any allowance made him at home, or preferment give him, to support the charge of living altogether in town, to solicit the establishment and endowment of the church of Maryland, and to provide missionaries for that and all the colonies on the Continent; which, excepting Virginia, lay upon him; all the benefactions that were received being to be laid out to raise them libraries, which also he did faster than money came in to answer the charge. This being observed by some of his friends, they endeavoured to persuade him to lay his design of going abroad aside, and take two good preferments that were then offered him at home, of as good or better value than what was proposed to him in Maryland, viz. that of sub-almoner, and the donative of Aldgate, in the city of London. But he declined all offers that were inconsistent with his going to Maryland, as soon as it should become proper for him to take that voyage. By the year 1699, having waited upwards of two years for the return of the act of religion from Maryland, with such amendments as would render it without exception at the court of England; and it being presumed by his superiors, that it would be requisite the doctor should now hasten over, as well to encourage the passing of that act in their assemblies, as to promote other matters for the service of religion there, it was signified to him from them that they would have him take the opportunity of the first ship; and indeed, the doctor having, by this time, tried all ways he could think of, and done all he was able to do here, to serve those parts, and according to proposal having provided Maryland, as also many other colonies, with a competent number of missionaries, and furnished them with good libraries, to be fixed in the places where they were sent, to remain there for ever, he was himself eager to follow, and did so accordingly, even, in the winter, though he had no allowance made him towards his charge of the voyage, and the service he was to do; but was forced to dispose of his own small effects, and raise money on credit to support him. With this poor encouragement, and thus, on his own provision, he took the voyage, December 16, 1699, and set sail from the Downs the twentieth of the same month; but was driven back into Plymouth-sound on Christmas-eve, and remained in harbour almost all the holydays, where his time was not unusefully spent, in the recovery of a tolerable library there out of dust and rubbish, which was also indebted to him for a benefaction of books and where he left a proposal for taking in subscriptions to make it a sea- port library, for the use of missionaries and sea-chaplains, as well as others. After an extremely tedious and dangerous passage, the doctor arrived at Maryland the twelfth of March, where he applied himself immediately to repair the breach made in the settlement of the parochial clergy; in order to which he consulted, in the first place, the governor, whom he found ready to concur in all proper methods for the re-establishment of their maintenance. Before the next assembly, which was to be in May following, he sent to all the clergy on the western shore, who only could come together in that season, to learn from them the disposition of the people, and to advise with them what was proper to be done, in order to dispose the members of the assembly to re-enact their law next meeting. Soon after he had dismissed their clergy, he made his parochial visitation, as far as it was possible for him at that season; in which, he met with very singular respect from persons of the best condition in the country, which the doctor turned to the advantage of that poor church. During the sessions of the assembly, and whilst the re-establishment of the church was depending, he preachod very proper and seasonable sermons, with a tendency to incline the country to the establishment of the church and clergy; all which were so well received, that he had the thanks of the assembly, by messages from the house. The doctor was providentially on such good term* with the assembly, that they ordered the attorney-general to advise with him in drawing up the bill; and that he himself might be the better advised in that case, he sent for the most experienced clergy within reach, to suggest to him, what they found would be of advantage to them and the church, to be inserted in, or left out of it; by which means the constitution of that church had much the advantage of any in America. It may not be amiss to observe in this place, that as well during the general court or assize, which preceded the assembly, and lasted thirteen days, as during the sessions of the assembly itself, he was under a necessity of entertaining the gentlemen of the province, who universally visited him; a charge, however, which he thought requisite as circumstances then were, that he might strengthen his interest in them, the better to promote the establishment of the clergy’s maintenance. The bill being prepared, passed with a nemiilt contradicente; but it was on all hands declared and confessed, that it was very providential that Dr. Bray came into the country at that juncture. Soon after the assembly was up, the commissary cited the whole clergy of the province to a general visitation at Annapolis, to be held May 22, 1700. At the close of this visitation, the clergy taking into consideration, that the opposition of the Quakers against the establishment of that church would in all probability continue, so as to get the law for its establishment so lately re-enacted, annulled again at home, they entered into debates, whether it would not be of consequence to the preservation and final settlement of that church, that the doctor should be requested to go home with the law, and to solicit the royal assent. It had been before voted, at the passing the bill in the house of burgesses, that he should be desired to request his grace of Canterbury, and the bishop of London, to favour that good law, by obtaining his majesty’s royal assent to it with all convenient speed; and the members who gave him an account of passing their vote, told him withal, that it was the general opinion of the house, that he could be most serviceable by waiting personally on their lordships, rather, than by letters, in which he conld not crowd all that might be necessary to be represented concerning the then state of the church, and the necessity, at that time, of their utmost patronage: and it was in debate, whether this should not be the desire of the assembly; but it was thought too unreasonable a request from them, who were sensible of the great danger and fatigue he had already been at in the service of that province, as they had a few days before acknowledged by a message of thanks from that house. Such were the sentiments of the members of the assembly, as to the necessity of his coming home to solicit the establishment of that church; and the clergy meeting at their visitation, some weeks after, represented to him, as the earnest desire of the more sensible persons throughout the country, as well as of the assembly-men, that he should go over with the law for England; being aware that its opponents would make the utmost efforts against the establishment of that church, by false representations at home of the numbers and riches of their party, and by insinuating, that to impose upon them an established maintenance for the clergy, would be prejudicial to the interest of the province, by obliging so many wealthy traders to remove from thence, the falsity of which, or any other suggestions, they thought him best able to make appear, by the information he had gained from this visitation, There were also many other advantages to the church in those parts, which they proposed by his coming home at that time, upon the consideration of all which he took his voyage soon after. He was no sooner arrived in England, but he found their apprehensions in Maryland'not ill grounded; but the objections raised against the plan, Dr. Bray refuted, by a printed memorial, representing truly the state of the church of Maryland, to the full satisfaction of all to whom it was communicated. The quakers’ opposition to the establishment now depending, was carried by united councils and contributions; but the doctor refuted their specious objections by unanswerable reasons, and placed the affair in such an advantageous light, that his majesty decided, without any appearance of hesitation, in the church’s favour, and gave the royal assent in these remarkable words: “Have the Quakers the benefit of a toleration? let the established church have an established maintenance.” This chargeable and laborious undertaking having swallowed up the doctor’s own small fortune, lord Weymouth generously presented him with a bill of 300l. for his own private use, a, large portion of which the doctor devoted to the advancement of his farther designs. Though he was vested with the character of commissary, yet no share of the revenue proposed was annexed to it; and his generosity even induced him to throw in two sums of fifty pounds each, that were presented to himself in Maryland, towards defraying the charges of their libraries and law. After the return of Dr. Bray from thence in 1701, he published his “Circular Letters to the Clergy of Maryland,” a memorial, representing the present state of religion on the continent of North America, and the acts of his visitation held at Annapolis; for which he had the thanks of the society above mentioned. Not only the bishop of London approved entirely of all these transactions, but also the archbishop of Canterbury declared, that he was well satisfied with the reasons of Dr. Bray’s return from the West Indies, and added, that his mission thither would be of the greatest consequence imaginable to the establishment of religion in those parts. In 1706, he had the donative of St. Botolph without Aldgate offered him again, which he then accepted of, worth about 150l. per annum. In the year 1712, the doctor printed his “Martyrology; or, Papal Usurpation,” in folio. That nothing might be wanting to enrich and adorn the work, he established a correspondence with learned foreigners of the first distinction, and called in the assistance of the most eminent hands. This work consists of some choice and learned treatises of celebrated authors, which were grown very scarce, ranged and digested into as regular an history as the nature of the subject would admit. He proposed to compile a second volume, and had, at no small expence and pains, furnished himself with materials for it; but he was afterwards obliged to lay the prosecution, of his design aside, and bequeathed by will his valuable collection of Martyrological Memoirs, both printed and manuscript, to Sion college. He was, indeed, so great a master of the history of popery, that few authors could be presumed able, with equal accuracy and learning, to trace the origin and growth of those exorbitant claims which are made by the see of Rome. He was happily formed by nature both for the active and for the retired life. Charity to the souls of other men, was wrought up to the highest pitch in his own: every reflection on the dark and forlorn condition of the Indians and negroes, excited in his bosoin the most generous emotions of pity and concern. His voyage to Holland, to solicit king William’s protection and encouragement to his good designs, and the proofs he gave of a public spirit and disinterested zeal, in such a series of generous undertakings, obtained him the esteem of M. d‘Allone of the Hague, a gentleman not more celebrated for his penetration and address in state affairs, than for a pious disposition of mind. An epistolary correspondence commenced very early between him and the doctor upon this subject; the result of which was, that M. d’Allone gave in his life-time a sum to be applied to the conversion of negroes, desiring the doctor to accept the management and disposal of it. But that a standing provision might be inade for this purpose, M. d'Allone bequeathed by will a certain sum, viz. 900 pounds, out of his English estate, to Dr. Bray and his associates, towards erecting a capital fund or stock, for converting the negroes in the British plantations. This was in the year 1723, much about which time Dr. Bray had an extremely dangerous fit of illness, so that his life and recovery were despaired of. In the year 1726, he was employed in composing and printing his “Directorium Missionarium,” his “Primordia Bibliothecaria,” and some other tracts of the like kind. About this time he also wrote a short account of Mr. Rawlet, the author of “The Christian Monitor;” and reprinted the Life of Mr. Gilpin. Some of these were calculated for the use of the mission; and in one he has endeavoured to shew, that civilizing the Indians must be the first step in any successful attempt for their conversion. In his “Primordia Bibliothecaria,” we have several schemes of parochial libraries, and a method laid down to proceed by a gradual progression, from a collection not much exceeding one pound in value, to one of a hundred. His attention to other good works occasioned no discontinuance of this design, the success of which was so much the object of his desires; and accordingly benefactions came in so fast, that he had business enough upon his hands to form the libraries, desired. As trie furnishing the parochial clergy with the means of instruction, would be an effectual method to promote Christian knowledge, so another expedient, manifestly subservient to the same end, would be, he thought, to imprint on the minds of those who are designed for the ministry, previously to their admission, a just sense of its various duties, and their great importance. With a view to this, he reprinted the “Ecclesiastes of Erasmus.” In the year 1727, an acquaintance of Dr. Bray’s made a casual visit to Whitechapel prison; and his representation of the miserable state of the prisoners had such an effect on the doctor, that he immediately applied himself to solicit benefactions in order to relieve them; and he had soon contributions sufficient to provide a quantity of bread, beef, and broth, on Sundays, and now and then on the intermediate days, for this prison and the Borough compter. To temporal, he always subjoined spiritual, provisions; and to enure them to the most distasteful part of their office, the intended missionaries were here employed in reading and preaching. On this occasion that scene of inhumanity was imperfectly discovered, which afterwards some worthy patriots of the house of commons took so much pains to inquire into and redress. Being now far advanced in years, and continually reminded of his approaching change, by the imbecility and decays of old age, he was desirous of enlarging the number of his associates, and adding such to them, ^in whose zeal and integrity he might repose an entire confidence. His inquiry into the state of the gaols, made him acquainted with Mr. (afterwards general) Oglethorpe, who accepted the trust himself, and engaged several others, some of the first rank and distinction, to act with him and the former associates. In short, most of the religious societies and good designs in London, owe grateful acknowledgment to his memory, and are, in a great measure, formed on the plans he projected; particularly the society for the reformation of manners, charity schools, and the society for the relief of poor proselytes, &c. The doctor having thus happily lodged his principal designs in the hands of able managers, departed this life February 15, 1730, in the seventy-third year of his age, leaving issue a son and daughter.

, a French poet, was born at Torigniin Lower Normandy, 1618. He was distinguished chiefly by a translation of Lucan; which, notwithstanding its inflated style, its numerous antitheses, and its various false brilliancies, continued to be long admired. It engaged attention and applause so powerfully at first, that cardinal Mazarine made great promises of advancement to the translator; but died without fulfilling them. But the l>est and the most popular of his works is, the first book of Lucan travestied, an ingenious satire upon the great, who are described as never losing a moment’s sight of their greatness and titles; and upon the meanness and servility of those who, with a view of making their fortunes, submit to flatter them as gods. It is said of Brebeuf,. that he bad a fever upon him for more twenty years. He died in 1661, aged 4S; and, if the last anecdote of him be true, it is somewhat marvellous that he lived so long.

Besides his Lucan, he published some sacred poetry, entitled, 1. “Les entretiens solitaires,” 12mo. 2. “Recueil des oeuvres diverses,” 1664, 2 vols. 12mo, in which collection are one hundred epigrams on a lady who painted, written for a wager, decided, we presume, as to numbers rather than merit. 3. “Des eclogues poetiques,” 12mo. 4. “Defense de l'église Romaine,” 12mo. 1671. His Lucan Travestie was published at Paris in 1656, 12mo.

, a painter of landscapes and cattle, was born at Antwerp in 1630; studied landscape after nature, and adorned his designs with figures, correctly drawn and judiciously grouped. His icenes are generally enriched with elegant Roman buildings, fountains, monuments, and ruins. His style, though, inferior, resembled that of John Brueghel. He died in. 1681.

, a painter of history, landscape, and conversations, was born at Antwerp in 1683, and instructed by his father Alexander Van Breda, who was much esteemed as an artist, with whom he continued, profiting by good example and advice, till he was 18 years of age. Having established his reputation in Holland, he accompanied Rysbrack the sculptor to London, where he was highly esteemed and obtained considerable patronage, and particularly that of the earl of Derwentwater, who was beheaded for rebellion in 1715. In London he was much employed by the court and nobility, and was hardly able to supply the demands for his performances. From London, after a residence of five years, he returned to Antwerp, much enriched; and in 1746, when Louis XIV. visited that city, he honoured this master by purchasing four of his pictures; viz. “Christ at the sea of Tiberias,” “Christ performing miracles,” and “two landscapes.” He certainly approached nearer to those great masters whose manner he imitated, Brueghel and Wouwermans, than any other artist of his time. His landscapes are in the style and taste of the former; and his conversations, historical figures, fairs, and battles, are in the manner of the latter. He died in 1750.

, a painter and engraver, was born at Utrecht in 1620, and went, at an early period, for improvement to Rome, where the society of Flemish painters, called Bentvogels, distinguished him by the appellation of Bartolomeo. Among the superb ruins and beautiful objects, in and about the city, he acquired an elegant taste; and he peculiarly excelled in landscapes, which he enriched with historical subjects. The figures and animals, which he introduced, were elegantly disposed, and executed with spirit and freedom: especially when they were not larger than the small size, in which he usually painted them. His manner, particularly with respect to colouring, gradually improved; hia touch is light and spirited, his tone of colouring very pleasing, his taste altogether of the Roman school, and his pictures are distinguished both by force and delicacy. The draperies of his figures, which are gracefully proportioned and designed, are easy and ornamental, and in his smallest figures, the expression is lively, sensible, and natural. His pictures are exceedingly rare, and highly valued. We have of his etching a set of 24 views, and landscapes, ornamented with ruins, &c. from his own designs. Sir Robert Strange had an excellent small picture of Breenberg’s, a view of the monument of Caecilia Metella, situated near the banks of the Tiber, a few miles distant from Rome. The foreground is beautifully enriched with figures, and the whole painted with great transparency. The sky in particular is penciled with an elegance which exceeds any thing of the kind in the works of Wouwermans. Breenberg died in 1660.

, neice of the learned Saumaise (Salmasius), was one of the ladies of honour to queen Anne of Austria. She was distinguished at that court by her beauty and her wit; both of which she preserved to an advanced age, and died at Paris, April 13, 1693, at the age of 74. She wrote a collection of letters and verses, 1688, 12mo, in which we meet with many ingenious thoughts; her verses almost entirely turn on a metaphysical love, which employed her mind more than her heart. But there are several pieces that are not of this description. In one of them she gives the following portrait of herself: “I am fond of praise; and this it is that makes me repay it with usury to those from whom I receive it. I have a proud and scornful heart; but this does not prevent me from being gentle and civil. I never oppose the opinions of any; but I must own that I never adopt them to the prejudice of my own. I may say with truth that I am by nature modest and discreet, and that pride always takes care to preserve these two qualities in me. I am indolent; I never seek pleasures and diversions, but when my friends take more pains, than I do to procure them for me. I feel myself obliged, and I appear at them very gay, though I am not so in tact. 1 am not much given to intrigue, but if I should get into an affair of that sort, I think I should certainly bring myself off with some propriety. I am constant, even to obstinacy, and secret to excess. In order to contract a friendship with me, all advances must be made by the ther party; but I amply compensate all this trouble in the sequel: for I serve my friends with all that ardency usually employed in selfish interests. I praise them, and I defend them, without once consenting to what I may hear against them. I have not so much virtue as to be free from the desire of the goods of fortune and honours; but I have too much for pursuing any of the ways that commonly lead to them. I act in the world conformably to what it ought to be, and too little according to what it is.”

, whom Meister calls the greatest reformer of the Swiss schools which the last century produced, was born at Zurich March 1, 1701, and after going through a course of academical instruction, was admitted into orders in 1720. The space which usually intervenes between the ordination of young ministers and their establishment in a church, he employed principally in the study of the ancient authors, familiarizing himself with their language and sentiments, an employment which, like Zuinglius, he did not think unworthy of the attention of an ecclesiastic. Persius was his favourite poet, whom, he studied so critically as to furnish the president Bouhier with some happy elucidations, which the latter adopted, Breitinguer, however, was not merely a verbal critic, and considered such criticism as useful only in administering to higher pursuits in philosophy and the belles-lettres. The “Bibliotheque Helvetique” which he and Bodmer wrote, shews how criticism and philosophy may mutually assist each other. He formed an intimacy with Bodmer in early life, (see Bodmer), and both began their career as reformers of the language and taste of their country. Breitinguer found a liberal patron in the burgomaster Escher, who himself proved that the study of the Greek language is a powerful counterpoise to a bad taste, and was the person who encouraged Breitinguer principally to produce a new edition of the Septuagint translation. In 1731 he was chosen professor of Hebrew, and in ordeir to facilitate the study of that language to his pupils, he wrote his treatise on the Hebrew idioms. Some time after he was appointed vice-professor of logic and rhetoric, and from that time began the reformation which he thought much wanted in the schools, with a treatise “De eo quod nimium est in studio grammatico,” and a system of logic in Latin and German, which soon took the place of that ofWendelin. He contributed also various papers to the “Tempe Helvetica,” and the “Musaeum Helveticum,” and at the request of the cardinal Quirini drew up an account of a ms. of the Greek psalms which was found in the canons’ library. He published also the “Critical art of Poetry.” His biographer bestows great praise on all those works, and different as the subjects are, assures us that he treated each as if it had been the exclusive object of his attention. His literary acquaintance was also very extensive, and he numbered among his correspondents the cardinals Passionei and Quirini, the president Bouhier, the abbe“Gerbert de St. Blaise, with Iselin, Burmann, Crusius, le Maitre, Vernet, Semler, Ernesti, &c. But he chiefly excelled as a teacher of youth, and especially of those intended for the church, having introduced two regulations, the benefit of which his country amply acknowledges. The one was that young divines should preach, in turn, twice a week, on which occasion the sermon was criticised by the whole body of students, aided also by Breitinguer’s remarks. The other respects an institution or society of Ascetics, as they were called. This was composed of the clergy, who assembled at stated hours, to discuss subjects relative to their profession, and compose sermons, prayers, hymns, &c. Some of them also were employed in visiting the hospitals, others qualified for schoolmasters, and all were to assist the poor with advice or pecuniary aid. Breitinguer also prepared a catechism for the young, on an improved plan, and a little before his death, published” Orationes Carolina? d'Hottinguer,“dedicated to Semlin. He continued his active exertions almost to the last hour of his life, being present at an ecclesiastical council, on Dec. 13, 1776, but on his return was seized with an apoplexy, of which he died the following day. Breitinguer had as much learning as Bodmer, though not as much natural fire; and was an excellent critic. To the works already noticed, we may add his” Diatribe historico-Jiteraria in versus obscurissimos a Persio Satir. I citatos," 1740, 8vo. His edition of the Septuagint, in 4 vols. 4to, wa.t published at Zurich, (TigUnim,) 1730. The text is accurately compiled from the Oxford edition of Grabe: to which are added at the bottom of each page the various readings of the Codex Vaticanus. Nothing is altered except a few typographical errors, and some emendations of Grabe, which did not coincide with the editor’s opinion. The clearness of the type and beauty of the paper recommend it to the reader’s attention; and the care, accuracy, and erudition displayed throughout the work, may entitle it to bear, away the palm even from Grabe’s edition. Such at least is the opinion of Masch.

, an ingenious printer, letter-founder, and bookseller of Leipsic, was born in that city, Nov. 23, 17 It. An accidental perusal of a work by Albert Durer, in which the shape of the letters is deduced from mathematical principles, appears to have suggested to him some valuable improvements in the art of casting types, which gave his printing-office and foundery great reputation. He was also the first who cast musical types, now so common, although they possess so little of the beauty or -accuracy of copper-plates as to be seldom used. He also contrived to print maps with moveable types, and even to cQpy portraits by the same means, but neither of these were found of much utility. He was better employed in 1793, in endeavouring to print the Chinese characters on moveable types, and succeeded so far as to exhibit specimens, which were much admired. He is said also to have discovered some improvements in the composition of type-metal, and the process of melting and casting, but what these were he concealed. He died Jan. 28, 1794. In 1774, he published a small treatise, containing a refutation of the opinion of those who pretend that printing was first employed at Florence, Wirtzburg, or Antwerp. In 1784, he published the first part of a work, entitled “An Attempt to illustrate the origin of Playing-cards, the introduction of paper made from linen, and the invention of engraving on wood in Europe.” The latter part of this work was finished, but not published, before his death. His last publication was a small “ Treatise on Bibliography, &c.” published in 1793, and containing extracts from his larger works, with his reasons for retaining the present German characters, and a refutation of some assertions respecting typography.

, a member of the French academy of sciences, was born at Paris, Sept. 14, 1713, of a good family, and after having studied humanities in the Mazarin college, and a course of philosophy in the college of Beauvais, applied himself more particularly to medicine and law, and the oriental languages in the royal college. The great progress which he made in the latter, occasioned his being invited to Rheims to teach these languages, and to fill a professor’s chair; but this he declined out of respect to his father, who wished him to appear at the bar. Neither this, however, nor languages, were to his own liking, and his parents, after some consideration, allowed him to pursue his inclination for medicine, and natural history, to which he added a taste for general literature and criticism. In 1737, he began to give extracts from the London Philosophical Transactions, and this with so much judgment and ability as to excite the attention of the literati of France, who after revolving the plan, conceived that a translation of the Transactions with notes would be more useful than these extracts, and agreed that M. de Bremond should be requested to undertake it. He accordingly began the work, and published four vols. 4to. including the years 1731—1736, withacomplete index, and notes pointing out where the subjects are treated in the memoirs of other learned bodies, or in separate publications: some of these notes are complete dissertations. The royal society, on this, honoured him with the title of secretary; and on March 18, 1739, he was admitted into the French royal academy of sciences. The same year he read a learned paper on respiration. He joined afterwards with M. Morand, a celebrated surgeon, in collecting and translating all the English publications respecting Mrs. Stephens’s remedy for the stone, which once was thought infallible. He translated likewise Dr. Halley’s experiments on sea water, and Hauksbee’s experiments, 2 vols. 12mo; and Murdoch’s new loxodromic tables, for the construction of marine charts. This industrious writer died March 21, 1742, aged only twenty-nine. His eloge was composed by M. cle Mairan, then secretary to the academy.

, a learned lawyer in the seventeenth century, was born at Little Wool ford, in Warwickshire, in 1573, being the son of Anchor Brent of that place, gent. In 1589, he became pordonist, or post-master, of Merton-college, in Oxford; and, on the 20th of June 1593, took the degree of bachelor of arts. The year following he was admitted probationer-fellow of the college. On the 3 1st of October 1598; he took the degree of master of arts and then entered upon law studies. In 1607, he was one of the proctors of the university. Some years after, in 1613, &c. he travelled into foreign parts, and became acquainted with several of the most learned men abroad. After his return, he married Martha daughter and heir of Dr. Robert Abbot, bishop of Salisbury, and niece to Dr. George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury, which was the cause of his succeeding great preferments. About the year 1618, he was sent to Venice by archbishop Abbot, on purpose to get a copy of the History of the Council of Trent, then newly composed by the most renowned Padre Paolo Sarpi; in procuring of which he exposed himself to very great dangers. In 1621, he Was elected warden of Merton-college, through the archbishop’s recommendation; who also made him his vicar-general, commissary of the diocese of Canterbury, master of the faculties, and at length judge of the prerogative. On the llth of October, 1623, he accumulated the degrees of bachelor and doctor of law. The 23d of August, 1629, he received the honour of knighthood from king Charles I. at Woodstock, being then supposed well-affected to the church and hierarchy. But in the great disputes that arose between archbishop Abbot and bishop Laud, he entirely sided with the first, and his adherents, the puritan party; and grew so inveterate against Laud, that he was a frequent witness against him at his trial. He likewise deserted Oxford when king Charles I. garrisoned that place, and took the covenant: for which reason he was deprived of his wardenship of Merton-college, by his majesty’s command; but restored again when Oxford garrison was surrendered for the parliament’s use, in 1646. In 1647 and 1648, he was appointed chief visitor of that university, and countenanced all the violent and arbitrary proceedings there used, not sparing his own college. When an order was made against pluralities, he was forced to leave Mertoncollege, on the 27th of November, 1651; at which time he refused also the oath called the Engagement. Upon this, retiring to his house in Little Britain, in London, he died there November 6, 1652, aged 79; and was buried, the seventeenth of the same month, with great solemnity, in the church of St. Bartholomew the Less.

The only service to the public which sir N. Brent did, appears to have been in procuring the history of the council of Trent. As father Paul and father Fulgentio, the two joint authors, composed it, they privately gave a copy to Brent, who sent it over weekly to the archbishop Abbot in the original Italian; and it came to his hands under five or six covers to other persons, for the greater security. When Mr. Brent had sent it all over, he came back himself, and translated it out of Italian into English and Latin. The original Italian was printed first at London in 1619, and dedicated to king James I. by D. Antonio de Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, who had been instrumental in procuring that history. The English translation was published in 1619, folio. A new edition was printed in 1640; and another in 1676, with other pieces of father Paul at the end. His other publication would have done him equal credit, had he adhered to his principles. He reviewed Mr. Francis Mason’s “Vindication of the Church of England, concerning the Consecration and Ordination of the Bishops, &c.” examined the quotations, compared them with the originals, and printed that book from the author’s manuscript, in 1625, fol. in Latin. It is a complete refutation of the old story of the Nag’s head ordination.

, one of the supporters of the reformation, was born at Wile in Suabia, in 1499, a city of which his father had been mayor for many years. He was educated at Heidelberg school and university, and when only fifteen years old commenced bachelor. Such was his thirst for learning, that he usually rose at midnight to his studies, which became afterwards so much a habit, that he never slept longer than midnight. At eighteen he took his master’s degree in arts, and about the same time the perusal of some of Luther’s writings induced him to change his mind in many important points, which he endeavoured to communicate to his fellow-students by lecturing to them from the gospel of St. Matthew, and his auditors increasing, it was objected to him by those who were jealous of his talents, that he was not fit for such a work, not being in orders. To remove that, he entered into orders, and became a very popular preacher. He was then called to be pastor at Hall in Suabia, where he gave such satisfaction that the senate confirmed him in the office, although he was only twenty-three years old. When Muncer and his adherents rose in arms in Germany, and threatened to besiege Hall, he not only wrote against these enthusiasts, but encouraged the citizens to defend the place, which they did with great bravery. We find him aftersvards attending a conference of the reformed clergy for the purpose of reconciling the contention between Luther and Zuinglius, respecting the real presence; and in 1530 he was at the diet of Augsburgh, where the celebrated confession of faith was drawn up. When Ulric, prince of Wirtemberg, meditated the introduction of the reformed religion in his dominions, and particularly in the university of Tubingen, he employed Brentius in that seat of learning, who accomplished the purpose to his entire satisfaction. In 1547, when the emperor Charles V. and his army came to Hall, Brentius found it necessary to make his escape; and some letters of his being found, in which he justified the protestant princes for taking arms against the emperor, he became still in more danger; but on the emperor’s removing his army, he returned to Hall again. In 1548, however, when the emperor had published the Interim, Brentius declared himself so strongly against it, that the emperor sent a commissary to Hall, charging him to bring Brentius to him, alive or dead. The magistrates and citizens would have still protected him, but, as the emperor threatened to destroy their city if he were not given up, they connived at his escape, and presently after Ulric prince of Wirtemberg afforded him an asylum, until he got to Basil. He remained^ in this kind of banishment until 1550, when Christopher duke of Wirtemberg, in room of his father Ulric deceased, resolved to restore the ministers who were driven away by the Interim, and to complete the reformation; and therefore sent for Brentius to his castle at Stutg&rd, where he might have his advice and assistance. Here at his request, Brentius drew up a confession of faith, including the controverted points, which the duke intended to send to the council of Trent; and the year after the pastor of Stutgard dying, Brentius was chosen in his room, and held the situation for life. In 1557 he went to the conferences at Worms, which ended unsatisfactorily, as the popish representatives would not admit the authority of scripture in deciding their controversies. A more important service he performed in his old age. As there were many monasteries in Wirtemberg, from which the friars had been expelled, he persuaded his prince to convert them into schools, which was accordingly done, and Brentius visited them once in two years, directing and encouraging their studies. He died in 1570, and was buried with every mark of public respect. His works were printed together in 8 vols. fol. at Tubingen, 1576 i)0: most of them had been printed separately at various periods of his life. His opinions coincided in general with those of Luther, except on the subject of the real presence, in which he held some sentiments peculiar to himself, although perhaps essentially not very different from those of the Lutheran church.

, a learned member of the French academy, and of that of Inscriptions, was born in the country of Caux in 1715, and died at Paris in 1795, aged eighty. His youth was spent in the acquisition of the learned languages, and he afterwards came to Paris to enjoy the company of the literati of that metropolis. Being sent to England to search for materials respecting the French history, he published the result in a paper in the Memoirs of the Academy of inscriptions in 1767, by which we find that he collected in the British Museum, and the Tower of London, an invaluable treasure of letters and papers relative to the his-, tory, laws, and constitution of France, which papers had till then been unknown to the literary world. The same Memoir concludes with some anecdotes relative to the famous siege of Calais in 1346, which do little honour to the memory of Eustache de St. Pierre, and are, by no means, consistent with the encomiums that have been lavished on him, on account of his heroic patriotism. Brequigny was of a very communicative disposition, and loved to encourage young men of learning, by lending them his books and manuscripts, and imparting his ideas of any subject on which they might be employed. In his writings, his style is clear and simple, and he had the happy talent of extracting with judgment and accuracy, of which he left many proofs in his notices inserted in the Journal des Savans, and in the Memoirs of the Academy of inscriptions, to which he was a frequent contributor. The substance of a curious paper of his, on the life and character of Mahomet, may be seen in the Monthly Review, vol. XXXIV. (1768.) His principal works are, 1. “Histoire des Revolutions de Genes,” Paris, 1752, 3 vols. 12mo. 2. An edition of “Strabo,” vol. I. Gr. and Lat. 1763, 4to, containing the first three books, corrected according to some Mss. in the royal library, particularly one numbered 1393, which was brought from, Constantinople; the Latin version is Xylander’s. A short time after the first volume was published, Berquigny sent over all his materials for the further prqsecution of the work to the university of Oxford. 3. “Vies dfes anciens orateurs Grecs,” with a translation of many of their orations, 1752, 2 vols. 12mo, containing only Isocrates and Dio Chrysostom. 4. “Diplomata, Chartaj ad res Franciscas spectantia,” 4to. 5. “Table chronologique des diplomes, chartes, et titres relatifs a i'histoire de France,” 1783, 5 vols. fol. 6. “Ordonnances des rois de France de la troisieme race:” of this important collection Brequigny published the last six volumes, enriched with learned notes and curious dissertations on the ancient legislation of France. He also compiled and published in 1764, 8vo, the catalogue of the library of Clermont.

, an English poetess, was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Hughes, of Bryn- Griffith near Mould in Flintshire, by Anne Jones, his wife, and was born in 1685. Being observed to be endowed by nature with a great capacity, her talents were assiduously cultivated by her father, who was himself a man of excellent parts. Mr. Hughes, however, dying when she was only sixteen, she soon lost these advantages; but early discovered a turn for poetry, which her acquaintance encouraged. In Jan, 1711 she married Mr. Thomas Brereton, at that time a commoner of Brazen-nose college, Oxford, only son of major Brereton, son and heir of William Brereton, esq. of Cheshire. Her husband soon spent his fortune, and went over to Paris; and some time after this, a separation, having taken place, she retired, 1721, to her native country, Wales, where she led a solitary life, seeing little company, except some intimate friends. About this time Mr. Brereton obtained from lord Sunderland a post Belonging to the customs at Park-gate near Chester; but in Feb. 1722, was unfortunately drowned in crossing the water of Saltney, when the tide was coming in. Mrs. Brereton then retired to Wrexham in Denbighshire, for the benefit of her children’s education, where she died Aug. 7, 1740, aged fifty -five, leaving two daughters, Lucy and Charlotte, the latter probably the author of <c The Rattle,“a song, in Fawkes and Woty’s” Poetical Calendar," vol. XI. p. 14.

Mrs. Brereton was amiable in every relation of life and possessed talents for versification, if not for poetry, which she displayed some years as a correspondent to the Gentleman’s Magazine, under the signature of Melissa, where she had a competitor who signed himself Fido, and who is supposed to have been Thomas Beach (See his article, vol. IV). After her death a volume was published of “Poems on several occasions; with letters to her friends; and an account of her life,” London, 1744, 8vo.

, the son of Thomas Brereton, esq. of the county Palatine of Chester, was born in 1715. He received his education partly at Westminster-school, on the foundation, and partly at Trinity college, Cambridge, and, on the death of his father, inherited the ancient family estates in the above-mentioned county, and in Flintshire. In 1738, Mr, Brereton was called to the bar, and in 1746 became recorder of Liverpool, which office he filled with great impartiality and dignity during fifty-two years. In 1796, on his proposing to resign, the corporation requested him to retain his situation, and appointed a person to discharge its active duties.

Mr. Breretort' became a member of the society of arts in 1762; and,by his assiduity, zeal, and order, filled the distinguished office of vice-president with great credit to himself and advantage to the society, from March 1765 till his last illness in 1798. He was also an early member of the royal society and the society of antiquaries. The Archaeologia of the latter contain his “Observations on Peter Collinson’s Account of the Round Towers in Ireland;” his “Tour through South Wales;” his “Extracts from the Household Book of Henry VIII;” his “Account of a painted Window in Brereton Church, Cheshire;” and that of “A non-descript Coin,” supposed to be Philip VI. of France. Mr. Pennant has also, in his Welch Tour, described and given an engraving of several Roman antiquities found at a Roman station on his estate in Flintshire. Mr. Brereton was a bencher of the hon. society of Lincol n’s-Inn; filled the office of treasurer, and was keeper of the Black Book. He also represented the borough of Ilchester in parliament. He took the name of Salusbury with an estate, and became constable of the castle of Flint, a valuable privilege to his adjacent possessions. His domestic happiness was manifest to his numerous and respectable acquaintance, among whom were some of the most learned men of the age. He died Sept. 8, 1798, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and was interred in St. George’s chapel, Windsor. His wife was sister of sir Thomas Whitmore, K. B. and with her he lived happily for more tnan fifty years. They had five children, who all died young: he bequeathed the rents of his estates to her during her life, and after her decease, which happened in 1799, to his relations, the only son of the late general Trelawney, of Soho-square, and the second son of the rev. sir Henry Trelawney, bart. of Cornwall.

, a learned mathematician and antiquary, was the son of Robert Brerewood, a reputable tradesman, who was three times mayor of Chester. Our author was born in that city in 1565, where he was educated in grammar learning at the free school; and was afterwards admitted, in 1581, of Brazen-nose college, Oxford, where he soon acquired the character of a hard student; as he has shewn by the commentaries he wrote upon Aristotle’s Ethics, when no more than twenty-one years of age. In 1596 he was chosen the first professor of astronomy in Gresham college, being one of the two who, at the desire of the electors, were recommended to them by the university of Oxford. He loved retirement, and wholly devoted himself to the pursuit of knowledge. And though he never published any thing himself, yet he was very communicative, and ready to impart what he knew to others, either in conversation or in writing. His retired situation at Gresham college being agreeable, it did not appear that he had any other views, but continued there the remainder of his life, which was terminated by a fever the 4th of November 1613, at forty-eight years of age, in the midst of his pursuits, and before he had taken proper care to collect and digest his learned labours; which, however, were not lost; being reduced to order, and published after his death, in the following order: 1. “De ponderibus et pretiis veterum nummorum, eorumque cum recentioribus collatione,” 1614, 4to. This was published by his nephew, Robert Brerewood of Chester, who was commoner of Brazen-nose college in 1605, aged seventeen; and who succeeded our author in his estate and fortunes. It was afterwards reprinted in the eighth volume of the Critici Sacri, and in the apparatus before the first volume of the polyglot bible. 2. “Enquiries touching the diversity of Languages and Religion, through the chief parts of the world,” 1614, 4to, published also by Robert Brerewood, who has written a large and learned preface to it. 3. “Elementa Logicae in gratiam studiosae juventutis in acad. Oxon.” 1614, 8vo. 4. “Tractatus quidam logici de praedicabilibus et proedicamentis,” 1628, 8vo. 5. “Treatise of the Sabbath,” 1630, 4to. “6.” A second treatise of the Sabbath,“1632, 4to. 7,” Tractatus duo, quorum primus est de meteoris, secundus de oculo,“1631. 8.” Commentarii in Ethica Aristotelis,“1640,. 4to. Mr. Wood tells us, that the original manuscript of this, written with his own hand, is in the smallest and neatest character that his eyes ever beheld; and that it was finished by him Oct. 27, 1586. 9.” The patriarchal government of the ancient Church," 1641, 4to.

, bishop of Hereford in the thirteenth century, was born in England, and educated there, and after he had made himself master of the Latin tongue, he applied himself to the study of the law, in which he made so great a progress, that he was created doctor of civil and canon law. He distinguished himself in this profession by his admirable talents in the decision of the most difficult causes; and by this means procured himself very considerable interest af the court of king Henry III. who raised him on account of his merit to the bishopric of Hereford. Bale acknowledges his eminent abilities in the law, but expresses himself in very severe terms against him on that account, as neglecting his episcopal duties. He made a large collection of the laws of England from various authors, digested into one volume, which Leland tells us was of great advantage to king Edward I. the son and successor of Henry III. and to the whole nation. He died in 1275, and was succeeded in his see by Thomas Cantilupe.

, “a writer,” says Phillips, “of pastorals, sonnets, canzons and madrigals, in which kind of writing he keeps company with several other contemporary emulators of Spenser and sir Philip Sidney,” flourished in the reign of queen Elizabeth, but very little is known of his personal history. Sir Egerton Brydges produces very probable evidence that he was of a Staffordshire family. He was a writer, says Dr. Percy, of some fame in the above reign, and published an interlude entitled “An Old Man’s Lesson, and a Young Man’s Love,” 4to, and many other little pieces in prose and verse, the titles of which may be seen in Winstanley, Ames’s Typography, and Osborn’s Harleian Catalogue. He is mentioned with great respect by Meres in his second part of Wit’s Commonwealth, 1598, p. 283, and is alluded to in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Scornful Lady, act 2, and again in Wit without money, act 3, The ballad of Phillida and Corydon, reprinted by Percy, is a delicious little poem; and if we may judge from this and other specimens given in our references, his poetical powers were distinguished by a simplicity at once easy and elegant.

, born at Tours in 1660, became Jesuit in 1675, and died at Paris in 1741, at the age of eighty-one. He was revisor and editor of the sermons of his brethren Bourdaloue, Cheminais, and Giroust, Paris, 18 vols. 8vo, and 12mo. Pere la Rue applied to him on this occasion the epithet made for St. Martin: “Trium mortuorum suscitator magnificus.” He published likewise an edition of the “GEuvres spirituelles” of le Vallois, with a life of the author. Bretonneau was a preacher himself. His sermons, in 7 volumes 12mo, published in 1743 by Berruyer, are composed with eloquence. He was deficient in the graces of action; but he had all the other parts of a good orator. His private virtues gave considerable weight to his sermons. Bretonneau also wrote, 1. “Reflections pour les jeunes-gens qui entrent dans le monde,” 12mo. 2. “Abrege” de la vie de Jacques II." 12mo, taken from the papers of his confessor. It is a panegyric from which historians cannot extract much.

, advocate of the parliament of Paris, and an eminent law writer and pleader, was born at Montrotier, about four leagues from Lyons, Feb. 24, 1656. After studying languages and philosophy at Lyons, he came to Paris in 1677 to apply himself to law, and in 1680 was appointed an advocate. Having conceived a preference to the written over the common law, -he made the former his particular study, and traced its origin with the true spirit of an antiquary. This course of study produced a very much improved edition of the works of Claude Henrys, 1708, 2 vols. fol. and afterwards a work of great utility in the French law, which he undertook at the request of the chancellor D'Aguesseau, entitled “Recueil des principals questions de droit qui se jugent diversement dans differens tribunaux du royaume,” 1718, 12mo, reprinted with additions in 1756, 2 vols. and in 1785, 4to, both with additions by Boucher d'Argis. He died April 21, 1727.

, a naval officer, of whose family we have no account, was, soon after the rupture had taken place with Spain, appointed commander of the Grampus sloop of war. From this vessel he was, March 25, 1741, promoted to be captain of the Roebuck, a fifth rate of 40 guns, and immediately afterwards ordered to the Mediterranean from which he returned in May 1742, and in. November following was removed into the Anglesea, of the same rate as the former. In April 1744 he received the command of the Sunderland of 60 guns, and next year was on a cruise off the French coast, and in February captured a small French frigate richly laden, and with 24,000 pieces of eight in specie. Soon after his return into port he was ordered ta Louisburgh, with some other ships of war, for the purpose of reinforcing commodore Warren, who was then engaged in the attack of that important place. Capt. Brett arrived early enough before it surrendered to distinguish himself by his spirit and activity in the service. He afterwards commanded the St. George of 90 guns for a short time, but having been unwarrantably omitted in the promotion of flag-officers, which took place in 1756, he very spiritedly resolved to quit the service for ever, though on his remonstrance, previous to his actual declaration of this resolution, the admiralty-board, ashamed of having, even for a moment, set aside a brave and deserving man, offered him the rank of rear-admiral of the white, the same which he would have been entitled to in the ordinary course of service, if the partiality in favour of others had not been exerted. His answer to this palliating proposal was, “No rank or station can be, with honour, received by a person who has been once thought undeserving or unentitled to it.” From this time he retired into private life, and survived two long wars, in neither of which he waa engaged. He died in London in 1785. He translated two volumes of father Feyjoo’s Discourses, the one published in 1777, and the other in 1779; and in 1730, “Essays, or Discourses, selected from the works of Feyjoo.” The late Charles Brett, esq. one of the lords of the admiralty, who died in 1799, and Timothy Brett, clerk of the cheque at Portsmouth, who died in 1790, were brothers of capt. Brett.

, admiral of the blue, an elder brother of the Trinity-house, and one of the directors of Greenwich hospital, born in 1709, was the son of Piercy Brett, many years a master in the royal navy, and afterwards master attendant of his majesty’s yards at Sheerness and Chatham, at which last place he died June 4$ 1752. Of Piercy’s early years we have no exact account; but he served either as midshipman, or as some say, as lieutenant in the Gloucester, of 50 guns, one of the small squadron ordered into the South Sea under Mr. (afterwards lord) Anson. He was afterwards appointed by Anson, who had a high opinion of him, to be second lieutenant in, his own ship, the Centurion, and he confided to him the attack on the town of Paita, a service which he executed with the greatest skill, promptitude, and exactness. After the capture of the Manilla galleon, and the arrival of the Centurion at Macao, Mr. Brett was promoted by commodore Anson to the command of that ship, under him, as captain, he being, as he supposed, authorised by his instructions, to issue such a commission. The lords of the admiralty, however, having refused to confirm it, Mr. Anson retired from the service, and would not return until Mr. Brett’s rank was allowed, with which another board of admiralty thought proper to comply, and Mr. Brett ranked as captain from Sept. 30, 1743.

In April 1745, he was appointed captain of the Lion, of 60 guns. After capturing the Mediator sloop of war, and a privateer which had long infested the channel, on Tuesday, July 9, he gave a more distinguished proof of his courage, in engaging a French man of war of 64 guns, and another ship of 16, both which, after a most desperate battle, he obliged to sheer off: the 64 gun ship got into Brest, quite disabled, having the captain and sixty-four men killed, and one hundred and thirty-six dangerously wounded. Of the Lion’s men, forty-five were killed, and one hundred and seven wounded; among the latter was capt. Brett, his master, and all his lieutenants. The bravery manifested by him on this occasion was the more important to his country, from the circumstance of the ship which he engaged being convoy to the frigate in which the son of the Pretender, then on his passage to Scotland, had embarked; and thus the money and arms intended for Scotland did not reach it in time to be of any service.

In 1747 he commanded the Yarmouth, of 64 guns, one of the squadron under Mr. Anson, which, in the month of May, defeated and captured that of France, commanded by De la Jonquiere. He was one of the captains sent after the conclusion of the action in pursuit of the convoy, of which, Dr. Campbell and other historians assert, two only were captured, but we find it peremptorily asserted in the periodical publications of the time, that five more French ships were brought into Portsmouth, and three into Plymouth. On Jan. 3, 1753, he received the honour of knighthood from his majesty, in consequence of his having carried him to Holland; and towards the end of the year he was appointed captain of the Caroline yacht, as successor to Sir C. Molloy. In 1758, he was commodore in the Downs, having his pendant on board the Norfolk, and was in the same year appointed first captain to lord Anson, in the Royal George, who commanded in the channel, the covering-fleet to the squadron employed under lord Howe on the coast of France. On the conclusion of this expedition he returned to his command in the Downs. In March 1760 he was appointed colonel of the Portsmouth division of marines. In 1761, still continuing to hold the Downs command, we find him frequently and actively employed in reconnoitering the opposite coast and ports of France. In December, having hoisted his pendant on board the Newark, he was ordered for the Mediterranean with seven ships of war, as second in command to sir Charles Saunders, and shared, as a flag, in the rich Spanish prize, the Hermione. In the course of the same year he was advanced to the rank of rear-admiral of the red. From this time he appears never to have accepted any command, but Dec. 13, 1766, was appointed one of the lords of the admiralty, an office which he held until Feb. 24, 1770. In October of that year he was promoted to be vice-admiral of the blue, and on the 28th of the same month, to be vice-admiral of the white; March 1775, was admiral of the red, and finally, in Jan. 1778, admiral of the blue. He died Oct. 12, 1781, and was buried at Beckenham church, in Kent. His biographer adds, that “whether living or dead, the vice of slander and malevolence was abashed at his manifold virtues, ever silent, not only at his approach, but even at the bare mention of his name.” In the last parliament of George II. and the first of George III. he sat as member for Queenborough, in Kent. In 1745, after his return from the South Seas with Anson, he married Henrietta, daughter of Thomas Colby, esq. clerk of the cheque at Chatham; by whom he had two sons, who died young, and a daughter who survived him.

, a learned English divine, the son of Robert Brett, of Whitstanton, in Somersetshire, was born in London, in 1561, and entered a commoner of Hart-hall, Oxford, in 1582, where he took one degree in arts, and was then elected fellow of Lincoln-college, and was distinguished for his progress in the learned languages. About 1595 he was made rector of Quainton, near Aylesbury, and was admitted B. D. in 1597. In 1604 he was appointed one of the seven Oxford divines who were to translate the Bible by king James’s order; and was afterwards made one of the first fellows of Chelsea college, a foundation which, we have already had occasion to remark^ was never completed. Wood represents him as a pious and learned man, and critically skilled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and the Oriental languages, a vigilant pastor, a liberal benefactor, and a faithful friend. He died April la, 1637, and was buried in the chancel of his church at Quainton, under a monument with his effigies, and those of his widow and four children kneeling. He published, 1. “Vitae Sanctorum Evangelist. Johannis et Lucae a Simeone Metaphraste concinnatae,” Oxon, 1597, 8vo. 2. “Agatharchidis et Memnonis Historicorum quae supersunt omuia,” ibid. 1597, 8vo. 3. “Iconum sacraruni decas, in qua e subjectis Typis compluscula sanae doctrinse capita eruuntur,” ibid. 1603, 4to.

an eminent English divine and controversial writer, the son of Thomas Brett, gent. of Spring-grove, in the parish of Wye, in Kent, by Letitia, his wife, the daughter and heir of John Boys, esq. of Bettishanger, near Sandwich, in that county, was born at the seat of the latter, 3d Sept. 1667. His father disliking the situation of the old house at Wye, where his ancestors had lived for many generations, rebuilt it in a more commodious place, near a small grove of trees and a pleasant spring of water in the same parish, from whence he gave it the name of Spring-grove. He came and settled there in 1674, and sent his son to its grammar-school; the master of which was then John Paris, A. M. but he dying about three years after, was succeeded by Samuel Pratt, under whose instruction the youth remained until 1684.

His father was for some time undetermined whether he should send him to the university, but at length placed him in Queen’s-college, Cambridge, where he was admitted March 1684. Here he continued till he became soph, when some irregularities in money-matters, and improper company, induced his father to recal him, and he remained at home until he had missed the time of taking the degree of A. B. Upon his return to Cambridge some time after, finding his books embezzled by an idle scholar who had been put into his chamber, he determined to leave that college, and was admitted into Corpus Christ! Jan. 17, 1689, where he proceeded LL. B. on St. Barnabas day following, and made no scruple of taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to king William and queen Mary; his father, and other relations, who were accounted whigs, having taught him whig principles. He saw also that the tories of his acquaintance took these oaths without any scruple, although they had formerly sworn allegiance to king James, which he had never done: even his schoolmaster, Mr. Pratt, complied, who had early instilled such principles into his mind as he could never thoroughly reconcile with the revolution. The bishop of Winchester ordained him deacon at Chelsea, Dec. 21, 1690, when he undertook the service of the cure of Folkstone> for a twelvemonth; after which he came up to London, entered into priests’ orders, and was chosen lecturer of Islington, Oct. 4, 1691; where, from his frequent conversation with Mr. Gery , the vicar, who was a tory, he became entirely of the same principles.

Upon his father’s decease, at the earnest solicitation of his mother, he left Islington with some reluctance in May, 1696, came to his house at Spring-grove, and took upon him the cure of Great- Chart where he soon became acquainted with the family of sir Nicholas Toke, and married his youngest daughter Bridget before the expiration of that year. In the following year he took the degree of LL. D. as a member of Queen’s, and soon after entered upon the cure of Wye, as lying more conveniently for him, but had no benefice of his own before April 12, 1703, when upon the death of his uncle, Thomas Boys, rector of Bettishanger, he was instituted to that rectory, on the presentation of Jeffery Boys, the eldest brother of Thomas. Archbishop Tenison made him an offer of the vicarage of Chistlet, of about 70l. per ann. soon after, and, as he acquainted him at the same time that he designed something better for him, indulged him in holding it by sequestration; and it was not long before he had an opportunity of making good his promise, by collating him to the rectory of Rucking, April 12, 1705.

At each of these institutions he took the oath of abjuration, and without scruple, until by frequent discourse on the subject of parties, with his near relation the lord chief baron Gilbert, who endeavoured to bring him over to the whigs, that he might have the better opportunity of recommending him to higher preferment, he unwittingly opened his eyes, as he terms it, and rivetted him the firmer in his former opinions; and, upon reading the trial of Dr. Sacheverel, published soon after, he began in earnest to believe he had taken oaths which he ought not to have taken, and resolved never to repeat them. In this dilemma, however, he had no scruple about the schism in the church, nor about continuing to pray for a prince in possession of the throne, until upon the accession of a new one, an act of parliament was made obliging all persons to take the oaths afresh. But this, in the present state of his conscience, he could not comply with, and wrote to his patron the archbishop, in April 1715, desiring he would give him leave to resign his livings, to which his grace answered very kindly, that he would advise him to consider farther of it, and not to do that rashly of which he might afterwards repent. Dr. Brett accordingly took his advice, and made no resignation, considering that his non-compliance with the act of parliament would' in a short time vacate them of course. He left off, however, to officiate in either of them, but still went to his own parish church as a lay communicant, until Mr. Campbell wrote to him, by order of bishop Hickes, (who had got some information of his resolution) pressing him earnestly to refrain entirely from all communion with the parish churches, urging the point of schism. On this he had recourse to ?.lr. Dodwell’s tracts on that subject, whose arguments not satisfying his mind, he resolved to surrender himself up to bishop Hickes, and upon a penitential confession, was received into his communion July 1, 1715, who from this time appears to have had a great influence over him.

He now usually officiated in his own house every Sunday, where a few of the same persuasion assembled with his family, until he was presented at the assizes the year following, for keeping a conventicle, but the act of indemnity soon after cleared him from this. To avoid, however, any prosecution of the like sort for the future, it was thought adviseable to vary the place of their meeting, and he went accordingly, sometimes to Canterbury, and sometimes to Feversham, where part of his congregation lived, without any interruption, until upon intruding into the duties of the parochial minister of Feversham, by visiting a sick person of his communion, this minister complained of him to the archbishop in 1718, who sent him word that if he heard any more such complaints, he should be obliged to lay them before the king and council. He continued to officiate on Sundays, as usual, and no farther notice was taken of it, until in 1729 he obtained leave of Mr. Simpson, the minister of Norton, to perform the burial office in his church. Lord Townsend hearing of this, and communicating it to the archbishop, he ordered his archdeacon to reprove the vicar for granting him permission. So that it appears from his own confession (for most of the foregoing particulars are extracted from the account he gives of/ himself in a letter to a friend) both the archbishops Tenison and Wake, shewed great wisdom and charity, candour and generosity, in their conduct towards him, although they could not influence him so far as to be even ^a lay-communicant with them; and that he lived under a mild government, having no other disturbance given him, than a reproof, upon a complaint.

He appears now to have lived in obscurity and with caution, until his death, which happened at his house at Spring-grove, March 5, 1743, when his remains were placed among those of his ancestors in the family vault at Wye. Mr. Masters, from whose history of C. C. college we have taken this account of Dr. Brett, represents him, upon the authority of one who knew him well, as a “learned, pious, and indefatigable author, a worthy, orthodox member of the church of England, and no small honour to her; whose works are a clear indication of his writing in the search of truth, which, if at any time he found himself deviating from, he always took the first opportunity of f<?­tracting it in, the most public manner. In private life he was a dutiful son, an affectionate husband, a kind parent, and a true friend. His conversation was ever facetious, good-natured, and easy, tempered with a becoming gravity, without moroseness, and so well adapted to those he happened to be in company with, that it rendered him agreeable to, as well as esteemed by persons of all ranks, who had the pleasure of his acquaintance.” His widow survived him some time, and one son, Nicholas, who was chaplain to sir Robert Cotton, of Steeple-Gedding, in Huntingdonshire, bart. and afterwards settled in Kent.

His works were: 1. “An account of Church-government and governors, wherein is shewed that the government of the church of England is most agreeable to that of the primitive church; for the instruction of a near relation, who had been brought up among the Dissenters,” Lond. 1707, 8vo. Some reflections were made upon this in “The beautiful Pattern,” written by Mr. Nokes, pastor of an independent congregation, who afterwards conformed to the church of England. A second edition of this tract was published in 1710, with large additions and amendments, and a chapter on “Provincial Synods,” which was animadverted upon in a pamphlet entitled “Presbytery not always an authoritative part of Provincial Synods,” written by Mr. Lewis, of Margate, 1711. 2. “The Authority of Presbyters vindicated, in answer thereto.” In a letter to a friend, however, he afterwards acknowledges he was convinced of being mistaken, for although Presbyters were often connected with, yet they had no authoritative votes in the ancient church. 3. “Two letters on the times wherein Marriage is said to be prohibited,” Lond. 1708, 4to. 4. “A letter to the author of LayBaptism invalid, wherein the doctrine of Lay-Baptism, taught in a sermon said to have been preached by the B of S 7 Nov. 1710, is censured and condemned by all reformed churches,” Lond. 1711. 5. “A sermon on Remission of Sins, Joh. xx. 21—23,” Lond. 1712, which Dr. Cannon made two motions in the house of convocation to have censured, but not succeeding, he published an account of them, which was answered the same year, in 6. “The doctrine of Remission, &c. explained and vindicated.” He afterwards owned he went too far, and that Dr. Marshall, in his “Doctrine of the primitive church,” had set this matter right. With this sermon he also published in 1715, five others, on “The honour of the Christian priesthood. The extent of Christ’s commission to baptise. The Christian Altar and Sacrifice. The Dangers of a Relapse. And, True Moderation.” The “Extent of Christ’s commission to baptise,” with “the Letter to the author of Lay-Baptism invalid,” was answered by Mr. Bingham in his “Scholastic History of Lay-Baptism,” and being reflected upon by the bishop of Oxford in a charge, he wrote 7. an “Enquiry into the judgment and practice of the primitive church, &c. in answer thereto,” Lond. 1713; and upon Mr. Bingham’s reply, he published, 8. “A farther Enquiry, &c.” 1714. 9. “A review of the Lutheran principles,” shewing how they differ from the church of England, &c.“In the same year, Mr. Lewis, in answer to this, undertook to show their agreement, with which Dr. Brett was very angry, and threatened him with a reply, from which his friends dissuaded him. In a second edition, however, he nvule some transient remarks upon, two letters to the lord viscount Townsend, by Robert Watts, in answer thereto. 10.” A vindication of himself from the calumnies cast upon him in some news-papers, falsely charging him with turning papist; in a letter to the hon. Arch. Campbell, esq.“Lond. 1715. 11.” Dr. Bennet’s concessions to the Non-jurors proved destructive to the cause he endeavours to defend,“1717. 12.” The Independency of the Church upon the State, as to its pure spiritual powers, &c.“1717. 13.” The Divine right of Episcopacy, &c.“1718; and in the same year, 14.” Tradition necessary to explain and interpret the Holy Scriptures,“with a postscript in answer to” No sufficient reason, &c.“and a preface, with remarks on” Toland’s Nazarenus,“and” a further proof of the necessity of Tradition, &c.“15.” A Vindication of the postscript in answer to No just grounds, &c.“1720. 16.” A discourse concerning the necessity of discerning Christ’s body in the Holy Communion,“Lond. 1720. 17.” A dissertation on the principal liturgies used by the Christian church in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist,“1720. He is also supposed to have written, 18.” Some discourses on the ever-blessed Trinity,“in the same year. 19.” Of degrees in the university,“a dissertation in the Biblioth. Liter. N”. 1. “An essay on the various English translations of the Bible,” N. 4. “An historical essay concerning arithmetical figures,” N. 8, with an appendix to it, N. 10, 1722, 3, 4, in 4to. 20. “An instruction to a person newly confirmed, &c.” 1725. 21. “A Chronological essay on the Sacred History, &c.” in defence of the computation of the Septuagint, with an “Essay on the confusion of languages,” 1729. 22. “A general history of the World, &c.” 1732. There is a letter of his to Dr. William Warren, fellow of Trinity-hall, in Peck’s Desiderata, lib. VII. p. 13, containing an account of Richard Plantagenet (a natural son of king Richard III.) dated from Spring-grove, 1 Sept. 1733, which is said to be a forgery, invented to impose upon the doctor’s credulity, and to ridicule modern antiquaries. 23. “An answer to the plain account of the Sacrament,” in 1735 or 6. 24. “Some remarks on Dr. Waterland’s Review of the doctrine of the Eucharist,” &c. with an Appendix in answer to his charges,“1741. 25.” A letter to a clergyman, shewing why the Hebrew Bibles differ from the Septuagint,“1743. 26.” Four letters between a Gentleman and a Clergyman, concerning the necessity of Episcopal communion for the valid administration of Gospel ordinances,“1743. 27.” The life of Mr. John Johnson, A.M.“ prefixed to his posthumous tracts in 1748, with several prefaces to the works of others, particularly a very long one to Hart’s” Bulwark stormed,“&c. In 1760 was published” A dissertation on the antient versions of the Bible,“a second edition prepared for the press by the author, and” now first published," 8vo.

, son of Francis Durant de Breval, D. D. prebendary of Westminster, was educated at Westminster-school, to which he was admitted 1693, and removed thence to Trinity-college, Cambridge, in 1697. He was elected fellow of it about the year 1702; but, upon some disagreement between him and Dr. Bentley, the master, he quitted his fellowship, and went into the army, then in Flanders, as an ensign. The ease with which he acquired the Flemish and German languages, his great knowledge, his exquisite pencil, and genteel behaviour, were soon noticed by the duke of Marlborough; who promoted him to the rank of captain, and also employed him in jdivers negotiations with several German princes. He began his travels about 1720, published the two first volumes of them in 1723 and 1725, and the third and fourth in 1738, all in folio. It may be matter of surprise to see Mr. Breval’s name among the gentlemen of the Dunciad; but, soon after the unsuccessful exhibition of the “Three hours after marriage,” which, though with only Gay’s name to it, was certainly the joint production of Gay, Pope, and Arbuthnot, Breval, under the assumed name of Joseph Gay, produced a farce called “The Confederates,” and this exposed him to Pope’s resentment. He published also in 1734: 1. “The History of the house of Nassau,” 8vo. 2. “The Hoop-petticoat, a poem,” 1716. 3. “The Art of Dress, an heroi-eomical poem,” 1717. 4. “Mac Dermot, or the Irish Fortune-hunter,” 1717. 5. “Calpe, or Gibraltar,” apoem, 1717; and io, the following year produced a comedy called “The Play is the Plot,” which not succeeding in that shape, he reduced it to a farce called “The Strollers,” which met with more favour. In 1737 he brought out at Coventgarden, a musical opera called “The Rape of Helen.” As to what is said above, of his quitting his fellowship, the fact is, that he and a Mr. Miller were expelled. Breval, speaking of the conduct of Dr. Bentley on this occasion, used the remarkable expression of “Tantum non jugulavit.”

, a French antiquary, was born Sept. 17, 1528, and entered the society of the Benedictines of St. Germain -des-Pres in 1549. He published in 1601 an edition of Isidorus, fol.; and 1. “Le Theatre des Antiquity’s de Paris,” 1639, 4to. 2. “Supplementum antiquitatum Parisiensium,” 1614, 4to. Of these two Malingre availed himself in his “Antiquities of Paris,” published in 1640, fol. 3. “Les Pastes de Paris,” by Bonfons, improved by our author, 1605, and 1608, 8vo. 4. “La Vie du cardinal Charles de Bourbon,” uncle of Henry IV. 1612, 4to. 5. “Chronicon Abbatum regalis monast S. Germani a Pratis,” 1603, fol. He died in 1614, leaving some of the above works ready for the press.

, a learned divine of the seventeenth century, was born in the Isle of Jersey, in the reign of king James I. and probably educated in grammar-learning in that place. From thence he went and studied logic and philosophy in the Protestant university of Saumur, where he took the degree of master of arts, on September 12, 1634. Coming to Oxford, he was, October 12, 1638, incorporated M. A. as he stood at Saumur. About this time king Charles I. having through archbishop Laud’s persuasion founded three fellowships in the colleges of Pembroke, Exeter, and Jesus, for the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, alternately, Mr. Brevint was nominated the first fellow at Jesus-college upon this foundation, in 1638. Here he continued till he was ejected from his fellowship by the parliament- visitors, for refusing to take the solemn league and covenant, and withdrew to his native country, but upon the reduction of that place by the parliament’s forces, he fled into France, and became minister of a Protestant congregation in Normandy. Not long after, he had the honour of being made chaplain to the viscount de Turenne, afterwards marshal of France, whose lady was one of the most pious women of her time. Whilst he was in that station, he was one of the persons “employed about the great design then in hand, of reconciling the Protestant and Popish religions; which gave him an access into, and made him acquainted with every corner of that church,” as he says himself. At the restoration of king Charles II. he returned to England, and was presented by that prince (wjio had known him abroad) to the tenth prebend in the church of Durham, vacant by the promotion of Dr. J. Cosin to that see, and was installed March 15, 1660-61. By bishop Cosiu, who had been his fellow-sufferer, he was also collated to a living in the diocese of Durham. On the 27th of February, 1661-62, he took his degree of D. D. at Oxford. Having during his exile seen Popery in its native deformity, and observed all the mean and dishonest arts that are used to support it, he in 1672 published “Missale Romanum; or, the depth and mystery of the Roman Mass laid open and explained, for the use of both reformed and unreformed Christians,” and the next year, “The Christian Sacramenc and Sacrifice, by way of discourse, meditation, and prayer, upon the nature, parts, and blessings of the holy communipn,” reprinted on the recommendation of Dr. Waterland, in 1739. And in 1674, “Saul and Samuel at Endor, or the new waies of salvation and service, which usually tempt men to Rome, and detain them there, truly represented and refuted,” reprinted 1688. At the end of which is, “A brief account of R. F. his Missale Vindicaturo, or vindication of the Roman mass,” being an answer to “The depth and mystery of the Roman Mass,” above-mentioned. The learning and other eminent qualifications of the author having recommended him to the esteem of the world, and to the favour of his sovereign, he was promoted to the deanery of Lincoln, and was installed January 3, 1681-82, and had the prebend of WeltonPayns-hall annexed thereto, January 7th following. He died May 5, 1695, and was buried in the cathedral church of Lincoln, behind the high altar; where, on a gravestone, is an inscription to his memory. He was a person of extensive reading, especially in the controversy between the Protestants and Papists; zealous for the church of England; and for his life and learning, truly praise-worthy. Besides the above works, he published in Latin: 1. “Ecclesiae primitives Sacramentum & Sacrificium, a pontificiis corruptelis, & exinde natis controversiis liberum,” written at the desire of the princesses of Turenne and Bouillon. 2. “Eucharistiae Christianse prsesentia realis, & pontificia ficta, luculentissimis non testimoniis modo, sed etiam fundamentis, quibus fere tota S. S. Patrum Theologia nititur, hsec explosa, ilia suffulta & asserta.” 3. “Pro Serenissima Principe Weimariensi ad Theses Jenenses accurata Responsio.” 4. “Ducentue plus minus Praelectiones in Matthaei xxv capita, et aliorum Evangelistarum locos passim parallelos.” He also translated into Frenck “The judgment of the university of Oxford concerning the solemn League and Covenant.”

, a dramatic writer of the reign of king James I. appears to have been held in high estimation by the wits of that time, but there are many disputes as to his works, and no information concerning his life. The various dramatic annalists assign him from one to six plays. The controversy seems of little consequence, unless that it gave rise to a storyof Oliver Cromwell’s having acted a part in one of his supposed plays, entitled “Lingua,” the part of one ambitious for a crown and that his ambition was first excited by personating this character. The story, however, seems as doubtful as the author of the play.

, a botanist, whose connection with Dillenius entitles him to some notice, was originally of Trowbridge, in Wiltshire, in which county he had a small estate. He was engaged at one time in the woollen manufactory of that place, but it is thought was unsuccessful. He attended Dillenius into Wales, Anglesey, and the Isle of Man, in the summer of 1726, and afterwards remained the winter, and the greater part of the next year, in that country; making his residence at Bangor, and taking his excursions to Snowdon and elsewhere. While in Wales, it was intended that he should have gone over to Ireland to make a botanical tour through that kingdom; but that expedition never took place. So long a residence gave him an opportunity, not only of seeing the beauties of summer plants, but of collecting the Cryptogamia in winter, when they flourish most. Here he received instructions from Dillenius, collected specimens of every thing rare, or unknown to him before, and sent them to Dillenius to determine the species, and fix the names. This journey appears to have been designed to promote Dillenius’ s “Appendix to the Synopsis.” In 1728, Mr. Brewer went into Yorkshire, and resided the remainder of his days at Bradford, in the neighbourhood of Dr. Richardson, by whose beneficence he was assisted in various ways. After his retirement into Yorkshire, he meditated, and nearly finished a work which was to have borne the title of “The Botanical Guide,” but it never appeared. The time of his decease has not been determined, but he is said to have been living in 1742. His passion for English botany, and his skill and assiduity, enabled him to afford singular assistance to Dillenius, especially in the subjects for his “History of Mosses.”

, called Cavalier, a painter of landscapes, was born at Antsverp in 1677, and remained under the instruction of old Rysbrack, the landscape painter, for three years, after which period he became, in consequence of his close application, competent to commence the practice of his art. Having been diverted from his purpose of visiting Italy by the encouraging reception which he met with at Francfort and Nuremberg, he spent two years with his brother, Francis Breydel, at the court of Hesse-Cassel; and afterwards went to Amsterdam, where he copied several views of the Rhine, from the designs of Griffier, and thus improved his colouring, pencilling, and taste of design, so that the works of this artist may be regarded as his second and best school. At length he settled at Ghent, where his performances were much admired; but he was reduced by extravagance to the necessity of earning money expeditiously, and to multiply pictures much inferior in design and execution to others which had been produced by his pencil. His health declined towards the close of his life; and his performances during the intervals of ease which he enjoyed, amidst recurring paroxysms of the gout, wanted the spirit, delicate finishing, and firmness of touch, of his better days. Whilst the ideas and style of Griftier were his models, his pictures, principally views of the Rhine, were well designed, neatly executed, and excellently coloured. But he changed this manner, in order to imitate Velvet Breughel, whose works were universally admired, and selected for his subjects battles, sieges, and encampments. He often copied the prints of Vandermeulen; but afterwards composed very readily in this style, without borrowing from any other artist. His best pictures are full of spirit, his touch is firm, and well adapted to his style, and his design is correct. Some of them appear too laboured, but others are full of harmony. He died in 1744.

, brother of the above, was born at Antwerp, in 1679, and it is generally supposed that he was a disciple of old Rysbrack, as well as his brother Charles; but he chose very different subjects; for, at an early time of life he painted portraits with so great success, that he was appointed painter to the court of Hesse-Cassel, where his works were very much esteemed. He also painted conversations, feasts, assemblies, and carnivals, subjects very pleasing to the lovers of the art, and on that account he was induced to paint a great many in that style. However, from a levity of temper, he quitted the court of Hesse, where he was exceedingly caressed, and went to England, where, probably, he found sufficient encouragement, as he continued there for several years along with his friend Vandermyn. His conversations and other compositions are finely executed, agreeably coloured, and well disposed; and those pictures of his band are most preferred where he has endeavoured to give a proper variety to his figures. In those the dresses are usually in the mode of the time; the persons represented are of different ranks and occupations, mixed with some of the military order; and through the whole there is an appearance of nature, truth, and a great deal of spirit. He died in 17 So.

, one of the most eminent nonconformists of the seventeenth century, was born in 1600, and educated at Emmanuel college, Cambridge, where he took his master’s degree, in 1626, and was several years a fellow. After preaching in Essex for five years, he was called to Norwich, where he preached in the parish of St. George’s Tombland, until 1636, when he was silenced by bishop Wren for nonconformity in some points, and remaining obstinate, he was excommunicated, and the writ de ca> pitndo issued against him. On this he quitted Norwich, where he had a lecture and two cures, and went into Holland. At Rotterdam he was chosen pastor to a congregational church, but returned to England in 1642, frequently preached before the long parliament, and was chosen one of the assembly of divines, although he agreed with them only in doctrinal matters. At length he fixed at Yarmouth, where he preached until the Bartholomew act took place, when he was ejected. He died March 12, 1670. He was a man of considerable learning, and possessing a library well furnished with the fathers, schoolmen, and critics, was a very close student, rising every morning, both in winter and summer, at four o'clock, and continuing in his library until eleven. He was inflexibly attached to the independent party, but too charitable towards men of opposite sentiments to follow their example in all respects. His principal works are collected in 2 vols. 4to, 1657, besides which he published many single sermons before the parliament, and some tracts enumerated by Calamy. In Peck’s Desiderata are two letters from him to Scobell, the clerk of the council, by which we learn that he was a leading man among the independents.

, a lawyer of considerable eminence, was the son of Dr. John Bridgeman, bishop of Chester, and educated to the profession of the law, in which, as he disapproved of the usurpation, he made no figure until the restoration, when on May 13, 1660, he was called to be a serjeant by the king’s special writ, and on June 1, was advanced to be lord chief baron of the exchequer, from which, Oct. 22, he was removed to be lord chief justice of the common pleas. While he presided in this’ court, his reputation was at its height for equity and moderation. In 1667, when the great seal was taken from lord Clarendon, the king delivered it, August 13, to sir Orlando, with the title of Keeper. After this, his good name began to decline: he was timid and irresolute, and his timidity still increased with his years: nor was his judgment equal to all the difficulties of his office. His Jady, a woman of cunning and intrigue, was too apt to interfere in chancery suits; and his sons, who practised under him, did not bear the fairest characters. He was desirous of an union with Scotland, and a comprehepsion with the dissenters: but was against tolerating the papists. He is said to have been removed from his office for refusing to affix the seal to the king’s declaration for liberty of conscience, Nov. 17, 1672. The time of his death we have not been able to ascertain, but a singular account of his son sir Orlando, may be seen in the Biog. Brit. vol. VI. p. 3740. The lord-keeper is known as a law writer, by his “Conveyances, being select precedents of deeds and instruments concerning the most considerable estates in England,” 1682, 1699, 1710, 1725, 2 parts, folio.

, translator of the duke de Rohan’s Memoirs, was the younger brother of sir Thomas Bridges, of Keinsham abbey in Somersetshire, and son of Edward Bridges, esq. of the same place, by Philippa, daughter of sir George Speke, K. B. He died Jan. 1, 1677, and was buried in Keinsham church. His translation was entitled “The Memoirs of the Duke of Rohan or a faithful relation of the most remarkable occurrences iij France, especially those concerning the reformed churches there; from the death of Henry the Great until the peace made with them, in June 1629. Together with divers politic discourses upon several occasions. Written originally in French, by the duke of Rohan, and now Englished by George Bridges, of Lincoln’s-inn, esq.” London, 1660, 8vo. The translation is dedicated to James, marquis of Onnond, lord lieutenant of Ireland. The translator says he was principally induced to publish it in our language, by some passages tending to the vindication of Charles I. in the matter of relieving the inhabitants of Rochelle, during the memorable siege of that place. A very interesting account of the family of Mr. Bridges may be seen in our authority.

, esq. of Barton- Seagrave, in Northamptonshire, a celebrated antiquary and topographer, was son and heir of John Bridges, esq. who purchased that estate, by Elizabeth, sister of sir William Trumbull, secretary of state, and was born at Binfield in Berkshire, about 1666. His grandfather was col. John Bridges of Alcester in Warwickshire; not related to the Chandos family, nor bearing arms of any similitude to them, but said to be descended from Ireland. He was bred to the law, and a member of Lincoln’s-inn, of which he at last became bencher. His practical attention to his profession was probably prevented by his prospect of a private fortune, and the lucrative places which he enjoyed. In 1695 he was appointed solicitor of the customs; in 1711, commissioner of the same; and iii 1715, cashier of excise. He was also one of the governors of Bethlehem hospital, and a fellow of the royal society.

In the latter end of his life, about 1719, he began to form collections towards a history of Northamptonshire; and employed several persons of abilities and skill to make drawings, collect information, and transcribe such monuments and records as were essential to his purpose. In this manner, it is said, he expended several thousand pounds. The transcripts thus collected extend to upwards of thirty volumes in folio; besides five volumes, quarto, containing accounts of churches, &c. and four smaller volumes, in his own hand-writing. But Mr. Bridges never proceeded to compose any part of the work himself. He was a man in the highest degree qualified to direct such an xmdertaking. His judgment was sound, and his learning various and extensive. As an investigator of antiquities, his skill and diligence procured him great respect from many who were most eminent in that study; some of whom, and particularly Hearne, the celebrated Oxford antiquary, have borne very honourable testimony to his knowledge, and professed themselves indebted to his friendly communications. His collection of books was so judicious, that the catalogues of his library, printed after his decease, were long, and are still, retained as valuable by every curious collector. He died July 30, 1724, at his chambers in Lincolu’s-inn. His Mss. came into the hands of his brother and heir, William Bridges, esq. secretary to the stamp office and after many attempts and delays (of which an interesting, but, to county-historians, not a very encouraging account, may be seen in Mr. Nichols’s Life of Bowyer), formed the basis of the “History of Northamptonshire,” published in 2 vols. fol. by the late Rev. Peter Whalley, grammar-school master of Christ’s hospital; the first vol. in 1762, and the second in 1791. It is a very valuable book, but might have been greatly improved, if a parochial visitation had previously taken place.

, rector of Lincoln college, Oxford, and who in his writings called himself Aqua Pontanus, was born in Yorkshire, but of a Somersetshire family. He was entered a student at Hart-hall, Oxford, and thence removed to Brazen-nose college, where he was M. A* 1556, and about the same time took orders. Although he outwardly complied with the reformed religion in queen Elizabeth’s days, he lay under the suspicions, which he afterwards confirmed, of being more seriously attached to popery. While he preserved the disguise, however, he was, May 1, 1562, made rector of Wooton-Courtney in the diocese of Wells; and April 14, 1563, was chosen rector of Lincoln college. On Nov. 28, 1570, he was made master of Catherine’s hospital, near Bedminster, canon of Wells, and archdeacon of Rochester. In 1574, however, being no longer able to conceal his zeal for popery, he quitted the rectorship of Lincoln, which Wood thinks he could no longer have retained, without the danger of expulsion, and after resigning his other preferments, went to the English college at Doway, along with several students whom he had instructed in the principles of popery. Afterwards he travelled to Rome, and thence to Germany. He was at Triers in 1594, but no farther traces can be discovered of his progress, nor when he died. It is supposed that in his latter days he became a Jesuit, but neither Pits or Alegambe notice this circumstance. He published, 1. “Concertatio Ecclesiae Catholicse in Anglia,” first published by Fenn, and Gibbons, at Triers, 1583, 8vo, and enlarged by Dr. Bridgewater, ibid. 1594, 4to. It contains an account of the sufferings and deaths of several priests, &c. 2. “Confutatio virulentae disputationis Theologies, in qua Georgius Sohn, Prof. Acad. Heidelberg, conatus est docere, Pontificem Romanum esse Antichristum, &c.” ibid. 1589, 4to. 3. “An account of the Six Articles, usually proposed to the Missionaries that suffered in England.”

, an able French geographer, was born at Abbeville in 1601, and entered the society of Jesuits in 1619. He taught humanities seven years, rhetoric seventeen, and was some time prefect of the classes, and lectured on the holy scriptures. His private character corresponded with his learning. He was appointed joint librarian with father Cossart of the library of the Jesuits’ college in Paris, where he died Dec. 9, 1668. He published, 1 “Xenia Delphino oblata nomine collegii Rothomagensis,” Rouen, 1639, 4to. 2. “Parallela geographies veteris et novae,” 1648 and 1649, three volumes, 4to, a very exact and methodical work, and ornamented with plates well designed. These volumes, however, contain, only Europe; and it can never be enough regretted, says Niceron, that he did not publish the Parallels of Asia and Africa, which were assuredly finished and ready, but somehow or other lost. He published also, 3. “Annales mundi,” in 7 vols. 12mo, from the beginning of the world to the year of Christ 1663, often reprinted and enlarged; and “Theatrum geographicum Europae veteris,” 1653, in folio. He was farther concerned in a chronological work, joined with father Labbe; but he is supposed not to have succeeded so well here as in geography. 4. “Elogium patris Jacobi Sirmundi,” Paris, 1651, 4to, with an accurate catalogue of father Sirmond’s works. 5. “Acute dicta omnium veterum poetarum Latinorum,” Paris, 1684, 12mo. His chronological work was entitled “Philippi Labbe et P. Brietii concordia chronologica,” Paris, 1670, 5 vols. folio. The fifth volume only belongs to Briet.

, one of the greatest mathematicians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was born at Daisy Bank adjoining to Warleywood, near Halifax, in Yorkshire, in 1556, but according to the Halifax register probably sooner, as it is there recorded that he was baptised Feb. 23, 1560. From a grammar-school 'in that country he was sent to St. John’s college, Cambridge, 1579; where, after taking both degrees in arts, he was chosen fellow of his college in 1588. He applied himself chiefly to the study of the mathematics, in which he greatly excelled; in consequence in 1592 he was made examiner and lecturer in that faculty; and soon after, reader of the physic lecture, founded by Dr. Linacer.

Upon the settlement of Gresham college, in London, he was chosen the first professor of geometry there, in 1596. Soon after this, he constructed a table, for finding the latitude, from the variation of the magnetic needle being given. In 1609 he contracted an acquaintance with the learned Mr. James Usher, afterwards archbishop of Armagh, which continued many years after by letters, two of Mr. Briggs’s being still extant in the collection of Usher’s letters that were published: in the former of these, dated August 1610, he writes among other things, that he was engaged in the subject of eclipses; and in the latter, dated the 10th of March 1615, that he was wholly taken up and employed about the noble invention of logarithms, which had come out the year before, and in the improvement of which he had afterwards so great a concern. For Briggs immediately set himself to the study and improvement of them; expounding them also to his auditors in his lecturesat Gresham college. In these lectures he proposed the alteration of the scale of logarithms, from the hyperbolic form which Napier had given them, to that in which 1 should be the logarithm of the ratio of 10 to 1; and soon after he wrote to Napier to make the same proposal to himself. In 1616 Briggs made a visit to Na.pier at Edinburgh, to confer with him upon this change; and the next year he did the same also. In these conferences, the alteration was agreed upon accordingly, and upon Briggs’ s return from his second visit, in 1617, he published the first chiliad, or 1000 of his logarithms.

In 1619 he was made the first Savilian professor of geometry; and resigned the professorship of Gresham college the 25th of July, 1620*. At Oxford he settled himself at Merton college, where he continued a most laborious and studious life, employed partly in the duties of his office as geometry lecturer, and partly in the computation of the logarithms, and in other useful works. In 1622 he published, a small tract on the “North-west passage to the South Seas, through the continent of Virginia and Hudson’s Bay;” the reason of which was probably, that he was then a member of the company trading to Virginia. His next performance was his great and elaborate work, the “Arithmetica Logarithmica,” in folio, printed at London in 1624- a stupendous work for so short a time containing the logarithms of 30 thousand natural numbers, to 14 places of figures beside the index. Briggs lived also to complete a table of logarithmic sines and tangents for the 100th part of every degree, to 14 places of figures beside the index; with a table of natural sines for the same 100th parts to 15 places, and the tangents and secants for the

ning from the ninth proposition of the there. Wood’s Oxford, first of the Elements of Euclid, same to ten places; with the construction of the whole. These tables were printed at Gouda in 1631, under th care of Adrian Vlacq, and published in 1633, with the title of “Trioonometria Britannica.” In the construction of these two works, on the logarithms of numbers, and of sine’s and tangents, our author, beside extreme labour and application, manifests the highest powers of genius and invention; as we here for the first time meet with several of the most important discoveries in the mathematics, and what have hitherto been considered as of much later invention; such as the binomial theorem; the differential method and construction of tables by differences; the interpolation by differences; with angular sections, and several other ingenious compositions: a particular account of which may be seen in the Introduction to Dr. Mutton’s Mathematical Tables. This truly great man terminated his useful life the 26th of January, 1630, and was buried in the choir of the chapel of Merton college, near to the high altar, and under the monument of sir Henry Savile, on which occasion, a sermon, by Mr. William Sellar, and an oration by Mr. Hugh Cressy, fellows of that college, were delivered before the principal members of the university. As to his character, he was not less esteemed for his great probity and other eminent virtues, than for his excellent skill in mathematics. Dr. Smith gives him the character of a man of great probity; easy of access to all; free from arrogance, moroseness, envy, ambition, and avarice; a contemner of riches, and contented in his own situation; preferring a studious retirement to all the splendid circumstances of life. The learned Mr. Thomas Gataker, who attended his lectures when he was reader of mathematics at Cambridge, represents him as highly esteemed by all persons skilled in mathematics, both at home and abroad; and says, that desiring him once to give his judgment concerning judicial astrology, his answer was, “that he conceived it to be a mere system of groundless conceits.” Oughtred calls him the mirror of the age, for his excellent skill in geometry. And one of his successors at Gresham college, the learned Dr. Isaac Barrow, in his oration there upon his admission, has drawn his character more fully; celebrating his great abilities, skill, and industry, particularly in perfecting the invention of logarithms, which, without his care and pains, might have continued an imperfect and useless design. His writings were more important than numerous some of them were published by other persons the list of the principal part of them as follows. 1. “A Table tft find the Height of the Pole the magnetical declination being given.” This was published in Mr. Thomas Blundevile’s Theoriques of the Seven Planets, London, 1602, 4to. 2. “Tables for the improvement of Navigation.” These consist of a table of declination of every minute of the ecliptic, in degrees, minutes, and seconds; a table of the sun’s prosthaphaereses; a table of equations of the sun’s ephemerides; a table of the sun’s declination; tables to find the height of the pole in any latitude, from the height of the pole star. These tables are printed in the second edition of Edward Wright’s treatise, entitled Certain Errors in Navigation detected and corrected, London^ 1610, 4to. 3. “A description of an Instrumental Table to find the part proportional, devised by Mr. Edward Wright.” This is subjoined to Napier’s table of logarithms, translated into English by Mr. Wright, and after his death published by Briggs, with a preface of his own, London, 1616 and 1618, 12mo. 4. “Logarithmorum chilias prima,” London, 1617, 8vo. 5. “Lucubrationes & Annotationes in opera posthuma J. Neperi,” Edinb. 1619, 4to. 6. “Euclidis Elementorum VI libri priores, &c.” London, 1620, folio. This was printed without his name to it. 7. “A treatise of the North-west passage to the South Sea, &c.” By H. B. Lond. 1622, 4to. This was reprinted in Purchas’s Pilgrims, vol. III. p. 852.

, an eminent physician, was son of Augustine Briggs, esq. who was descended of an ancient family in Norfolk, and had been four times member of parliament for the city of Norwich, where this son was born about the year 1650, although his biographers differ very widely on this point. At thirteen years of age he was sent to Bene't-college in Cambridge, and placed under the care of Dr. Thomas Tenison, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, whom he succeeded in his fellowship. He took both his degrees in arts, and was chosen fellow of his college, Nov. 1668. His genius leading him to the study of physic, he travelled into France, where he attended the lectures of the famous anatomist Mons. Vieussens at Montpelier; and, after his return, published his “Ophthalmographia” in 1676. The year following he was created M. D. at Cambridge, and soon after made fellow of the college of physicians of London. In 1682 he quitted his fellowship to his brother; and the same year his “Theory of Vision” was published by Hooke. In 1683 he sent to the royal society a continuation of that discourse, which was published in their Transactions; and the same year was by Charles II. appointed physician to St. Thomas’s hospital. In 1684 he communicated to the royal society two remarkable cases relating to vision, which were likewise printed in their Transactions; and in 1685 published a Latin version of his “Theory of Vision,” at the desire of Mr. (afterwards sir) Isaac Newton, with a recommendatory epistle from him prefixed to it. And for completing this curious and useful subject relating to the eye, he promised, in the preface, two other treatises, one “De usu partium oculi;” and the other “De ejusdem affectibus;” neither of which', however, appears to have been ever published: but, in 1687, came out a second edition of his “Ophthalmographia.” He was afterwards made physician in ordinary to king William, and continued in great esteem for his skill in his profession till he died at Town-Malling in Kent, Sept. 4, 1704, and was there buried, although a cenotaph is erected to his memory in the church of Holt in Norfolk. He married Hannah, sole daughter and heiress of Edmund Hobart, grandson to sir Henry Hobart, lord chief justice of the common pleas in the reign of James I. by whom he left three children, Mary, Henry, and Hannah. Henry died in 1748, rector of Hoit.

Dr. Briggs’s chief patron, during his foreign travels, was the right hon. Ralph Montagu, esq. ambassador of France, and afterwards duke of Montagu. It was through this gentleman’s protection that Dr. Briggs went and studied at Montpelier, under Vieussens, to whom he acknowledged himself chiefly indebted for what skill he had in that science. The doctor was a benefactor to the college in which he had been educated. In order to render the kitchen of it more cleanly and wholesome, he caused it ta be paved with square stones; and gave besides, twenty pounds, for the augmentation of the stock for commons. He made presents, likewise, of books to the library. Dr. Briggs had a brother, Robert Briggs, who was educated in the same college, and succeeded him in his fellowship. He became successively A. B. A. M. and LL. D. was made a fellow of the royal society; and was chosen, on the 7th of February, 1686, professor of law in Gresham college, which office he held to his death, on the 22d of December, 1718.

, who appears to have had a taste for poetry and biography in the infancy of those studies, was born at or near to Caversham in Oxfordshire, but descended from the Brighams of Yorkshire. He was educated at Hart-hall, Oxford, as Wood conjectures, and afterwards studied at one of the inns of court. Having a turn for poetry, he passed his hours in the perusal of the best poets, and his admiration of Chaucer led him to be at the expence of beautifying the monument of that eminent poet in 1556, removing it to a more conspicuous place in Westminster abbey, where we now find it. He died in his prime, Dec. 1559, leaving, l.“De venationibus rerum rnemorabilium,” a collection of notices of characters and events, of which Bale has made much use. 2. “Memoirs,” by way of Diary, in 12 bocks. 3. Miscellaneous Poems. But none of these are probably now m existence.

, a physician and divine of eminence of the sixteenth century, took his degree of doctor in medicine at Cambridge, and, as we learn from Wood, he was made rector of Methley, in Yorkshire, in 1591. He appears by his writings to have had a good share of practice, and to have been well versed in the doctrines of the early Greek writers. The work by which he is principally known is his “Treatise of Melancholy,” containing the causes thereof, and reasons of the strange effects it worketh in our minds, with the physical cure, and spiritual consolation for such as have thereto adjoined an afflicted conscience,“London, 1586, 12mo. He excuses his writing this treatise, contrary to his usual custom, ia the English language, from its being a practical work, and to be read-by persons out of the pale of physic. It was also done, he observes, by the Greek and Roman writers. He entertained, however, very lofty ideas of the dignity of the medical character.” No one,“he says,.” sho'uid touch so holy a thing that hath not passed the whole discipline of liberal sciences, and washed himself pure and clean in the waters of wisdome and understanding.“The cure of melancholy, in his opinion, depends on bleeding, by purges and vomits. He had before, viz. in 1583, published” De Dyscrasia Corporis Humani,“London, 8vo. He was also author of” Hygieine, sen de Sanitate tuenda, Medicinae Pars prirna,“1588, -8vo.” Therajjeutica, hoc est de Sanitate restituenda, Medicinre pars altera,“1589,' 8vo, which were reprinted in 1598, in ICto r and” An Abridgment of Fox’s Acts and Monuments," 1589, 4to. He died in 1615.

, an English divine, attached to the principles of the puritans, was born at Nottingham in 1557, and was educated in Queen’s college, Cambridge, and long maintained a controversy on the discipline and ceremonies of the church, which seems to have led 'him to write his Commentaries in Latin on the Song of Solomon and the Revelations. This last was afterwards translated under the title of “The Revelation of St. John illustrated,” 1644, 4to. In this, when treating on chap. xiv. ver. 18, he discovers archbishop Cranmer to be the angel that had power over the fire; and in chap. xvi. ver. 5, he makes the lord treasurer Cecil the angel of the waters, justifying the pouring forth of the third vial. He accuses the church of England of being lukewarm, like the Laodiceans, and gives the preference to the foreign protestant communions. He prophesied also that the episcopal government would soon be overthrown, but he does not appear to have foreseen that it would also be restored. He was presented by sir John Osbourneto the rectory of Hannes in Bedfordshire, which he held until his death, Aug. 24, 1607. Fuller gives him a most exalted character for piety, learning, and sweetness of temper, in which he says all his opponents agreed. He informs us also, that it was his custom to read over the Greek testament regularly once a fortnight. In 1647 was published, “Brightman Redivivus, or the posthumian offspring of Thomas Brightman, in four Sermons,” 4to.

, or Bridget, and by contraction Bride, (St.) a saint of the Romish church, and the patroness of Ireland, flourished in the beginning of the sixth century, and is named in the martyrology of Bede, and in all others since that age. She was born at Fochard in Ulster, soon after Ireland was converted, and took the veil in her youth from the hands of St. Mel, nephew and disciple of St. Patrick. She built herself a cell under a large oak, thence called Kill-dare, or the cell of the oak, and being joined soon after by several of her own sex, they formed themselves into a religious community, which branched out into several other nunneries throughout Ireland, all which acknowledge her for their mother and foundress. Her biographers give no particulars of her life, but what are too much of the miraculous kind for modern readers. Several churches in England and Scotland are dedicated to her, and some in Germany and France, by which we may guess at her past reputation. According to Giraltfus Cambrensis, her body was found, with those of St. Patrick and St. Columba, in a triple vault at Down-Patrick in 1185, and were all three translated to the cathedral of the same city, but their monument was destroyed in the reign of Henry VIII. She is commemorated in the Roman martyrology on the first of February. This Brigit was a virgin; but in the Roman calendar we find another Bridgit, a widow, the foundress of the monasteries of the Brigittines, who died July 23, 1373.

, an artist of whom very few particulars are mentioned; the most material are, that he was born at Antwerp, in 1550, and learned the rudiments of his art in that city; that he went to study at Rome, and in a very few years manifested so much merit in landscape and history, that Pope Gregory XIII. employed him to work in the Vatican, and allowed him an honourable pension as long as he lived. He died in 1584, aged thirtyfive.

, an excellent artist, brother to Matthew Brill, was born at Antwerp, in 1554, but bred to the profession of painting under Daniel Voltelmans. From the time of his quitting that master till he went to Italy, his manner was rather stiff, his pictures had a predominant brown and yellow tinge, and his design and colouring were equally indifferent. But when he visited his brother Matthew at Rome, and saw the works of Titian and Caracci, he altered his Flemish manner entirely, and fixed upon a style that was abundantly pleasing, with a charming tone of colour. The pension and employment which his brother possessed at the Vatican were conferred upon Paul; and he so far surpassed him, that he daily rose in his reputation, till he was considered as the first in his profession. Annibal Caracci generally painted the figures in his landscapes, and by that means increased their value to a very high degree. His manner of painting is true, sweet, and tender; the touchings of his trees are firm, and yet delicate; his scenery, his situations, and distances, are admirable, most of them being taken from nature; and the masses of his light and shadow are strong, and very judicious; though, in some of his small easel-pictures, he may be sometimes accounted rather too green, or at least more greenish than could be wished. It is remarked of him, that, in the latter part of his life, his landscapes were always of a small size; but they are beautiful and exquisitely finished, and frequently he painted them on copper. The genuine works of this eminent master are now rarely to be met with, especially those of the larger size, and they afford prices that are extremely high in every part of Europe. Sandrart observes, that in his time the pictures of Paul Brill were eagerly coveted in all countries where the polite arts are encouraged; that abundance of purchasers appeared at the public sales, ambitious to possess them; and that very large sums of money were given for them whenever they could be procured. And it seems that their intrinsic value is not diminished, since, a very few years ago, one of the landscapes of this master sold in Holland for 160l. and another, at an auction in London, for 120 guineas or upwards, and yet they were deemed to be cheaply purchased. He died in 1626, aged seventytwo.

, a man of a most uncommon genius for mechanical inventions, and who particularly excelled in planning and conducting inland navigations, was born at Tunsted, in the parish of Wormhill, and county of Derby, in 1716. His parents were possessed of a little freehold, the small income of which his father dissipated by a fondness for shooting and other field-diversions, and by keeping company with people above his rank. The consequence of this was, that his son was so totally neglected, that he did not receive the ordinary rudiments of education. The necessities of the family were so pressing, that young Brindley was obliged, as early as possible, to contribute towards its support; and, till he was nearly seventeen years of age, he was employed in those kinds of light labour which are usually assigned, in country places, to the children of the poor. At this period of his life, he bound himself apprentice to one Bennet, a mill-wright, near Macclesfield, in Cheshire, and soon became expert in the business; besides which, he quickly discovered a strong attachment to the mechanic arts in general, and a genius for extending them much farther than they had hitherto been carried. In the early part of his apprenticeship, he was frequently left by himself, for whole weeks together, to execute works concerning which his master had given him n previous instructions. These works, therefore, he finished in his own way; and Mr. Bennet was often astonished at the improvements his apprentice, from time to time, introduced into the mill-wright business, and earnestly questioned him from whence he had gained his knowledge. He had not been long at the trade, before the millers, wherever he had been employed, always chose him again, in preference to the master, or any other workman; and, before the expiration of his servitude, at which time Mr. Bennet, who was advanced in years, grew unable to work, Mr. Brindley, by his ingenuity and application, kept up the business with credit, and supported the old man and his family in a comfortable manner.

It may not be amiss to mention a singular instance of our young mechanic’s active and earnest attention to the improvement of mill-work. His master having been employed to build an engine paper-mill, which was the first of the kind that had been attempted in those parts, went to see one of them at work, as a model to copy after. But, notwithstanding this, when he had begun to build the mill, and prepare the wheels, the people of the neighbourhood were informed by a mill-wright, who happened to travel that road, that Mr. Bennet was throwing his employers’ money away, and would never be able to complete, to any effectual purpose, the work he had undertaken. Mr. Brindley, hearing of the report, and being sensible that he could not depend upon his master for proper instructions, determined to see, with his own eyes, the mill intended to be copied. Accordingly, without mentioning his design to a single person, he set out, on a Saturday evening, after he had finished the business of the day; travelled fifty miles on foot; took a view of the mill; returned back, in time for his work, on Monday morning; informed Mr. Bennet wherein he had been deficient; and completed the engine, to the entire satisfaction of the proprietors. Besides this, he made a considerable improvement in the press-paper.

Mr. Brindley afterwards engaged in the mill-wright business on his own account, and, by many useful inventions and contrivances, advanced it to a higher degree of perfection than it had formerly attained; so that he rendered himself greatly valued in his neighbourhood, as a most ingenious mechanic. By degrees, his fame began to spread itself wider in the country, and his genius was no longer confined to the particular branch in which he had hitherto been employed. In 1752, he erected a very extraordinary water-engine at Clifton, in Lancashire, for the purpose of draining some coal-mines, which before were worked at an enormous expence. The water for the use of this engine was brought out of the river Irwell, by a subterraneous tunnel, nearly six hundred yards in length, carried through a rock; and the wheel was fixed thirty feet below the surface of the ground. Mr. Brindley’s superiority to the mechanics in that part of the kingdom where he resided, being now well ascertained, and his reputation having reached the metropolis, he was employed by N. Pattison, esq. of London, and some other gentlemen, in 1755, to execute the larger wheels for a new silk-mill, at Congleton, in Cheshire. The execution of the smaller wheels, and of the more complex part of the machinery, was committed to another person, and that person had the superintendancy of the whole. He was not, however, equal to the undertaking; for he was obliged, after various efforts, to confess his inability to complete it. The proprietors, upon this, being greatly alarmed, thought fit to call in the assistance of Mr. Brindley; but still left the general management of the construction of the silk-mill to the former engineer, who refused to let him see the whole model, and, by giving him his work to perform in detached pieces, without acquainting him with the result which was wanted, affected to treat him as a common mechanic. Mr. Brindley, who, in the consciousness of genius, felt his own superiority to the man who thus assumed an ascendancy over him, would not submit to such unworthy treatment. He told the proprietors, that if they would let him know what was the effect they wished to have produced, and would permit him to perform the business in his own way, he would finish the mill to their satisfaction. This assurance, joined with the knowledge they had of his ability and integrity, induced them to trust the completion of the mill solely to his care; and he accomplished that very curious and complex piece of machinery in a manner far superior to the expectations of his employers. They had not solely the pleasure of seeing it established, with a most masterly skill, according to the plan originally proposed, but of having it constructed with the addition of many new and useful improvements. There was one contrivance in particular, for winding the silk upon the bobbins equally, and not in wreaths; and another for stopping, in an instant, not only the whole of this extensive system throughout its various and ^numerous apartments, but any part of it individually. He invented, likewise, machines for making all the tooth and pinion wheels of the different engines. These wheels had hitherto been cut by hand, with, great labour, but by means of Mr. Brindley 's machines, as much work could be performed in one day as had heretofore required fourteen. The potteries of Staffordshire were also, about this time, indebted to him for several valuable additions in the mills used by them for grinding flint stones, by which that process was greatly facilitated.

In the year 1756, Mr. Brindley undertook to erect a steam-engine, near Newcastle-under-Line, upon a newplan. The boiler of it was made with brick and stone, instead of iron plates; and the water was heated by fire-flues of a peculiar construction; by which contrivances the consumption of fuel, necessary for working a steam-engine, was reduced one half. He introduced, likewise, in this engine, cylinders of wood, made in the manner of coopers ware, instead of iron ones; the former being not only cheaper, but more easily managed in the shafts; and he substituted wood too for iron in the chains which worked at the end of the beam. His inventive genius displayed itself in various other useful contrivances, which would probably have brought the steam-engine to a great degree of perfection, if a number of obstacles had not been thrown in his way by some interested engineers, who strenuously opposed any improvements which they could not call their own.

The disappointment of Mr. Brindley’s good designs in this respect must have made the less impression upon him, as his attention was soon after called off to another object, which, in its consequences, hath proved to be of the highest national importance; namely, the projecting and executing of Inland Navigations, from whence the greatest benefits arise to trade and commerce. By these navigations the expence of carriage is lessened; a communication is opened from one part of the kingdom to another, and from each of those parts to the sea; and hence the products and manufactures of the country are afforded at a moderate price. In this period of our great mechanic’s life, we shall see the powers given him by the God of Nature, displayed in the production of events, which, in any age less pregnant with admirable works of ingenuity than the present, would have constituted a national aera. We shall see him triumphing over all the suggestions of envy or prejudice, though aided by the weight of established customs; and giving full scope to the operations of a strong and comprehensive mind, which was equal to the most arduous undertakings. This he did under the protection of a noble duke, who had the discernment to single him out, and the steadiness and generosity to "support him, against the opinions of those who treated Mr. Brindley’s plans as chimeras, and laughed at his patron as an idle projector.

His grace the late duke of Bridgevvater had, at Worsley, about seven miles from Manchester, a large estate, rich with mines of coal, which had hitherto lain useless in the bowels of the earth, because the expence of carriage by ]and was too great to find a market for consumption. The duke, wishing. to work these mines, perceived the necessity of a canal from Worsley to Manchester; upon which occasion, Mr. Brindley, who was now become famous in the country, was consulted. Having surveyed the ground, he declared the scheme to be practicable. In consequence of this, an act was obtained, in 1758 and 1759, for enabling his grace to cut a canal from Worsley to Salford, near Manchester, and to carry the same to or near Hollin Ferry, in the county of Lancaster. It being, however, afterwards discovered, that the navigation would be more beneficial, b*th to the duke of Bridgewater and the public, if carried over the river Irwell, near Barton bridge, to Manchester, his grace applied again to parliament, and procured an act, which enabled him to vary the course of his canal agreeably to this new plan, and likewise to extend a side branch to Longford bridge in Stretford. Mr. Brindley, in the mean time, had begun these great undertakings, being the first of the kind ever attempted, in England, with navigable subterraneous tunnels aird elevated aqueducts. The principle laid down at the commencement of this business reflects much honour on the noble undertaker, as well as upon his engineer. It was resolved that the canal should be perfect in its kind, and that, in order to preserve the level of the water, it should be free from the usual obstructions of locks. But, in accomplishing this end, many difficulties occurred, which were deemed unsurmountable. It was necessary that the canal should be carried over rivers, and many large and deep vallies, where it was evident that such stupendous mounds of earth must be raised, as could scarcely, it was thought, be completed by the labour of ages: and, above all, it was not known from what source so large a supply of water could be drawn, as, even upon this improved plan, would be requisite for the navigation. But Mr. Brindley, with a strength of mind peculiar to himself, and being possessed of the confidence of his great patron, who spared no expence to accomplish his favourite design, conquered all the embarrassments thrown in his way, not only from the nature of the undertaking itself, but by the passions and prejudices of interested individuals: and the admirable machines he contrived, and the methods he took, to facilitate the progress of the work, brought on such a rapid execution of it, that the world began to wonder how it could have been esteemed so difficult. Thus ready are men to find out pretences for lessening the merit of others, and for hiding, if possible, from themselves, the unpleasant idea of their own inferiority.

When the canal was completed as far as Barton, where the Irwell is navigable for large vessels, Mr. Brindley proposed to carry it over that river, by an aqueduct of thirty -nine feet above the surface of the water. This, however, being generally considered as a wild and extravagant project, he desired, in order to justify his conduct towards his noble employer, that the opinion of another engineer might be taken; believing that he* could easily convince an intelligent person of the practicability of his design. A gentleman of eminence was accordingly called in; who, being conducted to the place where it was intended that the aqueduct should be made, ridiculed the attempt; and when the height and dimensions were communicated to him, he exclaimed, “I have often heard of castles in the air, but never before was shewn where any of them were to be erected.” This unfavourable verdict did not deter the duke of Bridgewater from following the opinion of his own engineer. The aqueduct was immediately begun; and it was carried on with such rapidity and success, as astonished all those who but a little before condemned it as a chimerical scheme. This work commenced in September, 1760, and the first boat sailed over it on the 17th of July, 1761. From that time, it was not uncommon to see a boat loaded with forty tons drawn over the aqueduct, with great ease, by one or two mules; while below, against the stream of the Irwell, persons had the pain of beholding ten or twelve men tugging at an equal draught: a striking instance of the superiority of a canalnavigation over that of a river not in the tideway. The works were then extended to Manchester, at which place the curious machine for landing coals upon the top of the bill, gives a pleasing idea of Mr, Brindley’s address in diminishing labour by mechanical contrivances. It may here be observed^ that the bason, in particular, for conveying the superfluous water into the Irwell, below the canal, is an instance of what an attentive survey of this ingenious man’s works will abundantly evince, that, where occasion offered, he well knew how to-unite elegance with utility.

The duke of Bridgewater perceiving, more and more, the importance of these inland navigations, extended his ideas to Liverpool; and though he had every difficulty to encounter, that could arise from the novelty of his undertakings, or the fears and prejudices of those whose interests were likely to be effected by them, his grace happily overcame all opposition, and obtained, in 1762, an act of parliament for branching his canal to the tideway hi the Mersey. This part of the canal is carried over the rivers Mersey and Bollan, and over many wide and deep vallies. Over the yaliies it is conducted without the assistance of a single lock; the level of the water being preserved by raising a mound of earth, and forming therein a mould, as it may be called, for the water. Across the valley at Stretford, through which the Mersey runs, this kind of work extends nearly a mile. A person might naturally have been led to conclude, that the conveyance of such a mass of earth must have employed all the horses and carriages in the country, and that the completion of it would be the business of an age. But our excellent mechanic made his canal subservient to this part of his design, and brought the soil in boats of a peculiar construction, which were conducted into caissoons or cisterns. On opening the bottoms of the boats, the earth was deposited where it was wanted; and thus, in the easiest and simplest manner, the valley was elevated to a proper level for continuing the canal. The ground across the Bollan was raised by temporary locks, which were formed of the timber used in the caissoons just mentioned. In the execution of every part of the navigation, Mr. Brindley displayed singular skill and ingenuity; and, in order to facilitate his purpose, he produced many valuable machines, which ought never to be forgotten in this kingdom. Neither ought the oeconomy and forecast which are apparent through the whole work to be omitted. His ceconomy and forecast are peculiarly discernible in the stops, or floodgates, fixed in the canal, where it is above the level of the land. These stops are so constructed, that, should any of the banks give way, and thereby occasion a current, the adjoining gates will rise by that motion only, and prevent any other part of the water from escaping than what is near the breach between the two gates.

The success with which the duke of Bridgewater’s undertakings were crowned, encouraged a number of gentlemen and manufacturers, in Staffordshire, to revive the idea of a canal navigation through that county, for the advancement of the landed interest and the benefit of trade, in conveying to market, at a cheaper rate, the products and manufactures of the interior parts of the kingdom. This plan was patronized, and generously supported, by lord Gower and Mr. Anson; and it met with the concurrence of many persons of rank, fortune, and influence in the neighbouring counties. Mr. Brindley was, therefore, engaged to make a survey from the Trent to the Mersey; and, upon his reporting that it was practicable to construct a canal, from one of these rivers to the other, and thereby to unite the ports of Liverpool and Hull, a subscription for carrying it into execution was set on foot in 1765, and an act of parliament was obtained in the same year. In 1766, this canal, - called, by the proprietors, “The Canal from the Trent to the Mersey,” but more emphatically, by the engineer, the Grand Trunk Navigation, on account of the numerous branches which, he justly supposed, would be extended every way from it, was begun; and, under his direction, it was conducted, with great spirit and success, as long as he lived. Mr. Brindley’s life not being continued to the completion of this important and arduous undertaking, he left it to be finished by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall, who put the last hand to it, in May 1777, being somewhat less than eleven years after its commencement. We need riot say, that the final execution of the Grand Trunk Navigation gave the highest satisfaction to the proprietors, and excited a general joy in a populous country, the inhabitants of which already receive every advantage they could wish from so truly noble an enterprize. This canal is ninety-three miles in length; and, besides a large number of bridges over it, has seventy-six locks and five tunnels. The most remarkable of the tunnels is the subterraneous passage of Harecastle, being 2880 yards in length, and more then seventy yards below the surface of the earth. The scheme of this inland navigation had employed the thoughts of the Ingenious part of the kingdom for upwards of twenty years before, and some surveys had beeo made. But Harecastle hill, through which the tunnel is constructed, could neither be avoided nor overcome by any expedient the ablest engineers could devise. It was Mr. Brindley alone who surmounted this and other difficulties, arising from the variety of measures, strata, and quick-sands, which none but himself would have attempted.

Soon after the navigation from the Trent to the Mersey was undertaken, application was made to parliament, by the gentlemen of Staffordshire and Worcestershire, for leave to construct a canal from the Grand Trunk, near Haywood in Staffordshire, to the river Severn, near Bewdley. The act being obtained, the design was executed by our great engineer, and hereby the port of Bristol was added to the two before united ports of Liverpool and Hull. This canal, which is about forty-six miles in length, was completed in 1772. Mr. Brindley’s next undertaking was the survey and execution of a canal from Birmingham, to unite with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal near Wolverhampton. This navigation, which was finished in about three years, is twenty-six miles in length. As, by the means of it, vast quantities of coals are conveyed to the river Severn, as well as to Birmingham, where there must be a peculiar demand for them, extraordinary advantages have hence accrued to manufactures and commerce. Our engineer advised the proprietors of the last mentioned navigation, in order to avoid the inconvenience of locks, and to supply the canal more effectually with water, to have a tunnel at Smethwick. This would have rendered it a complete work. But his advice was rejected, and, to supply the deficiency, the managers have lately erected two of Messrs. Watts and Boulton’s steam-engines. The canal from Droitwich to the river Severn, for the conveyance of salt and coals, was likewise executed by Mr. Brindley. By him, also, the Coventry navigation was planned, and it was a short time under his direction. But a dispute arising concerning the mode of execution, he resigned his office; which, it is imagined, the proprietors of that undertaking have since had cause to lament. Some little time before his death, Mr. Brindley began the Oxfordshire canal. This unites with the Coventry canal, and forms a continuation of the Grand Trunk Navigation to Oxford, and thence by the Thames to London. The canal from Chesterfield to the river Trent at Stockwith, was the last public undertaking in which Mr. Brindley engaged. He surveyed and planned the whole, and executed some miles of the navigation, which was succesfully finished by Mr. Henshall, in 1777. There were few works of this nature projected, in any part of the kingdom, in which our engineer was not consulted. He was employed, in particular, by the City of London, to survey a course for a canal from Sunning, near Reading in Berkshire, to Monkey island, near Maidenhead. But when application was made to parliament, for leave to effect the design, the bill met with such a violent opposition from the land-owners, that it was defeated.

Mr. Brindley had, for some time, the direction of the Calder navigation; but he declined a farther inspection of it, on account of a difference in opinion among the commissioners. In the year 1766, he laid out a canal from the river Calder, at Cooper’s bridge, to Huddersfield in Yorkshire, which hath since been carried into execution. In 1768, he revised the plan for the inland navigation from Leeds to Liverpool. He was, likewise, at the first general meeting of the proprietors after the act of parliament had been obtained, appointed the engineer for conducting the work: but the multiplicity of his other engagements obliged him to decline this employment. In the same year, he planned a canal from Stockton, by Darlington, to Winston in the bishopric of Durham. Three plans, of the like kind, were formed by him in 1769; one from Leeds to Selby; another from the Bristol channel, near Uphill in Somersetshire, to Glastonbury, Taunton, Wellington, Tiverton, and Exeter; and a third from Langport, in the county of Somerset, by way of Ilminster, Chard, and Axminster, to the South channel, at Axmouth, in the county of Devon. In 1770, he surveyed the country, for a canal from Andover, by way. of Stockb'ridge and Rumsey, to Redbridge, near Southampton; and, in 1771, from Salisbury, by -Fordingbridge and Ringwood, to Christchurch. He performed the like office, in 1772, for a navigation of the same kind, proposed to be carried on from Preston to Lancaster, and from thence to Kendal, in Westmoreland. He surveyed, likewise, and planned out a canal, to join that of the duke of Bridgewater’s at Runcorn, from Liverpool. If this scheme had been executed, it was Mr. Brindley’s intention to have constructed the work, by an aqueduct over the river Mersey, at a place where the tide flows fourteen feet in height. He also surveyed the county of Chester, for a canal from the Grand Trunk to the city-of Chester. The plan for joining the Forth and the Clyde was revised by him; and he proposed some considerable alterations, particularly with regard to the deepening of the Clyde, which have been attended to by the managers. He was consulted upon several improvements with respect to the draining of the low lands, in different parts of Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely. A canal was, likewise, laid out by him, for uniting that of Chesterfield, by the way of Derby, with the Grand Trunk at Swarkstone. To the corporation of Liverpool, he gave a>*plan for cleansing their docks of mud. This hath been put into execution with the desired effect: and he pointed out, also, -the method, which has been attended with equal success, of building walls against the sea without mortar. The last of our great mechanic’s ingenious and uncommon contrivances, that we shall mention, is his improvement of the machine for drawing water out of mines, by a losing and a gaining bucket: This he afterwards employed, to advantage, in raising up coals from the mines.

When "any extraordinary difficulty occurred to Mr. Brindley, in the execution of his works, having little or no assistance from books, or the labours of other men, his resources lay within himself. In order, therefore, to be quiet and uninterrupted, whilst he was in search of the necessary expedients, he generally retired to his bed; and he has been known to lie there one, two, or three days, till he had attained the object in view. He then would get up, and execute his design without any drawing or model. Indeed, it never was his custom to make either, unless he was obliged to do it to satisfy his employers. His memory was so remarkable, that he has often declared that he could remember, and execute, all the parts of the most complex machine, provided he had time, in his survey of it, to settle in his mind the several departments, and their relations to each other. His method of calculating the powers of any machine invented by him, was peculiar to himself. He worked the question for some time in his head, and then put down the results in figures. After this, taking it up again in that stage, he worked it farther in his mind, for a certain time, and set down the results as before. In the same way he still proceeded, making use of figures only at stated periods of the question. Yet the ultimate result was generally true, though the road he travelled in search of it was unknown to all but himself;. and, perhaps, it would not have been in his power to have shewn it to another.

The attention which was paid by Mr. Brindley to objects of peculiar magnitude did not permit him to indulge himself in the common diversions of life. Indeed, he had not the least relish for the amusements to which mankind, in general, are so much devoted. He never seemed in his element, if he was not either planning or executing some great work, or conversing with his friends upon subjects of importance. He was once, prevailed upon, when in London, to see a play. Having never been at an entertainment of this kind before, it had a powerful effect upon him, and he complained, for several days afterward, that it had disturbed his ideas, and rendered him unfit for business. He declared, therefore, that he would not go to another play upon any account. It might, however, have contributed to the longer duration of Mr. Brindley’s life, and consequently to the farther benefit of the public, if he could have occasionally relaxed the tone of his mind. His not being able to do so, might not solely arise from the vigour of his genius, always bent upon capital designs; but be, in part, the result of that total want of education, which, while it might add strength to his powers in the particular way in which they were exerted, precluded him, at the same time, from those agreeable reliefs that are administered by miscellaneous reading, and a taste in the polite and elegant arts. The only fault he was observed to fall into, was his suffering himself to be prevailed upon to engage in more concerns than could be completely attended to by any single man, how eminent soever might be his abilities and diligence. It is apprehended that, by this means, Mr. Brindley shortened his days, and, in a certain degree, abridged his usefulness. There is, at least, the utmost reason to believe, that his intense application, in general, to the important undertakings he had in hand, brought on a hectic fever, which continued upon him, with little or no intermission, for some years, and at length terminated his life. He died, at Turnhurst, in Staffordshire, on the 30th of September, 1772, in the 56th year of his age, and was buried at New chapel in the same county, where an altar-tomb has been erected to his tnemory. The vast works Mr. Brindley was engaged in at the time of his death, he left to be carried on and completed by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall, for whom he had a peculiar regard, and of whose integrity and abilities in conducting these works, he had the highest opinion.

Thus was the world deprived, at a comparatively early period, of this great genius

who very soon gave indications of uncommon talents, and extensive views, in the application of mechanical principles; and who, by a happy concurrence of circumstances, the chief of which was the patronage of his grace the duke of Bridgewater, was favoured with an opportunity of unfolding and displaying his wonderful powers, in the execution of works new to this country, and such as will ex*-. tend his fame, and endear his memory, to future times. The public could only recognize the merit of this extraordinary man in the stupendous undertakings which he carried to perfection, and exhibited to general view. But those who had the advantage of conversing with him familiarly, and of knowing him well in his private character, respected him still more for the uniform and unshaken integrity of his conduct; for his steady attachment to the interest of the community; for the vast compass of his understanding, which seemed to have a natural affinity with all grand objects; and, likewise, for many noble and beneficent designs, constantly generating in his mind, and which the multiplicity of his engagements, and the shortness of his life, prevented him from bringing to maturity.

, a non-conformist divine, was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, in 1600. His father was also a divine of the puritan kind, and master of the school at Ashby. The noted astrologer William Lilly, was at his school in 1613. His mother was sister to bishop Hall. After being educated by his father, he was admitted of Emanuel college, Cambridge, at the age of thirteen and a half. Having resided there three or four years, he attended his uncle Hall, then dean of Worcester, as his amanuensis, to the synod of Dort, and after his return, resumed his studies at Cambridge, and being elected schoJar of the house, resided there until he took his degrees. When ordained he preached first at Preston, near Chelmsford, then at Somerieyton in Suffolk, and lastly was called to Yarmouth, on the election of the township, but his principles being objected to by Dr. Harsnet, bishop of Norwich, he could only preach on the week days at a country village adjoining, whither the people of Yarmouth followed him, until the township applied to the king for his licence for Mr. Brinsley to preach in Yarmouth. This being granted by his majesty, he remained there until the restoration, when he was ejected with his numerous brethren, who refused the terms of conformity. Although a man of moderate sentiments, he appears to have been inflexible in the points which divided so large a tody of clergymen from the church, and is said to have refused considerable preferment to induce him to remain in it. He is praised by his biographer for piety, and extensive learning in theology. He died Jan. 22, 1665. He wrote several treatises enumerated by Calamy, none of which, we believe, are now much known. He had a son, Robert, who was ejected from the university, and afterwards studied and took his degree of M. D. at Leyden, and practised at Yarmouth.

, president of the parliament of Paris, and an eminent lawyer, was born at Fontenay in Poictou, about the middle of the sixteenth century. He appeared at first with great eclat at the bar of the parliament; and, by his knowledge and skill in the law, recommended himself so powerfully to Henry III. of France, that this prince first made him his advocate general, then counsellor of state, and in 1580, honoured him with the dignity of president of the parliament. Scsevola Sammarthanus relates, that Henry III. declared in his hearing, that there was not a prince in Christendom, who could boast of so learned a man as Barnaby Brisson. The king employed him in several negociations, and sent him ambassador into England. At his return, he employed him to make a collection of his own ordinances, and of those of his predecessors; which he performed with wonderful expedition. He wrote some works in law: “De verbormxi, qua) ad jus pertinent, significatione.” “De formulis et solemnibus populi Romani verbis,” Paris, 1583, fol. “De regip Persarum principatu,” &c. 1580, 1590, 1599, 8voj 1606, 4to; but the best edition is that of Strasburgh, 1710, 8vo, with Sylburgius’ notes. H gave an expectation of more considerable performances; but his life was shortened by a very unfortunate accident. Living at Paris when that rebellious city was besieged by Henry IV. he remonstrated against the treasonable practices of the leaguers, who, under pretence of the holy union, contemned the royal authority, which was much more sacred. These religious traitors, being dissatisfied with his loyalty, fell violently upon him, dragged him to prison, and cruelly strangled him the 15th of Nov. 1591.

, an eminent French physician, was born at Fontenai-le-Comte, in Poitou, 147s, and about 1495 was sent to Paris, where he went through a course of philosophy under Villemar, a famous professor of those times. By his advice, Brissot resolved to be a physician, and studied physic there for four years. Then he began to teach philosophy in the university of Paris; and, after he had done this for ten years, prepared himself for the examinations necessary to his doctor of physic’s degree, which he took in May 1514, Being one of those men who are not contented with custom and tradition, but choose to examine for themselves, he made an exact comparison between the practice of his own times and the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen and he found that the Arabians had introduced many things into physic that were contrary to the doctrine of those two great masters, and to reason and experience. He set himself therefore to reform physic; and for this purpose undertook publicly to explain Galen’s books, instead of those of Avicenna, Rhasis, and Mesu'i, which were commonly explained in the schools of physic; but, finding himself obstructed in the work of reformation by his ignorance of botany, he resolved to travel, in order to acquire the knowledge of plants, and put himself into a capacity of correcting pharmacy. Before, however, he left Paris, he undertook to convince the public of what he deemed an inveterate error; but which now is considered as a matter of little consequence. The constant practice of physicians, in the pleurisy, Was to bleed from the arm, not on the side where the distemper was, but the opposite side. Brissot disputed about it in the physic-schools, confuted that practice, and shewed, chat it was falsely pretended to be agreeable to the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. He then left Paris in 1518, and went to Portugal, stopping there at Ebora, where he practised physic; but his new way of bleeding in the pleurisy, notwithstanding his great success, did not please every body, He received a long and rude letter about it from Denys, physician to the king of Portugal; which he answered, and would have published if death had not prevented him in 1522. It was printed, however, three years after at Paris, and reprinted at Basil in 1529. Renatus Moreau published a new edition of it at Paris in 1622, with a treatise of his own, “De missione sanguinis in pleuritide,” and the life of Brissot; out of which this account is taken. He never would marry, being of opinion that matrimony did not well agree with study. One thing is related of him, which his biographer, rather uncharitably, says, deserves to be taken notice of, because it is singular in the men of his profession; and it is, that he did not love gain. He cared so little for it, that when he was called to a sick person, he looked into his purse; and, if he found but two pieces of gold in it, refused to go. This, however, it is acknowledged, was owing to his great love of study, from which it was very difficult to take him. The dispute between Denys and Brissot raised a kind of civil war among the Portuguese physicians. The business was brought before the tribunal of the university of Salamanca, Where it was thoroughly discussed by the faculty of physic; but in the mean time, the partisans of Denys had recourse to the authority of the secular power, and obtained a decree, forbidding physicians to bleed on the same side in which the pleurisy was. At last the university of Salamanca gave their judgment; importing, that the opinion of Brissot was the true doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. The followers of Denys appealed to the emperor about 1529, thinking themselves superior both in authority and number; and the matter was brought before Charles V. They were not contented to call the doctrine of their adversaries false; they added that it was impious, mortal, and as pernicious to the body as Luther’s schism to the souL They not only blackened the reputation of their adversaries by private arts, but also openly accused them of ignorance and rashness, of attempts on religion, and of being downright Lutherans in physic. It fell out Unluckily for them, that Charles III. duke of Savoy, happened to die of a pleurisy, after he had been bled according to the practice which Brissot opposed. Had it not been for this, the emperor, it is thought, would have granted every thing that Erissot’s adversaries desired of him; but this accident induced him to leave the cause undecided. “Two things,” says Bayle, in his usual prattling way, “occur in this relation, which all wise men must needs condemn; namely, the base, the disingenuous, the unphilosophic custom of interesting religion in disputes about science, and the folly and absurdity of magistrates to be concerned in such disputes. A magistrate is for the most part a very incompetent judge of such matters; and, as he Jiiiows nothing of them, so he ought to imitate Gallio in this at least, that is, not to care for them; but to leave those whose business it is, to fight it out among themselves. Besides, authority has nothing to do with philosophy and the sciences; it should be kept at a great distance from them, for the same reason that armed forces are removed from a borough at the time of a % general assize; namely, that reason and equity may have their full play.”

, a very active agent in the French revolution, and a victim to the tyranny he had created, was the son of the master of an eating-house, and boru in 1754 at Chartres in the Orleanuois. After receiving a good education, he was intended for the bar, but having served a clerkship for five years, he relinquished the further prosecution of the law, in order to study literature and the sciences; and an accidental acquaintance with some Englishmen, and the perusal of some English books, seem to have confirmed this determination. About this time he changed the appellation of “de Otiarville” to that of Warville, agreeable to the English pronunciation. Having by relinquishing the law incurred his father’s displeasure, he was indebted to the bounty of some friends, who enabled him to prosecute his studies at Paris for two years; after which he became editor of the “Courier de PEurope,” a paper printed at Boulogne; but this being discontinued on account of some articles inimical to government, he returned to Paris, and in imitation of Voltaire, Diderot, and D'Alembert, who, as he imagined, had destroyed religious tyranny, began to attempt the destruction of political tyranny, which he fancied was reserved for his irresistible pen. To develope the whole of his plan, however, was not his aim at first: and he began, therefore, with attacking such abuses as might have been removed without any injury to an established constitution, but which, as they could not be wholly denied, he endeavoured to trace from the very nature of monarchy. With this view he published some works on criminal jurisprudence, as, in 1780, his “Theory of Criminal laws,” 2 vols. 8vo, and two papers arising out of the subject, which gained the prize in 1782, at the academy of Chalons-surMarne. He also began a work which was afterwards completed in 10 vols. 8vo, <c A philosophical library of the criminal law,“and a volume concerning” Truth“and” Thoughts on the means of attaining Truth in all the branches of human knowledge," which he intended merely as an introduction to a work on a more enlarged and comprehensive plan. To all these he annexed ideas of singular importance and utility, although his notions are crude, and his knowledge superficial.

Brissot, at the period of his residence at Boulogne, had been introduced to mademoiselle Dupont, who was employed under mad. de Genlis as reader to the daughter of the duke of Orleans, and whose mother kept a lodginghouse in that place: and having married this lady, he found it necessary to exert his literary talents for gaining a subsistence. But as France did not afford that liberty, which he wished to indulge, he formed a design of printing, in Swisserland or Germany, a series of works in a kind of periodical publication, under the title of “An universal Correspondence on points interesting to the welfare of Man and of Society,” which he proposed to smuggle into France. With this view, he visited Geneva and Neuchatel, in order to establish correspondences; and he also made a journey to London, which was to be the central point of the establishment, and the fixed residence of the writers. His intentions, however, were divulged by the treachery of some of his confidential associates; and the scheme totally failed. During his abode in London, he concerted the plan of a periodical work or journal, on the literature, arts, and politics of England, which, being published in London, was allowed to be reprinted at Paris, and first appeared in 1784. The avowed object of this publication, as he himself declares, was “the universal emancipation of men.” In London, he was arrested for debt; but, being liberated by the generosity of a friend, he returned to Paris, where he was committed to the Bastille in July 1784, on the charge of being concerned in a very obnoxious publication. But by the interest of the duke of Orleans, he was released, on condition of never residing in England, and discontinuing his political correspondence. In 1785, he published two letters to the emperor Joseph II. “Concerning the Right of Emigration, and the Right of the People to revolt,” which he applied particularly to the case of the Waiachsans: and in the following year appeared his “Philosophical Letters on the History of England,” in 2 vols. and “A critical Examination of the Travels of the marq is de Chatelleux in North America.” With a view of promoting a close, political, and commercial union between France and the United States, he wrote in 1787, with the assistance of Claviere, a tract, entitled “De la France et des Etats Unis, &c.” “On France and the United States or on the Importance of the American Revolution to the kingdom of France, and the reciprocal advantages which will accrue from a commercial Intercourse between the two nations.” Of this work, an English translation was published, both in England and America. At this time he was in the service of the duke of Orleans, as secretary to his chancery, with a handsome salary, and apartments in the palais royal; and, without doubt, employed in aiding that monster in his schemes of ambition. In this situation, he wro:e a pamphlet against the administration of the archbishop of Sens, entitled “No Bankruptcy, &c.” which occasioned the issuing of a lettre de cachet against him. But to avoid its effect, he went to Holland, England, and the Low Countries; and at Mechlin, he edited a newspaper, called “Le Courier Beigique.” For the purpose of promoting the views of a society at Paris, denominated “Les Amis des Noirs,” and established for the purpose of abolishing negro slavery, he embarked for America in 1788; and, during his residence in that country, he sought for a convenient situation, in which a colony of Frenchmen might be organized into a republic, according to his ideas of political liberty. But his return was hastened in 1789 by the intelligence he received of the progress of the French revolution. After his arrival, he published his “Travels in America;” (Nouveau Voyage dans les Etats Unis, &. Paris, 1791, 3 vols. 8vo), and as he found the attention of the public directed to the approaching assembly of the states-general, he wrote his “Plan of Conduct for the Deputies of the People.” At this time, he had withdrawn from the partisans of the duke of Orleans; and he took an active part in the plans that were then projected for the organization of the people, with a view to their union and energy in accomplishing the revolution. To the lodgings of Brissot, as a person who was held in estimation at this period, the keys of the Bastille, when it was taken, were conveyed; he also became president of the Jacobin club; and he distinguished himself in various ways as a zealous promoter of those revolutionary principles, which afterwards gave occasion to a great jiumber of atrocious excesses. After the king’s flight to Varennes, Brissot openly supported the republican cause; but, as some form of monarchy was still the object of the national wish, he was obliged to restrain his impetuosity. The popularity acquired by his writings and conduct was such, as to induce the Parisians to return him as one of their members in the “Legislative national assembly,” which succeeded the “Constituent assembly,” in October 1791, of which assembly he was appointed secretary; and he became afterwards a member of the committee of public instruction. Although inferior to many others in talents and knowledge, his activity raised him to the rank of head or chief, in the party denominated “Girondists” or “La Gironde,” the name of the department to which several of its members belonged, and also from his own name “Brissotins.” In his career of ambition, he does not seem to have been influenced by pecuniary cc nsiderations; power, more than wealth, being the object of his aim; for, at this time, he and his family lodged in an apartment up four pair of stairs, and subsisted on his stipend as deputy, and the inconsiderable gains accruing from a newspaper. As a determined enemy to monarchy, he was unremitting in his efforts to engage the nation in a war, with the avowed purpose of involving the king and his ministers in difficulties which would terminate in their ruin, and this part of his political conduct must ever be lamented and execrated by the friends of freedom and of mankind. In the impeachment of M. Delessart, the minister for foreign affairs, Brissot took a principal lead; and alleged against him several articles of accusation, in consequence of which, he was apprehended, tried by the high national court at Orleans, and condemned to die, without being h'rst heard in his own defence, so that he became the first victim to that desperate faction, which afterwards deluged France with blood. His colleagues were so complex ly terrified by this event, that they requested leave to resign, and the ministry was at once completely dissolved. Their successors, appointed by the king, under the direction and inriuence of Brissot, were Dumourier, Roland, and Ciaviere. This appointment was followed bya declaration of war, decreed by the national assembly, against the king of Hungary and Bohemia; and Brissot, during the existence of this administration, which terminated soon, was considered as the most powerful person in France. About this time, Brissot began to entertain secret jealousy and suspicion of La Fayette, and concurred with other members of the assembly, in signing an accusation against him, which, however, he was not able to substantiate. He and his republican party were likewise industrious in their endeavours to throw an odium on the court, by alleging, that a private correspondence was carried on between the king and queen and the emperor; and they even averred, that an “Austrian Committee,” and a conspiracy in favour of the enemies of the country, existed among the friends of the court. The charge seemed to be unsupported by sufficient evidence; the king publicly contradicted these accusations as calumnies; nevertheless, they made no small impression on the minds of the public. To the writings and conduct of Brissot, the horrid massacres at the Tuiileries, on the 10th of August, 1792, have been principally ascribed; and it is a poor excuse that he is said to have preserved the lives of several of the Swiss guards on that fatal day. He was employed to draw up the declaration to the neutral powers concerning the suspension of the king’s authority; but he is said to have regarded with horror the sanguinary spirit that was now predominant among the leaders of the jacobins. Whilst, indeed, he was ascending to the pinnacle of power, he seems to have been the ardent advocate of insurrection and the revolutionary power: but as he found himself raised to that station, he began to inculcate “order and the constitution,” the usual cant of all demagogues who think they have attained their object. In the shocking massacre of the prisoners at Paris in September, he had probably no other concern, than the inwhich his irritating speeches and writings had created on the minds of the more active agents. When the “National convention,” the idea of which is said to have been suggested by him, assumed the direction of the state, and assembled on the 20th of September, 1792, he was returned as member for the department of Eure and Loire, his native country. In this assembly, he openly avowed himself an advocate for a republican government, in opposition both to the Jacobins and Orleanists; and was expelled the Jacobin club. On this occasion, he wrote a vindication of his public conduct, under the title of “An Address to all the Republicans.” He is said to have been so far shocked by the prospect of the fatal issue of the king’s trial, as to have attempted the preservation of his life, by deferring his execution till the constitution should be perfected; a proposition of which the absurdity and cruelty are nearly equal. The war with England, which soon followed the death of Louis, is ascribed to his ardour find credulity; for he was led to imagine, that the consequence of it would be a civil war in this country; and it is said, that this, as well as the war with Holland, was decreed in the national convention, Feb. 1, 1793, at his motion. This charge, however, he retorts on his accusers, and says, that the anarchists, by voting the death of the king, were themselves the authors of the war,

Brissot’s influence now gradually declined; and his party was at length overpowered by a more violent and sanguinary faction, denominated the “Mountain,” so called from its members usually sitting in the convention, on the upper seats of the hall, at the head of which was Robespierre, of execrable memory. The treachery and desertion of Dumourier likewise contributed to hasten the downfal of this party. To their imbecility or perfidy, the public calamities that threatened the country, were generally ascribed; and, after the establishment of the “Revolutionary tribunal,” for the purpose of trying crimes committed agains: the state, in March 1793, a petition was presented in the following month by the communes of the 48 sections of Paris, requiring that the chiefs of the Girondists, or Brissotins, denounced in it, should be impeached, and expelled the convention. In May and June decrees of arrest were issued against them; and against Brissot among the rest, who attempted to make his escape into Swisseriand, but was stopped and imprisoned; and in the following October, be and 21 of his associates were brought before the revolutionary tribunal. Brissot, who was elevated in the midst of them, maintained a firm and tranquil mind; but, though their accusers could support their charges by little more than mere surmises, the whole party was immediately condemned to the scaffold; and next morning were led to execution. There Brissot, after seeing the blood of 16 associates stream from the scaffold, submitted to the stroke with the ut.nost composure. In the relations of private life, Ins character stands without reproach; but these afford no counterpoise to his public conduct* and although his sentence was unjust as coming from men as guilty as himself, it was the natural consequence of a tyranny to the establishment of which he had contributed more largely than most of his countrymen.

, an eminent Roman catholic priest and writer in the reign of queen Elizabeth, was born at Worcester, in 1538. In 1555 he was entered of Exeter college, Oxford, according to Pits, which Wood doubts; but he took his degree of B. A. in I 559, and M. A. in 1562, at which last time he was a member of Christ church. He and the celebrated Campian were so esteemed for their talents, as to be selected to entertain queen Elizabeth with a public disputation in 1566. Bristow was afterwards, in July 1567, made a fellow of Exeter college, by the interest of sir William Petre, who had founded some fellowships in that college, and who would have promoted him further, had he not laid himself open to the suspicion of holding popish tenets; and this appeared more plainly by his quitting the university on carvlinal Alan’s invitation. He went then to Doway, and after prosecuting his theological studies in that academy, was admitted to his doctor’s degree in 1579, and, says his biographer, was Alan’s “right hand upon all occasions.” He was made prefect of studies, lectured on the scriptures, and in the absence of Alan acted as regent of the college. His intense studies, however, injured a constitution originally very weak, and after a journey to Spa, which had very little effect, he was recommended to try his native air. On his return to England, he resided for a very short time with a Mr. Bellamy, a gentleman of fortune, at Harrow on the Hill, where he died Oct. 18, 1581. The popish historians concur in expressing the loss their cause suffered by his death, he being teemed “an Alan in prudence, a Stapleton in acuteness, a Campian in eloquence, a Wright in theology, and a Martin in languages.” He wrote, 1. “Dr. Bristow’s motives,” Antwerp, 1574, 1599, 8vo, translated afterwards into Latin, by Dr. Worthington, Doway, 1608, 4to. 2. “A Reply to William Fulk (his ablest antagonist), in defence of Dr. Allen (Alan’s) articles, and book of purgatory,” Louvain, 1580, 4to. 3. “Fifty-one demands, to be proposed by catholics to heretics,” London, 1592, 4to. 4. “Veritates Aurese S. R. Ecclesiae,” 1616. 5. “Tabula in summam theologicam S. Thomse Aquinatis,” 1579. He wrote also “An Apology in defence of Alan and himself,” and notes upon the Rheims Testament.

, an eminent Italian scholar of the fifteenth century, was born in the Brescian territory, of a family originally from Great Britain; and having studied at Padua about the year 1470, kept school at Brescia, and distinguished himself by several learned annotations on various classic authors, particularly Juvenal, Lucan, Horace, Persius, and Statius in his Achiileid. He also wrote grammatical and other tracts, and an eulogy on Bartholomew Cajetan. He is supposed not to have long survived the year 1518, and did not live to publish his notes upon Pliny’s Natural History. His Statius was published in 1485, fol. and his Juvenal in 1512, Venice, fol.

, a Portuguese historian, was born at Almeida, Aug. 20, 1569, and entered young into the order of the Cistercians, by whom he was sent to Italy to be educated. During his studies he betrayed much more fondness for history than for philosophy or divinity, yet did not neglect the latter so far as to be unable to teach both, which he did with reputation on his return home. His abilities in investigating the affairs of Portugal procured him the office of first historiographer of Portugal, and he was the first who endeavoured to give a regular form to its history, two folio volumes of which he published in 1597, at Alcobasa, and 1609, at. Lisbon, under the title of “Monarchia Lusitana.” It is written with elegance; and was brought down to Alfonsus III. by Antony and Francis Brandano, monks of the same order, making in all 7 vols. He published also, 2. Panegyrics of the kings of Portugal, with their portraits. 3. Ancient Geography of Portugal. 4. Chronicle of the Cistercian order. The ' Guerra Brasilica," Lisbon, 1675, 2 vols. folio, is by Francis de Brito, a different person from Bernard, who died in 1617.

, a very singular personage, known by the name of the Musical Small-coal Man, was born at or near Hignam Ferrers, in Northamptonshire, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and went from thence to London, where he bound himself apprentice to a smallcoal man. He served seven years, and returned to Northamptonshire, his master giving him a sum of money not to set up: but, after this money was spent, he returned again to London, and set up the trade of small-coal, which he continued to the end of his life. Some time after he had been settled in business here, he became acquainted with Dr. Garaniere, his neighbour, an eminent chemist, who, admitting him into his laboratory, Tom, with the doctor’s consent, and his own observation, soon became a notable chemist; contrived and built himself a moving laboratory, in which, according to Hearne, “he performed with little expence and trouble such things as had never been done before.” Besides his great skill in chemistry, he became a practical, and, as was thought, a theoretical musician. Tradition only informs us that he was very fond of music, and taat he was able to perform on the viol da gamba at his own concerts, which he at first established gratis in his miserable house, which was an old mean building, the ground-floor of which was a repository for his small-coal; over this was his concert-room, long, low, and narrow, to which there was no other ascent than by a pair of stairs on the outside, so perpendicular and narrow, as scarcely to be mounted without crawling.

Hearne allows him to have been a very diligent collector of old books of all kinds, which, in his courses through the town crying his small-coal, he had a good opportunity of doing at stalls, where he used to stop and select for purchase whatever was ancient, particularly on his two favourite subjects of chemistry and music. On the former, it has naturally been suggested that he had picked up books on Rosicrucian mysteries, and not impossible but that he may have wasted some of his small-coals in the great secrets of alchemy in the transmutation of metals. With respect to music, he collected all the elementary books in English that were then extant; such as Morley’s. introduction, Simpson’s division violist, Playford, Butler, Bath, and Mace; nine books of instruction for the psalmody, flute, and mock trumpet. But besides his vast collection of printed music, the catalogue of which fills eigat pages in 4to, of sir J. Hawkins’s Hist, of Music, he seems to have been such an indefatigable copyist, that he is said to have transcribed with his own hand, very neatly and accurately, a collection of music which sold after his decease for near 100l.

Mr. Walpole, in his Anecdotes, says, that “Woolaston the painter, who was a good performer on the violin and flute, had played at the concert held at the house of that extraordinary person, Thomas Britton the small-coal man, whose picture he twice drew, one of which was purchased ]by sir Hans Sloane, and is now in the British museum: there is a mezzotinto from it. T. Britton, who made much noise in his time, considering his low station and trade, was a collector of all sorts of curiosities, particularly drawings, prints, books, manuscripts on uncommon subjects, as mystic divinity, the philosopher’s stone, judicial astrology, and magic; and musical instruments, both in and out of vogue. Various were the opinions concerning him; some thought his musical assembly only a cover for seditious meetings; others, for magical purposes. He was taken for an atheist, a presbyterian, a Jesuit But Woolaston the painter, and the son of a gentleman who had likewise been a member of that club, averred it as their opinions, that Britton was a plain, simple, honest man, who only meant to amuse himself. The subscription was but ten shillings a year; Britton found the instruments, and they had coffee at a penny a dish. Sir Hans Sloane bought many of his books and Mss. now in the Museum, when they were sold by auction at Tom’s coffeehouse, near Ludgate.”

In most of the prints, he was represented with his sack of small-coal on his shoulder, and his measure of retail in his hand. In the Guardian, No, 144, Steele, speaking of the variety of original and odd characters, which our free government produces, says: “We have a small-coal man, who beginning with two plain notes, which made up his daily cry, has made himself master of the whole compass of the gammut, and has frequent concerts of music at his own house, for the entertainment of himself and friends.”

But the assertion of sir John Hawkins, that Britton was the first who had a meeting that corresponded with the idea of a concert, is not correct: in the time of Charles I. and during the usurpation, at Oxford, meetings for the performance of Fancies in six and seven parts, which preceded sonatas and concerts, were very common. And in Charles the Second’s time, Banister, father and son, had concerts, first at taverns and public-houses, and afterwards at York-buildings. It is, perhaps, not a matter worthy of dispute; but we imagine that it would be difficult to prove that Handel ever played at the small-coal man’s concert. Handel was proud, and never had much respect for English composers. He had been caressed and patronised by princes and nobles so long, that he would as soon have gone into a coal-pit to play at a concert, as to the hovel of our vender of small-coal.

About the commencement of the last century, a passion prevailed among several persons of distinction, of collecting old books and Mss.; and it was their Saturday’s amusement during winter, to ramble through various quarters of the town in pursuit of these treasures. The earls of Oxford, Pembroke, Sunderland, and Winchelsea, and the duke of Devonshire, were of this party, and Mr. Bagford and other collectors assisted them in their researches. Britton appears to have been employed by them; and, as he was a very inodest, decent, and unpresuming man, he was a sharer in their conversation, when they met after their morning’s walk, at a bookseller’s shop in Ave-Maria lane, Britton used to pitch his coal-sack on 'a bulk at the door, and, dressed in his b ue frock, to step in and spend an hour with the company. But it was not only by a few literary lords that his acquaintance was cultivated; his humble roof was frequented by assemblies of the fair and the gay; and his fondness for music caused him to be known by many dilettanti and professors, who formed themselves into aciub at his house, where capital pieces were played by some of the first professional artists, and other practitioners; and here Duboprg, when a child, played, standing upon a joint-stool, the Hrst solo that he ever executed in public.

The circumstances of his death were very extraordinary. A ventriloquist was introduced into his company by one justice Robe, who was fond of mischievous jests. This man, in a voice seemingly coming from a distance, announced to poor Britton his approaching end, and bid him prepare for it, by repealing the Lord’s prayer on his knees. The poor man did so, but the affair dwelt so much upon his imagination, that he died in a few days, leaving justice Robe to enjoy the fruits of his mirth. His death happened in September, 1714, when he was upwards of sixty years of age.

, a learned Frenchman, was born about the end of the fifteenth century, at Auxerre, or in that diocese; and in his education made great progress in the learned languages, particularly the Greek, from which he translated into Latin, Chrysostom’s treatise on the priesthood; his first eight homilies on the epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, and some other works, which contributed very much to his reputation. He used frequently to compose Greek verses, with which he entertained the literati at his house, where they were sure of an open table. From 1512 he was secretary to queen Anne, and archdeacon of Albi. In 1515 he had a canonry conferred upon him in the church of Auxerre, which, in 1520, he resigned, on being promoted to the same rank at Paris. He calls himself almoner to the king in the title of his rare book “Germani Brixii, gratulatoriae quatuor ad totidem viros classissimos, &c.” Paris, 1531, 4to. This contains also four letters to Erasmus, Jerome Vida, Sadolet, and Lazarus Bayf, with some Latin poetry addressed to Francis I. on a marble statue of Venus, which the chevalier Ilenz had presented to that sovereign. He published also an edition of Longolius’s defences, “Christ. Longolii perduellionis rei detensiones duae,” 1520. Brixius died in 1538. He was the familiar acquaintance of Rabelais, and long the correspondent of Erasmus, but what more particularly entitles him to notice here, is his quarrel with sir Thomas More, on which some of the biographers of that illustrious character have been either silent, or superficial. Brixius in 151*3 composed a poem called “Chordigera,”. where in three hundred hexameter verses, he described a battle fought that year by a French ship, la Cordeliere, and an English ship, the Regent. More, who was not then in the high station which he afterwards reached, composed several epigrams in derision of this poem. Brixius, piqued at this affront, revenged himself by the “AntiMorus,” an elegy of about 400 verses, in which he severely censured all the faults which he thought he had found in the poems of More. Yet he kept this piece of satire by him for some time, declaring, that if he should consent to the publication, it would be purely to comply with his friends, who remonstrated to hirn, that compositions of this kind lost much of their bloom by coming out late. There are three editions of the Anti-Morus. The two first are of Paris; one published by himself, in 1520, the other in 1560, in the second volume of the “Flores Epigrammatum” of Leodegarius a Quercu, or Leger du Che'ne. The third is in the “Corpus Poetarum Latinorum” collected by Janus Gruterus, under the anagrammatic name of Ranutius Gerus. Erasmus says that More despised this poem so much as to have intended to print it; Erasmus at the same time advised More to take no notice of it. The chancellor’s great-grandson and biographer, More, seems to think that he had written something in answer to Brixius, before he received this advice from Erasmus, but called in the copies, “so that,” says his biographer, “it is now very hard to be found; though some have seen it of late.” Much correspondence on the subject may be perused in our authorities.

, son of the rev. W. Broad, of Rendcombe, in Gloucestershire, was born in 1577, and educated at St. Mary’s-hall, Oxford, which he entered in 1594, but soon after went to Aiban-hall, where he took his degrees in arts: In 1611, on the death of his father, he became rector of Rendcombe, where he was held in high esteem for piety and learning, and where he died, and was buried in the chancel of his church, in June, 1635. He wrote: 1. a “Touchstone for a Christian,” Lond. 1613, 12mo. 2. “The Christian’s Warfare,' ibid. 1613, 12mo. 3.” Three questions on the Lord’s Day, c.“Oxon. 1621, 4to. 4.” Tractatus de Sabbato, in quo doctrina ecclesise primitives declaratur ac defenditur," 1627, 4to, and two treatises on the same subject, left in manuscript, and published, with an answer, by George Abbot (not the archbishop), as mentioned in his life.

, a man of a visionary turn, was a native of Venice, born in the beginning of the sixteenth century. He embraced the Protestant religion, and expressed a great zeal against Popery. He published several books in Holland, in which he maintained that the particular events of the sixteenth century had been foretold by the prophets, and after he had applied scripture, as his fancy directed, to things that had already happened, he took the liberty to apply it to future events. In this he succeeded so far as to persuade a French gentleman of noble extraction, and a Protestant, that a Protestant prince would quickly overthrow the Pope’s kingdom, and make himself the head of all the united Christians. This gentleman, Segur Pardaillan, was a faithful servant to the ing of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. and thought heaven designed his master for the glorious enterprise which Brocardus had foretold. Big with these hopes, he proposed to him to send an embassy to the Protestant princes, offering to be his ambassador; and there being nothing in his proposal but what suited with the exigencies of the time, it was approved of, and he was actually deputed to those princes in 1583.

, a German lawyer and poet, was born at Lubeck, Sept. 22, 1680, and after having studied and taken his degrees in the civil and canon law, settled and practised at Hamburgh, where his merit soon raised him to the senatorial dignity, to which the emperor, without any solicitation, added the rank of Aulic counsellor, and count Palatine. These counts Palatine were formerly governors of the imperial palaces, and had considerable powers, being authorized to create public notaries, confer degrees, &c. Brockes published in five parts, from 1724 to 1736, 8vo, “Irdisches Vergnugen in Gott, &c.” or “Earthly Contentment in God,” consisting of philosophical and moral poems, which were much praised by his countrymen. He also published translations from Marini, and other Italian poets, into German, and had some thoughts of translating Milton, as he had done Pope’s Essay on Man, a proof at least of his taste for English poetry. His works form a collection of 9 vols. 8vo, and have been often reprinted. He appears to have carefully divided his time between his public duties and private studies, and died much esteemed and regretted, Jan. 16, 1747.

, an eminent English physician, the son of Richard Brocklesby, est}. of the city of Cork, by Mary Alloway, of Minehead, Somersetshire, was born at Minehead, where his mother happened to be on a visit to her parents, Aug. 11, 1722. There he remained until he was three years old, at which time he was carried to Ireland, and privately instructed for some years in his father’s house at Cork. At a proper age he was sent to Ballytore school in the north of Ireland, at which Edmund Burke “was educated, and although they were not exactly contemporaries^ Dr. Brocklesby being seven years older, this circumstance led to a long and strict friendship. Having finished his classical education at Ballytore, with diligence and success, his father, intending him for a physician, sent him to Edinburgh, where after continuing the usual time, he went to Leyden, and took his degree under the celebrated Gaubius, who corresponded with him for several years afterwards. His diploma is dated June 28, 1745, and the same year he published his thesis,” De Saliva sana et morbosa."

On returning home he began practice in Broad-street, London; and diligence, integrity, and œconomy, soon enabled him to surmount the difficulties which a young physician has to encounter, while his father assisted him with 150l. a year, a liberal allowance at that time. In 1746, he published “An Essay concerning the mortality of the horned cattle:” and in April, 1751, was admitted a licentiate of the college of physicians. He had by this time risen into reputation; and as his manners were naturally mild and conciliating, his knowledge well-founded, and his talents somewhat known as an author, he soon became acquainted with the leading men in the profession particularly the celebrated Dr. Mead, Dr. Leatherland, Dr. Heberden, sir George Baker, &c. He added another testimony to the fame of Dr. Mead, by always praising his skill, his learning, urbanity, &c. and amongst many other anecdotes of this extraordinary man, used to relate the circumstance of his giving that celebrated impostor, Psalmanazar, an opportunity of eating nearly a pound of raw human flesh at his table, to prove that this was the constant food of the inhabitants of Formosa .

On the 28th of September 1754, he obtained an honorary degree from the university of Dublin, and was admitted to Cambridge ad eundem the 16th of December following. In virtue of this degree at Cambridge, he became a fellow of the college of London the 25th of June 1756; and, on the 7th of October 1758 (on the recommendation of Dr. Shaw, favoured by the patronage of the late lord Barrington), he was appointed physician to the army. In this capacity he attended in Germany the best part of what is called “the seven years’ war,” where he was soon distinguished by his knowledge, his zeal, and humanity; and particularly recommended himself to the notice of his grace the duke of Richmond, the late lord Pembroke, and others, which with the former mellowed into a friendship, only terminated by the doctor’s life. On the 27th of October 1760, he was appointed physician to the hospitals for the British forces, and returned to England some time before the peace of 1763.

On his return he settled in Norfolk-street, in the Strand, where he was considered as a physician of very extensive experience, particularly in all diseases incident to the army. His practice spread in proportion to his reputation; and, with his half-pay, and an estate of about six hundred pounds per year, which devolved on him by the death of his father, he was now enabled to live in a very handsome manner, and his table was frequently filled with some of the most distinguished persons for rank, learning, and abilities in the kingdom. In the course of his practice, his advice as well as his purse was ever accessible to the poor, as well as to men of merit who stood in need of either. Besides giving his advice to the poor of all descriptions, which he did with an active and unwearied benevolence, he had always upon his list two or three poor widows, to whom he granted small annuities; and who, on the quarter day of receiving their stipends, always partook of the hospitalities of his table. To his relations who wanted his assistance in their business or professions, he was not only liberal, but so judicious in his liberalities as to supersede the necessity of a repetition of them. To his friend Dr. Johnson (when it was in agitation amongst his friends to procure an enlargement of his pension, the better to enable him to travel for the benefit of his health), he offered an establishment of one hundred pounds per year during his life: and, upon doctor Johnson’s declining it (which he did in the most affectionate terms of gratitude and friendship), he made him a second offer of apartments in his own house, for the more immediate benefit of medical advice. To his old and intimate friend Edmund Burke, he had many years back bequeathed by will the sum of one thousand pounds; but recollecting that this event might take place (which it afterwards did) when such a legacy could be of no service to him, he, with that judicious liberality for which he was always distinguished, gave it to him in advance, “ut pignus arnicitite;” it was accepted as such by Mr. Burke, accompanied with a letter, which none but a man feeling the grandeur and purity of friendship like him, could dictate. Passing through a life thus honourably occupied in the liberal pursuits of his profession, and in the confidence and friendship of some of the first characters of the age for rank or literary attainments, the doctor reached his 73d year; and finding those infirmities, generally attached to that time of life, increase upon him, he gave up a good deal of the bustle of business, as well as his half-pay, on being appointed, by his old friend and patron the duke of Richmond, physician general to the royal regiment of artillery and corps of engineers, March, 1794. This was a situation exactly suited to his time of life and inclinations; hence he employed his time in occasional trips to Woolwich, with visits to his friends and patients. In this last list he never forgot either the poor or those few friends whom he early attended as a medical man gratuitously. Scarcely any distance, or any other inconvenience, could repress this benevolent custom; and when he heard by accident that any of this latter description of his friends were ill, and had through delicacy abstained from sending for him, he used to say, somewhat peevishly, “Why am I treated thus? Why was not I sent for?”

In the beginning of December 1797, he set out on a visit to Mrs. Burke, at Beaconsfield, the long frequented seat of friendship and hospitality, where the master spirit of the age he lived in, as well as the master of that mansion, had so often adorned, enlivened, and improved the convivial hour. On proposing this journey, and under so infirm a state as he was in, it was hinted by a friend, whether such a length of way, or the lying out of his own bed, with other little circumstances, might not fatigue him too much: he instantly caught the force of this suggestion, and with his usual placidity replied, “My good friend, I perfectly understand your hint, and am thankful to you for it; but where’s the difference whether I die at a friend’s house, at an inn, or in a post-chaise? I hope I'm every way prepared for such an event, and perhaps it would be as well to elude the expectation of it.” He therefore began his journey the next day, and arrived there the same evening, where he was cordially received by the amiable mistress of the mansion, as well as by doctors Lawrence and King, who happened to be there on a visit. He remained at Beaconsfield ‘till the llth of December, but recollecting that his learned nephew, Dr. Young, now foreign secretary to the royal society, was to return from Cambridge to London next day, he instantly set out for his house in town, where he ate his last dinner with his nearest friends and relations, About nine o’clock he desired to go to bed, but going up stairs fatigued him so much, that he was obliged to sit in his chair for some time before he felt himself sufficiently at ease to be undressed. In a little time, however, he recovered himself; and, as they were unbuttoning his waistcoat, he said to his elder nephew, “What an idle piece of ceremony this buttoning and unbuttoning is to me now!” When he got to bed he seemed perfectly composed, but in about five minutes after, expired with out a groan.

He was interred Dec. 18, in the church-yard of St. Cle^ jnent Danes, in a private manner, according to his request. His fortune, amounting to near 30,000l. after a few legacies to friends and distant relations, was divided between his two nephews, Robert Beeby, esq. and Dr. Thomas Young. The preceding facts may be sufficient to illustrate Dr. Brocklesby’s character. His future fame as a writer must rest on his publications, of which the following is, we believe, a correct list: 1. “Dissertatio Inaug. de Saliva Sanaet Morbosa,” Lug. Bat. 1745, 4to. 2. “An Essay concerning the Mortality of the Horned Cattle,” 1746, 8vo. 3. “Eulogium Medicum, sive Oratio Anniyersaria Harveiana habita in Theatris Collegii Regal is Me-? dicorum Londinensium, Die xviii Octobris,” 1760, 4to. 4. “Œconomical and Medical Observations from 1738 to 1763, tending to the improvement of Medical Hospitals,” 1764, 8vo. 5. “An Account of the poisonous root lately found mixed with Gentian,” Phil. Trans. N. 486. 6. “Case of a Lady labouring under a Diabetes,” Med. Observ. No. III. 7. “Experiments relative to the Analysis and Virtues of Seltzer Water,” ibid. vol. IV. 8. “Case of an Encysted Tumour in the Orbit of the Eye, cured by Messrs, Bromfield and Ingram,” ibid. 9. “A Dissertation on the Music of the Antients.” We do not know the date of this last article, but believe it to be amongst his early literary amusements. When Dr. Young was at Leyden, a professor, understanding he was a nephew of Dr. Brocklesby’s, shewed him a translation of it in the German language.

, in Latin Brod&Us, an eminent critic, on whom Lipsius, Scaliger, Grotius, and all the learned of his age, have bestowed high encomiums, was descended from a noble family in France, and born at Tours in 1500. He was liberally educated, and placed under Alciat to study the civil law; but, soon forsaking that, he gave himself up wholly to languages and the belles-lettres. He travelled into Italy, where he became acquainted with Sadolet, Bembus, and other eminent characters; and here he applied himself to the study of philosophy, mathematics, and the sacred languages, in which he made no small proficiency. Then returning to his own country, he led a retired but not an idle life; as his many learned lucubrations abundantly testify. He was a man free from all ambition and vain-glory, and suffered his works to be published rather under the sanction and authority of others, than under his own: a singular example, says Thuanus, of modesty in this age, when men seek glory not only from riches and honours, but even from letters; and that too with a vanity which disgraces them. He died in 1563, at Tours, where he was a canon of St. Martin. His principal works are, 1. his “Miscellanea, a collection of criticisms and remarks, the first six books of which are published in Gruter’s” Lampas, seu fax artium,“vol. II. and the four latter in vol. IV. 2.” Annotationes in Oppianurn, Q. Calabrum, et Coluthum,“Basil, 1552, 8vo. 3.” Notae in Martialem,“ibid. 1619, 8vo. 4.” Annot. in Xenophontem, Gr. et Lat.“ibid. 1559, fol. 5.” Epigrammata Grseca cum Annot. Brodaei et H. Steph." Francfort, 1600, fol. Many of these epigrams were translated into Latin by Dr. Johnson, and are printed with his works.

, or John Broeckhuizen, a distinguished scholar in Holland, was born Nov. 20, 1649, at Amsterdam, where his father was a clerk in the admiralty. He learned the Latin tongue under Hadrian Junius, and made a prodigious progress in polite literature, but his father dying when he was very young, he was taken from literary pursuits’, and placed with an apothecary at Amsterdam, with whom he lived some years. Not liking this, he went into the army, where his behaviour raised him to the rank of lieutenant-captain; and, in 1674, was sent with his regiment to America in the fleet under admiral de Ruyter, but returned to Holland the same year. In 1678 he was sent to the garrison at Utrecht, where he contracted a friendship with the celebrated Grsevius; and here, though a person of an excellent temper, he had the misfortune to be so deeply engaged in a duel, that, according to the laws of Holland, his life was forfeited: but Gnevius wrote immediately to Nicholas Heinsius, who obtained his pardon from the stadtholder. Not long after, he became a captain of one of the companies then at Amsterdam; which post placed him in an easy situation, and gave him leisure to pursue his studies. His company being disbanded in 1697, a pension was granted him; upon which he retired to a country-house near Amsterdam, where he saw but little company, and spent his time among his books. He died Dec. 15, 1707, and was interred at Amsterween, near Amsterdam; a monument was afterwards erected to his memory, with an inscription, the letters of which are arranged so as to form the date of the year, which we presume was considered as a great effort of genius:

His works are, 1. his “Carmina,” Utrecht, 1684, 12 mo, and afterwards more splendidly by Hoogstraaten, at Amst. 1711, 4to, under the title of “Jani Broukhusii poematnm libri sedecim.” 2. “Actii Sinceri Sannazarii, &c. Opera Latina; accedunt notoe, &c.” Amst. 1680, 12mo, without his name, which was added to the best edition, Amst 1727. 3. “Aonii Palearii Verulani opera,” ibid. 1696,8vo, without his name, and by some mistaken for one of Greevius’s editions. 4. “S. Aurelii Propertii Elegiarum libri IV.” ibid. 1702, 4to; ibid. 1727, 4to. 5. “AlbiiTibulli quse extant, &c.” ibid. 1708, 4to. His “Dutch poems” were published by Hoogstraaten, Amst. 1712, 8vo, with the author’s life. Modern critics seem agreed in the value of his editions of the classics, although he has been sometimes censured for bold freedoms.

, was born at Stoke Golding, in Leicestershire, Sept. 29, 1637, and educated at Trinity college, Cambridge, and was afterwards rector of Rowley, in the East riding of Yorkshire. He wrote a “Life of Jesus Christ;” and was a principal assistant to Mr. Nelson in compiling his “Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England.” He was also author of “An History of the government of the primitive Church, for the three first centuries, and the beginning of the fourth,” printed by W. B. 1712, 8vo. In a dedication to Mr. Francis Cherry, dated Shottesbroke, Aug. 13, 1711, the author says, “The following treatise challenges you for its patron, and demands its dedication to yourself, in that I wrote it under your roof> was encouraged in my studies by that respectful treatment I there found, and still meet with; and withal, as I was assisted in my work by your readiness to supply me, out of your well-replenished library, with such books as I stood in need of in collecting this history. I esteem myself, therefore, in gratitude obliged to make this public acknowledgement of your favours, and to tell the world, that when I was by God’s good providence reduced to straits (in part occasioned by my care lest I should make shipwreck of a good conscience), I then found a safe retreat and kind reception in your family, and there both leisure and encouragement to write this following treatise.” As Mr. Brokesby’s straits arose from his principles as a nonjuror, he was, of course, patronised by the most eminent persons of that persuasion. The house of the benevolent Mr. Cherry, however, was his asylum; and there he formed an intimacy with Mr. Dodwell, whose “Life” he afterwards wrote, and with Mr. Nelson, to whom the Life of Dodwell is dedicated. He died suddenly soon after that publication, in 1715. Mr. Brokesby was intimately acquainted with the famous Oxford antiquary, Hearne, who printed a valuable letter of his in the first volume of Leland’s Itinerary; and was said to be the author of a tract, entitled “Of Education, with respect to grammar-schools and universities,” 1710, 8vo.

, almoner to king Edward II. is allowed to have shared the honour of founding Oriel college, Oxford, with that monarch. The only accounts we have of De Brom state, that he was rector of Hanworth in Middlesex, in 1313; the year following, chancellor of the diocese of Durham; in 1319, archdeacon of Stow; and a few months after was promoted to the living of St. Mary, OxfordJ In 1324 he requested of his sovereign to be empowered to purchase a messuage in Oxford, where he might found, to the honour of the Virgin Mary, a college of scholars, governed by a rector of their own choosing, “sub nomine Rectoris Domus Scholarium Beatae Marias.” With this the king readily complied, and De Brom immediately commenced his undertaking by purchasing a tenement in St. Mary’s parish; and, by virtue of the charter granted by the king, dated 1324, founded a college of scholars for the study of divinity and logic. He then resigned the whole into the hands of the king, of whose liberality he appears to have made a just estimate, and from whose power he expected advantages to the society, which he was himself incapable of conferring. Nor was he disappointed in the issue of this well-timed policy. The king took the college under his own care, and the next year granted anew charter, appointing it to be a college for divinity and the canon-law, to be governed by a provost, and for their better maintenance, besides some tenements in St. Mary’s parish, he gave them the advowson of St. Mary’s church, &c. Adam de Brom, who was deservedly appointed the first provost, drew up a body of statutes in 1326, and gave his college the church of Aberforth in Yorkshire; and in 1327, Edward III. bestowed upon them a large messuage, situated partly in the parish of St. John Baptist, called La Oriole, to which the scholars soon removed, and from which the college took its name. De Brom procured other advantages for the college, the last of which was the advowson of Coleby in Lincolnshire. He died June 16, 1332, and was buried in St. Mary’s church, in a chapel still called after his name. It is said to have been built by him, and his tomb, now decayed, was visible in Antony Wood’s time. In this chapel the heads of houses assemble on Sundays, &c. previous to their taking their seats in the church.

, an English poet, has the reputation of ably assisting the royal party in the time of Charles I. and of even having no inconsiderable hand in promoting the restoration. Of his personal history, we have only a few notices in the Biographia Dramatica. He was born in 1620, and died June 30, 1666. He was an attorney in the lord mayor’s court, and through the whole of the protectorship, maintained his loyalty, and cheered his party by the songs and poems in his printed works, most of which must have been sung, if not composed, at much personal risk. How far they are calculated to excite resentment, or to promote the cause which the author espoused, the reader must judge. His songs are in^neasures, varied with considerable ease and harmony, and have many sprightly turns, and satirical strokes, which the Roundheads must have felt. Baker informs us that he was the author of much the greater part of those songs and epigrams which were published against the rump. Phillips styles him the “English Anacreon.” Walton has draxvn a very favourable character of him in the eclogue prefixed to his works, the only one of the commendatory poems which seems worthy of a republication; Mr. Ellis enumerates three editions of these poems, the first in 1660, the second in 1664, and the third in 1668. That, however, used in the late edition of the English Poets is dated 1661. In 1660 he published “A Congratulatory Poem on the miraculous and glorious Return of Charles II.” which we have not seen. Besides these poems he published a “Translation of Horace,” by himself, Fanshaw, Holliday, Hawkins, Cowley, Ben Jonson, &c. and had once an intention to translate Lucretius, In 1654 he published a comedy entitled “The Cunning Lovers,” which was acted in 1651 at the private house in Drury Lane. He was also editor of the plays of Richard Brome, who, however, is not mentioned as being related to him.

lived also in the reign of Charles I, and was contemporary with Decker, Ford, Shirley, &c f His extraction was mean; for he was originally no better than a menial servant of Ben Jonson. He wrote himself, however, into high repute; and is addressed in some lines by his quondam master, on account of his comedy called the “Northern Lass.” His genius was entirely turned tu comedy, and we have fifteen of his productions in this way remaining. They were acted in their day with great applause, and have been often revived since. Even in our own time, one of them, called the “Jovial Crew,” has, with little alteration, been revived, and exhibited at Covent-garden with great and repeated success. He died in 1652.

, an eminent English surgeon, was born in London, in 1712, and studied surgery under the celebrated Ranby, by whose instructions he was soon enabled to practise on his own account. In 1741, he began to give lectures on anatomy and surgery, and soon found his theatre crowded with pupils. Some years after, in conjunction with the rev. Mr. Madan, he formed the plan of the Lock hospital, into which patients were first received Jan. 3, 1747, and was made first surgeon to that establishment, an office he filled with advantage to the patients and credit to himself for many years. With a view of contributing to its success, he altered an old comedy, “The City Match,” written in 1639, by Jaspar Maine, and procured it to be acted at Drury-lane theatre, in 1755, for the benefit of the hospital. He was also, very early after its being instituted, elected one of the surgeons to St. George’s hospital. In 1761, he was appointed in the suite of the noble persons, who were sent to bring over the princess of Mecklenburgh, our present queen, and was soon after appointed surgeon to her majesty’s household. In 1751, he sent to the royal society a case of a woman who had a foetus in her abdomen nine years, which is printed in their Transactions for the same year. In 1757, he published an account of the English night shades, the internal use of which had been recommended in scrophulous cases; but they had failed in producing the expected benefit with him. In 1759, he gave “A Narrative of a Physical Transaction with Mr. Aylet, surgeon, at Windsor.” This is a controversial piece of no consequence now, but the author clears himself from the imputation of having treated his antagonist improperly. Ira 1767, he published “Thoughts concerning the present peculiar method of treating persons ^inoculated for the Small-pox.” This relates to the Suttons, who were now in the zenith of their reputation. He thinks their practice of exposing their patients to the open air in the midst of winter, of repelling the eruption, and checking or preventing the suppurative process, too bold, and hazardous, On the whole, however, he acknowledges, they were deserving of commendation, for the improvements they had introduced, in the treatment, both of the inoculated and natural small-pox. His next work, the most considerable one written by him, was “Chirurgical Cases and Observations,” published in 1773, in 2 vols. 8vo. Though there are much judicious practice, and many valuable observations contained in these volumes, yet they did not answer the expectations of the public, or correspond to the fame and credit the author had obtained: accordingly in the following year they were attacked by an anonymous writer, said to be Mr. Justamond, in a pamphlet, entitled “Notes on Chirurgical Cases and Observations, by a Professor of Surgery.” The strictures contained in these notes are keen and ingenious, and, though evidently the produce of ill-humour, yet seem to have had the effect of preventing so general a diffusion of the cases, as the character of the author would otherwise have procured them. They have never been reprinted. About this time the author took a spacious mansion in Chelsea park, which he enlarged, altered, and furnished in an elegant style. Hither he retired, after doing his business, which he began gradually to contract into a narrower circle. With that view, a few years after, he gave up his situation as surgeon to the Lock hospital. His other appointments he kept to the time of his death, which happened on the 24th of November, 1792, in the 80th year of his age.

, an English clergyman, was a native of Shropshire, but where educated is not known. In the beginning of king James II.'s reign he was curate of St. Giles’s in the Fields, London, but afterwards turned Roman catholic, and was employed as a corrector of the press in the king’s printing-house, which afforded him a comfortable subsistence. When obliged to quit that, after the revolution, he undertook a boarding-school for the instruction of young gentlemen, some of whom being the sons of opulent persons, this employment proved very beneficial. His biographer informs us that Pope, the celebrated poet, was one of his pupils. He afterwards travelled abroad with some young gentlemen, as tutor, but retired at last to his own country, where he died Jan. 10, 1717. He published only a translation of the “Catechism of the Council of Trent,” Lnhd. 1687, 8vo.

was a Cistercian monk, and abbot of Jorevall, or Jerevalf, in Richmondshire. The “Chronicon” that goes under his name begins at the year 588, when Augustin the monk came into England, and is carried on to the death of king Richard I. anno domini 1198. This chronicle, Selden says, does not belong to the person whose name it goes under, and that John Brompton the abbot did only procure it for his monastery of Jorevall. But whoever was the author, it is certain he lived after the beginning of the reign of Edward III. as appears by his digressive relation of the contract between Joan, king Edward’s sister, and David, afterwards king of Scots. This historian has borrowed pretty freely from Hoveden. His chronicle is printed in the “Decem Script. Hist. Angliae,” Lond. 1652, fol.

, of Nimeguen, where he was born in 1494, and therefore sometimes called NoviOMAGUS, was an eminent mathematician of the sixteenth century, and rector of the school of Daventer, and afterwards professor of mathematics at Rostock. He died at Cologne in 1570. Saxius says that he was first of Rostock, then of Cologne, and lastly of Daventer, which appears to be probable from the dates of his writings. He wrote, 1. “Scholia in Dialecticam Georgii Trapezuntii,” Cologne and Leyden, 1537, 8vo. 2. “Arithmetica,” ibid, and Paris, 1539. 3. “De Astrolabii compositione,” Cologne, 1533, 8vo. 4. “Urbis Pictaviensis (Poitiers) tumultus, ej usque Restitutio,” an elegiac poem, Pictav. 1562, 4to. 5. “Ven. Bedae de sex mundi setatibus,” with scholia, and a continuation to the 26th of Charles V. Cologne, 1537. He also translated from the Greek, Ptolomy’s Geography.

, son of the preceding, was born at Daventer in 1554, and became one of the most celebrated lawyers in the Netherlands. He studied at Cologne, Erfurt, Marpurg, Wittemberg, and Basil, at which last place he took his doctor’s degree in 1579. He afterwards taught law at WittemHerg for a year, and at Erfurt for two years, and returned then to his own country, where he was appointed burgomaster of Daventer in 1586, and the year following professor at Leyden, where he died May 27, 1627. His principal works were: 1. “Centuriae et conciliationes earundem controversiarum juris, Cent. II.” 1621. 2. “Methodus Feudorum,” Leyden, 8vo. 3. “Aphorismi politici,” first collected by Lambert Danseus, and enlarged by Bronchorst, probably a good book, as it was prohibited at Rome in 1646.

, an Italian physician, was born of wealthy parents, in Abadia, near Rovigo, in the Venetian territory, in 1577. After making great progress in the study of the belles lettres, philosophy, and astronomy, he was sent to Padua, where he was initiated into the knowledge of medicine and anatomy, and in 1597, was made doctor. He now went to Venice, where he practised medicine to the time of his death, in 1630. His publications are, “De innato calido, et naturali spiritu, in quo pro veritate rei Galeni doctrina defenditur,” 1626, 4to; “Disputatio de Principatu Hepatis ex Anatome Lampetrse,” Patav. 4to. Though from dissecting the liver of this animal he was satisfied the blood did not acquire its red colour there, yet he did not choose to oppose the doctrine of Galen, His observation, however, was probably not lost, but led the way to a more complete discovery of the fact, by subsequent anatomists. He published also, “De Principio Effective Semini insito.”

, whose maiden name was Moore, was the daughter of a clergyman, and the wife of the rev. John Brooke, rector of Colney in Norfolk, of St. Augustine in the city of Norwich, and chaplain to the garrison of Quebec. She was as remarkable for her gentleness and suavity of manners as for her literary talents. Her husband died on the 21st of January 1789, and she herself expired on the 26th of the same month, at Sleaford, where she had retired to the house of her son, now rector of Folkingham in Lincolnshire. Her disorder was a spasmodic complaint. The first literary performance we know of her writing was the “Old Maid,” a periodical work, begun November 15, 1755, and continued every Saturday until about the end of July 1756. These papers have since been collected into one volume 12mo. In the same year (1756) she published “Virginia,” a tragedy, with odes, pastorals, and translations, 8vo. In the preface to this publication she assigns as a reason for its appearance, “that she was precluded from all hopes of ever seeing the tragedy brought upon the stage, by there having been two so lately on the same subject.” “If hers,” she adds, “should be found to have any greater resemblance to the two represented, than the sameness of the story made unavoidable, of which she is not conscious, it must have been accidental on her side, as there are many persons of very distinguished rank and unquestionable veracity, who saw hers in manuscript before the others appeared, and will witness for her, that she has taken no advantage of having seen them. She must here do Mr. Crisp the justice to say, that any resemblance must have been equally accidental on his part, as he neither did, nor could see her Virginia before his own was played; Mr. Garrick having declined reading hers till Mr. Crisp’s was published.” Prefixed to this publication were proposals for printing by subscription a poetical translation, with notes, of il Pastor Fido, a work which probably was never completed.

In 1763 she published a novel, entitled, “The History of Lady Julia Mandeville,” concerning the plan of which there were various opinions, though of the execution there seems to have been but one. It was read with much avidity and general approbation. It has been often, however, wished that the catastrophe had been less melancholy; and of the propriety of this opinion the authoress herself is said to have been satisfied, but did not choose to make the alteration. In the same year she published “Letters from Juliet lady Catesby to her friend lady Henrietta Campley,” translated from the French, 12mo. She soon afterwards went to Canada with her husband, who was chaplain to the garrison at Quebec; and there saw those romantic scenes so admirably painted in her next work, entitled, “The History of Emily Montagu,” 1769, 4 vols. 12mo. The next year she published “Memoirs of the Marquis of St. Forlaix,” in 4 vols. 12mo. On her return to England accident brought her acquainted with Mrs. Yates, and an intimacy was formed between them which lasted as long as that lady lived; and when she died, Mrs. Brooke did honour to her memory by a eulogium printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine. If we are not mistaken, Mrs. Brooke had with Mrs. Yates fora time some share in the opera-house. She certainly had some share of the libellous abuse which the management of that theatre during the above period gave birth to. We have already seen that her first play had been refused by Mr. Garrick. After the lapse of several years she was willing once -more to try her fortune at the theatre, and probably relying on the influence of Mrs. Yates to obtain its representation, produced a tragedy which had not the good fortune to please the manager. He therefore rejected it; and by that means excited the resentment of the authoress so much that she took a severe revenge on him in a novel published in 1777, entitled the “Excursion,” in 2 vols. 12mo. It is not certainly known whether this rejected tragedy is or is not the same as was afterwards acted at Covent-garden. If it was, it will furnish no impeachment of Mr. Garrick’s judgment. It ought, however, <to be added, that our authoress, as is said, thought her invective too severe; lamented and retracted it. In 1771 she translated “Elements of the History of England, from the invasion of the Romans to the reign of George II. from the abbe Millot,” in 4 vols. 12mo. In January 1781, the “Siege of Sinope,” a tragedy, was acted at Coventgarden. This piece added but little to her reputation, though the principal characters were well supported by Mr. Henderson and Mrs. Yates. It went nine nights, but never became popular; it wanted energy, and had not much originality; there was little to disapprove, but nothing to admire. Her next and most popular performance was “Rosina,” acted at Covent-garden in December 1782. This she presented to Mr. Harris, and few pieces have been equally successful. The simplicity of the story, the elegance of the words, and the excellence of the music, promise a long duration to this drama. Her concluding work was “Marian,” acted 1788 at Covent-garden with some success, but very much inferior to Rosina.

, an amiable and ingenious writer, was a native of Ireland, where he was born in the year 1706. His father, the rev. William Brooke of Rantavan, rector of the parishes of Killinkare, Mullough, Mybullough, and Licowie, is said to have been a man of grent talents and worth; his mother’s name was Digby. His education appears to have been precipitated in a manner not very usual: after being for some time the pupil of Dr. Sheridan, he was sent to Trinity college, Dublin, and from thence removed, when only seventeen years old, to study law in the Temple. Dr. Sheridan was probably the means of his being introduced in London to Swift and Pope, who regarded him as a young man of very promising talents. How long he remained in London we are not told*, but on his return to Ireland he practised for some time as a chamber counsel, when an incident occurred which interrupted his more regular pursuits, and prematurely involved him in the cares of a family. An aunt, who died at Westmgath about the time of his arrival in Ireland, committed to him the guardianship of her daughter, a lively and beautiful girl between eleven and twelve years old. Brooke, pleased with the trust, conducted her to Dublin, and placed her at a boarding-school, where, during his frequent visits, he gradually changed the guardian for the lover, and at length prevailed on her to consent to a private marriage. In the life prefixed to his works, this is said to have taken place before she had reached her fourteenth year: another account, which it is neither easy nor pleasant to believe, informs us that she was a mother before she had completed that year. When the marriage was discovered, the ceremony was again performed in the presence of his family. For some time this happy pair had no cares but to please each other, and it was not until after the birth of their third child that Brooke could be induced to think seriously how such a family was to be provided for. The law had long been given up, and he had little inclination to resume a profession which excluded so many of the pleasures of imagination, and appeared inconsistent with the feelings of a mind tender, benevolent, and somewhat romantic. Another journey to London, however, promised the advantages of literary society, and the execution of literary schemes by which he might indulge his genius, and be rewarded by fame and wealth. Accordingly, soon after his arrival, he renewed his acquaintance with his former friends, and published his philosophical poem, entitled “Universal Beauty.” This had been submitted to Pope, who, probably, contributed his assistance, and whose manner at least is certainly followed. At what time this occurred is uncertain. The second part was published in 1735, and the remainder about a year after. What fame or advantage he derived from it we know not, as no mention is made of him in the extensive correspondence of Pope or Swift. He was, however, obliged to return to Ireland, where for a short time he resumed his legal profession.

In 1737 he went a third time to London, where he was introduced to Lyttelton and others, the political and literary adherents of the prince of Wales, “who,” it is said, “caressed him with uncommon familiarity, and presented him with many elegant and valuable tokens of his friendship.” Amidst such society, he had every thing to point his ambition to fame and independence, and readily caught that fervour of patriotic enthusiasm which was the bond of union and the ground of hope in the prince’s court.

In 1738 he published a translation of the First Three Books of Tasso, of which it is sufficient praise that Hoole says: “It is at once so harmonious and so spirited, that I think an entire translation of Tasso by him would not only have rendered my task unnecessary, but have discouraged those from the attempt whose poetical abilities are much superior to mine.” He was, however, diverted from completing his translation, by his political friends, who, among other plans of hostility against the minister of the day, endeavoured to turn all the weapons of literature against him, Their prose writers were numerous, but principally essayists and pamphleteers: from their poets they had greater expectations; Paul Whitehead wrote satires; Fielding, comedies and farces; Glover, an epic poem; and now Brooke was encouraged to introduce Walpole in a tragedy. This was entitled “Gustavus Vasa, the deliverer of his country,” and was accepted by Drury-lane theatre, and almost quite ready for performance, when an order came from the lord chamberlain to prohibit it. That it contains a considerable portion of party-spirit cannot be denied, and the character of Trollio, the Swedish minister, however unjustly, was certainly intended for sir Robert Walpole; but it may be doubted whether this minister gained much by prohibiting the acting of a play which he had not the courage to suppress when published, and when the sentiments, considered deliberately in the closet, might be nearly as injurious as when delivered by a mouthing actor. The press, however, remained open, and the prohibition having excited an uncommon degree of curiosity, the author was more richly rewarded than he could been by the profits of the stage. Above a thousand copies were subscribed for at five shillings each, and by the sale of the subsequent editions, the author is said to have cleared nearly a thousand pounds. The editor of the Biographia Dramatica says that it was acted in 1742, with some alterations, on the Irish stage, by the title of “The Patriot.” Dr, Johnson, who at this time ranked among the discontented, wrote a very ingenious satirical pamphlet in favour of the author, entitled “A complete vindication of the Licensers of the Stage from the malicious and scandalous aspersions of Mr. Brooke, author of GustavusVasa,” 1739, 4to.