The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 91

BROMLEY (21), a market-town in Kent, 10 m. SE. of London, where the bishops of Rochester had their palace, and where there is a home called Warner's College for clergymen's widows.

BROMPTON, SW. district of London, in Kensington, now called S.

Kensington; once a rustic locality, now a fas.h.i.+onable district, with several public buildings and the Oratory.

BRoNDSTED, PETER OLAF, a Danish archaeologist; author of "Travels and Researches in Greece," where by excavations he made important discoveries; his great work "Travels and Archaeological Researches in Greece" (1780-1842).

BRONGNIART, ADOLPHE, French botanist, son of the succeeding, the first to discover and explain the function of the pollen in plants (1801-1876).

BRONGNIART, ALEXANDRE, a French chemist and zoologist, collaborateur with Cuvier, born at Paris; director of the porcelain works at Sevres; revived painting on gla.s.s; introduced a new cla.s.sification of reptiles; author of treatises on mineralogy and the ceramic arts (1770-1847).

BRONTE (16), a town in Sicily, on the western slope of Etna, which gave t.i.tle of duke to Nelson.

BRONTe, the name of three ladies, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, daughters of a Yorks.h.i.+re clergyman of Irish extraction: CHARLOTTE, born at Thornton, Yorks.h.i.+re; removed with her father, at the age of four, to Haworth, a moorland parish, in the same county, where she lived most of her days; spent two years at Brussels as a pupil-teacher; on her return, in conjunction with her sisters, prepared and published a volume of poems under the pseudonyms respectively of "Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell," which proved a failure. Nothing daunted, she set to novel writing, and her success was instant; first, "Jane Eyre," then "s.h.i.+rley," and then "Villette," appeared, and her fame was established. In 1854 she married her father's curate, Mr. Nicholls, but her const.i.tution gave way, and she died (1816-1855). EMILY (Ellis), two years younger, poet rather than novelist; wrote "Wuthering Heights," a remarkable production, showing still greater genius, which she did not live to develop. ANNE (Acton), four years younger, also wrote two novels, but very ephemeral productions.

BRONZE AGE, the age in the history of a race intermediate between the Stone Age and the Iron, and in some cases overlapping these two, when weapons and tools were made of bronze.

BRONZI'NO, a Florentine painter, painted both in oil and fresco; a great admirer of Michael Angelo; his famous picture, "Descent of Christ into h.e.l.l" (1502-1572).

BROOK FARM, an abortive literary community organised on Fourier's principles, 8 m. from Boston, U.S., by George Ripley in 1840; Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the community, and wrote an account of it.

BROOKE, HENRY, Irish dramatist and novelist, born in co. Cavan; author of the "Fool of Quality," a book commended by John Wesley and much lauded by Charles Kingsley, and the only one of his works that survives; wrote, among other things, a poem called "Universal Beauty," and a play called "Gustavus Vasa" (1703-1783).

BROOKE, SIR JAMES, rajah of Sarawak, born at Benares, educated in England; entered the Indian army; was wounded in the Burmese war, returned in consequence to England; conceived the idea of suppressing piracy and establis.h.i.+ng civilisation in the Indian Archipelago; sailed in a well-manned and well-equipped yacht from the Thames with that object; arrived at Sarawak, in Borneo; a.s.sisted the governor in suppressing an insurrection, and was made rajah, the former rajah being deposed in his favour; brought the province under good laws, swept the seas of pirates, for which he was rewarded by the English government; was appointed governor of Labuan; finally returned to England and died, being succeeded in Sarawak by a nephew (1803-1868).

BROOKE, STOPFORD, preacher and writer, born in Donegal; after other clerical appointments became inc.u.mbent of Bedford Chapel, Bloomsbury, and Queen's chaplain; from conscientious motives seceded from the Church, but continued to preach in Bloomsbury; wrote the "Life of Robertson of Brighton," a "Primer of English Literature," "History of English Poetry,"

"Theology in the English Poets," and "Life of Milton," all works in evidence of critical ability of a high order; _b_. 1832.

BROOKLYN (806), a suburb of New York, on Long Island, though ranking as a city, and the fourth in the Union; separated from New York by the East River, a mile broad, and connected with it by a magnificent suspension bridge, the largest in the world, as well as by some 12 lines of ferry boats plied by steam; it is now incorporated in Greater New York; has 10 m. of water front, extensive docks and warehouses, and does an enormous s.h.i.+pping trade; manufactures include gla.s.s, clothing, chemicals, metallic wares, and tobacco; there is a naval yard, dock, and storehouse; the city is really a part of New York; has many fine buildings, parks, and pleasure grounds.

BROOKS, CHARLES WILLIAM s.h.i.+RLEY, novelist and journalist, born in London; was on the staff of the _Morning Chronicle_; sent to Russia to inquire into and report on the condition of the peasantry and labouring cla.s.ses there, as well as in Syria and Egypt; his report published in his "Russians of the South"; formed a connection with _Punch_ in 1851, writing the "Essence of Parliament," and succeeded Mark Lemon as editor in 1870; he was the author of several works (1816-1874).

BROSSES, CHARLES DE, a French archaeologist, born at Dijon; wrote among other subjects on the manners and customs of primitive and prehistoric man (1709-1777).

BROSSETTE, a French litterateur, born at Lyons; friend of Boileau, and his editor and commentator (1671-1743).

BROTHERS, RICHARD, a fanatic, born in Newfoundland, who believed and persuaded others to believe that the English people were the ten lost tribes of Israel (1757-1824).

BROUGHAM, HENRY, LORD BROUGHAM AND VAUX, born in Edinburgh, and educated at the High School and University of that city; was admitted to the Scotch bar in 1800; excluded from promotion in Scotland by his liberal principles, he joined the English bar in 1808, speedily acquired a reputation as a lawyer for the defence in Crown libel actions, and, by his eloquence in the cause of Queen Caroline, 1820, won universal popular favour; entering Parliament in 1810, he a.s.sociated with the Whig opposition, threw himself into the agitation for the abolition of slavery, the cause of education, and law reform; became Lord Chancellor in 1830, but four years afterwards his political career closed; he was a supporter of many popular inst.i.tutions; a man of versatile ability and untiring energy; along with Horner, Jeffrey, and Sidney Smith, one of the founders of the _Edinburgh Review_, also of London University, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; a writer on scientific, historical, political, and philosophical themes, but his violence and eccentricity hurt his influence; spent his last days at Cannes, where he died (1778-1868).

BROUGHTON, LORD. See HOBHOUSE.

BROUGHTON, RHODA, novelist, her best work "Not Wisely but Too Well"; wrote also "Cometh Up as a Flower," "Red as a Rose is She," &c.; _b_.

1840.

BROUGHTON, WILLIAM ROBERT, an English seaman, companion of Vancouver; discovered a portion of Oceania (1763-1822).

BROUGHTY FERRY (9), a watering-place, with villas, near Dundee, and a favourite place of residence of Dundee merchants.

BROUSSA (37), a city in the extreme NW. of Asiatic Turkey, at the foot of Mt. Olympus, 12 m. from the Sea of Marmora; the capital of the Turkish empire till the taking of Constantinople in 1453; abounds in mosques, and is celebrated for its baths.

BROUSSAIS, JOSEPH VICTOR, a French materialist, founder of the "physiological school" of medicine; resolved life into excitation, and disease into too much or too little (1772-1838).

BROUSSEL, a member of the Parlement of Paris, whose arrest, in 1648, was the cause of, or pretext for, the organisation of the Fronde.

BROUSSON, a French Huguenot who returned to France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was broken on the wheel, 1698.

BROUWER, a Dutch painter, mostly of low, vulgar life, which, as familiar with it, he depicted with great spirit (1605-1638).

BROWN, AMY, the first wife of the Duc de Berri, born in England, died in France; the Pope, in 1816, annulled her marriage, but declared her two daughters legitimate (1783-1876).

BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN, an American novelist, born in Philadelphia, of Quaker connection; his best-known fictions are "Wieland," "Edgar Huntly," &c. (1771-1810).

BROWN, FORD MADOX, an English painter, born at Calais; his subjects nearly all of a historical character, one of which is "Chaucer reciting his Poetry at the Court of Edward III."; antic.i.p.ated Pre-Raphaelitism (1821-1893).

BROWN, SIR GEORGE, British general, born near Elgin, distinguished both in the Peninsular and in the Crimean war, was severely wounded at Inkerman, when in command of the Light Division (1790-1863).