BRIDGE-BUILDING BROTHERHOODS-BRIDGE-HEAD.

BRIDGE OF ALLAN-BRIDGET.

the river, where the guns can work better with the supporting batteries opposite. Bridge-heads are

Bridge-head Defence Work.

always happy. Her brain seems to have been unduly excited for a blind person; she not only held imaginary dialogues with herself, but dreamed incessantly by night; and during these dreams, while asleep, talked much on her fingers. She learned to write a fair, legible, square hand, and to read with great dexterity, and at last, even to think deeply, and to reason with good sense and discrimination. Keen, sensitive, and lively, in various occupation, her days now pass rapidly and pleasantly, mainly owing to the unremitting skill and kindness of Dr Howe. She was saved by him from a life of hopeless, helpless darkness; educated and trained to take her part in the world; and now, as a teacher of the blind and deaf and dumb, is conferring on them the blessings she has herself received. She is usually temporary works, hastily constructed. Their probably among the most skilful of Blind teachers. most frequent use is to aid a retiring army to cross BRIDGENORTH, a town of Salop or Shropthe river in good order, and to check an enemy shire, on both sides of the Severn, 20 miles southpressing upon it. Openings are left to allow the retir-east of Shrewsbury. It consists of an upper and ing army, with guns and carriages, to file through lower town, connected by a bridge over the Severn. without confusion; and parapets are so disposed as The larger part of the town is on the right bank, and to flank and defend these openings. is built on a sandstone rock rising 60 feet above the river. Pop. in 1871, 7317. It returns two members to parliament. The navigation of the Severn formerly employed many of the inhabitants, but the traffic has been greatly injured by the introduction of railways. The town, which was at one time called Bruges or Brug, is said to be of Saxon origin. In the beginning of the 12th c., the Earl of Shrewsbury defended the town unsuccessfully against Henry I. It was besieged in the same century by Henry II.; and during the civil wars it resisted the Parliamentary forces for three weeks. A great portion of the town was on this occasion destroyed by fire. It has carpet and worsted manufactories. Bishop Percy was born here.

BRIDGE OF ALLAN. See ALLAN.

BRIDGEMAN, LAURA. This famous blind mute was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States, on the 21st December 1829. She was a bright, intelligent child, but at two years of age was seized with a violent fever, which utterly destroyed both sight and hearing. For a time this so shattered her system, that there seemed no hope of recovery; but she rallied, and soon learned to find her way about the house and neighbourhood, and even learned to sew and to knit a little. A strong passion for imitation began to develop itself, and by assiduously cultivating this power, she was at last enabled to emerge out of her life of unbroken darkness and silence, and take her place among the educated people of the day. In 1839, Dr Howe of Boston undertook her care and education at the Deaf and Dumb School. The first attempt was to give her a knowledge of arbitrary signs, by which she could interchange thoughts with others. Then she learned to read embossed letters by the touch; next, embossed words were attached to different articles, and she learned to associate each word with its corresponding object. A pat on the head told her when she was right in her spelling-lesson. Thus far, however, the work was only an exercise of imitation and memory, roused into exertion by the motive of love of approbation, but seemingly without intellectual perception of the relation between words and things. It was like teaching a clever dog a variety of tricks. But at last the truth flashed upon her, that by this means she could communicate to others a sign of what was passing in her own mind. Her whole being seemed changed. The next step was to procure a set of metal types, with the letters cast at the ends, and a board with square holes for their insertion, so as to be read by the finger. In six months, she could write down the name of most common objects, and in two years had made great bodily and mental improvement. She grew happier, and enjoyed play like other children, amusing herself with imaginary dialogues, spelling old and new words, and with her left hand slapping the fingers of her right, if they spelled a word wrong; or giving herself a pat of approval, as the teacher did, when correct. Her touch grew in accuracy as its power increased; she learned to know people almost instantly by the touch alone. In a year or two more, she was able to receive lessons in geography, algebra, and history. She received and answered letters from all parts of the world, and was always employed, and therefore

BRIDGEPORT, a seaport of Connecticut, U. S., at the mouth of the Pequannock, which empties itself into an inlet of Long Island Sound. It is in lat. 41° 11' N., and long. 73° 12′ W., being 178 miles to the south-west of Boston, and 58 to the north-east of New York. In 1870, the population was 19,835, having gained 6536 in 10 years. B. is connected by railways both with the interior and with the other places generally on the seaboard. Though the harbour does not admit large ships, having only 13 feet on the bar at high-water, yet B. has a considerable coasting-trade, and a number of vessels engaged in the whale-fishery. Its manufactures are extensive, particularly of carriages and harness.

BRIDGET, ST (or, more properly, Birgit or Brigitte), a famous Roman Catholic saint, was born in Sweden about the year 1302. Her father was a prince of the blood-royal of Sweden. When only sixteen, she married Ülf Gudmarson, Prince of Nericia, a stripling of eighteen, by whom she had eight children, the youngest of whom, named Catherine, born in 1336, died in 1381, became par excellence the female saint of Sweden. Her husband and she now solemnly vowed to spend the remainder of their lives in a state of continence, and, to obtain strength to carry out their severe resolution, made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Jago de Compostella in Spain. On their return, Ulf died in 1344, and B. founded about the same time the monastery of Wadstena, in East Gothland. Sixty nuns and twenty-five monks were its first inmates. They received the rule of St Augustine, to which St B. herself added a few particulars. They constituted a new order, sometimes called the order of St B., sometimes the order of St Salvator, or the Holy Saviour, which flourished in Sweden until the Reformation, when it was suppressed, but it still possesses some establishments in Italy,

BRIDGETON-BRIDGEWATER TREATISES.

Admiral Blake was a Portugal, and elsewhere. Subsequently, St B. went members to parliament. Bath or scouring bricks, to Rome, where she founded a hospice for pilgrims peculiar to B., are made here of a mixture of sand and Swedish students, which was reorganised by and clay found in the river. Leo X. After having made a pilgrimage to Pales- native of this town, which suffered severely in the tine, she died at Rome on her return, 23d July civil wars, when it was besieged by Fairfax, and 1373. Her bones were carried to Wadstena, and ultimately forced to surrender, the castle being disshe herself was canonised in 1391 by Pope Boniface mantled by the conqueror. The unfortunate Duke IX. Her festival is on the 8th of October. The of Monmouth was proclaimed king by the corporation In 1869, 138 Revelationes St Brigitta, written by her confessors, of B., before the battle of Sedgemoor, which occurred was keenly attacked by the celebrated Gerson, but in 1685, 5 miles south-east of B., and in which he obtained the approval of the Council of Basel, and was defeated by the royal army. Besides the vessels, of 11,843 tons, belonged to the port; and in has passed through many editions. Revelationes, there have been attributed to this saint the same year the number of vessels entering was 4144, with an aggregate burden of 217,987 tons; of vessels clearing, 1378; burden, 76,245 tons.

a sermon on the Virgin, and five discourses on the passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by an introduction which was condemned by the congregation of the Index.

Not to be confounded with this Swedish saint is another St Bridget, or St Bride, as she is more commonly called, a native of Ireland, who flourished in the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th c., and was renowned for her beauty. To escape the temptations to which this dangerous gift exposed her, as well as the offers of marriage with which she was annoyed, she prayed God to make her ugly. Her prayer was granted; and she retired from the world, founded the monastery of Kildare, and devoted herself to the education of young girls. Her day falls on the 1st of February. She was regarded as one of the three great saints of Ireland, the others being St Patrick and St Columba. She was held in great reverence in Scotland, and was regarded by the Douglases as their tutelary saint.

BRIDGEWATER, FRANCIS EGERTON, DUKE OF, styled the 'Father of British Inland Navigation,' youngest son of Scroop, fourth Earl and first Duke of B., was born in 1736, and succeeded his elder brother, second duke, in 1748. In 1758-1760, he obtained acts of parliament for making a navigable canal from Worsley to Salford, Lancashire, and carrying it over the Mersey and Irwell Navigation at Barton by an aqueduct 39 feet above the surface of the water, and 200 yards long, thus forming a communication between his coal-mines at Worsley and Manchester, on one level. In this great undertaking he was aided by the skill of James Brindley (q. v.), the celebrated engineer, and expended large sums of money. He was also a liberal promoter of the Grand Trunk Navigation; and the impulse he thus gave to the internal navigation of England, led to the extension of the canal-system BRIDGETON, a port of entry in New Jersey, throughout the kingdom. In politics, though he U.S., about 40 miles south of Philadelphia. It took no active part, B. was a friend to the Pitt occupies both banks of the Cohansey Creek, about administration, and a contributor to the Loyalty 20 miles above its entrance into Delaware Bay, its Loan of no less than £100,000. He died unmarried, two divisions being connected by a wooden draw- March 8, 1803, and with his death the dukedom bridge. The town contains a public library, two became extinct. Before he began to realise profits newspaper-offices, an iron foundry, a rolling-mill, from his great work, B. lived in privacy, and a nail-factory, a woollen-factory, and a glass-work. restricted himself to the simplest fare; and after It likewise owns upwards of 15,000 tons of shipping. Pop. in 1870, 6820.

collateral branches of his family. A monument was his death his great wealth was distributed among erected to his memory in Manchester.

BRIDGEWATER, FRANCIS HENRY EGERTON, EARL OF, son of John Egerton, Bishop of Durham, grandnephew of the first Duke of B., succeeded his brother as eighth earl, October 21, 1823. Educated By his last will, for the church, he had previously been prebendary of Durham. He died unmarried, in February 1829, and the title became extinct. dated February 25, 1825, he left £8000, invested in the public funds, to be paid to the author of the best treatise On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation,' illustrating such work by such arguments as the variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, the effect of The then digestion, the construction of the hand of man, and and the whole extent of literature. by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, sciences,

BRIDGETOWN, the capital of Barbadoes (q. v.). It stands on the west coast of the island, stretching along the north side of Carlisle Bay, which forms its roadstead. It contains 21,384 inhabitants, its lat. being 13° 4' N., and long. 59° 37′ W. It is the residence of the Bishop of Barbadoes and of the Governor-general of the Windward Islands. B. was founded about the middle of the 17th c., taking the name of Indian Bridge, and subsequently its present appellation, from a rude aboriginal structure which spanned a neighbouring creek. The existing city, however, is less than 100 years old, its predecessor having been almost utterly destroyed by fire in May 1766. It also suffered very severely from fire in 1845. With the exception of Broad Street, the thoroughfares are very irregular; and the shops, from the want of windows in front, look heavy and unattractive. BRIDGEWATER, a town and port of Somerset-president of the Royal Society of London, Davies shire, on both sides of the Parret (which is here Gilbert, to whom the selection of the author was spanned by an iron bridge), 6 miles in a direct left, with the advice of the Archbishop of Canterthe deceased earl, judiciously resolved, that instead line, and 12 by the river, from the Bristol Channel, bury, the Bishop of London, and a noble friend of and 30 miles south-west of Bristol. It stands on of being given to one man for one work, the money the border of a marshy plain which lies between should be allotted to eight different persons for eight the Mendip and Quantock Hills, but the country around is well wooded. It is chiefly built of brick. separate treatises, though all connected with the St Mary's Church has a remarkably slender and same primary theme (see next article). B. also lofty spire. The Parret admits vessels of 200 tons left upwards of £12,000 to the British Museum, the MSS. for the public use. up to the town; it rises 36 feet at spring-tides, and interest to be employed in the purchase and care of is subject to a bore or perpendicular advancing wave, 6 feet high, often causing much annoyance to B. returns two shipping. Pop. in 1871, 12,101.

BRIDGEWATER TREATISES, eight celebrated works 'On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness

345

BRIDLINGTON-BRIEL.

ence, that the bull is written on the rough side, and in ancient Gothic characters, while the brief is written on the smooth side, and in modern Roman

of God,' by eight of the most eminent authors a word which, in the corrupt Latinity of the early in their respective departments, published under a ages, was made to signify a short letter written bequest of the last Earl of Bridgewater (q. v.), to one or more persons (hence the German brief, a whereby each received £1000, with the copyright of letter). It is now used to denote certain ponhis own treatise. They are: 1. The Adaptation of tifical writings, which, however, do not receive their External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Con- name from the brevity of the composition, but stitution of Man, by Thomas Chalmers, D.D. (Lond. from the smallness of the caligraphy. The papal 1833, 2 vols. 8vo). 2. Chemistry, Meteorology, and B. differs from the papal bull (q. v.) in several the Function of Digestion, considered with Reference points. It gives decisions on matters of inferior to Natural Theology, by William Prout, M.D. (Lond. importance, such as discipline, dispensations, release 1834, 8vo). 3. On the History, Habits, and Instincts from vows, indulgences, &c., which do not necesof Animals, by the Rev. William Kirby (Lond. sarily require the deliberations of a conclave of 1835, 2 vols. 8vo). 4. On Geology and Mineralogy, cardinals. Still, it is not to be confounded with by the Rev. Dr Buckland (Lond. 1837, 2 vols. 8vo). the motus proprii, or private epistle of the pope 5. The Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments, as an individual, as its contents are always of an as evincing Design, by Sir Charles Bell (Lond. 1837, official character. His holiness speaks, as it were, 8vo). 6. The Adaptation of External Nature to the with a kind of familiar parental authority, and Physical Condition of Man, by John Kidd, M.D. the B. is consequently superscribed papa, while the (Lond. 1837, 8vo). 7. Astronomy and General person to whom it is addressed is termed dilecte fili Physics, considered with Reference to Natural Theo- (beloved son). It is signed not by the pope, but by logy, by the Rev. William Whewell (Lond. 1839, the Segretario de' Brevi, an officer of the papal 8vo). 8. Animal and Vegetable Physiology, con- chancery, with red wax, and only with the pope's sidered with Reference to Natural Theology, by Peter private seal, the fisherman's ring; hence it conMark Roget, M.D. (Lond. 1840, 2 vols. 8vo). All cludes Datum Romæ sub annulo piscatoris (Given at these works have since been republished by Bohn. Rome under the ring of the fisherman). Like the BRI'DLINGTON, or BURLINGTON, a sea-bull, it is written on parchment, with this differcoast town in the East Riding of Yorkshire (including Bridlington Quay, a port and bathingplace about 1 mile to the south-east), 6 miles west of Flamborough Head, and 40 miles east-north-east of York. B. is situated on a gentle slope in a recess of a beautiful bay. The country is hilly to the north, but subsides to the south into a flat alluvial and fertile tract called Holderness. It has the aspect of an old town with narrow irregular streets. Pop. in 1871, 6203. It has a considerable trade in corn, and also some soap-boiling and bone-grinding works. B. is supposed to have been the site of a Roman station. The Danes had strongholds in this vicinity for nearly 300 years, and many engagements between them and the Saxons and Normans occurred here. Great numbers of ancient tumuli or barrows still exist. An Augustine priory of immense wealth, and which subsisted for 400 years, was founded here by a grand-nephew of the Conqueror, and obtained many privileges from Henry I., and also from King John. Some parts of it yet remain. In 1643, Henrietta, queen of Charles I., landed here with arms and ammunition from Holland bought with the crown-jewels. Bridlington Quay has a chalybeate mineral spring, as well as an intermitting one of pure water. B. is noted for its chalk-flint fossils. In the lacustrine deposits near B. were found, some years ago, the bones of a large extinct elk, with branching horns, measuring 11 feet from tip to tip.

BRIDPORT, a town in Dorsetshire, in a vale at the confluence of the Asker and the Birt, or Brit, or Bride, 16 miles west-north-west of Dorchester, and 2 miles from the English Channel. It stands on an eminence surrounded by hills, and consists chiefly of three spacious and airy streets. Pop. (1871) 7670. The registered electors number 983, including 15 freemen. They return one member to parliament. The chief manufactures are twine, shoe-thread, cordage, fishing-nets, and sail-cloth; and ship-building is carried on to some extent. The vicinity is celebrated for its cheese and butter. B. was a considerable town before the Norman Conquest, and had a mint for coining silver. In 1872 there entered into this port 72 vessels whose tonnage was reckoned 6875; and there cleared it 18 vessels of collectively 1840 tons. On the coast near, are sandy cliffs, 200 feet high, abounding in fossils. BRIEF, or BREVE, PAPAL (Lat. brevis, short),

characters.

BRIEF, in the practice of the English bar, is the name given to the written instructions on which barristers advocate causes in courts of justice. It is called a B. because it is, or ought to be, an abbreviated statement of the pleadings, proofs, and affidavits at law, or of the bill, answer, and other proceedings in equity, with a concise narrative of the facts and merits of the plaintiff's case, or the defendant's defence. But it is also used in forensic business generally, being applied, not only in the courts of law and equity, but also in all other tribunals, whether inferior or superior, original or appellate. In Scotland, the corresponding term is Memorial. The skill of the attorney or solicitor is shewn in the preparation of this important document, which should be characterised by arrangement and compression, without any material omission.

BRIEG, a town of Silesia, Prussia, about 27 miles south-east of Breslau. It is situated on the left bank of the Oder, and on the railway between Breslau and Vienna, and is surrounded with walls, which have been partly converted into promenades. The streets are wide and regular, and commercially B. is a thriving town, its manufactures including linens, woollens, cottons, hosiery, ribbons, lace, leather, and tobacco. The battle-field of Mollwitz (q. v.) lies a little to the west of Brieg. Pop. (1871) 15,367.

BRIEL, BRIE'LLE, or THE BRILL, a fortified seaport town, on the north side of the island of the Maas, about 14 miles west of Rotterdam, in lat. Voorne, Holland. It is situated near the mouth of 51° 54' N., and long. 4° 10 E. B. possesses a good harbour, and is intersected by several canals. It has which are chiefly engaged as pilots and fishermen. a population of about 5000, the male portion of B. may be considered as the nucleus of the Dutch republic, having been taken from the Spaniards by William de la Marck in 1572. This event was the first act of open hostility to Philip II., and paved the way to the complete liberation of the country from a foreign yoke. In 1585, B. was one of the towns made over to England as security for certain advances made to the states of Holland; it was restored to the Dutch in 1616. B. was the first

BRIENNE-LE-CHATEAU-BRIGANDINE.

ance of the contest, exerted all his influence over brig. A brig's mainsail is the lowest squaresail on his troops, led several charges in person, and the mainmast, whereas the mainsail of a brigantine frequently exposed himself to danger, victory at length declared decisively for the allies at every point. During the night of February 1 and the morning of the following day, the French troops retreated from Brienne-le-Chateau. The loss on both sides was about equal, consisting of nearly 5000 killed and wounded. The allies took 9000 prisoners, and 70 pieces of artillery. This victory at B. opened the way to Paris, and led to the fall of the empire.