BRISTOL BAY-BRITANNIA.

first records of the history of B. speak of it under painting their bodies blue with woad), the ancient the ancient British name of Caer-oder; it then name of the island of Great Britain (see BRITANbecame a stronghold of the Romans; on their NICE INSULA). The Romans under Julius Cæsar departure, was again occupied by the Britons, (who wished to chastise the Britons for aiding the until, in 584, the Saxons drove them out, and Veneti, a tribe in Gaul, against the Roman power) giving it the name of Brightstowe or Bricstowe, invaded Britain in 55 and 54 B. C., but they did not, made it a thriving place of trade-aboriginal slaves for a hundred years afterwards, proceed with vigour being a principal item in the commerce. It was to subdue the country. After a desperate resistsacked by the Danes. Henry III. gave it the rights ance by the native British princes, especially of a corporate town; Edward III., those of a city Caractacus and Boadicea, the south half of Britain and county in itself. In 1247, the parishes of Red- was conquered by Vespasian, and made a Roman cliffe, Temple, and St Thomas were added to Bristol. province in the reign of Claudius, about 50 A.D. During the Civil Wars, it was alternately taken by Agricola, sent by Nero in 79 A. D., consolidated Royalists and Parliamentarians, and by the latter, these conquests, and extended the influence of the castle and fortifications were razed. It after- Rome to the Firths of Forth and Clyde, between wards became the principal port for trade with the which, in 84 A. D., he erected a chain of forts to West Indies, and carried on a flourishing business in repel the inroads of the northern Caledonians, in negro slaves. In 1793, the 'Bridge Riots' occurred. the line of the stone Wall of Antoninus, afterwards In 1804 the Docks were begun, and in 1809 they erected, in 140 A. D., by Lollius Urbicus. Agricola were opened to shipping. In 1831, the 'Reform Bill was the first Roman to sail round the island, and Riots' resulted in the destruction of the Bishop's the first Roman general to come in contact with Palace, Custom-house, Excise-office, jail, toll-houses, the Caledonians, whom, under their leader Galgacus, a number of private residences, and several lives. he overthrew, in 84 A. D., at a hill called the Mons The bill itself, by the addition of Clifton, &c., Grampius, the situation of which has not been gave the city its present municipal boundaries. satisfactorily determined. The Romans made many Among the names of note identified with the ineffectual attempts to subdue the Caledonian barhistory of B. are those of the Fitzhardinge family; barians, and penetrated, for this purpose, through William of Worcester; Canynge, the great merchant the north-east part of Scotland as far as the Moray and restorer of Redcliffe Church; Colston and Firth, as is attested by the remains of Roman Whitson, the merchants and philanthropists; Sebas- camps and stations still existing along their line of tian Cabot, the navigator, said to have anticipated march, and the relics of Roman art found in connecthe discovery of America by Columbus; the poets tion with them. Not only did the Caledonians on Southey and Chatterton; Lawrence and Baily, artists; their own soil resist the Roman sway, but by conSydney Smith, canon of Bristol Cathedral; Robert stant inroads into the Roman territory south of the Hall, Coleridge, and Hannah More; the Misses Wall of Antoninus, they so harassed the Romans Porter; Dr Prichard, Dr Carpenter, and Miss Mary themselves, that the latter were forced to abandon Carpenter. their conquests for 80 miles south of that wall, and to secure permanently their remaining conquests in South Britain by a line of defensive works between the mouth of the Tyne and the Solway Firth, called the Wall of Hadrian (q. v.), begun by Agricola in 80 A. D., strengthened by Hadrian in 121, and rebuilt and completed by Severus in 210 A. D. After this last date the Romans did not Ocean, in the south-west of England, between attempt to regain their lost provinces. Subject to South Wales on the north, and Devon and Somerset of the native British princes, and the invasion of these incursions of the Caledonians, the opposition shires on the south; or it may be regarded as an extension of the estuary of the river Severn. It tribes from the opposite shores of the continent, the is about 80 miles long and 5 to 48 miles broad, Romans held sway in Britain down to about 420 the greatest breadth being between St Gowan's A. D., soon after which time the Saxons invaded Head and Hartland Point, its most western and south of the Solway Firth and the mouth of south Britain, and ultimately subdued it. Britain, external points, this line passing through Lundy the Tyne, in the reign of Claudius, formed one Isle. It is the largest inlet or estuary in Britain, having a very irregular coast-line of 220 miles, and receiving a drainage of 11,000 square miles. The chief rivers which flow into it are the Towy, Taff, Usk, Wye, Severn, Avon, Axe, Parrot, Taw, and Torridge. The tides in it rise to an extra ordinary height-at Bristol, 35 feet; at King's Road, 40; and at Chepstow, sometimes 70. The rapid flow of the tides meeting the currents of the rivers produces, in the narrow parts of the Channel, and in the mouths of one or two of the rivers which enter it, the phenomenon of the bore, the tide advancing like a wall of water sometimes 6 to 9 feet high. The chief bays and harbours are, on the north, Caermarthen and Swansea Bays, Cardiff Roads, the mouths of the Usk and Wye, and the Severn estuary; and on the south, Bideford or Barnstaple, Morte, Ilfracombe, Combe Martin, Minehead, Porlock, and Bridgwater.

BRISTOL BAY, an arm of the Pacific Ocean, in Russian America, lying immediately to the north of the peninsula of Alaska. B. B. receives the waters of two considerable lakes, which, communicating with each other, offer an opening into the

interior.

BRISTOL CHANNEL, an inlet of the Atlantic

BRITAIN, GREAT. See GREAT BRITAIN. BRITAIN, NEW. See NEW BRITAIN. BRITANNIA (perhaps from Celtic brith or brit, painted, the ancient Britons being in the habit of

Roman province under a consular legatus and a procurator. Ptolemy mentions 17 native tribes as inhabiting this tract. Toward the close of the 4th C. A.D., Roman Britain constituted a diocese in the præfecture of Gaul, and was divided into five provinces, of which the boundaries, though uncertain, are supposed to have been as follows: B. Prima, England south of the Thames and the Bristol Channel; B. Secunda, Wales; Flavia Cæsariensis, the country between the Thames, Severn, Mersey, and Humber; Maxima Cæsariensis, the rest of England to the Scottish border; and Valentiasoon abandoned by the Romans-or Scotland south of the Wall of Antoninus. At this time, also, the inhabitants of Roman Britain included Phoenician, Roman, and Germanic elements, which had become incorporated with the native Britons, who were of Celtic or Gaelic descent. The Romans governed Britain by a vicarius or vicegerent resident at Eboracum (York), under whom were consulars, presidents, and other subordinate officers. To insure the obedience of the natives, at least three Roman legions-chiefly composed of Gauls, Germans,

BRITANNIA METAL-BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE.

on a globe or on an insulated rock, and leaning with one arm on a shield, the other hand grasping a spear or a trident. The first example of this personification is on a Roman coin of Antoninus Pius (died 161 A. D.). The figure reappears first on the copper coinage of England in the reign of Charles II. (1665); the celebrated beauty, Miss Stewart, afterwards Duchess of Richmond, is said to have served as model to the engraver, Philip Roetier. The Britannia that appears on the reverse of British copper coins since 1825 was the design of Mr W. Wyon. See COINAGE.

Iberians, and but few pure Romans-were stationed in Britain; viz., at Eboracum, Deva (Chester), and Isca Damnoniorum (Exeter). Under the Romans, many towns (colonia and municipia)-56 are enumerated by Ptolemy-arose in Britain, and diffused Roman law and civilisation over the country. The towns of Eboracum (York) and Verulamium (near St Albans) had the privileges of Roman citizenship. The Romans made many roads or streets (strata), of which there are still numerous remains, across the country, all centering in London. They also developed it into a corn-growing country. Druidism was the religion of the Britons at their conquest by the Romans, but the latter introduced Christianity and Roman literature into the country. There are many remains still extant of the presence of the Romans in Britain, such as camps, roads, ruins of houses, baths, flues, altars, mosaic pavements, painted walls, metallic implements and ornaments, weapons, tools, utensils, pottery, coins, sculptures, bronzes, inscriptions, &c. These remains shew that the Romans wished to render their British conquests permanent, and that they had greatly improved the arts of the variety of B. M., called Queen's Metal, is also ancient Britons, as is evident on comparing the extensively used for similar purposes, and it ranks remains with the far ruder native antiquities of intermediate in hardness between pewter and ordithe British pre-Roman or pre-historic era, such as nary B. Metal. Queen's Metal is composed of-tin, tumuli, barrows, earthworks, so-called Druidical 9; antimony, 1; bismuth, 1; and lead, 1. monoliths and circles, cromlechs, cairns, pottery, weapons, tools, utensils, ornaments, &c. Many of the Roman remains in Britain also shew that the Romans had introduced into the country the refinements and luxuries of Rome itself.

BRITANNIA METAL is an alloy very largely of tea and coffee pots, tea-spoons, &c. The proemployed in the construction of the cheaper kinds portions of the metals used in its manufacture are is: tin, 85; antimony, 101; zinc, 3; and copper, 1. various, but the average composition in 100 parts B. M. is harder than pewter (q. v.), hence vessels or spoons made of it are not so liable to lose their shape, or to be indented with a slight blow.

BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE, a railway bridge over the Menai Strait, remarkable alike for its gigantic dimensions, and as being the first construction of the kind ever undertaken. With a view to facilitate communication with Ireland via Holyhead, the directors of the Chester and Holyhead Railway in 1845 sought the aid of Mr Robert Stephenson, the great engineer, to bridge the strait with such a structure as should admit of the safe passage of heavily laden trains without in any way interfering with the navigation of the channel About a mile above the suspension-bridge, and nearer Carnarvon, a rock in the middle of the strait rose ten feet above the water at low tide; and on this site, provided by nature, it was resolved to erect the bridge in the form of a rectangular tube, composed of wrought-iron plates riveted together in a manner to combine the greatest strength with the greatest lightness. See STRENGTH OF MATERIALS and TUBULAR BRIDGES. In the spring of 1846, the undertaking was commenced;

by the 22d of June 1849, the Britannia Tower | erected on each side of the Britannia Tower; thus on the rock in the centre of the strait was completed (height, 191 feet 6 inches above high-water mark). Other two towers, some 18 feet lower, were

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dividing the space into four spans, of which the two centre ones are 460 feet each, the other two being comparatively narrow. The short tubes

BRITANNICE INSULÆ BRITISH ARMY.

BRITISH ARMY-BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

and many long voyages to make; he is, moreover, almost entirely shut out from the chance of being a commissioned officer. As a consequence, the ranks are mostly filled from the more necessitous classes of the community-by those who from want of steady habits, or of education, are the least fitted for industrious pursuits; whereas in France and many other foreign countries, the profession of arms is regarded as an honourable one, of which even the private soldier feels proud. Mr Fonblanque, comparing the peace establishments of the chief European armies in 1857, found that of England to be the smallest in ratio to population, but the most costly in relation to its strength. The English ratio was 1 in 128; the French, 1 in 95; the Prussian, 1 in 80; the Russian, 1 in 72; the Austrian, 1 in 68. English soldiers, officers, and men together, cost the country £52 each per annum; French, £36; Prussian, £31; Austrian, £18, 108.; Russian, £13, 58. The English cost per man is still higher now than it was in 1857, on account of increased attention being paid to the wellbeing of the soldier.

Under the column 'India,' are included only those troops of the royal army which are lent to India, and paid for out of Indian revenues; the other military forces in that region are enumerated under EAST INDIA ARMY. Of the total 191,892 forming Her Majesty's forces, 9895 are officers; 20,767 noncommissioned officers, drummers, and trumpeters; and 161,230 rank and file. There are voted for the use of this army, 26,445 horses. The total cost cannot well be estimated per head; because, besides pay and sustenance for the soldiers, there are stores and wages for fortifications and military buildings, military weapons and combustibles, and the various kinds of half-pay and pensions. The total expenditure sanctioned by parliament may, however, conveniently be thrown under four headings, and given in round numbers as follows:

Pay and Allowances of Combatants,
Administration,

Stores and Works of every kind,
Auxiliary Forces,
Pensions, retired Pay, &c.,.

£5,394,000 752,000 4,572,000

1,448,000

2,250,000

The B. A., in all its completeness, is supposed to be commanded by the Sovereign, assisted by the Secretary of State for War in some matters, and by the Commander-in-chief in others. The component elements are the household troops; the infantry of the line; the cavalry of the line; the ordnance corps, comprising artillery and engineers; and the marines. There are also certain corps raised in and belonging to the principal colonies; other bodies of troops, maintained out of the revenues of India; the militia; the yeomanry cavalry; the army of reserve; the volunteer artillery and rifles; the enrolled pensioners; and sometimes during war, foreign legions. The 'peace establishment' of the B. A. varies according to the political aspect of affairs abroad, and to the strength of the economising principle at home. In 1814, when England was engaged in tremendous contests abroad, the regular army reached 200,000 men, exclusive of fencibles, foreign legions, and militia. In the first few years after the termination of the great war against Napoleon, the reductions in the B. A. All the component elements of the army, in perinvolved the compulsory retirement of no less sonnel and matériel, and the organisation and duties than 10,000 military officers, who thereupon went of the troops, will be found noticed under their on half-pay; these, by filling vacancies, transfers, proper headings. The military forces actually withand deaths, have nearly disappeared. The elasticity in the United Kingdom-including all the various which permits the enlargement or contraction of kinds of force, but excluding the troops in the the army arises from varying, not so much the East Indies and 22,960 in the colonies-comprise number of regiments, as the number of battalions the following (1873):

in a regiment, of companies in a battalion, or of men in a company. If we compare the strength of the regular army at various periods between 1820 and 1873, we shall find that the actual number of regiments has varied but little, the difference of strength being made up in the three modes just mentioned.

The strength of the B. A. declined from 1815 to 1835, since which last-mentioned year it has undergone many augmentations. These augmentations have been occasioned partly by the contests in China, India, Kaffraria, Persia, and the Crimea; and partly by a sense of the insecurity of many of our coasts and colonies. In comparing the strength of the forces at different periods, much confusion is apt to arise from different modes of interpreting the words 'British army.' This designation may include the whole of the royal troops in India, whether supported out of imperial or of Indian revenues; it may include the militia, the volunteers, the enrolled pensioners, the yeomanry cavalry, the foreign legions or it may exclude any one or more of these. The 'British army,' and the military force of the British empire,' are often treated as convertible terms: to the production of much confusion where actual

356

£14,416,000

being the charge for a peace establishment, in which, to admit of expansion for actual war, the upper ranks (which cannot be summarily created) are disproportionately large.

If to these be added all the troops in India and abroad, and all the forces maintained by the colonies, the total swells up to little short of a million men trained or training to arms-of whom, however, the regulars of the home army, actually available for field-service, are only about 100,000.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION. An Association whose object is, by bringing together men eminent in all the several departments of science, to assist the progress of discovery, and to extend over the whole country the latest results of scientific research. A prevailing impression that England had fallen behind other countries, both as to the general estimation in which scientific men were held, and the prosecution of science itself, led to its formation. It was thought that an imposing union of men of science with the nobility, gentry, and clergy

BRITISH EMPIRE-BRITISH MUSEUM.