Makerstoun in 1841 the first magnetic observatory north of the Tweed; and his discernment in entrusting its direction to John Allan Broun, and generous co-operation with his extended views, raised the establishment to a position of primary importance. The results, published at his and the Edinburgh Royal Society's joint expense (Trans. R. Soc. Edin. xvii.-xix. with suppl. to xxii.), formed the most valuable fruits of his enlightened patronage of science, and were rewarded with the Keith medal in 1848. This was the latest of his public honours. His membership of the Royal Society of London dated from 1810. He early entered the Astronomical Society, and was chosen one of its vice-presidents in 1827; honorary degrees were conferred on him at Edinburgh, Oxford, and Cambridge in 1824, 1832, and 1833 respectively; he was an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy, and acted as president of the British Association at its Edinburgh meeting in 1834. In 1833 he succeeded Sir Walter Scott as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an office which he retained till his death. He entrusted the society with the endowment of a medal, known as the 'Brisbane Biennial,' for the encouragement of scientific study, and he endowed another medal, to be awarded by the Scottish Society of Arts. He was created a baronet in 1836, and made G.C.B. in 1837. He became lieutenant-general in 1829, and general in 1841. His zeal for education took effect in his endowment of the Brisbane Academy at Largs. Everywhere his professions ripened into acts worthy of his character as a Christian and a gentleman. His death occurred 27 Jan. 1860, in the same room where he had been born eighty-seven years previously.
[Bryson's Memoir in Trans. R. Soc. Edin. xxii. 589; Proc. R. Soc. xi. iii.; Monthly Notices, xxi. 98; Fraser's Genealogical Table of Sir T. M. Brisbane, Edinburgh, 1840; R. Soc. Cat. Sc. Papers, vol. i.; Gent. Mag. 1860, pt. i. 298; Royal Military Calendar; Lang's Hist, of New South Wales; Braim's Hist. of New South Wales to 1846.]
BRISTOL, Earls of. [See Digby.]
BRISTOL, Earl of. [See Hervey.]
BRISTOL, RALPH de (d. 1232), bishop of Cashel, is mentioned by William of Malmesbury as having granted fourteen days of indulgence to the abbey of Glastonbury. He became the first treasurer of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, in 1219, and was consecrated bishop of Cashel in 1223. He died about the beginning of 1232. He is said to have written the life of his patron, Lawrence O'Toole, archbishop of Dublin; but according to Baronius he supplied only the materials for the work, which was written by a monk of Auge.
[Ware's Works (ed. Harris), ii. 319; Cotton's Fasti Hibern. ii. 121, 189, 227.]
BRISTOW, RICHARD, D.D. (1538–1581), catholic divine, was born in 1538 at Worcester. 'Fortunæ mediocritas verâ nobilitate virtutis emersit' (Worthington, Vita Bristoï, 1). Having been instructed in grammar learning by Roger Goulburne, M.A., he matriculated in the university of Oxford, perhaps as a member of Exeter College. He took the degree of B.A. on 17 April 1559, and that of M.A., as a member of Christ Church, on 25 June 1562, being 'now in great renown for his oratory' (Wood, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 161). At this period Bristow and Edmund Campion were 'the two brightest men of the university,' and upon this account were chosen to entertain Queen Elizabeth with a public disputation on the occasion of her visit to Oxford. This they did with great applause on 3 Sept. 1566 (Wood, Annals, ed. Gutch, ii. 159). About this time Bristow devoted himself to the study of divinity, and became so noted for his learning that Sir William Petre appointed him to one of his fellowships in Exeter College, to which he was admitted on 2 July 1567 (Boase, Register of Exeter Coll. 45). It is related that in a set disputation in the divinity school he put Laurence Humphrey, the regius professor, 'to a non-plus.'
At length, being convinced that he had erred in his religious opinions, he left the college in 1569 and proceeded to Louvain, where several learned catholics were residing. There he became acquainted with Dr. William Allen, who at once recognised his rare abilities and appointed him the first moderator or prefect of studies in his newly founded seminary at Douay. Bristow was always regarded by Allen as his 'right hand.' He was ordained at the Easter ordination held at Brussels in March 1572-3, being the first member of Douay College who entered the priesthood. Just before this (20 Jan. 1572-3) he had graduated as a licentiate of divinity in the university of Douay, and he was created a doctor in that faculty on 2 Aug. 1575. Meanwhile his mother and his whole family had gone over from England to Douay, viz. five children with a nephew and a niece; and also his uterine brother, Louis Vaughan, a layman, who being a good economist was employed for many years as house steward of the college. When Allen removed the seminary to
