in York till the last night of the season, 21 May 1794, when she appeared in her own play of 'Agmunda,' in which she was derided. In the summer she played in Liverpool with no greater success. Starched in manner, virtuous in conduct, and resolute in her objection to a low-cut dress, she seems, according to Tate Wilkinson, to have had little chance of succeeding on the stage. Her defeat she attributed to the jealousy of Mrs. Siddons and the Kembles. Of her play she thought so highly that she would not for fear of theft trust the whole manuscript to the prompter, but copied out with her own hand the entire play, except her own part, which she reserved. Many curious stories show how high was her estimate of her own capacity. Wilkinson says that, apart from her tragedy airs, she possessed many good qualities, that she was estimable in her private character, and endowed with a good understanding. The editors of the 'Biographia Dramatica,' who saw her performance in 'Huniades,' find fault with her deportment, but say that her acting was marked by discrimination. In 1798 she published in Norwich, in 8vo, a volume of 'Dramatic and Poetical Works,' containing: (1) 'Adelinda,' a comedy founded on 'La Force du Naturel' of Destouches; (2) 'The Conflict, or Love, Honour, and Pride,' an heroic comedy adapted from 'Don Sanche d'Arragon,' by Pierre Corneille; and (3) 'Huniades, or the Siege of Belgrade,' a tragedy, with some miscellaneous poems. After her failure on the stage, Miss Brand again became a governess. Her pupil was a married lady, and her eccentric conduct was the cause of much unpleasantness between husband and wife. Miss Brand died in March 1821.
[Genest's History of the Stage; Tate Wilkinson's Wandering Patentee; Baker, Reed, and Jones's Biographia Dramatica; History of the Theatres of London from the year 1771 to 1795, 2 vols. (Oulton); Nichols's Lit. Illustrations, vi. 534-7; Beloe's Sexagenarian.]
BRAND, JOHN (1668?–1738), minister of the church of Scotland, author of 'A Brief Description of Orkney,' was educated at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. on 9 July 1688. After completing his divinity course, he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Edinburgh, and on 3 Jan. 1694-5 was ordained minister of the parish of Borrowstouness, Linlithgowshire. In February 1700-1 he was appointed by the general assembly one of a deputation to visit Shetland, and, if convenient, Orkney and Caithness. His journey occupied from 18 April to 24 June, and after his return he published an account of his experiences under the title, 'A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth, and Caithness; wherein, after a short journal of the author's voyage thither, these northern places are first more generally described, then a particular view is given of the several isles thereto belonging; together with an account of what is most rare and remarkable therein, with the author's observations thereupon.' The book was reprinted in vol. iii. of Pinkerton's 'Voyages and Travels,' and was also republished separately in 1883. Although, as may be supposed, of no special value in reference either to the antiquities or natural history of the islands, there is considerable interest in its descriptions of their condition, and of the mode of life of the inhabitants at a period when intercourse with the south was of the most limited kind. He died on 14 July 1738, aged about seventy. By his wife, Elizabeth Mitchell, whom he married in 1700, he had a large family, and he was succeeded in the parish by his son William.
[Hew Scott's Fasti Eccl. Scot. vol. i. pt. i. 170; List of Edinburgh Graduates.]
BRAND, JOHN (1744–1806), antiquary and topographer, was born on 19 Aug. 1744 at Washington, in the county of Durham, where his father, Alexander Brand, was parish clerk. His mother dying immediately after his birth, and his father having married again, he was taken, when a child, under the protection of his maternal uncle, Anthony Wheatley, cordwainer, residing in Back Row, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,to whom he was bound apprentice on 4 Sept. 1758. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School in that town under the direction of the Rev. Hugh Moises, where he acquired a taste for classical studies; and after leaving the school he was so indefatigable in the acquisition of learning as to secure the esteem and friendship of his former master, Mr. Moises, who interested some opulent friends in his behalf and assisted in sending him to Oxford. He was entered at Lincoln College, and graduated B. A. in 1775. Previously to this he had been ordained to the curacy of Bolam in Northumberland; in June 1773 he was appointed curate of St. Andrew's, Newcastle; on 6 Oct. 1774 he was presented to the perpetual curacy of Cramlington, a chapel of ease to St. Nicholas at Newcastle, from which town it is distant about eight miles. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 29 May 1777. In 1778 he was appointed under-usher of the grammar school at Newcastle (Brand, Hist. of Newcastle, i. 99), but he does not appear to have held that situation very long. In 1784 he was presented by his
