Brian calmly waited his opportunity, which was afforded by Malachy, who in 988 led a large body of troops against the Danes of Dublin. Brian invaded Leinster, which he laid waste and plundered, returning to his palace of Kinkora laden with the spoils of two provinces. Invasions and reprisals followed each other on both sides, only interrupted when they joined their forces against their common foe, the Danes. In the wars with these latter, Brian obtained additional strength and increased reputation. It was now plain that these two great rivals were committed to a struggle, whose issue should be the total defeat of either. Again Malachy made a predatory excursion into Leinster, whose prince had yielded allegiance to the kings of Munster. To avenge this, Brian collected a numerous force, and marched upon the royal seat of Tara. Malachy submitted to his rival and gave hostages. But the next year, a.d. 1001, Brian again descended upon Tara at the head of a large army, and it was evident the long contest was at an end. Malachy struck not a blow to retrieve the honour of his house, and Brian, "then in the palace of Ireland's ancient monarchs, received the homage of their last legitimate successor, the descendant of a series of fifty Hy-Nial kings, and was by him acknowledged supreme sovereign of all Ireland." Malachy accompanied Brian in his regal progress through his new dominions, which with a wise policy he made for some years. In these the wisdom, prudence, and vigour of the new king was conspicuously displayed. He scrutinized everything with the eye of a politician. His firmness controlled disaffection, his moderation conciliated submission, his wisdom prescribed wholesome laws, his power enforced obedience to them. The result was that his reign was the most prosperous and peaceful for Ireland that her annals record. Wise in council, able in administration, the invincible warrior became the beneficent ruler. He controlled the dissensions of the petty chiefs by a policy alert, vigilant, and pervading. He restored the ecclesiastical buildings and endowed their institutions; he repaired the highways, strengthened the fortifications, built bridges, and carried on other works of public utility; so that after making all allowance for the exaggerated accounts of historians, enough remains of well-authenticated truth to establish for Brian Boru a high reputation. But with all his vigour and valour Brian was not able to subdue the power of the Danes in Ireland. Possessed of the strongest fortifications in the island, superior in their naval and commercial resources, prudent, active, and indefatigable, and constantly recruited from the mother country, the Danes, though often defeated, were ever ready to renew the contest, and from their stronghold in Dublin to devastate the country. Combining with the natives of Leinster, the Danes made an incursion into Meath in 1013. Emboldened by a partial success, they made preparation for a great effort. In this they were joined by Maehnorda, who had usurped the kingdom of Leinster by their aid. We shall not here consider the truth of the different stories that are extant to account for the disaffection of the people of Leinster, but come to the result that brought the contending forces upon the plain of Clontarf near Dublin in the year 1014.
It was Good Friday, the 23d of April. Brian addressed his troops in a speech, which is still preserved, of singular power, concluding it with these words: "May the Almighty God, through his great mercy, give you strength and courage this day to put an end for ever to the Lochlunian tyranny in Ireland, and to revenge upon them their many perfidies, and their profanation of the sacred edifices dedicated to his worship—this day on which Jesus Christ himself suffered death for your redemption." So saying he raised the crucifix in his left hand, and his golden-hilted sword in his right, declaring he was willing to lose his life in such a cause. Being about to lead on his troops, the chiefs with one voice entreated the aged king, now near ninety years old, to retire from the field and leave it to his brave son Moragh. At sunrise the signal for battle was given, and the fight raged without intermission till dusk. But the valour of the Irish at length prevailed, and the Danes were utterly routed. In the flight, the Danish admiral Bruadair, with some of his people reached the tent where Brian was then engaged in prayer. The aged king, though totally unarmed, sprang up, and seizing his sword, awaited the approach of the Danes, who were clothed in armour from head to foot. As Bruadair rushed upon the king, the latter smote him with his sword, and cut off his left leg from the knee and the right from the ankle, but Bruadair's axe met the head of Brian and fractured it. Brian, however, with all the fury of a dying warrior, beheaded Bruadair and killed a second Dane, and then expired. It is right to observe, that the Niala Saga, as given in Johnstone's Celto-Scandinavian Antiquities, has a different account of this transaction, namely, that the Danish admiral escaped after killing Brian, but being recaptured, he was disembowelled with horribly ingenious cruelty. The loss of the Irish in this battle, which, as a modern historian remarks, may fairly be reckoned amongst the decisive battles of the world, was considerable. Moragh and his two brothers, and many other chiefs, fell. The enemy's loss is computed to have exceeded six thousand, of whom four thousand were Danes. The body of Brian was conveyed according to his will to the cathedral of Armagh. On its progress it was received in state successively at the monasteries of Swords, St. Kieran's, and Louth, where it was met by the primate with his suffragans and clergy. For twelve days and nights it was watched by the clergy with continual prayer, and then interred with great pomp on the northern side of the altar of the great church. Thus ended the reign of this remarkable man. "Tradition and romance," says a modern writer, "have vied with one another in describing the glories of this reign. . . . But the historic fact remains, that by his just and vigorous policy he kept down the whole tribe of petty kings and toparchs, at once tyrants and rebels, whose barbarous conflicts kept the blood of the people flowing incessantly, and trampled on law and religion. He also awed into submission the Danish communities, who for several years made no attempt to disturb the general peace. For the first time in the history of Ireland there was a strong and upright central government."
On the whole, we are justified in placing this monarch, both as a general and a ruler, amongst those who are entitled to occupy the highest places in the world's history. Time, it is true, has thrown him far back in the annals of history, and the page that he fills is one which neither the classical reader of Greek and Roman story, nor the student of mediæval times desires to dwell upon, nay, scarcely cares to open. Yet the page is there notwithstanding, indelible, indestructible; and he who will peruse it, will see how great a warrior and how wise a statesman was Brian Boru. The old annalists represent Brian as "a man of fine figure, of large stature, of great strength of body, and of undaunted valour."—J. F. W.
BORY de Saint Vincent, Jean Baptiste George Marie, a celebrated French naturalist, was born at Agen in 1780, and died on 23d September, 1846. At the early age of fifteen he attracted the attention of naturalists, by his memoir on the genera Conferva and Byssus. He exhibited a desire to travel in the cause of science. He visited the isle of France and the isle of Bourbon, and drew up a beautiful topographical map of the latter. He afterwards proceeded to St. Helena, and he prepared an excellent map of the island. In 1804 he published an account of his visit to the African islands. After this he was employed in the army, and followed the camp during the wars of Napoleon. He attained the rank of colonel. After the establishment of peace he resumed his literary and scientific studies. In 1823 he published an account of the cavern in the mountain near Mæstricht, under the title of "Voyage Souterrain." After residing for some time in Belgium, he returned to France in 1820 and was charged in 1829 with the command of a scientific expedition to the Morea. He published numerous papers in French natural history periodicals, and in the Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle. He also published a guide to the traveller in Spain, and an account of the physical geography of that country.—J. H. B.
BORZONE, Luciano, a Genoese painter, born in 1590, and a scholar of his uncle, Filippo Bertolotti. He painted history tolerably, and portraits well, and was not vain enough to be ashamed of doing the inferior thing, if it is inferior, best. His "Baptism of Christ" and "Presentation in the Temple" were lions that people, more curious than religious, visited Genoese churches to see. Borzone seems to have been a sociable, dilletante-sort of man, persons of taste, talent, and good-nature, gravitating to his house, which, like Rogers' and Dr. Johnson's, was the centre of a small solar system of wit, genius, and goodness. While he was rising, however, he fell—that is to say, from an ill-starred scaffolding in the church of Delia Nunziata, in his own city. He left three painter sons,—Giovanni Battista, Francesco Maria, and Carlo. The last of these became a land-
