these works as a sentiment native to the English heart, resolved also upon introducing them, by translation, to the British public. At that time very little, comparatively speaking, was known of northern literature, and the works of Miss Bremer therefore were not only warmly welcomed from their own intrinsic qualities, but because they led, as it were, into other realms of mind. A translation of "The Neighbours" was first published, by the Messrs. Longman, which was quickly followed by "The Home," "The President's Daughters," and the remainder of the "Sketches of Everyday Life," by the same translators; nor was the reception of these works in England less enthusiastic than it had been in Germany. From England the Howitts' translations instantly passed over to America, where from one end of the Union to the other they soon became household property. They were also translated about the same time into French; but being naturally less kindred to the domestic heart there than among the Teutonic races, they were less generally read. It is hardly necessary to particularize the characteristics of these excellent works. It is sufficient to say that all are remarkable, whatever may be their various degrees of literary merit, for the same attractive peculiarities, great womanly purity, clearness of judgment, the most thorough good temper, with a not unfrequent touch of humour (which, however, never degenerates into jest), a keen perception of the truth in life, great knowledge of human nature, a lucid and often eloquent style, and great powers of description. With all these qualities of the successful novelist, the stories themselves are often of the simplest construction, dependent rather upon their fidelity to nature and the soundness of their principles, than on the intricacy of their plot, for attracting the universal reader. The eagerness with which these works were received, and the place which they at once established for themselves in the affections of the public, are a cheering proof of sound moral life in the heart of the age. The peculiar sphere in which Fredrika Bremer exercises her greatest power, and where she is most valuable as a writer, is that of domestic life. Home, and alls its joys and sorrows, its repose and its anxiety, its light and its shadow, its fair daughters and its hopeful sons, its drawing-room festivities, its active duties of the kitchen, its servants, its very animals—all have their place in her pages, and are interpreted by her.
After Fredrika Bremer had attained to this wide celebrity, she published "The Diary;" "Life in Dalecarlia;" "Brothers and Sisters;" and "The Midnight Sun." Another little work also, though bearing an earlier date of authorship, was translated about the same time by the Howitts, "The Morning Watch, or a Confession of Faith," intended to counteract the writings of Strauss, and in which the authoress avows her entire faith in Jesus as the Saviour.
In the autumn of 1840 Miss Bremer, induced by the solicitations of her numerous friends in America, and also by her own desire to study life under what appeared to her its most favourable circumstances, as exhibited in the New World, paid a visit, entirely alone, to America, where she remained for two years, studying the social, moral, and religious life of that great republic, from the north to the south. The result of these two years' observation and study was afterwards given to the public in 1853 in 3 vols., translated by Mary Howitt, under the title of "The Homes of the New World." A severe blow, as has been already stated, met Miss Bremer on her return home, in the death of her beloved sister, which she then learned for the first time. To this sister, an invalid for many years, and to whom frequent affectionate reference is made in many of Miss Bremer's works, her letters from America had been addressed. Two years afterwards she also lost her mother; after which she removed from the old family home at Arsta to Stockholm, whence she gave the world, in 1856, her last-published romance, called "Hertha," perhaps the least popular of her works, but the one probably of which the purport was the most deeply studied, and which aimed at the highest results—the alteration of the laws of Sweden as regards the property of women. These laws are extremely oppressive and unjust, and the effect of them is represented by no strained or unnatural means as operating upon Hertha, no merely imaginary character, as we are assured; there being many living Herthas in Sweden. But the subject was painful, and the picture presented by the story disheartening; and the ordinary reading public, which had loved its home more, and cherished its home affections more proudly in consequence of Fredrika Bremer's former works, was disappointed that she could still show another side to the picture. Still her labour, we are assured, has not been in vain, for the sad and unpleasing story of Hertha has, together with other causes, led thinking men to a deliberate consideration of these antique but oppressive laws, with a view to their amendment. In 1857, Miss Bremer left home for Switzerland and Italy, and in the latter country completed her "Father and Daughter," which was published in 1858. The result of her travels appeared, in 1860, in two volumes entitled "Two years in Switzerland and Italy." She next visited the Holy Land, Turkey, and Greece, and in 1861 commenced the publication of her observations on these countries. All the above works have been translated into English by Mary Howitt. Miss Bremer died at Arsta on the 31st of December, 1865.
Miss Bremer, like her countrywoman Jenny Lind, was actively benevolent, and spent a considerable portion of her income in benevolent purposes. In times of extraordinary distress, as in the cholera at Stockholm, and after the Danish war in Holstein, she was active at Copenhagen for the establishment of refuges and schools for destitute orphans. During a remarkable season, also, when the poor of Stockholm suffered much from cold and hunger, hundreds owed their lives to her exertions.—M. H.
* BREMIKER, Karl, of Berlin, one of the many able astronomical calculators of the continent. He has recently produced our best modern tables of logarithms of numbers and trigonometrical fractions to every tenth second; Berlin, 1852.—J. P. N.
BREMOND. The name of several noble families of France, the most distinguished of whom were the lords of Ars in Perigord.—Pierre de Bremond d'Ars, knighted by Charles VII. in 1442 for his services in expelling the English from the district of Saintonge and the Angoumois, died in 1456.—Charles de Bremond d'Ars, known under the name of Baron des Chateliers, a brave and loyal soldier of the reign of Henry III. He played a prominent part as lieutenant of Saintonge, &c., in the religious wars of the period.—Josias Bremond d'Ars, son of the preceding, also distinguished in the religious wars of the reign of Henry III., but more particularly in those of the reign of Louis XIII., died in 1651, leaving a reputation for bravery earned by military service extending over a period of seventy-five years, in the course of which he had seen twenty battles and eighteen sieges.—Pierre-René-Auguste, comte de Bremond d'Ars, born at Saintes in 1759, deputy to the states-general in 1789, voted in that assembly against revolutionary measures, took refuge in Holland after the death of the king, and returning to France in 1800, lived retired and undistinguished near his birthplace. Died in 1842.—Charles de Bremond, marquis d'Ars, a French naval commander, killed in an engagement with the English in 1771. In 1760, while in command of the frigate L'Opaile, he captured from the English a ship of the line, and a frigate of twenty-four guns.—Louis Bremond d'Arses or Ars, a French commander of the first half of the sixteenth century, born in the district of Saintonge. As lieutenant of Louis of Luxemburg, count of Ligny, he fought with distinction at Fornovo, the Chevalier Bayard being of his company. Under Louis XII. his exploits were numerous and brilliant. At the battle of Novara he encountered hand to hand the famous Ludovico Sforza. He took part in the reduction of Naples and the siege of Canosa, was wounded at Cerignole in 1503, and after the death of the count of Ligny, succeeded him in the command of the district of Apulia. In 1511, with Bayard for one of his lieutenants, he fought at the battle of Ravenna.
BREMOND, Gabriel de. Of the precise dates of the birth and death of Gabriel de Bremond, little or nothing is known. He is first known as, towards the close of the seventeenth century, supporting himself by writing novels for the Dutch booksellers, and is spoken of as a French refugee, whom religious or political causes drove from his country. In his new country he again gave cause for suspicion, and was thrown into prison for some political intrigue. While in prison, he recast and abridged Chapelain's translation of Guzman d'Alfarache, and not only did this, but sought to make a French scoundrel of the Spanish rogue. This mode of dealing with works of foreign literature is never very successful, but the insertion of some stories having the interest of local and temporary scandal did something for the book. Bremond's own adventures led him to dwell with some severity on all persons engaged in the administration of the law. His book is by no means unamusing. It was printed first at Amsterdam in 1695, and in the same year at Paris. Le Sage's book has, of course, had the effect of throwing the older book out of circulation, but
