between the men who quietly left their country, and those who marched out that they might augment the ranks of its enemies. On his suggestion, the latter were denounced with strong penalties. It is inconsistent with the limits of this article, to narrate the adventures of the Girondists through the stormy period which preceded and followed the death of Louis XVI.—a crime which they opposed in vain. Brissot was evidently shocked at the frightful excesses of a democracy coarser than his own, and began to oppose a force of resistance to the jacobin faction equal to the impulse which he had formerly given to the republican opinions. As the natural consequence, a breach arose between the Jacobins and Girondists, which daily grew wider and wider. On the 10th of April, 1793, Robespierre accused Vergniaud, Gensonné, Gaudet, Brissot, &c., of conspiring against the unity and indivisibility of the republic, and being the accomplices of the enemies of their country This charge was the prelude of what occurred on the 31st of May. On this day the commissaries of thirty-five sections of Paris demanded of the convention the expulsion of twenty-two deputies, at the head of which was placed the name of Brissot. Two days afterwards, a majority of the convention handed them over to the vengeance of their opponents. Brissot fled to Chartres, his birthplace, which he soon left alone on foot, and in disguise. He was recognized and arrested at Moulins, brought back to Paris, and, in company with his friends, thrown into prison. On the 22d October their "acte d'accusation" was read to them, and their trial began on the 26th. Brissot entered the "salle d'audience" last but one of the party—a man of middle age, small stature, and wan features, lighted up by intelligence, and full of intrepidity. Clad with affected simplicity, his threadbare black coat was but a piece of cloth cut mathematically to cover the limbs of a man. The trial lasted a week. All the accused were declared guilty. Brissot inclined his head on his breast when he heard the fatal sentence, and remained silent. His memory survived the calumnies heaped upon it, and his widow, soon after his death, received from the nation a pension of 2000 livres. His writings, not enumerated in this memoir, were very numerous. He died as poor after three years of prominence as when he began his public career. He dwelt in an apartment on the fourth story, which was almost unfurnished, surrounded by his books and the cradles of his children. Destitute of the outside power of eloquence, he made speeches in his writings, and his burning words contributed not a little to influence the ideas and progress of the Revolution.—T. J.
BRISSOT, Pierre, a celebrated French surgeon of the sixteenth century, was born at Fontenay-le-Comte in 1478, took his doctor's degree at Paris in 1514, and died at Evara in 1522. He is particularly distinguished from his having, by reviving the method of plentiful bloodletting in pleurisy recommended by Hippocrates, given rise to a most rancorous dispute on this subject; the practice up to his time, derived from Arabian physicians and their followers, being to bleed in very small quantity, and at the greatest possible distance from the part affected. The treatises and pamphlets published in connection with this dispute fill sixty-three thick volumes, of which about half are folios. Brissot was compelled to leave Paris, and take refuge at first in Spain, and afterwards in Portugal; in both which countries he continued to operate with success, and to meet with obstinate opponents. In Spain the government attempted to root out this new heresy by force, and in Portugal, Dionys, the royal surgeon, endeavoured to crush it under a thick folio. In answer to the latter, Brissot wrote his excellent "Apologetica, disceptatio de vena secanda in pleuritide," which was published at Paris in 1525, three years after the death of its author.—W. S. D.
BRITANNICUS, son of the Emperor Claudius, and of his third wife, Messalina, born a.d. 42, a few days after his father's accession. The name by which he was first known, Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, was changed in honour of the Roman conquests in Britain, the son of Messalina, until her death, being regarded as the heir-presumptive to the throne of the Cæsars. On the marriage of Claudius with his niece, Agrippina, Octavia, sister of Britannicus, was given in marriage to Lucius Domitius, son of Agrippina by a former marriage, and afterwards emperor, under the title of Nero. After the death of Claudius, Britannicus, by the arts of his stepmother, who had taken all proper precautions for that purpose, was set aside, and Nero elected to the imperial dignity. His popularity, and still more, the frequent and threatening references which Agrippina, in her quarrels with her son, made to his being of the true stock of the Cæsars, rendered him an object of suspicion to the emperor, and ere long it was resolved to put him to death. At a banquet in presence of Agrippina, Octavia, and the future emperor, Titus, he was poisoned by command of Nero a.d. 55.—J. S., G.
BRITO or BRITTO, Bernardo de, a Portuguese historian, born at Almeida in 1569. He was scarcely of age when he entered the order of the Cistercians at Alcobaça. His singular accomplishments as a linguist enabled him to travel through various countries of Europe, preaching in their several tongues. Whilst so occupied, he conceived the plan of writing the general history of Lusitania, from the earliest times to his own days. Portugal was yet without a history when Brito published his, and it was, therefore, received with universal approbation. Philip III. appointed him royal historiographer. His other works are, "Monarquia Lusitana" and "La Geografia Lusitania." Many valuable manuscripts of his, such as "Tratado da antiga republica da Lusitania," are still unpublished. He died at Almeida in 1617.—A. C. M.
BRITO FREIRE, Francisco de, was born at the beginning of the seventeenth century, at Villa de Coruche in Portugal. At an early age he entered the army, and obtained a captainship in a cavalry regiment. Having been sent to Brazil as admiral of the Portuguese fleet, he compelled the Dutch garrison to relinquish their establishment at Arnumbuco in 1654. His biographers are unanimous in claiming for him the honours of a patriot. Brito was married to a daughter of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, and had a son who died governor-general of Rio Janeiro. A lengthened relation of his voyage to Brazil with his fleet in 1655, and a book on the wars of Holland, are his best works. This intrepid navigator and trustworthy writer died at Lisbon in 1692.—A. C. M.
BRITTON, John, the well-known writer on topography and architecture, was born of humble parentage at the village of Kington in Wiltshire in 1771, and received a scanty education at the neighbouring town of Chippenham. In his sixteenth year he was apprenticed to a wine-merchant in London, in whose employment he continued for four years and a half, lightening as he best could the dismal routine of his life by voracious reading, mostly of antiquated works which, with a forecast of his future taste for the "antiquarian trade," he had picked up at old bookstalls. Towards the termination of his apprenticeship, he made the acquaintance of Mr. Brayley, also famous as an archæologist, and took part with him in the publication of a satirical ballad, entitled "The Guinea-Pig," which had an immense popularity. Britton afterwards was employed as cellarman at the London Tavern and at a spirit store in Smithfield, and then as clerk to an attorney in Grays' Inn, in whose service he remained three years. His evenings during this period he passed in the clubs and taverns, where he formed many interesting friendships, the recollections of which furnish several amusing chapters to an autobiography, rich in amusement as well as instruction. He thought of the stage for a profession, and at one time indeed turned his dramatic talents to account in various ways; but literature finally became his vocation, and in this he was destined soon to achieve eminent success. His first production in the department of letters, with which his name is so honourably connected, was the result of a tour in Wiltshire, undertaken in 1798; it was entitled "Beauties of Wiltshire," and appeared in 1801 in two volumes. A third volume of this work was published after an interval of twenty-four years. In 1814 Britton wrote an admirable account of his native county for the fifteenth volume of the "Beauties of England and Wales,"—a work projected by him and Brayley. His subsequent contributions to topography and the literature of architecture, surprise us by their number and research, more than the labours of almost any recent English author. A descriptive account of them has been published by his professional assistant, Mr. T. E. Jones, and to that document we must refer the reader for the long and wonderful chapter in bibliography which he might expect to find in this place, but which our limits forbid us to present. We will mention only, in addition to the autobiography above alluded to (it was published by subscription), the two great national works, "The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain," and "The Cathedral Antiquities of England." Mr. Britton died on January 1, 1857.—(Gent.'s Mag., 1857.)
BRITTON, Thomas, commonly called the "musical small-coal man," was born at or near Higham-Ferrers in Northamp-
