William Ferdinand, the most celebrated, but also one of the most unfortunate princes of his house: born, 1735; killed, 1806. He devoted himself to the military profession, and, at the head of the Brunswick auxiliaries, distinguished himself in the Seven Years' war—rendering signal service to his uncle, Frederick the Great. In 1764 he married Augusta, princess of Wales, and on the return of peace, devoted himself to the improvement of his ancestral dominions, which he governed with great wisdom. On the breaking out of the French revolution, he was appointed in 1792 to the command of the Prussian and Austrian armies, which invaded France for the purpose of re-establishing the old constitution of that kingdom. But in two successive campaigns he was foiled by the revolutionary generals; and, disgusted with his ill-success and the conduct of his Austrian allies, he resigned his command, and withdrew to his own territories. In 1806, when Prussia declared war against France, the duke was summoned from his retirement to take the command of the Prussian forces. But borne down by years, ignorant of the new system of warfare which the French had introduced, and at the head of an army morally disorganized and physically inferior to the enemy, the aged duke was altogether unfit to contend against Napoleon. He was first outmanœuvred, and then signally defeated, at the battles of Jena and Auerstadt, fought on the same day, October 14. The unfortunate prince died of his wounds at Ottensee, near Hamburg, on the 10th of November, and his duchy was seized by Napoleon, and incorporated with the new kingdom of Westphalia. His son, William Frederick, recovered possession of his ancestral dominions when the French were driven out of Germany in 1813. He had served with considerable distinction under his father in the campaigns of 1792, 1793, and 1806; and on the renewal of hostilities with France after the return of Napoleon from Elba, the duke joined the allied forces in Belgium with his black Brunswickers, and was killed fighting bravely at their head in the battle of Quatre Bras, 16th June, 1815, in the forty-fourth year of his age. (See Byron's Childe Harold, canto iv.) His eldest son, Charles, then a minor, succeeded him; but his mismanagement of the affairs of his duchy so exasperated his subjects, that they rose in insurrection against him, September, 1830, and compelled him to seek safety in flight. On the 2nd of December following, the Germanic confederation resolved that the sovereignty of Brunswick should be transferred to his brother, William, prince of Oels, who accordingly assumed the government on the 25th of April, 1831.—J. T.
BRUNTON, Mrs. Mary, authoress of "Self Control" and "Discipline," two novels which long enjoyed a remarkable popularity, and are still esteemed as among the best specimens of the moral tale, was born in the island of Barra in Orkney in 1778. Her father. Colonel Thomas Balfour, was a cadet of one of the most respectable families in Orkney, and her mother a niece of the earl of Ligonier. The greater part of her education, which at an early period of her life included an acquaintance with French and Italian, she owed to her mother, who appears to have been a woman of rare gifts and accomplishments. In her twentieth year she married the Rev. Alexander Brunton, minister of the parish of Bolton in East Lothian, afterwards professor of oriental languages in the university of Edinburgh. Her first work, "Self Control," was published in 1811. It was followed by "Discipline," which sustained, but did not increase her popularity. She was engaged on a third tale, "Emmeline," when, to the great grief of her numerous circle of friends, she died at Edinburgh in 1818. "Emmeline" was published at a subsequent period by her husband, with accompanying prefatory memoir.—J. S. G.
BRUSASORCI. See Riccio.
BRUTO or BRUTI, Giovanni Michele, a Venetian historian, was born towards 1515. A consummate scholar, Stephens Battori invited him to Transylvania, and commissioned him to write the history of that country. Having followed that prince to the court of Vienna, he was appointed by two successive emperors, Rodolphus II. and Maximilian, imperial historiographer of Austria. His "History of Florence," down to the death of Lorenzo de Medici in 1492, although incomplete, is considered one of the best literary productions of that age. The "Life of Callymachus Experiens," the academical name of Filippo Bonaccorsi, written in the choicest Latin, is also from his pen. He died in Transylvania, in a state almost bordering on indigence, towards the end of the sixteenth century.—A. C. M.
BRUTUS, the name of a family belonging to the plebeian house of the Junii, the most distinguished members of which are— L. Junius Brutus, the supposed founder of the family. He belongs rather to poetry than to real history. He was the son of M. Junius and Tarquinia, the sister of the last of the Tarquins. His elder brother, after his father's death, was put to death by the tyrant, his uncle, in order that he might possess himself of his wealth; and Lucius only saved his life by the affectation of semi-idiotcy—whence his name of Brutus. When Titus and Aruns, two of the sons of Tarquinius, were sent by their father to Delphi to consult the oracle respecting a terrific prodigy that had appeared to him, Brutus accompanied them. Soon after this, while the king was besieging Ardea, occurred the outrage by Sextus, the third son of the tyrant, on the chaste Lucretia. After she had summoned her husband and her father, with other friends, to her presence at Collatia, and, having revealed to them her dishonour, had plunged a knife into her breast, Brutus, while the rest stood speechless, drawing it forth from the wound, swore, and called upon all the bystanders to swear, to pursue to destruction by fire and sword, Tarquinius and all his impious race. All took the oath, and led by Brutus, after placing the body of Lucretia upon a bier, they brought it into the forum. When he had sufficiently roused the passions of the men of Collatia, Brutus led a large body of them to Rome. In the commotion that followed the monarchy fell, 244 years after the founding of the city; and Brutus was chosen one of the two new officers, named consuls, on whom the supreme government of the state devolved. Soon after this, a conspiracy to restore the exiled king was detected, in which the two sons of Brutus had the principal share. The story of the stern father ordering and himself presiding over the execution of his sons is too well known to require recapitulation. When Tarquinius, having obtained the aid of the Veientines, invaded the Roman territory, Brutus led an army to meet him, and engaging in single combat before the battle with Aruns Tarquinius, lost his own life after killing his antagonist.
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of the assassins of Julius Cæsar. He had served under Cæsar in the civil war, and had been nominated by him, shortly before his assassination, to the command of the province of Cisalpine Gaul. After the ides of March, Decimus Brutus, finding that nothing was to be done at Rome, repaired to his province. Unable to cope with Antony, who was shortly after appointed to supersede him, and mistrusting Octavius, he sought the assistance of Plancus in Gaul. But before long, Plancus joined Antony; and Brutus, being deserted by his soldiers, and betrayed by a Gaulish chief in whom he had trusted, was put to death by Antony's orders.
M. Junius Brutus, son of M. Brutus, an officer in the army of Lepidus, born in the year b.c. 85. In the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, Brutus was actively engaged on the side of Pompey, and did good service in the operations about Dyrrachium. At Pharsalia, Cæsar gave special orders to his soldiers to save the life of Brutus. To this he was probably moved by Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with whom he is said to have intrigued. After the battle Brutus fled to Larissa, and there gave himself up. He immediately accepted employment from the conqueror, while his uncle, Cato, a man of sterner mould, after a fruitless campaign in Africa, killed himself rather than yield. He was greatly honoured and trusted by Cæsar, being appointed, successively, proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul and prætor urbanus. At the beginning of the year 44, he entered into the famous conspiracy to kill the dictator. The morose and envious Cassius seems to have originated the plot, and to have worked upon the vanity of Brutus, by appealing to the example of his namesake, who delivered Rome from the tyranny of the Tarquins. The assassination took place on the ides of March. Cæsar, according to Plutarch, ceased to resist when he saw Brutus coming against him with his drawn sword, but, veiling his face, submitted to his doom. After the murder, an act of oblivion for all concerned was at first passed by the senate. But distrusting the temper of the people, and still more that of the old soldiers of Cæsar, who began to flock up to Rome, Brutus and Cassius retired to their estates in the country, where they remained for several months inactive. When, however, the senate had assigned provinces in Asia to Brutus and Cassius as out-going praetors—to Brutus Crete, and to Cassius Cyrenaica, foreseeing that they would have to enter upon a struggle for their very existence, they gladly left Italy. Brutus arrived in Asia in the
