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BRISTOL BRICK BRITAIN 293 city. There are numerous interesting monu- ments of antiquity, among which the church of St. Mary Redclifl' is conspicuous both for its beauty and for Chatterton's connection with it. The cathedral has a fine Norman gateway. Among the modern buildings are the council house, in the Italian style, the guildhall, in the The Guildhall. Tudor style, the Victoria rooms for concerts and exhibitions, the Bristol institution, with a fine gallery of art, and the bridewell prison, rebuilt after the riot of 1881. The Bristol library, founded in 1772, has 50,000 volumes. Clifton, a suburb of Bristol, is a noted water- ing place. (See CLIFTON.) Bristol dates from before the Roman invasion, but did not become a place of strength and importance till after the Norman conquest. In the 12th and 13th cen- turies it was noted both for its trade and manu- factures. By the enterprise of Bristol mer- chants some of the early expeditions for the extension of discovery in the western world were fitted out. Sebastian Cabot passed his early life in Bristol, and a Bristol ship first touched the American continent. Martin Fro- bisher brought one of the Esquimaux to Bristol in 1578. Hakluyt belonged to Bristol, and Newfoundland was colonized from Bristol. It figured in the wars of the roses, and was a commanding position during the war between Charles I. and the parliament. It was carried by storm by Prince Maurice and Prince Rupert in 1643, but after the defeat of Charles at Naseby was surrendered by Prince Rupert to Sir Thomas Fairfax, after a brief resistance. It was the scene of riots on account of local disputes in 1793, and of a disastrous riot in 1831, on occasion of a visit from Sir Charles Wetherell, an opponent of the reform bill. BRISTOL BRICK, a sort of brick used for cleaning steel, manufactured for some years exclusively in Bristol, England. A small vein of the sand required for this purpose was found near Liverpool, but was soon exhausted. One of the owners or operatives, who had been concerned in the works at Bristol, visited the United States in 1820, where by accident he discovered that the same kind of sand which was used for the Bristol bricks might be pro- cured at South Hampton, N. H. Since that period bricks fully equal to the imported ar- ticle have been manufactured in this country. BRISTOL CHANNEL, a body of water separa- ting the southern portion of Wales and Mon- mouthshire in England from the counties of Devon and Somerset, and composed of the es- tuary of the river Severn and the broad arm of the sea into which that river empties. It may be said to extend from the mouth of the Bristol or lower Avon, where its width is about 5 m., to the Atlantic, into which it enters be- tween Hartland point, in Devonshire, and St. Gowan's head, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Its width between these capes is about 40 m. It is bounded by shores as irregular in outline as they are various in their general features, and the whole coast, but especially that on the north, is remarkably picturesque. BRIT (clupea minima, Peck), a small species of herring, varying in length from one to four inches, found at some seasons of the year in immense numbers on the coast of New Eng- land ; it serves as food for the bluefish and other predatory species. The back is nearly black, the upper part of the sides dark green, and the sides silvery with roseate and golden reflec- tions ; the lateral line is very high up, and the abdominal ridge is serrated ; the lower jaw rather projects beyond the upper. It used to be very abundant in the -bay of Fundy, but is rare there of late years ; it is said to be fre- quently met with in the gulf of St. Lawrence, and is mentioned by De Kay in his " Fishes of New York." In the young specimens the dorsal ridge is a black line, and the space be- tween this and the lateral line is light green, with small darker points. Its immense num- bers might make it of value in some localities as a manure, and as a bait for other fish. BRITAIN, or Britannia, an ancient name of the island of Great Britain. The first name given to the island by the earliest Greek writers whose works have come down to us was Albion, which is supposed to have been formed from the Celtic alb or alp, meaning according to some authorities white, according to others high, and applied to the island either from the white appearance of its chalky cliffs on the south, or from its northern mountains. The natives themselves are said to have called it Eilanban, " the white island," from which Albion could easily be formed. The origin of the word Britain is even more uncertain than that of Al- bion. Camden supposed it to be formed from l>rit, a Celtic word signifying painted, and that it therefore means the land of the painted peo- ple. Carte more probably derives it from Bryd- train, the name which the natives called them- selves by, and which was easily latinized into Britain. The aboriginal or at least the earliest inhabitants of Britain were of Celtic origin and race, as is evident from the fact that nearly all the names of mountains, lakes, and rivers in the island are still descriptive and significant in the Celtic language. At a very early pe- riod, however, and before we have any au- thentic knowledge of Britain, its Celtic popu- lation seems to have been conquered and dis-