Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/270

 when ecclesiastical music was in a very corrupt state, was reissued in a second edition, published in 1763 at London, whither Bremner had in the meantime removed. His shop in London was at the sign of the Harp and Hautboy, opposite Somerset House in the Strand. Here he continued his publishing business with great success, besides bringing out several collections of 'Scots Songs,' the words of which were by Allan Ramsay, an instruction book for the guitar. 'Thoughts on the Performance of Concert Music,' 'The Harpsichord or Spinnet Miscellany. Being a Gradation of Proper Lessons from the Beginner to the tollerable (sic) Performer. Chiefly intended to save Masters the trouble of writing for their Pupils,' and 'Select Concert Pieces fitted for the Harpsichord or Pianoforte, with an Accompaniment for the Violin.' The last publication, of which several numbers appeared, contains a valuable collection of classical music. In the preface to it, Bremner mentions his having bought the celebrated manuscript wrongly known as 'Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book' at the sale of Dr. Pepusch's library. For this he gave ten guineas: the manuscript passed from his hands into those of Earl Fitzwilliam, and is now preserved in the Fitzwilliam Library at Cambridge. In the latter part of his life Bremner lived at Kensington Gore, where he died 12 May 1789.

[Grove's Dict. of Musicians, i. 273 b, iv. 307 b; Gent. Mag. 1789, i. 471 ; Bremner's works mentioned above.]  BRENAN, – (fl.. 1756), is the author of the 'Painter's Breakfast;' a dramatic satire, Dublin, 1756, 12mo. He is also credited with the production of a comedy, entitled 'The Lawsuit,' which Burke is said to have intended to publish by subscription, but which never saw the light. Of his life nothing whatever, is known, except that he was a painter in Dublin. The 'Painter's Breakfast' is a clever work. Pallat, a painter, asks to breakfast some known patrons of art. He then, with the aid of Dactyl, a poet, and Friendly, a comedian, sells by auction as original works some copies of paintings executed by his acquaintance. The proceeds of the sale, after the deduction of the cost of the breakfast and the true value of the paintings, are to be devoted to a fund for the relief of lunatics. The intention is of course to ridicule would-be connoisseurs of art, who neglect modern work, and will hear only of the antique. The characters of Sir Bubble Buyall, Formal (a connoisseur), Lady Squeeze, Bow and Scrape (two hookers-in), and others are well drawn, and the piece has some humour.

[Biographia Dramatica; The Painter's Breakfast.]  BRENAN, JOHN (1768?–1830), physician, born at Ballaghide, Carlow, Ireland, about 1768, was the youngest of six children. His father, a Roman catholic, possessed some property. Brenan's earliest literary productions appear to have been epigrams and short poems, which he contributed to Dublin periodicals in 1793. He graduated as doctor of medicine in Glasgow, and established himself in that profession in Dublin about 1801. For some time he was a contributor of verses in the 'Irish Magazine,' commenced in Dublin in 1807 by Walter Cox. Cox was tried in Dublin in 1812 for publishing a production in favour of a repeal of the union between Great Britain and Ireland, and condemned to stand in the pillory and to be imprisoned for twelve months. While Cox was in gaol under this sentence, Brenan quarrelled with him, went over to the opposite party, and started the 'Milesian Magazine, or Irish Monthly Gleaner.' The first number appeared in April 1812, and in it and subsequent issues he assailed Cox with great acerbity. Brenan was ardently devoted to gymnastics, an expert wrestler, and occasionally showed symptoms of mental disorder. About 1812 puerperal fever and internal inflammation prevailed to a vast extent in Dublin. Brenan discovered a valuable remedy in preparations of turpentine, with which he successfully treated many cases. The greater part of the medical practice in Dublin at that time was in the hands of the College of Physicians. An old bylaw of the college forbidding members to hold consultations with non-members was, according to Brenan, put in operation to curtail his practice. Brenan stated that the Dublin physicians declined to use his remedy from personal jealousy. It was, however, adopted by practitioners with success in the country parts of Ireland, as well as in England and Scotland. In 1813 Brenan published at Dublin a pamphlet entitled 'Essay on Child-bed Fever, with remarks on it, as it appeared in the Lying-in Hospital of Dublin, in January 1813, &c.' In this publication he attacked the College of Physicians. He followed up the attack by a series of articles, both in verse and prose, in the 'Milesian Magazine,' in which he satirised the prominent members of that college. Brenan also attacked persons agitating for catholic emancipation. A government pension was alleged to have been given for these productions. Many of Brenan's satires were in the form of adaptations in verse of passages from the Latin classics, which he applied with much poignancy. Among these was an 