Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/396

348 liotheque phUosophique da Legislateur (1782) were on the philosophy of law, and showed how thoroughly Brissot was imbued with the ethical precepts of Rousseau. The first work was dedicated to Voltaire, and was received by the old pliilosophe with much favour. Brissot became known as a facile and able writer, and was engaged on the Mercure, on the Courrier de I Europe, and on other papers, a connection with which was not creditable to him. He seems, indeed, to have sold his pen readily, and to have degraded himself by being associated with such men as De Morande. Ardently devoted, however, to the service of humanity, he projected a scheme for a general concourse of all the savants in Europe, and started in London a paper, Journal du Lycee de Londres, which was to be the organ of their views. The plan was unsuccessful, and soon after his return to Paris Brissot was lodged in the Bastille on an unfounded charge, He obtained his release after four months, and again devoted himself to pamphleteering, but had speedily to retire for a time to London. On this second visit he became acquainted with some of the leading Abolitionists, and attempted to set up in Paris a Society of the Friends of the Blacks. As an agent of this society he paid a visit to the United States, and returned just at the outbreak of the Revolution. Into this great movement Brissot threw himself heart and soul. He edited the Patriote Fran^ais, and being a well-informed, capable man, soon began to take a prominent part in affairs. In the National Assembly he leagued himself with the party, well known in history as the Girondists, but then frequently called the Brissotins. Of this party he was in many respects the ruling spirit. Vergniaud certainly was far superior to him in oratory, but Brissot was quick, eager, impetuous, and a man of wide knowledge. But he was at the same time timid and vacillating, and not qualified to struggle against the fierce energies roused by the events of the Revolution. His party fell before the &quot; Mountain;&quot; sentence of arrest was passed against the leading members of it on the 2d June 1793. Brissot, persuaded by his friends, attempted to escape in disguise, but was arrested at Moulins. His deme anour at the trial was quiet and dignified ; and on the 31st October 1793 he died bravely with his comrades. His works are numerous, but their interest was merely temporary.

1em    Plan of Bristol.    BRISTOL, a seaport town in the west of England, is situated in 2 35 28&quot; G W. long., 51 27 6&quot;-3 N. lat., 108 miles from London by road, 1 18 by Great Western Railway, 12 miles N.W. of Bath, and 8 miles inland from Bristol Channel, with which the port communicates by the Avon. That river, as well as the Frome which unites with it at the quay, runs through the city and forms the topographical division between Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, out of which provinces Bristol was constituted a distinct county in itself by a charter of Edward III. Its geological posi tion is on the New Red Sandstone, which rises above the alluvial deposit of the rivers, while deep beneath these layers would be found the coal measures that succeed the millstone grit beds of the adjacent hills (250 feet in height) of Brandon and Kingsdown. The origin of the name is doubtful. Mr Seyer, the historian of Bristol, gives forty-two variations in the spelling of the word, and after showing attempted derivations from Brennus. the legendary founder of the town, Brictric, its Saxon lord, &c., finally decides for Brigstow, or Bridge-place, an etymology accepted by the author of Words and Places. &quot; In fact, Bristow,&quot; says the Rev. John Earle, &quot; is a condensed compound for Tra-