Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/404

356 and through the influence of a relative was apprenticed to a wine merchant. Prevented by failing health from serving his full six years, he found himself adrift in the world, without money, without friends, and without education. In his hand-to-hand fight with poverty he was put to strange shifts, becoming cellarman at a tavern and clerk to a lawyer, reciting and singing at a small theatre, and com piling a collection of common songs. During his appren ticeship he had read much in a loose, aimless manner ; and gradually by successive small ventures he found his way into the broad paths of literature. A Salisbury publisher having projected a work on Wiltshire, invited Britton to undertake its preparation. The proposal was accepted ; and in conjunction with his friend Edward Wedlake Brayley, Britton set himself to the task. Such was the small beginning of the voluminous work entitled The Bequties of England and Wales. The Beauties of Wiltshire appeared in two volumes in 1801, a third volume being added in 1825. The authors proceeded with other counties, and nine volumes of the entire series were their work. In the course of these early labours Britton s attention was espe cially drawn to antiquarian subjects ; and thenceforth his proper field was before him, and in it he worked honour ably. In 1805 appeared the first portion of his Archi tectural Antiquities of Great Britain, which extended to five volumes quarto, and was nine years in publication. On its completion Britton commenced his great work on the Cathedral Antiquities of England, the section on Salisbury Cathedral being the first published. It was completed in 1835, having been more than twenty years in progress, and forming altogether fourteen folio volumes. It is profusely illustrated by copperplate engravings.

1em  BRIVES-LA-GAILLARDE, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Correze, situated in a beautiful and fertile plain twenty miles from Tulle. It is surrounded with elm-planted boulevards, and possesses a number of well-preserved houses of an early date. None of its public buildings (which comprise several churches, a theological seminary, and a college) are of much importance, except the church of St Martin, dating from the 13th century. The town carries on an active trade in cattle, wool, wine, oil, and grain, manufactures wax candles, copperwares, and cotton thread, and has millstone and slate quarries. Brives is of ancient origin, and for a long time disputed the title of capital of the Lower Limousin with the city of Tulle. It was the birthplace of the Cardinal Dubois. Population in 1872, 8417.  BRIXEN, a town of Austria in Tyrol, situated in the Pusterthal at the confluence of the Eisack and Rientz, in 4040 N. lat. and 11 37 E. long., 104 miles from Vienna by rail. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathe dral built in the 18th century, a theological seminary, a gymnasium, and several monasteries. There are iron and steel factories in the neighbourhood, and the baths of Maria-Louisa are supplied with water from a chalybeate spring. About nine miles from the town is the great fort of Franzensfeste, built in 1838, at the junction of the roads from Botzen, Innsbruck, and Pusterthal. Brixen (in Italian Brcssanone) is mentioned at least as early as 901. In 1025 it became the seat of a bishop, and in 1038 was surrounded with walls. In 1174, 1234, and 1445 it was destroyed by fire; in 1519 it was stormed by the French under Gaston de Foix ; and in 1525 it suffered from the rebellion of the peasants. Population in 1869, 4349.  BRIXHAM, a seaport town of England, in the county of Devon, about 200 miles from London, with a station about two miles distant on the South Devon Railway. The town is irregularly biiilt on the cliffs to the south of Torbay, and its harbour is defended by a modern break water. It carries on a very extensive fishing and coasting trade, and is a place of resort for sea-bathing. In the early part of the present century it was the seat of a con siderable military establishment, with fortified barracks at Bury Head, and it is celebrated in history as the spot where King William landed in 1C88. Population of the parish in 1871, 6542.  BROACH, or, a district of British India under the jurisdiction of the governor of Bombay, extending from 21 22 to 22 IT N. lat. and from 72 30 to 73 10 E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the River Mahi, on the E. and S. by the territory of the Gaikwar, and on the W. by the Gulf of Cambay. Consisting chiefly of the alluvial plain at the mouth of the River Nerbudda, the land is rich and highly cultivated, and though it is with out forests it is not wanting in trees. The district is well supplied with rivers, having in addition to the Nerbudda, the Mahi in the north and the Kfni in the south. The area is 1320 square miles; the population 350,322, of whom 248,343 are Hindus, 69,033 Mahometans, 3986 Buddhists, 3116 Parsls, and 24,703 belong to the aboriginal tribes. The population comprises several distinct races or castes, who, while speaking a common dialect, Gujardthi, inhabit separate villages. Thus there are Koli Kembi or Voro (Borah) villages, and others whose lands are almost entirely held and cultivated by high castes, such as Rajputs, Brah- mans, or Parsis.

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