Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/784

BRA quitted with regret, and it peopled the solitude in which he lived with the brilliant phantoms of the stirring life in which he had so long mingled. The earnestness with which he reacts some of the old scenes of his life; the desire he has to set things right which he thinks the world has misapprehended, and to substitute his own view for another—one often too much more probably true—which he thinks it his interest to disprove; remind us more of the character of some of Napoleon's conversations at St. Helena, than of anything else with which they can be compared. The books, however, of Napoleon's secretaries are as dull compared with Brantôme's as Napoleon himself was superior to most of the worthies of whom Brantôme writes. Brantôme's "Dames Gallantes," if great allowances are not made for the period in which he wrote, is a book which leaves a sad stain on his memory. It is as bad, and that is saying a good deal, as anything written by his old mistress, Margaret of Navarre. Brantôme's books are in some respects very curious. He seems not to have thought of writing till his retirement, and he writes very much from recollections of his own, not confirmed or aided by notes taken at the time of the occurrences; though he does not reject from his narratives anything that he heard at a later period from good authority. The books are gossiping books, yet the gossip is one who seems talking only to himself, and writing with no other view than to amuse and occupy himself. Yet he anticipated the reputation which his writings would acquire, and had some fear lest his books should be ascribed to some other than the true author. He orders his representatives to print his works after his death. He describes the manuscript volumes—"Lesquels on trouvera couverts de velours tant noir que verd et bleu, et un grand volume, qui est celui des dames, couvert de velours verd, curieusement gardés et très bien corrigés." Brantôme complains, with but little justice, of the caprices of fortune and the neglect of courts. He appears at all times to have been received with favour and attention. Charles IX. gave him a pension of 10,000 livres. He had, besides, the abbaye of Brantôme.—J. A. D.  BRARD,, a French mineralogist, born at l'Aigle in 1786, became director of the mines of Savoy in Saxony, engineer-in-chief of the mines of Alais, and engineer of the school of mines in Paris, and died at Lardin on the 28th of November, 1838. Brard was the author of several valuable elementary works on mineralogy and mining, the most important of which are his "Nouveaux eléments de minéralogie, ou manuel du minéralogiste voyageur," published at Paris in 1838 (this is the third edition of a work which appeared under its second title in 1803); and his "Eléments pratiques d'exploitation," &c., published at Strasburg in 1829. He also published a "Minéralogie populaire," Paris, 1826, which was frequently reprinted, and some other popular works on mineralogy, chemistry, physics, and natural history.—W. S. D.  BRASK,, P., a Swedish poet of the seventeenth century, and pastor of Clara. He wrote a "Comœdia om den forlorade Son," 1645. He died in 1668.—M. H.  BRASSAC,, comte de, a statesman and ambassador of the reign of Louis XIII., superintendent of the queen's household, born of noble parentage in the province of Saintonge in 1579; died at Paris in 1645. He began public life as king's lieutenant at Saint Jean d'Angely, where, although professing to be of their party, he made himself hated as an oppressor of the protestants. The better to make his way in the world, he latterly recanted the heresies of the reformers, and under the pontificate of Urban VIII. was ambassador at Rome.—J. S., G.  BRASSICANUS,, a poet and philologist, born at Wirtemberg in 1500; died at Vienna in 1539.  BRATHWAITE or BRAITHWAYTE,, a pastoral poet of the reign of James I., born of a respectable family in Westmoreland in 1588. After spending a number of years at Oxford and Cambridge, where, according to Wood, "he avoided as much as he could the rough paths of logic and philosophy, and traced those smooth ones of poetry and Roman history, in which at length he did excel, he settled in his native county, on an estate given him by his father." He latterly resided at Appleton in Yorkshire, and died there in 1673. A list of his productions, the best of which are his pastoral pieces, is given by Wood.  * BRAUN,, a famous German botanist, who has done much to advance physiology. He has written monographs of the North American species of Equisetum, Isoetes, and Marsilea, and notices of Charæ. He has published valuable papers on "The Plant Individual," and on the "Rejuvenescence of Plants."—J. H. B.  BRAUN,, a German archæologist, was born at Gotha in 1809, studied at Göttingen and Munich, and afterwards was appointed librarian and secretary to the Archæological Institute at Rome. He published many valuable works and treatises on archæological subjects, some of which have been translated into English. We mention his "Antike Marmorwerke;" "Griechische Mythologie;" "Vorschule zur Kunstmythologie," &c. He first employed the galvano-plastic process for multiplying works of art, and died at Rome in 1856.—K. E. <section end="784H" /> <section begin="784I" />* BRAUN,, a Swedish lieutenant and poet. His poems, which are descriptive of every-day life, are witty but coarse. Two volumes were published in 1827-28.—M. H. <section end="784I" /> <section begin="784J" />* BRAVAIS,, born in 1811; an exceedingly ingenious and industrious French physician, from whom science expects many farther and valuable contributions. Bravais was a leading member of the great scientific expedition to Scandinavia. In the report of the voyage, his memoirs on the aurora borealis, and on various magnetical and meteorological points, are very valuable. He is the author of many separate memoirs in the Annales de Physique et Chimie, and we owe chiefly to him and M. Charles Martins, those four volumes of the Annuaire Meteorologique.—J. P. N. <section end="784J" /> <section begin="784K" />BRAVAIS, F., a French naturalist, has written valuable memoirs on the geometrical arrangement of the leaves and inflorescence of plants.—J. H. B. <section end="784K" /> <section begin="784L" />* BRAVO,, a Mexican general, one of the leaders in the war of independence, born about the year 1780. From the commencement of the insurrection which separated Mexico from Spain, till the forced abdication of Iturbide in 1823, he was constantly in arms, contributing greatly to the success of the movement by various brilliant exploits, particularly his victory over the Spanish general Musitra. After the downfall of Iturbide, along with Vittoria and Negrette, he came into power; and notwithstanding that the monarchical party, of which he was the chief, was at the moment the weaker of the two which divided the republic, he was named vice-president in 1824. This post he retained till 1827, when his party having determined to oust the government of Vittoria, which was pledged to republican principles, he joined the rebel Manuel Montano, and being defeated by Guerreiro was taken prisoner, and sentenced to six years' banishment. Before the expiry of his sentence he was recalled in 1829, on the election of Bustamente to the presidency. He has since been revenged on his adversary, Guerreiro, who was shot as a rebel in 1831, and had been once more defeated in the field by Vittoria in 1833. He is said to be living in retirement in a village of the United States.—J. S., G. <section end="784L" /> <section begin="784M" />BRAWE,, a young German poet of great promise, was born at Weissenfels, February 4, 1738, and died at Dresden, April 7, 1758. He wrote two tragedies, "Der Freigeist" and "Brutus"—the first German drama in blank verse—which were edited after his death by Lessing, Berlin, 1768.—K. E. <section end="784M" /> <section begin="784Zcontin" />BRAXFIELD,, Lord, a Scottish judge of eminence; born on the 4th of May, 1722. His father was proprietor of the estate of Braxfield in Lanarkshire. Lord Braxfield was educated partly at the grammar school of the county town, and partly at the university of Edinburgh. After this he completed an apprenticeship with the view of becoming a writer to the signet, but finally devoted himself to the more ambitious career of the bar. He passed advocate in 1744. He made himself well acquainted with the intricacies of feudal law, and was employed by the crown in the numerous disputes which arose in regard to the estates forfeited in the rebellion of 1745. This gave him an opportunity of making his talents known, and he speedily became possessed of very extensive practice. His position at the bar, and his social qualities, which were of a kind suited to the times, brought him into intimacy with Dundas, the president of the court, and with his brother, the then lord-advocate, afterwards Lord Melville. His intimacy with them is said to have continued throughout life. Although at a great sacrifice of professional income, they prevailed upon him to accept, in 1766, a seat upon the bench, when, in the way customary in Scotland, he assumed the title of Lord Braxfield, from the estate which he had inherited from his father. In 1780 he obtained a judgeship in the criminal court also. Seven years afterwards <section end="784Zcontin" />