Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/576

* BRIGHT. 502 BRIGHTON. was largely instrumental in bringing India iiiulcr the direct control of the Crown. He also lent much attention to the Irish question. He was a warm advfX'atc (>f tlie disestablishment of the Irisli Chureli, and to the end of his life was inter- ested in tlie various Irisli hind-measures. He re- mained a leader of the (h'moeraey througliout his life, playing a great part in the movement which led to the Reform Bill of 18G7, and, in a some- wliat less degree, in the agitation preceding the County Franchise Bill of 1884. He held olBce under" Gladstone as president of the board of trade from 18(iS to 1870. and as chancellor of the Duchv of Lancashire from 1873 to 1874 and from 1880 to 1882. In 1883 he was made Lord Rector of Glasgow University. He died March 27. 1889. The enormous influence which Bright exercised on English politics and public opinion during the greater part of his life was due in less measure to his intellectual attainments than to his great moral strength. Aside from the gift of oratory, which, according to competent critics, he possessed to a degree unequalcd by any other English statesman of the Nineteenth Century, Bright impressed himself upon Parliament, and more than that, upon the peoiJle at large by the intense earnestness, the hatred of inju.stice, and the disinterested sympathy for the op])ressed which he displayed at all times. He has been char- acterized as having had in him something of the austerity of the ancient Hebrew prophets: and he certainly spoke like one who brings his religion into his politics. Though called the 'Tribune of the People.' he never feared to antagonize public opinion whenever that oi)inion was out of con- formity with his rigid standards of duty and right." Thus, being in general opposed to all war (as a result no doubt of his Quaker origin), he dared to advocate peace with Russia in 18.54 at a time when the war fever was at its height; and again, in 1877-78, he stood opposed to British intervention in Russo-Turkish affairs. To Amer- ica, especially, Bright rendered services of in- estimable value during the period of the Civil War, in that he was undoubtedly the most promi- nent among the very few notable men in Parlia- ment or out, who "advocated the cause of the North against the South ; and that, too, in siiite of the fact that the continuance of the war w^as disastrous to his own interests as a eotton-spin- ner, and to the entire Lancashire cotton trade. But his mcn-al power was most clearly shown in the period after the conversion of the Liberal Party to Home Rule in 1885. Mr. Bright, regard- ing such a policy as vicious, refused to follow his old leader. Gladstone, and did not hesitate to denounce o|)enly the 'unholy alliance,' as he con- sidered it, of "the old Liberal Parly with the Parnellites: although, to him, this meant tlic breaking up of ancient personal and political ties which effectually saddened the last years of his life, A collection of Bright's speeches was pub- lished at London in 1808, and his Public Letters in 1885. Consult: Harnetl-Smith, Life and fipeechca of John Briiihl (New York, 18811, and Robertson, Life and Times of John Bright (Lon- don, 1883). BRIGHT, RlcnAUn (1780-1858). An Eng- lish physician, born In Bristol. He was educated at Edinburgh. T^ondon. Berlin, and Vienna, and after 1820 was connected with Guy's Hospital. He conducted many important investigations in the field of pathological anatomy, and was the first to discover the true nature of the disease since known by his name. (See Bright's Dis- ease.) He published Original lieseurehrs into the I'athohxjij of Diseases of the Kidney (1827), and a book of Trurcis Ihroiifih Lower llunijarti (18181. which contains a valuable account of the gypsies. BRIGHT, WiM-iAM, D.D. ( 18-24-l<)01 1 . An English Cliun-h historian. He was Ijorn at Don- caster, England. December 14. 1824, and was educated at Rugby and University College, Ox- ford, He was ordained a priest in 1850, and for nine years was a theological tutor at Trinity College, (ilenalmond. Returning to Oxford as tutor, he became in 186S canon of Christ ('hurch and regius professor of ecclesiastical history. He pul)lished editions of several Church fa- thers. Among his numerous original wiuks may be mentioned: History of the Vhiireh. from the Edict of Milati to the Council of Chaleedon (18C0) ; Chapters of Earl;/ Enr/lish Chureli Uis- lory (1878) ; Notes on the Canons of the First Four General Councils (1882) ; The Roman See in the Farh/ Church (1800); Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life (1808). He died at Ox- ford. JIarch 6, 1001, BRIGHT'ENING. In calico-printing, the operation of rendering the colors of printed fabrics more bright or brilliant by boiling them in solutions of soda and other materials. BRIGHT'LY, Frederick Ciiabees (1812-88). An American lawyer, born at Bungay. Suffolk, England. He came to America in 1831, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 183!l, and from 1870 was wholly occupied with legal author- ship. His collection of 5000 volumes was con- sidered one of the best private law libraries in the United States. His many comi)ilalions in- clude A Digest of the Decisions of the Federal Courts (2 vols.. 1868-73), antf A Z>i>'.s-( of the Decisions of the Courts of the State of Kew York to January, 1S8.', (3 vols., 1875-84). BRIGHTON, bri'ton (originally Brighthelm- stone, named after an Anglo-Saxon bishop, Briijlilheliii, who was sui)))osed to have foimded it in the Tenth Century + town). A town and celebrated seaside resort, styled 'London by the Sea' and 'The Queen of Watering-Places,' in Sussex, England, on the English Channel, 501/4 miles south of I.,ondon (Ma]): England, F 6). It is built on a slope ascending eastward to a range of high chalk cliffs bounding the coast as far as Beachy Head ; to the west, these hills recede from the coast and leave a long stretch of sands. It extends from Kemp Town on the east to Hove on the west. The town has sutVered severely at various periods of its existence through inroads of the .sea, and to guard against further encroachments, a great sea-wall has been built; further pmtection is furnished by numerous jetties projected seaward. A line promenade, called the Front, the largest seaside promenade in Great Britain, extends along the sea-front for 4 miles. Brighton is well built, and ])osscsses many handsome briildings, among them being several palatial hotels. Near the centre of the town is the Royal Pavilion, a fantJistic Oriental or Chinese structure, with domes, minarets, and pinnacles, built for the I'rince of Wales (afterwanls George IV.), and ac<|uired by the town in 1850. It contains as- sembly-rooms, a museum, picture-galleries, etc.