admitted, that no brewery, either in England or elsewhere, has been able to make porter equal to the large porter-breweries of London. This superiority has been attributed to the use of the Thames water; but, in the first place, the small London breweries, which do not make good porter, have this advantage in common with the larger ones; and, secondly, these last have long since ceased to use the water of the river, as it contains too much vegetable matter, and is liable to cause acidity in the liquor. The superiority, as far as it exists, is doubtless owing to command of capital, and consequent power of choice in the malt-market, and system in conducting the business: as to the rest, a wealthy concern, like a London brewing company, has always means of persuading bottlers and retailers of all descriptions, that it is for their advantage to sell and praise their porter in preference to that of a small establishment, whose liquor may be equally good, but not quite so cheap. Of the two stock liquors, porter is generally considered more wholesome, and more easily digestible. It keeps better, and, in London, is generally preferred for common use. The ales manufactured in many parts of the U. States are colored by the addition of brown malt or burnt sugar. This is to suit the taste of the consumers, who obstinately associate the idea of strength and body with high color. It is impossible that ales thus colored should be without a harsh taste, which is a defect. Ales, to be perfect, must be pale, and the fine English ales always are so. No very good porter is made in the U. States, so far as is known to the writer of this article. Three mash tuns are necessary to make it perfect, and only one is commonly used in this country. (See Ale, Beer, Porter.)

BREWSTER, David; secretary of the royal society of Edinburgh; one of the most learned natural philosophers in Great Britain; born about 1785. The great number of treatises which he has written, on various subjects in natural philosophy, are chiefly inserted in the Transactions of the Edinburgh Royal Society. He is the editor of the much esteemed Edinburgh Encyclopedia. He is also the principal editor of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, which appears quarterly. His fame became general by his invention of the kaleidoscope. (q.v.) Among the many learned men who render a residence in Edinburgh agreeable to foreigners, B. is one of the most eminent, as he has a great fund of

general information, and is a man of the most polite manners.

BRÉZÉ, marquis de; grand master of ceremonies at the court of Louis XVI; known in consequence of the famous reply of Mirabeau to the message which he brought, June 23, 1789, from the king to the deputies of the tiers état, ordering the dissolution of their body: "Tell your master," said Mirabeau, in a voice of thunder, "that we are here by the will of the people, and that nothing but the bayonet shall drive us out." The court, intimidated by this bold answer, which produced the highest enthusiasm in the assembly and the public, became waver ing and irresolute in its measures. Mirabeau, on the other hand, taking advantage of the excitement, carried the decree declaring the persons of the deputies inviolable, and that whoever should dare issue or execute a warrant of arrest against a part or the whole of them should be deemed guilty of treason. The marquis de B. followed Louis XVIII abroad, and, after the restoration, was reinstated in his former office.

BRIAREUS (also called Ægæon); a giant with 100 arms and 50 heads, the son of Uranus and Terra. His two brothers, Cottus and Gyges, were formed in a similar manner; and their formidable appearance struck their father with such terror, that he imprisoned them, at their birth, in the bowels of the earth. (Hes. Theog. 147.) In the war with the Titans, Jupiter set them free, and, by their assistance, gained the victory. When Juno, Neptune and Minerva conspired to bind the sovereign of the gods, Thetis brought Briareus from the depths of the sea (how he came there is not known), to the relief of the trembling Jove. (Il. a. 402.) Virgil places B. in the vestibule of hell. (En. vi, 287.) He was employed, with his hundred-handed brothers (Centimani), in watching the Titans in Tartarus. (Hes. Theog. 734.)

BRIBE; a reward given to a public officer, or functionary, to induce him to violate his official duty for the benefit or in compliance with the wishes of the party by whom, or on whose behalf, the bribe is given or promised. The term bribery is applicable alike both to the receiving and to the giving of the reward. A corrupt bargain for the votes of electors in the choice of persons to places of trust under the government is bribery. In this instance, the electors, as such, are a kind of public functionaries. Particular species of bribery are expressly forbidden,

with penalties, by the positive laws of every state that is governed according to a written code. The corrupt discharge of a public trust, in consideration of bribery, is punishable at the common law, though not prohibited by any positive statute. A clerk to the agent for French prisoners in England was indicted and punished for taking bribes given for the purpose of inducing him to procure them to be exchanged out of their regular turn. An attempt to influence jurymen in giving their verdict, by rewards, is a species of bribery, denominated embracery. Even offering a reward to a revenue officer, to induce him to violate his duty, though the reward was not received, has been held to be an indictable offence. (2 Dallas's Reports, p. 384.) A similar doctrine is held in England. (3 Coke's Institutes, part third, p. 147, and 4 Burrow's Reports, p. 2500.) The same was held of a promise of money to a member of a corporation, to induce him to vote for a mayor. (2 Lord Raymond's Reports, p. 1377.) The British laws, as well as those of the U. States, specially prohibit bribery of the officers of the revenue; and the forfeiture, on the part of the offender of fering the bribe, in England, is £500; the officer receiving the bribe incurs the like forfeiture, and is disqualified for public employment, civil or military. Under the U. States' laws, the party offering or receiving a bribe, in such case, incurs a pecuniary penalty, and becomes disqualified for any place of trust under the government. The laws of many of the U. States contain special provisions against bribery of judges or jurymen, or of electors in the choice of public officers.

BRICENO MENDEZ, Pedro, was born in 1792, in Varinas, capital of the province of that name in Venezuela, of a wealthy and distinguished family. At the commencement of the Colombian revolution, he was pursuing the study of law in Caraccas. Having concluded his studies there, he returned to Varinas in 1812, and obtained the office of chief secretary to the provincial legislature. But the success of Monteverde dissolved that body, and compelled him to emigrate into New Grenada. Here he joined Bolivar after his victories in Cucutá, and, making a tender of his services as a volunteer, Bolivar appointed him his secretary. In this capacity, Briceño served through the campaign of 1813. After the disastrous battle of La Puerta, he followed Bolivar back to Carthagena, and continued attached to him, as secretary, through all 23

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his vicissitudes of fortune, until the formation of the congress of Angostura, in 1819. At this period, he was made secretary of war and the marine, with the rank of colonel, and accompanied the liberator in his campaigns, as before. In 1821, he received the same appointment under the constitution, but remained at the seat of government when Bolivar departed for the campaign of Quito, after having been confidentially attached to his person for eight years. In 1823, he became general of brigade. In 1825, he resigned his office of secretary of war, and was succeeded by general Soublette. (Restrepo's Colombia, vi, 29.)

BRICK is a sort of artificial stone, made principally of argillaceous earth, formed in moulds, dried in the sun, and baked by burning. The use of unburnt bricks is of great antiquity. They are found in the Roman and Grecian monuments, and even in the ruins of Egypt and Babylon. They were dried in the sun, instead of being burned, and mixed with chopped straw, to give them tenacity. On account of the extreme heat and dryness of the climate, they acquired a great hardness, and have lasted for several thousand years; but they are unsuitable for more northern latitudes. The most common bricks, among the Romans, were 17 inches long and 11 broad, and, in later periods, they were burned. Modern bricks are generally about twice as long as they are broad, and twice as broad as they are thick; their length is ordinarily about 10 inches. The best are made of a mixture of argillaceous earth and sand. Their red color is owing to the presence of oxyde of iron, which is turned red by burning.-The best season for making them is spring or autumn, since the process of drying then takes place more gradually and equably. The clay should be dug in autumn, and exposed to the influence of frost and rain. It should be worked over repeatedly with the spade, and not made into bricks until the ensuing spring, previously to which it should be well tempered by treading it with oxen, or by a horse mill, till it is reduced to a ductile and homogeneous paste. The clay may have too great or too small a proportion of argillaceous earth or of sand to form a paste of proper consistency; it will then be necessary to add the one or the other, as the case may be. When the mass has thus been thoroughly mixed, the moulder throws it into the mould, presses it down till it fills all the cavity, and removes the overplus with a stick. The bricks are then arranged on

hacks to dry, disposed diagonally, to allow a free passage to the air. In about nine or ten days, they are ready for the burning, for which purpose they are formed into clamps or kilns, having flues or cavities at the bottom for the insertion of the fuel, and interstices between them for the fire and hot air to penetrate. A fire is kindled in these cavities, and gradually increased for the first 12 hours, after which it is kept at a uniform height for several days and nights, till the bricks are sufficiently burned. Much care is necessary in regulating the fire, since too much heat vitrifies the bricks, and too little leaves them soft and friable.Pressed bricks are those which, after being moulded in the common manner, are placed in a machine, and subjected to a strong pressure, by which they become regular in shape, and smooth, and more capable of resisting the action of the atmosphere.-Floating bricks are so called on account of their property of swimming on the water. They are made of Agaric mineral, or fossil farina, which is found in some parts of the U. States. Their infusibility at the highest temperatures renders them useful in constructing reverberatory furnaces, pyrometers, and magazines of combustible materials. Their lightness and non-conducting property render them particularly useful for the construction of powder-magazines on board of ships.

BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL, situated in Blackfriars, London, is now used as a house of correction for dissolute persons, idle apprentices and vagrants. The building is a large quadrangle, one side of which is occupied by the hall, containing a picture by Holbein, representing Edward VI, who founded the hospital in 1553, delivering the charter to the corporation of London. The other sides of the quadrangle are occupied by the masters of the trades, with whom several youths are placed as apprentices, and by the prison, where disorderly persons are made to work during their confinement.

BRIDGE. It is needless to investigate ancient authors for a description of the primitive bridge, as its origin and elements are to be found in uncultivated nations of modern times. Stepping-stones, in shallow rivers, covered with planks from stone to stone, exhibit the incipient principles of piers and arches, which science has brought to their present perfection. In deeper rivers, an accumulation of stones forms a loftier pier; and, where the openings were sufficiently narrow,

and the slabs of stone sufficiently long, or the art and strength of the untaught architect sufficient to the task, a roadway was formed from pier to pier, like the Vitruvian architrave of the primitive Tuscan temple. With the Greeks, who were a more maritime people, and more accustomed to navigation than the Romans, there is no doubt that ships and boats preceded, if they did not supersede, the use of bridges. In their brightest days, when their fine style of architecture was complete, when their porticoes were crowded with paintings, and their streets with statues, the people of Athens waded or ferried over the Cephisus, for want of a bridge. The Greeks do not seem to have valued the construction of the arch sufficiently to excel in bridgebuilding. No people of the ancient world carried the power of rearing the stupendous arch and the magnificent dome to such an extent as the Romans. After the construction of their great sewers, their aqueducts, and the cupola over the Pantheon of M. Agrippa, a bridge over the Tiber was of easy execution; and the invention of the architecture of stone bridges, as practised in its best and most effectual manner, must be conceded to this great and indefatigable people. The most celebrated bridges of ancient Rome were not distinguished by the extraordinary size of their arches, nor the peculiar lightness of their piers, but, like the rest of the magnificent works of this city, as far as construction is concerned, they are worthy of study from their excellence and durability. The span or chord of their arches seldom exceeded 70 or 80 feet, and the versed sine or height was nearly half of the chord, so that they were mostly semicircular, or constituted a segment nearly of that form.

Among the most celebrated bridges in modern times, or those built subsequently to the destruction of the Roman empire, are those of the Moors in Spain, who imitated and rivalled the best constructions of the Romans. The bridge of Cordova, over the Guadalquivir, is an eminent example of their success. The bridge over the Rhone, at Avignon, is one of the most ancient bridges of modern Europe. It was built by a religious society, called the brethren of the bridge, which was established upon the decline of the second, and the commencement of the third race of French kings, when a state of anarchy existed, and there was little security for travellers, particularly in passing rivers, on which they were subject to the rapaci

ties of banditti. The object of this society was, to put a stop to these outrages, by forming fraternities for the purpose of building bridges and establishing ferries and caravansaries on their banks. The bridge of Avignon was commenced in 1176, and completed in 1178. It was composed of 18 arches. The length of the chord of the largest was 110 feet 9 inches, and its height 45 feet 10 inches. France can boast of many fine bridges, built during the last two centuries. In Great Britain, the art of building bridges appears to have been diligently studied from early times. The most ancient bridge in England is the Gothic triangular bridge at Croyland in Lincolnshire, said to have been built in 860. The ascent is so steep that none but foot-passengers can go over it. The longest bridge in England is that over the Trent at Burton in Staffordshire, built in the 12th century, of squared free-stone. It consists of 34 arches, and is 1545 feet long. London bridge was commenced in 1176, and was incumbered with houses for many years. These were removed between 1756 and 1758. The other bridges over the Thames are highly ornamental, as well as necessary, to the metropolis. Blackfriars bridge is both novel and handsome in design, and its elliptical arches are well suited to its situation, but its material is bad and perishing. This bridge was designed and erected by Robert Milne, an able Scotch architect. It was commenced in 1760, and completed in 1771. It is 995 feet long, and 43 feet 6 inches broad between the parapets. The centre arch is 100 feet in span, and 41 feet 6 inches in height. Waterloo bridge is one of the greatest architectural works of our times. It is the only bridge over the Thames which has a flat surface in its whole course. Its length is 1250 feet. It consists of 9 elliptical arches, each of 120 feet span, and 32 feet in height. Westminster bridge is one of the handsomest as well as most scientifically constructed bridges in Europe, and forms an era in English bridge architecture, from the success of the method employed in laying the foundations in deep water and a rapid current. It was commenced in 1740, and completed in 1750. It is 1220 feet long, and 44 feet between the parapets, has 13 large and 2 small arches, all semicircular. The middle arch is 76 feet

fectly understood. The first bridge of cast-iron ever erected is that over the Severn, about two miles below Colebrookdale, in Shropshire. It is an arch composed of five ribs, forming the segment of a circle. Its chord is 100 feet long, and its height 45 feet. It was erected in 1777. The second cast-iron bridge was designed by Thomas Paine, the famous political writer, and was intended to have been taken to America; but, the speculator failing in his payments, the materials were afterwards used in constructing the beautiful bridge over the river Wear at Bishop's Wearmouth, in the county of Durham. The chord of the arch is 240 feet long; the height, 30 feet. The Southwark or Trafalgar bridge over the Thames at London is, at present, the finest iron bridge in the world. It consists of three arches. The chord of the middle arch is 240 feet long, and its height 24 feet. There are several other fine bridges of this kind in England. Mr. Telford proposed an iron arch of much larger dimensions than any now existing, to take the place of London bridge. The length of the chord was to be 600 feet, and its height 65. The plan has not been executed.

Timber bridges. Timber is the most ready, and perhaps the most ancient material used for the construction of bridges. The earliest timber bridge on record is that thrown by Julius Cæsar over the Rhine, and described in his Commentaries. Germany is the school for wooden bridges, as England is for those of iron. The most celebrated wooden bridge was that over the Rhine at Schaffhausen. This was 364 feet in length, and 18 feet broad. The plan of the architect was, that the bridge should consist of a single arch. The magistrates of the place, however, required that he should make it of two, and use the middle pier of a stone bridge, which had previously stood there. He did so, but contrived to leave it doubtful whether the bridge was at all supported by the middle pier. It was destroyed by the French, in April, 1799. The same architect and his brother have also erected several other fine arched wooden bridges. Several others have been erected, in Germany, by Wiebeking, perhaps the most ingenious carpenter of our times. In the United States, the Trenton bridge over the Delaware, erected by Burr in 1804, is the segment of a circle 345 feet in diameter. Its chord measures 200 feet; its height, or versed sine, is 32 feet, and the height of the timber framing of the arch, at its vertex, is no more than

2 feet 8 inches. The timber bridge over the Schuylkill, at Philadelphia, is of the extraordinary span of 340 feet. The versed sine is only 20 feet, and the height of the wooden framing, at the vertex, 7 feet. Its architect was Wernwag, who built it in 1813. The bridge built by Palmer, over the Piscataqua, near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1794, is the segment of a circle 600 feet in diameter. Its chord line measures 250 feet, its versed sine 27 feet 4 inches, and the height of the timber frame-work of the arch 18 feet 3 inches. It is put together with wooden keys. The same ingenious mechanic erected two other wooden bridges, one over the Merrimack, at Deer Island, near Newburyport, of 160 feet diameter, finished in 1792, and the other over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia, of 194 feet chord, and 12 feet versed sine, being the segment of a circle 796 feet in diameter. This was finished in 1803.

Pendent bridges, or bridges of suspension, although held, by some persons, to be a modern invention, or derived from the rope bridges of South America and the East Indies, were in use in Europe in the time of Scamozzi, as may be seen in his Del Idea Archi, 1615; yet the principles requisite to determine the structure of this kind of bridges had not been made public before the time of Bernouilli. The use of these bridges is of great antiquity in mountainous countries. The most remarkable bridge of suspension in existence is that lately constructed by Mr. Telford over the Menai strait, between the isle of Anglesea and Caernarvonshire in Wales. It was finished in 1825. The roadway is 100 feet above the surface of the water at high tide. The opening between the points of suspension is 560 feet. The platform is about 30 feet in breadth. The whole is suspended from 4 lines of strong iron cables by perpendicular iron rods, 5 feet apart. The cables pass over rollers on the tops of pillars, and are fixed to iron frames under ground, which are kept down by masonry. The weight of the whole bridge, between the points of suspension, is 489 tons. There are several other bridges of suspension in Great Britain. In 1814, a chain-bridge, 1000 feet long, was projected by Mr. Telford, to cross the Mersey at Liverpool, but it has never been executed. In the U. States, such bridges are to be found, though not of the dimensions of the English. That over the Merrimack, at Newburyport, is a curve whose chord measures 244 feet. That over the river

Brandywine, at Wilmington, has a chord of 145 feet; that at Brownsville, over the Monongahela, measures 120 feet between the points of suspension. Another, in its vicinity, forms an inverted suspended arch, with a chord of 112 feet. Besides these there are some others.

The following remarks on the construction of bridges are from Bigelow's Technology, (Boston, 1829):-The construction of small bridges is a simple process, while that of large ones is, under certain circumstances, extremely difficult, owing to the fact, that the strength of materials does not increase in proportion to their weight, and that there are limits, beyond which no structure of the kind could be carried, and withstand its own gravity. Bridges differ in their construction, and in the materials of which they are composed. The principal varieties are the following:-1. Wooden bridges. These, when built over shallow and sluggish streams, are usually supported upon piles driven into the mud at short distances, or upon frames of timber. But, in deep and powerful currents, it is necessary to support them on strong stone piers and abutments, built at as great a distance as practicable from each other. The bridge, between these piers, consists of a stiff frame of carpentry, so constructed, with reference to its material, that it may act as one piece, and may not bend, or break, with its own weight and any additional load to which it may be exposed. When this frame is straight, the upper part is compressed by the weight of the whole, while the lower part is extended, like the tie-beam of a roof. But the strongest wooden bridges are made with curved ribs, which rise above the abutments in the manner of an arch, and are not subjected to a longitudinal strain by extension. These ribs are commonly connected and strengthened with diagonal braces, keys, bolts and straps of iron. The flooring of the bridge may be either laid above them or suspended by trussing underneath them. Wooden bridges are common in this country, and some of them are of large size. One of the most remarkable is the upper Schuylkill bridge at Philadelphia, already mentioned.-2. Stone bridges. These, for the most part, consist of regular arches, built upon stone piers constructed in the water, or upon abutments at the banks. Above the arches is made a level or sloping road. From the nature of the material, these are the most durable kind of bridges, and many are now standing, which were built