Breisach.

in the horse-the fleece and the flesh being chiefly regarded in sheep, the flesh and the milk in oxen. Sometimes a perpetuation of good qualities is the great object of the breeder, and a combination of them in the highest possible degree is aimed at; sometimes, the production of the largest possible quantity of beef or mutton in the shortest time being almost exclusively designed, the breeder neglects considerations which would be of importance if his stock could not be improved by animals obtained from other quarters. Extraordinary differences are certainly found to exist among animals of the same species in the readiness with which they convert food into flesh and fat, and in the age at which they are fit for the hands of the butcher. One effect of the attention bestowed of late upon the breeding of stock, has been to supply the market, to a great extent, with the flesh of younger animals than could previously be sent to it-a change evidently tending not only to the benefit of the farmer, but to the increase of the national wealth; because that land, even without increased produce of grass, sends a greater amount of beef and mutton to market within the same term of years. Those sheep and oxen which exhibit in the highest degree the qualities just referred to, are also characterized by shortness of legs, smallness of bones, smallness of head, and fineness of skin; qualities the very opposite of those which would fit the animal for a wild state and an independent existence.

Some of the most important breeds of domestic animals will be mentioned under their proper heads. It remains for us only to allude here to the rules and physiological principles of breeding; but the latter, in so far as application of them has yet been found practicable, are only the best known principles of physiology (q. v.). In a great measure, however, the rules which guide the breeding of stock have been learned by experience, and are rather to be regarded as contributions to science than as deductions from it. The probable relative influence of the male and female parent upon their progeny, is a point unquestionably of the greatest importance, but concerning which widely different opinions have been maintained; and another much controverted and important point is, the propriety of breeding in and in. Practically, the rule is always observed, by those who seek the improvement of a breed, of selecting the very finest animals possible, both male and female; although a great improvement of the existing stock on a farm is often effected in the most advantageous manner by the mere introduction of males of better quality. The dangers of breeding in and in are very generally acknowledged, even whilst it is contended that they may very much be obviated by careful rejection of every faulty animal, and that in this way the utmost advantage may be taken of the very highest improvements; but it is likewise very generally admitted that, if equally improved individuals can be obtained not so nearly related, it is better to seek the perpetuation of the B. by their means. It is a rule also of much practical importance, that an improvement of B. is to be attained not by a cross between animals of very different breeds, as between a dray-horse and a race-horse, but only between those which are comparatively similar. The result of the intermixture of very dissimilar breeds is never in any respect satisfactory.

BREED'É, a river in Cape Colony, flowing chiefly through the district of Zwellendam, which contains cape Agulhas, the most southerly point of Africa. It rises in the WarmBokkeveld, a mountain-basin about lat. 33° 10' s., and long. 19° 30' e., running first to the w., and afterwards to the s.e.; and it enters St. Sebastian's bay or Port Beaufort, from which, upwards, it is navigable to a distance of 40 miles. Its exports are wool. aloes, skins, feathers, grain, butter, cattle, mules, etc.

BREEZE. See WIND.

BREESE, SAMUEL L., 1794-1870; b. New York. He entered the U. S. navy, serving in the war with England and Mexico, but was retired before the war of the rebellion broke out, his rank being rear-admiral.

BREESE, SYDNEY. See page 877.

BRE GENZ, a frontier t. of Austria, capital of the district of Vorarlberg, is situated at the mouth of the small river Bregenz, which here flows into the lake of Constance, between the Swiss and Bavarian territories, about 80 m. w.n.w. of Innsprück. From the ruins of the castle of Hohenbregenz, on a hill near the town, a very beautiful prospect is obtained of the lake and its surrounding vineyards, etc. B. is one of the oldest towns, and was formerly one of the chief fortified places in the southern part of Germany. The inhabitants (1880), 4736 in number, are engaged in agriculture, horticulture, and cattle-keeping. Cotton-spinning and weaving are also carried on; and articles of wood, gold, and iron are manufactured. Its position secures B. a large transit-trade in the produce of the district. In the neighborhood lies the mountain-pass, the BregenzerKlause, formerly a strong military position between Swabia and the Tyrol. During the thirty years' war, the Swedes, in 1646, stormed and captured the fortress of B., and destroyed the works in the pass.

BRE HON LAWS (in Irish, dlighidh breitheamhuin-that is, 'judges' laws"), the name usually given to the system of jurisprudence which prevailed among the native Irish from an early period till towards the middle of the 17th century. The breitheamhuin (pronounced brei-hoo-in, or brehon), from whom the laws had their name, were hereditary judges, who administered justice among the members of their tribe, seated in the open air, upon a few sods, on a hill or rising ground. The poet Spenser, in his

Breisach.

View of the State of Ireland, written in 1596, describes the B. L. as "a rule of right unwritten, but delivered by tradition from one to another, in which oftentimes there appeareth great share of equity, in determining the right between party and party, but in many things repugning quite both to God's law and man's: as, for example, in the case of murder, the brehon-that is, their judge-will compound between the murderer and the friends of the party murdered, which prosecute the action, that the malefactor shall give unto them, or to the child or wife of him that is slain, a recompense, which they call an eric; by which vile law of theirs many murders amongst them are made up and smothered: and this judge being, as he is called, the lord's brehon, adjudgeth for the most part a better share unto his lord, that is, the lord of the soil, or head of the sept, and also, unto himself for his judgment, a greater portion than unto the plaintiffs or parties grieved." Spenser was ignorant that pecuniary compensation for manslaughter had obtained in the ancient laws, as well of England as of most European nations. He was mistaken, too, in believing that the B. L. was an unwritten code. Many manuscript collections of the B. L. still exist in public and private libraries in Ireland, England, and Belgium. These manuscripts are regarded as varying in date from the early part of the 14th to the close of the 16th century. For the laws themselves, a much higher antiquity is claimed. On this point, we must be content to quote what has been said on the part of the very few persons who have had an opportunity of making themselves acquainted with the existing collections of the brehon laws. So far as we have external evidence to guide us,' say Dr. J. H. Todd and Dr. C. Graves, two eminent Irish antiquaries, "there is no reason to suspect that the brehon laws have undergone any material change since the time of Cormac Mac Cuilleanain, king and bishop of Cashel, who died 908 A.D. He was a man of great learning and energy, who certainly promoted the execution of considerable literary works, and under whose influence it is not improbable that a systematic compilation of the laws may have been effected. Of this, however, we have no distinct record. On the other hand, we find scattered through all parts of the laws allusions to a general revision of them made in the 5th c., at the instance of St. Patrick, who, in conjunction with certain kings and learned men, is said to have expunged from them all those institutions which savored of paganism, and to have framed the code called the Seanchus Mor. These same documents assert the existence of still more ancient written laws, the greater part of which are ascribed to Cormac Mac Art, monarch of Ireland, in the middle of the 3d century. However slow we may be to acquiesce in statements of this kind, which contradict what we have learned concerning the progress of legislation in the remaining parts of western Europe, we may readily admit that the subject matter of many of the laws demonstrates their great antiquity, as it indicates the primitive nature of the society in which they prevailed. In spite of the attempts to efface it, traces of heathenism are still discernible in many parts of them. They enumerate various ordeals of a pagan character, which are expressly termed magical, and specify the occasions on which a resort to them was prescribed. There are also provisions in the laws of marriage which prove that Christianity could have exercised but a feeble influence at the time when they were enacted. The language in which the brehon laws are written is a convincing proof of their antiquity. They are not composed in a peculiar dialect, as many writers have maintained; but if their style differs from that of the vernacular Irish of the present day, as AngloSaxon does from modern English, this dissimilarity is to be ascribed mainly to the effects of time, by which the orthography and grammatical forms of the language have been modified, and legal terms and phrases of constant recurrence have become obsolete." The world of letters will be able, in no long time, to judge for itself on the opinions thus expressed. It is now upwards of twenty years since the publication of the B. L., at the charge of the Irish government, was strongly urged by such men as Guizot, Grimm, and Rank abroad, and Hallam, Macaulay, and earl Stanhope at home. A commission was accordingly appointed by the earl of Eglinton in 1852, "to direct, superintend, and carry into effect the transcription and translation of the ancient laws of Ireland, and the preparation of the same for publication." The commissioners intrusted the transcription and translation of the B. L. to the two most eminent of Irish scholars the late Dr. John O'Donovan, professor of Celtic in the queen's college at Belfast; and the late Eugene O'Curry, professor of Irish archæology in the Roman Catholic university of Ireland. These gentlemen having finished their task the editorship of the work was intrusted to Mr. W. J. Hancock, late professor of political economy in Trinity college, Dublin, and the Rev. Thaddeus O'Mahony, professor of Irish in the university of Dublin. The publication, it is reckoned, will extend to eight volumes, of about 550 pages each. Three of these have already appeared-the last in 1873under the title of Ancient Larcs and Institutes of Ireland. Along with the Irish text, an English translation is given, accompanied with preliminary dissertations, glossaries, and indexes, and they give a vivid and characteristic picture of the polity and social life of a Celtic people. A fac-simile reprint of the B. L. has recently been published in 17 volumes by the B. L. commission.

BREISACH', ALT, a very old t. of the grand duchy of Baden, situated on an isolated basalt hill on the right side of the Rhine, about 12 m. w. of Freiburg. As early as the time of Julius Cæsar. Mons Brisiacus was known as a strong military position, and was

taken by Ariovistus when he invaded Gaul. Being regarded as the key to the w. of Germany, it was a prominent scene of action during the thirty years' war, at the conclusion of which it was ceded to the French. During the next century, it frequently changed masters, now belonging to France, and now to Austria. The French destroyed its fortifications in 1744, and during the war of the revolution in 1793, part of the town was burned by them. In 1806, the French handed it over to the house of Baden. The minster of St. Stephen is a venerable structure in good preservation, and contains several old monuments. Pop. '71, 3255; '80, 8258.

BREISACH, NEU, a t. in Alsace, opposite to Old B., 2 m. w. of the Rhine, on the Rhine and Rhone canal; pop. '66, 1981. It was fortified by Vauban by order of Louis XIV.

BREISLAK, SCIPIONE, 1748-1826; an Italian geologist. He was professor in a Roman college, and devoted his leisure to geological researches in the papal states. The king of Naples appointed him professor of mineralogy to the royal artillery, and under his direction the sulphur refining works in the district of Solfatara were erected. In 1798, he published his Physical Topography of the Campagna, and followed with various works on similar topics.

BREI TENFELD, a village and manor of Saxony, about 5 m. n. of Leipsic. It is historically remarkable for three battles, fought on a plain in its neighborhood. The first of these, between the Swedes and the Imperialists, which was fought on the 7th Sept., 1631, was of the highest importance to Europe, as it secured the permanency of Protestantism and the freedom of Germany. Tilly's pride had reached its highest point after the fall of Magdeburg, which took place on the 10th of May, 1631; and in the early part of Sept. of the same year, he advanced against the Saxons, with an army of about 40,000 men, for the purpose of forcing the elector, John George I. (who would not submit to the edict of restitution, and was treating with the Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus), into an alliance with the emperor. No other way remained than for the elector to join the Swedish king, who had just entered Pomerania. Gustavus Adolphus, joined by the Saxons, advanced towards Leipsic, where Tilly lay, who advanced into the plain of Breitenfeld. The imperial forces were completely defeated, and their three most distinguished generals, Tilly, Pappenheim, and Fürstenberg, wounded. The second battle which B. witnessed again resulted in the triumph of Swedish valor: it took place on the 23d of Oct., 1642, between the Swedes, headed by Torstenson, one of the pupils of Gustavus, who had invested Leipsic, and the archduke Leopold, with gen. Piccolomini, who were advancing from Dresden to its relief. The Swedes gained a complete victory over the imperialists, who fled into Bohemia, leaving behind them 46 cannon, 121 flags, 69 standards, and the whole of their baggage. The third battle of which B. was the scene, was fought on the 16th of Oct., 1813, and was part of the great contest known as the battle of Leipsic.

BREITMANN, HANS. See LELAND, CHARLES GODFREY.

BRE MEN, one of the three free cities of Germany, is situated on the Weser, about 50 m. from its mouth. Pop. '80, 112,158, nearly all Protestants. B. is divided into the old and the new town-the former on the right, the latter on the left side of the river, which is spanned by four bridges. The ramparts and bastions round the old town have been leveled, and formed into public promenades, which are laid out with excellent taste. Among the principal buildings, the cathedral (built about 1160), the Gothic town-hall (begun about 1405), with its famous wine-cellar, said to contain hock of the vintage of 1624, the exchange, the museum, the post-office, and the observatory of Dr. Olbers, from which he discovered the planets Pallas and Vesta, are remarkable. The position of B. makes it the emporium of Brunswick, Hesse, and other countries through which the Weser flows. Besides its excellent water communication, it is connected by railways with the whole of western and central Germany. B. is an exceedingly thriv ing place, its trade having more than doubled within the last ten years. Large vessels stop at Bremerhaven, where there is a spacious harbor constructed, about 38 m. below B., with which it is connected by electric telegraph. Vessels not drawing more than 7 ft. of water can come up to the town itself. B. carries on an extensive commerce with the United States of America, the West Indies, Africa, the East Indies, China, and Australia. Its great foreign trade, however, is with the United States, from which alone, in 1880, it imported produce at the estimated value of 45,000,000 dollars, exporting in return goods to the value of 24,000,000 dollars. With the exception of Hamburg, no continental port ships so many emigrants to the United States as B., through its main port at Bremerhaven. The total number of vessels arriving at B. in 1882 was 2213, the number departing, 2430. The number of ships, belonging to the port in 1880 was 320, with an aggregate burden of 261,357 tons. In 1880, the value of the imports amounted to £27,920,000, exports to £25,565,000, a very great increase as compared with the year 1858, when the imports were valued at £8,237,000, and the exports at about £8,000,000. The chief imports are tobacco, coffee, sugar, cotton, rice, skins, dyewoods, wines, timber, hemp, etc. The exports consists of woolen goods, linens, glass, rags, wool, hemp, hides, oil-cake, wooden toys, etc. Large quantities of tobacco are re-exported. B. has manufactures of woolens and cottons, cigars, paper, and starch,

Brenner.

The

and extensive ship-building yards, breweries, distilleries, and sugar-refineries. cigar and sugar manufactures have of late declined, the former on account of the increase of duty. In 1872, it is said that 2500 hands were engaged in making cigars. It has steam communication with New York, and Hull, Havana, the n. coast of South America, etc.

B. first became of historical note in the 8th c., when it was erected into a bishopric by Charlemagne. It soon attained considerable commercial importance, and became one of the principal cities of the Hanseatic league (q. v.). Having frequently suffered at the hands of the French, it was, in 1810, incorporated with that empire; but it recovered its independence in 1813, and by the congress of Vienna was admitted, in 1815, as one of the Hanse towns, into the Germanic confederation. In 1867, it became a member of the North German confederation, and now it forms part of the German empire. The area of its territory is about 100 sq.m.; pop., including the town of B. (1880), 156,723. The government is intrusted to a senate of 18 members, two of whom are chosen burgomasters, and to a municipal council of 150 burgesses.

BREMERHAVEN, a port on the Weser, near 10 m. from its mouth, was founded by Bremen in 1827, on ground acquired from Hanover, and soon became a thriving place. It has extensive docks and quays, and may be regarded as the seaport of Bremen. Pop. in 1880, 14,239.

BREMER, a co. in n.e. Iowa, on Cedar river; 430 sq.m.; pop. '70, 12,528; '80, 14,078; good soil, well watered and timbered. Communication is had by the Cedar Falls and Minnesota railroad. Agricultural productions. Co. seat, Waverly.

BREMER, FREDRIKA, the well-known Swedish novelist, was b. near Abo, in Finland, 17th Aug., 1801; but when she was only three years old, her father removed to Sweden. As a child of eight, she had already begun to write verses; and the works of German poets, Schiller more especially, exercised a most powerful influence over her youthful imagination. Her original novels first made their appearance under the general title Tekningar ur Hvardagslifvet, at Stockholm, in 1835. It was not, however, till 1842 that the English public hailed with delight the appearance, in an English dress, of The Neighbors, perhaps the most universally popular of all Fredrika B.'s charming pictures of domestic life in Sweden. Encouraged by its enthusiastic reception, Mrs. Howitt subsequently published translations of The Diary, The H. Family, The President's Daughters. Brothers and Sisters, Life in Delecarlia, and The Midnight Sun. In 1849, Miss B. visited the United States, and there spent two years, passing some time in England on her return. In her Homes of the New World, published simultaneously in England, America, and Sweden, in 1853, she not only presents us with exquisite descriptions of scenery, and vivid pictures of social life, but with sound and comprehensive views on political and moral subjects. Returning to her home in Sweden, to find a beloved sister dead, Miss B. devoted her talents and energies to the carrying out of certain philanthropic objects, in which she had throughout life felt deep interest, more especially the education of the poorest classes. As a writer of fiction, she is distinguished for feminine delicacy, shrewd sense, humor, deep knowledge of human nature, and a graphic and forcible style. Her works have been translated into almost all the languages of Europe. She died in 1865. Her life and unpublished writings were issued by her

sister in 1868.

BRENDAN, or BRANDANUS, the legendary hero of great ocean voyages made under the protection of angels; revered in Ireland as a saint, where, and in England, he is supposed to have founded religious establishments. His death is set down in 578 A.D.

BRENHAM, the seat of justice of Washington co., Tex., on the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fé, and a branch of the Houston and Texas Central railroad, 72 m. w.n.w. of Houston; pop. '80, 4101. It is in a cotton-raising region. There are eight churches, the Live Oak female seminary, an opera house, and a number of manufactories.

BRENNER PASS, a pass in the main chain of the Alps, on the road between Innsbruck (q.v.) on the n. and Botzen (q.v.) on the s., connecting the s. of Germany with Venice and the n.e. of Italy. The B. P. is the lowest which crosses the main chain of the Alps, the summit being only 4775 feet above the level of the sea. Lofty mountains rise above it to the further height of more than 7500 ft., yet the scenery of the pass is less sublime and interesting than that of any other of the great passes of the Alps. It is open at all seasons of the year. At the summit of the pass is the village of Brenner, a resting-place for travelers, with a pop. of about 400. The climate here is so severe that corn seldom ripens. Here the traveler finds in close contiguity the Eisach, a small stream, which, after growing to be a considerable river, joins the Adige and the Sill, a tributary of the Inn; the one stream flowing to the gulf of Venice, and the other into the Black sea. On 18th Aug., 1867, a railway through the B. P. was opened, and thus a complete line of railway communication was established between Germany and Italy; Botzen having already been connected by a railway through the valley of the Adige with Verona, and so with the whole of Italy-Innsbruck being likewise connected with the railway system of Germany. This work was begun by the Austrian government when Venetia belonged to the Austrian empire, and with the view not only of facilitating military operations, but of restoring the commercial prosperity of Venice, by making it the port of southern

Germany. The prosecution of the works, however, was not arrested by the great political changes which took place. A liberal commercial treaty, recently made between Aus tria and Italy, binds the two countries together in community of interests, restoring, in fact, the natural state of things with which political animosities had long interfered; and it has been made quite apparent, from the activity with which the roads have been repaired on some of the Alpine passes, and particularly that of the Stelvio, that both Germans and Italians appreciate the importance of an intimate commercial intercourse. The distance from Innsbruck to Botzen in a direct line is only 52 m., but by the windings of the road or of the railway, it is much increased.

BRENNUS, the name or rather the title of several Gallic princes, is probably a Latinized form of the Kymric word brenhin, which signifies a king. The most famous B. was that leader of the Gauls who, in 390 B.C., crossed the Apennines, and hurrying through the country of the Sabines, at the head of 70,000 men, encountered and overthrew on the banks of the Allia (q.v.) the Roman army. Had the barbarians immediately followed up their advantage, Rome might have been obliterated from the earth; but instead of doing so they abandoned themselves to drunken delights on the battlefield, and gave the Romans time to fortify the capitol, whither were removed all the treasures and holy things of the city. When B. entered the gates he found that all the inhabitants of the city had fled, with the exception of the women and children, and old men, the last of whom, with pathetic heroism, had resolved not to survive the destruction of their homes, and so the chief among them, clothed in their robes of sacerdotal or consular dignity, and sitting in the curule chairs, waited the approach of their enemies, and received their death in majestic silence. B., having plundered the city, now besieged the capitol for six months. During the beleaguerment occurred the famous night-attack, which would have been successful had not the cackling of the geese, kept in Juno's temple, awakened the garrison. At length, however, the Romans were compelled to enter into negotiations with the besiegers. They offered 1000 lbs. of gold for their ransom, which was agreed to. According to Polybius, B. and his Gauls returned home in safety with their booty; but the rather mythical Roman traditions affirm that, just as the Gauls were leaving the city, Camillus, who had been recalled from banishment and appointed dictator, appeared at the head of an army, attacked them, and, in two bloody battles, slew the whole of the barbarians to a man.

Another B., who occupies a conspicuous place in history, was that Gallic chief who invaded Greece, 279 B.C., at the head of 150,000 foot and 61,000 horse. After desolating Macedonia, B. forced his way through Thessaly to Thermopyla. The Grecian army fled at his approach. B. now rushed on with a division of his great host to Delphi, which he had resolved to plunder; but the Delphians having taken up a very advantageous position on some rocks, resisted his further progress. Assisted by the terrors of an earthquake and a terrible storm, besides, according to reverential tradition, by the supernatural help of Apollo, they utterly routed the Gauls, who fled in dismay. B. was taken prisoner, and drank himself to death in despair.

BRENTA (Medoacus Major), a river of n. Italy, rises from two small lakes in the Tyrol; flows first in a southern, then in an eastern course through the Venetian territory; passes the towns Cismona and Bassano; receives an arm of the Bacchiglione below Padua, where it becomes navigable; and falls into the gulf of Venice, at the haven of Brondolo. The ancient bed of the B. was, some centuries ago, altered by the Venetians, who feared that their lagoons might be choked with sand by its floods. Afterwards, the old bed of the river was made use of as a canal, the Naviglio di Brenta Magra, which forms the chief communication by water between Venice and Padua, while the B. is but little used for navigation.

BRENTA'NO, CLEMENS, known as a novelist and dramatic poet, and as the brother of Goethe's "Bettina," was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1777. He studied at Jena, and afterwards resided successively at Frankfort, Heidelberg, Vienna, and Berlin. In 1818. through a morbid discontent with himself and his fellow-men, he retired to the cloister at Dülmen, in Münster. Latterly he resided at Regensburg, Munich, and Frankfort on the Main, where he led the life of a recluse, and gained a considerable reputation on account of his sarcastic wit. He died at Aschaffenburg, on the 28th of June, 1842. In his earliest poems the peculiarities of the "romantic school" of his time are carried to excess. His dramatic productions, such as The Merry Musicians, a Musical Drama (Frankfort, 1803), in which there are some gems of lyric poetry; Ponce de Leon (Göttingen, 1804), etc., are characterized by great dramatic power, amusing though rather far-fetched wit, and a wonderful flow of humor. Perhaps his most successful piece as a drama, is The Founding of Prague (Pesth, 1816). B. was most successful in his smaller novels, par ticularly in the History of Caspar the Brave and the Fair Annerl (2d edit. Berlin, 1831), which German critics call a "chef-d'œuvre in miniature." His last work, the legend of Gokel, Hinkel, and Gakeleia (Frankfort, 1838), was intended as a satire upon the times in which he lived. He has received the grateful acknowledgment of his countrymen for his renovation of the good old history of George Wickram, of Kolmar, which he published under the title of The Thread of Gold (Der Goldfaden, Heidelb., 1809).

BRENT FORD, the co. t. of Middlesex, on both sides of the Brent, at its confluence with the Thames, 7 m. w.s. w. of London, and where the Thames is crossed by a bridge