Part 24

Brantome has some old houses and a church of the 15th century, which was once fortified and is now used as a market. Truffles are the chief article of commerce; and there are quarries of freestone in the neighbourhood. The dolmen which is known as Pierre-Levee, to the east of the town, is the most remarkable in Perigord.

BRANXHOLM, or BRANKSOME, a feudal castle, now modernized, and an ancient seat of the Buccleuchs, on the Teviot, 3 m. S.W. of Hawick, Roxburgh, Scotland. It was at Branksome Hall that Sir Walter Scott laid the scene of _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_.

BRANXTON, or BRANKSTON, a village of Northumberland, England, 10-1/2 m. E. by N. of Kelso, and 2 m. E.S.E. of Coldstream, and 10 m. N.W. of Wooler. It was on Branxton Hill, immediately south of the village, that the battle of Flodden (q.v.) was fought between the English and the Scots on the 9th of September 1513. During the fight the Scots centre pushed as far as Branxton church, but "the King's Stone," which lies N.W. of the church and is popularly supposed to mark the spot where James IV. fell, is some three-quarters of a mile from the scene of the battle; it is believed in reality to mark the sepulchre of a chieftain, whose name had already perished in the 16th century. Branxton church, dedicated to St Paul, was rebuilt in 1849 in Norman style. Of the older building nothing remains save the chancel arch.

BRAOSE, WILLIAM DE (d. 1211), lord of Brecknock, Radnor and Limerick, spent the early part of his life fighting the Welsh in Radnorshire. He was high in King John's favour, received a large number of honours, and was even given the custody of Prince Arthur. But John and he quarrelled, probably over money (1207). In 1208 John began to suspect the fidelity of the whole family, and William had to fly to Ireland. After a number of attempted reconciliations, he was outlawed (1210) and died at Corbeil (1211). It is said that his wife and son were starved to death by John.

See _Foedera_, i. 107; _Histoire des ducs_ (ed. Michel), Wendover; Kate Norgate's _John Lackland_.

A descendant, William de Braose (d. 1326), lord of Gower, was a devoted follower of Edward I., and in 1299 was summoned to parliament as baron de Braose; and his nephew Thomas de Braose (d. 1361) also distinguished himself in the wars and was summoned as baron de Braose in 1342. This latter barony became extinct in 1399; but a claim to the barony of William de Braose, which, as he had no son, fell into abeyance between his two daughters and co-heirs, Alina (wife of Lord Mowbray) and Joan (wife of John de Bohun), or their descendants, may still be traced by careful genealogists in various noble English families.

BRASCASSAT, JACQUES RAYMOND (1804-1867), French painter, was born at Bordeaux, and studied art in Paris, where in 1825 he won a _prix de Rome_ with a picture ("Chasse de Meleagre") now in the Bordeaux gallery. He went to Italy and painted a number of landscapes which were exhibited between 1827 and 1835; but subsequently he devoted himself mainly to animal-painting, in which his reputation as an artist was made. His "Lutte de taureaux" (1837), in the _musee_ at Nantes, and his "Vache attaquee par des loups" (1845), in the Leipzig museum, were perhaps the best of his pictures; but he was remarkable for his accuracy of observation and correct drawing. He was elected a member of the Institute in 1846. He died at Paris on the 28th of February 1867.

BRAS D'OR, a landlocked and tideless gulf or lake of high irregular outline, 50 m. long by 20 m. broad, almost separating Cape Breton Island (province of Nova Scotia, Canada) into two parts. A ship canal across the isthmus (about 1 m. wide) completes the severance of the island. The entrance to the gulf is on the N.E. coast of the island, and it is connected with the Atlantic by the Great and Little Bras d'Or channels, which are divided by Boulardeire Island. One channel is 25 m. long and from 1/4 m. to 3 m. broad, but is of little depth, the other (used by shipping) is 22 m. long, 1 to 1-1/2 m. wide, and has a depth of 60 fathoms. The gulf or lake is itself divided into two basins, the inner waters being known as the Great Bras d'Or Lake. The waters are generally from 12 to 60 fathoms deep, but in the outer basin (known as the Little Bras d'Or Lake) are soundings said to reach nearly 700 ft. The shores of the gulf are very picturesque and well wooded and have attracted many tourists. Sea fishing (cod, mackerel, &c.) is the chief industry. The name is said to be a corruption of an Indian word, but it assumed its present form during the French occupation of Cape Breton Island.

BRASDOR, PIERRE (1721-1799), French surgeon, was born in the province of Maine. He took his degree in Paris as master of surgery in 1752, and was appointed regius professor of anatomy and director of the Academy of Surgery. He was a skilful operator, whose name was long attached to a ligature of his invention; and he was an ardent advocate of inoculation. He died in Paris on the 28th of September 1799.

BRASIDAS (d. 422 B.C.), a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athenians (431 B.C.). During the following year he seems to have been eponymous ephor (Xen. _Hell_. ii. 3, 10), and in 429 he was sent out as one of the three commissioners ([Greek: symbouloi]) to advise the admiral Cnemus. As trierarch he distinguished himself in the assault on the Athenian position at Pylos, during which he was severely wounded (Thuc. iv. n. 12).

In the next year, while Brasidas mustered a force at Corinth for a campaign in Thrace, he frustrated an Athenian attack on Megara (Thuc. iv. 70-73), and immediately afterwards marched through Thessaly at the head of 700 helots and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries to join the Macedonian king Perdiccas. Refusing to be made a tool for the furtherance of Perdiccas's ambitions, Brasidas set about the accomplishment of his main object, and, partly by the rapidity and boldness of his movements, partly by his personal charm and the moderation of his demands, succeeded during the course of the winter in winning over the important cities of Acanthus, Stagirus, Amphipolis and Torone as well as a number of minor towns. An attack on Eion was foiled by the arrival of Thucydides, the historian, at the head of an Athenian squadron. In the spring of 423 a truce was concluded between Athens and Sparta, but its operation was at once imperilled by Brasidas's refusal to give up Scione, which, the Athenian partisans declared, revolted two days after the truce began, and by his occupation of Mende shortly afterwards. An Athenian fleet under Nicias and Nicostratus recovered Mende and blockaded Scione, which fell two years later (421 B.C.). Meanwhile Brasidas joined Perdiccas in a campaign against Arrhabaeus, king of the Lyncesti, who was severely defeated. On the approach of a body of Illyrians, who, though summoned by Perdiccas, unexpectedly declared for Arrhabaeus, the Macedonians fled, and Brasidas's force was rescued from a critical position only by his coolness and ability. This brought to a head the quarrel between Brasidas and Perdiccas, who promptly concluded a treaty with Athens, of which some fragments have survived (_I.G._ i. 42).

In April 422 the truce with Sparta expired, and in the same summer Cleon was despatched to Thrace, where he stormed Torone and Galepsus and prepared for an attack on Amphipolis. But a carelessly conducted reconnaissance gave Brasidas the opportunity for a vigorous and successful sally. The Athenian army was routed with a loss of 600 men and Cleon was slain. On the Spartan side only seven men are said to have fallen, but amongst them was Brasidas. He was buried at Amphipolis with impressive pomp, and for the future was regarded as the founder ([Greek: oikistaes]) of the city and honoured with yearly games and sacrifices (Thuc. iv. 78-v. 11). At Sparta a cenotaph was erected in his memory near the tombs of Pausanias and Leonidas, and yearly speeches were made and games celebrated in their honour, in which only Spartiates could compete (Paus. in. 14).

Brasidas united in himself the personal courage characteristic of Sparta with those virtues in which the typical Spartan was most signally lacking. He was quick in forming his plans and carried them out without delay or hesitation. With an oratorical power rare amongst the Lacedaemonians he combined a conciliatory manner which everywhere won friends for himself and for Sparta (Thuc. iv. 81).

See in particular Thucydides, ii.-v.; what Diodorus xii. adds is mainly oratorical elaboration or pure invention. A fuller account will be found in the histories of Greece (e.g. those of Grote, Beloch, Busolt, Meyer) and in G. Schimmelpfeng, _De Brasidae Spartani rebus gestis atque ingenio_ (Marburg, 1857).

BRASS, a river, town and district of southern Nigeria, British West Africa. The Brass river is one of the deltaic branches of the Niger, lying east of the Rio Nun or main channel of the river. From the point of divergence from the main stream to the sea the Brass has a course of about 100 m., its mouth being in 6 deg. 20' E., 4 deg. 35' N. Brass town is a flourishing trading settlement at the mouth of the river. It is the headquarters of a district commissioner and the seat of a native court. Its most conspicuous building is a fine church, the gift of a native chief. The capital of the Brass tribes is Nimbe, 30 m. up river.

The Brass river, called by its Portuguese discoverers the Rio Bento, is said to have received its English name from the brass rods and other brass utensils imported by the early traders in exchange for palm-oil and slaves. The Brass natives, of the pure negro type, were noted for their savage character. In 1856 their chiefs concluded a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to give up the slave-trade in exchange for a duty on the palm-oil exported. Finding their profitable business as middlemen between the up-river producer and the exporter threatened by the appearance of European traders, they made ineffective complaints to the British authorities. The establishment of the Royal Niger Company led to further loss of trade, and on the 29th of January 1895 the natives attacked and sacked the company's station at Akassa on the Rio Nun, over forty prisoners being killed and eaten as a sacrifice to the fetish gods. In the following month a punitive expedition partially destroyed Nimbe, and a heavy fine was paid by the Brass chiefs. Since then the country has settled down under British administration. The trade regulations of which complaint had been made were removed in 1900 on the establishment of the protectorate of Southern Nigeria (see NIGERIA).

Valuable information concerning the country and people will be found in the _Report by Sir John Kirk on the Disturbances at Brass (Africa_, No. 3, 1896).

BRASS (O. Eng. _braes_), an alloy consisting mainly if not exclusively of copper and zinc; in its older use the term was applied rather to alloys of copper and tin, now known as bronze (q.v.)Thus the brass of the Bible was probably bronze, and so also was much of the brass of later times, until the distinction between zinc and tin became clearly recognized. The Latin word _aes_ signifies either pure copper or bronze, not brass, but the Romans comprehended a brass compound of copper and zinc under the term _orichalcum_ or _aurichalcum_, into which Pliny states that copper was converted by the aid of cadmia (a mineral of zinc).

In England there is good evidence of the manufacture of brass with zinc at the end of the 16th century, for Queen Elizabeth by patent granted to William Humfrey and Christopher Schutz the exclusive right of working calamine and making brass. This right subsequently devolved upon a body called the "Governors, Assistants and Societies of the City of London of and for the Mineral and Battery Works," which continued to exercise its functions down to the year 1710.

When a small percentage of zinc is present, the colour of brass is reddish, as in _tombac_ or red brass, which contains about 10%. With about 20% the colour becomes more yellow, and a series of metals is obtained which simulate gold more or less closely; such are _Dutch metal, Mannheim gold, similar_ and _pinchbeck_, the last deriving its name from a London clockmaker, Christopher Pinchbeck, who invented it in 1732. Ordinary brass contains about 30% of zinc, and when 40% is present, as in _Muntz, yellow_ or _patent_ metal (invented by G.F. Muntz in 1832), the colour becomes a full yellow. When the proportion of zinc is largely increased the colour becomes silver-white and finally grey. The limit of elasticity increases with the percentage of zinc, as also does the amount of elongation before fracture, the maximum occurring with 30%. The tenacity increases with the proportion of zinc up to a maximum with 45%; then it decreases rapidly, and with 50% the metals are fragile. By varying the proportion between 30 and 43% a series of alloys may be prepared presenting very varied properties. The most malleable of the series has an elongation of about 60%, with a tensile strength of 17.5 tons per sq. in. Increase in the proportion of zinc gives higher tensile strength, accompanied, however, by a smaller percentage of elongation and a materially increased tendency to produce unsound castings. The quality of copper-zinc alloys is improved by the addition of a small quantity of iron, a fact of which advantage is taken in the production of Aich's metal and delta metal. Of the latter there are several varieties, modified in composition to suit different purposes. Some of them possess high tensile strength and ductility. They are remarkably resistant to corrosion by sea-water, and are well suited for screw-propellers as well as for pump-plungers, pistons and glands. Heated to a dull red delta metal becomes malleable and can be worked under the hammer, press or stamps. By such treatment an ultimate tensile strength of 30 tons per sq. in. may be obtained, with an elongation of 32% in 2 in. and a contraction of area of 30%.

In the arts brass is a most important and widely used alloy. As compared with copper its superior hardness makes it wear better, while being more fusible it can be cast with greater facility. It is readily drawn into fine wire, and formed into rolled sheets and rods which are machined into a huge number of useful and ornamental articles. It is susceptible of a fine polish, but tarnishes with exposure to the air; the brilliancy of the surface can, however, be preserved if the metal is thoroughly cleansed by "dipping" in nitric acid and "lacquered" with a coating of varnish consisting of seed-lac dissolved in spirit.

BRASSES, MONUMENTAL, a species of engraved sepulchral memorials which in the early part of the 13th century began to take the place of tombs and effigies carved in stone. Made of hard _latten_ or sheet brass, let into the pavement, and thus forming no obstruction in the space required for the services of the church, they speedily came into general use, and continued to be a favourite style of sepulchral memorial for three centuries. Besides their great value as historical monuments, they are interesting as authentic contemporary evidence of the varieties of armour and costume, or the peculiarities of palaeography and heraldic designs, and they are often the only authoritative records of the intricate details of family history. Although the intrinsic value of the metal has unfortunately contributed to the wholesale spoliation of these interesting monuments, they are still found in remarkable profusion in England, and they were at one time equally common in France, Germany and the Low Countries. In France, however, those that survived the troubles of the 16th century were totally swept away during the reign of terror, and almost the only evidence of their existence is now supplied by the collection of drawings bequeathed by Gough to the Bodleian library. The fine memorials of the royal house of Saxony in the cathedrals of Meissen and Freiberg are the most artistic and striking brasses in Germany. Among the 13th-century examples existing in German churches are the full-length memorials of Yso von Welpe, bishop of Verden (1231), and of Bernard, bishop of Paderborn (1340). Many fine Flemish specimens exist in Belgium, especially at Bruges. Only two or three examples, and these of late date, are known in Scotland, among which are the memorials of Alexander Cockburn (1564) at Ormiston; of the regent Murray (1569) in the collegiate church of St Giles, Edinburgh; and of the Minto family (1605) in the south aisle of the nave of Glasgow cathedral. England is the only country which now possesses an extensive series of these interesting memorials, of which it is calculated that there may be about 4000 still remaining in the various churches. They are most abundant in the eastern counties, and this fact has been frequently adduced in support of the opinion that they were of Flemish manufacture. But in the days when sepulchral brasses were most in fashion the eastern counties of England were full of commercial activity and wealth, and nowhere do the engraved memorials of civilians and prosperous merchants more abound than in the churches of Ipswich, Norwich, Lynn and Lincoln. Flemish brasses do occur in England, but they were never numerous, and they are readily distinguished from those of native workmanship. The Flemish examples have the figures engraved in the centre of a large plate, the background filled in with diapered or scroll work, and the inscription placed round the edge of the plate. The English examples have the figures cut out to the outline and inserted in corresponding cavities in the slab, the darker colour of the stone serving as a background. This is not an invariable distinction, however, as "figure-brasses" of Flemish origin are found both at Bruges and in England. But the character of the engraving is constant, the Flemish work being more florid in design, the lines shallower, and the broad lines cut with a chisel-pointed tool instead of the lozenge-shaped burin. The brass of Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, the envoy of Henry V. to the council of Constance, who died and was interred there in 1416, precisely resembles the brasses of England in the peculiarities which distinguish them from continental specimens. Scarcely any of the brasses which now exist in England can be confidently referred to the first half of the 13th century, though several undoubted examples of this period are on record. The full-sized brass of Sir John d'Aubernon at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey (c. 1277) has the decorations of the shield filled in with a species of enamel. Other examples of this occur, and the probability is, that, in most cases, the lines of the engraving were filled with colouring-matter, though brass would scarcely bear the heat requisite to fuse the ordinary enamels. A well-known 13th-century example is that of Sir Roger de Trumpington (c. 1290), who accompanied Prince Edward in his expedition to Palestine and is represented cross-legged. About half a dozen instances of this peculiarity are known. The 14th-century brasses are much more numerous, and present a remarkable variety in their details. The finest specimen is that of Nicholas Lord Burnell (1315) in the church of Acton Burnell, Shropshire. In the 15th century the design and execution of monumental brasses had attained their highest excellence. The beautiful brass of Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (d. 1401), and his wife Margaret, which formerly covered the tomb in St Mary's church, Warwick, is a striking example. One of the best specimens of plate armour is that of Sir Robert Stantoun (1458) in Castle Donnington church, Leicestershire, and one of the finest existing brasses of ecclesiastics is that of Abbot de la Mare of St Albans. It is only in the 16th century that the engraved representations become portraits. Previous to that period the features were invariably represented conventionally, though sometimes personal peculiarities were given. A large number of brasses in England are _palimpsests_, the back of an ancient brass having been engraved for the more recent memorial. Thus a brass commemorative of Margaret Bulstrode (1540) at Hedgerley, on being removed from its position, was discovered to have been previously the memorial of Thomas Totyngton, abbot of St Edmunds, Bury (1312). The abbey was only surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, so that before the year was out the work of spoliation had begun, and the abbot's brass had been removed and re-engraved to Margaret Bulstrode. In explanation of the frequency with which ancient brasses have thus been stolen and re-erected after being engraved on the reverse, as at Berkhampstead, it may be remarked that all the sheet brass used in England previous to the establishment of a manufactory at Esher by a German in 1649, had to be imported from the continent.

[Illustration: PLATE I.

Fig. 1.--Sir John D'Abernon, 1277. Stoke D'Abernon Surrey.

Fig. 2.--Margaret de Camoys. 1310. Trotton, Sussex.

Fig. 3.--Henry de Grofhurst, c. 1330 Horsemonden, Kent.

Fig. 4.--Sir Nicholas Burnell, 1382. Acton Burnell, Shropshire.

Fig. 5.--Margaret Lady Cobham, 1385. Cobham, Kent.

Fig. 6.--Sir John Corp and Eleanor, his grand-daughter 1391, 1361. Stoke Fleming, Devonshire.

Fig. 7.--Sir Symon de Felbrigge and Margaret his wife, 1400. Felbrigge, Norfolk.

Figs. 1 and 6 from Waller's _Monumental Brasses._

Figs. 5 and 7 from Boutell's _Monumental Brasses._

Figs. 2, 3, and 4 by permission of the _Monumental Brass Society_.]

[Illustration: PLATE II.

Fig. 1.--Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick and Lady, 1406 and 1401. St. Mary's Church, Warwick.

Fig. 2.--Thomas Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, 1417. New College, Oxford.

Fig. 3.--Sir William Vernon and Lady, 1467. Tong Church, Shropshire.

Fig. 4.--John Shelley, Esq., 1526, and his wife Elizabeth, 1513. Clapham, Sussex.

Fig. 5.--Dame Margaret Chute, 1614. Mardon, Herefordshire.

Fig. 6.--Sir Edward Filmer and Lady, 1638. East Sutton, Kent.

Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 6 from Waller's _Monumental Brasses_.

Figs. 4 and 5 by permission of the _Monumental Brass Society_.]