Part 3

BRAEKELEER, HENRI JEAN AUGUSTIN DE (1840-1888), Belgian painter, was born at Antwerp. He was trained by his father, a _genre_ painter, and his uncle, Baron Henri Leys, and devoted himself to scenes of everyday Antwerp life. The first pictures he exhibited, "The Laundry" (Van Cutsem collection, Brussels), and "The Coppersmith's Workshop" (Vleeshovwer collection, Antwerp), were shown at the Antwerp exhibition in 1861. He received the gold medal at Brussels in 1872 for "The Geographer" and "The Lesson" (both in the Brussels gallery); the gold medal at Vienna in 1873 for "The Painter's Studio" and "Grandmother's Birthday"; and the medal of honour at the Exposition Universelle at Amsterdam for "The Pilot House." Among his more notable works are "A Shoemaker" (1862), "A Tailor's Workroom" (1863), "A Gardener" (1864, Antwerp gallery), "Interior of a Church" (1866), "Interior, Flanders" (1867), "Woman spinning" (1869), "Man reading" (1871), "The rue du Serment, Antwerp" (1875), "A Copperplate Printer," "The Sailor's Return," "The Man at the Window" (Couteaux collection, Brussels), "The Horn-blower" (Couteaux collection), "Man retouching a Picture" (Couteaux collection), "The Potters" (Marlier collection, Brussels), "Staircase in the Hydraulic House at Antwerp" (Marlier collection), and "The Brewer's House at Antwerp" (Marlier collection). The last, better known as "A Man sitting," is generally regarded as his masterpiece. As a lithographer and etcher, his work resembles that of Henri Leys. Towards the end of his life de Braekeleer did some dot painting (_pointillisme_), in which he achieved admirable effects of light.

BRAEMAR, a district in S.W. Aberdeenshire, Scotland, extending from Ballater in the E. to Glen Dee in the W., a distance of 24 m. with a breadth varying from 3 to 6 m. It is drained throughout by the river Dee, both banks of which are bounded by hills varying from 1000 to nearly 3000 ft. in height. The whole area is distinguished by typical Highland scenery, and is a resort alike for sportsmen and tourists. The villages and clachans (Gaelic for hamlet) being situated at an altitude of from 600 to more than 1000 ft. above the sea, the air is everywhere pure and bracing. The deer forests comprise the royal forests of Balmoral and Ballochbuie, Glen Ey Forest, Mar Forest and Invercauld Forest. At various points on either side of the Dee, granite castles, mansions and lodges have been built, mostly in the Scottish baronial style, and all effectively situated with reference to the wooded hills or the river. The chief of these are Balmoral and Abergeldie Castles belonging to the crown, Invercauld House, Braemar Castle, Mar Lodge and Old Mar Lodge. Castleton of Braemar is the foremost of the villages, being sometimes styled the capital of the Deeside Highlands. Its public buildings include halls erected by the duke of Fife and Colonel Farquharson of Invercauld to commemorate the Victorian jubilee of 1887. Not far from the spot where the brawling Clunie joins the Dee the earl of Mar raised the standard of revolt in 1715. His seat, Braemar Castle, reputed to be a hunting-lodge of Malcolm Canmore, was forfeit along with the estates. The new castle built by the purchasers in 1720 was acquired at a later date by Farquharson of Invercauld, who gave government the use of it during the pacification of the Highlands after the battle of Culloden in 1746. Population of Crathie and Braemar (1901) 1452.

BRAG, a very old game of cards, probably evolved from the ancient Spanish _primero_, played by five or six, or more players. It is the ancestor of poker. A full pack is used, the cards ranking as at whist, with certain exceptions. There are no trumps. Each player receives three cards and puts up three stakes. The last round is dealt face upwards: the holder of the highest card irrespective of suits wins the first stake from all the players. In the case of equality the elder hand wins, but the ace of diamonds is always a winning card. For the second stake the players _brag_ or bet against each other, if they hold either a pair, or a pair-royal (three cards of the same rank). Pairs and pairs-royal take precedence according to the value of the cards composing them, but any pair-royal beats any pair. The knave of clubs may be counted as any card, e.g. two twos and the knave of clubs rank as a pair-royal in twos; two aces and the knave as a pair-royal in aces. Sometimes the knave of diamonds is allowed the same privilege, but is inferior to the club knave; e.g. two threes and the club would beat the other two threes and the diamond. Players who accept another's brag must cover his. bet and offer another. The third stake is won by the player whose cards make 31 or are nearest to 31 by their pips, aces and court counting ten; but the ace may by arrangement count as 1 or 11. Players may draw from the stock, losing if they over-draw. If one player wins all three stakes, he may receive the value of another stake, or of two or three stakes, all round, as arranged. The deal passes as at whist. Each player should have the same number of deals before the game is abandoned.

BRAGA, a city of northern Portugal, formerly included in the province of Entre Minho e Douro, situated on the right-bank of the small river Deste near its source, and at the head of a railway from Oporto. Pop. (1900) 24,202. Braga, which ranks after Lisbon and Oporto as the third city of the kingdom, is the capital of an administrative district, and an archiepiscopal see. Its cathedral, founded in the 12th century, was rebuilt during the 16th century in the blend of Moorish and florid Gothic styles known as Manoellian. It contains several tombs of considerable historical interest, some fine woodwork carved in the 15th century, and a collection of ancient vestments, plate and other objects of art. Among the other churches Santa Cruz is noteworthy for its handsome facade, which dates from 1642. There are several convents, an archiepiscopal palace, a library, containing many rare books and manuscripts, an orphan asylum, and a large hospital; also the ruins of a theatre, a temple and an aqueduct of Roman workmanship, and a great variety of minor antiquities of different ages. The principal manufactures are firearms, jewelry, cutlery, cloth and felt hats. Large cattle fairs are held in June and September, for cattle-breeding and dairy-farming are among the foremost local industries. On a hill about 3 m. E. by S. stands the celebrated sanctuary of Bom Jesus, or Bom Jesus do Monte, visited at Whitsuntide by many thousands of pilgrims, who do public penance as they ascend to the shrine; and about 1 m. beyond it is Mount Sameiro (2535 ft.), crowned by a colossal statue of the Virgin Mary, and commanding a magnificent view of the mountainous country which culminates in the Serra do Gerez, on the north-east.

Braga is the Roman _Bracara Augusta_, capital of the _Callaici Bracarii_, or _Bracarenses_, a tribe who occupied what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. Early in the 5th century it was taken by the Suevi; but about 485 it passed into the hands of the Visigothic conquerors of Spain, whose renunciation of the Arian and Priscillianist heresies, at two synods held here in the 6th century, marks the origin of its ecclesiastical greatness. The archbishops of Braga retain the title of primate of Portugal, and long claimed supremacy over the Spanish church also; but their authority was never accepted throughout Spain. From the Moors, who captured Braga early in the 8th century, the city was retaken in 1040 by Ferdinand I., king of Castile and Leon; and from 1093 to 1147 it was the residence of the Portuguese court.

The administrative district of Braga coincides with the central part of the province of Entre Minho e Douro (q.v.). Pop. (1900) 357,159. Area, 1040 sq. m.

BRAGANZA (_Braganca_), the capital of an administrative district formerly included in the province of Traz-os-Montes, Portugal; situated in the north-eastern extremity of the kingdom, on a branch of the river Sabor, 8 m. S. of the Spanish frontier. Pop. (1900) 5535. Braganza is an episcopal city. It consists of a walled upper town, containing the cathedral college and hospital, and of a lower or modern town. Large tracts of the surrounding country are uncultivated, partly because railway communication is lacking and the roads are bad. Except farming, the chief local industry is silkworm-rearing and the manufacture of silk. The administrative district of Braganza coincides with the eastern part of Traz-os-Montes (q.v.). Pop. (1900) 185,162; area, 2513 sq. m.

The city gave its name to the family of Braganza, members of which were rulers of Portugal from 1640 to 1853, and emperors of Brazil from 1822 to 1889. This family is descended from Alphonso (d. 1461), a natural son of John I., king of Portugal (d. 1433), who was a natural son of King Peter I., and consequently belonged to the Portuguese branch of the Capetian family. Alphonso was made duke of Braganza in 1442, and in 1483 his grandson, Duke Ferdinand II., lost his life through heading an insurrection against King John II. In spite of this Ferdinand's descendants acquired great wealth, and several of them held high office under the kings of Portugal. Duke John I. (d. 1583) married into the royal family, and when King Henry II. died without direct heirs in 1580, he claimed the crown of Portugal in opposition to Philip II. of Spain. John, however, was unsuccessful, but, when the Portuguese threw off the Spanish dominion in 1640, his grandson, John II., duke of Braganza, became king as John IV. In 1807, when Napoleon declared the throne of Portugal vacant, King John VI. fled to Brazil; but he regained his inheritance after the fall of Napoleon in 1814, although he did not return to Europe until 1821, when he left his elder son Peter to govern Brazil. In 1822 a revolution established the independence of Brazil with Peter as emperor. In 1826 Peter became king of Portugal on the death of his father; but he at once resigned the crown to his young daughter Maria, and appointed his brother Miguel to act as regent. Miguel soon declared himself king, but after a stubborn struggle was driven from the country in 1833, after which Maria became queen. Maria married for her second husband Ferdinand (d. 1851), son of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg; and when she died in 1853 the main Portuguese branch of the family became extinct. Maria was succeeded by her son Louis I., father of Charles I., who ascended the throne of Portugal in 1889. The empire of Brazil descended on the death of Peter I. to his son Peter II., who was expelled from the country in 1889. When Peter died in 1891 this branch of the family also became extinct in the male line. His only child, Isabella, married Louis Gaston of Orleans, count of Eu. The exiled king, Miguel, founded a branch of the family of Braganza which settled in Bavaria, and various noble families in Portugal are descended from cadets of this house. The title of duke of Braganza is now borne by the eldest son of the king of Portugal.

BRAGG, BRAXTON (1817-1876), American soldier, was born in Warren county, North Carolina, on the 22nd of March 1817. He graduated at the United States military academy in 1837, and as an artillery officer served in the Seminole wars of 1837 and 1841, and under General Taylor in Mexico. For gallant conduct at Fort Brown, Monterey and Buena Vista, he received the brevets of captain, major and lieutenant-colonel. He resigned from the regular army on the 3rd of January 1856, and retired to his plantation in Louisiana. From 1859 to 1861 he was commissioner of the board of public works of the state. When in 1861 the Civil War began, Bragg was made a brigadier-general in the Confederate service, and assigned to command at Pensacola. In February 1862, having meanwhile become major-general, he took up a command in the Army of the Mississippi, and he was present at the battle of Shiloh (April). The vacancy created by the death of Sidney Johnston at that battle was filled by the promotion of Bragg to full general's rank, and he succeeded General Beauregard when that officer retired from the Western command. In the autumn of 1862 he led a bold advance from Eastern Tennessee across Kentucky to Louisville, but after temporary successes he was forced to retire before Buell, and after the battle of Perryville (8th October) retired into Tennessee. Though the material results of his campaign were considerable, he was bitterly censured, and his removal from his command was urged. But the personal favour of Jefferson Davis kept him, as it had placed him, at the head of the central army, and on the 31st of December 1862 and 2nd of January 1863 he fought the indecisive battle of Murfreesboro (or Stone river) against Rosecrans, Buell's successor. In the campaign of 1863 Rosecrans constantly outmanoeuvred the Confederates, and forced them back to the border of Georgia. Bragg, however, inflicted a crushing defeat on his opponent at Chickamauga (September 19-20) and for a time besieged the Union forces in Chattanooga. But enormous forces under Grant were concentrated upon the threatened spot, and the great battle of Chattanooga (November 23-25) ended in the rout of the Confederates. Bragg was now deprived of his command, but President Davis made him his military adviser, and in that capacity he served during 1864. In the autumn of that year he led an inferior force from North Carolina to Georgia to oppose Sherman's march. In February 1865 he joined Johnston, and he was thus included in the surrender of that officer to Sherman. After the war he became chief engineer to the state of Alabama, and supervised improvements in Mobile harbour. He died suddenly at Galveston, Texas, on the 27th of September 1876. General Bragg, in spite of his want of success, was unquestionably a brave and skilful officer. But he was a severe martinet, and rarely in full accord with the senior officers under his orders, the consequent friction often acting unfavourably on the conduct of the operations.

His brother, THOMAS BRAGG (1810-1872), was governor of North Carolina 1855-1859, U.S. senator 1859-1861, and attorney-general in the Confederate cabinet from Nov. 1861 to March 1862.

BRAGI, in Scandinavian mythology, the son of Odin, and god of wisdom, poetry and eloquence. At the Scandinavian sacrificial feasts a horn consecrated to Bragi was used as a drinking-cup by the guests, who then vowed to do some great deed which would be worthy of being immortalized in verse.

BRAHAM, JOHN (c. 1774-1856), English vocalist, was born in London about 1774, of Jewish parentage, his real name being Abraham. His father and mother died when he was quite young. Having received lessons in singing from an Italian artist named Leoni, he made his first appearance in public at Covent Garden theatre on the 21st of April 1787, when he sang "The soldier tired of war's alarms" and "_Ma chere arrive_." On the breaking of his voice, he had to support himself by teaching the pianoforte. In a few years, however, he recovered his voice, which proved to be a tenor of exceptionally pure and rich quality. His second debut was made in 1794 at the Bath concerts, to the conductor of which, Rauzzini, he was indebted for careful training extending over a period of more than two years. In 1796 he reappeared in London at Drury Lane in Storace's opera of _Mahmoud_. Such was his success that he obtained an engagement the next year to appear in the Italian opera house in Gretry's _Azor et Zemire_. He also sang in oratorios and was engaged for the Three Choir festival at Gloucester. With the view of perfecting himself in his art he set out for Italy in the autumn of 1797. On the way he gave some concerts at Paris, which proved so successful that he was induced to remain there for eight months. His career in Italy was one of continuous triumph; he appeared in all the principal opera-houses, singing in Milan, Genoa, Leghorn and Venice. His compass embraced about nineteen notes, his management of the falsetto being perfect. In 1801 he returned to his native country, and appeared once more at Covent Garden in the opera _Chains of the Heart_, by Mazzinghi and Reeve. So great was his popularity that an engagement he had made when abroad to return after a year to Vienna was renounced, and he remained henceforward in England. In 1824 he sang the part of Max in the English version of Weber's _Der Freischutz_, and he was the original Sir Huon in that composer's _Oberon_ in 1826. Braham made two unfortunate speculations on a large scale, one being the purchase of the Colosseum in the Regent's Park in 1831 for L40,000, and the other the erection of the St James's theatre at a cost of L26,000 in 1836. In 1838 he sang the part of William Tell at Drury Lane, and in 1839 the part of Don Giovanni. His last public appearance was at a concert in March 1852. He died on the 17th of February 1856. There is, perhaps, no other case upon record in which a singer of the first rank enjoyed the use of his voice so long; between Braham's first and last public appearances considerably more than sixty years intervened, during forty of which he held the undisputed supremacy alike in opera, oratorio and the concert-room. Braham was the composer of a number of vocal pieces, which being sung by himself had great temporary popularity, though they had little intrinsic merit, and are now deservedly forgotten. A partial exception must be made in favour of "The Death of Nelson," originally written in 1811 as a portion of the opera _The American_; this still keeps its place as a standard popular English song.

BRAHE, PER, COUNT (1602-1680), Swedish soldier and statesman, was born on the island of Rydboholm, near Stockholm, on the 18th of February 1602. He was the grandson of Per Brahe (1520-1590), one of Gustavus I.'s senators, created count of Visingsborg by Eric XIV., known also as the continuator of Peder Svart's chronicle of Gustavus I., and author of _Oeconomia_ (1585), a manual for young noblemen. Per Brahe the younger, after completing his education by several years' travel abroad, became in 1626 chamberlain to Gustavus Adolphus, whose lasting friendship he gained. He fought with distinction in Prussia during the last three years of the Polish War (1626-1629) and also, as colonel of a regiment of horse, in 1630 in Germany. After the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632 his military yielded to his political activity. He had been elected president (_Landsmarskalk_) of the diet of 1629, and in the following year was created a senator (_Riksrad_). In 1635 he conducted the negotiations for an armistice with Poland. In 1637-1640 and again in 1648-1654 he was governor-general in Finland, to which country he rendered inestimable services by his wise and provident rule. He reformed the whole administration, introduced a postal system, built ten new towns, improved and developed commerce and agriculture, and very greatly promoted education. In 1640 he opened the university of Abo, of which he was the founder, and first chancellor. After the death of Charles X. in 1660, Brahe, as _rikskansler_ or chancellor of Sweden, became one of the regents of Sweden for the second time (he had held a similar office during the minority of Christina, 1632-1644), and during the difficult year 1660 he had entire control of both foreign and domestic affairs. He died on the 2nd of September 1680, at his castle at Visingsborg, where during his lifetime he had held more than regal pomp.

His brother, NILS BRAHE (1604-1632), also served with distinction under Gustavus Adolphus. He took part in the siege and capture of Riga in 1621, served with distinction in Poland (1626-1627) and assisted in the defence of Stralsund in 1628. In 1630 he accompanied Gustavus into Germany, and in 1631 was appointed colonel of "the yellow regiment," the king's world-renowned life-guards, at the head of which he captured the castle of Wurzburg on the 8th of October 1631. He took part in the long duel between Gustavus and Wallenstein round Nuremberg as general of infantry, and commanded the left wing at Lutzen (November 6, 1632), where he was the only Swedish general officer present. At the very beginning of the fight he was mortally wounded. The king regarded Brahe as the best general in the Swedish army after Lennart Torstensen.

A direct descendant of Nils, MAGNUS BRAHE (1790-1844), fought in the campaign of 1813-14, under the crown prince Bernadotte, with whom, after his accession to the throne as Charles XIV., he was in high favour. He became marshal of the kingdom, and, especially from 1828 onwards, exercised a preponderant influence in public affairs.

See Martin Veibull, _Sveriges Storhetstid_, vol. iv. (Stockholm, 1881); _Letters to Axel Oxenstjerna_ (Swed.) 1832-1851 (Stockholm, 1890); Petrus Nordmann, _Per Brahe_ (Helsingfors, 1904). (R. N. B.)

BRAHE, TYCHO (1546-1601), Danish astronomer, was born on the 14th of December 1546 at the family seat of Knudstrup in Scania, then a Danish province. Of noble family, he was early adopted by his uncle, Jorgen Brahe, who sent him, in April 1559, to study philosophy and rhetoric at Copenhagen. The punctual occurrence at the predicted time, August 21st, 1560, of a total solar eclipse led him to regard astronomy as "something divine"; he purchased the _Ephemerides_ of Johann Stadius (3rd ed., 1570), and the works of Ptolemy in Latin, and gained some insight into the theory of the planets. Entered as a law-student at the university of Leipzig in 1562, he nevertheless secretly prosecuted celestial studies, and began continuous observations with a globe, a pair of compasses and a "cross-staff." He quitted Leipzig on the 17th of May 1565, but his uncle dying a month later, he repaired to Wittenberg, and thence to Rostock, where, in 1566, he lost his nose in a duel, and substituted an artificial one made of a copper alloy. In 1569 he matriculated at Augsburg, and devoted himself to chemistry for two years (1570-1572). On his return to Denmark, in 1571, he was permitted by his maternal uncle, Steno Belle, to instal a laboratory at his castle of Herritzvad, near Knudstrup; and there, on the 11th of November 1572, he caught sight of the famous "new star" in Cassiopeia. He diligently measured its position, and printed an account of his observations in a tract entitled _De Nova Stella_ (Copenhagen, 1573), a facsimile of which was produced in 1901, as a tercentenary tribute to the author's memory.