921 



BRIGGS, HENRY PERRONET, R.A. 



BRINDLEY, JAMES. 



922 



etiam invenimus, et creandi niethoduni una cum eorum usu, si Deua 

 longiorem vitse et valetudiuis uauram coucesaerit, evulgare statuimus. 

 Ipaazn autem novi Canonis supputationem ob iufirmam corporis nostri 

 valetudinem viria in hoc studii genere veraatis relinquimus ; imprimia 

 vero D. Henrico Briggs, Londini, publico geometrise professori, et 

 amico mihi longe charissimo." 



2. Briggs, in the preface of 'Chilias Prima,' &c., written in 1618, 

 after Napier's death, hints that in the forthcoming posthumous work 

 of Napier (then announced by hia son), juatice should be done him, as 

 follows : " Quod autem hi logarithm! diversi sint ab iis, quos claris- 

 siinus inventor, memorise semper colendae, in auo edidit Cauone 

 mirifico, sperandum ejua librum posthumum abunde nobis propediem 

 satisfacturum." 



3. Briggs, finding the above hint not attended to, makes the follow- 

 ing statement in the preface of the ' Arithmetica Logarithmica,' 

 1624 : " Quod logarithm! isti diversi aunt ab iis, quos cl. vir, baro 

 Herchistonii, in auo edidit Canone mirinco, non est quod mireris. 

 Ego enim, cum meis auditoribus Londini publico in collegio Gresham- 

 ensi, horum doctrinam explicarem, animadverti multo futurum 

 commodius, si logarithmus sinus totiua servaretur 0, ut in Canoue 

 mirifico ; logaritbinua autem partis decimic ejusdem sinua totiua, 

 nempe sinus 5 gr. 44 m. 21 a. eaaet 10,000,000,000. Atque ea de re 

 scripsi statim ad eum auctorem, et quam primum per anui tempus, et 

 vacationem a publico docendi muiiere Hcuit, profectua aum Edin- 

 burgnm, ubi humanissime ab eo acceptus, hacai per integrum mensem. 

 Cum autem inter noa de horum mutatione sermo haberetur, illo se 

 idem dudum senaisse et cupiviaae dicebat; veruntamen istos, quoa 

 jam paraverat, edendoa curaaae, donee alios, si per negotia et valetudi- 

 nem Hoeret, magis commodos perfeciaset. Istam autem mutationem ita 

 faciendum censebat, ut easet logarithmus unitatis, et 10,000,000,000 

 siniu totius, quod ego longe commodissimum ease, non potui non 

 agno.- re." 



The algebra of Vieta does not appear in the writings of Briggs, not 

 even in the preface to the ' Trig. Brit./ which must have been written 

 many years after Vieta's death. Briggs made considerable use of 

 interpolation by differences, but hia symbols and methoda in general 

 are like those of Stevinus. It must however be observed, that the 

 history of the introduction of Vieta'a algebra into England is ao 

 scanty, and the little there is of it so confused, that it would be pre- 

 mature to attempt any comparison of Brigga'a methoda with his means. 

 It in evident from the first page of the first book of the ' Trig. Brit.,' 

 that Briggs was acquainted with one of Vieta's writings (the ' Hel. 

 Yens Cal. Gregor.'), and from the rest that he had some of hia 

 methods ; but it seems to us that there is throughout the whole a 

 general suppression of his notation, and even of hia name, particularly 

 in the following sentence, which will surprise those who know what 

 Vieta did : "Modus inveniendi subtensas ab antiquis usitatus traditur 

 a Ptoleuiico, Kegiomontano, Copernico Rhetico, et aliit ; et ante hos 

 ab Hipparcho et Menelao ; Bed iata (etas alium modum iuvenit magis 

 compendiarium, et non minus certum." 



(Button's Preface, above cited ; Maserea, Scrip. Log., voL vi. ; 

 JUontucla, tfcc.) 



BRIGGS, HENRY PERRONET, R.A. This distinguished painter, 

 both in history and portrait, died in London, in January 1844, aged 

 fifty-one. He was of a Norfolk family, and was related to Opie the 

 painter. He commenced hia career as a portrait painter, and first 

 appears as an exhibitor on the books of the Royal Academy in 1814. 

 In 1818 he exhibited a picture of ' Lord Wake of Cottingham setting 

 fire to his castle, to prevent a visit from King Henry VIII., who was 

 enamoured of hia wife.' In the year following he exhibited a subject 

 from Boccaccio (Gior. viii. Nov. 3), representing Calandrino, a Floren- 

 tine painter, thinking he had found the ' Elitropia,' and thereby 

 become invisible, pelted home by his companions Bruno and Buffal- 

 inacco. These were followed by others of a higher class, as ' Othello 

 relating his Adventures to Desdemona;' the 'First Interview between 

 the Spaniards and the Peruvians ; ' and ' George III. on board the 

 Queen Charlotte, presenting a sword to Earl Howe, after the victory 

 of the 1st of June 1794." The last picture was presented in 1825 by 

 the British Institution to Greenwich Hospital. In 1831 he exhibited 

 a large picture of ' The Ancient Britons instructed by the Roman* in 

 the Mechanical Arts,' for the Mechanics Institute at HulL He was 

 elected an academician in the following year, from which time he was 

 nearly exclusively employed in portrait-painting. 



The portraits of Briggs arc very effective as regards colour ; but 

 the colouring is conventional, and the features are not sufficiently 

 modelled. Many of the nobility have been painted by Briggs, and 

 also various well-known persons, among others, Sir S. Meyrick, Baron 

 Alderson, Sir Fowell Buxton, Rev. Sidney Smith, Mrs. Opie, Mrs. 

 Siddons, Charles Kemble, and the Duke of Wellington. His historical 

 pictures are generally of a pleasing character ; but, like his portraits, 

 they are conventional both in colour and composition, and evince little 

 imagination or invention. 

 (Art Union, March 1844.) 

 BRIGHT, JOHN, was born in 1811, and is the son of John 

 Bright of Greenbauk, near Rochdale, in Lancashire. He is of the 

 extensive establishment of John Bright and Brothers, cotton-spinners 

 and manufacturers of Rochdale. He joined the association called the 

 Anti-Corn-Law League, which was formed in 1838, and of which he 



Became one of the leading members, perhaps next in importance to 

 tfr. Cobden. In 1843 he stood a contest for the representation in 

 larliament of the city of Durham, and waa unsuccessful ; but another 

 election having taken place in the July following he was then returned, 

 and continued to be the member for the city of Durham till 1847, 

 when he was returned for Manchester. He opposed very decidedly 

 ;he war with Russia ; was one of the meeting of the Society of 

 Friends, commonly called Quakers, who in 1854 sent a deputation to 

 ;he Emperor Nicholaa to persuade him to adopt a peace policy ; and 

 le ia a leading member of the Peace Society. He haa been twice 

 married, and his second wife ia living. He is a very animated and 

 effective speaker, and in the House of Commons has acquired a 

 position of considerable influence. 



BRIL, PAUL, a celebrated landscape painter, waa the younger 

 Brother and pupil of Matthew Bril, alao a landscape painter, who was 

 rorn in 1550, and died in 1584. Paul Bril was however far the 

 jreater artist. He was born at Antwerp, according to Van Mander, 

 n 1556, and received his first instruction from D. Wortelman ; but 

 laving heard of the success of his brother at Rome, who was iu 

 ;reat esteem there as a landscape painter during the pontificate of 

 Gregory XIII., Paul joined him there, and soon became not only a 

 sharer of his brother's prosperity, but acquired a much greater 

 reputation. From the death of Matthew in 1584, Paul pursued an 

 unrivalled career at Rome. No Italian had up to this period turned 

 bis attention exclusively to landscape with success, and Paul's ability 

 was the more valued. He executed several large landacapes in oil, in 

 the apartments of the pope and other dignitaries of the church ; iu 

 many cases, views of the villaa or summer residences of his employer?, 

 all painted from nature. He painted landscapes also in several 

 churches, some in fresco, and of very large dimensions. In many of 

 tiis works he introduced subjects from the stories of ancient mythology, 

 and Annibal Carracci ia said to have sometimes painted the figures. 

 He painted also many small easel pictures, often on copper, which are 

 very highly finished; the foregrounds are fresh and bold, and the 

 distances are well managed. His masterpiece waa considered a large 

 landscape in fresco, in the Sala Clementina in the Vatican, painted iu 

 1602 for Clement VIII., and representing the 'Martyrdom of St. 

 Clement :' it was 68 feet long, and of considerable height. Paul died 

 at Rome in 1622, or, according to Baldinucci, iu 1626. 



Several of Paul Bril'a pictures have been engraved, and he executed 

 a few etchings himself. There is a print of him by De Jode, after a 

 portrait by Vandyck. (Van Mander, Het Leven der Schilders, <fcc.) 



BRINDLEY, JAMES, was born in 1716 at Thornsett, a few miles 

 from Chapel-en-le-Frith, in the county of Derby. The great incident 

 of his life waa his introduction to the Duke of Bridgewater, and the 

 application of his talents to the promotion of artificial navigation. 

 [BBIDGEWATER, DUKE OF.] But he had previously acquired reputa- 

 tion by his improvements in machinery ; and at an early age, although 

 deprived of the advantages of even a common education, he evinced 

 a mind fruitful iu resources far above the common order. Brindley 

 followed the usual labours of agriculture until about his seventeenth 

 year, when he was apprenticed to a millwright named Bonnet, residing 

 near Macclesfield. Bennet being generally occupied in distant parts of 

 the country, young Brindley was left at home with few or only indefi- 

 nite directions as to the proper manner of executing the work which 

 had been put into his hands. This circumstance however was well 

 calculated to call forth the peculiar qualities of his mind ; his inventive 

 faculties were brought into exercise, and he frequently astonished his 

 employer by the ingenious improvements which he effected. Mr. Bennet 

 on one occasion waa engaged in preparing machinery of a new kind 

 for a paper-mill, and although he had inspected a mill in which similar 

 machinery was in operation, it was reported that he would be unable 

 to execute his contract. Brindley waa informed of this rumour, and 

 aa soon as he had finished his week's work, he set out for the mill, 

 took a complete survey of the machinery, and after a walk of fifty 

 miles, reached home in time to commence work on Monday morning. 

 He had marked the points in which Mr. Bennet's work was defective, 

 and by enabling him to correct them, Beunet's engagement was satis- 

 factorily fulfilled. 



When the period of his apprenticeship had expired, Brindley engaged 

 in buriness on his own account, but he did not confine himself to the 

 making of mill machinery. In 1752 he contrived an improved engine 

 for draining some coal-pits at Clifton, Lancashire, which was set in 

 motion by a wheel 30 feet below the surface, and tho water for turning 

 it was supplied from the Irvvell by a aubterraneoua tunnel 600 yards 

 long. Hia reputation aa a man of skill and ingenuity steadily 

 increased. In 1755 a gentleman of London engaged him to execute a 

 portion of the machinery for a silk-mill at Congleton. The construc- 

 tion of the more complex parta was intrusted to another individual, 

 who, though eventually found incapable of performing his portion of 

 the work, treated Brindley as a common mechanic, and refused to 

 show him his general designs until it became necessary to take Brind- 

 ley's advice. Brindley offered to complete the whole of the machinery 

 in his own way ; and aa his integrity and talenta had already won the 

 confidence of the proprietors, he was allowed to do so. The ability 

 with which he accomplished his undertaking raised his reputation still 

 higher. In 1756 he erected a steam-engine at Newcastle-under-Lyne, 

 which was calculated to effect a saving of one-half in fuel. 



