imONONlART, ADOLPHE THEODORE. 



BROOKE, HKNRY. 



WM elected a member of th Academy of Science* of the Institute, 

 and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London. 



In 1817, accompanied by bu ton and on* of hu pupil*, he miulo a 

 ehntifle tour to Switzerland and Italy, daring which, by hu di- 

 oovetie* and generalisations, be strengthened bU oUim to be con- 

 aidered ai " tie lefklator in foeail loology." All the new results 

 obtained were included in a thirl edition of the ' Kai,' published in 

 18M. In 1834 be travelled to Sweden, and with Beneliui for bit 

 companion and interpreter, laid down the firat foundation* of a clai- 

 rlflntfrtn of the mort ancient fowiliferoui formations, and gathered 

 material* for a memoir on erratic block*. Ho afterward* put forth hi* 

 clear and ingenioo* view* on volcano*, particularly of Vesuvius, and 

 an original memoir on the 'Ophiolithe* of the Apennines.' 



With all this activity Brongniart did not neglect hi* duties as 

 director of toe national manufactory of porcelain : hi* journey* and 

 labours to acquaint himself with the beet processes and material* 

 would alone have luffioed to occupy any ordinary man. The result* 

 of bis long experience appeared in 1845 in hi* ' Traite dra Arts 

 eeramiquea.' And carrying out his earliest researches on enamelling, 

 be retired at Sovre* the almo-t lost art of painting on glass, lie 

 found time moreover for a diligent share in the affairs of the Insti- 

 tute, and in promoting the interests of science, and the views of 

 ekotific inquirer*. He died on the 14th of October 1847. 



Brongniart waa a foreign member of the Geological Society of Lon- 

 don, and of other learned societies. HU writings are to be found in 

 the 'Memoirw de I'Aoademie des Sciences,' 'Annalcs dea Mines,' 

 4 Annale* de Chemie,' and ' Annales des Sciences Naturelle*.' Many 

 have been published in a separate form. Among them ' Essai d'une 

 Classification de* Reptiles/ 1805; 'Essai BUT une Determination et 

 uno Claisificntion min<$ralogique de* Roches meiangees,' 1813 ; ' M6- 

 moire sur lea Corp* organise* fossile* noramos Trilobites," 1814 ; 

 Hiatoire Naturelle des Crustacea fosaile* sou* les Rapports zoolo- 

 gique* et gcologiques,' 4to, 1822 (jointly with Desmarest) ; ' Intro- 

 duction a la Mini?ralogie,' 8vo, 1825; 'Tableau des Terrains qui 

 compose 1'ccorce du Globe,' Svo, 1829 ; ' Premier Memoire sur les 

 Kaolins, ou Argiles a porcelaine,' 4to, 1S39; 'Second Memoire sur li 

 Nature et 1'origine de cette sorte d'Argile,' 4 to, 1841. 



(L'lnttitut. ; Biog. Unit. ; Proc. Royal Soe. ; Journal Gtol. Soe.) 



BRONGNIART, ADOLPHE THEODORE, son of the preceding, 

 worthily maintains the scientific reputation of the family name. He 

 waa born in 1801 ; became professor of botany at the Jardin des 

 I'lantej, and member of the Academy of Sciences in 1834 ; and in 

 1852 wa* elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London. 

 Hi* writings are held in deserved esteem. Among them are ' Con- 

 liberation* generates sur la Nature do la Vegetation qui couvrait la 

 Surface de la Terra aux diverse* periodes de la Formation de son 

 feoorce,' 8ro, 1828 ; ' Prodrome d'une Histoire des Vdgdtaux fossiles,' 

 8 TO, 1828; ' Histoire des Vegetaux fossiles, ou Recherches botaniques 

 et geologiqucs sur le* Vegetaux renfermds dans les diverges Couches 

 du Globe,' 4to, 1828; 'Memoire sur la Generation et le DeVelopp- 

 roent de I'Kmbryon dan* les Vi ! g5tanx phandrogames,' Svo, 1827, 

 Atlas, foL ; ' Nouvelles Recherches sur le Pollen et les Granules sper- 

 matiqnea des Vugetaux,' Svo, 1828; 'Observations sur la Structure 

 interieurc du Sigillaria elcgans,' 4to. The section ' Pbandrogamie, c.' 

 in Duperrey'i ' Voyage de la Coquille,' and papers in the ' Mdmoires 

 de 1' Academic,' ' Annale* de* Sciences Naturelles,' and other publi- 

 cation*. 



BRONTfc, CHARLOTTE (Mas. NICHOLLS, better known by her 

 pseudonym CUBREB BELL), wa* born in 1824, and was the daughter 

 of the Rev. Patrick Bronte, curate of Haworth, in Yorkshire. The 

 novel entitled 'Jane Eyre, by Currer Bell,' published in 1847, wa* 

 the first production of Miss Brontc"s pen which caught public 

 attention, but it was not her first venture in authorship. Her first 

 e*aay wa* in a little volume of ' Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton 

 Bell,' published in 1846. The poem* passed almost unnoticed, but 

 the success of the novel was immediate and extraordinary; and 

 curiosity wa* for come time exercised not only as to its paternity, 

 bat as to the sex of its author ; many separate passages and traits 

 bearing manifestly the trace* of a woman's mind, yet the general cast 

 of thought, it was urged on many sides, was as evidently unfeminine. 

 The appearance almost simultaneously of other stories, marked by 

 the lame peculiarities of thought and general stylo, with the names of 

 Acton Bell and Ellis Bell as their authors, served to stimulate still 

 further the public curiosity, and when it was confidently announced 

 that Currer Bell was the daughter of a curate in a remote part of 

 Yorkshire, and that Acton and Ellis Bell were her sisters, there was 

 a general feeling of surprise almost amounting to incredulity. In 

 truth, ' Jane Eyre ' i* a remarkable work, and as the production of the 

 daughter of a country clergyman, it would be (till more remarkable 

 if it were a* necessary a* sometimes seem* to be lupposed, to hare a 

 wi I- acquaintance with society to obtain intimate knowledge of the 

 human heart, and to portray direnitie* of character. 'Jane Eyre' 

 wa. followed in 1849 by 'Shirley,' and that in 1853, by ' Villette,' 

 both marked by the same vigour of intellect, and keen, in fact 

 morbidly keeo dissection of character and motives though with les* 

 of that somewhat wayward originality which had in her first work 

 called forth so much adverse criticism, but at the same time had excited 

 Men intent interest. 



What is unpleasant, painful, morbid in these powerful novels may, 

 there can be little doubt, be let down to the action of disease upon an 

 overwrought and intensely susceptible 'mind. Young as *he wa* at 

 her death, she wa* the last lurvivor of the three gifted litters, and in 

 fact of all her father'* children. Anne lirontd (Acton Bell), the 

 author of ' Ague* Grey,' died December 19, 1848. Emily BronW (Ellis 

 Bell), the author of Wuthering Heights,' and next to Charlotte the 

 most gifted of the sisters, died May 28, 1849. Miss Brontrf married 

 in June, 1854, the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate ; but 

 pulmonary disease, the same insidious malady which had carried off 

 her aiiten, had already marked her as its victim. She died at the 

 parsonage, Hawortb, on the Slit of March, 1855 ; and was laid beside 

 her sisters in the quiet churchyard there a spot which will for their 

 sakes attract the foot of many a stranger. 



BRONZI'NO, A'NGELO, a celebrated Italian historical and 

 portrait painter, was born at Montecelli, near Florence, in 1501. He 

 was the scholar of Pontormo, and the friend and contemporary of 

 Vasari, and like him on enthusiastic admirer of Michel Angelo. Though 

 Bronzino wa* not himself one of the gross anatomical mannerists with 

 which Florence abounded in the latter part of his own life, he was 

 one of the most influential causes of the predominance of the ana- 

 tomical school ; for by hit unbounded admiration of Michel Angelo, he 

 set an example to the younger artists less able to discriminate the 

 good from the bad in Michel Angelo's style, and they of course 

 appropriated what was most obvious to their senses and most easy of 

 acquirement Alcssandro Allori, the nephew and favourite pupil of 

 Bronzino, was one of the most uncompromising leaders of this school. 



Bronzino painted in fresco and in oil; and executed many altar- 

 pieces [and smaller easel pictures, which are scattered over various 

 parts of Europe, but his reputed masterpiece is still in the Imperial 

 Gallery at Florence, and represents the " Descent of Christ into Hell," 

 or Limbo ; it has been engraved by J. B. Cechi. He was also a poet : 

 he died in 1570. AUessandro Allori and his son Chrutofano Allori 

 frequently adopted the surname of Bronzino, and it i* a name often 

 applied to them in catalogues. 



(Vasari, Kite de Ptitori, <tc. ; Lanzi, Sloria Pittorica, <t<r.) 



BROOKE, HENKY, is one of the occasionally recurring instances 

 of men of letters who having, from accidental circumstances, enjoyed 

 during life a reputation beyond their merits, afterwards i-ink into an 

 oblivion so complete, that it might be said to be almost equally 

 undeserved, were not mediocrity in belles-lettres, especially in poetry, 

 almost the sama aa worthlessness. Henry Brooke published his first 

 poem, ' Universal Beauty,' with the approbation and sanction, and 

 even with the direct encouragement and under tha patronage of 

 Pope; he was received by him and Swift, if not as a literary compeer, 

 yet 03 decidedly one of their class ; and his tragedy of ' The Earl of 

 Essex ' long ranked, we believe, among what are called stock plays. 

 Yet now the author is all but forgotten; he was not allowed a place 

 iu the list of Johnson's poets; and his 'Universal Beauty,' which 

 though deformed by awkwardness and even incorrectness of language, 

 admitted for the sake of metre and rhyme, displays considerable 

 imagination and descriptive power, is now, and for years has been, so 

 absolutely unknown, that later poets have borrowed ideas from it 

 without fear of detection. 



Henry Brooke, born in 1700, was the son of an Irish clergyman. 

 At Trinity College, Dublin, he was a pupil of Dr. Sheridan, through 

 whom, upon going to London to study the law, he was first intro- 

 duced to Pope and Swift, when his own promising talents seem to 

 have gained him their favour. After the publication of hia principal 

 poem he was presented to Frederic Prince of Wales, and received by 

 him as one of the band of men of letters whom that prince considered 

 ns powerful agents in his hostility to his father's administration. Iu 

 this character Brooke is accused of having written his tragedy of 

 ' Gustavu* Vasa,' not merely with a view of exciting and fostering a 

 spirit of liberty, but in order to vituperate the premier, Sir Robert 

 Wai pole, under the name of the tyrannical minister Trollio. This 

 suspicion has since been indignantly repelled by Brooke's admirers ; 

 but it was so universally entertained at the time, that the stage 

 licencer prohibited the representation of the piece, and the author, in 

 consequence, is said to have made 1000J. by its publication and alo 

 a sum much greater than he could hare hoped from its utmost success 

 upon the stage. 



Ill-health and the persuasions of his wife, who dreaded and sought 

 to withdraw him from his political connections, induced Brooke to 

 return to Ireland, where he spent the remainder of his life, and 

 obtained from Lord Chesterfield (when viceroy) the post of barrack- 

 master, which he held till his death. But pecuniary diflicultin*, 

 together with the loss of his wife, after a happy marriage of fifty 

 Tear*, and of several of his children, so preyed upon his mind, already 

 weakened perhaps by age, as to impair his intellect ; and, unfortunately 

 for his fame, he continued to write and to publish after the decay of 

 bis faculties had become too apparent He wrote in all 13 tragedies, 

 of which only ' Gustavus Vasa ' and ' The Earl of Essex ' could boast any 

 success, many small poems, and part of a translation of Tasso's 

 ' Gerusaleramo Liberata.' His novel of 'The Fool of Quality ' was 

 much admired in its day; and his 'Farmer's Lettrs,' addrc* 

 his Irish countrymen, are said to hare had considerable influence in 

 maintaining the tranquillity of Ireland during the rebellion of 1745. 



