BRUNEHAUT. 



BRUXEL, ISAMBARD KINGDOM. 



I of August and September 1792 to which Bruno calmly 

 repUad that " he wan at that time fighting on the frontier, against the 

 easmirs of hii country "they shot him in the room of the inn at he 

 wu standing with hi* back turned to the fire-place. Hi* body wai 

 then dragred throurh the streets, and thrown into the Rhone. 



BRUNEHAUT, the younger daughter of Athsnagildun, king of the 

 Visigoth* of Spain, married in 565 Siegbert, the Frsnkish king of Mete, 

 or Australia. Her eldeat sUter Oabuinda, married Chilperic, Siegbert's 

 brother and king of Soisaona. Galsuinda waa aoon after murdered by 

 Fredegonda, the mistress of Chilperio, who then married her. Bruno- 

 haut, determined to avenge her sister'* death, induced Siegbert to 

 make war upon hi* brother, and Chilperic only obtained peace by giving 

 up part of his states. Other wan took place between the brother* at 

 the mitigation of their wire*, and in the end Chilperic, having loit his 

 territories, wa* besieged by Siegbert in the town of Tournsi, when two 

 aaaawini, hired by Fredegonda, murdered Siegbert in hi* camp, fi75. 

 Upon thin Chilperic came out of Tournai, and made Brunt-haul and 

 her ton Childeberl prisoners. Meroveua, ion of Chilperic, falling in 

 love with Brunehaut, enabled her to escape into Australia, and Hero- 

 Tea* wa* in consequence murdered by Fredegonda. Chilperic hinm-lf 

 wa* aoon after murdered, 534. Brunehaut and her eon Childebert 

 now made war upon Fredegonda, who at last wa* obliged to resign her 

 authority, 685. In 596 Childebert died, leaving his sons Thierry and 

 Theodebert II. under the guardianship of hi* mother Brunehaut. 

 From this time a long struggle began between the nobles of Australia 

 and Brunehaut, who wished to reign without control, which lasted 

 nearly twenty year*. Thierry and Theodebert made war against each 

 other, and Brunehaut sided with the former, who took his brother 

 prisoner. Theodebert wa* murdered at Cologne, a* gome historian* 

 report, by order of Brunehaut. Clotarius, the f on of Fredegonda, took 

 advantage of these dissensions, and on the death of Thierry in 615 

 seised upon Australia and Burgundy, and thus reunited under his 

 sceptre the whole kingdom of the Franks. Brunebaut, being taken 

 prisoner by Clotarius, was condemned to a most horrible death. After 

 suffering for three days all kinds of insults, she wa* tied to a hone'* 

 tail, and thus driven about till the wa* dead, when her body was burnt 

 and the ashes scattered to the winds. Her old enemy, Fredegonda, 

 bad died many years before, in 597. The true character of Brunehaut 

 ha* been the subject of much controversy. Several of her contem- 

 poraries, inch a* St. Gregory of Tour* and Pope Gregory the Great, 

 apeak highly of her ; while those who asperse her memory, such as 

 Fredegarius, Aimoin the monk, ftc., lived at least a century after her. 

 Boasuet maintains that she was sacrificed to the ambition of Clotarius, 

 and probably also to the rancour of the nobles of her own dominions. 

 A monument was raised to her in the church of St. Martin of Autun. 

 She is raid to have promoted the preaching of Christianity in England. 



BRUNEL, SIR MARK ISAMBAKD, was born on April 25, 1769, at 

 Hacqueville, in the department of L'Euro, a few miles from Houen. 

 His parents, who were respectable agriculturist*, bad four children, of 

 whom he ws* the eldest. From his earliest boyhood he showed a 

 decided inclination for mechanical pursuits ; and on being sent to the 

 seminary of St. Nicaise at Rouen, preferred the study of exact science, 

 mathematics, mechanics, and navigation, to the classics ; and during 

 the vacation*, which he passed at home, he was never happier than 

 when busying himself in a joiner's workshop. He familiarised himself 

 with the tool* and some of their applications, and when but twelve 

 yean old was already a proficient in turning and in the construction of 

 model* ships, machines, and musical instruments. All this construc- 

 tivenex was little gratifying to his father, who would have preferred 

 to aea hi* son in the church or in a merchant'* office. 



On leaving the seminary at the age of fifteen, Brunei passed some 

 time in the family of M. Carpentier, a friend of his father, at Rouen ; 

 and went through a regular course of leasons in drawing, perspective, 

 and hydrography. He took so much interest in the astronomical part 

 of hi* nautical studies, that on his visit* home be set himself to observe 

 the stars, greatly to the astonishment of the villagers. He made an 

 octant, guided by the one belonging to hi* tutor, and a treatise on 

 navigation; and finding its result* unsatisfactory, he studied the 

 instrument, and constructed another of ebony, which enabled him to 

 take trustworthy observation*. 



Influenced perhaps by II. Carpentier, who had been a trading captain, 

 Brunei enlisted as a sailor in 1 786, from which date up to 1 793 he made 

 several voyages to the West Indie*. He waa remarked for the skill, 

 intelligence, and good humour with which he discharged a seaman's 

 duties ; won good opinions from everybody; and astonished his com- 

 panion* by using instruments of hi* own construction, and by making 

 a pianoforte while the ship once lay at Quadaloupe. During a visit to 

 Paris after his last voyage in 1793, Brunei ventured to raise his voice 

 in one of the political clubs against the ferocious doctrines there 

 actively promulgated, and thereby endangered his personal liberty ; 

 bat, obtaining permission from the minister of marine, he escaped tj 

 America, hoping to find employment for his abilities in a new country. 



Brunei had not been long in New York when he joined a party of 

 Us countrymen who were about to explore the wild and unsettled 

 regions bordering on Lake Ontario, to survey the lands of a French 

 company. The operations were carried on for two months, during 

 which the party, seven perrons j u all, Brunei being leader, encamped 

 in the woods, finding a charm in the adventurous nature of their work. 



In 1794 Brunei wa* appointed, conjointly with one of his fellow- 

 explorers, to survey for the canal which now connects Lake Champlaiu 

 with the river Hudson at Albany. With this task, in which his fertility 

 of invention and readiness in overcoming difficulties were strikingly 

 manifested, his career as engineer may be said to have begun. When 

 designs for the house* of congress were called for he sent in one which, 

 though acknowledged as the best, was rejected as too costly and mag- 

 nificent for simple republicans. He afterwards acted professionally 

 as an architect, and among other works built and fitted up one of the 

 principal theatres of New York. It has since been burned down. 

 He waa employed on the fort* erected for the defence of the city, and 

 in the establishment of an arsenal and foundry, where his ingenious 

 contrivances for boring cannon and moving large masses of metal with 

 facility, showed how successfully he could bring new ideas to bear on 

 the work immediately in progress. 



In the family of his friend Carpentier at Rouen, Brunei had become 

 acquainted with Miss Sophia Kingdom. This acquaintance, and a 

 desire to work among the scientific engineers of Europe, drew him to 

 England. He married shortly after his arrival ; and to initiate his 

 career in this country, produced an autographic machine designed to 

 copy drawings, maps, and written documents. Soon afterwards he 

 submitted to government a plan for making block-pulleys for ships by 

 machinery, and was employed to carry it into execution in the dock- 

 yard at Portsmouth. The ingenuity of this contrivance is not less 

 remarkable than the accuracy and economy with which its operation* 

 ore performed. It comprise*, so to speak, sixteen different machines, 

 all driven by the same steam-power; seven of which cut and shape 

 logs of elm or ash into the shells of blocks of any required size, while 

 nine fashion stems of lignum-vita into pulleys or sheaves, and form 

 the iron pin, which being inserted the block in complete. Four men 

 with this machine tuni out as many blocks a* four-score did formerly, 

 and at less cost. The supply has never failed, even in time of war, 

 though 1500 blocks ore required in the rigging of a single ship of the 

 line. Results so satisfactory produced a corresponding liberality on 

 the part of government, and the inventor was rewarded beyond bis 

 expectations. The steam saw-mill in Chatham dockyard was erected 

 by Brunei. The success of the circular saws there introduced led him 

 to further improvements, by which in the cutting of veneers double 

 the usual number could be obtained. He invented a machine for 

 making seamless shoes for the army, which after two years' trial was 

 given up from au economical motive. Among other inventions may 

 be enumerated a machine for making wooden boxes; for nail-making; 

 to twist, measure, and form sewing cotton into hanks ; for ruling paper; 

 a contrivance for cutting and shuffling cards without the aid of fingers, 

 produced in reply to a playful request of Lady Spencer's ; a hydraulic 

 packing-press ; new methods and combinations for suspension-bridges ; 

 and a process for building wide and flat arches without centerings. 

 He was employed in the construction of the first Ramsgate st< 

 and was the first to suggest the advantage* of steam-tug* to the 

 Admiralty. Ha constructed a machine for using carbonic acid gas as 

 a motive power, and, assisted by his son, carried on a series of experi- 

 ments for more than ten years iu the endeavour to bring it to perfection. 

 Most of the mechanical difficulties were overcome ; but although an 

 intense power was obtained, and with a very low tomperatm 

 economical advantages as compared with the cost of the vapour of 

 water, did not appear to be such as to compensate for the increased 

 cost of the machinery, and the unusual difficulties in its use. 



Brunei's works of engineering construction are to be found in different 

 parts of the United Kingdom. That by which he is most popularly 

 known is the Thames Tunnel. This great work, commenced in March 

 1825, was successfully accomplished notwithstanding the accidents, 

 obstacles, and overwhelming disasters that hindered its progress. The 

 water broke iu more than once, and flooded the whole of the excava- 

 tions. Brunei however proved himself equal to each emergency, and 

 liis persevering genius at length triumphed. The tunnel was opened 

 to the public in March 1843. 



Brunei was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1814, and was 

 chosen on the council, and appointed vice-president in 1832-33. He 

 was a member also of other scientific societies and institution*. The 

 honour of knighthood was conferred on him iu 1S41. With advancing 

 years he become subject to a disease of which he had felt the first 

 approaches while completing the tunnel, and he died in Dec 

 1849, having nearly reached the venerable age of eighty-one. His life 

 i* an example of what may be accomplished by genius seconded by 

 industry. The high character of his inventions, their essential useful- 

 ness, give them especial claims to consideration. In the words of a 

 French writer, these have gained for him "the celebrity that now 

 distinguishes his name, too admiration of men of learning and of 

 labour, and the affectionate remembrance of all those who, fortunate 

 enough to know him personally, could appreciate his simple and noble 

 character." 



(Travaux de tAcad. At Rouen; Proc. Roy. floe.; Proc. JnA. Civ. 

 i'ny. ; Quarterly Reviac. 



BRUNEL, ISAMUARU KINGDOM, son of the constructor of the 

 Thames Tunnel, was born at Portsmouth in 1806, when his father was 

 engaged in erecting the block-machinery for the dockyard. He was 

 taken while quite young to France, and finished his education at the 

 College Henri IV. at Caen. He commenced practical engineering in 



