B R U 



10 



B R U 



Bruce, 

 James 



bited Bruce's drawings of Gondar. All the persons 

 whom Bruce mentions were well known ; many of 

 them were alive, and spoke of him to Mr Salt with 

 great affection. They all agreed that he was a great - 

 favourite of the king of the Iteghe and of Ozoro 

 Esther. Mr Salt met with the person who was sent 

 to recover Bruce's baggage when he was robbed in 

 his first attempt to reach the sources of the Nile, 

 and also with an old chieftain who was present at the 

 curious hunting match at Tcherkjn, when Bruce 

 was on his way to Sennaar. All the persons whom 

 Mr Salt conversed with, agreed in saying that Bruce 

 had visited the sources of thf Nile : but it seems 

 they also all agreed in saying that he never was go- 

 vernor of Ras-el-Feel : and on this account Mr Salt 

 thinks he is authorised to say, Bruce has told a direct 

 falsehood. We shall submit to our readers a speci- 

 men of Abyssinian evidence on this subject, and 

 shall leave lawyers and logicians to draw the conclu- 

 sion ; only premising, that, even according to Bruce's 

 own account, he never took possession of the go- 

 vernment of Ras-el-Feel in person, but administered 

 it by deputy. 



" At Suez, March 1793," says Browne, in the 

 pVeface to his Travels, " I met an Armenian mer- 

 chant, who had formerly traded to Abyssinia, and 

 seemed a man of intelligence. He told me that he 

 was at Gondar when Bruce was there : and that Ya- 

 kub (the name by which Bruce was known in Abys- 

 sinia) was universally talked of with praise. This 

 merchant narrated, of his own accord, the story of 

 shooting a wax candle through seven shields. He 

 observed, that Bruce had been appointed governor of 

 Ras-el-Feel, a province where Arabic ivas spoken." 

 " In Dar-Fur," continues the same traveller, " I 

 met a Bergoo merchant, named Hadje Hamed, who 

 had long resided at Sennaar, and was in Bruce's party 

 from Gondar to Sennaar. He said that Yakub had 

 been highly favoured in the Abyssinian court, and 

 lived splendidly. He was often ..observing the stars, 

 &c. Both my informers agreed that he had been go- 

 vernor '.if Has el-Feel." If this evidence does not 

 overturn that which Mr Salt collected in Abyssinia 

 on this subject, it at least completely neutralizes it. 

 If, as Browne's words seem to imply, the Armenian 

 merchant mentioned, of his own accord, without be- 

 ing asked, that Bruce was governor of Ras-el-Feel, 

 we may consider the question as decided in favour of 

 Bruce. 



We shall conclude this article in the words of that 

 accurate and profound scholar, Dr Vincent, who 

 seems to have formed a very correct estimate of 

 Bruce's character. " We ought not to be ungrate- 

 ful to those who explore the desert for our iforrna- 

 tion. Bruce may have offended from, the warmth of 

 his temper: he may have beer, misled by aspiring to 

 knowledge and science which he had not sufficiently 

 examined ; but his work throughout bears inter- 

 nal marks of veracity, in all instances where he was 

 not deceived himself; and his observations were the 

 best which a man, furnished with euch instruments, 

 and struggling for his life, could obtain." See Bruce's 

 Travels ;. Murray's Life of Bruce ; Browne'.- Tra 

 mels in Egypt ; and Vincent's Periplus of the JKryth. 

 .Sea, p. 93. (g) 



BRUCEA, a genus of plants of the class "Dice- 

 cia, and order Tetrandria. See BOTANY, p. 335. 



BRUCKER, JOHN JAMES, a learned German 

 author, well known by his laborious and original 

 researches into the history of philosophy, was born 

 at Augsburgh, in Swabia, on the 22d of January 

 1696. He prosecuted his studies at the university 

 of Jena, where he afterwards continued to reside, for 

 a considerable period, in the capacity of a tutor or 

 private teacher, and returned t his native city in the 

 year 1720. After having attained to some eminence 

 in the clerical profession in other parts, he was, at 

 length, in 174-0, appointed pastor of the church o 

 St Ulric's, and senior minister of Augsburgh, where 

 he died in the month of November 1770. 



Brucker was eminently distinguished by the extent, 

 depth, and variety of his historical and literary at- 

 tainments ; by his indefatigable industry in research, 

 and by the judgment he displayed in the application, 

 and arrangement of the knowledge he had acquired. 

 Besides several useful works on bubjects connected 

 with ancient and modern literature and philosophy, 

 he is principally known at home, and among foreign- 

 ers, as the author of the Historia Critica Philosophies^ 

 which was first published at Leipsic in 174-2-44, in 

 five volumes quarto, and afterwards, in 1767, and 

 following years, in an enlarged and improved edition 

 in six volumes. In this excellent work, the author 

 gives a biographical sketch of the lives of the different 

 philosophers respectively ; reviews their writings, ex- 

 plains their various systems and doctrines, and verifies- 

 his narrative by means of a copious exhibition of au- 

 thorities. These volumes, indeed, contain a biogra- 

 phical and critical account of the ancient and modern 

 philosophers and their works, rather than a systema- 

 tical history of the progress of science ; nevertheless 

 they certainly constitute a most valuable repertory of 

 knowledge, in that particular department of litera- 

 ture, and have proved a highly useful book of refer- 

 ence to those who have since devoted themselves to 

 philosophical researches. 



An abridged translation of this work was publish- 

 ed by Dr Enfield, in two volumes quarto, London, 

 1790. Brucker also prepared an excerpt from his 

 larger work, entitled, Instilutiones Historic? Philoso- 

 phicce, I7'l6, 1756. Denkrvurdigkeiten aus dem 

 Leben avsgezcichn. Teutsch.. d. 18ten. Jahrhund, 

 Schneprenthdl, 1802. (2) 



BRUGES,, formerly a city of the Austrian Ne- 

 therlands, and a bishop's see, now a city of the 

 French empire, and capital of the Prefecture of the 

 depaitment of the Lys, is situated in a beautiful plain,, 

 about eight miles from the sea. It is a spacious and 

 well built town, about a league and a half in circum- 

 ference ; but many of the houses are very old, which 

 give it rather a sombre appearance. Its principal 

 buildings are, the stadthouse, which stands in the 

 great market-place, and has a tower of a very lofty 

 and curious structure ; it is square tor a very consi- 

 derable height, and, instead of being surmounted by 

 a spire, another octangular tower is placed upon it al- 

 most as high, which has, however, rather a surprising 

 than a beautiful Affect. The cathedral is a massive and 

 anc'ent builuing, but many of its ornaments are disfi- 

 gured by the most incongruous modern additions*. 



Brucea 



II 

 Bruges. 



