BRETAGNE BREWING. 



675 



BRETAGXE. See Brittany. 



BRETEOIL, Louis Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de ; 

 B French diplomatist, was born in 1733. He was at 

 first, minister plenipotentiary at the court of the 

 elector of Cologne, afterwards at the Russian court, 

 then successively ambassador in Sweden, Holland, 

 Naples, at Vienna, and the congress at Teschen. His 

 embassy to Vienna explains his attachment to the 

 queen Marie Antoinette. As minister and secretary 

 of state, he was a zealous defender of the monarchy : 

 lie was, therefore, considered as one of the greatest 

 enemies of the re\-olution. After the 1 4th of July, he 

 escaped the fate of Foulon by a hasty flight. In 1790, 

 Louis XVI. intrusted him with several secret nego- 

 tiations at the princ-pal northern courts. The con- 

 vention issued a decree against him. In Bertrand de 

 Mole ville's history of the revolution, there is valuable 

 information with respect to his last diplomatic labours. 

 In 1 802, he returned, with the permission of the go- 

 vern ment, to France, and died at Paris, in 1807. 



BRETSCHMEIDER, Henry Godfrey von, born at Gera, 

 March 6, 1739, died at the castle of Krzinitz, near 

 Pilsen, Nov. 1, 1810. He was a soldier, a provincial 

 counsellor, librarian at Ofen and Lemberg, the adviser 

 and confidant of Joseph II., a travelling adventurer, a 

 poet, a writer of songs, a collector of engravings and 

 pictures, an author of reviews and satjres, a Pere- 

 grinm- Proteus, in a hundred different colours ; yet, 

 withal, an upright friend to what he considered the 

 truth ; a sworn enemy to all political and priestly im- 

 posture, wh ; ch be unmasked without mercy ; an en- 

 cyclopedist, without having ever been connected wjth 

 d'Alembert and Diderot ; an instructor and benefac- 

 tor of his age ; in his writings and conversation, an 

 enemy of Napoleon ; hated by thousands ; loved by 

 all who were intimately acquainted with him ; courted 

 on account of his wit and social talents ; feared by all 

 fools and hypocrites. He received his first instruction 

 in the academy at Ebersdorf, under the care of the 

 Bohemian brethren, where he was taught by hunger 

 to steal, and, by hypocritical cant, to doubt all that is 

 holy. He has written a great deal, and no folly of 

 the times escaped him. All were boldly exposed and 

 forcibly attacked. His Journey to London and Paris 

 (Berlin, 1817) was translated and published in the 

 Edinburgh Magazine. If B. had written nothing but 

 the Almanac of the Saints, for the year 1788, in 

 which, in compliance with the wish of the emperor 

 Joseph, lie unsparingly attacks priests and priestcraft, 

 he would deserve, for this work alone, to be known 

 to enlightened foreigners. 



BREOGHEL ; the name of a celebrated Dutch family 

 of painters, the first of whom adopted this name from 

 a village not far from Breda. This was Peter B., also 

 called, from the character and subject of most of his 

 representations, the Droll, or the Peasants' B. He 

 was born in 1510 (according to Mechel, in 1530), was 

 a pupil of Peter Koeck van Aelst, travelled into Italy 

 and France, copying the beauties of nature, and, after 

 his return, fixed his residence at Antwerp, where he 

 was received into the academy of painters in that 

 place. He subsequently married the daughter of his 

 instructor Koeck, and removed to Brussels, where he 

 died in 1570 (according to some, in 1590). In his 

 rural weddings, his rustic feasts and dances, he strik- 

 ingly represents the gayety of the villagers, as he 

 himself had frequently observed them, in disguise, in 

 his youth. He also etched, but many of his pictures 

 have been engraved by others. He left two sons 

 Peter and John. The former, (called the Younger 

 B.,) preferring subjects affording striking contrasts, 

 painted many scenes in which devils, witches, or rob- 

 bers are. the principal figures. This particuliir turn 

 of genius procured him the name of Hell B. Among 

 his pieces are Orpheus playing on his Lyre before the 



infernal Deities ; also, the Temptation of St Anthony. 

 The former picture hangs in the gallery of Florence. 

 The second brother, John, was distinguished by his 

 landscapes and small figures. From his usual dress, 

 he received the title of Velvet B. He also painted 

 for other masters landscapes, as back-grounds to their 

 pieces, and sometimes little figures in them. He 

 was a very prolific artist. In connexion with Rubens, 

 he represented Adam and Eve in Paradise. The 

 figures in this picture are painted by Rubens. This 

 piece, his Four Elements, also Vertumnus and Po- 

 mona, which were all executed jointly with Rubens, 

 are among his principal performances. He is said to 

 have been born in 1568. He visited Italy, and en- 

 riched his imagination with beautiful scenery. He is 

 said to have died in 1640. Other members of this 

 family, belonging to a later period, are Ambrose and 

 Abraham, who, for a time, resided in Italy, and died 

 in 1690 ; the brother of the latter, John Baptist, who 

 died in Rome ; and Abraham's son, Caspar B., known 

 as a painter of flowers and fruits. 



BREVE ; a note of the third degree of length, and 

 formerly of a square figure, as 5 ; but now made of 

 an oval shape, with a line perpendicular to the stave 

 on each of its sides : ld^|- The breve', in its simple 

 state, that is, without a dot after it, is equal in dura- 

 tion to one quarter of a large, or to two semibreves, 

 and is then called imperfect ; but, when dotted, it is 

 equal to three-eighths of a large, or to three semi- 

 breves, which being the greatest length it can as- 

 sume, it is then called perfect. 



BREVET ; a term borrowed from the French, in 

 which it signifies a royal act granting some favour or 

 privilege ; as, brevet d 'invention. It is applied, in 

 Britain and America, to nominal rank in the army 

 higher than that for which pay is received. Thus a 

 brevet major serves as captain, and draws pay as 

 such. 



BREVIARY ; the book containing the daily service 

 of the church of Rome, matins, lauds, prime, third 

 sixth, nones, and vespers, which all Catholics were 

 formerly bound to read daily. This obligation is now 

 restricted to the beneficiary clergy. 



BREWING. The juices of fruits contain sugar, 

 which is essential to the vinous fermentation. 'But 

 this does not exist, in any important quantity, in seeds. 

 Instead of it, however, we have starch, and this may 

 combine with water, so as to form sugar. This com- 

 bination is performed very perfectly by a vital pro- 

 cess ; that is to say, it takes place only in a living 

 seed, and not in one which is frozen, burned, or 

 otherwise killed. It is known by the name of ger- 

 mination or growing, and is of familiar occurrence, 

 being what takes place in every seed that is success- 

 fully planted. The seeds of wheat, rye, barley, c. 

 consist principally of starch. If a grain of these is 

 examined, we find near one end of it a small body, 

 which is the rudiment of the future plant, and 

 the miscroscope shows us that this consists of two 

 parts the plumula, which is destined to ascend 

 through the earth to form the stalk, and the radicle, 

 which is to be spread abroad below, and form the 

 root. Whenever a grain of barley, oats, or certain 

 other of the gramineous seeds, is exposed to water, 

 it begins to swell and absorb the moisture ; and, at 

 the same time, if the temperature of the air is not too 

 cold, the radicle thrusts itself out at the lower end ; 

 the plumula, on the other hand, pushes itself along 

 beneath the husk of the grain to the other end, before 

 it thrusts itself out. There are several curious con- 

 siderations in regard to this process. The one which 

 concerns us at present is this, that, as the plumula is 

 passing along through the husk, the part of the seed 

 along which it passes becomes changed into the 

 substance known in chemistry by the name of starch 



