664 



BRIGHTON -BRING-'IO. 



situated on a gentle eminence, at Uic base of which is 

 the Sleyne, n lawn surrounded witli elegant buildings. 

 The Steyne nnd marine parade are fashionable pro- 

 menades. The king has a palace here, called the 

 marine pavilion. This palace, so long the favourite 

 summer residence of George IV., was originally 

 erected in 1784, near the north-western corner of the 

 Steyne. It fronts both east and west, and in the 

 centre is a lofty dome, raised on pillars. Two wings 

 have hecn since added to the fabric, in order to com- 

 plete its proportions ; nnd still more recently the en- 

 tire exterior was altered into a general resemblance of 

 the Kremlin at Moscow, to the production of an effect 

 nither curious and fantastic than elevated or grand. 

 The furniture and internal decorations are in the 

 Chinese style, and in the highest degree splendid and 

 luxurious. A chapel royal has been added to the 

 palace, which occupies the' site of the former castle 

 assembly rooms, which were purchased by the king 

 for that purpose. A spot of ground, formerly called 

 the Promenade Grove, has been laid out in a garden 

 and pleasure-ground, on the north side of which is a 

 magnificent building, fitted up to receive the royal 

 stud. It is surmounted by a lofty dome, in the Ara- 

 besque style, and on the east side is a racket-house, 

 on the west a riding-house, and on the north coach- 

 houses and stabling for carriage- horses. An exten- 

 sive and commodious suspension chain pier was com- 

 pleted in 1823, at an expense of .30,000. It is 1 134 

 feet long, and thirteen feet wide, supported on four 

 clusters of strong piles, with a neat iron railing on 

 each side. The whole is sustained by strong chains, 

 which are made fast to the cliff on the shore ; and 

 here the steam-packets to and from Dieppe embark 

 and land their passengers. The length of the es- 

 planade from the Steyne is 1250ifeet. About a mile 

 from the town, on the road to Lewes, are the cavabry 

 barracks. The barracks within the town are in 

 Church street, and will accommodate about 300 men. 

 Formerly there were two batteries ; only one now re- 

 mains, which is situate on the West Cliff, and mounts 

 six forty-two pounders ; this battery has just been re- 

 built, and presents a handsome and warlike appear* 

 ance. As a sea-bathing place, Brighton possesses 

 many natural advantages, the water being strongly im- 

 pregnated with salt, and the beach composed of a fine 

 clean gravel and sand. Here are various suites of 

 baths, comprising hot, cold, salt water, sulphuric, va- 

 pour, and air-pump water baths, deemed favourable 

 for scorbutic patients. To all these must be added 

 the baths of Mohammed, where persons who have im- 

 hibed a taste for Eastern indulgencies, may enjoy the 

 manipulation of shampooing. Within half a mile of 

 the church is a chalybeate spring, over which a neat 

 building has been erected by the proprietor, and where 

 constant attendance is given during the season. In 

 the way of amusement and diversion this town boasts 

 of every thing which can be expected in a place so 

 exclusively devoted to health and recreation. The 

 hotels, lodging, and boarding-houses, are numerous, 

 and of every extent and variety of accommodation. 

 The morning and evening promenades, especially on 

 the Steyne, where a band of music frequently per- 

 forms, are often very brilliantly attended. Here is a 

 public garden with a cricket ground ; and a fine race 

 ground has been laid out, within a mile of the town, 

 where races are annually run in August, which is 

 deemed the height of 1 the season. The vicinity of 

 Brighton abounds in pleasant rides, especially the 

 South Downs, which afford a variety of attractive land 

 and sea views. Distance from London fifty-one miles 

 south. 



BRIGHTON ; a post-town in Middlesex county, Mas- 

 sachusetts, four and a half miles west of Boston. Po- 

 pulation, in 1820, 702. It is a pleasant town, and con. 



tains a number of elegant country seats. A cattle 

 fair was begun here during the revolutionary war, and 

 has been increasing since the peace of 1783. Most of 

 the cattle for the supply of Boston market are driven 

 to this place. Often from 2 to 3000, and even 5000, 

 have come in one week ; and sheep, also, in great 

 numbers. In 1816, the trustees of the Mn.-sachiisetts 

 agricultural society commenced.a cattle-show and ex- 

 hibition of domestic manufactures at this place ; and 

 a commodious house lias been erected, for the accom- 

 modation of the trustees, and the exhibition of cloths, 

 implements of husbandry, &c. 



BRILLIANT. See Diamond. 



BRIMSTONE. Sulphur (q. v.), as first obtained, is 

 mixed with foreign bodies, and, for the purpose of 

 purification, is melted in a close vessel, by which the 

 impurities are allowed to subside. It is then poured, 

 in the liquid state, into cylindrical moulds, in which it 

 becomes hard, and is known in commerce by the name 

 of roll brimstone. The Jewish history (Gen. xix. 24) 

 relates that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by 

 fire and brimstone from heaven. Showers of fire have 

 been observed by Bergmann (occasioned by electricity) 

 (Geog. Physique ii. 45, 115), and showers of brim- 

 stone may be produced from the sulphuric acid which 

 exists in the atmosphere. 



BRINDLEY, James, an eminent engineer and me- 

 chanic, was born in Tunsted, near Wormhill, Derby- 

 shire, 1716. The poverty of his family prevented his 

 receiving more than the rudiments of education, and, 

 at seventeen, he became apprentice to a millwright. 

 On the expiration of his indentures, he commenced 

 business as an engineer, and, in 1752, displayed great 

 talent in contriving a water-engine for draining a 

 coal-mine. A silk-mill, which he constructed on a 

 new plan, and other works of the same description, 

 introduced him to the patronage of the duke of Bridge- 

 water, then occupied in planning a communication 

 between his estate at Worsley and the towns of Man- 

 chester and Liverpool by water. This immense work, 

 the idea of which was ridiculed by most of the scien- 

 tific men of the period as impracticable, B. undertook, 

 and, by means of aqueducts over valleys, rivers, c., 

 completed, so as to form a junction with the Mersey. 

 This success caused him to be employed, in 1 766, to 

 unite 'the Trent and Mersey, upon which he com- 

 menced the " grand trunk navigation canal," but, 

 dying before its completion, the work was finished, in 

 1777, by his brother-in-law, Mr Henshaw. From 

 this main branch B. also cut another canal near Hay- 

 wood in Staffordshire, uniting it with the Severn in 

 the vicinity of Bewdley, and finished it in 1772. From 

 this period scarcely any work of the kind in the king- 

 dom was entered upon without his superintendence or 

 advice. Among other designs, he prepared one for 

 draining the fens in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, 

 and another for clearing the Liverpool docks of mud, 

 which was especially successful. The variety of his 

 inventions, and the fertility of his resources, were only 

 equalled by the simplicity of'the means with which he 

 carried his expedients into effect. He seldom used 

 any model or drawing, but, when any material diffi- 

 culty intervened, generally retired to bed, and there 

 meditated on the best mode of overcoming it. On 

 such occasions, he has been known to seclude himself 

 for days ; and so partial was he to inland navigation, 

 that he is said, to a question humorously put to him on 

 his examination before the house of commons, " For 

 what purpose did he consider rivers to have been 

 created," at once to have replied, " Undoubtedly to 

 feed navigable canals." The intensity of his applica- 

 tion to business brought on a hectic fever,, of which 

 he died in 1772. 



BRING-TO ; to check the course of a ship, when she 

 is advancing, by arranging the sails in such a manner, 



