BUOKEIl BRONZES. 



719 



created him a prince of the empire. Disputes with 

 Soubise, who was in particular favour with madame de 

 Pompadour, caused his recall and banishment. In 

 1789, when the revolution broke out, Louis XVI. 

 appointed him minister of war ; at the same time, he 

 received the command of the troops that were to keep 

 Paris in check. The desertion of the national guards 

 rendered all his efforts vain, and B. left France. Jn 

 the campaign of 1792, he commanded a division of 

 the emigres without success. After its close, he with- 

 drew entirely from public life, and died at Munster in 

 1804, in the 86th year of his age. 3. Claude Victor, 

 the third son of Victor Francois, on the other hand, 

 entered wholly into the views of the revolutionary 

 party. He was deputy of the nobility of Colmar to 

 the states general. After the dissolution of the con- 

 stituent assembly, he was appointed field-marshal in 

 the army of the Rhine, but, upon his refusal to ac- 

 knowledge the decrees of the 10th of August, was 

 deprived of his command, and afterwards, on the same 

 account, summoned before the revolutionary tribunal, 

 and led to the guillotine in June, 1794. 4. Charles 

 Fran9ois, a brother of Victor Francjois, is known in 

 the history of French diplomacy as the head of the 

 secret ministry of Louis XV. Although B. discharg- 

 ed tiie duties of this difficult office with much ability, 

 yet, as his views were often in direct opposition to those 

 of the public ministry, the greatest and the most ridi- 

 culous confusion was often produced. He was, there- 

 fore, formally banished by the king ; but, at the same 

 time, received secret instructions to continue his usual 

 duties in his exile. Under Louis XVI., he was not 

 employed, and died in 1781. 5. Victor, peer of 

 France, a son of Claude Victor. 



BROKER ; an agent who is employed to conclude 

 bargains, or transact other business, for his employer, 

 for a certain fee or premium. Brokers are of seve- 

 ral kinds merchandise, money, exchange, ship, in- 

 surance, real estate, pawn, stock brokers, &c. Ex- 

 change brokers negotiate notes and bills of exchange ; 

 money brokers exchange different kinds of money ; 

 these two classes are not unfrequently united. Mer- 

 cliandise brokers make contracts for the sale of mer- 

 chandise. Pawn brokers make it their business to 

 lend money upon pawns. Insurance brokers are 

 those whose business it is to procure insurance of 

 vessels at sea or bound on a voyage. They are, at 

 once, the agents of the underwriters, who expect 

 from them a full disclosure of all circumstances af- 

 fecting tin- risk and the payment of their premiums, 

 and of the party insured, who trusts to them for the 

 regularity of the contract, and a proper selection of 

 underwriters. An agent or broker should not, there- 

 fore, be an insurer ; for he then becomes too much 

 interested to settle with fairness the rate of premium, 

 the amount of partial losses, &c. Stock brokers are 

 those who are employed to buy and sell shares in the 

 stocks, including the public fuuds of their own and 

 other countries, bank stock, &c. In America, brokers 

 are not required to be licensed, or to give bonds. In 

 France, the brokers who deal in money, exchange, 

 merchandise, insurance, and stock, are called agents 

 de change, and their number at Paris is fixed at sixty. 

 The company of agents de change is directed by a 

 chamber of syndics (chambre syndicate), chosen annu- 

 ally by the company. They are obliged to give 

 bonds to the amount of 125,000 francs for the pre- 

 vention of abuses. They are also obliged to keep 

 books, and are restricted to from one-eighth to one 

 fourth per cent, for each negotiation. They are al- 

 lowed to deal in the public funds, foreign and domes- 

 tic, and the different kinds of merchandise, &c. In 

 London, the brokers must be licensed by the lord 

 mayor, who takes bonds for the faithful execution of 

 their duties. In Egypt, the Arabs are the exchange 



brokers, and are called consuls. In the Levant and 

 the Indies, the Jews, Armenians, and Banians, are the 

 chief brokers. 



BROME; a peculiar substance discovered in 1826, 

 and named from the Greek foupas, in consequence of 

 its disagreeable odour. It is obtained from the bittern 

 of sea-water, or the washings of the ashes of sea- 

 weed. Jt is a dark- red liquid, of a specific gravity ot 

 2'965, higlily volatile, and emits copious red fumes 

 at the ordinary temperature of the air. It boils at 

 116. The vapour does not sustain the combustion o 

 a candle, though several of the metals burn in it. It 

 possesses the bleaching powers of chlorine, and, like 

 that substance, is eminently hostile to life ; a single 

 drop of it, placed upon the bill of a bird, being suffi- 

 cient to kill it. With oxygen and hydrogen, it forms 

 acids. Its properties have led to the opinion, that 

 it might be a compound of chlorine and iodine; but, 

 as neither of these substances have been detected in 

 it, we are, for the present, at least, obliged to regard 

 it as a simple element. 



BROMELJA. See Pine-Apple. 



BROMJOS ; a surname of Bacchus. 



BRONKHORST, Peter van ; a Dutch painter, was born 

 at Delft in 1588, and died in 166 1 . He painted, with 

 great success, perspective views of temples and 

 churches, enlivened with small but well executed 

 human figures. In the town-house of Delft is his 

 representation of Solomon's judgment. John van 

 B., born at Leyden in 1648, learned the art of paint- 

 ing without any instruction, and attained to a high 

 degree of perfection. He principally painted ani- 

 mals, and was particularly successful in his birds. 

 The lightness and brilliancy of the feathers are re- 

 presented with much truth. He was a pastry cook 

 and painted merely for his amusement. Another 

 John van B., born at Utrecht in 1603, was a painter 

 on glass. His works in the new church at Amster- 

 dam are much esteemed. He has also engraved 

 some works of Cornelius Poelenburg. 



BRONZE. For the mode in which this metal is 

 prepared, see Copper. 



BRONZES, in archaeology ; works of art cast in 

 bronze. The ancients used bronze for a great variety 

 of purposes : arms and other instruments, medals and 

 statues, of this metal, are to be found in all cabinets 

 of antiquities. Egyptian idols of bronze are contain- 

 ed in the British museum. The most celebrated 

 antique bronze statues are, the sleeping satyr ; the 

 two youthful athletes ; the colossal equestrian statue 

 of Marcus Aurelius, at Rome ; the Hercules of the 

 capitol ; the colossal head of Commodus ; the statue 

 of Septimius Severus in the Barberini paliice. The. 

 horses of St Mark, at Venice, are of pure copper. 

 On tables of bronze were inscribed laws, edicts, and 

 treaties. 3,000 of these were destroyed by fire in the 

 time of Vespasian. Bass-reliefs, vaults, and doors of 

 public edifices, were ornamented with decorations of 

 the same metal. Urban VIII. took from the Pan- 

 theon alone 450,000 pounds of bronze, which he used 

 for the ornaments of St Peters, and for the cannon 

 of the castle of St .Angelo. One of these was com- 

 posed wholly of bronze nails, taken from the portico, 

 and bore the inscription, Ex clavis trabalibus portions 

 Agrippce. The ancients considered this metal as 

 naturally pure ; all their instruments of sacrifice, and 

 sacred vessels, were therefore of bronze. They also 

 believed it endowed with the power of driving away 

 spectres and malignant spirits. (Ov. Met. vii. 22(5, 

 and Fast. v. 441.) The words moneta sacra are 

 found only on bronze medals. It was sacred to the 

 gods ; and the Roman emperors, who struck gold 

 and silver coins, could not strike them of bronze 

 without the permission of the senate ; hence the 

 inscription S. C. (Senatus consulto). (For the uie- 



