BRULOTTA BRUNE. 



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i 1809, while Saxon ambassador in London. He is 

 Known by his ingenious improvements of several in- 

 struments, by his essays in the Philosophical Tran- 

 sactions, and by his Eecherches sur divers Objets de 

 I' Economic politique (Dresden, 1781). 

 BRULOTTA. See Fire-Ship. 



BRUMAIRE, THE ISra (Nov. 9), 1799. On this day, 

 general Bonaparte overthrew the directory. The 

 next day, he dispersed, at the point of the bayo- 

 net, the council of five hundred, and was elected 

 consul. 



BRUX, Charles le, an eminent painter, was born in 

 1619, at Paris. His grandfather was a Scots gardener, 

 who had gone to France with a nobleman. His father 

 was an indifferent sculptor, who, being employed to 

 do some work in the garden of the hotel Seguier, 

 took with him his son, who was then a mere child, 

 and who made drawings by his side. The counte- 

 nance, application, and manner of drawing of the 

 young artist, interested the chancellor so much, that 

 he took him under his protection, and forwarded his 

 education. At the age of fifteen, he painted two 

 pictures, which created a great sensation : one was 

 the portrait of his grandfather, and the other repre- 

 sented Hercules destroying the horses of Diomedes. 

 In 1639 he went to Rome, and remained there three 

 years, with a pension from the chancellor. While 

 there, he studied under Simon Vouel, and afterwards 

 under Nicolas Poussin. On his return to Paris, the 

 first picture he produced was that of the brazen ser- 

 pent. This procured him a pension of 12,000 livres 

 from the superintendent Foucquil ; afterwards he was 

 honoured by the king with the order of St Michael, 

 and created first painter to the crown. Cardinal Ma- 

 zarin became much attached to him, and he was in- 

 trusted with the direction of the manufactory of 

 tapestry at the Gobelines, and made director of the 

 royal academy of painting. The ceilings which he 

 executed at Sceaux and Versailles, and especially the 

 battles of Alexander the Great, are his most celebrated 

 works. He was sixty years old when he painted these 

 battles. He died in 1690, at his apartments at the 

 Gobelines. 



As Le Brun painted but few easel pictures, and as 

 these are confined chiefly to the gallery of the Louvre, 

 or the French palaces, he is best known in England 

 by the prints engraved from them. Of these, the set 

 of prints by Andrau, after his battles, are perhaps the 

 finest examples of that art which have ever been 

 produced. His picture of the duchess de la Valliere, 

 as a penitent magdalen, tearing the ornaments from 

 her hair, has been beautifully engraved by Edelinch, 

 as also his crucifixion with groups of angels. His 

 martyrdom of St Stephen in the Louvre is one of his 

 best pictures ; and his family of Darius and the defeat 

 of Porus are considered the two best examples of hi: 

 wonderful powers as an artist. 



BRUNCK, Richard Francis Philip, one of the most 

 ingenious critics of modern times, was born at Stras- 

 burg, in 1729, and made rapid progress in learning, 

 when he studied with the Jesuits in Paris, but neg- 

 lected study as soon as he entered into active lite. 

 While in winter quarters at Giessen, as commissary ol 

 war, during the French campaigns, he resided with a 

 professor, who, by his advice and example, revivec 

 his love of letters, and led him to the study of .the 

 classics. When B. returned to Strasburg, he devotee 

 all his leisure time to Greek, and, at the age of thirty 

 years, and while holding a public office, attended the 

 lectures of the Greek professor of the university. The 

 zeal which had encouraged him to undertake this la- 

 borious study was increased by the pleasure of over- 

 coming difficulties, and he became fixed in the con- 

 viction, that all the instances of apparently careless 

 writing in the Greek poets were only errors of the 



ranscribers. Entertaining this opinion, he altered 

 vhatever displeased him, overthrew the order of the 

 erses, and permitted himself liberties which criticism 

 must needs reject. To this rage of altering he gave 

 limself up, particularly in the marginal comments of 

 lis books, and in the numerous copies which he made 

 of the Greek poets, more for his own pleasure than 

 'or use. This arbitrary process is so visible, even iz 

 the editions he has publishedj that much caution is 

 required in using them. B. has nevertheless been ot 

 essential service to Greek literature ; and, since the 

 revival of letters, few scholars have so effectually 

 promoted it. It is wonderful how much he has done 

 n the space of twenty years. He published also a 

 valuable edition of Virgil. Of his Greek editions we 

 may mention those of the Analecta, Apollonius Rho- 

 diits, Aristophanes, the Gnomic poets, and his master- 

 piece, Sophocles, for which the king allowed him a 

 aension of 2000 francs. At this time the French re- 

 volution interrupted his studies. He adopted the new 

 ideas with enthusiasm, and was one of the first mem- 

 bers of the popular society in Strasburg, without de- 

 viating, however, from the principles of moderation. 

 This is proved by the circumstance that he was arrested 

 at Besanoon, during the reign of terror, and did not 

 obtain his liberty until after the death of Robespierre. 

 In 1791, economical reasons obliged him to sell part 

 of his library, and, in 1801 , he was obliged to adopt 

 the same resource a second time. As he was passion- 

 ately fond of his books, and his former fortune had 

 enabled him to collect an excellent library, this was a 

 severe privation. If he was reminded of an author he 

 had once possessed, tears came into his eyes. From 

 this time, Greek became his aversion ; but he pre- 

 pared an edition of Terence, and had Plautus ready 

 for publication, when he died, in 1803. Many of the 

 papers which he left are in the library at Paris. 



BRUNDUSIOM (now Brindisi); a city in Terra di 

 Otranto, in the kingdom of Naples, on the Adriatic 

 sea, very celebrated in the time of the ancient Ro- 

 mans. It had then an excellent harbour, which is 

 now almost filled up with sand. From this place the 

 Romans usually embarked for Greece and Asia. The 

 Appian way led to this city. It was also on the 

 nearest route from Constantinople to Rome, by the 

 way of the mountains of Macedonia and Albania. 

 Virgil died here. The population, in the 12th cen- 

 tury, was 60,000, but is now reduced to about 5900. 

 It is the seat of an archbishop. 



BRUNE, William Maria Anne, marshal of France, 

 son of a lawyer at Brives la Gaillairde, was born 

 there, March 13, 1763, and went while young to Pa- 

 ris. At the breaking out of the revolution, he was a 

 printer, and had made himself known by some small 

 pieces of his own composition. He now devoted him- 

 self ardently to politics, became a member of the club 

 des Cordeliers, was connected with Danton, and 

 played an active part in the tempests of that period. 

 Till August 10, 1792, he was engaged in publishing 

 a daily newspaper. Afterwards he went as a com- 

 missary to Belgium. In 1793 he entered the military 

 service in the revolutionary army, in the Gironde. 

 October 10, 1795, he aided Barras to put down the 

 Jacobins, who had assaulted the camp of Crenelle. 

 Afterwards he distinguished himself as general of 

 brigade in the Italian army, in 1797, in the attack of 

 Verona, and in the battle of Arcoli. When the direc- 

 tory of Switzerland declared war, B. received the 

 chief command of an army, entered the country, 

 without much opposition, in January, 1798, and 

 effected a new organization of the government. In 

 1799 he received the chief command in Holland, de- 

 feated the British in the north of Holland, Sept. 19, 

 near Bergen, and compelled the duke of York to 

 agree to the treaty of Alcmaer, Oct. 18, by which the 

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