BRADSTREET 



888 



BRAKE 



script. It found its way in the course of time 

 into the archives of the Old South Church, 

 Boston, but disappeared during the Revolu- 

 tion. In 1855 it was discovered in the Fulham 

 Library, England, and was soon after sent to 

 the United States and published two hundred 

 and fifty years after Bradford wrote it. It is 

 one of the most valuable of all the original 

 documents dealing with American history. 

 The original work is now among the archives 

 of Massachusetts. 



BRADSTREET, ANNE (1612-1672), the first 

 woman writer America produced, was the wife 

 of Simon Bradstreet (1603-1697), who became 

 governor of Massachusetts Colony in 1679. She 

 was born in England, a daughter of Thomas 

 Dudley, the second colonial governor of Mas- 

 sachusetts, and came to America in 1630, two 

 years after her marriage. There, in addition 

 to bringing up a family of eight children, she 

 found time to write a long list of poems that 

 were the delight and admiration of her friends 

 in the colony, who called her "The Tenth 

 Muse." Her poetry is made up, in general, of 

 discourses on the universe, its history and its 

 phenomena, and to the modern reader it seems 

 to be nothing more than rhymed prose. 

 Nevertheless, though she lacked the real 

 poetic gift, she deserves a place in the history 

 of American literature, for she devoted herself 

 to literature for its own sake, and was one of 

 the first writers to do so. 



BRADSTREET COMMERCIAL AGENCY. 

 See COMMERCIAL AGENCIES. 



BRADY, bray'di, CYRUS TOWNSEND (1861- 

 ), an American clergyman and author 

 whose writings, though clean and wholesome, 

 have in them little of a ministerial char- 

 acter. Under Tops'ls and Tents, Hohenzollern, 

 In the Wasps' Nest, A Little Traitor to the 

 South, The Love Test, The Island oj Regen- 

 eration, The Fetters of Freedom and the Bob 

 Dashaway series are for the most part stories 

 of the masculine, warlike type, and Brady can- 

 not be accused, as are many clerical story- 

 writers, of "helping in the great work of femin- 

 izing the world." 



Born in Allegheny, Pa., Brady graduated 

 from the United States Naval Academy, and 

 then went West in the service of a railroad. 

 After studying theology he became a priest of 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church, and later was 

 made archdeacon of Kansas. He was rector 

 successively of churches in Philadelphia, To- 

 ledo, Kansas City and Mount Vernon, N. Y., 

 removing to the last-named place in 1913. 



During the Spanish- American War he served 

 as chaplain in a Pennsylvania regiment. His 

 non-fictional books, including lives of Decatur 

 and Paul Jones, Border Fights and Fighters 

 and Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, are whole- 

 some and yet as full of thrills and adventure 

 as are his stories. 



BRAGG, BRAXTON (1817-1876), an American 

 soldier who won distinction in the Confeder- 

 ate army during the War of Secession. He 

 was born in North Carolina, was graduated at 

 West Point in 1837, and in that same year 

 saw active service in the Seminole War. Dur- 

 ing the Mexican War he was brevetted cap- 

 tain-major and lieutenant-colonel for gallant 

 conduct, but in 1856 he resigned from the army 

 and engaged in sugar-planting in Louisiana. 

 When the War of Secession broke out he was 

 placed in command of Southern forces at Pen- 

 sacola, Fla., with the rank of brigadier-general, 

 and in the following year was made major- 

 general. At the Battle of Shiloh he became 

 the commanding general on the death of A. S. 

 Johnston, and later in the same year succeeded 

 Beauregard in command of the Army of the 

 West. His defeat at Perryville and at Mur- 

 freesboro brought upon him severe criticism 

 in the South, but he regained his popularity 

 by his defeat of Rosecrans at Chickamauga in 

 September, 1863. Defeated by Grant at Chat- 

 tanooga, he asked to be relieved of his com- 

 mand and then became military adviser to 

 Jefferson Davis, but resumed active service to 

 conduct an unsuccessful expedition against 

 Sherman in Georgia. After the close of the 

 war his only public office was that of chief 

 engineer of the state of Alabama. 



BRAKE, brah or brah'ay, TYCHO (1546- 

 1601), a celebrated Danish astronomer, whose 

 tireless study of the heavens added much to 

 what was known in his day of the facts of 

 astronomy. He studied philosophy and rhet- 

 oric at the University of Copenhagen and en- 

 tered the University of Leipzig as a law 

 student, but was interested only in astronomy, 

 which he regarded as "something divine." 

 From 1571 until his death he was able to de- 

 vote the greater part of his time to his chosen 

 field of labor. On November 11, 1572, he 

 sighted a new star in the constellation Cas- 

 siopeia, and, after carefully studying its posi- 

 tion, published an account of his observations. 



Frederick II of Denmark became interested 

 in his investigations, and in 1576 fitted up for 

 him on the Island of Hveen, in the Sound be- 

 tween Denmark and Sweden, the magnificent 



