BRA 



390 



BRA 



y 

 fe 



?rh to her port, but small trading barks from the 

 rivers and canals of Holland. In the 17th century, 

 the United Provinces took possession of the northern 

 part of this ducay, which they called Dutch Bra- 

 bant, and which formed an eighth state of the repub- 

 lic ; and after the battle of Ramilies in 1700', the re- 

 maining part was ceded by Spain to the house of 

 Austria in the treaty of Utrecht. During the last 

 century, under the auspices of the Austrian empe- 

 rors, a commercial spirit began to revive, and an at- 

 tempt was mads to animate this and the neighbouring 

 provinces, by opening a trade to the East Indies; but 

 the Brabanders have never been able to rise from their 

 degradation. Their name has seldom been mention- 

 ed among the nations, except when, like absolute pro- 

 perty, they were transferred from one princely family 

 to another ; and though the insurrections occasioned 

 by the arbitrary, but wise measures of the emperor 

 Joseph II., promised them liberty and independence, 

 et by the revolution in which they terminated, they 

 'ell into the more intolerable despotism of an abso- 

 lute aristocracy. When the French passed the Rhine 

 in the revolutionary war, they established themselves 

 in this country ; and by the treaty of Campo Formio 

 in 1797, and that of Luneville in 1801, Austrian 

 Brabant was ceded to France, when it was formed 

 into the departments of the Deux Nethes, and the 

 Dyle ; and since the annexation of Holland to the 

 French empire, Dutch Brabant has been converted 

 into the department of the Scheldt. 



The inhabitants of this province, though now lost 

 to all sense of political independence, yet possess 

 many good qualities. They are remarkably phleg- 

 matic, but humane, good natured, and friendly.; and 

 even amid the violence of passion, they are neither 

 cruel nor implacable. But however insensible to 

 their present degradation, this people once possessed 

 high notions of liberty, and enjoyed, under their first 

 princes, personal freedom and security beyond any 

 other state in Europe. Even so early as the 9th 

 century, the constitution of Brabant affords an exam- 

 ple of civil liberty, which is scarcely surpassed at this 

 day by any nation in the world. The Blyde Inkomsle 

 i'aii Brabant, the joyous entry of Brabant, which was 

 the great charter of their freedom, was so named, be- 

 cause the sovereign whca he entered upon his govern- 

 ment, bound himself by an oath, to govern according 

 to this charter. In it, the conditions are declared, 

 on which the people consented to yield obedience, 

 and on which the prince was willing to reign ; 

 and a remarkable clause is added, that if the so- 

 vereign should infringe any article of the Joyous 

 Entry, his subjects should be released, from all duty 

 and service, until due reparation should be made. By 

 this instrument, no arbitrary mandate could deprive 

 a citizen of his liberty ; his dwelling was sacred, and 

 if suspected of a crime, the officers of justice could 

 not enter his house unless two magistrates were pre- 

 sent. If apprehended, he had a right, after a limited 

 time, to call upon his judges to determine whether 

 tit-re were sufficient grounds for his detention. 

 Without the consent and authority of the states, 

 t which consisted, of three orders, the clergy, the no- 

 blej, and the commons,) no taxes could be imposed, 



or subsidies granted, and in the latter case the cam- Brabtju 

 mons could not agree, until they collected the sense U racc 

 of their constituent! in the different cities which they ~ ~* 

 represented. The. dukes of Brabant and Bur- 

 gundy, and in later times the princes of Austria, 

 jroverned acccording to this charter. But in ad- 

 dition to the many privileges which the Brabanders 

 enjoyed, by a decree of the emperors, called the 

 Golden Bull of Brabant, it was forbidden to all the 

 princes of the empire, within or without their domi- 

 nions, to exercise any jurisdiction over the natives of 

 Brabant, unless justice should be denied by their own 

 sovereign. Their personal liberty was equalled by 

 their ingenuity and industry ; and while the neigh- 

 bouring nations knew no other business but that of 

 war, the inhabitants of Brabant were trained to the 

 diligence of trades and crafts. The woollen manu- 

 facture in particular, was held in very great esteem. 

 It gave occupation to vast multitudes, and brought 

 great wealth into the country. But while commerce 

 and the arts flourished here, at a very early period, 

 beyond those of any other country, agriculture was 

 not forgotten, and while these were precipitated in 

 the fall of its independence, this last still retains its 

 vigour. Swelling into hills of a gentle ascent, and 

 covered, with rich country seats, woods and lakes, in- 

 closed grounds, and champaign fields, Brabant pre- 

 sents a beautifully diversified appearance, and in the 

 greatest part of its extent is both populous and fer- 

 tile. Every species of agriculture which is common 

 to the country, is in ?.s high perfection as in England, 

 and the best parts of England are even sometimes 

 surpassed. It produces, in great abundance, rye, bar- 

 Icy, oats, buck-wheat, potatoes, carrots, turnips, and 

 a species of grass called sparec, which is cultivated in 

 no other country except in Guelders and Cleves, and 

 of which they make most excellent hay. Brabant is 

 still famous for its drabs, and other woollen stuffs, as 

 alao for its camlets, carpets, and lace. See Shaw's 

 Sketches of the History of the Netherlands. Hoi- 

 croft's Travels from tiamburgh to Paris. Foster's 

 Travels. Peuchet, Dictionnaire Universal. See also 

 NETHERLANDS, (p) 



BRABEJUM, a genus of plants of the class Po- 

 lygamia, and order Monoccia. See BOTANY, page 

 3*5. () 



BRACCIOLINI, POGGIO, a celebrated restorer 

 of literature in the fifteenth century, was born in the 

 year 1 380, at Terra Nuova, a small town in the ter- 

 ritory of the republic of Florence. From his father, 

 Guiccio Bracciolini, he inherited no advantages of 

 rank or fortune ; but for those literary attainments, 

 in which he afterwards became so eminent, the cir- 

 cumstances of his birth were peculiarly favourable. 

 The writings of Petrarca and Boccacio were now 

 read with avidity ; and the zeal of these great men 

 for the revival of literature, had kindled throughout 

 Italy an ardent spirit of emulation. The city of 

 Florence was particularly distinguished by the enthu- 

 siasm, with which its principal inhabitants cultiva- 

 ted and patronised the liberal arts. It became, of 

 course, the favourite resort of the most learned men 

 of the time ; some of whom were induced, by consi- 

 derable salaries and rewards, to undertake the task of 



