BRA 



301 



BRA 



. cec. It is true, indeed, that in the Vedas and 

 Shasters, the unity of God is often expressly 

 asserted, and illustrated in very sublime and beauti- 

 ful language: at the same time such a complicated 

 machinery of inferior agents is employed, and the 

 whole is so involved in allegory, that polytheism 

 tnay be said to be taught in the Vedas themselves. 

 This is the case with the purest systems of ancient 

 mythology: whilst they admit the doctrine of a su- 

 preme God as the source of power, and the author 

 of all existence, they uniformly admit the existence 

 of subordinate deities, dependent on the supreme, 

 and employed by him in the government of the uni- 

 verse. This opinion necessarily leads to polytheism : 

 people will always be most ready to worship those 

 deities with whom they consider themselves as most 

 closely connected ; and the supposed agents will be 

 adored, as the most likely means of recommending 

 them to the notice of the supreme divinity. In this 

 way the worship of saints in the Romish church al- 

 most entirely superseded the worship of the Most 

 High : and in the Indian mythology, Brimha, the 

 chief deity, has not a temple erected to his service, 

 whilst thousands of splendid pagodas are raised in 

 honour of inferior gods. 



It has sometimes been said, that religion is merely 

 a political device, invented by statesmen, for the pur- 

 pose of enforcing obedience to the laws. Without 

 stopping to controvert an opinion which has been so 

 often refuted, we merely observe, that the Braminical 

 religion, has evidently not had its foundation in the 

 policy of princes : it is in all its parts a complete 

 system of priestcraft : it claims for its ministers a 

 dignity and respect far superior to that of kings ; 

 and the highest monarchs have been content to bow 

 before them, and to acknowledge their pretensions. 

 This circumstance sufficiently indicates the high an- 

 tiquity of the order. It was only in the earliest 

 times that the priestly office had such influence in 

 society, as to be able to mould the government and 

 manners of a state. In the remotest antiquity, we 

 are informed, the same person was priest and king. 

 The Braminical system is evidently an improvement 

 on this plan ; for by it, the framers have contrived 

 to reserve to themselves the highest place in respect 

 and dignity, whilst they have devolved the cares and 

 business of government, on an inferior order, which 

 must act in all respects according to their directions. 

 The great extent of Hindostan, and its remoteness 

 from the scene of European politics and conquest, 

 preserved this system unimpaired for perhaps several 

 thousands of years. India remained almost entirely 

 undisturbed by the inroads of conquerors, till the 

 period of the Mahometan invasion. Alexander the 

 Great scarcely made the slightest impression upon it, 

 and we make no account of the fabulous exploits 

 of Bacchus. But dreadful was the shock which it 

 received from the Mussulman invaders: they swayed 

 the sceptre, which, in their hands, was a rod of iron, 

 over the greatest part of Hindostan, and they left no 

 art unemployed, which bipjotry, policy, or cruelty 

 could devise, to establish Islamism on the ruins of 

 the Braminical religion. By these means the Brami- 

 nical institutions were considerably affected, and their 

 influence has been still farther impaired by the inter. 



course with European settlers : they still exhibit, 

 however, a gigantic system of superstition, whote 

 overthrow is rather an object of distant hope, than 

 of sanguine expectation. 



Maurice's Ancient Ifixt. (if Hindoxtan and 

 Indian Antiquities passim ; Asiatic l!r e<: relies passim, 

 particularly tli'- papers by Sir William Jones, Mr 

 Colebrooke, and Captain Wilford ; Universal II s- 

 itiry, vol. vi. ; I'/iil. Trans. No. 2(><S. p. 7'29; Bartolo- 

 meo's I'oi/ugeto India; Bernier's Travels; Lord's He- 

 liirinn o/l 'if liraniinx; Aycen Akberry ; Institute* oj 

 Menu, translated by Sir W. Jones. Dow's Iliniiostan, 

 Preliminary Dissertation; Foster's Travels; Renders- 

 ley'sHindoo Literature } Sketches uf the Hindoos, ano- 

 nymous, but giving a very clear and satisfactory state- 

 ment ; Edin. Phil. Trans, vol. ii. p. 135 ; and Eilin- 

 burgh Krvii'iH, vol. x. p. 455, and vol. xii. p. 41. (g) 



BRADFORD, from the Saxon Bradenford, or 

 Broad ford, a considerable manufacturing town of 

 England, in Wiltshire, beautifully situated on the 

 declivity of a hill, on the Lower Avon, which di- 

 vides it into two parts, the Old and New Town, and 

 which is crossed by two stone bridges, one of nine 

 arches and the other of four. The principal public 

 buildings are the church, a free school for boys, and 

 two charitable establishments for old men and wo- 

 men. About ten or twelve hundred pieces of fine 

 broad cloth are manufactured here annually, and in 

 one manufactory there are no fewer than 1500 per- 

 sons employed. Number of houses in 1801, 1288. 

 Population 7302, of whom 4648 are employed in 

 trade and manufactures. (H) 



BRADFORD, an ancient manufacturing town of 

 England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, situated 

 on a rising ground, from which excellent stone for 

 building is obtained. The chief public buildings are 

 the church, and the Piece Hall, in which various ar- 

 ticles of manufacture are exhibited for sale. The 

 principal manufactures of Bradford are worsted stuffs, 

 shalloons, calimancoes, broad and narrow cloths, 

 wool cards, combs, and leather boxes. There are 

 three iron* founderies in the town, and one in the 

 neighbourhood, all of which are advantageously sup- 

 plied with iron ore and coal. A cut from the Leeds 

 and Liverpool canal conveys the manufactures of 

 Bradford to the great marts of trade. Number of 

 houses in 1801, 1368. Population 6393, of whom 

 1300 were employed in manufactures. (H) 



BRADLEJA, a genus of plants of the class Mo- 

 ncecia, and order Monadelphia. See BOTANY, p. 328. 



BRADLEY, JAMES, a celebrated astronomer, 

 was born at Shirebom, in the county of Gloucester, 

 in 1692. He received the firot rudiments of his edu- 

 cation at a boarding- <chool in North Leach, kept by 

 Mr Egles and Mr Brice ; and being intended by his 

 parents for the church, he was sent to Oxford, and 

 was admitted a commoner ef Baliol college, on the 

 15th of March 1710-11. After having taken the 

 degree of B. A. in 1714, and that of M. A. in 1717, 

 he was admitted to deacon's orders by the Bishop of 

 London, on the 24th of May 1719, and a few months 

 afterwards, he obtained priest's orders from the 

 Bishop of Hereford, who not only appointed him his 

 chaplain, but presented him to the vicarage of Brid- 

 stow, in the county of Hereford, The fondnen 



