BRI 



549 



BRI 



S, whom nOO/> arc employed in trade and manuf.i' 

 N. Lat. ->() 41' 1:5", W. Long. '2" .VY M". (L) 



BRIEG, the BHKOA of th , a ciiy of 



Silesia, and capital of tin- principality of tlie same 

 name, is situated on the left bank of the Oder, over 

 which there is a good bridge. After the capture of 

 this city by the king of Prussia, in 1741, this mo- 

 narch repaired the damage which it sustained in the 

 i*ge, increased the fortifications, and built a new 

 suburb. The houses arc, in general, well built, and 

 the principal public edifices are, the Lutheran Col- 

 lege, an Academy where the nobles learn different 

 exercises, the arsenal, and several Roman Catholic 

 and Protestant churches. There is here a manufac- 

 ture of fine cloth, and a great deal of spinning has 

 been carried on both in the town and neighbourhood, 

 since the year 1728, when Brieg obtained permission 

 from the Emperor to hold two fairs annually for the 

 sale of wool. A considerable trade in the wines of 

 Austria and Hungary is carried on by the merchants of 

 this place. To the north of the town, in a spacious 

 meadow intersected by a broad dike, paved with 

 stones, there are held three fairs every year, where 

 many thousands of cattle from Poland and Hungary 

 are brought for sale. In the neighbourhood of Brieg 

 there are several iron foundries. Corn, madder, and 

 tobacco, are produced in the principality, which is 

 about 36 miles long, and from 8 to 21 broad. East 

 Long. 17 38', North Lat. 50 48'. ( 



BRIEL, or BKILL, a maritime city of the 

 United Provinces, and capital of the island of Voorn, 

 is situated near the embouchure of the Meuse, with 

 which it communicates by means of a large and com- 

 modious harbour. It holds the fifth rank among the 

 cities of Holland, and is famous for being the place 

 where the confederates of the United Provinces first 

 established their independence. Being driven from 

 the Low Countries by the duke of Alva, and on ac- 

 count of the representations of the Spanish ambassa- 

 dor to queen Elizabeth, denied admission into Eng- 

 land, these desperate exibs were forced to attempt 

 the most perilous enterprises. Sailing towards Enck- 

 huysen, in 1572, they were driven by unfavourable 

 winds to the island of Voorn, when they assaulted 

 and took the city of Briel, which they fortified, and 

 made the first asylum of their liberty. The inhabi- 

 tants of the surrounding country immediately flocked 

 to their standard, and in a few days, the provinces of 

 Holland and Zealand had revolted from the Spaniards. 

 When the states of Holland concluded a treaty with 

 queen Elizabeth in 1585, Briel was one of the cau- 

 tionary towns delivered to the English for securing 

 the fulfilment of their engagements ; and it continued 

 to be garrisoned by English troops until 1616, when 

 it was restored to the states. This city is also noted 

 for being the birth place of the celebrated Martin 

 Harpertz Tromp, admiral of Holland, who was kil- 

 led in an engagement with the English fleet under 

 Admiral Blake, off the Texel, on the 8th of August, 

 lu'53. It is 5| leagues from Rotterdam, and 4^ from 

 Delft. N. Lat. 51 53', E. Long. 4. (p) 



S, Henry, a celebrated mathenv.: 

 wai 1> 



the V> Yorkshire. At \\i-- 



In- If!: 'iimar school, and went t 



ok his i!< 



Bnchrlor ol Ails, .u,l thm- years afterward, that 

 of Master ; and in 1.>SN In- \va.choson a I'cll 

 that College. Hi- passii n fur ir ithematical leaning 

 had already displayed itself i:i the progress of hi , 

 studios, and such was the fame whir!) he had ac- 

 quired in this department, that in I.', -as ap- 

 pointed examiner and lecturer in the m.ith'-r 

 and he was soon after chosen reader of the physio 

 lectures, founded by Dr Linacre. Upon th 

 blishment of Gresham College in London, Brigg-; 

 was, in 1596, elected the first Professor of Geometry ; 

 and in this new situation lie drew up a table f 

 termining the latitude of the place from the variation 

 of the magnet. This table was published by Dr 

 Gilbert, in his book DC Mii^ncte, and a! 

 Thomas Blundeville, in his Tlieoriques of the 

 Planrls, a work which appeared in London in 

 In the year 16'09, he became acquainted with Mr 

 James Usher, afterwards Archbishop of Arm.igh, 

 with whom he carried on a correspondence for many 

 years, and two of these letters are to be found in the 

 published collection of Usher's letters. * 



About this time, ;n 1G14, our countryman Lord 

 Napier, published his Mi< ijici iMgnrillintorum canonis 

 descriptio, containing an account ot the discovery of 

 logarithms. This work attracted the particular 

 notice of Briggs, who appears to have perceived at an 

 early period, the advantages of that change in the 

 system of Napier, which was afterwards adopted. In 

 the system invented by Napier, the logarithms of a 

 series of numbers, increasing in the decuple ratio of I, 

 10, 100, formed a decreasing arithmetical series, 

 in which the common difference of the terms was 

 2.3205851. Briggs, however, considered, tlm it 

 would be more conformable to the decimal no' 

 to adopt a system in which 1 should be the logarithm 

 of the ratio of 10 to 1. This alteration in tin 

 of logarithms, was explained by Briggs in his lee 

 at Gresham College ; and he also communicated it 

 by letter to Lord Napier. Not satisfied with an 

 epistolary correspondence, Briggs went to Scotland 

 in 1616, for the express purpose of exphnr 

 Napier the plan which he had formed. During tii"ii 

 conversations on this subject, Napier observed, that 

 the same plan had formerly occurred to him after he 

 had calculated the logarithms according to his own 

 system, and that he merely gave these to the world 

 till his health and leisure should permit him to accom- 

 modate them to the new system. It was pro, 

 by Briggs to make the logarithms of the sines increase 

 from 0, the logarithm of radius to infinity, while the 

 sineo themselves should decrease ; but Napier observes 

 that it would be preferable to make them increase, so 

 that should be the logarithm of 1, and that lOWOO 

 should be the logarithm of radius. This suggestion 

 met with the approbation of Briggs, who accommo- 



* In one of these letters, dated 1615, he says, " Napier, lord of Merchiston, hath set my head and hands at work, with 

 his new and admirable logarithms. I hope to see him this summer, if it please (led, for 1 never, savr u book which pleased 

 >ve better.'' Usher's Letters, p. 36. 



