BRO 



BRO 



them to pay. In such an action, the 

 agent may avail himself of every defence, 

 such as fraud, deviation, non-compliance 

 with warranties, &c. which the under- 

 writers might have set up in an action on 

 the policy : but if the agent act in the 

 Usual manner, it will be deemed suffi- 

 cient. There are many reasons why an 

 agent or broker ought not to be an in- 

 surer. He becomes too much interested 

 to settle with fairness the rate of pre- 

 mium, the amount of partial losses, &c. ; 

 and though he should not himself occa- 

 sion any unnecessary delay or obstacle to 

 the payment of a loss, he will not be over 

 anxious to remove the doubts of others : 

 besides, he ought not, by underwriting 

 the policy, to deprive the parties of his 

 unbiassed testimony in case of dispute. 

 If an agent or broker, meaning to appro- 

 priate the premium to himself, and take 

 the chance of a safe arrival, represent to 

 his employer, that ah insurance has been 

 effected agreeably to his instructions, the 

 principal may maintain trover for the po- 

 licy against the agent or broker; and, 

 upon proof of a loss, he shall recover to 

 the same amount as he would have been 

 entitled to recover against the underwri- 

 ters, if a policy had been effected. 



BROKERS, stock, are those employed to 

 buy and sell shares in the joint stock of 

 a company or corporation, and also in the 

 public funds. The negotiations, &c. of 

 these brokers are regulated by several 

 statutes, which, among other things, en- 

 act, that contracts in the nature of wages, 

 &c. incur a penalty of 5001. ; and by the 

 sale of stock, of which the seller is not 

 possessed, and which he does not trans- 

 fer, a forfeit of 1001. ; and contracts for 

 sale of any stock, of which the contrac- 

 tors are not actually possessed, or to 

 which they are not entitled, are void, and 

 the parties agreeing to sell, &c. incur a 

 penalty of 5001. ; and that brokers keep 

 a book, in which all contracts, with their 

 dates, and the names of the parties con- 

 cerned, shall be entered, on pain of 501. : 

 these enactments, however, are little 

 regarded by the gamblers in the public 

 funds. 



BROKERS, pawn, are persons who keep 

 shops, and let out money to necessitous 

 people upon pledges, for the most part 

 on exorbitant interest. These are more 

 properly called pawn-takers, or tally- 

 men, sometimes fripers, or friperers. Of 

 these is to be understood the statute of 

 1 Jac. I. c. 21, by which it is enacted, that 

 the sale of goods, wrongfully gotten, to 

 any broker in London, Westminster, 

 Southwark, or within two miles of Lon- 



YOL. II. 



don, shall not alter the property thereof' 

 If a broker, having received such goods, 

 shall not, upon the request of the right 

 owner, truly discover them, how and 

 when he came by them, and to whom 

 they are conveyed, he shall forfeit the 

 double value thereof to the said owner. 

 But there are several excellent regulations 

 respecting pawn-brokers of later date. 



BROKERAGE, the fee paid to a broker 

 for his trouble in negotiating business be- 

 tween person and person. 



BROMELIA, in botany, so named in 

 memory of Olaus Bromel, a Swede, a 

 genus of the Hexandria Monogyma class 

 and order. Nature*! order of Coronarix. 

 Bromelize, Jussieu. Esst-ntial character: 

 calyx trifid, superior ; petals three, and a 

 nectareous scale at the base of each ; ber- 

 ry three-celled. There are nine species, 

 one of which, B. ananas, or pine-apple, 

 is a fruit now so well known in Europe, 

 and so much esteemed for the richness 

 of its flavour, is produced from an herba- 

 ceous plant which has leaves somewhat 

 resembling those of aloe, and for the most 

 part serrate on their edges, but much 

 thinner and not so succulent as those of 

 the aloe. The fruit resembles, in shape, 

 the cone of some species of the pine-tree, 

 from which it takes the vulgar name of 

 pine-apple. 



Where this plant is a native is difficult 

 to determine, but it is probably an indi- 

 genous plant of Africa, where it grows 

 in uncultivated places in great plenty. 

 There are many varieties of this fruit, 

 and if the seeds were sown frequently in 

 their native country, the varieties would 

 probably be as numerous as those of ap- 

 ples and pears in Europe. The queen 

 pine is the most common, but the sugar 

 loaf is much preferable, the fruit being 

 larger and better flavoured ; it is easily 

 distinguished from the others by its leaves 

 having purple stripes on their inside the 

 whole length ; it is also of a paler colour 

 when ripe, inclining to straw colour. This 

 was brought from Brazil 1o Jamaica, 

 where it is esteemed far beyond the 

 others. The smooth pine is preserved by 

 some curious persons for the sake of va- 

 riety, but the fruit is not worth eating. 

 The green pine is at present the most 

 rare in Europe ; it has been esteemed the 

 best sort known, by some of the most cu- 

 rious persons in America, many of whom 

 have thrown out all the others to cultivate 

 this only. 



Those who wish to understand the pro- 

 pagation and culture of the pine-apple 

 may consult Martyn's Botanical Dictionary 

 with much advantage. 



