B R E 



BRENNA, Brecvo, or Bli-nxo, Val cr, one of ilic 

 bnilliagcj of SwificiliUKl, which foinierly belonged to thr 

 o?.iitons of Uric, Sehweitz, iuul UiiderwaUlen, but referred 

 by the Frcticti conftitution of 1801, totlie i 7th (iepartmeiit. 

 I't lies N. of the Bellinzouc and Riviera, and between Val 

 Leventina and the river Tefiino, on the well, and Val 

 Calanca on the eaft. It is about 7 leagues lonir, and half a 

 leaii-ue broad. Its principal relourceo are its pallures and its 



chtfiHlts. See Bl-.LLINZON E. 



BRENNAC;E, Brennas'nm, in MhUle 4^r Wrih-rs, a 

 kind ol tribute paid, in lieu of bran, or bran itfclf, which the 

 tenants weri- obliged to furniHi for fupport of the lord's 

 hounds. The word is aifo written Iremr^e, brcnafjum, and 

 Ircinviic, hrsrw^i^im, brc-naticum, and breiumticiim. IJn-Canre 

 •Lat. GlofT. 



BRENNAU, in Ceogrn/y/jv, a town of Lower Bavaria, 

 fiuiate on the river Hum, meanly built and finking into de- 

 cay ; 1)2 miles from Munich, and 23 miles from I'affau. 



BRENNE, the name, bcfoi-e the revolution, of a fmall 

 diilriiS of France, that lies between Berri, Tourraine, and 

 Poitou, and of which the cliicf town was Mezzieres ; form- 

 ing now a part of the department of the Indre. 



Brenni., a town of France. See Braine. 



BRENNER, Hem<y, in Bioi;raphy, a learned Swede, 

 ■'vas born in 1669, in the parifli of Kronobv in Wetl Bothnia. 

 Having liniflied his education at Upfal, he accompanied, in 

 1697, Lewia Fabricius, his Swedilh majclly's ambaflador, to 

 Perfia ; and as he had acquired, in this journey, an extenfive 

 knowledge of the eattern languages, he remained in that 

 eountiy for the purpofe of aiiiUing the Perfian envoy, Sarug 

 Chan Beg, in his miffion to Sweden. On their way through 

 Ruflia in 1700, a war having taken place between 

 Charles XII. and Peter I. Brenner was arreftcd at Mofcow, 

 under a fufpicion of fome political intrigue, and confined in 

 prifon till the peace of Nyllad. This journey, however, 

 produced a learned epillolary correfpondence with Elias 

 Brenner, Gripenhielm, Gavelius, Benzelier, and Lilienftedt, 

 part of whicii has been publilhed ; and the hiilory of Mofes 

 Armenus Choronenfis, under the title of " Epitome Com- 

 inentariorum Moyfes Armeni de origine et regibus Armeno- 

 rumctParthorum, cum notis ctobfervationibus," Stockholm, 

 1723. The Armenian original of this work, written about 

 the middle of the i ^th century, in the Armenian language, 

 was printed at Aniitcrdam in 1695 > ^"'^ another tranllation 

 of it was printed at Eondon in 17,56 by the fons of the cele- 

 brated V/hillon. In 1722 Brenner communicated to the 

 royal college of the chancery his obfervations on tlie caufe of 

 the expedition undertaken by Peter I. againll the Perfians ; 

 of which Julius Rabner has availed himfelf in his hiilory of 

 that prince. In the courfe of thefe obfervations, lie an- 

 nounced his intention ol giving an accurate delcription of the 

 Cafpian fea, and of the river Daxia in the country of the 

 Nezetzu Tartars, which he fuppofed to be the ancient 

 Jaxartes ; but a copy of it was inferted, without acknow- 

 ledgment, in the " Memorabilia Orientalis partis Afix." 

 Whiill Brenner occupied the office of librarian to the royal 

 library at Stockholm, to which he was appointed in 1722, 

 he enriched it with more than 30 volumes of MSS. which 

 treat of the ecclefiailical hiilory of Sweden. But his health 

 having been impaired by his long confinement in RuiFia, he 

 died in 1732. Gen. Biog. 



Brenner, in Geography, the modern denomination of the 

 Rhaetian Alps, which pafs through the Tyrol, between 

 Infpruck and Slbrzing, over which the high road is ex- 

 tended tlirough an interval of 4 leagues. Thefe mountains 

 rival the grand Alps of Swifferland in numerous glaciers, 

 and, like other grand chains, prefeiit e.xterior barriers; that 



B R E* 



on the north being di(lingui(hed by the name of Spitz, and 

 that on t!ie fouth by the appellation of Vtdreiu. The 

 primitive or greatcft elevation^ arife to the north of Stor/ing, 

 whence ilrcanis proceed towards the river Inn on the north, 

 and to the Adige on the foulh ; and the E'fac deftends, as 

 a precipitous torrent, ainidll mades of granite, pclrcfilex, 

 and marble, while the avalanches become dangerous to 

 travellers. The naked and rugged peaks of th ■ mounts 

 Lorenzen, Fartlshel, and Tfchafatfeh, raifc their towering 

 heads towards the N. W., and on the S. E. are thofe of 

 Glander, Schlofs, Pragles, and Pallanfer. Their Uimmits are 

 entirely bare, and feer.i to be compofed of granite. Tlie 

 glacier moll eafy of accefs is that of Stnbeii, the centre of 

 which prefents many Alpine plants ; and the granite and 

 porphyry are frequently covered with calcareous (lone. The 

 glacier of Stuben is 46 92 feet above the level of the fea, i>nd 

 exhibits the iifual phenomena ol fuch fcencs, with beautiful 

 pyramids of azure, which in finifhine rcfletl a blaze of light. 

 The mountain, particularly called Brenner, is, according to 

 Beaumont (ubi infra) only yicg feet above the level of the 

 iea. The town of Steinach is placed nearly in the centre of 

 the Tyrolefe chain ; towards the eaft, from the midH of a 

 long courfe of glaciers running N. E. and S. Vv'. rifes the 

 grand mountain Gefrorn, a mafs of granite covered witll 

 inow, and one of the hlgheft peaks ot the Rha-tian Alps ; 

 on the welt is Habichfpiz, of fmailer height ; but to the 

 S.W. is Tributaan, another llupendous peak of the great 

 Brenner chain. . Bock-kogo (which fee) is another. The 

 Brenner, or burning hill, fays Beaumont, is fo called on ac- 

 count of the frequent thunder-ilorms. Beaumont's Rhxtiaii 

 Alps, Lond. 1792. Pinkerton's Gcog. vol. i. p. 362, &-C, 

 See Alps, and Tyrol. 



BRENNING. See Burning. 



BRENNKIRCHEN, in Geography, a fmall town of 

 Lower Audria, on the frontiers of Hungary, not far from 

 the Danube. 



&RENO, a town of Italy, in the Bredano, feated near the 

 Oglio, between Bomiio and Brefcia ; 3^ miles N. of Brefc'a, 

 BRENOD, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Ain, and chief place of a canton, in the dillrid of Nantua ; 

 5 miles S. of Na;'.tua, The town contains 879, and the 

 canton 6959 inhabitant's r the territory includes ^15 kilio- 

 mttrcs and Ii communes. 



BRENSCHEN, or Breunschen, a town of Germany, 

 in the circle of the Lower Rhine, and eleftorate of Mentz ; 

 7 miles S. of Militenberg. 



BRENT, Miss, in Biography, afterwards Mrs. Pinto, 

 the firll linger who performed the part of Maiidane in Dr.. 

 Arnc's Artaxerxes. In her bravura finging flit had con- 

 fidcrable merit : her execution was neat, dillintt, rapid, and 

 unrivalled at the time (i7f)j ) ; but has been greatly fur- 

 paffed by lubfequent female fingers. This iMjrformcr died 

 in 1S02, oppreiled by age and indigence. Her hiilory, if 

 detailed, might furnifli a uftful lefl'on to female favo irites of 

 the public, poflefied of greater vocal powers than human- 

 prudence. 



Brent, in Geography, a river of England, which runs into 

 the Thames at Brentford in Middlefcx. 



BRENTA, a river v.hich has its fource in the Tyrol, 

 about 7 miles E. from Trent, pafiesby Padua, and runs intO' 

 the Adriatic, a little to the fouth of Venice. 

 Brenta, in Oriiilhology. See Branta. 

 BRENTFORD, in Geography, a market-town of Mid-- 

 dlefex, England, Hands on the northern banks of the river 

 Thames, at the dillance of feven miles W. from London< 

 This place is particularly diftinguiflied in the page of hiilory 

 as the fcene of warm contention, ia the llronijly conteited 



elec- 



