B R E 



jr cjcidenee, bfars the name of the founder ; but no atlcli- 

 tioiT !ia\iiig bcin made to the revenue, it Is now only capable 

 of niaiiitai.iui;,; three lludciUs. Eluy. Did. Hillor. 



13REVLA uf.ata, mentioned by Fcotlal Jl^riters, were 

 written memorandums, introduced to perpetuate the tenor of 

 the conveyance and invcfliture of land-;, when grants by 

 parol only became the ocoafion of difpiite and uncertainty. 

 To this end they regillered in the deed the pcrfons who 

 attended as witndrcs, and heard it read without iigning their 

 names ; the clerk adding their names in a fort of memo- 

 randum. Modern deeds are an improvement and am- 

 plification of thcfc. Blackllone's Comment, vol. ii. p. 



327- 



BREVIARE, to abbreviate or reduce a thing into a 

 fhorter compafs. This is othcrwife called abbnvlarc and 

 iribrcviare. 



BREVIARIUM, is more particularly ufed among Ro- 

 man writers, to denote a book introduced by Auguifus, 

 containing the accounts of the empire. The defign of it 

 was for giving an account to the people how the monies le- 

 vied on them were applied. The emperor Tiberius laid 

 afide the breviarium, but it was refumcd by Caligula. 



BREVIARY, is an epitome and abridgment, or fliort 

 ftate of a thing. The woid is Latin, breviarium, though 

 not pure, as appears from Seneca, who obferves, that the 

 ancients, in lieu of it, uied Jhmmariiim. 



Breviary was alfo ufed among the ancients for the place 

 where the briefs, or what was written abbreviately, were 

 prcferved. 



Breviary, among Ecc/efnjlical IVriUrs, denotes the of- 

 fice or fervice, both for day and night, as performed in the 

 Romilh churches. 



Breviary is more frequently ufed for a church-book, 

 containing the office of the breviary, that is, the prayers, 

 and other parts of the fervice, with the feveral variations to 

 be made therein, according to the feveral days, canonical 

 hours, feails, and the hke. 



D. Mege derives the name breviary from hence, that the 

 ancient monks in their journeys, &c. had little books, 

 wherein were the pfalms and lelTons read in the choir, col- 

 lefted out of large volumes : and F. Mabillon tells us, he 

 has fecn two fuch books in the archives of Cifteaux ; 

 they were not above three fingers broad : their letter was ex- 

 ceedingly fmall, and conlilled moftly in abbreviations, ex- 

 prefllng a whole period in a few fyllabks : whence they had 

 a good title to the appellation of breviaries, q. d. abridg- 

 ments. Some deduce the appellation breviary hence, that 

 when the popes refided in the Lateran palace, the office 

 read in the papal palace was much fhorter than that faid in 

 the other churches of Rome ; which office, thus abbreviated, 

 was compiled by Innocent III., and called officium capellare, 

 till fuch time as the Francifcan friars adopting the fame, in 

 conformity to the papal chapel, it became denominated brevi- 

 arium, and fhortly after was in general ufe. Marg. Vocab. 

 Ecclef. p. 38. Menag. Orig. Franc. The (irft time the 

 word breviary occurs, in the fenfe of a church-book, is in a 

 letter of the archbilhop of Lyons to the bilhop of Langres, 

 in 1099 ; or rather by Micrologus, who lived in loSo, 



The Roman breviary is general, and may be ufed in every 

 place : but on the model of this have been formed various 

 others, peculiarly appropriated to each diocefe, and each 

 order of religious. 



The breviary confifts of the fervices of matins, lauds, 

 prime, third, fixth, nones, vefpers, and the complines, 

 or poft-communio ; that is, of feven different hours ; on 

 account of that faying of David, Seplies in ilie lauilem dixi 

 tibi. The obligaiioa of reviling the breviary every day^ 



B R E 



which was at firll univcrfal, by degrees was reduced to tie 

 benehciar)- clergy alone, who are bound to do it on mmi of 

 mortal fin, and of refunding their revenms, in proportion as 

 t ley arc delinquent herein. Ii, the fourteenth centurv, 

 ttierc was a particular refervation in favour of bilhops, for 

 palling, on occafion, three davs without rehearfing the bre- 

 viary. The inllitution of the brevi.iry not being vcr>- an. 

 cient, the lives of the faints were infer! ed in it, agreeable to 

 the opinions of the times, i. c. full of ridiculous ill-attc(Kd 

 tads ; which gave a handle to feveral purgations, orreform- 

 ations thereof, by feveral councils, particularly thofe of 

 1 rent and Cologne ; by fcvei-al popes, as Pins V. Clement 

 VIII. and Uiban VJII. as alfo by feveral cardinals and 

 bilhops, each of whom lopped od fome of the extravagan- 

 cies, and bro^ight the work nearer to the fimplicity of the 

 primitive olHees ; as acknowledging, that in the ancieirt 

 church there was nothing read, but icripture itfelf.— Cardi- 

 nal Ouignon carried tlie reformation the farthcll; leavimr 

 out the httle office of the Virgin, the verfes, refponfes, and 

 a great part of the lives of the faints. 



The breviaries now in ufe arc almoft innumerable : the 

 dilTerence between them confifts principally in the number 

 and order of the pfalms, hymns, pater-nollcrs. ave-maries, 

 credos, maginhcats, cantemufes, benedidufes, canticamufes, 

 nunc dimittifes, miferereres, hallelujahs, gloria patris, 



The moft eminent, after the Roman breviary, arc thofe 

 of the Benedidins, of the Bernardines, of the Chartreux, of 

 the Pra;monftratenfcs, of the Dominicans, the Carmelite':, 

 trie Fiancifcans, and Jefuits ; alfo that of Cluny, of the 

 church of Lyons, the church of Milan, and the Mozarabic 

 breviary ufed in Spain. But, in reality, there is fcarcely a 

 church in the communion of Rome, in France, Flanders, 

 Spam, Germany, &c. that has not fomething particular in the 

 form and manner of its breviary, though the dillerences arc 

 generally inconliderable. See Ambrosian, Gallicav. 

 &c. 



The breviary of the Greeks, which they call .-.^^cy.ov, 

 horologium, q.d. dial, is nearly the fame, in almoll'all the 

 churches and monalleries that follow the Greek rite. The 

 Greeks divide the pfalter into twenty parts, xa5<T/:.al« ; 

 which are a kind of rells, paufes, or ftations: and each 

 paufe is again fubdivided into three parts. In general, the 

 Greek breviary confifts of two parts ; the one containing the 

 office for the evening, called ^e™i/x1.o» ; the other that for 

 the morning, confifting of matins, lauds, prime, tierce, 

 fixth, none, vefpers, and complines. The breviary of tlie 

 Maronites contains fome more confiderable variations. 



Among the people who fpeak the Sclavonic language, or 

 any of its dialeds, the breviary is rehearfed in the vulgar 

 tongue, as among the Maronites in Syriac, among the Air- 

 menians in Armenian, &c. Thofe who rehearfe the brcvi. 

 ary in the Sclavonic, are divided as to the rite; fome fol- 

 lowing the Roman or Latin rite, as the inhabitants of Dal. 

 matia and the neighbouring coalls ) whereas thofe who live 

 farther within the continent as in Hungary, Bofnia, Selavo- 

 nia, &c. and in Poland, Lithuania, and Mufcovy, follow 

 the Greek rite. The hrcviaries of the Cophts and Abyffi. 

 nians are much alike. 



BREVIATE, is fbmetimes ufed for an abridgment, or 

 ffiort extrad of a book or paper. Phil. Tranf. N" ;-. 



p. 2'2I2, *' 



BREVIATOR, an officer under the eaftern empire, 

 wkofi; bufinefs was to write and tranfcribe briefs. At 

 Ronje, thofe are ftill called breviators, or abbreviators, who 

 didate and draw up the pope's briefs. See Abbreviatos. 



BREVIBUS, et Rotulis liberandis, in Law, i writ or 



znandUttt 



