BRE 
ropes with which the great guns are lash- 
ed or fastened to the ship’s side. They are 
thus called because made to pass round the 
breech of the gun. 
BREEZE, a shifting wind, that blows 
from sea or land for some certain hours of 
the day or night ; common in Africa, and 
some parts of the East and West Indies. 
The sea. breeze is only sensible near the 
coasts ; it commonly rises in the morning 
about nine, proceeding slowly in a fine small 
black curl on the water, towards the shore ; 
it increases gradually till twelve, and dies 
about five. Upon its ceasing, the land 
breeze commences, which increases till 
twelve at night, and is succeeded in the 
morning by the sea breeze again. 
Breeze, in brick-nraking, small ashes 
and cinders, sometimes made use of instead 
of coals for the burning of bricks. 
BRENTUS, in natural history, a genus 
of insects of the order Coleoptera. Generic 
character: antenna: moniliform, inserted 
beyond the middle of the snout; head pro- 
jecting into a very long, straight, cylindrical 
snout. There are eleven species in two 
divisions; A. thighs simple ; B. thighs tooth- 
ed. B. bifrons is black; shells striate 
with glabrous yellow spots : it inhabits 
Cayenne. In one sex the snout is cylindri- 
cal, black ; antenna: short ; thorax purplish, 
with three black lines : in the other sex 
the snout is projected, cylindrical, thicken- 
ed at the tip with incurved jaws ; thorax 
caniculate, black. 
BREVE, in music, a note or character of 
time, in the form of a diamond or square, 
without any tail, and equivalent to two 
measures, or minims. 
Breve, oi Brevis, in grammar : syllables 
are distinguished into longs and breves, ac- 
cording as they are pronounced quicker or 
more slow. 
BREVET rank, is a rank in the army 
higher than that for which a person receives 
pay. It gives precedence when corps are 
brigaded, according to the date of the bre- 
\vet commission. 
BREVIARY, a daily office, or book of 
divine service in the Romish church. It is 
composed of matins, lauds, first, third, sixth, 
and ninth vespers, and the compline or post 
communio. 
The breviary of Rome is general, and 
may be used in all places ; but on the model 
of this various others have been built, ap- 
propriated to each diocese, and each order 
of religious. 
BREWER, a person who professes the 
BRE 
art of brewing. There are companies of 
brewers in most capital cities : that of Lon- 
don was incorporated in 1 427, by Henry VI. 
and that of Paris is still older. 
BREWING, the art of brewing, or of 
preparing a vinous fermented liquor from the 
farinaceous seeds, is of very high antiquity. 
The ancient Egyptians, from the soil and 
climate of their country not being favour- 
able to the culture of the vine, were in- 
duced to seek a substitute in barley, from 
which, in all probability, by the process of 
malting, they knew how to procure a fer- 
mented liquor. All the ancient malt li- 
quors, however, seem to have been made 
entirely of barley, or some other farina- 
ceous grain, and therefore were not gene- 
rally calculated for long keeping, as this 
quality depends considerably, though not 
entirely, on the bitter extract of hops, or 
other vegetables, with which the liquor is 
mingled. Modern malt liquor is essentially 
composed of water, of the soluble parts of 
malt and hops, and of yeast. 
Three or four different kinds of malt are 
distinguished by the brewer by their co- 
lours, which depend on the degree of heat 
that is used in the drying. Malt that has 
been dried by a very gentle heat scarcely 
differs in its colour from barley ; if exposed 
to a somewhat higher temperature, it ac- 
quires a light amber-yellow hue ; and by 
successive increments of heat, the colour 
becomes deeper and deeper, till, at length, 
it is black. The change of colour is owing 
to the grain being partially charred or de- 
composed ; and in proportion to the extent 
to which this alteration is allowed to pro- 
ceed, will the produce of sugar, that is, of 
fermentable matter, he diminished. The 
principal advantage of high-dried malt over 
the paler kind, is the deep yellowish brown 
tinge which it gives to the liquor ; but this 
colour may be communicated much more 
economically by burnt sugar. The malt, 
whether pale or high-dried, must be bruised 
between rollers, or coarsely ground in a 
mill before it is used, and it is found by ex- 
perience, that malt which has lain to cool 
for some weeks is, in many respects, pre- 
ferable to that which is used, as it comes 
hot from the mill. The first step in the 
process of brewing, is 
Mashing. This is performed in the mash- 
tub, which is a circular wooden vessel, 
shallow in proportion to its extent, and fur- 
nished with a false bottom pierced with 
small holes, fixed a few inches above 
the real bottom ; whep it is small it 
