BRA 
With us in the late war againft Tippoo Saib. The common 
drefs of tlie brahmins are Ihort robes, which do n« reach 
below the knees; over their (boulders is a loofe mantle, 
and on their bread hangs, from the left fltoulder, the ztn- 
tiar, or lacred dring, made of a peculiar kind of cotton. 
They wear beards long and venerable ; their heads, like 
thofe of the Hindoos, are fhaven, and only one lock left 
behind. See the article Hindoostan. ' 
• BRACHYGLOT'TIS,/; in botany. See Cineraria. 
BRA'CHYGRAPHY,/: tliort, and to 
write.].The art or practice of writing in a ll;ort compafs. 
All' the certainty of thofe high pretenders, bating wl/at 
they have of the firft principles,.and the word of God, may 
be circumfcribed by as fmall a circle as the creed, when 
Irachygraphy had confined it within the compafs of a pen¬ 
ny. Glanville. 
BRACHY'LOGY,/! of and Xo- 
Gtv] Brevity, fiiortnels of fpeech, or concifenefs of 
CXprelfion. 
BRACHYP'TERA, f. . A term ufed by Willoughby, 
to.denote thofe fpecies of hawks which have their wings 
fo Ihort as not to reach to the end of the tail. Ot this kind 
are the gofs-hawk, fparrow-hawk, &c. 
B RAC MY P Y R E'N 1 A, /. Among foftils, a genus of 
feptarice, with a diort roundilh nucleus. See Sep taria:. 
_ BRACHYTELOS'TYLA,/. The name by which Dr. 
Hall diftinguilhes thofe crydals which are compofed of a 
fliort hexangular column terminated at each end by an 
hexangular pyramid. 
BRACIEUX', a town of France, in the department of 
tire Loire and Cher, and chief place of a canton, in the 
didrict of Blois : three leagues north-cad of Blois. 
BRACK,_/1.A breach; a broken part,—The place was 
but weak, and the bracks fair ; but the defendants, by re- 
folntion, fupplied all the defeats. Hayward. 
BRACKE, a town of Germany, in tire circle of Weft, 
phalia, and county of Oldenburg : eighteen miles north- 
po.rth-eaft Oldenburg. 
BRACKE, or Brake, a town of Germany, in the cir¬ 
cle of Weftpbalia, and county of Lippe : one mile fouth- 
eaft of Lemgow. 
BR AC K'ENWITZ, a town of Gernrtsmy,. in the circle 
of Upper Saxony, and Middle Marck of Brandenburg : 
three miles fouth of Tn.ienbrietz.en. 
. B.R ACK'ET,y. in. carpentry, a piece of wood fixed for 
tire fupp.ort of foi-nething.—Let your (helves be laid upon 
brackets, being about two feet wide, and edged with a fmall 
Jath. Mortimer. 
BRACK'ETS,y in gunnery, thecheeks.of the carriage 
pf a mortar: they are made of ([rang planks of w.ood, of 
» fem-iciTcufar figure, .and bound round with iron plates 5 
.they are fixed to the beds by bolts, .which,are called bed.- 
•bolisi they rife up on each fide the mortar, and. fe-rve to 
tkcep her at .any elevation, by means of ;ftrung iron bolts,, 
cAlc&brackct-bqits, which go through tlvefe cheek,s or brac¬ 
kets. 
-BRACKMSH, adj. [brack, Dut.] Salt ; fpmciyhat fait : 
jt is ufed particularly of the water of the fca.—P:ts upon 
t.he fea-fiior.e turn into. frefb water, by .percolation of the 
fait through the fa,nd : but it is farther noted, after a 
fime,, the water in Inch pits will become br,adnfh again. 
£aco(i. 
The wife contriver, on his end intent, 
Mix’d them with fait, and feafon’d all the Tea, 
■What other caufe could this-effebt -produce ? 
The brackijk tindlure through the maindiffufe !■ Blackmore, 
BRAC.KISHMES,S.,y Sa.Hnefs in.a fmall degree. — All 
the artificial (trainings hitherto leave a brp.ckijbrifs in fait 
water, that makes it unfi.t for aniuxa-1 ufes. CJieyne. 
BRACK'LEY, [fo called, according tp C.an.ide.n, from 
.the .adjacent country being full of brake or Jim..'] An an¬ 
cient borough-town in Northamptonlhire, thirteen miles 
.from Northampton, and (ixty-feven from London; fmiat- 
cd .near the head of the Oufe, with the fprings of which 
bra 339 
it is pleafantly watered; and is fuppofed to be-t-he third 
borough erebted in England. It was once a famous ftapie 
for wool. Its market is on Wednefday ; and fairs,the fe¬ 
cund Wed-nelday in April, third Saturday in April, Wed¬ 
nefday after June 28, Wednefday before Oblober 10, arid 
December 11, It is governed by a mayor, fix aldermen, 
and twenty-fix burgefies, and fends two members to par¬ 
liament. Here is a free grammar-fckc ' •; alfo a cbarity- 
fcliool. The .town is large, but-irregularly built. It lies 
in a direct road from Northampton to Oxford, and is twen¬ 
ty-one miles from each place. 
BRACKTE A'RIA,y. A genus of talcs, compofed of 
fmall plates in form of lpangles, each plate either being 
very thin, or fiffile'into very thin ones. Of this genus 
there are a great many fpecies, called from their different 
colours, mica aurea, or gold-glimmer ; mica argeniea , fib 
ver-glimmer, or cats-filver, &c. 
■ BRACK'WEDE, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Wellphalia, and county of Ravenfberg : four miles fouth- 
eafi of Bielefeld. 
BRAC'LAW, or BrAcklau, a city of Poland, and 
capital af a palatinate of the fame name, lituated on the 
Bog.- It was taken by the Turks in 1572, but retaken three 
years after: 100 miles eaft of Kaminieck, and 112 north- 
welt of Bender. 
BRACTE'A,yi in metallurgy, a thin leaf or plate of 
any metal. In botany, a fpecies of fmall leaf which ac¬ 
companies molt flowers, as a kind of prop or fupport, 
termed by Linriteiis folium forale, and ranged among the 
fulcra of plants. See Botany, p. 245, of this volume. 
BRAC'TON (Henry de), a celebrated Englifh lawyer 
in the 13th' century, w as, according to Mr. Prince, born in 
Devynlhire ; and ftudied at Oxford, where betook the 
degree of doctor of laws. Applying himfeif afterwards to 
the ftudy of the law, he role to great eminence at the bar; 
and, in 1244, was by king Henry III. made one of the 
judges itinerant. He is chiefly known by his learned work 
De legibus et corfuetudinibus Anglia: ; the firft printed edition 
of it was in 1569, folio. In 1640, it was printed in 4to. 
and great pains was taken to collate various MSS. One 
of the mod: authentic MSS. of this work was burnt in the 
fire whi.ch confumed a part of the Cotton library, Otdober 
2 3> 17 3 1 - It -is a fimlhed and fyftematic performance ; 
giving a complete view of the law, in all its titles, as it 
flood at the time it was written. The value let on this 
work foon after its publication is evinced by the treatifes 
of Britton and Fleta, which are nothing more than appen¬ 
dages to Bratton. The latter was intended as an epitome 
of that author; and the'.merit of the former is confined to 
the Tingle office of fupplying fo.me few articles that had 
been touched lightly by him, with the addition ot the ffa- 
tutes made fince he wrote. Irj.after-times he continued the 
great t'rpafure of our ancient jurifprudence. Thus was 
Bratton defervedly looked up to as the firft fource of legal 
knowledge, even lo low ,dov, n as the days of lord Coke, 
who Teems to have made this apthop his guide in all his en¬ 
quiries into the foundation.of our law. 
BRA'B, being an initial, dignifies brpaf/, fpqiious, from 
the Saxon brad, and -the Gothic brpif 
BRAD , f. A fort of pail to floor room? with. They 
are about the fize.of a tenpennv nail, but hfve not their 
heads- made with a fltoulder over their (hank, as other nails, 
hut are pnacle pretty thick towards the upper end, that the 
Very top may be.driven into, and b.uried in, the board-they 
nail down ; fo that, the tops of thefe J>rads will not catch 
the thrums of the mops, when the ftqor is walking. 
BRA.D'FiEJ.p, a fmall town in the county of ElTex» 
nine miles from Harwich, twelve from Colc.heller, and 
thirty-eight from London. Here is a good, chapity-fchool j 
but if ha^ no market, and but one fair, which held on 
the laft Monday in July. 
BRAD'FORD (John), a divine, and martyr to the re¬ 
formation, born at-Munebefter in Lancalhire. He became 
fecretary to Sir John Harrington, who was employed by 
■ffenry VIH. and‘his fuccefior Edward VI. as pay mailer 
