B R E 
1793, after a (hort (lege of ten days. On the 30th of March 
following, it was again furrendered to the Dutch by capi¬ 
tulation, the foldiers being permitted to return to France 
with l'afe conduit. 
In 1667, was held at Breda a celebrated congrefs for 
peace; firft between Lewis XIV. king of France, and 
Charles II. king of England, concluded the 21ft of July, 
by the mediation of the king of Sweden ; a fecond peace 
was concluded at the fame time, and figned on the 31ft of 
July, between the king of England and the States Gene¬ 
ral ; by an article in which the province of New York was 
given to the Knglifh. The fame day a third peace was 
ratified between the king of England and Frederick III. 
king of Denmark. The Englifh amba'fiadors were Denzil 
Holies and Henry Coventry ; thole of France, Godefroi 
d’Eftrades, lieutenant-general, and Hor.ore Courtin, coun- 
fellor of (fate ; thole of Sweden, George FLemmingh, 
Chriftophre comte de Dhona, and Pierre Jules Coyet ; 
the Dutch appointed Jerome van Beverningk, Pierre de 
Huybert, Allard Pierre Jonghelfal, Adolphus Henry de 
Riperda, and Ludolphe Tiarda de Sterckenborgh ; and 
thofe from Denmark were Paul Klingenbergh and Pierre 
Carilius. The great church is a handfome ftrudhire, and 
remarkable for its tower, which was burned in 1696, and 
fince rebuilt; the height of the fpire is 362 feet: in it are 
feveral monuments of the ancient lords of Breda, the mod 
remarkable are thofe of Engelbert I. who died in 1442 ; 
of John, who died in 1473 ; and of Engelbert II. who died 
in 1504; but they are much defaced. The town-houfe is 
large, the apartments regular, and fumptuoufly furnilhed. 
The city is of a triangular form, and contains about 2200 
houfes; at every angle is a gate, and trees are planted a- 
long the ramparts. It is forty-fix miles fouth of Amfter- 
dam, and twenty-two fouth-fouth-eaft of Rotterdam. Lat. 
51-37. N. Ion. 22. 14. E. Ferro. 
BRE'DA (John Van), painter of hiftory, landfcape, 
and converfations, born at Antwerp in 1683, was the fon 
of Alexander Van Breda, an artifl much efteemed for land- 
fcapes, views of particular feenes in Italy, fairs, and mar¬ 
kets, with a variety of animals and figures. He was in- 
lf rutted by his father; and, having the advantage of a good 
example and a good director, added to his own great appli¬ 
cation, he continued his ftudies with his father till he was 
eighteen years of age. Among the variety of capital paint¬ 
ings which were at that time in the polfedion of John de Wit, 
at Antwerp, Breda fixed upon thofe of Velvet Breugel, 
which he copied with extraordinary fuccefs; and he was 
alfo employed for nine years in copying the pidtures of 
feveral other great mailers; which he performed with fuch 
incredible exadnefs as fcarcely to leave it in the power of 
any perlbn to diftinguilh the original? from the copies. Ha¬ 
ving at length eftablilhed his reputation in Holland, he went 
to London with Ryfbrack the fculptor, and there gradually 
rofe into fuch efteem, that he was vifited by perfons of the 
higheft rank, and particularly patronized by the earl of 
Derwentwater, who was beheaded for rebellion in 1715. 
He found fo much encouragement in London, that he was 
employed by the court and the nobility, and could fcarcely 
execute the large demands for his performances. After a 
relidence of fome years in England, he re.turned to Ant¬ 
werp loaded with riches, the honourable teftimonies of 
Englilh liberality, as well as of his own merit y and in 1746, 
when Louis XV. arrived in that city, he fo far honoured 
this mailer as to purchafe four of his pictures. His co¬ 
louring is good, his touch neat, his (kies and diflances na¬ 
tural and beautiful, and his take of defign agreeable. In 
Ihort, lie was a painter of fuch ability, that the value 
of his works mull always increafe. He died in 1750. 
BREDE, f. See B raid. -*-In a curious Areafe of needle¬ 
work, one colour falls away by fuch juft degrees, and ano¬ 
ther riles fo infenfibly, that we fee the variety, without 
being able to dillinguifh the total vanilhing of the one 
from the firll appearance of the other. Addijon. 
BRE'DE (La), a village of France, in the department 
of the Gironde, with a chateau, in which the celebrated 
Vo l. ill. No. 1 36. 
Montefquieu was born and refided : two leagues and a 
half fouth-eafl of Bourdeaux. 
BRE'DENBORN, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Weftphalia, and bifhopric of Paderborn : four miles 
eaft of Neheim. 
BRE'DERODED an ancient and noble figniory of Hol¬ 
land, between Beverwick and Harlem. The lord of Bre- 
derode was one of the principal gentlemen who prefented 
a petition to Margaret of Aufiria againft the inquifition 
and other innovations, in the year 1566. The title is 
now extinfl. 
BRE'DEWIG, a town of Norway, in the diocefe of 
Aggerhuus : forty-four miles S. S.W. of Chrilliana. 
BRED'L, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Bole- 
flaw : fix miles north-eaft of Turnau. 
BRED'STEDT, a populous town of Denmark, in the 
duchy of Slefwick, and capital of a diftrift to which it 
gives name : twenty-one miles weft-north-weft of Slefwick. 
BRED'YT, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 
Lower Rhine, and electorate of Treves : eleven miles eaft 
ot Treves. 
BREE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Mayenne : ten miles north-eaft of Laval. 
BREECH, f. ffuppoled from brcecan, Sax.] The lower 
part of the body; the back part.—When the king’s par¬ 
don was offered by a herald, a lewd boy turned towards 
him his naked breech, and ufed words fuitable to that 
gefture. Hayward. —Breeches: 
Ah! that thy father had been fo refolv’d;— 
-—That thou might’ll Hill have worn the petticoat, 
And ne’er had ftol’n the breech from Lancufter. Shakefp „ 
The hinder part of a piece of ordnance : 
So cannons, when they mount vaff pitches, 
Are tumbled back upon their breeches. 
The hinder part of any thing. 
To BREECH, v. a. To put into breeches. To<fit any 
thing with a breech ; ag To breech a gun. 
BREE'CHtlS, f. [brcec, Sax. from bracca , an old Gaul- 
ilh word ; fo that Skinner imagines the name of the part 
covered with breeches to be derived from that of the gar¬ 
ment. In this fenfe it hSs no Angular.] The garment 
worn by men over the lower part of the body : 
Rough fatires, fly remarks, ill-natur’d fpeeches, 
Are always aim’d at poets that wear breeches. Prior. 
The ancient Romans had nothing in their drefs anfwer- 
ing to our breeches and (lockings; inftead of which, under 
their lower tunics and waiftcoafs, they fome times bound 
their thighs and legs round with (ilken fcarves or fafeiae, 
called libialia and femoralia. Breeches appear to be a ha¬ 
bit peculiar to the barbarous nations, efpecially thofe in¬ 
habiting the colder countries of the north ; whence Ta¬ 
citus calls them barbarum legmen. We find .mention made 
of them among the ancient Getae, Sarmatae, Gauls, Ger¬ 
mans, and Britons ; they alfo obtained among the Medes 
and Perfi'ans, as being a people of Scythian origin; they 
alfo afterwards got footing in Italy, fome pretend as early 
as the time of Auguftus ; but without much foundation, 
that emperor’s breeches, mentioned by Suetonius, being 
apparently only fwaths tied over his thighs. However 
this be, breaches were at laft received into Italy, and grew 
fo highly into falhion, that it was thought nccelfary, under. 
Honorii'is and Arcadius, to re ft rain them by law, and exr 
pel the bracarii, or breeches-makers, out of the city ; it 
being thought tinvvorthy of a nation that commanded the 
world, to wear the apparel of barbarians. 
“Wine wears no Breeches.” The French fay, le 
vin n'a point de chaujfure. That is, it difcovers a man’s na- 
kednels. To wear the breeches, or have the maftery, is when 
the wife affumes the authority of her hufband. 
BREECH'INGS, J\ in fea language, the ropes with 
which the great guns are la (bed or faltened ,to the (hip’s 
fide. They are thus called, becaiife made to pals round 
the breech of the gun. 
8 5C 
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