B R E 
“Paris, April 13, 1693, aged feventy-four> She wrote a 
collection of letters and verfes, 1688, limo, in which we 
meet with many ingenious thoughts : her verfes almoft 
entirely turn on a metaphyfical love, which employed her 
mind ^iiore than her heart; but there'are feveral pieces 
that are not of this defeription. 
BREHAL', a town of France, in the department of the 
Channel and chief place of a canton, in the diftriCt of 
Contances-: three leagues foiith-fouth-weft of Coutances. 
BREHAN' LOUDEAC', a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of Morbihan, and chief place of a canton, in 
the diftricf of Jolfelin : fix miles north of Jolfelin. 
BREHAR', one of the Scilly iflands, almoft direffly 
weft of the land’s end in Cornwall, about the diftance of 
thirty miles. It lies between the illes of Micarlo, Guel, 
Trefcaw, and Samfon It is the rougheft and mod moun¬ 
tainous of them all. There are a few mean houfes, called 
the town of Brehar ; and there are feveral barrows edged 
with ftone, in which they buried confiderable perfons in 
ancient times ; befides many, monuments of the Druids. 
S01 e are of opinion, that this witli the reft made but one 
ifland, which is the reafcn why fo many antiquities are 
found ; n all of them. Lat.30.2-N. Ion.6.47. W. Greenwich. 
BREHEMO'NT, a town of France, in the department 
of the iudre and Loire: four leagues wefi of Tours. 
BREH'NA, a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony and electorate: twelve mileseaft-north-eaft of Halle. 
BRE'HONS, f. The provincial judges among the an¬ 
cient Irifh, by whom juftice was adminiftered, and contro- 
verfies decided. Thefe (ages were a diftinft tribe or fa¬ 
mily, to whom competent lands were allowed in inheri¬ 
tance. In criminal cafes, the brehon had the eleventh 
part of all the fines; which could not but be confiderable 
at a time when murders, rapes, robberies, and the like 
offences, were only fubjeCt to pecuniary commutations; 
The brehon laws- were the general maxims or rules of law 
obferved by the brchons, and had the force of law through¬ 
out all the provinces of Ireland. Several fragments of the 
leges brehonicee are ftill extant in public and private libra¬ 
ries. The mod complete collection is that which belonged 
to the late duke of Chandos, now in the poffeflion of his 
fon-in-law, lord Temple ; containing twenty-two flieets 
and a half, clofely written, full of abbreviated words, and 
not very legible. By the ftatute of Kilkenny, made under 
Edward HI. it is ena’Cted, that no Englilh fubjeCt fhall 
fubmit to a trial by the brehon law, on the penalty of 
high treafon : notwithftanding which, many were ftill un¬ 
der a neceflity'of being concluded by the Irifh laws and 
cuftoms, till the whole kingdom was fettled on air Englilh 
bottom bv James I. 
BRETDEMBACH, a town of France, in the depart- 
ment of the Mofelle, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftriCt of Bitche : five miles north of Bitche. 
BRRISCH, a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, and duchy of Croffen : 'eight miles S. Crofien. 
BREI'TENBA-CH, a town of Germany, in the circle 
•e’f Upper Saxony and county of Schwartzburg, with two 
•churches and four hundred hoiifes : fourteen miles fouth 
•Of Erfurt. 
BREI'TENBERG, a town of Germany, in the duchy 
-Of Holftein, on the river Stoer : two miles S. Itzehoa, 
BREI'TENECK, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Bavaria, which gives name to a lordfhip, and belongs to 
the counts of Montfort : three miles north eaft of Diet- 
f-urt, and eighteen weft-north-weft of Ratifbon. 
BREIT'ZEN HEIM, a Jordfhip of Germany, in the 
circle of the Lower Rhine, on theNahe, near the town of 
Creutznach ; it takes its name from an old caftle, now in 
mins. Tlte inhabitants are partly catholics, and partly 
Lutherans. 
BRE'LANDS, a town in Norway, feven miles weft- 
north-weft of Chriftianfand. 
BRELLES, a town of France, in the department of 
Finifterre, and chief place of a canton, in the diftriCt of 
Breft : three leagues and a half norfh-weft of Breft. 
B R E 375 
> 
BRE'MA, a town of Italy, in the Milanefe, near the 
conflux of the Seffia and Po, on the frontiers of Montfer- 
rat : twerrty-cight miles weft of Pavia. 
BREM'BO, a river of I taly, which runs into the Ad¬ 
da, eight miles front the Bergamo. 
BREME, adj. [from bremman, Sax. to rage, or fume.,} 
Cruel, (harp, fevere. Not now in tufe ; 
And, when the fhining fun laugheth once, 
You deemen thefpring come at Once; 
But eft, when you count you freed from fear, 
Conies the bremc winter, with chamfred brows, 
Full of wrinkles'and frofty flirrows. Spenfer. 
BRE'MEGARTON, fee Bremgarton. 
BRE'MEN, a duchy of Germany, in the circle of the 
Lower Saxony, bounded on the north by the German O- 
cean and the Elbe ; on the eaft by Holftein, Luneburg, 
and Verden; on the fouth by Verden, Hoya, and Di£p- 
holtz ; and on the weft by Oldenburg and the German O- 
-cean. The greateft length is about twenty leagues, and 
the breadth about feventeen. The whole is a vaft plain 5 
and almoft lurrounded by the Elbe and the Wefer. The 
lands bordering on the Elbe afford,an extraordinary plenty 
of grain and fruit ; thole on the Ofte are likewife exceed¬ 
ingly fertile in grain, and yield alfo a clay for veflels, to¬ 
gether with a free-ftone ; thofe along the Wefer, befides 
their fertility in grain, produce large breeds erf cattle. 
For tlie preservation of thefe marlh-lands.againft inunda¬ 
tions, the dikes and dams are kept in conftant repair, at a 
great expence, under the infpeCtion of dike-graves, dike- 
judges, and jurats. The champain country has in fome 
parts good corn-land ; the heaths too are covered with 
(beep, and the culture of bees is very much attended to. 
On the moors are dug vaft quantities of turf, which are 
carried to Bremen and Hamburg, and ufed in brick-kilns, 
glafs-houfes, and for fuel in private houfes. This coun¬ 
try likewife yields a great deal of flax. 
The duchy of Bremen was formed Out of an archbi- 
fhopric, as this'latter was out of a bifhopric, founded by 
the emperor Charles .the Great in 787, (though others fay 
in 788,) and of which Willehad, an Englifhman, was the 
firll bifhop. On the deceafe of Leuderichs TIL bifhop 
Anfcarius was tranflated to Bremen ; and in 838 the fee 
itfel'f was actually incorporated with Hamburg, as the 
archbifliopric of the northern nations. The archbilhops 
gradually got into their hands the counties within the 
diocefeof Bremen, together with the fovereignty over it. 
After the death of archbifhop John Roden, in 1311, the 
chapter elected only fuc'h for their archbift'.ops as were of 
princely families. In 1644 the Swedes made themfelves 
matters of Bremen ; but at the peace-of Weftphalia, in 
1648, returned it as a.duchy and fief of the empire. In 
1675, the duke of Brunfwic and Ltvneburg, in conjunc¬ 
tion with the bifhop of Munfter and fome Dauifh forces, 
over-ran this duchy as far as Stade, which la ft place was 
alfo taken the following year by the Luneburg troops. 
During'the northern warp the Danes, in 1712, reduced 
the duchies of Bremen and Verden ; and in 1715 king 
Frederic TV. transferred them to the elector of Brunl- 
wic, in lieu of the fum of 700^000 rix-dollars. In 17:9, 
by the peace of S’ockholm, they were ceded by the crowd 
of Sweden for ever to the elector of Brunfwic, together 
with all their rights and appurtenances ; but for this re¬ 
nunciation the eleCtor paid a million of rix-dollars. It 
was not till the year 1732 that the eleCtor obtained the 
emperor’s inveftiture for Bremen and Verden. Thp elec¬ 
tor of Bnmfwic,. as duke of Bremen, is poUefled, in the 
college of princes, of the fixth feat on the bench of tem¬ 
poral princes, and in the diet of Lower Saxony, exclusive 
of the vote, is alternately director with Magdeburg. The 
aflefl'ment of the duchy to a Roman month is 24 horfe and 
106 foot, or 688 florins, which is alfo its contingent to the 
matricula of the circle ; and to the chamber at Wetzlaar 
it pays 108 rix-dollars, 22 kruitzers and a half. In tire 
whole duchy are but two cities, and three places enjoying 
