B 11 E 
BRESSS, before the late revolution, a country of 
France, in the province of Burgundy, bordered on the 
eaft by Savoy, cn the fouth by Viennois, on the welt by 
Lyonnois and Dombes, and on the north by Tranche 
Comte. Bourg was the capital. 
BRESSI'CI. See Breste. 
BRESSUYRE, a town of France, and feat of a tribu¬ 
nal, in the department of the Two Sevres : ten leagues 
north of Niort, and hve north-north-weft of Partenay. 
BREST, a capital fea-port town of France, on the Eng- 
lilh Channel, and principal place of a diitrift, in the de¬ 
partment of Finifterre, with one of the belt harbours in 
France, and a lafe road capable of containing 500 men of 
war in eight, ten, and fifteen, fathom, at low water. The 
coaft on both ikies is well fortified. The entrance is nar¬ 
row and difficult, with covered rocks, that make it dan¬ 
gerous to thofe not we 11 acquainted with it. It contains 
two parilhes, and a marine feminary. The arfenal is an 
immenfe and fuperb building, and the dock-yards well 
conftrufted. It is the feat of a governor, of an admiralty- 
board, and a municipality. In the year 1694, an Engliih 
fleet was lent to feize on Breft ; but, after an unfuccelsful 
attempt to land in Camaret Bay, they were compelled to 
give up the enterprife, after having loft 700 men, and ge¬ 
neral Toiiemache, who died in coni'equence of a wmiind in 
his thigh. It is twenty-three polts north-weft ofVannes, 
three and a quarter north-weft of Nantes, and fixty-nine 
and three quarters weft of Paris. 
BREST, f. in architecture, that member of a column 
called alio the torus, or tore. 
BREST-SUMMERS, the large beams in the outward 
parts of any timber building, and in the middle floors, 
into which the girders are framed. 
BRES'TE, or BressPci, the capital of the palatinate 
of Breffci, and of Polefla, in Poland, feated on the river 
Bog: eighty miles eaft of Warfaw- 
BRETA'GNE, or Brittany, before the revolution, 
a ccnfiderable province of France, bounded on the north, 
weft, and fouth, by the fea, and on the eaft by Maine and 
Anjou. The climate is temperate, and the foil unequal; 
in fome places covered with wood, in others the inhabi¬ 
tants cultivate wheat, hemp, flax, &c. The inhabitants 
are reckoned excellent feamen. By the new divifion, Bre¬ 
tagne forms the departments of Finifterre, the North 
Coafts, the Ille and Villaine, Morbihan, and Lower Loire. 
BRET'CHEM, or Gratham, a town of Pruflia, in 
the territory of Culm forty-eight miles eaft of Culm. 
BRETENOU'X, a town of France, in the department 
of the Lot, and'chief place of a canton in the diftrict of 
St. Cere : four miles north-north-vveft of St. Cere. 
BRETEUIL', a town of France, and principal place of 
a diftriff, in the department of the Oife : three polls and 
a half fouth of Amiens, and twelve north of Paris. 
BRETEUIL', a town of France, in the department of 
the Eure, and chief place of a canton, in the diftriff of 
Verneuil : five leagues fouth-fouth-weft of Evreux, and 
two and a half north of Verneuil. 
BRETH'REN, f. The plural of Brother, which 
fee.—All thefe fefls are brethren to each other in faction, 
ignorance, iniquity, perverienefs, pride. Swift. 
Brethren and Clerics of the Common Life, a title 
aflumed by a religious fraternity towards the end of the 
fifteenth century. They lived under the rule of St. A11- 
guftin, and were eminently ufeful in promoting the caule 
of religion and learning. Their fociety was firft formed, 
in the preceding .century, by Gerard de Groote, a native 
of Deventer; but did not flourilh till about the period 
above-mentioned, when it obtained the approbation of 
the council of Conltance, and became very refpectable 
in Holland, Lower Germany, and the adjacent provinces. 
It was divided into two dalles; the Uttered brethren ox 
clerks, and the illiterate ; they lived in feparate habitations, 
but maintained the cloJeft fraternal union. The former 
applied to the (tudy of polite literature, and the education 
of.youth; whilll the latter were employed in manual la* 
B R E 379 
hour and the mechanic arts. They were frequently 
called Beghards and Lollards, by way of reproach. 
Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit, in eccle- 
fialtical hiftory, a title aflumed by a left which fprang up 
towards the clofe of the thirteenth century, and gained 
many adherents in Italy, France, and Germany. They 
took their denomination from the words of St. Paul, 
Rom. viii. 2, 14. and maintained, that the true children 
of God were invelted with the privilege of a full and per¬ 
fect freedom from the jurifdidtion of the law. Some of 
theif principles refembled thofe of the Pantheifts; for 
they held that all things flowed by emanation from God; 
that rational fouls were portions of the Deity, and that 
the univerfe was God; and that, by the power of contem¬ 
plation, they were united to the Deity, and acquired there¬ 
by a glorious and fublime liberty, both from the finful 
lulls and common inftincts of nature : and hence they 
concluded, that the perlon, who was thus abforbed in the 
abyfs of the Deity, became a part of the Godhead, and 
was the fon of God in the fame fenfe and manner that 
thrift was, and that he was freed from the obligation of 
all laws human and divine. They treated with contempt 
all Chriftian ordinances, and all external afts of religion, 
as unfuitableto the Hate of perfection at which they were 
arrived. Some of them were honeft but deluded enthu- 
liafts; and they endured the torments inflicted upon them 
by the inquifitors with aftonifning calmnefs and triumph. 
Others proceeded to the molt extravagant licentioufnels. 
They held their fecret aflemblies Hark naked, and lay ia 
the fame beds with their fpiritual lifters, and indilcrimi- 
nately with other women, without the lead fcrupie or he- 
fitation : modefty and decency being, according to their 
creed, marks of inward corruption,-.- Many edicts were 
published again!! them ; but, notvvithftanding the feveri- 
ties they fullered, they continued till about the middle of 
the fifteenth century. They were called by feveral other 
names, luch as Schvveftriones, Picards, Adamites, and 
Turlupins. 
BRE'TON (Nicholas), a writer of fome fame in the 
reign of queen Elizabeth, author of Pliyllida and Corydon,. 
in Percy’s Collection of Ancient Songs and Ballads, vol. iii. 
He publifhed an interlude, entitled. An Old Man’s Lelfon, 
and a Young Man’s Love, 1615, 4to. and many other 
pieces in prole and verfe, the titles of which may be feen 
in Winftanley’s Arnes Typog. and Olborn’s Hark Catalog. 
BRETON 7 . See Cape Breton. 
BRE'TON, a river of England, which runs into the 
Stour near Hadieigh in Suffolk. 
BRETONNEAU' (Francis), born at Tours in 1660, 
became a Jefuit in 1675, and died at Paris in 1741, at 
the age of eighty-one. He was revifor and editor of the 
fermons of his brethren Bourdaloue, Cheminais, and 
Girouft. He publilhed alfo an edition of the Oeuvres 
Spirituelles of pere le Valois. Bretonneau was a preacher 
himfelf: his Sermons, in 7 vols. umo. publilhed in 174s 
by the famous Berruyer, are compofed with eloquence. 
He alio wrote, 2. Reflections pour les Jeunes Gens qui 
entrant dans le Monde, mno, 3. Abrege de la Vie de 
Jacques II. nmo. 
BRET'TEN, a town of Sweden, in the province of 
Dalecarlin, at the weftern extremity of the lake Vener. 
BRET'TEN, a town of Germany, in the palatinate of 
the Rhine, where Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Cal- 
vinifts, all attend divine worlhip in the fame church. It 
is twenty-one miles fouth of Heidelberg, and eighteen 
fouth-ealv of Spires. 
BRETTEVIL'LE, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment ofthe Calvados, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftrict of Falaife : ten miles nor tit-north-weft of Falaife, 
and eight fouth of Caen. 
BRETTEVIL'LE l’ORGUEILLEU'SE/ a town of 
France, in the department of the Calvados, and chief 
place of a canton, in the diftrict of Caen: two leagues 
weft-north-weft of Caen, and two and three-quarters 
louth-eaft of Bayeux. 
BREVAL'J 
