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B R I 
bridegroom, whofe doors on this occafion were adorned 
with flowers and branches of trees : being here interroga¬ 
ted who the was, (he was to anfwer Cain, in memory of 
Caia Oecilia, wife of Tarquin the Elder, who was an ex¬ 
cellent lanifca, or fpinftrefs; for the like reafon, before her 
entrance, (he lined the door-pofts with wool, and fmeared 
them with g’reafe. Fire and water being fet on the thkefti- 
old, (Ire touched both; but darting back from the door refu- 
fed to enter, till at length (he palled the thre(hold,beingeare- 
fill to flep over without touching it: here the keys were 
given her, a nuptial fuppier was prepared, and mindrels to 
divert her; (he was feated on the figure of a priapus, and 
here the attendant boys refigned her to the pronuba, who 
brought her into the nuptial chamber and put her to bed. 
This office was performed by matrons who had only been 
once'married, to denote that the marriage was to be for 
perpetuity. 
BRIDE, a river of Ireland, which runs into the Black- 
water river, about four miles and a half eafl from Tallow, 
in the county of Waterford. 
BRI'DEBED,/! Marriage-bed.: 
Would David’s fon, religious, jnd, and brave, 
To the fird bridcbed of the world receive 
A foreigner, a heathen, and a (lave ? Prior. 
BRI'DECAKE,/. A cake didributed to the gueds at 
the wedding.—The writer, refolved to try his fortune, 
faded all day, and, that he might be fure of dreaming up¬ 
on fomething at niglit, procured a handfome dice of bride¬ 
cake, which he placed very conveniently under his pillow. 
Spedator. 
BRI'DEGROOM,/. A new married man : 
As are fhofe dulcet founds in break of day, 
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear. 
And fumnion him to marriage. ' Shakefpeare. 
The Spartan bridegrooms committed a kind of rape up¬ 
on their brides, The woman that contrived and managed 
the match, having fhaved the bride’s hair clofe to her (kin, 
dreffed her up in man’s clothes, and left her upon a mat- 
trefs: the bridegroom came in his ufitaldrefs, having flip¬ 
ped as-ordinary, and dealing as privately as he could to the 
room where the bride lay, and untying her virgin girdle, 
took her to his embraces; and, having (layed only a (hort 
time with her, returned to his companions, w'ith whom he 
continued to fpend his life, remaining with them by night 
as well as by day, occalionally dealing a (hort vifit to his 
bride, which could not be done without a deal of circum- 
fpeCtion, and fear of being difcovered. Among the Ro¬ 
mans, the bridegroom was decked to receive his bride; 
his hair w r as combed and cut in a particular form ; he had 
a coronet or chaplet on his head, and was deeded in a white 
garment. By the ancient canons, the bridegroom was to 
forbear the enjoyment of his bride the firft night, in ho¬ 
nour of the nuptial benediction given by the pried: on that 
day. In Scotland a cudom called marchet obtained ; by 
which the lord of the manor was intitled to the firft night’s 
habitation with his tenant’s bride. See Marchet. 
BRI'DEMEN and Bridemaids,/. The attendants on 
the bride and bridegroom. 
BRI'DESTAKE, jy It feems to be a pod fet in the 
ground, to dance round, like a maypole.—Round about 
the 6 ridrjl a he. Ben Jonfon. 
BRI'D EWELL, /. [the palace built by St. Bride's or 
Bridget's well, near Fleet-ftreet, and afterwards turned into 
a workhoufe.] A houfe of correction.—He would contri¬ 
bute more to reformation than all the workhoufes and bride¬ 
wells in Europe. SpeSlntor. 
Bridewells have been long and wifely adopted for the 
confinement of vagrants and petty thieves, where they 
are made to work, for which they are maintained with clo¬ 
thing and diet; and, when it feems good to the magiftrates, 
they are fent by paffes to. their native places. Several new 
buildings, intended to correct the morals of thefe vicious 
perlons, have been ereCted near the metropolis, and in 
B R I 
different parts of the kingdom, on the improved plan fug., 
gefted by the late benevolent Mr. Howard. In thefe the 
culprit is confined in a (mail but wholefome cell, and en¬ 
tirely dmt out from all communication with external ob¬ 
jects ; in which (late the mind is forced into reflection; 
and from this mode of punifliment the molt happy effects 
have already refulted, and are likely to refult, fo long as 
thefe inftitutions continue to be conduced as they are at 
prefent, under the management of the moft: refpeCtable 
magiftrates in the different counties of England. 
Bridewell-Hofpital, however, above alluded to, fituate 
in Bridge-ffreet, Blackfriars, London, though it feems to 
have given name to the houfes of correction thus denomi¬ 
nated, was not folely inftituted for fuel) a purpofe. It 
was founded in 1553, by Edward VI. who gave the palace 
where king John had formerly kept his court; and alfo 
700 merks of land, bedding, and other furniture, to the 
city of London, to complete this endowment, which was 
then named, The Houfe for Occupations, and defigned for the 
following purpofes : “ 1. For boys of riper years, who 
were found unapt to learning, and fo inexpert in the trades 
which they had been thought competent to learn, as to be 
unable to get work. 2. For the fore and fick, when cured 
and difeharged from St. Thomas’s Hofpital, if able to 
work, that they might not wander about as vagabonds, 
but have fuitable employment. 3. For the lewd and ftur- 
dy beggar, and the idle in general, who ffiould/be com-- 
pelled to labour therein, and fo to ferve the common weaj. 
4. For prifoners difeharged at the (eftions, that they might 
have occu pations,a nd not again become thieves or beggars.'* 
The tendency of every human inftitution to corruption 
and abufe, will account for the deviations from the origi¬ 
nal plan, in the application of the funds of this noble cha¬ 
rity. For a feries of years, a certain defeription of per- 
(ons, called arts-majlers, have been elected -into valuable 
premifes, with large falaries annexed, for the purpofe of 
teaching a tew lads, called bridewell-boys, their different 
trades. It is not known on what occafion nor in what man¬ 
ner arts-mafters were firft introduced : but it is certain that 
it was not during the lives of the intelligent founders ; 
and it is equally clear, on examination, that their appoint¬ 
ment has never been attended with advantage. This cir- 
cumftance may, in fome inftances, be attributed to the 
negligence and mifconduCt of the mafters, but moft: gene¬ 
rally to the vices and diforders infeparable from the affo- 
ciation of fo many young men of the fame age, and under 
tjie fame roof. In 1792, the governors of this charity held 
a meeting, to enquire into the abules of its revenue ; when 
it appeared, from the ftatement of the fecretary for a given 
time, “that 59571 - its. hath been expended on the ap¬ 
prentices, and 7493I. 16s. 4d. in maintaining of vagrants,, 
(the only two fuppofed objects of the charity ;) whereas 
it has colt, within the fame period, no lefs than 19,254k 
os. 4d. in falaries; 6,341k 6s. jjd. for taxes and views of 
their eftates ; 3,234k 9s. id. forfeafts; and 17,332k 19s. 
7d. for repairs of the royal hofpital of Bridewell alone l” 
In confequence of this enquiry, it, was ‘ refolved’ to reme¬ 
dy abufes, and put the inftitution on a better footing ; but, 
in the year 1798, nothing of the kind having been effect¬ 
ed, the arts-mafters (till enjoying their annuities, and only 
two apprentices to be taught, Mr. Waddington, one of the 
governors, publilhed this Rate of the bofpital’s affairs to 
the world, and recommends the following plan to the no¬ 
tice and attention of the governors in future : 
“ Let a hundred boys, the children of indigent perfons, 
be chofen by ballot in the firft inftance, and afterwards be 
nominated by the governors in rotation, according to their 
femonty as governors, and be bound apprentices, out of 
the houle, to fuch different trades, occupations, or manu¬ 
factures, as the court or houfe-committee (hall, from time 
to time, preferibe ; but not more than four to any one, and 
not confined to the metropplis. > 
“ Let the number of one hundred be conftantly kept up, 
and the vacancies fupplied once every year (perhaps at- 
Eafter); and let the parents or friends of each boy find 
out 
