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with water,.-conveyed by an engine from a neighbouring 
brook, to molt of the fireets. It has but one church, which 
is very large, the fpire of which is one of the loftied in 
the .kingdom, being 240 feet high, and ferves as a guide 
to feamen. The quakers, preibyterians, baptifis, and me¬ 
thod-ills, have each their refpeftive meeting-houfes here. 
The • fuminer ailizes for the county are held here alter¬ 
nately with the city of Wells, and the quarter fefTionsonce 
a-year, both of which are held in a fpacious (hire-hall. 
This town gives the title of duke to the family of Egertorv, 
It (ends two reprefentatives to parliament, who are chofen 
by all the inhabitants who pay fcot and lot. Bridgewater 
is diflant from London 142 miles; from Bridol, thirty- 
three ; from Bath, thirty-nine; and from Taunton, twelve. 
About !ix miles trom Bridgewater is Enrriore-cadle, the 
feat of lord Egmont, built by the father of the prefent no¬ 
bleman, in the form of the old caftles ; which, amid the 
rivalihips, animofities, and dangers, of the feudal times, 
were the habitation of every potent baron. It is furround- 
ed by a moat, approached by a draw-bridge, and poU’efles 
the minuted part of that fpecies of fortification which was 
impregnable before the art of making powder and the ufe 
of artillery were known. On this account it deferves the 
attention, and will reward the curiofity, of the inquifitive 
traveller. 
BRIDG'MAN (Sir Orlando), author of the Convey¬ 
ances, was the fon of John Bridgman bifhop of Chefter. 
Soon after tire refioration he was made lord chief baron of 
the exchequei*; whence he was in a few months removed 
to the common pleas. While he continued in this court, 
his reputation was at its height. Upon his receiving the 
great feal, ids good name began to decline ; he was timid 
and irrefolute, and his timidity dill increafed with his 
years ; nor was his judgment equal to all the difficulties 
of his office. His lady, a woman of cunning and intrigue, 
was apt to interfere in chancery fuits ; and his Tons, who 
p raft i fed under him, did not bear the faired characters. 
He was deftrous of an union with Scotland, and a compre- 
hendon with the diffenters ; but was againd tolerating the 
papids. He.is faid to have been removed from his office 
for re fu ling to affix the feal to the king’s declaration for 
.liberty of confcience, November 17, 1672. 
BRi'DLE,' f. [bride, Fr.] The head dal I and reins by 
which a horfe is redrained and governed : 
They feiz’d at lad 
His courfer’s bridle, and his feet embrac’d. Dryden. 
A redraint; a curb; a check.—A bright genius often be¬ 
trays it (elf into many errors, without a continual bridle on 
the tongue. Watts. 
Pliny affures us that one Pelethronius fird invented the 
bridle and (addle ; though Virgil aferibes, the invention to 
the Lapithte, to whom lie gives the epithet Pe/etkrenii, 
from a mountain in Theffaly named Pelethronium, where 
horfes were fird begun to be broken. The fird horfemen 
not being acquainted with the art of governing horfes with 
bridles, managed them only with a rope or a fwitch, and 
the accent of the voice. This was the praftice of the Nu- 
midians, Getulians, Libyans, and Maffilians. The Roman 
youth alfo learned the art of fighting without bridles, which 
was an exercife or leffon in the manege ; and hence it is, 
that on the Trajan column, foldiers are reprefeuted riding 
at full fpeed without any bridles. 
To BRI'DLE, v. a. To redrain or guide by a bridle : 
I bridle in my druggling mufe with pain, 
That longs to launch into a bolder drain. Addifon. 
To put a bridle on any thing.: 
The queen of beauty (topp’d her bridled doves; 
Approv’d the little labour of the Loves. Prior. 
To redrain ; to govern.—The difpofition of things is com¬ 
mitted to them, whom law may at all times bridle , and fu- 
perior power controul. Hooker. 
To pRI'DLE, v.n. To hold up .the head. 
BRI'DLEHA'ND, f. The hand which holds the bridle 
B It I 
in riding.—The heat of Cummer put his blood into sr fer¬ 
ment, which affefted Iw^bridlef; andwhh great pain. Wife man. 
BRID'LINGTON, or Burlington, a market town 
in the ead riding of Yorkdiire, near FJamborough-head, 
ten leagues from the Spurn-head, and 209 miles from Lon¬ 
don, (ituated on a bay, which is a-fafe,harbour in dtong 
gales of wind and winter dorlns from the north-north-wed: 
ayd north-ead. The quay, which is chiefly frequented 
by colliers, and inhabited by feafaring people, is about 
five furlongs in length, and about a mile from the town. 
The fairs are, the Monday before Whitfuntide, and Ofto. 
her 21, for horned cattle, toys, linen and woollen doth. 
Market on Saturdays. 
BRPDON, or Snaffle, f. After the Englidi fadtion, 
is a very flencier bit-mouth without any branches. The 
French call them bridens^ by way of diftinftion from bridles. 
BRID'PORT, a town of great antiquity in Dorfetfhire. 
It took its name from the river Birt or Bride. It lias a 
large neat church, by the name of St. Mary’s, fituated in 
South-dreet. There were formerly feveral other chapels, 
but after the reformation they were alienated. The town 
confids of three wide open fpacious flreets, with a hand- 
fome market-houfe in the centre. The markets are Wed- 
nefdays and Saturdays, and have a great fupply of the bed 
providons. The harbour is very much improved of late 
years, and will admit of % r effels of upwards of 200 tons: k 
is about one mile and a quarter from the town. The trade 
here is principally in the twine, hat, and fail-cloth, manu- 
faftories. It is” a free borough, and fends two members 
to parliament, who are chofen by the inhabitants paying 
church and poor. It began to fend members to parlia¬ 
ment in the. 23d of Edward I. It is a town corporate, 
confiding pf two bailiffs, a recorder, fifteen capital bur- 
gelfes, whereof the bailiffs are two, two ferjeants at mace, 
and feveral other inferior officers. Here are two good 
free-fchools : alfo three fairs, viz. on Old Lady-day, Holy 
Thurfday, and Old Michaelmas. Bridport is 135 miles 
from London, thirty-feven from Exeter, eighty from Ply¬ 
mouth, and feventeen from Dorchelter. In the time of 
the Saxons it had a mint; and was created a borough by 
Henry III. It once manufactured fo much hemp in ropes, 
cables, &c. that, in the reign of Henry VIII. it was or¬ 
dered that the cordage of the Engliffi navy ffiould, for a 
limited time, be made here*. or within five miles of this 
place, and nowhere elfe ; which aft was confirmed by aj- 
mod every parliament for near fixty years.after. Yet this 
trade is now funk to little or nothing, though the foil is 
fo fruitful in hemp, that, when a man was hanged, it was 
proverbially faid, he was dabbed with a Bridport dagger. 
The fituation of the town is low. It was incorporated by 
Henry VII. and afterwards by queen Elizabeth, James I, 
and Charles II. The quarter-feffions for the county are 
held here once a-year. 
BRI'DY, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the Arabian 
Irak : 140 miles north-wed of Baffora. 
BRIE, before the revolution, a province of France, 
which was (ituated partly in Champagne, and partly in 
the Ifle of France, and called from its particular fituation 
Brie Charnpenoife, and Brie Fran^oife, or Brie Parifienne. 
The principal towns were Meaux, Provins, and Chateau 
Thierry. 
BRIE COMTE ROBERT, a town of France, in the 
department of the Seine and Marne, and chief place of a 
canton, in the didrift of Meiun, founded by Robert 
count of Dreux : three pods and a half fouth-ead of Paris. 
BRIEC', a town of France, in the department of Fi- 
nifierre, and chief place of a canton, in the difirift of 
Quimper: two leagues and a half north-north-ead of Quim- 
per, and two fouth-fouth-ead of Chateaulin. 
BRIEF, adj. [ brevis , Lat. brief, Fr.] Short; toncife. 
It is now feldom ufed but of words.—The brief dile.i'S 
that which expredeth much in little. Ben Jonfon. —Con- 
trafted ; narrow : 
The fiirine of Venus, or draight pight Minerva, 
Podures beyond brief nature. S/iakefpcare. 
BRIEF, 
