402 B R I 
this veil'd is diftinguifhed by having her main-fails fet 
nearly in the plane of her keel; whereas the main-fails of 
larger fhips are hung athwart, or at right angles with the 
/hip's length, and faftened to a yard which hangs parallel 
to the deck : but in a brig, the foremoft edge of the main- 
fail is faftened in different places to hoops which encircle 
the main-matt, and Aide up and down it as the fail is 
hoifted or lowered. It is extended by a gaff above and a 
boom below. 
BRI'GA (La), a town of Piedmont, in the county of 
Tenda: two miles fouth-eaft of Tenda, and twenty-two 
north-eaft of Nice. 
BRIGA'DE,/] [ brigade , Fr.] A party or divifion of 
foldiers, whether horfe or foot, under the command of a 
brigadier. An army is divided into brigades of horfe and 
foot: a brigade of horfe is a body of eight or ten fqua- 
drons ; a brigade of foot confifts of four, five, or fix, bat¬ 
talions. The eldeft brigade has the right of the firft line, 
and the fecond the right of the fecond ; the two next take 
the left of the two lines, and the youngeft ftand in the 
centre. 
BRIGA'DE MA'JOR, an officer appointed by the 
brigadier to aftift him in the managing and ordering of his 
brigade; and there he afts as a major does in an army. 
BRIGADIER' GE'NERAL, an officer who commands 
a brigade of horfe or foot in an army ; next in order be¬ 
low a major general. 
BRIGAND', J. [brigand, Fr.] A robber; one that be¬ 
longs to a band of robbers.—There might be a rout of 
fuch barbarous thievifh brigands on fome rocks; but it 
was a degeneration from the nature of man, a political 
creature. Bramkall. 
BRIGAN'DS, a hardy race of people, chiefly inhabit¬ 
ing the fttores of the department of Vendee, in France, 
who fignalized themfelves in the inlurredtion of 1795, for 
the purpofeof oppofing the republican army, and reftorin^ 
the French monarchical government. They are thus de- 
fcribed by L. M. Turreau, in his Hiftory ot the War of 
La Vendee. 
“ The Brigands, favoured by accidents of nature, have 
their peculiar tadfics, which are perfectly adapted to their 
local circumftances. Aware of the fuperiority derived from 
their mode of attack, they never fuffier themfelves to be 
furprifed. They fight only where they like and when they 
like. Their dexterity in the ufe of fire-arms is fo great, 
that no known nation, howfoever (killed in the manoeuvres 
of war, turns a gun to fuch account as the fmuggler of 
Loroux, and the poacher of Bocage. Their attack is a 
terrible irruption, hidden and almoft always unexpected, 
becaufe it is difficult in Vendee to reconnoitre well, to ob¬ 
tain intelligence, and confequently to be on guard. Their 
order of battle aflumes the form of a crefcent. Their wings, 
pointed arrow-wife, confift of their beft gunners, who ne¬ 
ver fire without aiming, and who feldom mifs a mark with¬ 
in reach. You are crufhed beneath converging fires be¬ 
fore you have time to get ready ; and this with a levelling 
havoc, of which artillery is fcarcely capable. They qwait 
no word of command to fire: they have never learned to 
fire in battalions, in ranks, in platoons : yet their fire is 
equally profufe and unremitted, and far more deftrudtive 
than ours. If you withftand their onfet, they will rarely 
conteft the vidlory : but fmall is your gain; their retreat 
is fo rapid, that it is difficult to overtake them, as the 
country no where permits the ufe of cavalry. They dif- 
perfe and efcape through by-ways, hedges, bufties, lanes, 
and woods, of which they know every outlet and inlet. 
If obliged'to yield to their attack, your retreat is as dif¬ 
ficult as theirs is eafy. They fpy you, crofs on you, every 
where. They purfue with an alacrity, an order, a fury, 
inconceivable. They run to attack and to vidlory as they 
do in retreat: but they can charge their guns marching 
and running; and this inceffant mobility does not difap- 
point their fire of its brifknefs and fharpnefs.” It appears 
that thefe people acquire their livelihood principally by a 
contraband trade. 
B R I 
BRIGANDI'NE, J. [Fr. lorica , Lat.] A coat of mail 
or ancient armour, confiding of many jointed and fcale- 
like plates, very pliant and eafy for the body. This word 
is mentioned in ftat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, c. 2. and fome 
confound it with haubergeon. 
BRIGAN'TES, f. The ancient name for the inhabi¬ 
tants of Yorkfhire, Lancafliire, bifhopric of Durham, Weft. 
morland, and Cumberland. Blount. 
BRIGAN'TIA, or Brigantium, anciently a town of 
Vindelicia ; now Bregentz, in Tyrol, at the eaft end of 
the lake of Conftance.—Another Brigantium in the Alpes 
Cottise; which laft is probably Brianjon, a town on the 
borders of Dauphiny. 
BRIGANTI'NE. See Brig, 
BRIG ANTI'NUS LA'CUS, a lake of Rhastia, or Vin¬ 
delicia, which Tacitus includes in Rhaetia. Ammian calls 
the lake Brigantia. It took its name either from the Bri- 
gantii, the people inhabiting on it, or from the adjoining 
town. Now the lake of Conftance or Bodenzee. 
BRIG ANTI'NUS POR'TUS, anciently a port of the 
Hither Spain; fo called from Flavium Brigantium. Now 
El Puerto de la Corunna, commonly called the Groyne. 
BRIG'BOTE, or Bruc'bote,/ [Sax. brig, pontus, 
and bote, compenfatio.'] The contribution to the repair of 
bridges, walls, and caftles, which by the old laws of the 
Anglo-Saxons might not be remitted; but by degrees 
immunities were granted by our kings, even againft this 
duty ; and then to be quit of brigbott fignified to be ex¬ 
empt from tribute or contribution towards the mending 
or re-edifying of bridges. Fleta, 1. c. 47. Selden's Titlcs of 
Honour, 6 22. 
BRIGEUIL', a town of France, in the department of 
the Vienne: eight miles eaft of Montmorillon. . 
BRIGG. See Glamford Bridges. 
BRIGGS (Henry), an eminent mathematician, born in 
a village near Halifax, in Yorkfhire, about 1556. From 
a grammar-fehool in the country he was lent to St. John’S 
college, Cambridge, in 1577, where, taking both the de¬ 
grees in arts, he was chofen fellow of his college March 
29, 1588. His chief ftudy was the mathematics, in which 
he excelled ; and in 1592 he was made examiner and lec¬ 
turer in that faculty, and foon after reader oi the phyfic- 
ledhire founded by Dr. Linacer. When Grefham-college 
in London was eftablifhed, he was chofen its firft profelfor 
of geometry, in 1596. In 1619 he was made Savilian pro- 
feffior of geometry at Oxford ; and refigned his profelfor- 
ftiip of Grelham-collegp in July 1620. Soon after his go¬ 
ing to Oxford he was incorporated M. A. in that univer- 
fity, where he continued till his death, which happened 
in January 1630. He had the character of a man of great 
probity; eafy and acceffible to all; free from arrogance, 
envy, ambition, and avarice; a contemner of riches, and 
contented with his own ftation ; preferring a ftudious re¬ 
tirement to all the fplendid circumftances of life. His 
writings are, 1. A Table to find the Height of the Pole, 
publilhed in Blondeville’s Theoriques of the Planets, 
Loud. 1602, 4to. 2. Tables for the Improvement of Na¬ 
vigation, printed in the fecond edition of Wright’s Errors 
in Navigation detedted, Lond. 1610, 4to. 3. A I?efcrip- 
tion of an inftrumental Table to find the Part proportional, 
Lond. 1616, umo. 4. Logarithmorum Chilias Prima, 
Lond. 1617, 8vo. 5. Lucubrationes, Annotationes in 
Opera Pofthuma, J. Naperi, Edinb. 1619, 4to. 6 . Eticli- 
dis Elementontm lex libri priores, fecundum vet. exemp. 
reftituti, ex verfione Latina F. Conunandini, multis in locis 
caftigati. Lond. 1620, folio. 7. A Treatife of the North- 
moll Paflage to the South Sea, Lond. 1622,410. 8. Arith- 
metica Logarithmica, five logarithmorum chiliades tri- 
ginta, pro numeris naturali Ipecie crefcentibus, ab uni- 
tate ad 20,000, et a 90,000 ad 100,000, Lond. 1624, folio. 
9. Trigonometria Britannica, Goudae, 1633, folio- 10. 
Two Letters to the learned James Uftier ; printed in the 
colledtion of archbifhop Uffier’s letters. 11. Mathema- 
tica ab antiquis minus cognita ; publilhed by Dr. George 
Hakewill in his Apologie. In the difeovery and improve- 
3 ’ ment 
