4 ,8 B R I 
BRIVA'TES, anciently a pert o£ Gallia Celtica : now 
Brejl, in Britanny. 
BR 1 VE, or Brives la G aillar'de, a townof France, 
and principal place of a diffrict, in the department of Cor¬ 
reze, fituated in a fertile valley, on the Correze. It con¬ 
tains about +000 fouls, and is four leagues fouth-weft of 
Tulle, and five fouth of Uzerches. Lat.45.10-N. Ion. 
19. 26. E. Ferro. 
BRI'VIO, a town of Italy, in the Milanefe, in the road 
from Bergamo to Como. 
BRIVESAC', a town of France, in the department of 
the Correze r fix leagues eafi of Brive. 
BR 1 X, aiStown of France, in the department of the 
Channel: five miles weft of Valognes. 
BRIXA (Le). See Lebrixa. 
BRIXEL'LUM, anciently a town of Gallia Cifpadana; 
remarkable for being the place where Otho killed him- 
felf after the battle of Bedriacum; now Bcrjillo or Bre~^ 
Jello , in the territory Of Rhegio. 
BRIX'EN (Bifhopric of), a country of Germany, in 
league with the Tyrolefe. The biflisp is confidered by 
the arch-houfe of Auftria as a lancUftate of Tyrol, and 
appears by his deputies at the diet, bearing likewife the 
taxes and jmpofts belonging to it, but having, notwith- 
ftanding, as an immediate prince of the empire, both feat 
and voice at the diets of the empire in the college of prin¬ 
ces. .He likewife fends deputies, and contributes towards 
the maintenance of the chamber-court the fum of eighty- 
•oue rix-dollars fourteen kreutzers and a half; but, with 
refpedt to the extraordinary taxes of the empire, the houfe 
■of Auftria anfwers to them. Its prelate is alfo a ftate of 
the circle of Auftria. As a biftiop, he is fuffragan to the 
archbifliop of Saltzburg. 
BRIX'EN, a town of Germany, and capital of the bi¬ 
fhopric of the fame name, fituated in a pleafant fpot, on 
the river Eyfack, at its union with the Rienz. The epif- 
copal palace is well built. Exclufive of the cathedral, 
there are one parochial and fix other churches, with two 
cloifters. In the year 1080, a council was held here by 
the emperor Henry I.V. in which pope Gregory VII. was 
depofed. It is thirty-nine miles north-north-eall of Trent, 
and thirty-eight fouth of Infpruck. This town was taken 
by the French revolutionary army in March, 179.6. 
’ BRIX'ENSTAD T, a townof Germany, in the circle 
of Franconia, and principality of Anfpach, which aftords 
an afylum for involuntary homicides. It is fixteen miles 
eaft-north-eaft of Wurzburg. 
BRIX'HAM, a fmall fea-port of England, fituated on 
the weftern lide of Torbay, in the county of Devon, ce¬ 
lebrated for its fiftiery, for which purpofe more than a hun¬ 
dred veffels are employed. A quay has lately been built 
for the purpofe of (applying (hips with water. The prince 
of Orange, afterwards William III. landed here with his 
friends, in 1688. It is three miles north-eaft of Dartmouth. 
BRIX'IA, anciently a town of the Cenomani in the 
Regio Tranfpadana-: now Brefcia , capital of the Brefciano. 
BRl'ZA,yi [/ 3 ftIi) > Gr. to nod or lleep.] Quaking- 
grass. In botany, a genus of the Clafs tnandria, order 
digynia, natural order of graminaor grades. The generic 
characters are—Calyx : glume many-flowered, bivalve, 
fpreading, collecting the flowers into a heart-fhaped diftich 
fpike ; valves heart-fhaped, concave, equal, obtufe. Co¬ 
rolla : bivalve ; lower valve the fize and figure of the ca¬ 
lyx, upper very fmall, flat, routidifh, inclofing the body 
of the other; neCt^ry two-leaved; leaflets linear, crenu- 
late. Stamina: filaments three, capillary; antherae ob¬ 
long. Piftillumi germ roundifh; ftyles two, capillary, 
recuryed ; ftigmas plumofe. Pericarpium : none ; corol¬ 
la unchanged contains the feed, gapes, and drops it. Seed : 
one, roundifh, compreded, very fmall.— EJfintialCharacter. 
Calyx bivalve, many-flowered; fpikelet diftich, with heart- 
fiiaped obtufe valves, the lower of which is minute. 
Species. 1. Briza minor, or fmall quaking-grafs : fpike- 
lets triangular, calyx longer than the feven flofcules. The 
fmall quakiog-grafs^is annual; at leaft it is fo marked, by 
B R I 
Linnaeus and Villars: by Hud Ton and in the Kew catalogue 
it is marked as perennial. The culms are about a foot and 
a half in height; and the panicles are very much branch¬ 
ed. Native of Germany, Switzerland, the fouth of France,. 
Italy, and Britain. With us it was firft obferved by Dr. 
Lherard, in the illand of Jerfey; and (ince near Bath by 
Mr. Alchorne. It flowers from June to Auguft. 
2. Briza virens, or green quaking-grafs : fpikelets ovate, 
calyx equal to the feven flofcules. This is very like the* 
common fort, No. 3, but the leaves are twice as broad, 
flatter, and run down by an acute (trap. The panicle is 
very like that, but more copious; green, not purple ; with 
the divifions more branched and divaricate, having callous 
knots depredtng them at the bafe. The flowers are rather 
fmaller, and readily fall off when handled. It is an an¬ 
nual grafs, native of the Levant, Spain, and the country 
of Nice; flowering in July. Introduced in 1787 by Mr. 
Zier. 
3. Briza media, or middle or common quaking-grafs, 
cow-quakes, fhakers, ladies-hair, bird’s-eyes: fpikelets 
ovate, calyx fhorter than the feven flofcules. Root pe¬ 
rennial ; culm upright, fix or feven inches high in a dry 
foil, but in wet boggy places two-or three feet in height; 
having four or five knots on it, three of which are near 
the root; leaves from two to three or four inches in length, 
and a line or a line and a half in breadth. This beautiful 
grafs is very common in paftures, efpecially dry ones, in 
mod parts of Europe, and is eafily diftinguifhed by the 
continual fhakiri£ of the fpikelets. Hence mod of its com¬ 
mon Englilh names, as well as that bv.which it wasknown 
among old authors, gramcn tremulum. The French call 
thefe quaking-grafies amourettes. It, flowers from May to 
July. Cattle eat it, both green and made into hay with 
other grades ; but it has no peculiar excellence that we are 
acquainted with, nor has it ever been cultivated feparately. 
Indeed it furniihes very little (food, and generally indicates 
a poverty of foil. 
4. Briza maxima, or greateft quaking-grafs : fpikelets 
heart-fhaped, flofcules leventeen. Great quaking-grafs 
has an annual root, fending up many broad hairy leaves, 
between which arife (lender ftiflf ftalks, from a foot to near 
two feet high, dividing at top into a large loofe panicle ; 
which is rather a raceme than a panicle. It is a native of 
the fouth of Europe, and was cultivated here in 1633. 
e. Briza eragroftis, or branched quaking-grafs, orlove- 
grafs: fpikelets lanceolate, flofcules twenty ; from fifteen 
to twenty and fometimes more. Root annual ; leaves 
fmooth, except that they are roughifh about the edge, as 
may be perceived by_drawing the fingers along them back¬ 
wards ; they are of a bright green, have five nerves, and 
cover only the lower part of the culm. The number of 
flowers varies; for in fpecimens front 1 Auftria Scopoli ob¬ 
ferved fifteen ; in tnofe from Carniola twenty ; and in Ita¬ 
lian fpecimens more. This grafs varies much'; being 
commonly fmall and decumbent, but fometimes riling to 
the height of feveral feet, at others of a middling fize, 
with longer and inore-contrafted fpikelets. Native of the 
fouth of Europe. Ray firft remarked it about Frankfort, 
and afterwards commonly through Germany, Italy, and 
tire fouth of France. It flowers in July and Auguft. 
Johnfon call9 it fern-grafs, and fays, that the white tops- 
are gathered where they grow naturally to beautify gar¬ 
lands. It was introduced in 1776 by M. Thouin. 
Propagation and Culture. If the feeds of thefe be per¬ 
mitted to fcatter, or elfe be fown in theautumn, the plants 
will come up (Longer, and flower much earlier, than when 
they are fown in the fpring. 
BRIZE, f. In hufbandry, ground that lias-lain a confi- 
derable time untilled. In entomology, a trivial name of 
the gad-fly : 
A brize, a fcorned little creature, 
Through his fair hide his angry fting did threaten. Spenfer. 
BRIZE VENTS, fhelters ufed by gardeners who have 
not walls, to keep cold winds from damaging their beds. 
of 
