44$ B R U 
It is eighty miles weft-north-weft of Warfavv, and one hun¬ 
dred fouth of Dantzic. In the month of October, 1794, 
a battle was fought near this town, between the Radians 
and the Poles : the battle lafted eight hours, and the Poles 
were totally defeated. Out of 13,000 of the bed: Polifh 
troops, cenlifting of old-eftablifhed regiments, not to reckon 
the armed peafants, only 300 were made prifoners, as they 
would not accept of quarter; and the reft, all but 300 men 
whoefcaped, were cut to pieces, fo that the field of battle, 
for fome miles, was covered with their dead. The w hole of 
the Polifh artillery, confiding of two mortars and twenty- 
four pieces of cannon, fell into the hands of the Ruffians. 
BRSESTZ, or Brzesc, a town ot Lithuania, and ca¬ 
pital of a palatinate of the fame name., fituated on the Bog ; 
furrounded with walls, and defended by a cattle built on 
a fh'arp rock, the fee of a Greek bifitop. Here is the 
larged jewifh fynagogue in Europe. It is too miles eaft 
of Warfaw, and 196 north-eaft of Cracow. 
BRUC'CA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, 
and Principato Citra: thirteen miles weft of Policaftro. 
BRUCE (Robert), fon of the earl of Carrick, andcont- 
petitor with Baliol for the crown of Scotland, which he 
loft by the arbitration of Edward I. of England, for ge- 
rterouily refilling to hold the crown of Scotland as depend¬ 
ing on him, which his anceftors had left him independent. 
But, Baliol having afterwards broken his agreement with 
Edward, Bruce was eafily perfuaded by that king to fide 
with him againft Baliol, upon promife that he would fet¬ 
tle him on the throne. Having contributed much to the 
breaking of Baliol’s party, he demanded the accomplifli- 
ment of king Edward’s promife, who is faid to have given 
him this an Ever: “ What! have I nothing eife to do but 
to conquer kingdoms for you I” However, he recovered 
his crown, defeated the Englifb, and raifed the glory of 
the Scots. See Scotland. 
BRUCE (Michael), a Scottift) poet, who died at the 
early age of twenty-one, in a confumption. Lord Craig 
lias publiflted a very elegant tribute to the merits of this 
youn<i author ; who indeed appears to have poflefted ami¬ 
able difpofitions, claffical acquirements, and a fine genius. 
He had to contend not only with a diftemper that proved 
fatal to him, But with the res angujla domi , poverty ; yet, 
amid fuch unfavourable and diiheariening circumftances, 
lie found opportunity and inclination for cultivating a tafte 
for poetry ; and he has left feveral produdtions which 
manifeft tender fenfibility and rich imagination : the prin¬ 
cipal of thefe are Lochleven, and the hiftorical ballad of 
Sir James the Rofs. 
This unfortunate young man was born at KinnefTwood, 
in the pari fit of Portmoak, in Kinrofsflfire, on the 27 tJi of 
March, 1746. He was defcended of a family in no refpedt 
illuflrious, but in bearing a name that is renowned by the 
valour and patriotifm of king Robert I. and diftinguifhed 
by the tafte and fcience of the houfe of Kinrofs. His.fa¬ 
ther, Alexander Bruce, was by trade a weaver ; his mo¬ 
ther was of a family of the fame rank in the neighbour¬ 
hood ; and both were remarkable only for their piety, 
induftry, and integrity ; their exemplary prudence and 
frugality, and the innocence and fimplicity ot their man¬ 
ners. They had eight children, of whom the poet was 
the fifth: both parents were feceders, of the clafs called 
Burghers. The firft years of his life did not pafs without 
diftinftion : he very early difcovered a genius fuperior to 
the common, which his parents had the penetration to 
difcern, and the'merit to improve by giving him a polite 
and liberal education. The delicacy of his conftttution, 
which was remarkable from his earlieft yeais, and the un¬ 
common proficiency he made in the learning taught at the 
Ichool of the village, probably determined them to edu¬ 
cate him for the clerical profeffion, an object of uncom¬ 
mon ambition among perfons ot inferior rank in North 
Britain, and for which it may be fuppoleU their peculiar 
impreffions of religion gave them a (Long predilection. 
After palling through the ufual courfe of ichool education 
st Portmoak ami the neighbouring town of Kinrofs, lie 
B R U 
was fent, in 1762, to the Univerfity of Edinburgh, where 
he ftudied four years with remarkable afliduify and fuc- 
cefs : but the belles lettres were his favourite purfuit, 
and poetry his darling fhidy. Soon after his coming to 
Edinburgh, he contracted an acquaintance with Logan, 
then a ftudent at the fame univerfity; a fimilaifity of tafte 
and pwrfuits foon brought on an intimacy between thefe 
two poets, which continued, without abatement till the 
death of Bruce. Logan, it is faid, fometimes affifted him 
in his compofitions, or at lead corrected them. In 1765, 
a fcheme of provifion was made for him, by eftablifning a 
fchool at Gairny-bridge, where he taught the children of 
fome farmers in the neighbourhood, who allowed him his 
board, and a f nr all falary. This lie quitted in 1766 for one 
at Foreft-mill, near Aloa, in Clackmannanfhire, in which 
he appears to have met with lefs encouragement than he 
expected. In the autumn of this year, his conftituticn, 
which was ill calculated to encounter the aufterities of 
his native climate, the exertions of daily labour, and the 
rigid frugality his circumftances forced" him to, began to 
decline very faft, and towards the end of the year he was 
in a deep confumption. During the winter, he quitted 
his employment at Foreft-mill, and with it all hopes of 
life, and returned to his native village. Convinced of the 
hopelefs nature of his difeafe, and feeling himfelf everv 
day declining, he contemplated the approaches of death 
with calm nets and refignation, and continued at intervals 
tocompofe verfes, and tocorrefpond with his friends. He 
lingered through the winter, and in the fpring he wrote 
an Elegy on his ow n approaching death : this was the laft 
compofition he lived to finifti ; by degrees his weaknefs 
increafed till he was gradually worn away, and he expired 
on the 6th of July, 1767. Soon after his death, his Po¬ 
ems were fubjedted to the revifal and corredtion of his 
friend Logan, who publifned them at Edinburgh in umo. 
in 1770, with a preface; but, as feveral other poems 
were inferted to fill out the volume, it cannot be exadtly 
known which are his. A new edition, with feveral of his 
unpubliflied pieces, was printed in 1794, for the benefit 
of his mother, under the fuperintendence of Dr. Baird. 
His charadler was truly amiable and refpedtable. In his 
manners he was modeft, gentle, and mild ; in his difpo- 
fition, he was friendly, afiedfionate, and ingenuous. He 
united an ardent and enlightened lenfe of religion, with a 
lively imagination and a feeling heart. Tendernefs, in 
every fenfe of the word, and piety, equally remote from 
enthufiafm and fuperftition, were his charadteriftics. As 
a poet, he is diftinguifhed for elegance, fimplicity, and 
tendernefs, more than fublimitv, invention, or enthufiafm. 
He has more judgment and feeling, than genius or ima¬ 
gination. He is an elegant and pleating, though nor a 
very animated or original, writer. His compofitions arc 
the produdtion of a tender fancy, a cultivated tafle, and a 
benevolent mind ; and are.diftinguifhed by an amiable de¬ 
licacy, and fimplicity of fentiment, and a graceful plain- 
nefs ofexpreffion, free from the affectation of an inflated 
didfion, and a profulion of imagery, fo common, in juve¬ 
nile produdtions. His thoughts are often ftriking, fome¬ 
times new, and always juft ; and his verfification, though 
not exquifitelv poliflted, is commonly eafy and harmonious. 
His Lochleven is the longeft and nioft elaborate of his 
poetical compofitions. It is a delcriptive poem, written 
in blank verfe, the ftrudture of which he feents to have 
' particularly ftudied, as it exhibits a fpecimen of confide- 
rable ftrength and harmony in that meafure. Though 
the nature of, the fubjedt approaches nearly to that ot 
Thomfon, of w hom he was a great admirer, his ftyle is 
very different, being wholly free from that unnatural fwell 
and pomp of words, which too often disfigure the beauti¬ 
ful descriptions of Thomfon. It reprefents an extenfive 
and beautiful profpedt in an animated and pleafing man¬ 
ner. It has much appropriate dele rip: ion and pidturefque 
imagery ; and it is rendered interefling by poetical fictions, 
hiftorical allufions, and moral reflections. But it is not 
without defects; there is a redundance of thought in fome 
inftances. 
