Prior. 
B R U 
The French had gather’d all their force. 
And William met them in their way; 
Yet off they bru/k'd , both foot and horfe. 
To-fly over; to (him lightly : 
Nor love is always of a vicious kind, 
But oft to virtuous a£ts inflames the mind, 
Awakes the (leepy vigour of the foul, 
And, bru/hing o’er, adds motion to the pool. Dryden. 
BRUSH'ER,y. He that ufes a bruflj.—Sir Henry Wet- 
ton ufed to fay, that critics were like brujhers of noblemen’s 
clothes. Bacon. 
BRUSH'WOOD, f. [from brufh and wood ; fuppofed to 
he corrupted from browfe-wood. J Rough, low, clofe, flmib- 
hv, thickets; final1 wood fit for fire. 
BRUSH'Y, adj. Rough or lhaggy, like a brufh. — 1 fuf- 
pedted, that it might have proceeded from fome fmall un¬ 
heeded drop of blood, wiped off by the b> u[hy fubflanCe 
of the nerve, from the knife wherewith it was cut. Boyle. 
BRUSIN'SKOI, an Hand of Ruflia, in the lake Oncz- 
koe : forty.miles fouih-eafl of Petrovadfkoi. 
BRUS'KAW, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Braclaw : forty eight miles north-north-weft of Braclaw, 
BRUSQUEl' (I.e,) a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Lower Alps, and chief place of a canton, in 
the diflridf of Digne : five miles north-north-caft Digne. 
BRUS'SLLS, or Bkuxklles, called the ornament 
and delight of the Netherlands, the richert and gayert ci¬ 
ty of Brabant, heretofore the refidence of the court, is 
built in a fertile country, one part, to the eaft, (ituated 
on an eminence ; the other part, to the well, (ituated in a 
plain, and well watered by the river Scnne, which runs 
through, it, and branches into feveral dreams, forming 
many fmall illands. The name is by fome derived from 
a neighbouring morals, named BroeylJ'el ; by others from 
a bridge name Bmxel ■ however it may be, fo long ago as 
the year 900 it had a market and a caffle ; and in 1340 
was furrottndod with a wall of freelfone, tire ruins of which 
are yet vilible. Between the years 1357 and 1370, it was 
confiderably enlarged, and is now (aid to be feven miles in 
circumference. Without the walls, are fixteen half-moons, 
and a counterfcarp along.the foffe. Bruflels contains feven 
parities, Ste. Gudnie, Notre Dame de la Chapelle, St. 
Geri, St. Nicholas, Ste. Catherine, St. Jaqu.es de Cau- 
bergue, and Notre Dame de Finis-terra;, According to 
the faying of Puteanus, a famous hifforian ef the country, 
the number fev.en is remarkable at Bruflels, firfl having 
feven lords at one time, who had each a chateau, whofe 
defeendants form the (even patrician families, from which 
the magiflrates are elected, thefe are the families of Steen- 
weghe, Sleeuws, Serhuygh.s, Coudenberg, Serroelofs, 
Svveerts, and Rodenbeeck ; there are feven grand places 
or markets, befides otliers lets confiderablc ; feven gates, 
thatpf Louvain to the eaft, that of Namur to the fouth, 
thpfe of Halle and Anderlecht to ttie weft, thofe of Flan¬ 
ders and Laepken to the north, and that of Scbarenbeeck, 
otherwife called the gate of Colo.gn, to the north-eafl. 
Without the gate of Halle, about two hundred paces, is 
a fort, called Fort de Monterey, being built by comte de 
Monterey, governor-general of the Netherlands, in 1672. 
From Bruflels a canal is cut to the river Rupple, a little 
beyond the village of Willebroeck, by means of which 
there is a daily communication in barges with Antwerp ; 
this canal was begun the util of June, 15 50, and made fit 
for navigation on the nth of October, 15tjj, under the 
direction of the celebrated architect George Rinaldi ; the 
elevation of the ground is fifty feet, and regulated by 
means of five fluice.s ; the length of the canal is about fe¬ 
ven leagues, and is faid to have coff 1,800,00.0 florins: by 
this means, the ocean and the Scheldt are open to Bruflels, 
. to the great convenience of the trade of the city. T he 
palace where the governor refides, was begun in J300, by 
Jolin If. duke of Brabant, enlarged in 3145.2, by Philip 
the Good, and finiflted by his fucceffors; it hands on an 
eminence with a large fquare before it, encircled with 
pillars of brafs, on which are ftatues of feveral emperors 
Vou. HI. No. 141. 
B R U 4s 7 
and dukes of Brabant, large as life, finiflted in 1521 ; be-, 
hind the palace is an extenlive and beautiful park, well 
flocked with deer and planted with trees; at the extre¬ 
mity, near the gate of Louvain, hands a pleafure-lioufe, 
built by order of Charles V. where he fometimes refided 
after his abdication of the .crown, in favour of his fon 
Philip II. hence called tire Emperor's llovfc. The Hotel 
de Ville in the grand market-place is a t-emarkable flruc. 
tore, it was begun in 1380, and not finifhed before the 
year 1442 ; its turret is ait admirable piece of Gothic ar¬ 
chitecture, 364 feet in height; on the top is the figure of 
St. Michael in copper gilt, feventeen feet high, which 
turns with the wind. T lie re are many palaces belonging 
to the nobility, the prince of Ligne, duke ohjAveinbcrg, 
See. in which are many very valuable paintings oy the bell 
Flemifh .matters. The opera-houfe is a grand ftrn'CturC, 
ereffed in the year 1700, after the Italian manner, by order 
of the elector of Bavaria, then governor-general of the 
Low-Countries, The church of Ste. Gudule, which is, 
collegiate, is a very magnificent firmflure, fiuiated in a 
higher part of the city, and approached by a flight of 
fteps ; it w'as built in 1047, by Lambert, lurnamcd Ba/de~ 
ric, duke of Brabant, and dedicated to Ste. Gudule, whofe 
remains were removed hither from the church of St. Geri, 
at the inftigation of Gerard, bifliop of CatYibray. Befides 
the pari(h-churches, there are a gre.it many chapels, mo- 
naAeries', and convents. The' governor-general kept his 
court with the honours of a fovereign prince, being at¬ 
tended with a company of archers, a company of halber¬ 
diers, and three companies,of horfe-guards. The magi- 
flracy of Bruflels is compofed of an officer called amman; 
a burgo-mafter, fev,en echevins, two treafurers, a penfion- 
ary, .three fecretaiies, three greffiers,. and two receivers; 
befides thefe, they have a deputy amman, an under bur- 
gom.ifter, nine counfellors clmfen from the citizens, a fu- 
perintendant of the canal, a receiver for the canal, and 
a greftier of the treafury-; the office of amman, deputy 
amman, fecretaries, and greffiers of the city and treafury, 
are perpetual. The defeendants of the ancient patrician 
families, who are divided into feven dalles, aflembled 
fome days before the ftafl of St. John, and nominated 
three perfons of each body, whom tlipy prefented to the 
fovereign or governor, for him to choofe and appoint ma¬ 
giflrates from, on the feaft of St. John, O. S. The feepnej 
burgomafler and the nine counfellors, with the receivers, 
are named by the firfl burgomafler, matters relating to the 
citizens, are cognizable before die magiflracy in the firfl 
inllance, with right of appeal to the fuperior council. 
The citizens are divided into nine daffies, called nations, 
who were formed in the year 13.21, of the principal arti- 
fans of the city ; they are diflinguiflied by the nations of 
Notre Dame, of St. (files, St. Laurent, St. Ceri, St. Jean, 
St. Chriftopher, St. Jaqnes, St. Pierre, and St. Nicholas, 
each clafs including feveral companies of tradefmep, who 
have each a chief, or dean, with their afliftant cottnfel ; 
ihey were affembled by the found of a bell, called the 
belief the nations ; to lignify their confent to any fubfidy 
which tlie fovereign may demand or approve, in the name 
of the whole city, or to any propofitions which may be 
made by the burgomafler. In 1695, the army of France, 
under the conduct of marfhal Villeroy, advanced towards 
Bruflels, for the purpofe of compelling.the allies to raife 
the liege of the cafilc of Namur, and began to bombard 
it the 13th of Augufl, w hen they poured in fuch a quan¬ 
tity of bombs and red-hot balls, that the city took fire, 
and the fire, being feconded with a violent wind, burned 
fourteen beautiful churches and abpve four thoufand 
houfes to afltes ; affer this the French retired, without 
being able to conflrain the allies to abandon their enter- 
prile. After the battle of Rainilies, the elector' of Bava¬ 
ria, and all the friends of Philip V. abandoned Bruflels, 
and the allies feized it the 27th of May, 1706. As thd 
city was not regularly fortified, or in a condition to fuflaip 
a fiege, the magiflrates prefented the keys of the city to 
the duke of Marlborough, commander in chief, and im¬ 
plored his protection, who accordingly took pofi'eilion in 
6 A the 
