Chapter 9

Bibliography.—H. Brosien,Geschichte der Mark Brandenburg in Mittelalter(Leipzig, 1887); G.G. Küster,Bibliotheca historica Brandenburgensis(Breslau, 1743); andAccessiones(Breslau, 1768), andCollectio opusculorum historiam marchicam illustrantium(Breslau, 1731-1733); A. Voss and G. Stimming,Vorgeschichtliche Alterthümer aus der Mark Brandenburg(Berlin, 1886-1890); F. Voigt,Geschichte des brandenburgisch-preussischen Staats(Berlin, 1878); E. Berner,Geschichte des preussischen Staats(Berlin, 1890-1891); A.F. Riedel,Codex diplomaticus Brandenburgensis(Berlin, 1838-1865); J. Heidemann,Die Reformation in der Mark Brandenburg(Berlin, 1889);Forschungen zur brandenburgischen und preussischen Geschichte, edited by R. Koser (Leipzig, 1888 fol.); T. Carlyle,History of Frederick the Great, vol. i. (London, 1858); J.G. Droysen,Geschichte der preussischen Politik(Berlin, 1855-1886); E. Lavisse,Étude sur une des origines de la monarchie prussienne(Paris, 1875); B. Gebhardt,Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, Band ii. (Leipzig, 1901).

(A. W. H.*)

BRANDENBURG,the central and one of the largest provinces of Prussia, consisting of a part of the former electorate of Brandenburg from which it derives its name. With the other territories of the elector of Brandenburg, it was merged in 1701 in the kingdom of Prussia, and when the administration of Prussia was reformed in 1815, Brandenburg became one of the provinces of Prussia. The boundaries of the new province, however, differed considerably from those of the old district. The old mark, the district on the left bank of the Elbe, was added to the province of Saxony, and in return a district to the south, taken from the kingdom of Saxony, was added to the province of Brandenburg. It has an area of 15,382 sq. m., and is divided into the two governments of Potsdam and Frankfort-on-Oder; the capital, Berlin, forming a separate jurisdiction. The province is a sandy plain interspersed with numerous fertile districts and considerable stretches of woodland, mostly pine and fir. Its barrenness was formerly much exaggerated, when it was popularly described as the “sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire.” It is generally well watered by tributaries of its two principal rivers, the Elbe and the Oder, and is besides remarkable for the number of its lakes, of which it contains between 600 and 700. The mineral products comprise lignite, limestone, gypsum, alum and potter’s earth; barley and rye are the usual cereals; fruits and vegetables are abundant; and considerable quantities of hemp, flax, hops and tobacco are raised. The breeding of sheep receives much attention, and the province exports wool in considerable quantity. Bees are largely kept, and there is an abundance of game. The rivers and lakes also furnish fish, particularly carp, of excellent quality. The climate is cold and raw in winter, excessively hot in summer, and there are frequently violent storms of wind. The manufacturing industry of the province is both varied and extensive, but is for the most part concentrated in the principal towns. The most important branches are the spinning and weaving of wool and cotton, the manufacturing of paper, and the distillation of brandy. Pop. (1895) 2,821,695; (1905) 3,529,839.

BRANDENBURG,a town of Germany, capital of the district and province of same name, on the river Havel, 36 m. S.W. from Berlin, on the main line to Magdeburg and the west. Pop. (1905) 51,251, including 3643 military. The town is enclosed by walls, and is divided into three parts by the river—the old town on the right and the new town on the left bank, while on an island between them is the “cathedral town,”—and is also called, from its position, “Venice.” Many of the houses are built on piles in the river. There are five old churches (Protestant), all more or less noteworthy. These are the Katharinenkirche (nave 1381-1401, choir c. 1410, western tower 1583-1585), a Gothic brick church with a fine carved wooden altar and several interesting medieval tombs; the Petrikirche (14th century Gothic); the cathedral (Domkirche), originally a Romanesque basilica (1170), but rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th century, with a good altar-piece (1465), &c., and noted for its remarkable collection of medieval vestments; the Gothardskirche, partly Romanesque (1160), partly Gothic (1348); the Nikolaikirche (12th and 13th centuries), now no longer used. There is also a Roman Catholic church. Of other buildings may be mentioned the former town hall of the “old town” (Altstadt Rathaus), built in the 13th and 14th centuries, now used as government offices; the new Real-gymnasium; and the town hall in the Neustadt, before which, in the market-place, stands a Rolandssäule, a colossal figure 18 ft. in height, hewn out of a single block of stone. A little north of the town is the Marienberg, or Harlungerberg, on which the heathen temple of Triglaff and afterwards the church and convent of St Mary were built. On the top stands a lofty monumentto the soldiers from the Mark who fell in the wars of 1864, 1866 and 1870-71. The town has a considerable trade, with manufactures of woollens, silks, linens, hosiery and paper, as well as breweries, tanneries, boat-building and bicycle factories.

Brandenburg, originallyBrennaburg(Brennabor) orBrendanburg, was originally a town of the Slavic tribe of the Hevelli, from whom it was captured (927-928) by the German king Henry I. In 948 Otto I. founded a bishopric here, which was subordinated first to the archdiocese of Mainz, but from 968 onwards to the newly created archbishopric of Magdeburg. It was, however, destroyed by the heathen Wends in 983, and was only restored when Albert the Bear recaptured the town from them in 1153. In 1539 the bishop of Brandenburg, Matthias von Jagow, embraced the Lutheran faith, and five years later the Protestant worship was established in the cathedral. The see was administered by the elector of Brandenburg until 1598 and then abolished, its territories being for the most part incorporated in the electoral domains. The cathedral chapter, however, survived, and though suppressed in 1810, it was restored in 1824. It consists of twelve canons, of whom three only are spiritual, the other nine prebends being held by noblemen; all are in the gift of the king of Prussia.

The “old” and “new” towns of Brandenburg were for centuries separate towns, having been united under a single municipality so late as 1717.

See Schillmann,Geschichte der Stadt Brandenburg(Brandenburg, 1874-1882).

BRANDER, GUSTAVUS(1720-1787), English naturalist, who came of a Swedish family, was born in London in 1720, and was brought up as a merchant, in which capacity he achieved success and became a director of the Bank of England. His leisure time was occupied in scientific pursuits, and at his country residence at Christchurch in Hampshire he became interested in the fossils so abundant in the clays of Hordwell and Barton. A set of these was presented by him to the British Museum, and they were described by D.C. Solander in the beautifully illustrated work entitledFossilia Hantoniensia collecta, et in Musaeo Britannico deposita a Gustavo Brander(London, 1766). Brander was elected F.R.S. in 1754, and he was also a trustee of the British Museum. He died on the 21st of January 1787.

BRANDES, GEORG MORRIS COHEN(1842- ), Danish critic and literary historian, was born in Copenhagen on the 4th of February 1842. He became a student in the university in 1859, and first studied jurisprudence. From this, however, his maturer taste soon turned to philosophy and aesthetics. In 1862 he won the gold medal of the university for an essay onThe Nemesis Idea among the Ancients. Before this, indeed since 1858, he had shown a remarkable gift for verse-writing, the results of which, however, were not abundant enough to justify separate publication. Brandes, indeed, did not collect his poems till so late as 1898. At the university, which he left in 1864, Brandes was much under the influence of the writings of Heiberg in criticism and Sören Kierkegaard in philosophy, influences which have continued to leave traces on his work. In 1866 he took part in the controversy raised by the works of Rasmus Nielsen in a treatise on “Dualism in our Recent Philosophy.” From 1865 to 1871 he travelled much in Europe, acquainting himself with the condition of literature in the principal centres of learning. His first important contribution to letters was hisAesthetic Studies(1868), in which, in several brief monographs on Danish poets, his maturer method is already foreshadowed. In 1870 he published several important volumes,The French Aesthetics of Our Days, dealing chiefly with Taine,Criticisms and Portraits, and a translation ofThe Subjection of Womenof John Stuart Mill, whom he had met that year during a visit to England. Brandes now took his place as the leading critic of the north of Europe, applying to local conditions and habits of thought the methods of Taine. He becamedocentor reader inBelles Lettresat the university of Copenhagen, where his lectures were the sensation of the hour. On the professorship of Aesthetics becoming vacant in 1872, it was taken as a matter of course that Brandes would be appointed. But the young critic had offended many susceptibilities by his ardent advocacy of modern ideas; he was known to be a Jew, he was convicted of being a Radical, he was suspected of being an atheist. The authorities refused to elect him, but his fitness for the post was so obvious that the chair of Aesthetics in the university of Copenhagen remained vacant, no one else daring to place himself in comparison with Brandes. In the midst of these polemics the critic began to issue the most ambitious of his works,Main Streams in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century, of which four volumes appeared between 1872 and 1875 (English translation, 1901-1905). The brilliant novelty of this criticism of the literature of the chief countries of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, and his description of the general revolt against the pseudo-classicism of the 18th century, at once attracted attention outside Denmark. The tumult which gathered round the person of the critic increased the success of the work, and the reputation of Brandes grew apace, especially in Germany and Russia. Among his later writings must be mentioned the monographs onSören Kierkegaard(1877), onEsaias Tegnér(1878), onBenjamin Disraeli(1878),Ferdinand Lassalle(in German, 1877),Ludvig Holberg(1884), onHenrik Ibsen(1899) and onAnatole France(1905). Brandes has written with great fulness on the main contemporary poets and novelists of his own country and of Norway, and he and his disciples have long been the arbiters of literary fame in the north. HisDanish Poets(1877), containing studies of Carsten Hauch, Ludwig Bödtcher, Christian Winther, and Paludan-Müller, hisMen of the Modern Transition(1883), and hisEssays(1889), are volumes essential to the proper study of modern Scandinavian literature. He wrote an excellent book onPoland(1888; English translation, 1903), and was one of the editors of the German version ofIbsen. In 1877 Brandes left Copenhagen and settled in Berlin, taking a considerable part in the aesthetic life of that city. His political views, however, made Prussia uncomfortable for him, and he returned in 1883 to Copenhagen, where he found a whole new school of writers and thinkers eager to receive him as their leader. The most important of his recent works has been his study of Shakespeare (1897-1898), which was translated into English by William Archer, and at once took a high position. It was, perhaps, the most authoritative work on Shakespeare, not principally intended for an English-speaking audience, which had been published in any country. He was afterwards engaged on a history of modern Scandinavian literature. In his critical work, which extends over a wider field than that of any other living writer, Brandes has been aided by a singularly charming style, lucid and reasonable, enthusiastic without extravagance, brilliant and coloured without affectation. His influence on the Scandinavian writers of the ’eighties was very great, but a reaction, headed by Holger Drachmann, against his “realistic” doctrines, began in 1885 (seeDenmark:Literature). In 1900 he collected his works for the first time in a complete and popular edition, and began to superintend a German complete edition in 1902.

His brother Edvard Brandes (b. 1847), also a well-known critic, was the author of a number of plays, and of two psychological novels:A Politician(1889), andYoung Blood(1899).

BRANDING(from Teutonicbrinnan, to burn), in criminal law a mode of punishment; also a method of marking goods or animals; in either case by stamping with a hot iron. The Greeks branded their slaves with a Delta, Δ, forΔοῦλος. Robbers and runaway slaves were marked by the Romans with the letter F (fur,fugitivus); and the toilers in the mines, and convicts condemned to figure in gladiatorial shows, were branded on the forehead for identification. Under Constantine the face was not permitted to be so disfigured, the branding being on the hand, arm or calf. The canon law sanctioned the punishment, and in France galley-slaves could be branded “TF” (travaux forcés) until 1832. In Germany, however, branding was illegal. The punishment was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons, and the ancient law of England authorized the penalty. By the Statute of Vagabonds (1547) under Edward VI. vagabonds, gipsies and brawlers were ordered to be branded, the first two with a large V on the breast, the last with F for “fraymaker.” Slaves, too,who ran away were branded with S on cheek or forehead. This law was repealed in 1636. From the time of Henry VII. branding was inflicted for all offences which received benefit of clergy (q.v.), but it was abolished for such in 1822. In 1698 it was enacted that those convicted of petty theft or larceny, who were entitled to benefit of clergy, should be “burnt in the most visible part of the left cheek, nearest the nose.” This special ordinance was repealed in 1707. James Nayler, the mad Quaker, who in the year 1655 claimed to be the Messiah, had his tongue bored through and his forehead branded B for blasphemer.

In the Lancaster criminal court a branding-iron is still preserved in the dock. It is a long bolt with a wooden handle at one end and an M (malefactor) at the other. Close by are two iron loops for firmly securing the hands during the operation. The brander, after examination, would turn to the judge and exclaim, “A fair mark, my lord.” Criminals were formerly ordered to hold up their hands before sentence to show if they had been previously convicted.

Cold branding or branding with cold irons became in the 18th century the mode of nominally inflicting the punishment on prisoners of higher rank. “When Charles Moritz, a young German, visited England in 1782 he was much surprised at this custom, and in his diary mentioned the case of a clergyman who had fought a duel and killed his man in Hyde Park. Found guilty of manslaughter he wasburntin the hand, if that could be called burning which was done with a cold iron” (Markham’sAncient Punishments of Northants, 1886). Such cases led to branding becoming obsolete, and it was abolished in 1829 except in the case of deserters from the army. These were marked with the letter D, not with hot irons but by tattooing with ink or gunpowder. Notoriously bad soldiers were also branded with BC (bad character). By the British Mutiny Act of 1858 it was enacted that the court-martial, in addition to any other penalty, may order deserters to be marked on the left side, 2 in. below the armpit, with the letter D, such letter to be not less than 1 in. long. In 1879 this was abolished.

See W. Andrews,Old Time Punishments(Hull, 1890); A.M. Earle,Curious Punishments of Bygone Days(London, 1896).

BRANDIS, CHRISTIAN AUGUST(1790-1867), German philologist and historian of philosophy, was born at Hildesheim and educated at Kiel University. In 1812 he graduated at Copenhagen, with a thesisCommentationes Eleaticae(a collection of fragments from Xenophanes, Parmenides and Melissus). For a time he studied at Göttingen, and in 1815 presented as his inaugural dissertation at Berlin his essayVon dem Begriff der Geschichte der Philosophie. In 1816 he refused an extraordinary professorship at Heidelberg in order to accompany B.G. Niebuhr to Italy as secretary to the Prussian embassy. Subsequently he assisted I. Bekker in the preparation of his edition of Aristotle. In 1821 he became professor of philosophy in the newly founded university of Bonn, and in 1823 published hisAristotelius et Theophrasti Metaphysica. With Boeckh and Niebuhr he edited theRheinisches Museum, to which he contributed important articles on Socrates (1827, 1829). In 1836-1839 he was tutor to the young king Otho of Greece. His great work, theHandbuch der Geschichte der griechisch-röm. Philos. (1835-1866; republished in a smaller and more systematic form,Gesch. d. Entwickelungen d. griech. Philos., 1862-1866), is characterized by sound criticism. Brandis died on the 21st of July 1867.

See Trendelenburg,Zur Erinnerung an C. A. B. (Berlin, 1868).

BRANDON,a city and port of entry of Manitoba, Canada, on the Assiniboine river, and the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern railways, situated 132 m. W. of Winnipeg, 1184 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1891) 3778; (1907) 12,519. It is in one of the finest agricultural sections and contains a government experimental farm, grain elevators, saw and grist mills. It was first settled in 1881, and incorporated as a city in 1882.

BRANDON,a market town in the Stowmarket parliamentary division of Suffolk, England, on the Little Ouse or Brandon river, 86½ m. N.N.E. from London by the Ely-Norwich line of the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 2327. The church of St Peter is Early English with earlier portions; there is a free grammar school founded in 1646; and the town has some carrying trade by the Little Ouse in corn, coal and timber. Rabbit skins of fine texture are dressed and exported. Extensive deposits of flint are worked in the neighbourhood, and the work of the “flint-knappers” has had its counterpart here from the earliest eras of man. Close to Brandon, but in Norfolk across the river, at the village of Weeting, are the so-called Grimes’ Graves, which, long supposed to show the foundations of a British village, and probably so occupied, were proved by excavation to have been actually neolithic flint workings. The pits, though almost completely filled up (probably as they became exhausted), were sunk through the overlying chalk to the depth of 20 to 60 ft., and numbered 254 in all. Passages branched out from them, and among other remains picks of deer-horn were discovered, one actually bearing in the chalk which coated it the print of the workman’s hand.

BRANDY,an alcoholic, potable spirit, obtained by the distillation of grape wine. The frequently occurring statement that the word “brandy” is derived from the High GermanBranntweinis incorrect, inasmuch as the English word (as Fairley has pointed out) is quite as old as any of its continental equivalents. It is simply an abbreviation of the Old Englishbrandewine,brand-wineorbrandy wine, the word “brand” being common to all the Teutonic languages of northern Europe, meaning a thing burning or that has been burnt. John Fletcher’sBeggar’s Bush(1622) contains the passage, “Buy brand wine”; and from the RoxburghBallads(1650) we have “It is more fine than brandewine.” The word “brandy” came into familiar use about the middle of the 17th century, but the expression “brandywine” was retained in legal documents until 1702 (Fairley). Thus in 1697 (View Penal Laws, 173) there occurs the sentence, “No aqua vitae or brandywine shall be imported into England.” TheBritish Pharmacopoeiaformerly defined French brandy, which was the only variety mentioned (officiallyspiritus vini gallici), as “Spirit distilled from French wine; it has a characteristic flavour, and a light sherry colour derived from the cask in which it has been kept.” In the latest edition the Latin titlespiritus vini galliciis retained, but the wordFrenchis dropped from the text, which now reads as follows: “A spirituous liquid distilled from wine and matured by age, and containing not less than 36½% by weight or 43½% by volume of ethyl hydroxide.” TheUnited States Pharmacopoeia(1905), retains the Latin expressionspiritus vini gallici(English titleBrandy), defined as “an alcoholic liquid obtained by the distillation of the fermented, unmodified juice of fresh grapes.”

Very little of the brandy of commerce corresponds exactly to the former definition of theBritish Pharmacopoeiaas regards colouring matter, inasmuch as trade requirements necessitate the addition of a small quantity of caramel (burnt sugar) colouring to the spirit in the majority of cases. The object of this is, as a rule, not that of deceiving the consumer as to the apparent age of the brandy, but that of keeping a standard article of commerce at a standard level of colour. It is practically impossible to do this without having recourse to caramel colouring, as, practically speaking, the contents of any cask will always differ slightly, and often very appreciably, in colour intensity from the contents of another cask, even though the age and quality of the spirits are identical.

The finest brandies are produced in a district covering an area of rather less than three million acres, situated in the departments of Charente and Charente Inférieure, of which the centre is the town of Cognac. It is generally held that only brandies produced within this district have a right to the name “cognac.” The Cognac district is separated into district zones of production, according to the quality of the spirit which each yields. In the centre of the district, on the left bank of the Charente, is theGrande Champagne, and radiating beyond it are (in order of merit of the spirit produced) thePetite Champagne, theBorderies(orPremiers Bois), theFins Bois, theBons Bois, theBois Ordinaires, and finally theBois communs dits à terroir. Many hold that the brandy produced in the two latter districts is not entitled to the name of “cognac,” but this is a matter of controversy, asis also the question as to whether another district called theGrande Fine Champagne, namely, that in the immediate neighbourhood of the little village of Juillac-le-Coq, should be added to the list. The pre-eminent quality of the Cognac brandies is largely due to the character of the soil, the climate, and the scientific and systematic cultivation of the vines. For a period—from the middle ’seventies to the ’nineties of the 19th century—the cognac industry was, owing to the inroads of the phylloxera, threatened with almost total extinction, but after a lengthy series of experiments, a system of replanting and hybridizing, based on the characteristics of the soils of the various districts, was evolved, which effectually put a stop to the further progress of the disease. In 1907 the area actually planted with the vine in the Cognac district proper was about 200,000 acres, and the production of cognac brandy, which, however, varies widely in different years, may be put down at about five million gallons per annum. The latter figure is based on the amount of wine produced in the two Charentes (about forty-five million gallons in 1905).

Brandy is also manufactured in numerous other districts in France, and in general order of commercial merit may be mentioned the brandies of Armagnac, Marmande, Nantes and Anjou. The brandies commanding the lowest prices are broadly known as theTrois-Six de Monlpellier. In a class by themselves are theEaux-de-vie de Marc, made from the wine pressings or from the solid residues of the stills. Some of these, particularly those made in Burgundy, have characteristic qualities, and are considered by many to be very fine. The consumption is chiefly local. Brandy of fair quality is also made in other wine-producing countries, particularly in Spain, and of late years colonial (Australian and Cape) brandies have attracted some attention. The comsumption of brandy in the United Kingdom amounts to about two million gallons.

Brandy, in common with other potable spirits, owes its flavour and aroma to the presence of small quantities of substances termed secondary or by-products (sometimes “impurities”). These are dissolved in the ethyl alcohol and water which form over 99% of the spirit. The nature and quantity of all of these by-products have not yet been fully ascertained, but the knowledge in this direction is rapidly progressing. Ch. Ordonneau fractionally distilled 100 litres of 25-year-old cognac brandy, and obtained the following substances and quantities thereof:—

Most of the above substances, in fact probably all of them, excepting the oenanthic ether, are contained in other spirits, such as whisky and rum. The oenanthic ether (ethyl pelargonate) is one of the main characteristics which enable us chemically to differentiate between brandy and other distilled liquors. Brandy also contains a certain quantity of free acid, which increases with age, furfural, which decreases, and small quantities of other matters of which we have as yet little knowledge.

The table gives analyses, by the present author (excepting No. 3, which is by F. Lusson), of undoubtedly genuine commercial cognac brandies of various ages.

Genuine Cognac Brandies.

(Excepting the alcohol, results are expressed in grammes per 100 litres of absolute alcohol.)

Note.—In the above table the acid is expressed in terms of acetic acid, the esters are expressed as ethyl acetate, and the aldehyde as acetaldehyde. The “Higher Alcohol” figures do not actually represent these substances, but indicate the relative coloration obtained with sulphuric acid when compared with an iso-butyl standard under certain conditions.

Storage and Maturation.—Brandy is stored in specially selected oak casks, from which it extracts a certain quantity of colouring matter and tannin, &c. Commercial cognac brandies are generally blends of different growths and vintages, the blending being accomplished in large vats some little time prior to bottling. The necessary colouring and sweetening matter is added in the vat. In the case of pale brandies very little colouring and sweetening are added, the usual quantity being in the neighbourhood of ½ to 1%. Old “brown brandies,” which are nowadays not in great demand, require more caramel and sugar than do the pale varieties. The preparation of the “liqueur,” as the mixed caramel and sugar syrup is termed, is an operation requiring much experience, and the methods employed are kept strictly secret. Fine “liqueur” is prepared with high-class brandy, and is stored a number of years prior to use. Brandy, as is well known, improves very much with age (for chemical aspects of maturation seeSpirits), but this only holds good when the spirit is inwood, for there is no material appreciation in quality after bottling. It is a mistake to believe, however, that brandy improves indefinitely, even when kept in wood, for, as a matter of fact, after a certain time—which varies considerably according to the type of brandy, the vintage, &c.—there is so much evaporation of alcohol that a number of undesirable changes come about. The brandy begins to “go back,” and becomes, as it is called, “worn” or “tired.” It is necessary, therefore, that the bottling should not be deferred too long. Sometimes, for trade reasons, it is necessary to keep brandy in cask for a long period, and under these conditions the practice is to keep a series of casks, which are treated as follows:—The last cask is kept filled by occasionally adding some spirit from the cask next in order, the latter is filled up by spirit taken from the third cask from the end, and so on, until the first cask in the row is reached. The latter is filled up or “topped” with some relatively fresh spirit.

Brandy is much employed medicinally as a food capable of supplying energy in a particularly labile form to the body, as a stimulant, carminative, and as a hypnotic.

Adulteration.—A good deal has been written about the preparation of artificial brandy by means of the addition of essential oils to potato or beetroot spirit, but it is more than doubtful whether this practice was really carried on on a large scale formerly. What undoubtedly did occur was that much beet, potato or grain spirit was used for blending with genuine grape spirit. Prosecutions under the Food and Drugs Act, by certain English local authorities in the year 1904, resulted in the practical fixation of certain chemical standards which, in the opinion of the present writer, have, owing to their arbitrary and unscientific nature, resulted in much adulteration of a type previously non-existent. There is no doubt that at the present time artificial esters and higher alcohols, &c., are being used on an extensive scale for the preparation of cheap brandies, and the position, in this respect, therefore, has not been inproved. Where formerly fraud was practically confined to the blendingof genuine brandy with spirit other than that derived from the grape, it is now enhanced by the addition of artificial essences to the blend of the two spirits.

(P. S.)

BRANDYWINE,the name of a stream in Pennsylvania and Delaware, U.S.A., which runs into the Delaware river a few miles east of Wilmington, Delaware. It is famous as the scene of the battle of Brandywine in the American War of Independence, fought on the 11th of September 1777 about 10 m. north-west of Wilmington, and a few miles inside the Pennsylvania border. Sir William Howe, the British commander-in-chief, while opposed to Washington’s army in New Jersey, had formed the plan of capturing Philadelphia from the south side by a movement by sea to the head of Delaware Bay. But contrary winds and accidents delayed the British transports so long that Washington, who was at first puzzled, was able to divine his opponents’ intentions in time; and rapidly moving to the threatened point he occupied a strong entrenched position at the fords over the Brandywine, 25 m. south-west of Philadelphia. Here on the 11th of September the British attacked him. Howe’s plan, which was carefully worked out and exactly executed, was to deliver an energetic feint attack against the American front, to take a strong column 12 m. up the stream, and crossing beyond Washington’s right to attack his entrenchments in rear. Washington was successfully held in play during the movement, and General Sullivan, the commander of the American right wing, misled by the conflicting intelligence which reached him from up-stream, was surprised about noon by definite information as to the approach of Cornwallis on his right rear. Changing front “right back” in the dense country, he yet managed to oppose a stubborn resistance to the flanking attack, and with other troops that were hurried to the scene his division held its ground for a time near Birmingham meeting-house. But Howe pressed his attack sharply and drove back the Americans for 2 m.; the holding attack of the British right was converted into a real one, and by nightfall Washington was in full retreat northward toward Chester, protected by General Greene and a steady rear-guard, which held off Howe’s column for the necessary time. The British were too exhausted to pursue, and part of Howe’s force was inextricably mixed up with the advancing troops of the frontal attack. The American loss in killed, wounded and prisoners was about 1000; that of the British less than 600. Howe followed up his victory, and on the 27th of September entered Philadelphia.

BRANFORD,a township, including a borough of the same name, in New Haven county, Connecticut, U.S.A., at the mouth of the Branford river and at the head of a short arm of Long Island Sound, about 7 m. E.S.E. of New Haven. Pop. of the township (1890) 4460; (1900) 5706 (1968 foreign-born);(1910) 6047; of the borough (1910) 2560. The borough is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway, and by an electric line connecting with New Haven. A range of rocky hills commands fine views of the Sound, the shore is deeply indented, the harbour and bays are dotted with islands, and the harbour is deep enough for small craft, and these natural features attract many visitors during the summer season. In Branford is the James Blackstone Memorial library (1896), designed by Solon Spencer Beman (b. 1853) in the Ionic style (the details being taken from the Erechtheum at Athens). On the interior of the dome which covers the rotunda are a series of paintings by Oliver Dennett Grover (b. 1861) illustrating the evolution of book-making, and between the arches are medallion portraits, by the same artist, of New England authors—Longfellow, Emerson, Hawthorne, Lowell, Bryant, Whittier, Holmes and Mrs Stowe. The library was erected by Timothy B. Blackstone (1829-1900), a native of Branford, and president of the Chicago & Alton railway from 1864 to 1899—as a memorial to his father, a descendant of William Blackstone (d. 1675), the New England pioneer. The principal industries of Branford are the manufacture of malleable iron fittings, locks and general hardware, the quarrying of granite, and oyster culture.

The territory of Totoket (now the township of Branford) was purchased from the Indians by the New Haven Plantation, in December 1638, for eleven coats of trucking cloth and one coat of English cloth, but with the reservation for a few Indians of what is still known as Indian Neck. In 1640 the general court of New Haven granted it to the Rev. Samuel Eaton (1596?-1665), a brother of Theophilus Eaton, on condition that he brought friends from England to settle it. As Eaton went to England and did not return, Totoket was granted in 1644 to settlers mostly from Wethersfield, Conn., on condition that they should organize a church state after the New Haven model and join the New Haven Jurisdiction. The settlement was made in the same year, and about two years later several new families came from Southampton, Long Island, under the leadership of the Rev. Abraham Pierson (c.1608-1678), an ardent advocate of the church state, who was chosen pastor at Totoket. The present name of the township, derived from Brentford, England, was adopted about 1645. After the members of the New Haven Jurisdiction had submitted to Connecticut, Pierson, in 1666-1667, led the most prominent citizens of Branford to New Jersey, where they were leaders in founding Newark. The borough of Branford was incorporated in 1893.

See E.C. Baldwin,Branford Annals, in Papers of New Haven Colony Historical Society (New Haven, 1882 and 1888).

BRANGWYN, FRANK(1867- ), English painter, was born at Bruges, and received his first instruction from his father, the owner of an establishment for church embroideries and kindred objects, who took a leading part in the Gothic revival under Pugin. When the family moved to England, Brangwyn attracted the attention of William Morris by a drawing on which he was engaged at South Kensington museum. He worked for some time in Morris’s studio, and then travelled more than once to the East, whereby his sense of colour and the whole further development of his art became deeply influenced. Indeed, the impressions he then received, and his love of Oriental decorative art—tiles and carpets—exercised a greater influence on him than any early training or the works of any European master. His whole tendency is essentially decorative: a colour-sense of sumptuous richness is wedded to an equally strong sense of well-balanced, harmonious design. These qualities, together with a summary suppression of the details which tie a subject to time and place, give his compositions a nobly impressive and universal character, such as may be seen in his decorative panel “Modern Commerce” in the ambulatory of the Royal Exchange, London. Among other decorative schemes executed by him are those for “L’Art nouveau” in the rue de Provence, Paris; for the hall of the Skinners’ Company, London; and for the British room at the Venice International Exhibition, 1905. The Luxembourg museum has his “Trade on the Beach”; the Venice municipal museum, the “St Simon Stylites”; the Stuttgart gallery, the “St John the Baptist”; the Munich Pinakothek, the “Assisi”; the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburg, his “Sweetmeat Seller”; the Prague gallery, his “Turkish Boatmen”; and the National Gallery of New South Wales, “The Scoffers.” Brangwyn embarked successfully in many fields of applied art, and made admirable designs for book decoration, stained glass, furniture, tapestry, metal-work and pottery. He devoted himself extensively to etching, and executed many plates of astonishing vigour and dramatic intensity. He was elected associate of the Royal Academy in 1904.

BRANKS,(probably akin to Irishbrancas, a halter; Ger.Pranger, fetter, pillory), orScolding-Bridle, a contrivance formerly in use throughout England and Scotland for the punishment of scolding women. It is said to have originated in the latter country. It seems to have never been a legalized form of punishment; but corporations and lords of manors in England, town councils, kirk-sessions and barony courts in Scotland assumed a right to inflict it. While specially known as the “Gossip’s or Scold’s Bridle” the branks was also used for women convicted of petty offences, breaches of the peace, street-brawling and abusive language. It was the equivalent of the male punishments of the stocks and pillory. In its earliest form it consisted of a hoop head-piece of iron, opening by hinges at the side so as to enclose the head, with a flat piece of iron projecting inwardsso as to fit into the mouth and press the tongue down. Later it was made, by a multiplication of hoops, more like a cage, the front forming a mask of iron with holes for mouth, nose and eyes. Sometimes the mouth-plate was armed with a short spike. With this on her head the offending woman was marched through the streets by the beadle or chained to the market-cross to be gibed at by passers. The date of origin is doubtful. It was used at Edinburgh in 1567, at Glasgow in 1574, but not before the 17th century in any English town. A brank in the church of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, bears date 1633; while another in a private collection has the crowned cipher of William III. The Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, the Scottish National Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh, the towns of Lichfield, Shrewsbury, Leicester and Chester have examples of the brank. As late as 1856 it was in use at Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire.

See W. Andrews,Old Time Punishments(Hull, 1890); A.M. Earle,Curious Punishments of Bygone Days(Chicago, 1896).

BRANT, JOSEPH(1742-1807), American Indian chief of the Mohawk tribe, known also by his Indian name,Thayendanegea, was born on the banks of the Ohio river in 1742. In early youth he attracted the attention of Sir William Johnson, who sent him to be educated by Dr Eleazar Wheelock at Lebanon, Conn., in Moor’s Indian charity school, in which Dartmouth College had its origin. He took part, on the side of the English, in the French and Indian War, and in 1763 fought with the Iroquois against Pontiac. Subsequently he settled at Canajoharie, or Upper Mohawk Castle (in what is now Montgomery county, New York), where, being a devout churchman, he devoted himself to missionary work, and translated the Prayer Book and St Mark’s Gospel into the Mohawk tongue (1787). When Guy Johnson (1740-1788) succeeded his uncle, Sir William, as superintendent of Indian affairs in 1774, Brant became his secretary. At the outbreak of the War of Independence, he remained loyal, was commissioned colonel, and organized and led the Mohawks and other Indians allied to the British against the settlements on the New York frontier. He took part in the Cherry Valley Massacre, in the attack on Minisink and the expedition of General St Leger which resulted in the battle of Oriskany on the 6th of August 1777. After the war he discouraged the continuance of Indian warfare on the frontier, and aided the commissioners of the United States in securing treaties of peace with the Miamis and other western tribes. Settling in Upper Canada, he again devoted himself to missionary work and in 1786 visited England, where he raised funds with which was erected the first Episcopal church in Upper Canada. His character was a peculiar compound of the traits of an Indian warrior—with few rivals for daring leadership—and of a civilized politician and diplomat of the more conservative type. He died on an estate granted him by the British government on the banks of Lake Ontario on the 24th of November 1807. A monument was erected to his memory at Brantford, Ontario, Canada (named in his honour) in 1886.

See W.L. Stone,Life of Joseph Brant(2 vols., New York, 1838; new ed., Albany, 1865); Edward Eggleston and Elizabeth E. Seelye,Brant and Red Jacketin “Famous American Indians” (New York, 1879); and aMemoir(Brantford, 1872).

BRANT, SEBASTIAN(1457-1521), German humanist and satirist, was born at Strassburg about the year 1457. He studied at Basel, took the degree of doctor of laws in 1489, and for some time held a professorship of jurisprudence there. Returning to Strassburg, he was made syndic of the town, and died on the 10th of May 1521. He first attracted attention in humanistic circles by his Latin poetry, and edited many ecclesiastical and legal works; but he is now only known by his famous satire,Das Narrenschiff(1494), a work the popularity and influence of which were not limited to Germany. Under the form of an allegory—a ship laden with fools and steered by fools to the fools’ paradise of Narragenia—Brant here lashes with unsparing vigour the weaknesses and vices of his time. Although, like most of the German humanists, essentially conservative in his religious views, Brant’s eyes were open to the abuses in the church, and theNarrenschiffwas a most effective preparation for the Protestant Reformalion. Alexander Barclay’sShip of Fools(1509) is a free imitation of the German poem, and a Latin version by Jacobus Locher (1497) was hardly less popular than the German original. There is also a large quantity of other “fool literature.” Nigel, called Wireker (fl. 1190), a monk of Christ Church Priory, Canterbury, wrote a satiricalSpeculum stultorum, in which the ambitious and discontented monk figured as the ass Brunellus, who wanted a longer tail. Brunellus, who has been educated at Paris, decides to found an order of fools, which shall combine the good points of all the existing monastic orders.Cock Lovell’s Bote(printed by Wynkyn de Worde, c. 1510) is another imitation of theNarrenschiff. Cock Lovell is a fraudulent currier who gathers round him a rascally collection of tradesmen. They sail off in a riotous fashion up hill and down dale throughout England. Brant’s other works, of which the chief was a version of Freidank’sBescheidenheit(1508), are of inferior interest and importance.

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