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Rh was stimulated and encouraged. One can imagine the little child amusing his fancy by peering carefully and anxiously into some remote corner, which he was sure contained the object in quest.

Slowly and surely days and years sped on, till the boyish curiosity passed into the settled regime of manly task. Still, his love had grown with his days at the wheel, and when he left the alluvial fields of New South Wales in 1869 he was an enthusiastic mining devotee. His career had been watched because of its very uniqueness. His services were immediately enlisted by a Melbourne syndicate on his return from the north-east fields of New South Wales. He was commissioned by them to make an extensive prospecting tour through New England in search of diamonds. Though the direct and immediate outcome of the expedition was not the discovery of the precious glistening carbon gem, still his mission was by no means barren of success. He discovered in the course of his tour the New England tin mines, which brought a fair amount of fame to his name. Still, he was rather unfortunate in one of his discoveries owing to a treacherous trick being played upon him by his over-clever companion. The first tin property they discovered was the Ellesmore in which his ostensible friend outwitted him and robbed him of his interest. Young Fearby had not yet schooled himself in arts sufficient to ward off deceptions of cheatery and fraud. Still, as experience, it opened his mind to the possibilities existing in the world for all kinds of roguery, and made him more guarded in future.

Mr. Fearby next journeyed to Cope's Creek, twelve miles south of Ellesmore, to a property called the Britannia. He was appointed manager of this mine on his arrival, and held that managerial trust for two years with conspicuous success. The burdensome and onerous duty of the charge may be evidenced by the simple statement that fully 250 men had to be superintended by him during his retention of the post. His skill and administrative capacity were recognised as the chief factors of a sudden expansion, an increased output, and a general development. The mine, under his experienced supervision, paid substantial dividends.

On vacating this position he travelled over large areas of the surrounding goldfields, practising as a mining engineer and expert on his own behalf. In this interim, however, he held various responsible posts. His scientific experience was often sought and bought on many important points, and his reputation as a thorough practical man was more than upheld. These services were continued for fourteen years till 1884, when he left New South Wales, in company with D. Grove, for the Malay Peninsula. He provided himself with large smelting plant and engineering apparatus, and set out for Perak in the interests of a large Melbourne tin-smelting company. He was under a twelve months' engagement to that firm, so that it was well on in 1885 before he returned to New South Wales. From June of that year he filled a perfect host of successive positions.

Firstly, after his arrival, he was appointed mining manager to the Tonkin Silver Mining Company, a property which adjoins the Great Sunny Corner Mine, in New South Wales. He was eighteen months there, and then resigned to assume the more important office of manager to the Little Dora Gold Mining Company, on the Clarence River, New South Wales. He held this latter trust for eighteen months, and on the expiration of that term returned to Sydney. After a short stay in the latter city, he decided to accept the managership of the Castle Wellington Tin and Silver Mining Company, New England. He greatly facilitated progress by erecting large tin-crushing plant and a Huntingdon mill—the first of its kind used for tin. His skill and practical utility were continually made the subjects of compliment and thanks, and his numerous experiences and record of success rendered him more than worthy of esteem.

About a year after this he was entrusted with a prospecting commission to Borneo for the Sambas Exploration Company. For months he prospected, minutely and thoroughly, the auriferous areas of that large island. The company which he represented had received a concession of 65,000 acres from the Imperial Government for gold and diamond prospecting operations. Mr. Fearby and party were not satisfied with their gold finds, and diamonds do not seem to have cropped up in any great quantity to the light of their searching eyes.

In this expedition he traversed country perfectly unknown to the civilised explorer, and proceeded eighty miles farther inland than any other white man. His reports on the discoveries in Western Borneo—the realm of the Dutch province—were the means of encouraging further exploration and developmont in that hitherto unpenetrated region. This exploratory exploit of Mr. Fearby in Borneo was generally recognised as a brave adventure. He left Borneo for London in 1892, to hand over the documents in connection with the Exploration Company.

On his return to Sydney, he was commissioned to proceed to New Zealand by John W. Jeffreys on behalf of a large Sydney syndicate to prospect for manganese. But this inorganic element did not abound so plentifully as the syndicate expected, and in eight months Mr. Fearby returned, not at all gratified with his success. He then sailed for Western Australia.

In Coolgardie he began practice as a mining expert. Since his arrival he has visited all the different fields, furnishing reports on various mines for many companies. From so experienced an expert, an opinion on the auriferous wealth and prospective greatness of the fields of Western Australia will be welcomed. Norseman he considers to be a promising field, being similar in features and general environment to Charters Towers. He has prepared exhaustive reports on several mines that were afterwards purchased by Dr. Simon, such as Hill End at Broad Arrow, and the Bardoc Gold Mines. His belief in the future of the Coolgardie Goldfields is emphatically asserted. History, he says, will repeat itself here as in the Mysore mines of India, where poor stuff reigned above 200 feet, but below that level there were well-defined reefs.

Discretion combined with a singular constructive and mathematical ability, energy wedded to a keen resolve, a love for his science that makes every difficulty appear a toy—these are the characteristics most noted along the course of Mr. Fearby's life. He has filled scores of responsible offices with signal success, and has hurried from one continent to another in his insatiable love for prospecting and mining. Few have served so many syndicates and companies as Mr. Fearby.

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N Coolgardie the name of this prominent citizen dates back almost to its inception. Residents of the goldfield centres generally freely express their appreciation of those men who have by individual and co-operative endeavours sought to bring them credit and fame. Such a manifestation is only fitting when they consider the circumstances surrounding their growth. The individual must in these cases be selfish before he becomes utilitarian.

Councillor Moore was born in Ballarat in 1857. For some time after leaving school he worked on his mother's farm at Durham Lead. Growing somewhat impatient of the monotonous tendencies of agriculture, he gladly exchanged its routine for that of mining. In the Majorca mines he worked with laborious effort for two years. Then he departed to Gippsland with some amount of mining experience, collected at Majorca.

In Gippsland he joined the survey camp of the Lands Department, and was connected therewith for eight years. This period of surveying operations was invaluable to him on the score of experience. The party went far and wide over auriferous tracts, and analysed the geological appearances and conditions of the rocks and country. Such empirical knowledge proved of indispensable utility to Mr. Moore in his subsequent enterprises. He severed his connection with this branch of the Government service, only, however, to enlist his growing efforts in a kindred sphere—that of the Railway Survey Department. He remained in this employ for twelve and a half years. When the bright news of Coolgardie's auriferous wealth reached his ears, he resolved to seek Westralia's shores. He arrived in Coolgardie in September, 1893, the field being at that time about twelve months old. He started prospecting around Coolgardie, and was fortunate in making a rich discovery within ten days. He pegged out the New Victoria Mine at Mount Burges, which was afterwards sold to Dr. Simon for £40,000 cash. After this enviable acquisition he started sharebroking in Coolgardie, in which up to the present he has had increasing success. His business connection is extensive.

In November, 1895, Mr. Moore identified himself with the formation of the Coolgardie Brewing and Ice Company, which was floated with the handsome capital of £30,000. He was appointed chairman of directors in recognition of his energetic endeavours to accomplish the formation, and in consideration of his administrative and financial capabilities. In the conduct of the general affairs of the company he has taken a hearty and lively interest. The company spent £7,000 in superior plant and machinery, and the result has begot the splendid dividend of £4,500 within twelve months.

He was elected to the Municipal Council of Coolgardie in the beginning of 1896, and still retains his seat. His period of public service has been one of sedulous attention to the general interests of the town. He has displayed unusual diligence in capably discharging the duties of the office entrusted to him by the electors. In the council room, in open discussion and debate he urges the need for amelioration and improvement. The zeal and zest of the energetic endeavours of her councillors have rendered Coolgardie worthy of the great reputation she bears throughout the world. This fitting tribute of appreciation is but the reflection of the general feeling toward their ability and public services.

Coolgardie is an enthusiastic sporting field. Young and old, rich and poor, assemble either to participate in its enjoyments by direct contact or else to witness with excited feelings the progress of the game. Councillor Moore, both of his own love for sport and in consideration of the social spirit of "camaraderie" which sport engenders, willingly supports various clubs by liberal disbursements and active assistance. He is a member of the Coolgardie Racing Club committee, and acts as vice-president of the Coolgardie Bicycle Club. He was elected to the honorary position of president of the Toorak Cricket Club. In all these clubs where he holds official positions he is very popular. His cordial spirit and generosity make his company bright and enjoyable.

In the growing institutions of the commercial world he takes a keen interest, especially in the Chamber of Mines and Commerce, of which he is a member. Councillor Moore's reputation and popularity are meritoriously deserved. By his earnest endeavours he has become a stout link in the chain of individual services to the common weal of Coolgardie.

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 when ecclesiastical music was in a very corrupt state, was reissued in a second edition, published in 1763 at London, whither Bremner had in the meantime removed. His shop in London was at the sign of the Harp and Hautboy, opposite Somerset House in the Strand. Here he continued his publishing business with great success, besides bringing out several collections of 'Scots Songs,' the words of which were by Allan Ramsay, an instruction book for the guitar. 'Thoughts on the Performance of Concert Music,' 'The Harpsichord or Spinnet Miscellany. Being a Gradation of Proper Lessons from the Beginner to the tollerable (sic) Performer. Chiefly intended to save Masters the trouble of writing for their Pupils,' and 'Select Concert Pieces fitted for the Harpsichord or Pianoforte, with an Accompaniment for the Violin.' The last publication, of which several numbers appeared, contains a valuable collection of classical music. In the preface to it, Bremner mentions his having bought the celebrated manuscript wrongly known as 'Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book' at the sale of Dr. Pepusch's library. For this he gave ten guineas: the manuscript passed from his hands into those of Earl Fitzwilliam, and is now preserved in the Fitzwilliam Library at Cambridge. In the latter part of his life Bremner lived at Kensington Gore, where he died 12 May 1789.

[Grove's Dict. of Musicians, i. 273 b, iv. 307 b; Gent. Mag. 1789, i. 471 ; Bremner's works mentioned above.]  BRENAN, – (fl.. 1756), is the author of the 'Painter's Breakfast;' a dramatic satire, Dublin, 1756, 12mo. He is also credited with the production of a comedy, entitled 'The Lawsuit,' which Burke is said to have intended to publish by subscription, but which never saw the light. Of his life nothing whatever, is known, except that he was a painter in Dublin. The 'Painter's Breakfast' is a clever work. Pallat, a painter, asks to breakfast some known patrons of art. He then, with the aid of Dactyl, a poet, and Friendly, a comedian, sells by auction as original works some copies of paintings executed by his acquaintance. The proceeds of the sale, after the deduction of the cost of the breakfast and the true value of the paintings, are to be devoted to a fund for the relief of lunatics. The intention is of course to ridicule would-be connoisseurs of art, who neglect modern work, and will hear only of the antique. The characters of Sir Bubble Buyall, Formal (a connoisseur), Lady Squeeze, Bow and Scrape (two hookers-in), and others are well drawn, and the piece has some humour.

[Biographia Dramatica; The Painter's Breakfast.]  BRENAN, JOHN (1768?–1830), physician, born at Ballaghide, Carlow, Ireland, about 1768, was the youngest of six children. His father, a Roman catholic, possessed some property. Brenan's earliest literary productions appear to have been epigrams and short poems, which he contributed to Dublin periodicals in 1793. He graduated as doctor of medicine in Glasgow, and established himself in that profession in Dublin about 1801. For some time he was a contributor of verses in the 'Irish Magazine,' commenced in Dublin in 1807 by Walter Cox. Cox was tried in Dublin in 1812 for publishing a production in favour of a repeal of the union between Great Britain and Ireland, and condemned to stand in the pillory and to be imprisoned for twelve months. While Cox was in gaol under this sentence, Brenan quarrelled with him, went over to the opposite party, and started the 'Milesian Magazine, or Irish Monthly Gleaner.' The first number appeared in April 1812, and in it and subsequent issues he assailed Cox with great acerbity. Brenan was ardently devoted to gymnastics, an expert wrestler, and occasionally showed symptoms of mental disorder. About 1812 puerperal fever and internal inflammation prevailed to a vast extent in Dublin. Brenan discovered a valuable remedy in preparations of turpentine, with which he successfully treated many cases. The greater part of the medical practice in Dublin at that time was in the hands of the College of Physicians. An old bylaw of the college forbidding members to hold consultations with non-members was, according to Brenan, put in operation to curtail his practice. Brenan stated that the Dublin physicians declined to use his remedy from personal jealousy. It was, however, adopted by practitioners with success in the country parts of Ireland, as well as in England and Scotland. In 1813 Brenan published at Dublin a pamphlet entitled 'Essay on Child-bed Fever, with remarks on it, as it appeared in the Lying-in Hospital of Dublin, in January 1813, &c.' In this publication he attacked the College of Physicians. He followed up the attack by a series of articles, both in verse and prose, in the 'Milesian Magazine,' in which he satirised the prominent members of that college. Brenan also attacked persons agitating for catholic emancipation. A government pension was alleged to have been given for these productions. Many of Brenan's satires were in the form of adaptations in verse of passages from the Latin classics, which he applied with much poignancy. Among these was an


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  piece on Daniel O'Connell, then in the early stages of his career. The 'Milesian Magazine' was published at long intervals. The last number, which appears to have been that printed in 1825, contained a letter which Brenan addressed to the Marquis of Wellesley, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, advocating an inquiry into the administration of the Lying-in Hospital at Dublin, and stating the circumstances of his discovery in connection with turpentine. Brenan's death took place at Dublin in July 1830.

  BRENDAN or BRENAINN, (490?–573), of Birr, which was so called from the abundance of wells there (birr, birra, water), now Parsonstown, in the King's County, was born about A.D. 490. He was son of Neman, a poet, and Mansenna, and belonged to the race of Corb Aulam, great-grandson of Rudhraighe, from whom were the Clanna Rudhraighe. A disciple of St. Finnian of Clonard, he is described in the Life of St. Finnian as 'a prophet in those schools.' He belonged, like the other Brendan (of Clonfert), to the second order of Irish saints, and is sometimes distinguished as Brendan the Senior. He was present at the council in which St. Columba was excommunicated, but was his intimate friend, and is said to have been consulted by him as to the place he should choose for his exile, on which occasion he recommended Hy. The foundation of his monastery of Birr is placed by some immediately before 563, but by others somewhat earlier. In the 'Felire' of Oengus Céle Dé" he is referred to at Nov. 29 as follows:

The royal feast of Brenann of Birr, Against whom burst the sea-level. Fair diadem, much enduring, White head of Ireland's prophets.

'Much enduring' is explained 'very great was he in enduring tribulations and troubles, or, in supporting the poor and needy for God's sake.' The note from the 'Lebar Brecc' explains the incident in the second line thus : 'The surge of the sea rose against him when he went thereon, and Brenainn, son of Findloga, caught him by the hand.' The term 'white head' seems to refer to the meaning of his name, for it may be observed that in the popular form of the name (Brendan) the termination is not the word ān, 'noble,' usually the suffix to Irish ecclesiastical names, as Colm-ān, Aid-ān, for the correct form in all Irish authorities is Brenann or Brenainn, of which Brenaind is a later form ; this is interpreted Braen-fhind, or Braen the Fair (Felire, lxxxvi).

His death, which took place in the eightieth year of his age, the night before 29 Nov., has been assigned by Ussher to 571, but by Tighernach to 573, which Dean Reeves thinks more likely. St. Columba is represented as having been aware of his death at the time of its occurrence, and to have seen his soul entering heaven accompanied by angels. 'Get ready the sacred service of the eucharist immediately' (he said to his attendant), 'for this is the natal day of Brendan.' 'Why,' said the attendant, 'do you order the sacred rites to-day, for no messenger has come from Ireland with tidings of that holy man's death ?' 'Go,' said Columba, 'and obey my orders, for last night I saw heaven open and choirs of angels descending to meet the soul of St. Brendan, and the whole world was illuminated by their brilliant and surpassing radiance.' His day in the calendar is 29 Nov.

[Reeves's Adamnan, pp. 209, 210, Dublin, 1857; Martyrology of Donegal, Dublin, 1864; Felire of Oengus Céle Dé, Transactions of Royal Irish Academy, pp. lxxxvi, clxvi, clxxiii; Ussher's Works, vi. 594, 595.]

BRENDAN or BRENAINN, (484–577), of Clonfert, was born in 484, at Littus li, or Stagnum li, now Tralee, co. Kerry. He is termed son of Finnloga, to distinguish him from his contemporary, St. Brendan of Birr [q. v.], and Mocu Alta, from his great-grandfather, Alta, who was of the race of Ciar, descendant of Rudraighe, from whom were the Ciarraighe, who have given their name to Kerry. His parents, though free and well born, were in a relation of dependence, and under the rule of their relative, Bishop Ere. Some have thought this was the well-known bishop of Slane, co. Meath ; but there were many of the name, and he seems to have been rather the head of a local monastery, and permanently resident in Kerry. Here Brendan was born, and when a year old was taken by Ere and placed in charge of St. Ita of Cluain Credhail, in the south-west of the county of Limerick. Remaining five years with her, he returned to Ere to begin his studies, and in course of time, when he had 'read through the canon of the Old and New Testaments,' he wished also to study the rules of the saints of Ireland. Having obtained Erc's permission to go to St. Jarlath of Tuam for the purpose, with the injunction to return to him for holy orders, he first paid a visit to St. Ita, 'his nurse.' She approved of his design, but


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 and deputy-lieutenant of the county. His mother was Susannah, third daughter of the Rev. Sampson Kingsford of Sturry, near Canterbury (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxvii. pt. ii. 1074). In his early days he carried on the business of a miller, occupied for many years a seat on the council of the Canterbury corporation, and was elected an alderman, but resigned that position on being appointed city treasurer. Brent died at his house on the Dane John, Canterbury, 23 April 1882. During the course of a long life, he was indefatigable in his attempts to throw light on the past history of the city and county in which he dwelt. He became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in April 1853, and was also a member of the British Archaeological Association and of the Kent Archaeological Society. His contributions to antiquarian literature are mostly to be found in the various publications of these societies. To the forty-first volume of the 'Archæologia' (pp. 409–20) he communicated a paper of value to ethnological science, being an account of his 'Researches in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Stowting, in Kent, during the autumn of 1860.' In 1855 he had published a revised edition of Felix Summerly's 'Handbook for Canterbury,' and in 1875 there appeared his 'Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Canterbury Museum,' of which he was honorary curator. His work 'Canterbury in the Olden Time,' 8vo, (enlarged edition in 1879), from its research and originality, bears testimony to his unwearied industry and his ability as an antiquarian topographer. Brent also claims notice as a poet and novelist, having published A collected edition of his poems was published in 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1884. Numerous tales, poems, and miscellaneous articles from his pen are also to be found in the various magazines devoted to light literature. At the time of the insurrection in Poland, Brent became the local secretary of the Polish Association.
 * 1) 'The Sea Wolf, a Romance,' 12mo, London, 1834.
 * 2) 'Lays of Poland,' 12mo, London, 1836.
 * 3) 'Lays and Legends of Kent,' 12mo, Canterbury, 1840; second edition, 1851.
 * 4) 'Guillemette La Delanasse,' a poem, 12mo, Canterbury, 1840.
 * 5) 'The Battle Cross. A Romance of the Fourteenth Century,' 3 vols 12mo, London, 1845.
 * 6) 'Ellie Forestere, a novel,' 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1850.
 * 7) 'Sunbeams and Shadows,' poems, printed for private circulation, 1853.
 * 8) 'Village Bells, Lady Gwendoline, and other Poems,' 8vo London, 1865; second edition, 1868.
 * 9) 'Atalanta, Winnie, and other Poems,' 12mo, London, 1873.
 * 10) 'Justine,' a poem, 12mo, London, 1881.

BRENT, NATHANIEL (1573?–1652), warden of Merton College, Oxford, was the son of Anchor Brent of Little Wolford, Warwickshire, where he was born about 1573. His grandfather's name was Richard, and his great-grandfather was John Brent of Cosington, Somersetshire. He became 'portionist,' or postmaster, of Merton College, Oxford, in 1589; proceeded B.A. on 20 June 1593; was admitted probationer fellow there in 1594, and took the degree of M.A. on 31 Oct. 1598. He was proctor of the university in 1607, and admitted bachelor of law on 11 Oct. 1623. In 1613 and 1614 he travelled abroad 'into several parts of the learned world, and underwent dangerous adventures in Italy to procure the "History of the Council of Trent," which he translated into English'. In 1616 Carleton, ambassador at the Hague, writes to Winwood that he leaves Brent, 'one not unknown to your honour,' to conduct the business of the embassy during his temporary absence at Spa. On 31 Oct. of the same year Carleton writes again to Winwood that Brent is bringing home despatches, and hopes to secure an office in Ireland, for which Carleton recommends him highly. On 26 Nov. Winwood replied that the post in question, that of 'secretary of Ireland,' had been conferred on Sir Francis Annesley before Brent's arrival in England. Soon after the close of his foreign tour Brent married Martha, the daughter and heiress of Robert Abbot, bishop of Salisbury, and niece of George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury.

The influence of the Abbots secured Brent's election in 1622 to the wardenship of Merton College, in succession to Sir Henry Savile. He was afterwards appointed commissary of the diocese of Canterbury, and vicar-general to the archbishop, and on Sir Henry Marten's death became judge of the prerogative court. During the early years of Laud's primacy (1634–7), Brent made a tour through the length and breadth of England south of the Trent, reporting upon and correcting ecclesiastical abuses (, Hist. 1884, viii. 108–17; cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. 131–147). But Brent chiefly owed his fame to his connection with Merton College. Wood, who was largely indebted to Brent, refers to him as one who, 'minding wealth and the settling a family more than generous actions,' allowed the college to lose much of the reputation it had acquired under Sir Henry Savile (, Athenæ, ed. Bliss, ii. 316).


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 Complaints were frequently made of Brent's long sojourns in London, where he had a house of his own in Little Britain. On 23 Aug. 1629 he was knighted at Woodstock by the king, who was preparing to pay a state visit to Oxford. On 24 Aug. Brent entertained the French and Dutch ambassadors at Merton, and on 27 Aug. gave a dinner to the king and queen. In 1629–30 he was admitted to the freedom of the city of Canterbury honoris causa (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. 1635). In August 1636 Brent presented Prince Charles and Prince Rupert for degrees, when Laud, who had become chancellor in 1630, was entertaining the royal family. In 1638 Laud held a visitation of Merton College, and insisted on many radical reforms. Laud stayed at the college for many weeks, and found Brent an obstinate opponent. Laud complains in his 'Diary' that 'the warden appeared very foul.' Some outrageous charges of maladministration were indeed brought against Brent by some of those whom Laud examined, but the visitor took no public proceedings against Brent on these grounds. His letters to the warden are, however, couched in very haughty and decisive language. Brent ultimately gained the victory over Laud. The tenth charge in the indictment drawn up against the archbishop in 1641 treats of the unlawful authority exercised by him at Merton in 1638. The warden came forward as a hostile witness at Laud's trial. His testimony as to Laud's intimacy with papists and the like was very damaging to the archbishop, but it does not add much to his own reputation. Laud replied to Brent's accusations in his 'History of the Troubles and Trial' (Anglo-Cath. Libr. iv. 194). On the outbreak of the civil wars Brent sided with the parliament. Before Charles I entered Oxford (29 Oct. 1642), the warden had abandoned Oxford for London. On 27 Jan. 1644–1645 Charles I wrote to the loyal fellows at Merton that Brent was deposed from his office on the grounds of his having absented himself for three years from the college, of having adhered to the rebels, and of having accepted the office of judge-marshal in their ranks. He had also signed the covenant. The petition for the formal removal of Brent, to which the king's letter was an answer, was drawn up by John Greaves, Savilian professor of geometry. On 9 April the great William Harvey was elected to fill Brent's place: but as soon as Oxford fell into the hands of Fairfax, the parliamentary general (24 June 1646), Brent returned to Merton, and apparently resumed his post there without any opposition being offered him. In 1647 Brent was appointed president of the famous parliamentary commission, or visitation, ordered by the parliament 'for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders' in the university. The proceedings began on 3 June, but it was not until 30 Sept. that the colleges were directed to forward to Merton their statutes, registers, and accounts to enable Brent and his colleague to really set to work. On 12 April 1648 Brent presented four of the visitors for the degree of M.A. Early in May of the same year Brent showed more mercy than his colleagues approved by 'conniving' at Anthony à Wood's retention of his postmastership in spite of his avowed royalism. Wood tells us that he owed this favour to the intercession of his mother, whom Brent had known from a girl. On 17 May 1649 Fairfax and Cromwell paid the university a threatening visit, and malcontents were thenceforth proceeded against by the commission with the utmost rigour. But Brent grew dissatisfied with its proceedings. The visitors claimed to rule Merton College as they pleased, and, without consulting the warden, they admitted fellows, masters, and bachelors of arts. On 13 Feb. 1650–1 he sent a petition of protest against the conduct of the visitors to parliament. The commissioners were ordered to answer Brent's complaint, but there is no evidence that they did so, and in October 1651 Brent retired from the commission. On 27 Nov. following he resigned his office of warden, nominally in obedience to an order forbidding pluralities, but his refusal to sign 'the engagement,' which would have bound him to support a commonwealth without a king or a house of lords, was probably the more direct cause of his resignation. Brent afterwards withdrew to his house in Little Britain, London, and died there on 6 Nov. 1652. He was buried in the church of St, Bartholomew the Less on 17 Nov. Wood states that he had seen an epitaph in print on Brent by one 'John Sictar, a Bohemian exile, whom Brent had provisioned' in his lifetime.

Brent's daughter Margaret married Edward Corbet of Merton College, a presbyterian, on whom Laud repeatedly refused to confer the living of Chartham. Brent's literary work was small. In 1620 he translated into English the 'History of the Council of Trent' by Pietro Soane Polano (i.e. Pietro Sarpi). A second edition appeared in 1629, and another in 1676, Archbishop Abbot had caused the Latin original to be published for the first time in 1619 in London. In 1625, 'at the importunity of George [Abbot], archbishop of Canterbury,' Brent edited and republished the elaborate defence of the church


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 of England 'Vindiciæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ,' first published in 1613 by Francis Mason, archdeacon of Norfolk (, Parker, i. 117). He did 'review it,' says Wood (Athenae Oxon., Bliss, ii. 307), 'examine the quotations, compare them with the originals, and at length printed the copy as he found it under the author's hands.'

 BRENTFORD,. [See ]  BRENTON, EDWARD PELHAM (1774–1839), captain in the royal navy, younger brother of Vice-admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton [q. v.], was born at Rhode Island on 20 July 1774. He entered the navy in 1788, and, after serving in the East Indies and in the Channel fleet, waa made lieutenant on 27 May 1795. His services in that rank in the North Sea, on the Newfoundland station, and in the West Indies, call for no special notice. On 29 April 1802 he was made commander, and on the renewal of the war in 1803 was appointed to the command of the Merlin, and employed in the blockade of the north coast of France. On 16 Dec. 1803 he succeeded in a gallant attempt to destroy the Shannon frigate, which had got on shore not far from Cape Barfleur, and had been taken possession of by the French. In January 1805 he was appointed to the Amaranthe brig, in which he cruised with some success in the North Sea; and in 1808 he was sent to the West Indies, where, for his distinguished gallantry in the attack on a small French squadron under the batteries of St. Pierre of Martinique, he was advanced to post rank, his commission being dated back to 13 Dec. 1808, the day of the action. Anticipating his promotion, the admiral. Sir Alexander Cochrane, had appointed him acting captain of the Pompée (74), bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Cockburn, under whose immediate command he served with the brigade of seamen landed for the reduction of Martinique. He afterwards returned to Europe, with the commodore, in the Belleisle, in charge of the garrison, who, according to the capitulation, were to be conveyed to France and there exchanged. As, however, the French government refused to restore an equivalent number of English, the prisoners, to the number of 2,400, were carried to Portsmouth and detained there till the end of the war. Captain Brenton was afterwards employed in convoy service, and in August 1810 was appointed to command the Spartan frigate, in succession to his brother [see: {sc|Brenton, Sir Jahleel}}]. In the course of 1811 the Spartan was sent to North America, and continued on that station during the greater part of the war with the United States, but met with no opportunity of distinguished service. She returned to England in the autumn of 1813, when Brenton went on half-pay; nor did he ever serve again, with the exception of a few months in the summer of 1815, when he acted as flag-captain to Rear-admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell.

Brenton now devoted a large portion of his time to literary pursuits, and published in 1833 a 'Naval History of Great Britain from the year 1783 to 1822,' 5 vols. 6vo; and in 1838 the 'Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St. Vincent,' 2 vols. 8vo. As an office of rank, who had been actively employed during all the important part of the period of his history, his opportunities of gaining information were almost unequalled; but he seems to have been constitutionally incapable of sifting such evidence as came before him, and to have been guided more frequently by prejudice than by judgment. The plan of his work is good and comprehensive, but the execution is feeble, and its authority as to matter of fact is of the slenderest possible. In addition to these more important literary labours, he took an active, and latterly an absorbing, part in he promotion of temperance societies, in the establishment and conduct of the Society for the Relief of Shipwrecked Mariners, and more especially of the Children's Friend Society, the intention of which was, in many respects, better than the results. These, in fact, drew down on him and his management much harsh criticism, which he felt severely, and which to a serious extent embittered the closing years of his life. He died suddenly on 6 April 1839. He married, in March 1803, Margaret Diana, daughter of General Cox, by whom he had a large family.

In addition to the more bulky works already mentioned, he was also the author of 'The Bible and Spade: an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Children's Friend Society.' 1837, 12mo; and of several pamphlets on 'Suppression of Mendicity,' 'Poor Laws,' 'Juvenile Vagrancy,' and similar subjects.

[Marshall's Royal Nav. Biog. v. (suppl. part i.) 411; Memoir of Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, with Sketches of his professional Life and Exertions in the Cause of Humanity as


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 probably a relative of Sir (1604-1661) [q.v.], major-general of Cheshire, who, before his military career, was interested in American colonisation, grants of land along the north-eastern coast of Massachusetts Bay having been made to him by Sir Ferdinando Gorges at a time when he intended to settle there. John Brereton was admitted sizar at Caius College, Cambridge, 1587, and was B. A. 1592-3. He joined Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, Bartholomew Gilbert, Gabriel Archer, and others to make the first English attempt to settle in the land since called New England. Twenty-four gentlemen and eight sailors left Falmouth in a small bark, the Concord, on 26 March 1603, twelve of them intending to settle, while twelve others returned home with the produce of the land and of their trading with the natives. The voyage was sanctioned by Sir Walter Raleigh, who had an exclusive crown grant of the whole coast. Instead of making the circuitous route by the Canaries, Gosnold steered, as the winds permitted, due west, only southing towards the Azores, and was the first to accomplish a direct course to America, saving 'the better part of a thousand leagues.' By 15 May the voyagers made the headland which they named Cape Cod. Here Gosnold, Brereton, and two others went ashore on 'the white sands,' the first spot in New England ever trodden by English feet. Doubling the Cape and passing Nantucket, they touched at Martha's Vineyard, and passing round Dover Cliff entered Buzzard's Bay, which they called Gosnold's Hope, reached the island of Cuttyhuiik, which they named Elizabeth's Island. Here they determined to settle; in nineteen days they built a fort and storehouse in an islet in the centre of a lake of three miles compass, and began to trade with the natives in furs, skins, and the sassafras plant. They sowed wheat, barley, and peas, and in fourteen days the young plants had sprung nine inches and more. The country was fruitful in the extreme. It was decided, however, that so small a company would be useless for colonisation; their provisions, after division, would have lasted only six weeks. The whole company therefore sailed for England, making a very short voyage of five weeks, and landed at Exmouth on 23 July. Their freight realised a great profit, the sassafras alone selling for 336l. a ton.

Brereton wrote 'A Briefe Relation of the Description of Elizabeth's Ile, and some others towards the North Part of Virginie. . . written by John Brierton, one of the Voyage,' London, 1602, 8vo. A second impression was published the same year entitled 'A brief and true Relation of the Discovery of the North Part of Virginia. . . written by John Brereton, one of the Voyage,' London, 1602, 8vo. To this edition is added 'A Treatise of M. Edward Hayes, containing important inducements for the planting in these parts,' &c. Purchas gives a chapter headed 'Notes taken out of a Tractate written by James Rosier to Sir Walter Raleigh;' but this is signed 'John Brereton,' and is evidently part of a letter written by him. Rosier was not with Brereton, but was a fellow-voyager in Weymouth's expedition five years afterwards. Of Brereton nothing more is known. Captain John Smith, in his 'Adventures and Discourses,' speaks of 'Master John Brereton and his account of his voyage' as fairly turning his brains, and impelling him to cast in his lot with Gosnold and Wingfield, and make that subsequent voyage which resulted in the planting and colonisation of Virginia in 1607.

[Stith's Hist. of Virginia, p. 30, Massachusetts Historical Collections, 3rd. ser. viii. 83-123; Purchas His Pilgrimes, 'the 4th part.' pp.1646, 1656; Belknap's American Biog. (Hubbard's), 1844, ii. 206; Anderson's Hist. of Commerce, A.D. 1602; Hakluyt, iii. 246; Pinkerton's Voy. and Trav. xii. 219, xiii. 19; Bancroft's United States, i. 88; Ormerod's Cheshire, iii. 51; Holmes's Annals of America, i. 117; Beverley's Hist. of Virginia, p. 19; the Adventures and Discourses of Capt. John Smith (Ashton's reprint, 1883), p. 69; Biogr. Brit. under 'Greenville,' p. 2284, note f.]  BRERETON, OWEN SALUSBURY (1715–1798), antiquary, born in 1715, was son of Thomas Brereton, by his first wife, Miss Trelawney. The father came to own Shotwick Park, Cheshire, and other property through his second marriage with Catherine, daughter of Mr. Salusbury Lloyd, M.P. for Liverpool 1724 till his death in 1756. Lloyd altered his surname to Salusbury. Owen Brereton added that name on succeeding to estates in the counties of Chester, Denbigh, and Flint on his father's death. He was admitted a scholar of Westminster School in 1729, and was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1734. He was called to the bar in 1738, and in that year held the post of a lottery commissioner. In September 1742 he was appointed recorder of Liverpool, an office he retained till his death, a period of fifty-six years. When he proposed to resign in 1796, he was requested by the corporation to retain the situation, and they appointed a deputy to relieve him of the pressure of its duties. He became a member of the Society of Arts in 1762, and was vice-president from 1765 to 1798, in which capacity he rendered great service to the society. He was also a member of the Royal Society and of the Society of


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  (elected 1763), a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, treasurer of that body, and keeper of the Black Book. He was member of parliament for Ilchester in Somerset from 1775 to 1780, and constable of Flint Castle from 1775. He died at his residence at Windsor, on 8 Sept. 1798, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on 22 Sept.

To the 'Philosophical Transactions' of 1781 he contributed an account of a storm at Eastbourne, and to the 'Archæologia' he sent several papers:
 * 1) 'Round Towers in Ireland,' ii. 80.
 * 2) 'Observations in a Tour through North Wales, Shropshire, &c.,' iii. 111.
 * 3) 'Extracts from a MS. relating to the Household of Henry VIII,' iii. 145.#'Particulars of a Discovery of Gold Coins at Fenwick Castle,' v. 166.
 * 4) 'Description of third unpublished Seal of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France,' v. 280.
 * 5) 'Brereton Church Window,' ix. 368.
 * 6) 'Silver Coin of Philip of France,' x. 465. In vols. viii. x. xi. and xii. of the same work are particulars of various objects of antiquity exhibited by him. The paper on Brereton Church contains several unaccountable inaccuracies, which have been commented upon by Mr. Ormerod in his 'History of Cheshire.'

 BRERETON, THOMAS (1691–1722), dramatist, was descended from a younger branch of the noble family of Brereton in Cheshire, his father being Major Thomas Brereton of the queen's dragoons. He was born in 1691, and after attending the free school of Chester, and a boarding school in the same city, kept by a Mr. Dennis, a French refugee, he matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, 16 April 1709, proceeding B.A. 14 Oct. 1712. His father died before he reached his majority, leaving him a considerable fortune, which, however, he soon dissipated, his wife and family being compelled by destitution to retire to their relations in Wales in 1721. The same year he received from the government a small office connected with the customs at Chester. In connection with the election of a relative as member of parliament for Liverpool he wrote a libellous attack on the rival candidate, and to escape prosecution was advised to abscond. To baffle pursuit he determined to cross the Saltney when the tide was coming in. In the middle of the stream he quitted his horse, resolving to trust to his remarkable powers as a swimmer, but he was unable to reach the shore. His death took place in February 1722. Brereton was the author of two tragedies, or rather English adaptations of French plays, but they were never acted and do not possess much merit. They are: He married Jane (b. 1685), daughter of Thomas Hughes of Bryn Griffith, Mold, Flintshire, on 29 Jan. 1711. Two daughters survived him. His wife died at Wrexham on 7 Aug. 1740. She wrote a good deal of verse in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' and elsewhere, which was collected after her death and published, together with some of her letters (1744).
 * 1) 'Esther, or Faith Triumphant, a sacred Tragedy in Rhyme, with a chorus after the manner of the ancient Greeks; translated with improvements from Racine,' 1715; and
 * 2) 'Sir John Oldcastle, or Love and Zeal, a Tragedy,' 1717, founded on the 'Polyeucte' of Corneille. To 'Esther' he prefixed a 'large dedication to the Lord Archbishop of York, in defence of such compositions against the rants of Tertullian and Mr. Collier.' He also published 'A Day's Journey from the Vale of Evesham to Oxford, to which are added two Town Eclogues,' no date; 'An English Psalm … on the late Thanksgiving Day,' 1716; 'George, a poem, humbly inscribed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Warrington,' 1715; and 'Charnock Junior, or the Coronation, being a Parody on Mack Flecknoe, occasioned by Dr. S——l's late exploit at St. Andrews,' 1719. This had been published in 1710, badly printed and without the author's knowledge. It is a burlesque on Dr. Sacheverell's progress after his trial.

 BRERETON, THOMAS (1782–1832), lieutenant-colonel, was born in King's County, Ireland, on 4 May 1782. He went as a volunteer to the West Indies with his uncle, Captain Coghlan, in 1797, and received his commission as ensign in the 8th West India regiment in 1798, being promoted lieutenant 1800, and captain 1804. With the exception of a short term of service in Jersey in 1803-4, he appears to have remained in the West Indies until 1813, acting for a time as brigade-major to his relative, General Brereton, governor of St. Lucia, and being present at the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe. In consequence of ill-health and of injuries received during a hurricane in 1813, he


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 returned that year to England invalided. In 1814 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Senegal and Goree, and the next year was made lieutenant-colonel of the Royal African corps. In December 1816 he was again invalided, and returned to England. He was appointed to a command on the frontier of the Cape Colony in 1818, visited England in 1819, and commanded the Cape Town garrison until 1823. In the meanwhile he had exchanged first into the 53rd regiment, afterwards into the Royal York Rangers, and in 1821 into the 49th regiment. On his final return to England he was appointed inspecting field officer of the Bristol recruiting district. As senior officer on the spot he had command of the troops quartered in the neighbourhood of Bristol at the outbreak of the Reform riots in that city on Saturday, 29 Oct. 1831. These troops were composed of a squadron of the 14th light dragoons and a troop of the 3rd dragoon guards. About five p.m. of 29 Oct. the mayor was forced to read the Riot Act, and Brereton was called on to bring his force at once into Bristol. During the half-hour that passed before his arrival the lower part of the mansion house was sacked. Brereton appears to have been ordered by the magistrates to clear the streets. Their orders, however, did not seem to him to warrant any forcible measures, and he ordered Captain Gage to disperse the mob without drawing swords or using any violence. Brereton endeavoured to bring the people to good humour, and came in from time to time to tell the magistrates that he had been shaking hands with them, and that they were gradually dispersing. As, on the contrary, the numbers and threatening aspect of the mob increased, at eleven p.m. he ordered Gage to clear the streets by force. The soldiers were badly pelted, and Gage asked the mayor to allow them to use their carbines to dislodge those who were pelting them from a distance. Brereton, however, thought this was unnecessary, and the request was refused. A soldier belonging to a troop of the 14th, detailed to protect the council house, shot a rioter who had struck him with a stone, and this added to the rage of the mob. The streets were, however, cleared by the sabres of the dragoons, and were kept free during the remainder of the night. On Sunday the riot broke out afresh, and the sack of the mansion house was completed. The 14th were fiercely attacked, and, as they had no orders to retaliate, the men suffered severely. Brereton ordered that they should leave Queen's Square, in which the mansion house stood, and that the 3rd dragoons should take their place. In obeying the order they were so pressed by the rioters that they were forced to fire on them. Brereton, however, rode down from College Green to the square, and, it is said, assured the rioters that there should be no more firing, and that the 14th should be sent out of the city. On his applying to the magistrates to allow him to remove the 14th he was told that they would not agree to his doing so. Brereton, however, ordered them to Keynsham, declaring that if they were kept in Bristol every man would be sacrificed, and the troop of the 3rd dragoons was left alone to protect the city. The mob then broke open and set fire to the bridewell, the gaol, and the Gloucester county gaol, and released the prisoners. Meanwhile, Brereton ordered Cornet Kelson to go down to the city gaol, but on Kelson asking for orders said he had none to give, that he could find no magistrates to give him the authority he needed, and that no violence was to be used. During these proceedings the soldiers were in too small force to interfere with any effect, and it is said that Brereton went to bed for some hours. By midnight the bishop's palace, the mansion house, the custom house, and a large number of other buildings were destroyed. In the course of the night the Doddington yeomanry were brought into Bristol; but some difficulty having arisen as to their billets, Brereton told their captain that they could be of no use, and that if the people were let alone they would be peaceable. Accordingly the yeomanry returned to Doddington. Early in the morning of Monday Brereton went down to Queen's Square in company with Major Mackworth, and in his presence Mackworth and the 3rd dragoons charged and dispersed the crowd. Major Beckwith, of the 14th, now arrived from Gloucester, and, having brought back the division of the 14th previously sent away by Brereton, took the command of the cavalry, made repeated charges on the rioters, and restored some measure of security. On 4 Nov. the magistrates sent documents to Lord Melbourne and Lord Hill defending their own conduct during the riots, and laying much blame on Brereton, whom they accused of disregarding their orders, of forsaking his post, and of withdrawing the 14th from the city. In consequence of these charges a military commission was held to inquire into Brereton's conduct. This was followed by a court-martial on him, which was opened at Bristol on 9 Jan. 1832 by Sir Henry Fane as president. The substance of the eleven charges made against him was that he had been negligent and inactive; that he had not obeyed or supported the civil authority;


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 that he had improperly withdrawn the 14th; that he had refused to give Cornet Kelson the needful orders, and had neglected to take advantage of the arrival of the yeomanry. On Friday, the fifth day of the trial, the proceedings were stopped by the news of Brereton's death: he had shot himself in his bed early that morning. The verdict at the inquest was that 'he died from a pistol-wound, inflicted on himself while under a fit of temporary derangement.' His unfortunate errors seem to have been the fruit of undecided character rather than of any deliberate neglect. On 4 May 1782 he had married Olivia Ross, daughter of Hamilton Ross, formerly of the 81st regiment and then a merchant at the Cape. Mrs. Brereton died on 14 Jan. 1829, leaving two daughters, who survived their father.

 BRERETON, WILLIAM (1604–1661), parliamentary commander, son of William Brereton of Handforth, Cheshire, and Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Richard Holland of Denton, Lancashire, was baptised at the collegiate church, Manchester, in 1604. On 10 March 1626-7 he was created a baronet. In 1634-5 he travelled through a large part of Great Britain and Ireland, and crossed over into Holland and the United Provinces. He kept a 'Diary' of his travels, which was published by the Chetham Society in 1844, and affords various interesting information regarding the social condition of Scotland and England; it also manifests a serious and religious cast of thought. Brereton's natural bias towards puritanism was doubtless further confirmed by his marriage to Susanna, fourth daughter of Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, and by intercourse with his near neighbours, Henry Bradshaw and Colonel Dukenfield. He was elected to represent his native county in parliament in 1627-8 and 1639-40. The name of William Brereton occurs in the parish register of Wanstead, Essex, attached to a document signed by fifty of the principal inhabitants, expressive of their attachment to the church of England and abhorrence of papal innovations, but there is no evidence to support the supposition of Lysons (Environs of London, iv. 243) that the name was that of Sir William Brereton of Handforth. According to Clarendon, he was 'most considerable for a known averseness to the government of the church' (History, vi. 270). On the first symptoms of the approaching civil war he put himself at the head of the movement in Cheshire. In August 1642 the houses of parliament drew up instructions to him as one of the deputy-lieutenants of the county (Advice and Directions of both Houses of Parliament to Sir William Brereton and the rest of the Deputy-lieutenants of the County of Chester, published at London on 19 Aug. 1642). Subsequently he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Cheshire and the neighbouring counties to the south. Having entered Cheshire from London with one troop of horse and a regiment of dragoons, Brereton, after a severe conflict, completely defeated Sir Thomas Aston near Nantwich on 28 Jan. 1642-3, the accidental explosion of a piece of the royalists' cannon greatly aiding his victory. This enabled him to occupy Nantwich, which became the headquarters of the parliamentary party, while Chester was fortified by the royalists. From these places the two parties 'contended,' in the words of Clarendon, 'which should most prevail upon, that is, most subdue, the affections of the county to declare for and join them' (History, vi. 270). Clarendon states that the lower orders were specially devoted to Brereton, and that he obtained much advantage from their readiness to supply him with intelligence. For a considerable time it required his utmost energy to enable him to hold his own. He again inflicted a severe defeat, 13 March 1642-3, on Sir Thomas Aston, who attempted to hold Middlewich on behalf of the king, but after the royalists had been strengthened by troops from Ireland, Brereton was himself worsted at the same place. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1643, he captured successively Stafford, Wolverhampton, and Whitchurch, besides various strongholds. During his absence Nantwich, while held by Sir George Booth, was closely besieged by Lord Byron, but, with the assistance of Sir Thomas Fairfax, Brereton, on 14 Feb. 1643-4, totally routed the besieging forces, the greater part of them escaping to Chester, while large numbers surrendered. Having parted from Sir Thomas Fairfax, he proceeded towards Chester, and in August 1644 defeated at Tarvin Prince Rupert, who was marching to its relief. Following on this came the capture of the town and castle of Liverpool, and the town and castle of Shrewsbury. After their defeat at Rowton Heath in September 1645, the royalists could make no further stand in Cheshire, and Beeston Castle and Chester were closely invested. Brereton obtained a complete victory over the king's forces under Sir William Vaughan on 1 Nov. at Denbigh, and all hope of succour being cut


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 off, the garrison at Beeston Castle surrendered the same month, and that of Chester in February 1645-6. Immediately advancing southwards against Prince Maurice with 1,000 foot, Brereton found that the enemy had disappeared. On 6 March he captured Lichfield, and on 12 May Dudley Castle. On the 22nd of the latter month he dispersed near Stow-in-the-Wold the forces of Lord Ashley, the last important body of the royalists in arms. After the conclusion of the war he received the chief forestership of Macclesfield forest, and the seneschalship of the hundred of Macclesfield. He also obtained various grants of moneys and lands, among other properties which came into his possession being that of the archiepiscopal palace of Croydon. In an old pamphlet, 'The Mysteries of the Good Old Cause' (1663), which mentions his possession of the palace, he is described as 'a notable man at a thanksgiving dinner, having terrible long teeth and a prodigious stomach, to turn the archbishop's chapel at Croydon into a kitchen; also to swallow up that palace and lands at a morsel.' He died at Croydon on 7 April 1661. His body was removed thence to be interred in the Handforth chapel in Cheadle church, but there is a tradition that in crossing a river the coffin was swept away by a flood, and this is confirmed by the fact that there is no entry of the burial, but only of the death, in the Cheadle registers. By his first wife he had two sons and two daughters, and by his second wife two daughters. There are rude portraits of Brereton in Ricraft's 'England's Champions' and Vicars's 'England's Worthies.' In the Sutherland collection of portraits in the Bodleian Library there is an illustration of him on horseback drawn by Robert Cooper.

 BRERETON, WILLIAM (1789–1864), lieutenant-general and colonel-commandant 4th brigade royal artillery, was descended from the very ancient Cheshire family of Brereton of Brereton Hall, through its Irish branch, the Breretons of Carrigslaney, co. Carlow, of whom some particulars are given by Sir F. Dwarris in 'Archæologia,' vol. xxxiii., and in Mervyn Archdall's edition of 'Lodge's Peerage of Ireland,' ii. 251. In the only biographical notice wherein his parentage is given he is described as a son of Major Robert Brereton, who fought at Culloden, and younger half-brother of Major-general Robert Brereton of New Abbey, co. Kildare (formerly of 30th and 63rd regiments), and lieutenant-governor of St. Lucia, who died in 1818. He was born in 1789, and entered the Royal Military Academy as a cadet in 1803, whence he passed out in May 1805 as a second lieutenant royal artillery. He served in the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns from December 1809 to June 1815, including the defence of Cadiz, where he commanded the guns at Fort Matagorda, the battle of Barossa, where he was wounded, the Burgos retreat, the battles of Vittoria and the Pyrenees, the siege of San Sebastian, where he was temporarily attached to the breaching batteries, the battles of Orthez, Toulouse, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. During the greater part of the time he was one of the subalterns of the famous troop of the royal horse artillery commanded by Major Norman Ramsay, with which he was severely wounded at Waterloo. He became a second captain in 1816, and was placed on half pay the year after. He was brought on full pay again in 1823, and, after a quarter of a century of further varied service at home and in the colonies, was sent to China, where he was second in command under General d'Aguilar in the expedition to the Bocca Tigris, and at the capture of the city of Canton in 1848. During the early part of the Crimean war, Colonel Brereton, who was then on the strength of the horse brigade at Woolwich, was present with the Black Sea fleet, as a guest on board H.M.S. Britannia, carrying the flag of his relative, Vice-admiral Sir J. D. Dundas, and directed the fire of her rockets in the attack upon the forts of Sevastopol on


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 17 Oct. 1854. He became a major-general in December 1854, and was made K.C.B. in 1861. For a short period he was at the head of the Irish constabulary. Brereton, who had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general a few days before, died at his chambers in the Albany, London, on 27 July 1864, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He wrote a brief narrative entitled 'The British Fleet in the Black Sea,' which was privately printed (1857? see Brit. Mus. Cat.) Selections from Paixhans' 'Constitution Militaire de France,' translated by him in 1850, appear in 'Proceedings Royal Art. Inst.,' vol. i. (1857). By his will, executed 10 April 1850, and proved 16 Aug. 1864 (personalty sworn under 25,000l.), he left the sum of 1,000l., whereof the interest is to be applied in perpetuity to encouraging the game of cricket among the non-commissioned officers of horse and foot artillery stationed at Woolwich.

BREREWOOD or BRYERWOOD, EDWARD (1565?–1613), antiquary and mathematician, son of Robert Brerewood, a wetglover, who had thrice been mayor of Chester, was born and educated in that city. In 1581 he was sent to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he had the character of a very hard student. He graduated B. A. 15 Feb. 1586-7, M.A. 9 July 1590, and 'being candidate for a fellowship, he lost it without loss of credit, for where preferment goes more by favour than merit, the rejected have more honour than the elected' (, Worthies, ed. 1662, Cheshire, 190). Then he migrated to St. Mary Hall, and on 26 Sept. 1592, when Queen Elizabeth was at Oxford, he replied at a disputation in natural philosophy. In March 1596 he was chosen the first professor of astronomy in Gresham College, London, where, as at Oxford, 'he led a retired and private course of life, delighting with profound speculations, and the diligent searching out of hidden verities.' Brerewood, who was a member of the Old Society of Antiquaries, died on 4 Nov. 1613, and was buried in the church of Great St. Helen. His large and valuable library he bequeathed with his other effects to his nephew [q. v.] (afterwards knight and a justice of the common pleas), a son of his elder brother, John Brerewood.

His works are:
 * 1) 'De ponderibus et pretiis veterum nummorum, eorumque cum recentioribus collatione,' London, 1614, 4to. This was first published by his nephew, and afterwards inserted in the 'Apparatus' of the 'Biblia Polyglotta,' by Brian Walton, and also in the 'Critici Sacri,' vol. viii.
 * 2) 'Enquiries touching the Diversities of Languages and Religions through the chief parts of the world,' London, 1614, 1622, 1635, 4to, 1647, &c. 8vo. This was likewise published by his nephew, and afterwards translated into French by J. de la Montagne, Paris, 1640, 8vo, and into Latin by John Johnston. Father Richard Simon made some remarks on Brerewood's work, under the pseudonym of le Sieur de Moni, in a treatise entitled 'Histoire critique de la créance et des coûtumes des nations du Levant,' Frankfort (really printed at Amsterdam), 1684. In 1693 it was reprinted, and again since that date with the following alterations in the title:—'Histoire critique des dogmes, des controverses, des coûtumes, et des ceremonies des Chretiens orientaux.'
 * 3) 'Elementa Logicæ, in gratiam studiosæ juventutis in academia Oxoniensi,' London,1614, 1615, &c. 8vo.
 * 4) 'Tractatus quidam logici de prædicabilibus, et prædicamentis,' Oxford, 1628, 1637, &c. 8vo. This book was first published by Thomas Sixesmith, M. A., fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. A manuscript of it is preserved in Queen's College library in that university. The work is sometimes quoted as 'Brerewood de moribus.'
 * 5) 'Tractatus duo: quorum primus est de meteoris, secundus de oculo,' Oxford, 1631, 1638, 8vo. These two tracts were also published by Sixesmith.
 * 6) 'A Treatise of the Sabbath,' Oxford, 1630, 1631, 4to. This book was written as a letter to  [q. v.], preacher at Chester, having been occasioned by a sermon of his relating to the morality of the Sabbath. It is dated from Gresham House 15 July 1611. The original manuscript is in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 21207).  [q. v.], Nicholas's brother, wrote a reply to it.
 * 7) 'Mr. Byfield's Answer, with Mr. Brerewood's Reply,' Oxford, 1631, 4to. These were both printed together, with the second edition of the former.
 * 8) 'A second Treatise of the Sabbath, or an Explication of the Fourth Commandment,' Oxford, 1632, 4to.
 * 9) 'Commentarii in Ethica Aristotelis,' Oxford, 1640, 4to. These commentaries relate only to the first four books, and were published by Sixesmith. The original manuscript, which was finished 27 Oct. 1586, is in the library of Queen's College, Oxford. It is written, says Wood, 'in the smallest and neatest character that mine eyes ever yet beheld.'
 * 10) 'A Declaration of the Patriarchal Government of the antient


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 his Life, by Wm. Benjamin Kennaway, 1820.' He was much attached to Dr. Priestley, and edited a new edition of his 'Rudiments of English Grammar;' many of his letters to the doctor are printed in J. T. Rutt's memoirs of Priestley.

BRETNOR, THOMAS (fl. 1607–1618), almanac maker, calls himself on the title-page of one of his almanacs 'student in astronomie and physicke,' and on that of another, 'professor of the mathematicks and student in physicke in Cow Lane, London.' His extant works are as follows: Bretnor was a notorious character in London, and is noticed by Ben Jonson in his 'Devil is an Ass' (1616), i. 2, and by Thomas Middleton in his 'Fair Quarrel' (1617), vi.
 * 1) 'A Prognostication for this Present Yeere … M.DC.VII. … Imprinted at London for the Companie of Stationers' (a copy is in the British Museum). 'Necessary observations in Phlebotomie' and 'Advertisements in Husbandrie' are introduced into the work.
 * 2) 'A Newe Almanacke and Prognostication for … 1615' (copies are in the Huth Library and the Bodleian).
 * 3) 'Opiologia, or a Treatise concerning the nature, properties, true preparation, and safe vse and administration of Opium. By Angelus Sala Vincentines Venatis, and done into English and something enlarged by Tho. Bretnor, M.M.,' London, 1618. This translation, which is made from the French, is dedicated 'to the learned and my worthily respected friends D. Bonham and Maister Nicholas Carter, physitians.' In an address to the reader Bretnor defends the use of laudanum in medicine, promises to prepare for his readers 'the chiefest physicke I vse my selfe,' and mentions his friends 'Herbert Whitfield in Newgate Market,' and 'Maister Bromhall,' as good druggists.

BRETON, JOHN (d. 1275), bishop of Hereford, was chosen bishop about Christmas 1268, being then a canon of Hereford, and was consecrated 2 June 1269. For about two years before this he was a justice of the king's court. He died 12 May 1275. Some fifty years after his death, perhaps sooner, the belief was current that he wrote the book now known to lawyers as ' Britton.' That book (first printed without date about 1540, reprinted in 1640, and carefully edited by F. M. Nichols in 1865) is in the main Bracton's treatise on English law condensed, rearranged on a new plan, purged of speculative jurisprudence, turned from Latin into French, and put into the mouth of Edward I, so that the whole law appears as the king's command. Seemingly, it is an unfinished work, but it became very popular, and was often copied in manuscript. Frequent reference is made in it to statutes passed after the bishop's death, and from the internal evidence we must suppose it written shortly after 1290. Possibly we have but the bishop's book as altered by a later hand, or possibly, as Selden suggested, there has been some confusion between the bishop and the contemporary judge whom we call [q. v.], but whose name seems really to have been Bratton. The book 'Britton ' might fairly be called a Bracton for practising lawyers, and in fourteenth-century manuscripts the two books are indiscriminately called Bretoun, Brettoune, and the like.

BRETON, NICHOLAS (1545?–1626?), poet, was descended from an ancient family originally settled at Layer-Breton, Essex. His grandfather, William Breton of Colchester, died in 1499, and was buried there in the monastery of St. John. His father, also William Breton, was a younger son, came to London and amassed a fortune in trade. His 'capitall mansion house' was in Red Cross Street, in the parish of St. Giles Without Cripplegate, and he owned tenements in other parts of London, besides land in Essex and Lincolnshire. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of John Bacon, and by her he had two sons,


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Rh Where beauties shone on ev'ry hand, In wealth of meadows, orchards, woods, And all the treasures of the floods. Our pilgrims seeing scenes so fair, Were in a perfect ecstasy, As Æneas and his Trojans were, With their first view of Italy. But all this happy land, alas! Lay circled by a black morass. Where frightful lizards, snakes, and toads Were wont to make their foul abodes. Brought to a stop, they take a view, And ponder what they're next to do. The ermine trying with her paw, Decides at once that she'll withdraw. "My friends," said she, "take my advice, This land is not so very nice. To reach it we must cross the slough, And that my coat would ruin so,       That I should die. Some other country let us try." "Have patience, dear," the beaver said; "These things require a little head. We need not always get a stain, In coming at the point we'd gain. As I'm a mason, I can throw, In fifteen days o'er this foul slough A bridge by which we can pass o'er, And harmless reach the farther shore." "In fifteen days!" exclaim'd the boar;


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text: Men and Women (Browning)/Volume 1/Any Wife to Any Husband


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 Rh of your garment. We indeed presume on your kindness in neglecting to have called on you since my husband's first return from Felpham. We have been incessantly busy in our great removal; but can never think of going without first paying our proper duty to you and Mr. Flaxman. We intend to call on Sunday afternoon in Hampstead, to take farewell; all things being now nearly completed for our setting forth on Tuesday morning. It is only sixty miles, and Lambeth one hundred; for the terrible desert of London was between. My husband has been obliged to finish several things necessary to be finished before our migration. The swallows call us, fleeting past our window at this moment. Oh! how we delight in talking of the pleasure we shall have in preparing you a summer bower at Felpham. And we not only talk, but behold! the angels of our journey have inspired a song to you:

TO MY DEAR FRIEND, MRS. ANNA FLAXMAN.


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 Richard and Nicholas, and three daughters, Thamar, Anne, and Mary. He died 12 Jan. 1558-9, while his sons were still boys, and left by will to Nicholas the manor of Burgh-in-the-Marsh, near Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, forty pounds in money, 'one salt, all gilte, w a cover … vj silver spones, and the gilte bedsted and bedd that I lye in at London,' with all its furniture (will printed in Dr. Grosart's pref. to Works, pp. xii-xvii). This property was to be applied by the child's mother to his 'mayntenaunce and fynding' until he was twenty-four years old, when he was to enter into full possession. William Breton left much to his wife on the condition that she should remain unmarried, but before 1568 she had become the wife of George Gascoigne, the poet, who died 7 Oct. 1577, and was thus for more than nine years Nicholas Breton's stepfather.

From the fact that Breton was a boy in 1559, the year of his father's death, the date of his birth may be conjecturally placed in 1545, but no sure information is at present accessible. From his 'Floorish vpon Fancie' we know that in 1577 Breton was settled in London and had lodgings in Holborn. The Rev. Richard Madox, chaplain to a naval expedition in 1582, whose unpublished diary is in Sloane MS. 1008, records under date 14 March 1582[-3] that while on the continent, apparently at Antwerp, he met 'Mr. Brytten, once of Oriel Colledge, w made wyts will [i.e. the prose tract, 'The Wil of Wit, Wit's Will, or Wil's Wit,' entered on the Stationers' Register 7 Sept. 1580]. He speaketh the Italian well.' No university document supports the statement that Breton was educated at Oriel College, but in 'The Toyes of an Idle Head,' the appendix to his first published book, 'A Floorish vpon Fancie,' he refers to himself as 'a yong gentleman who. . . had spent some years at Oxford.' He also dedicates the 'Pilgrimage to Paradise' (1592) 'to the gentlemen studients and scholers of Oxforde.' On 14 Jan. 1592-3 he married Ann Sutton at St. Giles's Church, Cripplegate, the church of the parish in which stood his father's 'capitall mansion house.' On 14 May 1603, according to the St. Giles's parish register, a son Nicholas was born; on 16 March 1605-6 another son, Edward; and on 7 May 1607 a daughter, Matilda. In the burial register of the same church are recorded the deaths of Mary, daughter of 'Nicholas Brittaine, gent.,' on 2 Oct. 1603, and of Matilda, daughter of 'Nicholas Brittaine, gent.,' on 27 July 1625. But of Breton's own death no record has yet been found. His last published work bears the date 1626. The Captain Nicholas Breton, son of John Breton of Tamworth, who served under Leicester in the Low Countries in 1586, purchased an estate at Norton, Northamptonshire, and died there in 1624, has often been erroneously identified with the poet (, Staffordshire, i. 422;, Northamptonshire, i. 78; , Theatrum Poetarum, 1800, p. 321).

These scanty facts are all that is known of the poet's life. His voluminous works in prose and verse were issued in rapid succession between 1577 and 1626. Among his early patrons, the chief was Mary, countess of Pembroke; he dedicated to her the 'Pilgrimage to Paradise,' 1592, to which is added the 'Countesse of Pembrooke's Love,' where he speaks of himself as 'Your Ladishipp's unworthy named Poet.' He also wrote for her his 'Auspicante Jehoua,' 1597, and the Countess of Pembroke's 'Passion.' Passages in 'Wit's Trenchmour' (1597) refer to the rejection of the poet's love-suit by a lady of high station, and it seems not improbable that Breton's intimacy with the Countess of Pembroke passed beyond the bounds of patron and poet. Whatever the character of the relationship, it ceased after 1601.

As a literary man Breton impresses us most by his versatility and his habitual refinement. He is a satirical, religious, romance, and pastoral writer in both prose and verse. But he wrote with exceptional facility, and as a consequence he wrote too much. His fertile fancy often led him into fantastic puerilities. It is in his pastoral lyrics that he is seen at his best. The pathos here is always sincere; the gaiety never falls into grossness, the melody is fresh and the style clear. His finest lyrics are in 'England's Helicon' and the collection of poems published by himself under the title of the 'Passionate Shepheard.' 'Wit's Trenchmour,' an angling idyll, is the best of his prose tracts, and had the author not yielded to the temptation of digressing from his subject in the latter half of the book, he might have equalled Izaak Walton on his own ground. Throughout his works runs a thorough sympathy with country life and rural scenery; the picturesque descriptions of country customs in his 'Fantasticks' and the 'Town and Country' are of value to the social historian. Breton's satire, most of which appeared under the pseudonym of Pasquil, is not very impressive; he attacks the dishonest practices and artificiality of town society, but writes, as a rule, like a disappointed man. Of the coarseness of contemporary satirists he knows nothing. He lacks the drastic power of Nash, who wrote under the same


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 74

Receive my and my husband's love and affection, and believe me to be yours affectionately,

Catherine Blake.

12.

To.

,

21st September 1800, Sunday morning.

,—We are safe arrived at our cottage, which is more beautiful than I thought it, and more convenient. It is a perfect


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 pseudonym, and his refinement brought down on him Nash's censure. Nash speaks of Breton, in allusion to his 'Bower of Delights,' as 'Pan sitting in his Bower of Delights, and a number of Midases to admire his miserable hornpipes.' In his religious poems and tracts there is a passionate yearning and rich imagery which often suggest Southwell, or even Crashaw, but they are defaced by wire-drawn conceits and mystical subtleties. He was probably an earnest student of Spenser, for whom he wrote a sympathetic epitaph.

The enthusiasm for the Virgin Mary exhibited in a few poems, very generally attributed to Breton, has led to the belief that the poet was an ardent catholic. But it is almost certain—as we state below—that the undoubtedly catholic poems ascribed to Breton were by another hand; his long intimacy with the protestant Countess of Pembroke, which probably rested mainly on common religious sentiments, the direct attacks on Romanism which figure in many of Breton's prose tracts, and his sympathetic references to the practices of the English reformed church, point in quite the opposite direction. His description of the Virgin, saints, and angels, only noticed by him as part of the acknowledged host of heaven, and his constantly recurring comparison of his own spiritual condition to that of Mary Magdalen, merely illustrate the strength of his religious fervour (see Dr. notes in Notes and Queries, 5th series, i. 501-2).

Breton's popularity lasted through the first half of the seventeenth century. A highly eulogistic sonnet 'in authorem' is prefixed by Ben Jonson to Breton's 'Melancolike Humours,' 1600, and Francis Meres in his 'Palladis Tamia,' 1598, classes him with the greatest writers of the time. Sir John Suckling, in 'The Goblins,' iv. i. (, Old Plays, 1826, x. 143), joined his name with that of Shakespeare:—:The last a well-writ piece, I assure you,:A Breton I take it, and Shakespeare's very way.

Less respectful reference to the poet's voluminousness is made in Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Scornful Lady' (ii. 3), and 'Wit without Money' (iii. 4). At a later date, Richard Brome, in his 'Jovial Crew' (Works, iii. 372), speaks of 'fetching sweetmeats' for ladies and courting them 'in a set speech taken out of old Britain's works.' At the end of the seventeenth century Breton seems to have completely dropped out of notice, but his reputation was restored by Bishop Percy, who printed his 'Phillida and Corydon' and 'The Shepherd's Address to his Muse' (both from 'England's Helicon') in his 'Reliques of Ancient Poetry.' In most of the subsequent poetical collections Breton has been represented.

I. Breton's productions, all bibliographical rarities, are as follows:—

 * 1) 'The Workes of a young Wit trust up with a Fardell of prettie fancies, profitable to young Poetes, prejudicial to no man, and pleasant to every man to passe away idle time withall. Whereunto is joined an odde kinde of wooing with a bouquet of comfittes to make an end withall. Done by N. B., Gent.,' 1577. Only one copy of this work (entered on the Stationers' Register under date June 1577) is now extant; it belongs to Mr. Christie-Miller of Britwell. George Ellis printed two poems from it in his 'Specimens of Early English Poets' (3rd edition, 1803), ii. 270-8; and Mr. W. C. Hazlitt has reprinted 'The Letter Dedicatorie to the Reader' (dated 14 May 1577) in his 'Prefaces &c. from Early Books,' 1874.
 * 2) 'A Floorish vpon Fancie. As gallant a glose vpon so trifling a text as ever was written. Compiled by N. B., Gent. To which are annexed The Toyes of an Idle Head; containing many pretie Pamphlets for pleasaunt heads to passe away Idle time withall. By the same Authour,' London, 'imprinted by Richard Jhones,' 1577 and 1582. This work was entered on the Stationers' Register 2 April 1577; the only extant copy of the edition published in 1577 is now at Britwell; that of 1582 is carelessly reprinted in Park's 'Heliconia' (cf.  Prefaces, $c. (1874), p. 55).
 * 3) * 'The Pilgrimage to Paradise, coyned with the Countesse of Penbrooke's love, compiled in verse by Nicholas Breton, Gentleman,' Oxford, by Joseph Barnes, 1592, entered on the Stationers' Register 23 Jan. 1590-1, with the dedication to Mary, countess of Pembroke. John Case, M.D., prefixes a letter, addressed in high praise of the author, 'to my honest trve friend, Master Nicholas Breton,' and William Gager, doctor of laws, and Henry Price add Latin verses (cf. Addit. MS. 22583, f. 86).
 * 4) 'The Countess of Penbrook's Passion,' first privately printed by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, from a manuscript preserved in the Public Library at Plymouth in his 'Brief Description of the Plymouth Manuscripts' (1853), pp. 177-210. An anonymous writer in 'Notes and Queries' (1st series, v. 487) described another manuscript of this poem in his possession. A manuscript older than either of these is in the British Museum (Sloane MS. 1303), and this was printed for the first time in 1862, under the title of 'A Poem on our Saviour's Passion,' as the work of


text:
Women and Roses

I

I dream of a red-rose tree. And which of its roses three Is the dearest rose to me?

II

Round and round, like a dance of snow In a dazzling drift, as its guardians, go Floating the women faded for ages, Sculptured in stone, on the poet's pages. Then follow women fresh and gay, Living and loving and loved to-day. Last, in the rear, flee the multitude of maidens, Beauties yet unborn. And all, to one cadence, They circle their rose on my rose tree.

III

Dear rose, thy term is reached, Thy leaf hangs loose and bleached: Bees pass it unimpeached.

IV

Stay then, stoop, since I cannot climb, You, great shapes of the antique time! How shall I fix you, fire you, freeze you, Break my heart at your feet to please you? Oh, to possess and be possessed! Hearts that beat 'neath each pallid breast! Once but of love, the poesy, the passion, Drink but once and die!—In vain, the same fashion, They circle their rose on my rose tree.

V

Dear rose, thy joy's undimmed, Thy cup is ruby-rimmed, Thy cup's heart nectar-brimmed.

VI

Deep, as drops from a statue's plinth The bee sucked in by the hyacinth, So will I bury me while burning, Quench like him at a plunge my yearning, Eyes in your eyes, lips on your lips! Fold me fast where the cincture slips, Prison all my soul in eternities of pleasure, Girdle me for once! But no—the old measure, They circle their rose on my rose tree.

VII

Dear rose without a thorn, Thy bud's the babe unborn: First streak of a new morn.

VIII

Wings, lend wings for the cold, the clear! What is far conquers what is near. Roses will bloom nor want beholders, Sprung from the dust where our flesh moulders. What shall arrive with the cycle's change? A novel grace and a beauty strange. I will make an Eve, be the artist that began her, Shaped her to his mind!—Alas! in like manner They circle their rose on my rose tree.

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 :: Mary Sidney, countess of Pembroke. Horace Walpole, in his 'Royal and Noble Authors,' similarly attributed the poem to the Countess of Pembroke, but George Steevens, to whom the Plymouth manuscript at one time probably belonged, describes it as Breton's work ( Sale Catalogue, 997); its identity of style with the 'Countesse of Pembrooke's Love,' mentioned above, removes almost all doubt as to its authorship. Dr. Brinsley Nicholson discussed the question in the 'Athenæum' (9 March 1878), and, while arriving at this conclusion, pointed out that the author was somewhat indebted to Thomas Watson's 'Tears of Fancie.' The title may be compared with 'The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia,' by Sidney, 'The Countess of Pembroke's Emanuel' (1591), and 'The Countess of Pembroke's Yuy Church' (1591-2), by Abraham Fraunce.
 * 1) * 'Pasquil's Mad-cappe, Throwne at the Corruptions of these Times, with his Message to Men of all Estates,' 1626. It was entered on the Stationers' Register 20 March 1599-1600, and again on 29 July 1605, but no earlier copy than that of 1626 is extant.
 * 2) 'Pasquil's Fooles-cap sent to svch (to keepe their weake braines warme) as are not able to conceive aright of his Mad-cap. With Pasquil's Passion for the World's waywardnesse, begun by himselfe and finished by his friend Morpherius,' 1600 (entered on Stationers' Register 10 May 1600). The only copy known is in the Bodleian. The dedication, addressed 'to my very good friende, Master Edward Conquest,' is signed ' N. B.'
 * 3) 'Pasquil's Mistresse, or the Worthie and Vnworthie Woman; with his Description and Passion of that Furie, Jealousie,' 1600. The dedicatory epistle is signed 'Salohcin Treboun,' apparently an anagram upon Nicholas Breton. A unique copy is at Britwell.
 * 4) * 'Pasquil's Passe and Passeth Not, set downe in three pees, his Passe, Precession, and Prognostication,' London, 1600 (entered on Stationers' Register 29 May 1600). The dedication, signed 'N. B.,' is addressed 'to my … good friend M. Griffith Pen.'
 * 5) 'Melancholike Humours, in verses of Diverse Natures set downe by Nich. Breton, Gent.,' London, 1600. This was reprinted privately at the Lee Priory Press by Sir S. Egerton Brydges. It is dedicated to 'Master Thomas Blunt,' and 'Ben. Iohnson' prefixes a sonnet 'in authorem.' Copies are in the Huth Library and the Bodleian.
 * 6) 'Marie Magdalen's Love: a Solemne Passion of the Sovles Love, by Nicholas Breton,' London, by John Danter, 1595. The first part is a prose commentary on St. John x. 1-18. The second is a poem in six-line stanzas, and was republished separately in 1598 and 1623. It was entered on the Stationers' Register 20 Sept. 1595. It is almost certain that 'Marie Magdalen's Love,' a catholic treatise, was by another hand, and bound up by the publisher—who leaned towards catholicism himself with Breton's undoubted work, to secure a sale for it.
 * 7) * 'A Diuine Poeme diuided into two partes: The Ravisht Soule and the Blessed Weeper. Compiled by Nicholas Breton, Gentleman,' London, 1601, dedicated to the Countess of Pembroke. A copy is in the Huth Library. It was reprinted in 'Excerpta Tudoriana.'
 * 8) * 'An Excellent Poeme, vpon the Longing of a Blessed Heart, which, loathing the world, doth long to be with Christ; with an addition vpon the definition of love. Compiled by Nicholas Breton, Gentleman,' London, 1601. It was privately reprinted by Sir Egerton Brydges in 1814. The dedication is addressed to Lord North, and 'H. T., Gent.,' contributes a sonnet in praise of the author. A copy is in the Huth Library.
 * 9) 'The Soules Heavenly Exercise, set down in diverse godly meditations, both prose and verse, by Nicholas Breton, Gent.,' London, 1601, dedicated to William Rider, lord mayor of London. This little quarto is not mentioned by any of the bibliographers or writers on Breton. A copy which is believed to be unique is in private hands; it is bound in old vellum, with Queen Elizabeth's crest stamped upon it in gold.
 * 10) * 'The Soules Harmony. Written by Nicholas Breton,' London, 1602. Dedicated to Lady Sara Hastings.
 * 11) 'Olde Madcapps newe Gallymawfrey, by Ni. Breton,' London (Richard Iohnes), 1602, and dedicated to Mistress Anne Breton of Little Calthorpe, Leicestershire, entered on the Stationers' Register 4 June 1602. A unique copy is in Mr. Christie-Miller's library at Britwell.
 * 12) 'The Mother's Blessing,' London, 1602, with a dedication signed Nich. Breton, addressed to 'M. Thomas Rowe, sonne to the Lady Bartley of Stoke.' The only complete copy known is in the library of Sir Charles Isham of Lamport Hall, Northampton.
 * 13) 'The Passionate Shepheard, or the Shepheardes Love; set downe in Passions to his Shepherdesse Aglaia,' London, 1604. Breton here writes under the pseudonym of Bonerto. The only perfect copy known belonged to Mr. Frederic Ouvry, and was reprinted by him in 1877.
 * 14) * 'The Soules Immortall Crowne, consisting of Seaven Glorious Graces,' London, 1605, dedicated to James I. A manuscript of the work, signed by Breton, is in the British Museum (MS. Royal, 18 A, lvii.)
 * 15) 'A Trve Description of Vnthankfulnesse, or an Enemie to Ingratitude. Compiled by Nicholas Breton, Gent.,' London, 1602; dedicated to 'Mistris Mary Gate,' daughter of Sir Henry Gate of Seamer, Yorkshire. A copy is in the Bodleian.


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 :: Gent.,' London, 1602; dedicated to 'Mistris Mary Gate,' daughter of Sir Henry Gate of Seamer, Yorkshire. A copy is in the Bodleian.
 * 1) 'The Honovr of Valovr. By Nicholas Breton, Gent.,' London, 1605. A unique copy is in the Huth Library; it is dedicated to Charles Blount, earl of Devon.
 * 2)  'An Invective against Treason,' printed by Dr. Grosart from the Royal MS. (17 C, xxxiv.) in the British Museum, with a dedication, signed 'Nich. Breton,' to the Duke of Lennox. An edition entitled 'The State of Treason with a Touch of the late Treason,' was published in 1616, but no copy is now known. The poem refers to the Gunpowder Plot.
 * 3)  'I would and I would not,' London, 1614. The address to the reader is signed 'B. N.,' but the style of the poem and the initials (probably reversed) give the poem a title to be connected with Breton's name.

Breton was a regular contributor to the poetical collections of his age, and his poetical fame induced an enterprising publisher, Richard Jones, to put forth two miscellanies under his name. In the Stationers' Register, under date 3 May 1591, 'Bryton's Bowre of Delights' was entered to Jones, and published in the same year as 'contayning many most delectable and fine deuices of rare epitaphes, pleasant poems, pastorals, and sonets, by N. B., Gent.' Of this publication Mr. Christie-Miller owns a unique copy. Breton says in an epistle (12 April 1592) prefixed to his 'Pilgrimage to Paradise:' 'There hath beene of late printed in London by one Richarde Joanes, a printer, a booke of English verse, entituled "Breton's Bower of Delights." I protest it was done altogether without my consent or knowledge, and many things of other men mingled with a few of mine, for except "Amoris Lachrimæ," an epitaph vpon Sir Phillip Sydney, and one or two other toies, which I know not how he vnhappily came by, I have no part of any of them.' George Ellis printed in his 'Specimens of the Early English Poets,' 3rd edition, 1803 (ii. 286-8), 'a sweet contention between love, his mistress, and beauty' from a copy of 'The Bowre of Delights,' dated 1597. A similar story may be told of 'The Arbor of Amorous Deuices: Wherein young Gentlemen may reade many pleasant fancies and fine Deuices: And thereon meditate diuers sweete Conceites to court the loue of faire Ladies and Gentlewomen. By N. B., Gent.,' London, 1597 (cf. Sale Catalogue, 1781;  Handbook). Only one copy of this book is still extant, and that has lost its title-page and is otherwise defective; it is in the Capell collection at Trinity College, Cambridge. There is an entry on the Stationers' Register of 'The Arbour of Amorus Delightes, by N. B., Gent.,' under date 7 Jan. 1593-4. This book is only in part Breton's; it contains poems by other hands, collected together by the printer, Richard Jones. Two pieces are from Tottel's 'Miscellany,' a third is from Sidney's 'Arcadia.' The most beautiful poem in the collection is the well-known 'A Sweete Lullabie,' beginning, 'Come little babe, come silly soule,' and it has been assumed by many to be by Breton, but 'Britton's Divinitie' is Breton's sole undoubted contribution to the volume. In the 'Phoenix Nest,' published in 1593, five poems are described as 'by N. B., Gent.' In 'England's Helicon,' published in 1600, eight poems are signed ' N. Breton,' among them being the far-famed 'Phillida and Corydon' (originally printed anonymously in 1591 in 'The … Entertainment gieven to the Queen … by the Earle of Hertford'), and several of Breton's most delicate pastorals. Some songs set to music in Morley's 'New Book of Tablature,' 1596, and Dowland's 'Third Book of Songs,' 1603 (see Lyrical Poems, published by Percy Society), have on internal grounds been ascribed to Breton. Sir Egerton Brydges printed in his 'Censura Literaria' as a poem of Breton's a few verses beginning 'Among the groves, the woods, the thickets,' described in John Hynd's 'Eliosto Libidinoso,' 1606, as 'a fancie which that learned author, N. B., hath dignified with respect.' Part of the poem was printed anonymously from Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 6910, in 'Excerpta Tudoriana.' To 'The Scvller,' 1612, by John Taylor, the Water Poet, 'thy loving friend Nicholas Breton' contributed a poem 'in laudem authoris.' A seventeenth-century manuscript collection of verse by various authors of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries (in the possession of Mr. F. W. Cosens) contains transcripts of many of Breton's poems, some of which were printed in 'England's Helicon,' others in 'The Arbor of Amorous Devices,' 1597; and one, 'Amoris Lachrimæ for the Death of Sir Philip Sidney,' in 'Britton's Bowre of Delights,' 1591; there are also some thirty short pieces, fairly attributable to Breton, which do not appear to have been printed in the poet's lifetime; they were published for the first time by Dr. Grosart. Among the Tanner MSS. at the Bodleian are five short poems by Breton of no particular literary interest.

II. Breton's works are:—
 * 1) * 'Auspicante Jehoua, Marie's Exercise,' London (by T. Este), 1597. There is a dedication, signed 'Nich. Breton,' addressed to Mary, countess of Pembroke, and another 'to the Ladies and Gentlewomen Readers,' One copy is in the Cambridge University


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