Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 26 - AUS-CHI.pdf/398

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

358

BREST — BRETON

Salvator, Luther, St Boniface, &c.), and a gaol. The chief Protestant church of St Elizabeth, which contains portraits of Luther and Melanchthon by Lukas Cranach, was restored in 1891-93; the church of St Mary Magdalene (Protestant), of the same date as the church of St Elizabeth, was restored in 1887-90, after the destruction by fire of one of its twin towers in 1887 ; the town hall was restored in 1885-88. The city is especially rich in fine monuments, the more recent being the Emperor William I. (1896) by Behrens; a monument of the war of 1870-71 ; a marble statue of General Tauentzien by Langhans and Schadow ; a bronze statue of Svarez, the Prussian jurist (1896); a monument of Schleiermacher (1869), who was born here in 1768 ; and monuments to the Emperor Frederick III. and Bismarck. Here, too, should be mentioned the handsome outlook tower on the Liebichshohe (1867). Breslau is also the seat of numerous important educational institutions. First amongst these comes the university (1662 students and 169 professors in 1900). Its library contains 400,000 vols., and 4000 vols. of MSS.; also, an archaeological collection. Further, there are a Homan Catholic normal school, a Jewish theological seminary, eight classical and four modern schools, one of the last with technical divisions. This city is the headquarters of the 6th German Army Corps, and of the Silesian Society for Native (yaterlandische) Civilization, and nearly fifty other learned literary and artistic societies. There are four theatres and three music halls. The course of the Old Oder, which circles round the town to the northeast, was regulated by canal works in 1897. Population (1885), 299,640; (1890), 335,186; (1900), 422,738. (j. T. Be.) Brest, chief town of arrondissement, department of Finistere, France, with terminal station on the railway from Paris. Orphan boys are trained as sailors, first in a marine school, and afterwards in one or other of the naval trainingships stationed here. Five lighthouses mark the entrance to the harbour. The industrial activities of the town depend mainly on the government dockyard and arsenal, which employ between 8000 and 9000 workmen. Chemicals and briquettes are manufactured, and there are ironworks. The total imports in 1899 were valued at £283,400, of which coal from England supplied one-fourth, other imports being wine, timber, coffee, and phosphates. The exports (of which strawberries form the bulk) are of small value, but go almost entirely to England. In 1898 a new direct submarine cable was laid between Brest and Cape Cod to the United States, and it has been proposed to organize a fast line of passenger ships between Brest and New York. Population (1881), 57,277 ; (1901), 84,284. Breton, Cape, an island belonging to the province of Nova Scotia, on the N.E. of the mainland, from which it is separated by the Strait of Canso. The highest land in Nova Scotia is situated in the northern part of the island, where the surface rises to a height of 1500 feet. This area is occupied by pre-Cambrian rocks, which in places are overlaid by Carboniferous strata. In the southwest portion and around Bras d’Or lake there are similar pre-Cambrian areas with others in which Cambrian fossils are abundant. On the west coast between Margaree harbour and Port Hood, and on the south side of the island at Seacoal Bay and Little River, Richmond county, the Coal Measures occur with valuable seams of coal, while the Sydney coalfield occupies the east coast from Mira Bay to St Anns, some of the seams having been mined beneath the sea. The highest temperature at Sydney is 82° F. and the lowest -9°. Population (1881), 84,500; (1891), 86,854. In the latter year there were 4035 adherents of the Church of England, 47,913 of the

Church of Rome, 29,413 Presbyterians, 2546 Methodists, and 2435 Baptists. In 1900 there were 463 schools attended by 18,800 pupils. In the same year 2,200,000 tons of coal were produced. There were 102 vessels, 3522 boats, and 7422 men engaged in the fisheries in 1899. The total value of the fish and their products was $1,300,410—the value of fishing vessels, boats, nets, lobster-canneries, &c., being $524,755. In 1891 there were 1,184,426 acres of land occupied, 372,848 improved, 185,552 under crop, and 185,472 in pasture. Of wheat 8283 bushels were raised, 30,093 of barley, 313,556 of oats, 8129 of buckwheat, 1,041,292 of potatoes and other roots, and 112,271 tons of hay. There were 13,885 horses, 1286 oxen, 37,454 milch cows, 33,906 other horned cattle, 96,006 sheep, and 10,035 swine, and 1,888,248 St of home-made butter were produced, 271,646 lb of cheese, and 285,021 11) of wool. See Robb and Fletcher. Reports of Geological Survey, 1872 to 1882, and 1895 to 1899.—Fletcher. The Sydney Coal Fields, Cape Breton, N.S., 1900.—Charles Dudlev Warner. Baddeck and that Sort of Thing.—Sir John Bourinot. Historical and Descriptive Account of Cape Breton. Breton, Jules Adolphe Aime Louis (1827 ), French painter, was born 1st May 1827, at Courrieres, Pas de Calais, France. His artistic gifts being manifest at an early age, he was sent in 1843 to Ghent, to study under the historical painter de Vigne, and in 1846 to Baron Wappers at Antwerp. Finally he worked in Paris under Drolling. His first efforts were in historical subjects : “ Saint Piat preaching in Gaul ” ; then, under the influence of the revolution of 1848, he represented “Misery and Despair.” But Breton soon discovered that he was not born to be a historical painter, and he returned to the memories of nature and of the country which were impressed on him in early youth. In 1853 he exhibited the “Return of the Harvesters” at the Paris Salon, and the “Little Gleaner” at Brussels. Thenceforward he was essentially a painter of rustic life, especially in the province of Artois, which he quitted only three times for short excursions : in 1864 to Provence, and in 1865 and 1873 to Brittany, whence he derived some of his happiest studies of religious scenes. His numerous subjects may be divided generally into four classes : labour, rest, rural festivals, and religious festivals. Among his more important works may be named “Women Gleaning,” and “The Day after St Sebastian’s Day” (1855), which gained him a third-class medal; “ Blessing the Fields ” (1857), a second-class medal; “Erecting a Calvary” (1859), now in the Lille Gallery; “The Return of the Gleaners” (see Plate) (1859), now in the Luxembourg; “Evening,” and “Women Weeding” (1861), a first-class medal; “Grandfather’s Birthday” (1862); “ The Close of Day” (1865); “Harvest” (1867); “Potato Gatherers” (1868); “A Pardon, Brittany ” (1869) ; “ The Fountain ” (1872), medal of honour ; “ The Bonfires of St John” (1875); “Woman mending Nets” (1876), in the Douai Museum; “A Gleaner” (1877), Luxembourg ; “ Evening, Finistere ” (1881) ; “ The Song of the Lark” (1884); “The Last Sunbeam” (1885); “The Shepherd’s Star” (1888); “The Call Home” (1889); “The Last Gleanings” (1895); “Gathering Poppies” (1897); “The Alarm Cry” (1899); “Twilight Glory” (1900). Breton was elected to the Institut in 1886 on the death of Baudry. In 1889 he was made Commander of the Legion of Honour, and 1899 Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of London. He has also written several books, among them Les Champs et la Mer (1876), Nos Peintres du Siecle (1900), and “Jeanne,” a poem. See Jules Breton, Vie d'un Artiste, Art et Nature (autobiographical), Paris, 1890.—Marius Vachon, Jules Breton, 1899.