tish independence—his grandfather, David Hay, a cadet of the Errol family, having married Helen Bruce, the heiress of Kinnaird. Bruce was educated first at Harrow, and afterwards in the university of Edinburgh, where he studied law, in order to prepare himself for the profession of an advocate. He abandoned this pursuit, however, and in 1754 married a Miss Allan, daughter of a deceased wine merchant in London, and at the same time agreed to carry on the business left by her father. The death of his wife a few months after their marriage alienated him from this employment, and he endeavoured to dispel the grief that had settled on his mind by the study of the Spanish and Portuguese languages, and by a lengthened tour through Spain, Portugal, Holland, and Germany.
On the death of his father in 1758, Bruce returned to England to take possession of the family estate, and spent three years in retirement, principally in studying the Arabic language. A project for making a descent upon Spain, which Bruce laid before the elder Pitt, brought him into contact with the government. Lord Halifax, another of the ministers, proposed to him to visit the coast of Barbary, which had as yet been but partially explored, and it was a casual reference made by his lordship to the unknown source of the Nile, which first suggested to the enterprising mind of Bruce that he should attempt "this great discovery," which "for the last two thousand years had been a defiance to all travellers, and an opprobrium to geography."
With the view of affording Bruce a favourable opportunity of exploring the African coast. Lord Halifax conferred on him the office of consul at Algiers. After a preliminary tour in Italy, where he spent several months in exploring the works of art in Rome, Naples, and Florence, Bruce proceeded to Algiers, which he reached on the 15th of March, 1763. He spent two years there in acquiring a thorough knowledge of Arabic, and of the rudiments of surgery. In August, 1765, Bruce quitted Algiers, and entered on his proposed expedition. He spent upwards of a year in the prosecution of his discoveries along the African coast, during which he was exposed to considerable danger and suffering from shipwreck and severe illness. He then proceeded to Asia Minor, where he visited Baalbec and Palmyra, and made careful drawings of these celebrated ruins, which were ultimately presented by him to the royal library at Kew. At length, in June, 1768, he sailed for Alexandria, resolved no longer to delay the execution of his long-cherished design, to explore the sources of the Nile. From Alexandria he proceeded to Cairo, and having obtained a number of recommendatory letters from the bey, whom he had cured of an illness, and from a Greek patriarch, he at length embarked on the Nile, December 12th, 1768, and sailed up the river as far as Syene; then leaving the Nile, he crossed the desert to Cosseir, a fort on the Red Sea, whence he sailed for Jedda in April, 1769. He remained for several months in Arabia Felix, employing himself in making observations upon the coasts of the Red Sea. On the 3d of September he sailed for Loheia, and on the 19th landed at Masuah, the port of Abyssinia, where he encountered great danger and difficulty, and was detained for two months by the treachery and avarice of the nayib, a governor of that place. It was not till the 15th of November that he was permitted to resume his journey. He endured severe sufferings in crossing the Tarenta mountains, but at length, after a perilous journey of ninety-five days from Masuah, he reached Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, about the middle of February, 1770. By his medical skill and his graceful manners, Bruce speedily ingratiated himself with the most considerable persons belonging to the court, and was treated with special favour by the king and his chief minister, Ras Michael. Towards the end of October, 1770, he set out upon the last stage of his journey for the sources of the Bahr el Azrek, or Blue Nile, which was then supposed to be the main stream of the Nile—though this honour is now generally assigned to the Bahr el Abiad, or White Nile—and on the 14th of Nov. he succeeded in accomplishing the great object of his ambition. After spending a few days in the neighbourhood of this memorable spot, he retraced his steps to Gondar, which he reached on the 17th of November. Having accomplished his arduous undertaking, Bruce was now anxious to return home; but he found it no easy matter to obtain leave of the king, who was engaged in suppressing an insurrection in his kingdom, and was desirous to secure the assistance of so able an auxiliary. The traveller was therefore obliged, in order to clear his way homewards, to take part in three successive engagements, May, 1771, between the royal forces and the rebels, and rendered such signal services to the cause of the government, that the king presented him with a massive gold chain, and at length gave him permission to depart. It was not till the 20th of December, thirteen months after his return from the source of the Nile, and two years after he had entered the country, that he was enabled to set out on his homeward journey. In order to avoid coming in contact with the treacherous nayib of Masuah, he resolved to return through the great desert of Nubia, instead of following the more easy and direct road by which he entered Abyssinia. On the 23d of March, after undergoing a series of the most dreadful hardships, he reached Teawa, the capital of Abbara, where he found the sheikh quite as rapacious as the ruler of Masuah; by his intrepidity and presence of mind, however, he completely cowed the petty tyrant, and was allowed to depart unmolested. On the 29th of April he reached Sennaar, the capital of Nubia, where he was detained upwards of four months by the villany of those who had undertaken to supply him with money, and was reduced to such straits that he was obliged to dispose of nearly the whole of his gold chain. At length, on the 5th of September, he was enabled to begin his journey across the great Nubian desert, the most difficult and dangerous part of his route. For twelve weeks he and his party toiled through the desert, enduring the most frightful hardships; their provisions failed, and they were in constant danger of being swallowed up by the moving sands, or robbed and murdered by the roving bands of Arabs. His camels and one of his attendants perished; he was compelled to abandon his instruments and papers, and it was not until after the last remaining meal had been served out to his men, that they reached the town of Assouan, upon the Nile, where their necessities were liberally supplied. After a few days' rest at this place, he rode back into the desert, and recovered his baggage and instruments, among which was a valuable quadrant of three feet radius, presented to him by Louis XV. He then sailed down the Nile to Cairo, which he reached on the 10th of January, 1773, after an absence of four years from civilized society. In March, 1773, he embarked for Marseilles, and on reaching France was received with marked attention by Count Buffon and other distinguished French savans. In the summer of 1774 he returned to England, after an absence of twelve years. He was treated with great distinction by his countrymen, and was introduced at court, and received in a very flattering manner by the king, to whom he presented the drawings of Palmyra and Baalbec, which his majesty had requested him to execute; but his anecdotes respecting the customs of the Abyssinian and Nubian tribes were listened to with incredulity, and were severely ridiculed by the Grub Street writers of the day. Keenly resenting this treatment, Bruce retired to his estate, where he busied himself in the arrangement of his affairs, which had become disordered during his long absence. In 1776 he married Miss Dundas of Fingask, by whom he had three children. She died in 1785, and as a means of diverting his thoughts from his bereavement, he, in compliance with the advice of his friends, applied himself assiduously to the preparation of his journals for the press. They appeared in 1790, in five vols. 4to, embellished with plates and charts. The whole of the first edition was immediately disposed of, and it was in the same year translated into French and German. The work was violently assailed by a portion of the periodical press, and a host of petty enemies levelled the shafts of envy, malice, and ridicule at the devoted head of the author; but his great merits have been fully acknowledged by posterity, and the accuracy of his most startling statements has been confirmed by the researches of later travellers. He was preparing a second edition of his work, when his death prevented the execution of his design. On the 26th April, 1794, he was escorting a lady to her carriage, when his foot slipped, and he fell headlong down stairs; he was taken up in a state of insensibility, and expired next morning in the sixty-fifth year of his age. A second edition of "Bruce's Travels," accompanied by a life of the author, was published in 1806 by Dr. Alexander Murray, the celebrated oriental scholar.—J. T.
BRUCE, James Daniel, Count, a Russian officer of Scotch extraction, born at Moscow in 1670; died in 1735. He entered the artillery, and was named governor of Novogorod. In 1709 he commanded the artillery at the battle of Pultowa, and two years later was appointed grand master of this branch of the Russian forces, which he organized on an excellent footing. Later, he
