brother. His first literary attempt, "Zarine," a worthless tragedy in imitation of Voltaire, was remarkable not only as being the first Danish tragedy ever presented on the stage, and which was at first received with much enthusiasm, but for the violent literary warfare to which it led. His second tragedy, "Einer Tambeskjelver," though unsuccessful as a play, procured for him from Guldberg, the minister at that time, 1773, a small living, to which he retired; after which he married, and rose in the church, until in 1804 he became bishop of Bergen. Brun was in his place as a preacher of the gospel. In the pulpit he was not only powerful, persuasive, and original, but the spirit of an old apostle seemed to animate him. He has also left behind him an honoured name as a patriot, and two national songs, "Norges Herlighed," and "Norges Skaal," which have taken deep root in the literature and the heart of the people. His collected poems appeared in a second edition at Christiania in 1816, the year of his death.—M. H.
BRUN, Sophie Christiane Frederika, a well-known German-Danish writer of prose and poetry, was born June 3rd, 1765, at Tonna in Gotha, where her father, Balthasar Münter, was a distinguished preacher. When she was scarcely five weeks old her father removed to Copenhagen, as chief minister of the German congregation of St. Peter's church in that city. Educated at home, under the guidance of her father, she early exhibited poetical talent. In 1783 she married Johan Christian Constantin Brun, royal administrator of the West Indian trade, afterwards conference-raad and knight of the order of Dannebrog. Shortly after her marriage she accompanied her husband to St. Petersburg, and for some months she enjoyed daily intercourse with Klopstock at Hamburg. During the severe winter of 1788-89 she suddenly lost the sense of hearing, which she never regained. She now devoted herself with increased energy to poetry and the acquisition of knowledge, finding in them a compensation for her great loss. From 1790 she spent the following twenty years in travel and foreign residence. An account of her first journey to the south of Europe was published in the first two volumes of her prose works, Zurich, 1799-1801, whilst her two last volumes of the same works contain her residence in Rome, and a winter spent at the sulphur baths of Ischia. In 1801 she made another journey through south Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, spending the winter near Coppet, where she enjoyed the society of madame de Stael and her father. After this period she returned to Copenhagen, where she remained till her death. Her first poems were published in 1795, and passed through four editions. In 1812 was published a volume of "New Poems," and "Latest Poems" in 1820. Her last work, published in 1824, "Truth in Morning Dreams, and Ida's Æsthetic Development," is said to contain, in part, an account of her own youthful life. She died in 1835; and her husband in 1836.—M. H.
BRUNCK, Richard Franz Philipp, an eminent Hellenist, was born at Strasburg, December 30, 1729, and carefully educated by the jesuits. He devoted himself in his native town to the study of the Greek authors, and to the critical emendation of their works. His most renowned editions are those of Anacreon, Apollonius Rhodius, Aristophanes, 1781-83, 3 vols., the Poetæ Gnomici, and above all, that of Sophocles, for which he was granted a royal pension of 2000 francs. He also edited Plautus and Terentius, and died in his native town, June 12, 1803.—K. E.
BRUNEHAUT, the famous queen of Metz or Austrasia, daughter of Athanagildas, king of the Spanish Visigoths, born in 534; espoused in 568 Siegbert, king of Austrasia. About the same time Chilperic, king of Neustria, brother of Siegbert, married her younger sister, Galswintha. This prince having put his wife to death, and invaded Austrasia while Siegbert was engaged in repelling an invasion of the Huns, Brunehaut urged her husband to retaliate by a war in Neustria, in the course of which Siegbert was assassinated, and Brunehaut herself taken prisoner. On her escape from Rouen, after her marriage with Meroveus, son of the king of Neustria, she returned to Metz, and combating successfully the opposition of the nobles, wielded the royal authority during the minority of her son Childebert. After the death of that prince, and the accession of her grandsons, Thierry and Theodebert, the nobles of Austrasia compelled her to fly into Burgundy. These two princes having quarrelled, she took part with Thierry, who put his brother to death in 612. Thierry dying in the following year, she again assumed the authority of regent; but being attacked by her ancient enemy, Fredegonda, second wife of Chilperic I., she was betrayed by her nobles into the hands of the Neustrians, and, as some historians report, delivered during three days into the hands of a brutal soldiery, drawn at the tail of a wild horse, and finally burned piecemeal. Her character and government have been the source of endless controversy—one class of historians representing her as the most virtuous of women, and the most illustrious of sovereigns, and another abusing her memory as an infamous woman and a bloody usurper. Gregory of Tours, her contemporary, is in the former class; and in the latter there is found no author of an earlier date than a century after her death. Tradition, which attributes to her the foundation of numerous hospitals, and the credit of repairing the Roman roads through Burgundy, Picardy, and Flanders, is all in favour of her blameless character and excellent government.—J. S., G.
BRUNEL, Sir Marc Isambard, a civil engineer of consummate ability and originality. He was born at Hocqueville in Normandy in the year 1769. His father, a gentleman of ancient lineage and some landed property, with the living of his parish at his disposal, destined the younger Brunel for the church. But no exertion on the part of his teachers at St. Nicain in Rouen—no punishment threatened or inflicted at home, could secure progress. An instinctive predilection for mechanical contrivances, together with a marked inaptitude for literary studies, was early exhibited: nor was the latter defect ever overcome—a residence of half a century in England having been insufficient to secure Brunel a correct knowledge of the language, while it robbed him of the power of using his own with facility. The carpenter's shop and the wheelwright's yard had alone interest for the future engineer. At length, in something like despair, steps were taken to place the incorrigible idler in the navy. To this end it was necessary that some knowledge of numbers and of mathematics should be obtained. Euclid was devoured with avidity—read, as Sir Isambard has been often heard to say, with all the interest usually excited by a novel. No proposition ever required to be perused twice. Upon his first introduction to the naval officer under whose charge he was about to be placed, he observed upon the table a quadrant. With the principle of its action he was acquainted, but before this visit he had never seen the instrument; nor did he then venture to touch it: yet, by a careful examination of it, as he walked round the table, he was enabled to construct an instrument which he used exclusively during his service in the navy. Drawing was his pleasure—penmanship his delight. In both his excellence was remarkable; and, at a hate period of life, he could describe a circle with his hand alone, and determine the centre with mathematical precision. To his mind, lines accurately represented forces, and of their relative value and position he would always satisfy himself, before accepting any numerical calculation. Hence the immense importance which he attached to drawing; always considering it the true alphabet of the engineer, without which he believed no complete idea of construction could ever be realized. To his penmanship he was once indebted for liberty, and perhaps for life. Upon the evening of the day—17th January, 1793—that the assembly voted the death of Louis XVI., Brunel expressed himself in such strong condemnatory language of the proceeding, in one of the cafés in Paris, that he became a marked man, and narrowly escaped the guillotine. With difficulty a passport for America was procured for him. In his haste the passport was forgotten, and he embarked without one. The vessel had not been long at sea when she was boarded, and passports demanded. This event young Brunel had anticipated; but such good use had he made of his time in imitating the passport of a fellow voyager, that he did not hesitate to submit the cheat to official inspection. He escaped. During the voyage he formed the acquaintance of a gentleman engaged by the state of New York to make surveys of some of the principal tributaries of the Hudson. From this gentleman he gladly accepted the situation of assistant. During the connection he had many opportunities of exhibiting his genius in overcoming the natural difficulties with which such an undertaking was necessarily beset in a wild and savage country—rapids to be passed, forests to be penetrated. Upon Brunel's return to New York, he soon found employment, and was engaged as engineer and architect in the construction of machinery of various kinds, and in the erection of public buildings. To him is due some of the important improvements in the printing-press, and the application of machinery to the boring of ordnance.
