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BRESCIA (anc. Brixia), a city and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy, the capital of the province of Brescia, finely situated at the foot of the Alps, 52 m. E. of Milan and 40 m. W. of Verona by rail. Pop. (1901) town, 42,495; commune, 72,731. The plan of the city is rectangular, and the streets intersect at right angles, a peculiarity handed down from Roman times, though the area enclosed by the... more...

INITIALS USED IN VOLUME VII. TO IDENTIFY INDIVIDUALCONTRIBUTORS, WITH THE HEADINGS OF THEARTICLES IN THIS VOLUME SO SIGNED.A. B. F. Y.Alexander Bell Filson Young.Formerly Editor of theOutlook. Author ofChristopher Columbus;Master-singers;The Complete Motorist;Wagner Stories; &c.{Dance(in part).A. Bo.*Auguste Boudinhon, D.D., D.C.L.Professor of Canon Law in the Catholic University of Paris. Honorary... more...

CELTES, KONRAD (1459-1508), German humanist and Latin poet, the son of a vintner named Pickel (of which Celtes is the Greek translation), was born at Wipfeld near Schweinfurt. He early ran away from home to avoid being set to his father’s trade, and at Heidelberg was lucky enough to find a generous patron in Johann von Dalberg and a teacher in Agricola. After the death of the latter (1485) Celtes led... more...

(Lat. _conventio_, an assembly or agreement, from _convenire_, to come together), a meeting or assembly; an agreement between parties; a general agreement on which is based some custom, institution, rule of behaviour or taste, or canon of art; hence extended to the abuse of such an agreement, whereby the rules based upon it become lifeless and artificial. The word is of some interest historically and... more...

CAT,properly the name of the well-known domesticated feline animal usually termed by naturalistsFelis domestica, but in a wider sense employed to denote all the more typical members of the familyFelidae. According to theNew English Dictionary, although the origin of the word “cat” is unknown, yet the name is found in various languages as far back as they can be traced. In old Western Germanic it... more...

BEDLAM, or Bethlehem Hospital, the first English lunatic asylum, originally founded by Simon FitzMary, sheriff of London, in 1247, as a priory for the sisters and brethren of the order of the Star of Bethlehem. It had as one of its special objects the housing and entertainment of the bishop and canons of St Mary of Bethlehem, the mother-church, on their visits to England. Its first site was in... more...

CHÂTELET (from Med. Lat. castella), the word, sometimes also written castillet, used in France for a building designed for the defence of an outwork or gate, sometimes of great strength or size, but distinguished from the château, or castle proper, in being purely defensive and not residential. In Paris, before the Revolution, this word was applied both to a particular building and to the... more...

INITIALS USED IN VOLUME IV. TO IDENTIFY INDIVIDUALCONTRIBUTORS, WITH THE HEADINGS OF THEARTICLES IN THIS VOLUME SO SIGNED.A. B. R.Alfred Barton Rendle, F.R.S., F.L.S., M.A., D.Sc.Keeper of the Department of Botany, British Museum.{Botany.A. E. H.A. E. Houghton.Formerly Correspondent of theStandardin Spain. Author ofRestoration of the Bourbons in Spain.{Cabrera.A. E. S.Arthur Everett Shipley, F.R.S.,... more...

BORGIA, LUCREZIA(1480-1519), duchess of Ferrara, daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, afterwards Pope Alexander VI. (q.v.), by his mistress Vanozza dei Cattanei, was born at Rome in 1480. Her early years were spent at her mother’s house near her father’s splendid palace; but later she was given over to the care of Adriana de Mila, a relation of Cardinal Borgia and mother-in-law of Giulia Farnese,... more...

ANDROS, SIR EDMUND (1637-1714), English colonial governor in America, was born in London on the 6th of December 1637, son of Amice Andros, an adherent of Charles I., and the royal bailiff of the island of Guernsey. He served for a short time in the army of Prince Henry of Nassau, and in 1660-1662 was gentleman in ordinary to the queen of Bohemia (Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. of England). He... more...