Bret, or Burt

A name formerly given to a fish of the turbot kind. Bretagne, Britt any, (brit'a-ne,) one of the provinces into which France was divided. It now forms the dep. of Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan, and Loire-Inférieure. In ancient times, B. , under the name of Armorica , was the central seat of the confederated Armor i can tribes, who were of Celtic and Kymric origin. Traces of them still remain in the old Kymric dialect of the three most westerly departments, and in the numerous so-called Druidical monuments. The Breton has generally a tinge of melancholy in his disposition; but often conceals, under a dull and indifferent exterior, lively imagination and strong feelings. "The tenacity with which the Breton clings to the habits and belief of his forefathers is apparent by his retention of the Celtic language almost universally in Ba e B. , and by his quaint costume, which in many districts is that of the 16th century." The greater number of the people are found to be ignorant and coarse in their manners, and their agriculture is of a very rude character, by no means calculated to develop the natural resources of the country. Apart from the beauty of its scenery, B. po e es great interest, as the only place where men can be seen living and acting much as our forefathers did three centuries ago. Under the Romans, the country, after 58 B. C., was made the Provincia Lugdu nensis Tertia ; but its subjugation was hardly more than nominal, and it was entirely liberated in the 4th c., when it was divided into several allied republican States, which, afterwards, were changed into petty monarchies. B. became subject to the Franks in the reign of Charlemagne, and was handed over by Charles the Simple to the North men in 912. After some fierce struggles, the Bretons appear to have at length acknowledged the suzerainty of the Norman dukes. Geoffroi, Count of Rennes, was the first to a ume the title of Duke of Bretagne in 992. The duchy of B. was incorporated with France in 1532, by Francis I., to whom it had come by marriage, and subsequently shared in the general fortunes of the empire, but retained a local parliament until the outbreak of the Revolution. During the Revolution, B. , which was intensely loyal, was the arena of sanguinary conflicts, and especially of the movements of the Chouans ( q.v. ), who reappeared as recently as 1832. Breth'ren, n . pl . of BROTHER, q . v. This plural occurs frequently in the New Testament, and was currently applied to each other by the first Christians. It denotes persons of the same society, and is now only used in the Solemn or Scriptural style.