OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bermingham, Patrick

​BERMINGHAM, PATRICK (d. 1532) judge, was a native of Ireland, and succeed to the estates of his brother John in that country in 1483. He was appointed chief justice of the king's bench in Ireland on 2 Dec. 1513 (Pat. 5 Hen. VIII, pt. ii. m. 4), an office which he held until his death. In 1521 his patent of office, which was during pleasure, was renewed, and at the same time he obtained license to leave Ireland when he pleased. In this year he also received a grant of the chancellorship of the green wax of the exchequer in Ireland, in succession to Nicholas St. Lawrence, Lord Howth. In 1520 and following years his signature as one of the council is appended to the letters from the Earl of Surrey and Earl of Ormond, the king's deputies in Ireland; and at a later period (in 1528), when the Earl of Kildare, then deputy, had been sent for to England, and the country was disturbed by the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond and O'Conor, the responsibility of preserving order rested principally with him and Hugh Inge, archbishop of Dublin.
His death must have occurred late in 1532, as both his offices were filled up in January 1533, the judgeship being given to Sir Bartholomew Dillon, and the chancellorship of the green wax to Thomas Cusake. He left one son, William, who married Margaret, the daughter of Thomas St. Lawrence, justice of the King's Bench in Ireland in the reigns of Henry VlII, Edward VI, and Mary.
[Calendar of State Papers of Henry VIII, vols. i. iii. iv. vi.; Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, iii. 188; Pat. 1 Edw. V, m. 7.]
C. T. M.
# Curtis's Botanical Magazine/Volume 15/505

[ 505 ]
Dianella Cærulea. Blue Dianella.
 *************** Class and Order.
Hexandria Monogynia.
Generic Character.
Cal. nullus. Cor. 6-petala. Stam. receptaculo inferta. Per.
Bacca 8-locularis polysperma.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
DIANELLA cærulea; caule adscendente geniculato foliis distichis lineari-lanceolatis carinatis margine spi- nuloris, pedunculis rectis divaricatis.
This plant is a native of New Holland, and we believe was first raised in this country from seeds from Port Jackson, about
the year 1783, by our much respected friend, the late Mr. Cuff, of Teddington, a gentleman of great zeal and assiduity
in cultivating plants and promoting the science of Botany, to
whose liberality the Brompton Botanic Garden is indebted for
this and many other scarce and beautiful plants.
It succeeds well in the greenhouse, begins flowering about
the month of May, and continues in blossom during the greatest
part of the summer. Is readily increased by parting its roots
in the spring and should be planted in pots filled with loam
and peat earth.
The Chevalier de la Marck has given the name of Dia- nella nemorosa to the Dracæna ensifolia of Linnæus, with
which this palnt has considerable affinity, but is certainly a
distinct species. The Dracæna nemorosa of Jacquin, figured
in his Hort. Schoenb. t. 94. appears to be different from both.
We have adopted the name by which it is known in those
collections about town which possess it.–We hope to take
another opportunity of saying something more on this genus
as distinguished from Dracæna.
# Curtin v. Benson

* related portals: Supreme Court of the United States.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
United States Supreme Court
222 U.S. 78
Curtin v. Benson
Argued: April 11, 1910. --- Decided: for oral argument October 21, 1910
Messrs. Marshall B. Woodworth and J. B. Curtin, in propria persona, for appellant on original submission.
Mr. W. C. Prentiss for appellant on oral argument.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 78-80 intentionally omitted]
Assistant Attorney General Harr for appellees.
Assistant Attorney General Harr for appellees.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 80-82 intentionally omitted]
Mr. Justice Mckenna delivered the opinion of the court:

## Notes

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Curtis's Botanical Magazine

An illustrated magazine first published in 1787 by William Curtis, the early volumes appear as the The Botanical Magazine. The title was changed in 1801. Curtis's continues to the present day as a publication of Kew Gardens.
1787 to 1801, The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed.
1801-1807. Curtis's Botanical Magazine. (Editor: John Sims)
* Volume 15
* Volume 16
* Volume 17
* Volume 18
* Volume 19
* Volume 20
* Volume 21
* Volume 22
* Volume 23
* Volume 24
* Volume 25
* Volume 26
* Volume 27
* Volume 28
* Volume 29
* Volume 30
* Volume 31
* Volume 32
* Volume 33
* Volume 34
* Volume 35
* Volume 36
* Volume 37
* Volume 38
* Volume 39
* Volume 40
* Volume 41
* Volume 42
* Volume 43
* Volume 44
* Volume 45
* Volume 46
* Volume 47
* Volume 48
* Volume 49
* Volume 50
* Volume 51
* Volume 52
* Volume 53
1827 - series two (Editor: Samuel Curtis, Descriptions W J Hooker)
* Volume 54
* Volume 55
* Volume 56
* Volume 57
* Volume 58 (page scan index)
* Volume 59
* Volume 60
* Volume 61
* Volume 62
* Volume 63
* Volume 64
* Volume 65
* Volume 66
* Volume 67
* Volume 68
* Volume 69
* Volume 70
1845 - series three (Editor: William Jackson Hooker)
* Volume 71
* Volume 72
* Volume 73 (page scan index)
* Volume 74
* Volume 75 (page scan index)
* Volume 76
* Volume 77
* Volume 78
* Volume 79
* Volume 80
* Volume 81
* Volume 82
* Volume 83
* Volume 84
* Volume 85
* Volume 86
* Volume 87
# Curtis's Administratrix v. Fiedler

* related portals: Supreme Court of the United States.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
United States Supreme Court
67 U.S. 461
Curtis's Administratrix v. Fiedler

## Notes

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Curtin v. United States

* related portals: Supreme Court of the United States.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
United States Supreme Court
236 U.S. 96
Curtin v. United States
Argued: December 16, 1914. ---
Messrs. Henry A. Wise and Henry W. Sackett for plaintiff in error.
Solicitor General Davis for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

## Notes

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Curtin v. United States/Opinion of the Court

* Court Documents
* Case Syllabus
* Opinion of the Court
United States Supreme Court
236 U.S. 96
Curtin v. United States
Argued: December 16, 1914. ---
This writ of error was argued and submitted at the same time as Burdick v. United States, just decided [[[236 U.S. 79]], 59 L. ed. --, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 267]. Its purpose is to review a judgment for contempt against Curtin upon presentment of the Federal grand jury for refusing to answer certain questions in the same proceeding considered in the Burdick Case in regard to a certain article published in the New York Tribune. Curtin is a reporter on that paper. He declined to answer the questions, on the ground that the answers would tend to incriminate him. At a subsequent hearing a pardon issued by the President was offered him (it was the same in substance as that offered Burdick), and he was again questioned. He declined to receive the pardon or to answer the questions, on the same ground as before. He was, on presentment of the grand jury, adjudged guilty of contempt, fined as Burdick was, with the same leave to purge himself of the contempt, the court deciding that the pardon was valid and sufficient for immunity. Upon Curtin again refusing to answer, the judgment was made absolute and he was committed to the custody of the United States marshal.
It will be observed, therefore, the case is almost identical in its facts with the Burdick Case and exactly the same in principle. On the authority of that case, therefore, the judgment is reversed and the case remanded, with instruction to dismiss the proceedings in contempt and discharge Curtin from custody.
Mr. Justice McReynolds took no part in the consideration and decision of this case.

## Notes

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bourn, Thomas

​BOURN, THOMAS (1771–1832), compiler, was born in Hackney on 19 April 1771, and in conjunction with his father-in-law, Mr. William Butler, the author of various works for the instruction of the young, he became a teacher of writing and geography in ladies' schools. His death occurred at his house in Mare Street, Hackney, on 20 Aug. 1832. He published 'A Concise Gazetteer of the most Remarkable Places in the World; with references to the principal historical events and most celebrated persons connected with them.' London, 1807, 8vo, 3rd edit. 1822.
[Gent. Mag. cii. 297: Biog. Dict. of Living Authors (1816), 34; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; E. Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, 13005.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bourn, William

​BOURN, WILLIAM. (fl. 1562–1582). [See Bourne.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bourn, Nicholas

​BOURN, NICHOLAS. [See Burne.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bourne, Henry

​BOURNE, HENRY (1696–1733), antiquary, was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1696. He was the son of Thomas Bourne, a tailor, and was intended for the calling of a glazier. His talents, however, attracted the attention of some friends, through whose offices he was released from his apprenticeship and sent to resume his education at the Newcastle grammar school. He was admitted a sizar of Christ College, Cambridge, in 1717, under the tuition of the Rev. Thomas Atherton, a fellow-townsman. He graduated B.A. in 1720 and M.A. in 1724, and received the appointment of curate of All Hallows Church, Newcastle, where he remained until his death on 16 Feb. 1733.
In 1725 he published 'Antiquitates Vulgares, or the Antiquities of the Common People, giving an account of their opinions and ceremonies.' This was republished, with additions by Brand, in 1777 in his 'Popular Antiquities,' and forms the groundwork of the later labours of Sir Henry Ellis and W. C. Hazlitt. In 1727 he issued 'The Harmony and Agreement of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, as they stand in the Book of Common Prayer for the Sundays throughout the Year.' He also wrote a history of his native town, which was left in an unfinished state at his death, but was afterwards published by his widow and children in a folio volume in 1736, under the title of The History of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, or the Ancient and Present State of that Town.'
[Adamson's Scholæ Novocastrensis Alumni, p. 13; Brand's Hist. of Newcastle, 1789, preface; Allibone's Dictionary.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brett, Arthur

​BRETT, ARTHUR (d. 1677?), poet, was, Wood believes, 'descended of a genteel family.' Having been a scholar of Westminster, he was elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1653. He proceeded B.A. in 1656 and M.A. in 1659. He was one of the 'Terræ filii' in the act held in St. Mary's Church, 1661, 'at which time he showed himself sufficiently ridiculous.' Having taken orders, he became vicar of Market Lavington, Wiltshire, but he seems after a while to have given up the living. He came up to London, and there fell into poverty, begging from gentlemen in the streets, and especially from Oxford men. He was somewhat crazed, according to Wood, who met him by chance in 1675, and was perhaps annoyed by his importunity, for he writes with some bitterness of him. Brett was 'a great pretender to poetry.' He wrote:
* 'A Poem on the Restoration of King Charles II,' 1660, included in 'Britannia rediviva.'
* 'Threnodia, on the Death of Henry, Duke of Gloucester,' 1660.
* 'Poem on the Death of the Princess of Orange,' 1660.
* 'Patientia victrix, or the Book of Job in Lyric Verse,' 1661; and is also said to have written an essay on poetry. He died in his mother's house in the Strand 'about 1677.' Wood knows not 'where his lean and macerated carcase was buried, unless in the yard of St. Clement's church, without Temple Bar.'
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iii. col. 1144; Fasti, ii. 192, 220 (Bliss); Welch's Alumni Westmon. (1852), 141.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brett, John Watkins

1904 Errata appended.
​BRETT, JOHN WATKINS (1805–1863), telegraphic engineer, was the son of a cabinetmaker, William Brett of Bristol, and was born in that city in 1805. Brett has been styled, with apparent justice, the founder of submarine telegraphy. The idea of transmitting electricity through submerged cables is said to have been originated by him in conjunction with his younger brother. After some years spent in perfecting his plans he sought and obtained permission from Louis-Philippe in 1847 to establish telegraphic communication between France and England, but the project did not gain the public attention, being regarded as too hazardous for general support. The attempt was, however, made in 1850, and met with success, and the construction of numerous other submarine lines followed. Brett always expressed himself confident as to the ultimate union of England and America by means of electricity, but he did not live to see it accomplished. He died on 3 Dec. 1863 at the age of 58, and was buried in the family vault in the churchyard of Westbury-on-Trim, near Bristol. Brett published a work of 104 pages, 'On the Origin and Progress of the Oceanic Telegraph, with a few brief facts and opinions of the press' (London, 8vo, 1858), and contributed several papers on the same subject to the Institute of Civil Engineers, of which he was a member. A list of these contributions will be found in the index of the 'Proceedings' of that society.
R. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.36 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 283 | ii | 1-2 | Brett, John W.: for but he did not live to see it accomplished read and an electric telegraph cable across the Atlantic was completed in 1858, though it failed to work after the transmission of a few messages |
| | | 4 | for Trim read Trym |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bretland, Joseph

​BRETLAND, JOSEPH (1742–1819), dissenting minister, son of Joseph Bretland, an Exeter tradesman, was born at Exeter 22 May 1742. He was for several years a day scholar at the Exeter grammar school, and was placed in business in 1757, but shortly after left it for the ministry. For this work he received a special education, his course of study being finished in 1766. From 1770 to 1772 he was minister of the Mint Chapel, and from the latter year until 1790 kept a classical school at Exeter. He resumed his duties at the Mint Chapel in 1789, and continued there until 1793. For three years, 1794-7, he acted as minister at the George's meeting-house in Exeter, and on the establishment in 1799 of an academy in the West of England for educating ministers among the protestant dissenters, he was appointed one of its tutors. This position he retained down to its dissolution in 1805, and he then retired into private life. In 1795 Bretland married Miss Sarah Moffatt. He died at Exeter 8 July 1819. He is described as a believer in the unity of the Deity and in the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, and he is styled a scholar of 'extensive and solid learning.' Many of his theological papers are in Dr. Priestley's 'Theological Repository' and in the 'Monthly Repository.' He composed several sermons and many prayers for the use of Unitarians, including a 'Liturgy for the Use of the Mint Meeting in Exeter,' 1792. After his death there were printed at Exeter two volumes of 'Sermons by the late Rev. Joseph Bretland, to which are prefixed Memoirs of ​his Life, by Wm. Benjamin Kennaway, 1820.' He was much attached to Dr. Priestley, and edited a new edition of his 'Rudiments of English Grammar;' many of his letters to the doctor are printed in J. T. Rutt's memoirs of Priestley.
[Life by Kennaway; Rutt's Priestley, passim; Monthly Repository, 1819, pp. 445, 473, 494, 559.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Breton, John le

​BRETON, JOHN le (d. 1275), bishop of Hereford, was chosen bishop about Christmas 1268, being then a canon of Hereford, and was consecrated 2 June 1269. For about two years before this he was a justice of the king's court. He died 12 May 1275. Some fifty years after his death, perhaps sooner, the belief was current that he wrote the book now known to lawyers as ' Britton.' That book (first printed without date about 1540, reprinted in 1640, and carefully edited by F. M. Nichols in 1865) is in the main Bracton's treatise on English law condensed, rearranged on a new plan, purged of speculative jurisprudence, turned from Latin into French, and put into the mouth of Edward I, so that the whole law appears as the king's command. Seemingly, it is an unfinished work, but it became very popular, and was often copied in manuscript. Frequent reference is made in it to statutes passed after the bishop's death, and from the internal evidence we must suppose it written shortly after 1290. Possibly we have but the bishop's book as altered by a later hand, or possibly, as Selden suggested, there has been some confusion between the bishop and the contemporary judge whom we call Bracton [q. v.], but whose name seems really to have been Bratton. The book 'Britton ' might fairly be called a Bracton for practising lawyers, and in fourteenth-century manuscripts the two books are indiscriminately called Bretoun, Brettoune, and the like.
[For election, consecration, and death, see thefollowing Chronicles under years 1268-9, 1275: Gervase of Canterbury (ed. Stubbs); Annals of Winchester, Waverley, Osney. Wykes, and Worcester (all in Annales Monastici, ed. Luard, who, vol. ii. p. xxxvii, discusses date of consecration); Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, ed. Hardy, i. 459-60. For judicial employment: Excerpta e Rotulis Finium (Record Commission), ii. 444-82; Liber de Antiquis Legibus (Camden Society), year 1267. Judge and bishop same man: Ann. Osney, year 1268. The statement that he wrote a law book is in the following, under year 1275: F. Nicolai Triveti Annales (ed. Hog.); Chronicle of Rishanger (ed. Riley); Flores Historiarum Matth. Westm. (ed. 1570, but it is not in the first edition, nor in many manuscripts see Hardy, Catalogue of Materials for British History, iii. 209). The authorship of Britton is discussed by Selden, Notes to Hengham, ed. 1616, pp. 129-31 and Dissertation suffixed to Fleta, pp. 458-9, also in F. M. Nichols's preface to edition (1865) of Britton; Foss's Judges of England.]
F. W. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brett, John (d.1785)

​BRETT, JOHN (d. 1785), captain in the royal navy, was probably the son or near kinsman of Captain Timothy Brett, with whom he went to sea in the Ferret sloop about the year 1722, with the rating of captain's servant. In May 1727 he followed Timothy Brett to the Deal Castle, and in the following November to the William and Mary yacht. On 2 March 1733-4 he was promoted to be lieutenant; in 1740 he commanded the Grampus sloop in the Mediterranean; and on 25 March 1741 was posted into the Roebuck of 40 guns by Vice-admiral Haddock, whom he brought home a passenger, invalided, in May 1742. In November 1742 he was appointed to the Anglesea, and in April 1744 to the Sunderland of 60 guns. He was still in the Sunderland and in company with the Captain, Hampton Court and Dreadnought, when, on 6 Jan. 1744-5, they fell in with, and did not capture, the two French ships, Neptune and Fleuron [see Griffin, Thomas; Mostyn, Savage]. Fortunately for Captain Brett's reputation, the Sunderland had her mainmast carried away at an early period of the chase, and he thus escaped a share of the obloquy which attached to the others. He was afterwards sent out to join Commodore Warren at Cape Breton, and took part in the operations which resulted in the capture of Louisburg. In 1755 he commanded the Chichester in the ​squadron sent under Rear-admiral Holburne to reinforce Boscawen on the coast of North America. On 19 May 1756 he was appointed to the St. George, and on 1 June was ordered to turn over to the Namur. Three days afterwards a promotion of admirals came out, in which Brett was included, with his proper seniority, as rear-admiral of the white. He refused to take up the commission, and it was accordingly cancelled (Admiralty Minutes, 4 and 15 June 1756). No reason for this refusal appears on record, and the correspondence that must have taken place between Brett and the admiralty or Lord Anson has not been preserved. It is quite possible that there had been some question as to whether his name should or should not be included in the promotion, and that this had come to Brett's knowledge; but the story, as told by Oharnock, of his name having been in the first instance omitted, is contradicted by the official list. From this time Brett lived in retirement, occupying himself, to some extent, in literary pursuits. In 1777-9 he published 'Translations of Father Feyjoo's Discourses' (4 vols. 8vo); and in 1780 'Essays or Discourses selected from the Works of Feyjoo, and translated from the Spanish' (2 vols. 8vo). A letter, dated Gosport, 3 July 1772 (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 30871, f. 138), shows that he corresponded with Wilkes on friendly terms, and ranked himself with him as 'a friend of liberty.' He speaks also of his wife and children, of whom nothing further seems to be known. He died in 1785.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Breton, William

​BRETON, WILLIAM. [See Briton.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bretnor, Thomas

​BRETNOR, THOMAS (fl. 1607–1618), almanac maker, calls himself on the title-page of one of his almanacs 'student in astronomie and physicke,' and on that of another, 'professor of the mathematicks and student in physicke in Cow Lane, London.' His extant works are as follows:
* 'A Prognostication for this Present Yeere … M.DC.VII. … Imprinted at London for the Companie of Stationers' (a copy is in the British Museum). 'Necessary observations in Phlebotomie' and 'Advertisements in Husbandrie' are introduced into the work.
* 'A Newe Almanacke and Prognostication for … 1615' (copies are in the Huth Library and the Bodleian).
* 'Opiologia, or a Treatise concerning the nature, properties, true preparation, and safe vse and administration of Opium. By Angelus Sala Vincentines Venatis, and done into English and something enlarged by Tho. Bretnor, M.M.,' London, 1618. This translation, which is made from the French, is dedicated 'to the learned and my worthily respected friends D. Bonham and Maister Nicholas Carter, physitians.' In an address to the reader Bretnor defends the use of laudanum in medicine, promises to prepare for his readers 'the chiefest physicke I vse my selfe,' and mentions his friends 'Herbert Whitfield in Newgate Market,' and 'Maister Bromhall,' as good druggists.
Bretnor was a notorious character in London, and is noticed by Ben Jonson in his 'Devil is an Ass' (1616), i. 2, and by Thomas Middleton in his 'Fair Quarrel' (1617), vi.
[Nares's Glossary (ed. Halliwell), s.v. 'Bretnor; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Middleton's Works (ed. A. H. Bullen), iv. 263.]
S. L.