BREST, a strongly fortified seaport town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Finistère, in 48° 22' N. lat. and 4° 32' W. long. It is situated to the north of a magnificent land-locked bay, and occupies the slopes of two hills divided by the River Penfeld,—the part of the town on the left bank being regarded as Brest proper, while the part on the right is known as Recouvrance, from the chapel of the Virgin, to whom the shipwrecked sailors used to address their prayers for the recovery of their property. The hill-sides are in some places so steep that the ascent from the lower to the upper town has to be effected by flights of stairs; and the second or third story of one house is often on a level with the ground story of the next. The town proper has three long parallel streets, of which the chief bears the name of Rue de Siam, in honour of the Siamese embassy sent to Louis XIV., and terminates at the remarkable swingbridge, or Pont Impérial, constructed in 1861, which crosses the mouth of the Penfeld. Running along the shore to the south of the town is the Cours d’Ajot, one of the finest promenades of its kind in France, named after the engineer who constructed it. It is planted with trees and adorned with two marble statues presented by the “Gouvernement Consulaire, Le XIIII e . Germinal, An IX.” Brest possesses comparatively few buildings of importance, with the exception of those connected with the great naval establishment. The church of the priory of the Seven Saints, the church of St Louis, the old castle with its seven massive towers (dating in part from the 13th century), the exchange, the town-house, the civil hospital, and the theatre are the chief. The great convict establishment, which formerly held some 3000 prisoners, ...

BREST-LITOVSK (in Polish Brzesc, and in the chronicles Berestie and Berestoff). a town of Russia, in the government of Grodno, and 131 miles S. from the city of that name, in 52° 5' N. lat. and 23° 39' E. long., at the junction of the navigable river Mukhovetz with the Bug. It contains two or three Greek churches, a Roman Catholic church, a Jewish synagogue—which was regarded in the 16th century as the first in Europe, a monastery, a public hospital, a Jewish almshouse, an important provision storehouse, a custom-house, and a wharf. Brest is the seat of an Armenian bishop, who has authority over the Armenians throughout the whole country; and since 1841 the “Alexander” cadette-corps has been stationed in the town. The industries of the place are comparatively unimportant, but it carries on a very extensive and varied trade by means of its rivers and the Royal Canal. The principal articles of the traffic are grain, flax, hemp, wood, birch-tar, and leather. The population numbered 19,343 in I860, 3394 being Catholics, and 10,320 Jews. In 1867 the total had risen to 22,493....