BRITTANY, Britanny, or Britany, in French, Bretagne, an ancient province and duchy of France, consisting of the great north-western peninsula of the country, and corresponding very nearly to the present departments of Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan, Ille et Vilaine, and Lower Loire. It is popularly divided into Upper or Western, and Lower or Eastern Brittany. While it is not a mountainous country, none of the elevations much exceeding 1200 feet, it is remarkable for the extreme ruggedness of its physical features, especially along the coast and towards its seaward extremity. There are vast tracts of desolate moorland broken only by the melancholy monuments of a forgotten time, and gloomy water-courses worn deep into the stony strata. Elsewhere, however, beautiful valleys and romantic glens are traversed by fullflowing rivers. Agriculture is in general in a rather backward condition, though here and there there are signs of enterprise. Flax and hemp are largely grown; and in the more fertile districts excellent crops of the cereals are obtained. Bees are almost universally kept, and are often objects of a kind of affection. Pasture is abundant throughout the country, and the dairy produce forms a very important item in the food of the people. Industrial pursuits, except in a few seaport towns, which are rather French than Breton, have hitherto received but little attention. The Bretons are by nature conservative. They cling with almost equal attachment to their local customs and their religious superstitions. It was not till the 17th century that paganism was even nominally abolished in some parts, and there is probably no district in Europe where the popular Christianity has assimilated more from earlier creeds. Witchcraft and the influence of fairies are ...

BRITTON, John, a topographical and antiquarian writer, was born at Kingston-St-Michael, near Chippenham, July 7, 1771. His birthplace, an old-world village of the dullest and sleepiest kind, had also the distinction of being the home of the antiquary John Aubrey. His parents were in humble circumstances, and he was left an orphan at an early age. He grew up with no better education than was to be had in the poor schools of his native Wiltshire village and neighbouring places, the last to which he was sent being at Chippenham. At the age of fourteen he became possessed of a small lot of books, and among them were Robinson Crusoe, the Pilgrim's Progress, and The Life of Peter, Czar of Muscovy. At sixteen he went to London, and through the influence of a relative was apprenticed to a wine merchant. Prevented by failing health from serving his full six years, he found himself adrift in the world, without money, without friends, and without education. In his hand-to-hand fight with poverty he was put to strange shifts, becoming cellarman at a tavern and clerk to a lawyer, reciting and singing at a small theatre, and compiling a collection of common songs. During his apprenticeship he had read much in a loose, aimless manner; and gradually by successive small ventures he found his way into the broad paths of literature. A Salisbury publisher having projected a work on Wiltshire, invited Britton to undertake its preparation. The proposal was accepted; and in conjunction with his friend Edward Wedlake Brayley, Britton set himself to the task. Such was the small beginning of the voluminous work entitled The Beq,uties of England and Wales. The Beauties of Wiltshire appeared in two volumes in 1801, a third volume being added in 1825. The authors proceeded with other counties, and ...