a city in the circle of Saatz, and Austrian kingdom of Bohemia, is situated on the river Bila. It contains a philosophical institution, eight churches, two monasteries, gymnasium, barracks; and has 3500 inhabitants, engaged in the coal-mines, and in the preparation of salts from the Seidlitz waters in the vicinity.

BRUYÈRE, Jean de la, the author of the celebrated work entitled Caractères de Théophraste, traduits du Grec, avec les maximes de ce siècle, which first appeared at Paris in 1687, 12mo. He was born near Dourdan in Normandy, in 1639, or, according to some, in 1644. Few particulars of his life have been preserved. After filling the office of treasurer of France at Caen he removed to Paris, and was appointed teacher of history, under Bossuet, to the Duke de Bourgogne, grandson to the great Condé. La Bruyère, with a pension of 1000 crowns, passed the remainder of his life in the service of his pupil, in the capacity of homme de lettres. He was admitted a member of the French Academy in 1693; and he died suddenly of apoplexy at Versailles, May 10, 1696.

"The Characters of Bruyère," says Voltaire, "may justly be ranked among the extraordinary productions of the age. Antiquity furnishes no examples of such a work. A style rapid, concise, and nervous; expression animated and picturesque; a use of language altogether new, without offending against its established rules, struck the public at first; and the allusions which are crowded in almost every page completed its success. When La Bruyère showed his work in manuscript to Malezieux, he was told that the book would have many readers, and its author many enemies. It somewhat sunk in the opinion of men, when that whole generation whose follies it attacked were passed away; yet as it contains many things applicable to all times and places, it is more than probable that it will never be forgotten."

This admirable work is highly commended by Locke, and has always been a favourite book with readers of taste and discernment. Bruyère left also an unfinished work, published in 1699 under the title of Dialogues posthumes du Sieur de La Bruyère sur le Quatisme, &c., 12mo, but now forgotten.

Of the numerous editions of the Characters, the best is that published in 1827, 2 vols., 8vo, with a life of the author by M. Sicard, notes, &c.