(1884); _Kentish Brasses_, by W.D.
Belcher (4to, London, 1888); _List of Monumental Brasses in the County
of Norfolk_, by the Rev. E. Farrer (Norwich, 1890); _The Monumental
Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire_, by James Thornby (8vo, Hull,
1893); _Monumental Brasses in the Bedfordshire Churches_, by Grace
Isherwood (8vo, London, 1906), a large collection of rubbings of
special interest and value. (3) Foreign: _Monumental Brasses and
Incised Slabs in Belgium_ (8vo, 1849); _Books of Facsimiles of
Monumental Brasses of the Continent of Europe_, folio (1884), by the
Rev. W.F. Greeny.

BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG, CHARLES ETIENNE (1814-1874), Belgian
ethnographer, was born at Bourbourg, near Dunkirk, on the 8th of
September 1814. He entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, was professor
of ecclesiastical history in the Quebec seminary in 1845, vicar-general
at Boston in 1846, and from 1848 to 1863 travelled as a missionary,
chiefly in Mexico and Central America. He gave great attention to
Mexican antiquities, published in 1857-1859 a history of Aztec
civilization, and from 1861 to 1864 edited a collection of documents in
the indigenous languages. In 1863 he announced the discovery of a key to
Mexican hieroglyphic writing, but its value is very questionable. In
1864 he was archaeologist to the French military expedition in Mexico,
and his _Monuments anciens du Mexique_ was published by the French
Government in 1866. Perhaps his greatest service was the publication in
1861 of a French translation of the _Popol Vuh_, a sacred book of the
Quiche Indians, together with a Quiche grammar, and an essay on Central
American mythology. In 1871 he brought out his _Bibliotheque
Mexico-Guatemalienne_, and in 1869-1870 gave the principles of his
decipherment of Indian picture-writing in his _Manuscrit Troano, etudes
sur le systeme graphique et la langue des Mayas._ He died at Nice on the
8th of January 1874. His chief merit is his diligent collection of
materials; his interpretations are generally fanciful.

BRASSEY, THOMAS (1805-1870), English railway contractor, was born at
Buerton, near Chester, on the 7th of November 1805. His father, besides
cultivating land of his own, held a large farm of the marquess of
Westminster; his ancestors, according to family tradition, having been
settled for several centuries at Bulkeley, near Malpas, Cheshire, before
they went to Buerton in 1663. Thomas Brassey received an ordinary