attle of Bautzen. The sites of the fortifications,
dismantled by the French in 1807, were given to the civic authorities by
King Frederick William III., and converted into promenades. In March 1813
this monarch issued from Breslau his stirring appeals to the Prussians, _An
mein Volk_ and _An mein Kriegesheer_, and the city was the centre of the
Prussian preparations for the campaign which ended at Leipzig. After the
Prussian victory at Sadowa in 1866, William I. made a triumphant and
complimentary entry into the city, which since the days of Frederick the
Great has been only less loyal to the royal house than Berlin itself.

See Buerkner and Stein, _Geschichte der Stadt Breslau_ (Bresl. 1851-1853);
J-Stein, _Geschichte der Stadt Breslau im 19ten Jahrhundert_ (1884); O
Frenzel, _Breslauer Stadtbuch_ ("Codex dipl. Silisiae," vol. ii. 1882);
Luchs, _Breslau, ein Fuehrer durch die Stadt_ (12th ed., Bresl. 1904).

[1] In 1195 Jaroslaw, son of Boleslaus I. of Lower Silesia, who became
bishop of Breslau in 1198, inherited the duchy of Neisse, which at his
death (1201) he bequeathed to his successors in the see. The Austrian part
of Neisse still belongs to the bishop of Breslau, who also still bears the
title of prince bishop.

BRESSANT, JEAN BAPTISTE PROSPER (1815-1886), French actor, was born at
Chalon-sur-Saone on the 23rd of October 1815, and began his stage career at
the Varietes in Paris in 1833. In 1838 he went to the French theatre at St
Petersburg, where for eight years he played important parts with
ever-increasing reputation. His success was confirmed at the Gymnase when
he returned to Paris in 1846, and he made his _debut_ at the Comedie
Francaise as a full-fledged _societaire_ in 1854. From playing the ardent
young lover, he turned to leading roles both in modern plays and in the
classical repertoire. His Richelieu in _Mlle de Belle-Isle_, his Octave in
Alfred de Musset's _Les Caprices de Marianne_, and his appearance in de
Musset's _Il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermee_ and _Un caprice_
were followed by _Tartuffe_, _Le Misanthrope_ and _Don Juan_. Bressant
retired in 1875, and died on the 23rd of January 1886. During his
professorship at the Conservatoire, Mounet-Sully was one of his pupils.

BRESSE, a district of eastern France embracing portions of the departments
of Ain, Saone-et-Loire and Jura. The Bresse extends from the Dombes on the
south to the river Doubs on the north, and from the Saone eastwards