ot content with preparing it, he
wished to apply it as well, especially as the existing Rouvier [v.04
p.0516] ministry allowed disturbances to occur during the taking of
inventories of church property, a clause of the law for which Briand was
not responsible. Consequently he accepted the portfolio of public
instruction and worship in the Sarrien ministry (1906). So far as the
chamber was concerned his success was complete. But the acceptance of a
portfolio in a bourgeois ministry led to his exclusion from the Unified
Socialist party (March 1906). As opposed to Jaures, he contended that the
Socialists should co-operate actively with the Radicals in all matters of
reform, and not stand aloof to await the complete fulfilment of their
ideals.

BRIANZA, a district of Lombardy, Italy, forming the south part of the
province of Como, between the two southern arms of the lake of that name.
It is thickly populated and remarkable for its fertility; and being hilly
is a favourite summer resort of the Milanese.

BRIARE, a town of north-central France in the department of Loiret on the
right bank of the Loire, 451/2 m. S.E. of Orleans on the railway to Nevers.
Pop. (1906) 4613. Briare, the _Brivodorum_ of the Romans, is situated at
the extremity of the Canal of Briare, which unites the Loire and its
lateral canal with the Loing and so with the Seine. The canal of Briare was
constructed from 1605 to 1642 and is about 36 m. long. The industries
include the manufacture of fine pottery, and of so-called porcelain buttons
made of felspar and milk by a special process; its inventor, Bapterosses,
has a bust in the town. The canal traffic is in wood, iron, coal, building
materials, &c. A modern hospital and church, and the hotel de ville
installed in an old moated chateau, are the chief buildings. The lateral
canal of the Loire crosses the Loire near Briare by a fine canal-bridge 720
yds. in length.

BRIAREUS, or AEGAEON, in Greek mythology, one of the three hundred-armed,
fifty-headed Hecatoncheires, brother of Cottus and Gyges (or Gyes).
According to Homer (_Iliad_ i. 403) he was called Aegaeon by men, and
Briareus by the gods. He was the son of Poseidon (or Uranus) and Gaea. The
legends regarding him and his brothers are various and somewhat
contradictory. According to the most widely spread myth, Briareus and his
brothers were called by Zeus to his assistance when the Titans were making
war upon Olympus. The gigantic enemies were defea