lation of Tibullus, and acquired by it an unmerited
reputation for scholarship which secured for him an appointment as
sub-librarian at the national library. But the theatre claimed him for its
own, and with the exception of _Elena_ and a few other pieces in the
fashionable romantic vein, his plays were a long series of successes. His
only serious check occurred in 1840; the former liberal had grown
conservative with age, and in _La Ponchada_ he ridiculed the National
Guard. He was dismissed from the national library, and for a short time was
so unpopular that he seriously thought of emigrating to America; but the
storm blew over, and within two years Breton de los Herreros had regained
his supremacy on the stage. He became secretary to the Spanish Academy,
quarrelled with his fellow-members, and died at Madrid on the 8th of
November 1873. He is the author of some three hundred and sixty original
plays, twenty-three of which are in prose. No Spanish dramatist of the
nineteenth century approaches him in comic power, in festive invention, and
in the humorous presentation of character, while his metrical dexterity is
unique. _Marcela o a cual de los tres?_ (1831), _Muerete; y veras!_ (1837)
and _La Escuela del matrimonio_ (1852) still hold the stage, and are likely
to hold it so long as Spanish is spoken.

See Marques de Molins, _Breton de los Herreros, recuerdos de su vida y de
sus obras_ (Madrid, 1883); _Obras de Breton de Herreros_ (5 vols., Madrid,
1883); E. Pineyro, _El Romanticismo en Espana_ (Paris, 1904).

(J. F.-K.)

BRETSCHNEIDER, KARL GOTTLIEB (1776-1848), German scholar and theologian,
was born at Gersdorf in Saxony. In 1794 he entered the university of
Leipzig, where he studied theology for four years. After some years of
hesitation he resolved to be ordained, and in 1802 he passed with great
distinction the examination for _candidatus theologiae_, and attracted the
regard of F.V. Reinhard, author of the _System der christlichen Moral_
(1788-1815), then court-preacher at Dresden, who became his warm friend and
patron during the remainder of his life. In 1804-1806 Bretschneider was
_Privat-docent_ at the university of Wittenberg, where he lectured on
philosophy and theology. During this time he wrote his work on the
development of dogma, _Systematische Entwickelung aller in der Dogmatik
vorkommenden Begriffe nach den symbolischen Schriften der
evangelisch-lutherischen und reformirten Kirche_ (1805, 4th ed. 184