stone_, _bernstone_, _brynstone,_ &c.

BRIN, BENEDETTO (1833-1898), Italian naval administrator, was born at Turin
on the 17th of May 1833, and until the age of forty worked with distinction
as a naval engineer. In 1873 Admiral Saint-Bon, minister of marine,
appointed him under-secretary of state. The two men completed each other;
Saint-Bon conceived a type of ship, Brin made the plans and directed its
construction. On the advent of the Left to power in 1876, Brin was
appointed minister of marine by Depretis, a capacity in which he continued
the programme of Saint-Bon, while enlarging and completing it in such way
as to form the first organic scheme for the development of the Italian
fleet. The huge warships "Italia" and "Dandolo" were his work, though he
afterwards abandoned their type in favour of smaller and faster vessels of
the "Varese" and the "Garibaldi" class. By his initiative Italian naval
industry, almost non-existent in 1873, made rapid progress. During his
eleven years' ministry (1876-1878 with Depretis, 1884-1891 with Depretis
and Crispi, 1896-1898 with Rudini), he succeeded in creating large private
shipyards, engine works and metallurgical works for the production of
armour, steel plates and guns. In 1892 he entered the Giolitti cabinet as
minister for foreign affairs, accompanying, in that capacity, the king and
queen of Italy to Potsdam, but showed weakness towards France on the
occasion of the massacre of Italian workmen at Aigues-Mortes. He died on
the 24th of May 1898, while minister of marine in the Rudini cabinet. He,
more than any other man, must be regarded as the practical creator of the
Italian navy.

BRINDABAN, a town of British India, in the Muttra district of the United
Provinces, on the right bank of the Jumna, 6 m. N. of Muttra. Pop. (1901)
22,717. Brindaban is one of the most popular places of pilgrimage in India,
being associated with the cult of Krishna as a shepherd. It contains
bathing-stairs, tanks and wells, and a great number of handsome temples, of
which the finest is that of Govind Deva, a cruciform vaulted building of
red sandstone, dating from 1590. The town was founded earlier in the same
century.

BRINDISI (anc. _Brundisium_, _q.v._), a seaport town and archiepiscopal see
of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Lecce, 24 m. N.W. by rail from the
town of Lecce, and 346 m. from Ancona. Pop.(1861) 8000; (1871) 13,755;
(1901) 25,317. The chief importance of Brindisi is due to its