ell, D.D. 4.
_The Hand, its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evincing Design_, by Sir
Charles Bell. 5. _Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference
to Natural Theology_, by Peter Mark Roget. 6. _Geology and Mineralogy
considered with reference to Natural Theology_, by William Buckland, D.D.
7. _The Habits and Instincts of Animals with reference to Natural
Theology_, by William Kirby. 8. _Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function
of Digestion, considered with reference to Natural Theology_, by William
Prout, M.D. The works are of unequal merit; several of them took a high
rank in apologetic literature. They first appeared during the years 1833 to
1840, and afterwards in Bohn's Scientific Library.

BRIDGITTINES, an order of Augustinian canonesses founded by St Bridget of
Sweden (_q.v._) c. 1350, and approved by Urban V. in 1370. It was a "double
order," each convent having attached to it a small community of canons to
act as chaplains, but under the government of the abbess. The order spread
widely in Sweden and Norway, and played a remarkable part in promoting
culture and literature in Scandinavia; to this is to be attributed the fact
that the head house at Vastein, by Lake Vetter, was not suppressed till
1595. There were houses also in other lands, so that the total number
amounted to 80. In England, the famous Bridgittine convent of Syon at
Isleworth, Middlesex, was founded and royally endowed by Henry V. in 1415,
and became one of the richest and most fashionable and influential
nunneries in the country. It was among the few religious houses restored in
Mary's reign, when nearly twenty of the old community were re-established
at Syon. On Elizabeth's accession they migrated to the Low Countries, and
thence, after many vicissitudes, to Rouen, and finally in 1594 to Lisbon.
Here they remained, always recruiting their numbers from England, till
1861, when they returned to England. Syon House is now established at
Chudleigh in Devon, the only English community that can boast an unbroken
conventual existence since pre-Reformation times. Some six other
Bridgittine convents exist on the Continent, but the order is now composed
only of women.

See Helyot, _Histoire des ordres religieux_ (1715), iv. c. 4; Max
Heimbucher, _Orden u. Kongregationen_ (1907), ii. Sec. 83; Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopaedie_ (ed. 3), art. "Birgitta"; A. Hamilton in _Dublin
Review_, 1888, "The Nuns of Syon."

(E. C. B.)

BRIDGMAN, FRED