ength"), a deity of importance in
early Hindu mythology. In the Rigveda he is represented as the god of
prayer, aiding Indra in his conquest of the cloud-demon, and at times
appears to be identified with Agni, god of fire. He is the offspring of
Heaven and Earth, the two worlds; is the inspirer of prayer and the guide
and protector of the pious. He is pictured as having seven mouths, a
hundred wings and horns and is armed with bow and arrows and an axe. He
rides in a chariot drawn by red horses. In the later scriptures he is
represented as a Rishi or seer.

See A.A. Macdonell, _Vedic Mythology_ (Strassburg, 1897).

BRIL, PAUL (1554-1626), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp. The success
of his elder brother Matthew (1550-1584) in the Vatican induced him to go
to Rome to live. On the death of Matthew, Paul, who far surpassed him as an
artist, succeeded to his pensions and employments. He painted landscapes
with a depth of chiaroscuro then little practised in Italy, and introduced
into them figures well drawn and finely coloured. One of his best
compositions is the "Martyrdom of St Clement," in the Sala Clementina of
the Vatican.

BRILL, the name given to a flat-fish (_Psetta laevis_, or _Rhombus laevis_)
which is a species closely related to the turbot, differing [v.04 p.0571]
from it in having very small scales, being smaller in size, having no bony
tubercules in the skin, and being reddish in colour. It abounds on parts of
the British coast, and is only less favoured for the table than the turbot
itself.

BRILLAT-SAVARIN, ANTHELME (1755-1826), French gastronomist, was born at
Belley, France, on the 1st of April 1755. In 1789 he was a deputy, in 1793
mayor of Belley. To escape proscription he fled from France to Switzerland,
and went thence to the United States, where he played in the orchestra of a
New York theatre. On the fall of Robespierre he returned to France, and in
1797 became a member of the court of cassation. He wrote various volumes on
political economy and law, but his name is famous for his _Physiologie du
gout_, a compendium of the art of dining. Many editions of this work have
been published. Brillat-Savarin died in Paris on the 2nd of February 1826.

BRIMSTONE, the popular name of sulphur (_q.v._), particularly of the
commercial "roll sulphur." The word means literally "burning stone"; the
first part being formed from the stem of the Mid. Eng. _brennen_, to burn.
Earlier forms of the word are _bren