Chapter Britannia Redivivus to Brothers of B by Brewer's Readers Handbook

But where is he, the modern, mightier far, Who, born no king, made monarchs draw his car? …

Bronzely, a mere rake, whose vanity was to be thought “a general seducer.”—Mrs.Inchbald: Wives as they Were, and Maids as they Are (1797).

Bronzomarte, the sorrel steed of sir Launcelot Greaves. The word means a “mettlesome sorrel.”—Smollett: Sir Launcelot Greaves (1756).

Brook (Master), the name assumed by Ford when sir John Falstaff makes love to his wife. Sir John, not knowing him, confides to him every item of his amour, and tells him how cleverly he has duped Ford by being carried out in a buck-basket before his very face.—Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor (1601).

Brook Street (Grosvenor Square, London) is so called from a brook or stream which at one time ran down that locality.

Brooker, the man who stole the son of Ralph Nickleby out of revenge, called him “Smike,” and put him to school at Dotheboys Hall, Yorkshire. His tale is told pp. 594-5 (original edit.).—Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby (1838).

Brother Jonathan. When Washington was in want of ammunition, he called a council of officers; but no practical suggestion being offered, he said, “We must consult brother Jonathan,” meaning his excellency Jonathan Trumbull, the elder governor of the state of Connecticut. This was done, and the difficulty surmounted. “To consult brother Jonathan” then became a set phrase, and “Brother Jonathan” became a set phrase, and “Brother Jonathan” became the “John Bull” of the United States.—Bartlett: Dictionary of Americanisms.

Brother Sam, the brother of lord Dundreary, the hero of a comedy based on a German drama, by John Oxenford, with additions and alterations by E. A. Sothern and T. B. Buckstone.—Supplied by T. B. Buckstone, esq.

Brothers (The), a comedy by Richard Cumberland (1769). (For the plot, see Belfield, Brothers.)

Wordsworth has a poem with the same title, written in 1800.