Brute (1 syl.), the first king of Britain (in mythical history). He was the son of Æneas Silvius (grandson of Ascanius and great-grandson of Æneas of Troy). Brute called London (the capital of his adopted country) Troynovant (New Troy). The legend is this: An oracle declared that Brute should be the death of both his parents; his mother died in child-birth, and at the age of fifteen Brute shot his father accidentally in a deer-hunt. Being driven from Alba Longa, he collected a band of old Trojans and landed at Totness, in Devonshire. His wife was Innogen, daughter of Pandra'sus king of Greece. His tale is told at length in the Chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the first song of Drayton's Polyolbion, and in Spenser's Faëry Queen, ii.
Brute (Sir John), a coarse, surly, ill-mannered brute, whose delight was to "provoke" his young wife, who he tells us "is a young lady, a fine lady, a witty lady, and a virtuous lady, but yet I hate her." In a drunken frolic he intercepts a tailor taking home a new dress to lady Brute; he insists on arraying himself therein, is arrested for a street row, and taken before the justice of the peace. Being asked his name, he gives it as "lady John Brute," and is dismissed.
Lady Brute, wife of sir John. She is subjected to divers indignities, and insulted morn, noon, and night by her surly, drunken husband. Lady Brute intrigues with Constant, a former lover; but her intrigues are more mischievous than vicious.—Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697).
Brute Green-Shield, the successor of Ebranc king of Britain. The mythical line is: (1) Brute, great-great-grandson of Æneas; (2) Locrin, his son; (3) Guendolen, the widow of Locrin; (4) Ebranc; (5) Brute Green-Shield. Then follow in order Leil, Hudibras, Bladud, Leir [Shakespeare's "Lear">[, etc.
... of her courageous kings,
Brute Green-Shield, to whose name we providence impute
Divinely to revive the land's first conqueror, Brute.
Drayton, Polyolbion, viii. (1612).
Brutus (Lucius Junius), first consul of Rome, who condemned his own two sons to death for joining a conspiracy to restore Tarquin to the throne, from which he had been banished. This subject has been dramatized by N. Lee (1679) and John H. Payne, under the title of Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin (1820). Alfieri has an Italian tragedy on the same subject. In French we have the tragedies of Arnault (1792) and Ponsard (1843). (See LUCRETIA.)
The elder Kean on one occasion consented to appear at the Glasgow theatre for his son's benefit. The play chosen was Payne's Brutus, in which the father took the part of "Brutus" and Charles Kean that of "Titus." The audience sat suffused in tears during the pathetic interview, till "Brutus" falls on the neck of "Titus," exclaiming in a burst of agony, "Embrace thy wretched father!" when the whole house broke forth into peals of approbation. Edmund Kean then whispered in his son's ear, "Charlie, we are doing the trick."—W. C. Russell, Representative Actors, p. 476.