BRINLEY, Francis, author, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 10 November, 1800. He was graduated at Harvard in 1818, studied law with the Hon. William Sullivan, and admitted to the bar before he came of age. He was a member of the Boston common council for several years, and its president in 1850 and 1851. He was a member of the lower house of the legislature in 1832, 1850, and 1854, and in 1852, 1853, and 1863 of the state senate. In 1853 he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. In 1857 he removed to Tyngsborough, and afterward to Newport, Rhode Island Mr. Brinley took great interest in railways and other internal improvements, and advocated the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the maintenance of a well-regulated militia. He was three times captain of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company" of Boston, and for several years president of the Redwood library, Newport. He has contributed frequently to "Hunt's Merchant's Magazine" and to the "American Jurist," and his articles on dower are quoted by Chancellor Kent in his commentaries. He also wrote much for the newspapers, and was successful as a lecturer. He has published an "Address before the Franklin Debating Society of Boston" (1830), and a life of his brother-in-law, William T. Porter, founder of the "Spirit of the Times" (1860).