234 Porcelain and Earthenware. 



mass is filled up with unburat bricks, set in clay, with layers of reeds 

 between every five or six courses. The exterior wherever it re- 

 mains entire, is faced with well burnt bricks set in bitumen. From 

 the present appearance of the mound it is conjectured, that it was 

 intended to consist of five stories — the three lower solid, and the two 

 above to have contained chambers. At the top of this pile, there is 

 another solid elevation thirty seven feet high, of burnt bricks set in 

 lime mortar. Many of the heaps and hills are connected by galleries 

 and passages of brick work, laid in lime mortar of exceeding tough- 

 ness. In some of the excavations have been found earthen vessels 

 which are presumed to be the most ancient specimens wrought by 

 the potters wheel.* 



Bricks were made also by the Egyptians, and Herodotus states, 

 that one of the pyramids was built of unburnt bricks made of clay 

 and chopped straw, probably like those required by the taskmasters 

 of the children of Israel, when they were subject to Egyptian bon- 

 dage. Mr. Aikin remarks, that sunburnt bricks were rather artifi- 

 cial stone than earthenware ; and Pliny mentions that at Utica no 

 bricks were allowed to be used until they had been dried five years. f 

 Many buildings of high antiquity were formed of brick — such were 

 the palace of Croesus king of Lydia, of Mausolus of Halicarnassus, 

 and of Attalus at Tralles. The walls of Athens, which look towards 

 mount Hymettus are also of brick, and some of the ancient temples 



of that city. J 



The Romans were skilful in their methods of making and burning 

 bricks, and in all the remains of Roman walls, forts, and buildings in 

 Great Britain, they are of an excellent quality, of a deep red color, 

 very hard and well burnt. Throughout the wide valley of the Gan- 

 ges, bricks appear to have been used from the highest antiquity ; and 

 in Nipaul, a hilly country north of Bengal, they are of such remark- 

 ably compact texture, and their ornamented surfaces so elegant, as to 

 be peculiarly fitted for the decorations of architecture. In China 

 bricks are made of a blueish clay, and after burning are of a seroi- 

 porcelainous texture. 



After the Romans left England, bricks were not used for architec- 

 tural purposes before the middle of the 14th century ; and until late- 

 ly they have been fabricated in a very rude manner.^ They are 



Annals of Commerce. 



t See a paper on pottery in the Transactions for the Encouragement of Art, by A 

 Aikin, Esq. t Idem. § Idem. 



