BRIAREUS BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL. 



679 



of wort obtained may now be about twenty-three 

 gallons. The wort is then to be boiled with about 

 three pounds and a quarter of best mild hops, for 

 twenty minutes ; after which it is to be drained off 

 into the fermenting-tun, and when it has cooled 

 nearly to blood heat (98), about a quart of good yeast 

 is to be mixed in, and the fermentation is to be con- 

 tinued until completed. In cold weather, the tun, 

 while working, must be kept in an aired apartment, 

 or near the fire, as on this small scale it does not 

 maintain its original temperature, and unless this is 

 done, the attenuation will not be by any means suf- 

 ficient. When the fermentation shows a tlecided 

 tendency to go down, although a moderate warmth 

 has been kept up, the liquor is to be racked off from 

 the faeces, and put into a cask. The ale will measure 

 twenty gallons. It should be closely bunged up ; and 

 it will be excellent in about a month. 



BRIAKEUS (also called sEgceori) ; a giant with 100 

 armsand 50 heads, the son of Uranus and Terra. 

 His two brothers, Cottus and Gyges, were formed in 

 a similar manner; and their formidable appearance 

 struck their father with such terror, that he impris- 

 cned them, at their birth, in the bowels of the earth. 

 (Hes. Theog. 147.) In the war with the Titans, 

 Jupiter set them free, and, by their assistance, gained 

 the victory. When Juno, Neptune, and Minerva, 

 conspired to bind the sovereign of the gods, Thetis 

 brought Briareus from the depths of the sea (how he 

 came there is not known) , to the relief of the trem- 

 bling Jove. (IL . 402.) Virgil places B. in the 

 vestibule of hell. (JEn. vi, 287.) He was employed, 

 with his hundred-handed brothers (Centimani), in 

 watching the Titans in Tartarus. (Hes. Theog. 734..) 



BRIBE; a reward given to a public officer, or func- 

 tionary, to induce him to violate his official duty for 

 the benefit or in compliance with the wishes of the 

 party by whom, or on whose behalf, the bribe is given 

 or promised. The term bribery is applicable alike 

 both to the receiving and to the giving of the reward. 

 A corrupt bargain for the votes of electors in the 

 choice of persons to places of trust under the govern- 

 ment is bribery. In this instance, the electors, as 

 such, are a kind of public functionaries. Particular 

 species of bribery are expressly forbidden, with penal- 

 ties, by the positive laws of every state that is go- 

 verned according to a written code. The corrupt 

 discharge of a public trust, in consideration of bribery, 

 is punishable at the common law, though not prohi- 

 bited by any positive statute. A clerk to the agent 

 for French prisoners in England was indicted and 

 punished for taking bribes given for the purpose of 

 inducing him to procure them to be exchanged out of 

 their regular turn. An attempt to influence jurymen 

 in giving their verdict, by rewards, is a species of 

 bribery, denominated embracery. Even offering a 

 reward to a revenue officer, to induce him to violate 

 his duty, though the reward was not received, has 

 been held to be an indictable offence. (2 Dallas's 

 Reports, p. 384.) A similar doctrine is held in Eng- 

 land. (3 Coke's Institutes, part third, p. 147, and 4 

 Burrow's Reports, p. 2500.) The same was held of 

 a promise of money to a member of a corporation, to 

 induce him to vote for a mayor. (2 Lord Raymond's 

 Reports, p. 1377.) The British laws, and those 

 of America, specially prohibit bribery of the offi- 

 cers of the revenue ; and the forfeiture, on the 

 fart of the offender offering the bribe, in Britain, is 

 500 ; the officer receiving the bribe incurs the like 

 forfeiture, and is disqualified for public employment, 

 civil or military. Under the American laws, the 

 party offering or receiving a bribe, in such case, in- 

 curs a pecuniary penalty, and becomes disqualified 

 for any place of trust under the government. The 

 laws of many of the United States contain special 



provisions against bribery of judges or jurymen, or of 

 electors in the choice of public officers. 



BRICK is a sort of artificial stone, made principally 

 of argillaceous earth, formed in moulds, dried in the 

 sun, and baked by. burning. The use of unburnt 

 bricks is of great antiquity. They are found in the 

 Roman and Grecian monuments, and even in the ruins 

 of Egypt and Babylon. They were dried in the sun, 

 instead of being burned, and mixed with chopped 

 straw, to give them tenacity. On account of the ex- 

 treme heat and dryness of the climate, they acquired 

 a great hardness, and have lasted for several thousand 

 years ; but they are unsuitable for more northern la- 

 titudes. The most common bricks, among the Ro- 

 mans were seventeen inches long and eleven broad, 

 and, in later periods, they were burned. Modern 

 bricks are generally about twice as long as they are 

 broad, and twice as broad as they are thick ; their 

 length is ordinarily about ten inches. The best are 

 made of a mixture of argillaceous earth and sand. 

 Their red colour is owing to the presence of oxyde of 

 iron, which is turned red by burning. 



The best season for making them is spring or au- 

 tumn, since the process of drying then takes place 

 more gradually and equably. The clay should be dug 

 in autumn, and exposed to the influence of frost and 

 rain. It should be worked over repeatedly with the 

 spade, and not made into bricks until the ensuing 

 spring, previously to which it should be well tempered 

 by treading it with oxen, or by a horse mill, till it is 

 reduced to a ductile and homogeneous paste. The 

 clay may have too great or too small a proportion of 

 argillaceous earth or of sand to form a paste of pro- 

 per consistency ; it will then be necessary to add the 

 one or the other, as the case may be. When the mass 

 has thus been thoroughly mixed, the moulder throws 

 it into the mould, presses it down till it fills all the 

 cavity, and removes the overplus with a stick. The 

 bricks are then arranged on hacks to dry, disposed 

 diagonally, to allow a free passage to the air. In 

 about nine or ten days, they are ready for the burning, 

 for which purpose they are formed into clamps or kilns, 

 having flues or cavities at the bottom for the insertion 

 of the fuel, and interstices between them for the fire 

 and hot air to penetrate. A fire is kindled in these 

 cavities, and gradually increased for the first twelve 

 hours, after which it is kept at a uniform height for 

 several days and nights, till the bricks are sufficiently 

 burned. Much care is necessary in regulating the 

 fire, since too much heat vitrifies the bricks, and too 

 little leaves them soft and friable. 



Pressed bricks are those which, after being moulded 

 in the common manner, are placed in a machine, and 

 subjected to a strong pressure, by which they become 

 regular in shape, and smooth, and more capable of 

 resisting the action of the atmosphere. 



Floating bricks are so called on account of their 

 property of swimming on the water. They are made 

 of agaric mineral, or fossil farina, which is found in 

 some parts of America. Their infusibility at the 

 highest temperatures renders them useful in con- 

 structing reverberatory furnaces, pyrometers, and ma- 

 gazines of combustible materials. Their lightness 

 and non-conducting property render them particularly 

 useful for the construction of powder-magazines on 

 board of ships. 



BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL, situated in Blackfriars, Lon- 

 don, is now used as a house of correction for dissolute 

 persons, idle apprentices, and vagrants. The building 

 is a large quadrangle, one side of which is occupied 

 by the hall, containing a picture by Holbein, repre- 

 senting Edward the VI., who founded the hospital in 

 1553, delivering the charter to the corporation of 

 London. The other sides of the quadrangle are oc- 

 cupied by the masters of the trades, with whom several 



