DURING THE MIDDLE AGE. 127 



v;crc confiderccl as madncfs ; and when, con- 

 trary to expectation, they proved fuccclsful, 

 he was robbed of the praifc due to his genius by 

 ihe fuperllition of the age, which attributed tin:' 

 difcovcry to the interference of the devil, with 

 whom he was believed to be in league. I 1 . 

 Kloeck, a Dutch painter, acquired great (kill 

 in the ulc of colours in the Kail ; which he car- 

 ried to great perfection in his own country, and 

 died there in 1550. In England and in Germa- 

 ny, about the fame time, tins art was making 

 great progrcfs ; though it was itill generally in- 

 volved in rudcnefs and obfcurity ; until tho 

 patronage of Colbert in France gave it new 

 powers, and threw light on ail its operations*. 

 The mortar employed by the ancients in their 

 buildings, isoffuch conlidcrable hardncfs, thar 

 many have been led to fufpcct it was prepared 

 in fomc way with which we are unacquainted. 

 Though there can be no doubt that the mate- 

 ii;ds that compote it were better mixed in thofc 

 days than at prelim ; yet, as hard lumps of the 

 fr/.c of a pea or a bean arc cfi.cn found in it, there 

 mull furcly have been fume error, cither in the 

 burning or flaking of the lime, or in the mixture 

 itfelf. On examining narrowly the mortar of the 

 anticnts, it is found to contain more land than 

 the mortar cf the prcfcnt day. The authority 



o 



* iiifchoS GcCcb. dcr Firbcrkunft. 



