244 ROBERT POCOCK. 



" On entering Westminster Abbey at the great door, 

 and looking up on the right hand to a monument, we 

 hardly know which most to admire, the courage of 

 the hero, the grandeur of the pyramid, or the 

 judgment of the artist, who has gone in unison with 

 the design, for it is the monument of that naval con- 

 queror who took Gibraltar I The sculptor has not 

 only displayed his taste, but has brought over, and 

 actually employed his chisel on, part of that famous 

 Rock itself! 



" In the Conqueror's time, and shortly after, we 

 find Caen stone, from Normandy, introduced into our 

 castles and buildings, many instances of which are 

 seen; for example, the base of a window iu Stone 

 Castle, also at Rochester Castle, the White Tower of 

 London, &c. This trade continued with France until 

 the Gothic architecture was introduced, when we find 

 Kentish rag stone, with flints interspersed ; then came 

 a period, about 1400, when flint stones, flat-faced and 

 squared, were used. This pretty species of ornament 

 reached to King Henry the 8th. And in all those 

 centuries we find the English procuring many of the 

 above materials from a distance, and at great expense, 

 without once using bricks like the present, there being 

 none in old Stone Castle, although they might have 

 been made near the spot, and would have worked in 

 more squarely and easily. Thus the art of brickmaking 

 in England appears of modern invention. Small c) inker 

 bricks were imported from Holland and the Nether- 

 lands ; and English bricks, made of no particular size. 

 Afterwards came in use Act of Parliament bricks (so 

 called), made in England of a certain dimension, the 

 duty from which and the quantity made has been 



