BRI 



under a bell-glass, in bottom heat ; sandy 

 peat, and a third loam. Summer temp., 

 60 to 75 ; winter, 50 to 55. 

 B.cnrysophy'Ua (golden-leaved). 30. Mau- 

 ritius. 1820. 



madagascaric'nsis (Madagascar). 30. Green. 



June. Madagascar. 1812. 



spino'sa (thorny). 30. Green. June. 



Madagascar. 1812. 



BRICKS. As the gardener often may 

 require to know how many bricks will be 

 required for an intended structure, it 

 will be a guide to know that all bricks 

 sold in England were required by statute 

 (17 Geo. III., c. 42) to be eight and a 

 half inches long, four inches wide, and 

 two and a half inches thick. Pantiles, 

 by the same authority, were required to 

 be thirteen and a half inches long, nine 

 and a half inches wide, and half an inch 

 thick. But as the duty is now taken off 

 these articles, we hope to see them made 

 larger, and of various forms, so as to re- 

 duce the amount of bricklayers' labour, 

 which is one of the most costly items in 

 the construction of garden buildings. 



BRIDGES, says Mr. Whateley, are in- 

 consistent with the nature of a lake, but 

 characteristic of a river ; they are on 

 that account used to disguise the termina- 

 tion of the former; but the deception has 

 been so often practised that it no longer 

 deceives, and a bolder aim at the same 

 effect will now be more successful. If 

 the end can be turned just out of sight, 

 a bridge at some distance raises a belief, 

 while the water beyond it removes every 

 doubt, of the continuation of the river ; 

 the supposition immediately occurs, that 

 if a disguise had been intended, the 

 bridge would have been placed further 

 back, and the disregard thus shown to 

 one deception gains credit for the other. 



As a bridge is not a mere appendage 

 to a river, but a kind of property which 

 denotes its character, the connection be- 

 tween them must be attended to ; from 

 the want of it, the single wooden arch, 

 once much in fashion, seemed generally 

 misplaced ; elevated without occasion so 

 much above it, it was totally detached 

 from the river, and often seen straddling 

 in the air without a glimpse of the water 

 to account for it, and the ostentation of 

 it as an ornamental object diverted all 

 that train of ideas which its use as a 

 communication might suggest. The 



5 ] BRI 



vastness of Walton Bridge cannot with- 

 out affectation be mimicked in a garden 

 where the magnificent idea of inducting 

 the Thames under one arch is wanting ; 

 and where the structure itself, reduced 

 to a narrow scale, retains no pretension 

 to greatness. Unless the situation makes 

 such a height necessary, or the point of 

 view be greatly above it, or wood or 

 rising ground instead of sky behind it, 

 fill up the vacancy of the arch, it seems 

 an effort without a cause, forced and 

 preposterous. 



The vulgar footbridge of planks, only 

 guarded on one hand by a common rail, 

 and supported by a few ordinary piles, is 

 often more proper. It is perfect as a 

 communication, because it pretends to 

 nothing further; it is the utmost sim- 

 plicity of cultivated nature ; and if the 

 banks from which it starts be of a 

 moderate height, its elevation preserves 

 it from meanness. No other species 

 of bridge so effectually characterizes a 

 river ; it seems too plain for an orna- 

 ment, too obscure for a disguise; it must 

 be for use, it can be a passage only ; 

 it is therefore spoiled if adorned ; it is 

 disfigured if only painted of any other 

 than a dusky colour. But being thus 

 incapable of all decoration and impor- 

 tance, it is often too humble for a 

 great, and too simple for an elegant 

 scene. A stone bridge is generally more 

 suitable to cither; but in that also an 

 extraordinary elevation is seldom be- 

 coming, unless the grandeur compensates 

 for the distance at which it leaves the 

 water below. 



A gentle rise and easy sweep more 

 closely preserve the relation ; a certain 

 degree of union should also be formed 

 between the banks and the bridge, that 

 it may seem to rise out of the banks, not 

 barely to bo imposed upon them ; it 

 ought not generally to swell much above 

 their level ; the parapet wall should be 

 brought down near to the ground, or end 

 against some swell, and the size and the 

 uniformity of the abutments should be 

 broken by hillocks or thickets about 

 them : every expedient should be used 

 to mark the connection of the building, 

 both with the ground from which it 

 starts and the water which it crosses. 



In wild and romantic scenes may be 



