234 Porcelain and Earthenware. 
mass is filled up with unburnt 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 storiles—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. 
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. 
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 semi- 
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 ina very rude manner.{ They are 
* Annals of Commerce. 
+ See a paper on pottery in the Transactions for the Encouragement of Art, by A. 
Aikin, Esq. t Idem. § Idem. 
