BRI 
BRI 
earried up straight on both sides, till about 
three feet high ; then they almost fill it with 
wood, and over that lay a covering of sea- 
coal, and then overspan the arch ; but they 
strew sea-coal also over the clamp, betwixt 
4 II the rows of bricks ; lastly, they kindle 
the wood, which gives fire to the coal, and 
when all is burnt, then they conclude the 
bricks are sufficiently burnt. 
The different kinds of bricks made in this 
country are principally place bricks, grey 
and red stocks, marl facing bricks, and cut- 
ting bricks. The place bricks and stocks 
are used in common walling ; the marls are 
made in the neighbourhood of London, and 
used in the outside of buildings ; these are 
very beautiful bricks, of a fine yellow co- 
lour, hard, and well burnt, and in every 
respect superior to the stocks. The finest 
kind of marl and red bricks are called cut- 
ting bricks, they are used in the arches over 
windows and doors, being rubbed to a cen- 
tre, and gauged to a height. There is also 
a fine kind of white bricks made near Ips- 
wich, which are used for facing, and some- 
times brought to London for that purpose. 
The Windsor bricks, or fire bricks, which 
are made at Hedgerly, a village near Wind- 
sor, are red bricks, containing a very large 
proportion of sand ; these are used for coat- 
ing furnaces, and lining the ovens of glass- 
houses, where they stand the utmost fury of 
the fire. Dutch clinkers are also imported, 
long narrow bricks of a brimstone colour, 
very hard and well burnt; they are fre- 
quently warped, and appear almost vitrified 
by the heat. 
BRICKLAYER, one who lays bricks 
in the building of edifices of any kind. 
Tilers and bricklayers were incorporated 
10 Elizabeth, under the name of master and 
wardens of the society of freedom of the 
mystery and art of tilers and bricklayers. 
The materials used by bricklayers, are 
bricks, tiles, mortar, laths, nails, and tile- 
pins. Their tools are, a brick-trowel, where- 
with to take up mortar ; a brick-axe, to cut 
bricks to the determined shape ; a saw, for 
sawing bricks ; a rub-stone, on which to 
rub them; also a square, wherewith to lay 
the bed or bottom, and face or surface of 
the brick, to see whether they be at right 
angles ; a bevel, by which to cut the under 
sizes of bricks to the angles required; a 
small trannel of iron, wherewith to mark 
the bricks ; a float-stone, with which to rub 
a moulding of brick to the pattern described; 
a banker, to cut the bricks on ; line-pins, 
,to lay their rows or courses by; plumb- 
ride, whereby to carry their work upright ; 
level, to conduct it horizontal ; square, to 
set off right angles ; ten-foot rod, with 
which to take dimensions ; jointer, where- 
with to run the long joints ; rammer, with 
which to beat the foundation ; crow and 
pick-axe, wherewith to dig through walls. 
BRIDEWELL, in Bridge street, Black- 
friars, a singular foundation, comprising 
within the same walls, an hospital, a work- 
house, and a prison. Edward VI. founded 
this place, w hich had formerly been one of 
King John's palaces. Several manufac- 
turers reside there, who have the privilege 
of taking apprentices. When these have 
served faithfully the period of their servi- 
tude, they have a title to the freedom of 
the city, and ten pounds to assist them in 
the world. 
BRIDGE, a work of masonry or timber, 
consisting of one or more arches, built over 
a river, canal, or the like, for the conve- 
nience of crossing the same. Bridges are 
a sort of edifices very difficult to execute, 
on account of the inconvenience of laying 
foundations, and walling under water. 
The parts of a bridge are the piers, the 
arches, the pavement, or way over for cat- 
tle and carriages, the foot way on each side 
for foot passengers, the rail or parapet 
which incloses the whole, and the butments 
or ends of the bridge on the bank. 
The conditions required in a bridge are, 
that it be well designed, commodious, dura- 
ble; and suitably decorated. The piers of 
stone bridges should be equal in number, 
that there may be one arch in the middle, 
where commonly the current is strongest ; 
their thickness is not to be less than a sixth 
part of the span of the arch, nor more than 
a fourth ; they are commonly guarded in 
the front with angular sterlings, to break 
the force of the current : the strongest 
arches are those whose sweep is a whole 
semicircle ; as the piers of bridges always 
diminish the bed of a river, in case of in- 
undations, the bed must be sunk or hol- 
lowed in proportion to the space taken up 
by the piers (as the watery gain in depth 
what they lose in breadth), otherwise the 
current may wash away the foundation, and 
endanger the piers : to prevent this, they 
sometimes diminish the current, either by 
lengthening its course, or by making it 
more winding ; or by stopping the bottom 
with rows of planks, stakes, or piles, which 
break the current. It is also required, that 
the foundation of bridges be laid at that 
season of the year when the waters are 
Mi 
