Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/392

 Chap/X. OP MANCHESTER. 357 or eight ftories in* height* They were permitted by Auguftusj even in his reftraint upon ther popular humour, to mount no lefs than feventy feet in height* And they were permitted by Tra- jan, even in his greater reftraint of the fame humour, to mount no lefs than fixty in height The elevation of the Mancunian, buildings mufV have been much better proportioned to the width of the Mancunian' ftreets. The houfes muft have been railed ©nly ar (ingle ftory above' the ground-floor, as fueh was the mo- del of the Mancunium houfes fbr many centuries afterward! And fome of them at leaft muft have funk another ftory below it, as Cellaria, the Armorican Selliers the Irilh Saileirs- and the Englifh Cellars, appear plainly from this their popular appella- tion among us to have been firft conftru£ted in Britain under the: dire&ion of Roman architects. Bricks were pretty certainly made by the inhabitants of the antediluvian world,, and were actually ufed in the firft ages of their forviving defcendants 5 . The art therefore muft have been carried away by the feveral parties from Babel, upon the difper- Hon of the whole, into all the countries which they fucceflfrvely planted. And it accordingly appears to have been known to the earlieft inhabitants of the eaft and of the weft in general V and was probably known, though it does not appear, to the colonifts of Britain in particular. It was a&ually known te their brethren of Gaul And our prefer* appellation of Brick is* actually derived to us from our Britifh anceftors-. The Ro- mans appear to have had a brick- kilne at every ftationary town. Their clay is generally found to be finely tempered* compa&ly kneaded, beautifully red, and compleatly burnt; And their bricks were conftantly about fixteenEnglifb inches and; three quarters in lengthand eleven and a quarter in breadth 7. But the Romans of the firft century never raifed any ftru&urcsof thefe materials, beGaufe they wildly fuppo&d a party-walF that was merely the length of their, bricks m breadth to be unequal to the fupgort of a fuperior ftory *. The Mancunian haufes therefore muft not have been conftru&ed of bricks. They muft have* been, conftru&ed of wood. Such univerfally were the houfes of the