Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/413

Rh the ground, one brick be added to the thickness of the wall next above the foundation; that no timber be laid within the funnel of any chimney; and that the proper size of timber for ordinary buildings be adapted to certain proportions specified in the act.

For the regulation of building within the Bills of Mortality, and in other specified places, it was enacted in the eleventh year of I. and the fourth of his present, that party-walls must be erected of brick or stone; which shall be two bricks and a half thick in the cellar, two bricks thick upward to the garret-floor, &c. Besides, there were several other limitations made respecting the size and disposition of the timber. Every building is to be surveyed, and the person who offends against the statute, in any of the particulars recited, is liable to a penalty of 250l.

During the 18th century, and particularly within the last forty years, great improvements have been made in the art of building; as our modern edifices are more convenient, and elegant, than those of former times. Our ancestors generally inhabited houses with a blind stair-case, low ceilings, and dark windows; the rooms were built at random, without contrivance or symmetry, and often with steps leading from one to the other; so that we might be induced to imagine, they purposely guarded against the influence of light and fresh air. The more happy genius of our age is for light stair-cases, fine sash windows, and lofty apartments. Thus, a house built according to the prevailing taste, excels both in point of compactness and uniformity; insomuch that on the same extent of ground, it affords nearly double the conveniences that could be procured on the old plan. The modern rage for building, however, is apparently attended with this unfavourable effect, that little attention is paid to the quality of the materials, and the strength of the edifice, if speculative monied men attain their object, in erecting houses that may be lett at a certain rent. We believe there are few, perhaps no, instances recorded in ancient history, that dwelling-houses have tumbled down before they were finished or inhabited; such events, however, have occasionally happened, during the last twelve years, especially in the metropolis. Instead of that variegated tinsel ornament betowed on almost every chimney-piece, and other immaterial parts of a mansion, it would be more judicious, and economical, to attend to the quality and durability of bricks, mortar, and timber. Nor do our modern builders, in the erection of their walls, observe that uniformity, which rendered the buildings of the Romans almost indestructible. From the description given in the 493d number of the Philosophical Transactions, by Mr., it appears that the ruins of two old towers, belonging to the Roman camp at Castor, in Norfolk, were built in the following ingenious manner: They began first with a layer of bricks, laid flat as in pavements; on that they placed a layer of clay and marl mixed together, and of the same thickness with the bricks; then a layer of bricks, afterwards of clay and marl, then of bricks again; making in the whole three layers of bricks, and two of clay. Over this were placed bricks and lime twenty-