ployed, or the richness of the wort. Where the former basis of calculation is referred to, the quantity of hops, especially in private families, where economy is not so strictly attended to as in large establishments, is one pound of hops to a bushel of malt, whether the wort is intended for the strongest ale, or the weakest small beer. In public breweries, the proportion of hops is considerably smaller, and is regulated, not merely by the quantity of malt, but the richness of the wort. For strong ales, the common proportion is about one pound of hops to 1.3 bushel of malt; for beer, the quantity is lowered to one pound of hops to 1.7 bushel of malt. When both ale and beer are brewed from the same malt, the usual practice is to put the whole quantity of hops in the ale wort; and after they have been boiled a sufficient time in this, to transfer them to the beer-wort, in order to be exhausted by a second boiling. When the hops are mixed with the wort in the copper, the liquor is brought to boil; and the best practice is to keep it boiling as fast as possible, till, upon taking a little of the liquor out, it is found to be full of minute flakes, like curdled soap. These flakes consist of the gluten and starch of the malt separated from their former solution in the wort, by the joint action, in all probability, of the heat, and the bitter extract of the hops.

Cooling. When the liquor is sufficiently boiled, it is discharged into a number of shallow tubs called coolers, where it remains exposed to a free draft of air, till it has deposited the hop seeds and coagulated flakes with which it was charged, and is become sufficiently cool to be submitted to the next process, which is that of fermentation. It is necessary that the process of cooling should be carried on as expeditiously as possible, particularly in hot weather; for unfermented wort, by exposure to a hot close air for a few hours, is very liable to contract a nauséons smell and taste, when it is said technically to be foxed, in consequence of small spots of white mould forming on its surface. Liquor made from pale malt, and which is intended for immediate drinking, need not be cooled lower than 75° or 80°, and, in consequence, may be made all the year through, except, perhaps, during the very hottest season; but beer from brown malt, especially if intended for long keeping, requires to be cooled to 65o or 70°, and therefore cannot possibly be made, except in cool weather; hence it

is, that the months of March and October have always been reckoned peculiarly favourable to the manufacture of the best malt liquor.

Tunning and barrelling. From the coolers, the liquor is transferred into the fermenting or working tun, which is a large cubical wooden vessel, capable of being closed at pleasure. As soon as the wort is let in, it is well mixed with yeast, in the proportion of about one gallon to four barrels, and in about five hours afterwards the fermentation commences. When the wort is let down hot into the working tun, the fermentation is conducted with the tun closed, and proceeds rapidly, so that in about eighteen or twenty hours it is fit to be cleansed or put into the barrels ; but when the wort is let down at 65°, it requires forty-eight hours for the first fermentation, and is peculiarly liable to be affected by a considerable change of weather.

The last process is transferring the liquor from the working tun to the barrels, when the fermentation is completed. During a few days, a copious discharge of yeast takes place from the bung-hole, and the barrels must be carefully filled up every day with fresh liquor: this discharge gradually becomes less, and in about a week ccases; at which time the bung-hole is closed up, and the liquor is fit for use, after standing from a fortnight to three months, according to its strength, and the temperature at which it has been fermented.

BREYNIA, in botany, so named in me mory of Jacob Breynius and his son, both famous botanists, a genus of the Polygamia Dioecia class and order. Essential character: calyx one-leafed; corolla none: Herm. calyx six-parted; anthers five, linear, fastened to the style; berry threecelled; seeds two. Male, calyx five-parted; filaments five; anthers roundish. Female, stigmas five, obcordate, petalloid, without any style : capsule five-celled ; seed solitary. There is but one species, viz. B. disticha, a native of New Caledonia, and the Isle of Tanna in the South Seas.

BRIBERY, in common law, is when a person, occupying a judicial place, takes any fee, gift, reward, or brocage, for doing his office, or by colour of his office, except of the king only. In a larger sense, bribery denotes the receiving or offering of any undue reward, to or by any person concerned in the administration of public justice, as an inducement for acting contrary to duty; and sometimes it signifies

carried up straight on both sides, till about three feet high; then they almost fill it with wood, and over that lay a covering of seacoal, and then overspan the arch; but they strew sea-coal also over the clamp, betwixt all the rows of bricks; lastly, they kindle the wood, which gives tire 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 colour, hard, and well burnt, and in every respect superior to the stocks. The finest kind of marl and red bricks are called cutting bricks, they are used in the arches over windows and doors, being rubbed to a centre, and gauged to a height. There is also a fine kind of white bricks made near Ipswich, which are used for facing, and sometimes brought to London for that purpose. The Windsor bricks, or fire bricks, which are made at Hedgerly, a village near Windsor, are red bricks, containing a very large proportion of sand; these are used for coating furnaces, and lining the ovens of glasshouses, where they stand the utmost fary of the fire. Dutch clinkers are also imported, long narrow bricks of a brimstone colour, very hard and well burnt; they are frequently 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 tilepins. Their tools are, a brick-trowel, wherewith 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

rule, 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, wherewith 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, Blackfriars, a singular foundation, comprising within the same walls, an hospital, a workhouse, and a prison. Edward VI. founded this place, which had formerly been one of King John's palaces. Several manufacturers reside there, who have the privilege of taking apprentices. When these have served faithfully the period of their servitude, 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 convenience 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 cattle 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, durable, 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 inundations, the bed must be sunk or hollowed in proportion to the space taken up by the piers (as the waters 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

lowest; and if the ground be rocky, hard gravel, or stony, the first stones of the foundation may be laid on the surface; but if the soil be soft sand, it will be necessary to dig till you come to a firm bottom. For the particular mode of constructing stone bridges, the reader is referred to the latter end of the article BUILDING.

We have many bridges of considerable note in our own country. The triangular bridge at Croyland, in Lincolnshire, which was erected about the year 860, is said to be the most ancient Gothic structure remaining entire in the kingdom. There are two circumstances in the constructon of this bridge which render it an object of great curiosity. First, it is formed by three semiarches, whose bases stand in the circumference of a circle, at equal distances from each other. These unite at the top; and the triune nature of the structure has led some to imagine that it was intended as an emblem of the Trinity. Secondly, the ascent on each of the semi-arches is by steps paved with small stones set edgeways, and is so steep, that none but foot-passengers can go over the bridge: horsemen and carriages frequently pass under it, as the river in that place is but shallow. For what purpose this bridge was really designed, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine. Utility, it is obvious, was one of the least motives to its erection. To boldness of design and singularity of construction it has more powerful claims; and these qualities it must be allowed to possess, in as great a degree as any bridge in Europe. Although this bridge has been erected so many centuries, it exhibits no marks of decay.

London bridge is in the old Gothic style, and had twenty small locks or arches; but there are now only nineteen open, two having been lately thrown into one in the centre. It is 940 feet long, 44 high, and 47 clear width between the parapets. The piers are from 15 to 35 feet thick, with starlings projecting at each side and end, so that the greatest water way, when the tide is above the starlings, is 545 feet, scarcely half the breadth of the river; and below the starlings the water-way is reduced to 204 feet, causing a dangerous fall at low water. London bridge was first built with timber in the reign of Ethelred, between the years 993 and 1016; it was repaired, or rather rebuilt, of timber in 1163, and the present stone bridge was begun under King Henry II. in 1176, and finished under King John in the year 1209. It is probable there

were no houses on the bridge for upwards of 200 years, since we read of a tilt and tournament held on it in 1395. Houses were erected upon it afterwards, but being found a great inconvenience and nuisance, they were removed in 1758, the avenues to the bridge enlarged, and the whole made more commodious: the two middle arches were then thrown into one, by removing the pier from between them. The expense of the repairs amounted to above 80,0001.

The bridges of Westminster and Blackfriars, over the river Thames at London, are among the finest structures of the kind in Europe. The former is 1220 feet long, and 44 feet wide, having a commodious broad footpath on each side for passengers. It consists of thirteen large and two small arches, fourteen intermediate piers, and two abutments. The length of each abutment is 76 feet; the opening of each of the smaller arches is 25 feet; the span of the first of the large arches at each end is 52 feet, of the next 56 feet, and so on, increasing by four feet at a time to the centre arch, the span of which is 76 feet. The two piers of the middle arch are 17 feet wide, and the others decrease equally on each side, by one foot at a time, every pier terminating with a salient right angle against either stream. The arches are semi-circular, and spring from about the height of two feet above low water. The breadth of the river in this place is about 1220 feet, and the water-way through the bridge amounts to 870 feet. The bridge was begun in 1758, and opened for passengers in 1750, at a neat expense of 218,800l. It is constructed of the best materials, and in a neat and elegant taste; but the arches are too small in proportion to the quantity of masonry.

Blackfriars bridge, nearly opposite to the centre of the city of London, was begun in 1760, and completed in ten years and three quarters, at a neat expense of 152,840l. It is an exceedingly light and elegant structure; but, unfortunately, the materials do not seem to be of the best kind, as many of the stones in the piers are decayed. The bridge consists of nine large, handsome, and nearly elliptical arches; the central arch is 100 feet wide, and the four arches on each side, reckoning towards the shores, decrease gradually, being 98, 93, 85, and 70 feet respectively, leaving a water-way of 788 feet. The whole length from wharf to wharf is 995 feet, the breadth of the carriage-way 28 feet, and that of the

raised foot-way on each side 7 feet. The upper surface of the bridge is a portion of a very large circle, which forms an elegant figure, and admits of convenient passage over it. On each pier there is a recess or balcony, with two Ionic columns and pilas. ters, which stand on a circular projection of the pier above high-water mark. The bridge is rounded off at each extremity to the right and left, in the form of a quadrant of a circle, rendering the access commodious and agreeable. This edifice must be regarded as a fine specimen of Mr. Mylne's ingenuity and judgment, though the method of construction has never been made public.

Wooden bridges now demand our attention. The simplest case of these edifices is that in which the road way is laid over beams placed horizontally, and supported at each end by piers or posts. This method, however, is deficient in strength and width of opening: it is, therefore, necessary, in all works of any magnitude, to apply the principles of trussing, as used in roofs and arches. Wooden bridges of this -kind are stiff frames of carpentry, in which, by a proper disposition, beams are put so as to stand in place of solid bodies, as large as the spaces which the beams enclose; and thus, two or three, or more, of these are set in a butment with each other, like mighty arch stones. At Schaffhausen, in Switzerland, where the Rhine flows with great rapidity, several stone bridges had been destroyed, when, in 1754, Grubenhamm offered to throw a wooden bridge of a single arch across the river, which is nearly 390 feet wide. The magistrates, however, required that it should consist of two arches, and that he should, for that purpose, employ the middle pier of the last stone bridge, which would divide the new one into two unequal arches of 172 and 193 feet span. The carpenter did so; but contrived to leave it a matter of doubt, whether the bridge is at all supported by the middle pier. It was erected on a plan nearly similar to the Wittengen bridge, at the expense of about 8,000l. sterling. Travellers inform us, that it shook if a man passed over it; yet waggons, heavily laden, also went over it without danger. curious bridge was burnt by the French when they evacuated Schaffhausen, in April,

1799.

This

Iron bridges are the exclusive invention of British artists. The first that has been erected on a large scale is that over the

river Severn, at Coalbrook Dale, in Shropshire. This bridge is composed of five ribs, and each rib of three concentric arcs, connected together by radiating pieces. The interior arc forms a complete semicircle, but the others extend only to the cills under the road-way. These arcs pass through an upright frame of iron, at each end, which serves as a guide; and the small space in the haunches between the frames and the outer arc is filled in with a ring of about seven feet diameter. Upon the top of the ribs are laid cast iron plates, which sustain the road-way. The arch of this bridge is 100 feet 6 inches in span; the interior ring is cast in two pieces, each piece being about 70 feet in length. It was constructed in the year 1779, by Mr. Abraham Darby, iron-master at Coalbrook Dale, and must be considered as a very bold effort in the first instance of adopting a new material. The total weight of the metal is 378

tons.

The second iron bridge, of which the particulars have come to our knowledge, was that designed by Mr. Thomas Paine, author of many political works. It was constructed by Messrs. Walkers, at Rotherham, and was brought to London, and set up in a bowling-green at Paddington, where it was exhibited for some time. which it was intended to have been sent to America; but Mr. Paine not being able to defray the expense, the manufacturers took it back, and the malleable iron was afterwards worked up in the construction of the bridge at Wearmonth.

After

The third iron bridge of importance erected in Great Britain was that over the river Wear, at Bishop Wearmouth, near Sunderland, the chief projector of which was Rowland Burdon, Esq. M. P. This bridge consists of a single arch, whose span is 236 feet; and as the springing stones at each side project two feet, the whole opening is 240 feet. The arch is a segment of a circle, of about 444 feet diameter, its versed sine is 34 feet, and the whole height from low water about 100 feet, admitting vessels of from two to three hundred tons burthen to pass under, without striking their masts. A series of one hundred and five blocks form a rib, and six of these ribs compose the breadth of the bridge. The spandrils, or the spaces between the arch and the road-way, are filled up by cast iron circles, which touch the outer circumference of the arch, and at the same time support the road-way, thus gradually diminish