B R I
B R I
to be bottled up, and will thus afford a pleafant liquor, of con- fiderable ftrength, without malt or any other addition. Some people add fage to this liquor, baking it in their crafts of rye- bread, till thoroughly dry, and then adding it with the bread to the working liquor. If a few cloves be tied up in a rag, and put into the veffels into which the fap is received from the tree, they will preferve it the year round, without any fermen- tation : they are very apt to give a tafte to the liquor ; but if it be fo contrived that they are taken out before they give this tafte, the liquor will keep as well without any flavour of them. The adding a few drops of oil of fulphur, will have the fame effect; and fo will the fuming with fulphur itfelf. A little fpirit of wine, poured on the top of the juice in every bottle, will alfo be very inftrumental in the preferving it. Many people, inftead of adding malt, and brewing the fap of the fycamore or birch into ale, ufe raifms, and make a fort of wine of it ; and fomc add fugar. Some have ufed the rye- toafts with very good fuccefs, tho' they were not put into the iliquor, but only hung over it, at fuch a diftance as to give a warmth and motion to the furface. Common ale yeaft has been tried by fome to ferment the juice of the birch ; but it ufually fpoils it, turning the liquor into a very bad fmallbeer. The Flemifli wheat ferment would probably in time excellent- ly mature the bottled juice of the birch or fycamore ; but it would require a confiderable time for it. Cinnamon is wor- thy to be tried in the ftead of cloves, as of an infinitely more greeable flavour. Honey has no effect on cyder at all ; for it will not mix with it, tho' boiled in it, to make mead ; but, af- ter a time, the cyder lets fall the honey, and becomes fimplc cyder again : It is a queftion whether it would mix with thefe juices; but if it will, it will probably make a great improve- ment in them. The tops and young leaves of birch boiled in the fap, are faid by fome to preferve it. Phil. Tranf. N° 146. Water for Brewing. See Water.
BREYNIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants defcribed by Plumier and Linnseus 3 the characters of which are thefe : The perianthium is very fmall, and confifts of one leaf j it is of a coriaceous texture, and is divided into four fegments of an oval figure, which ftand expanded ; the flower confifts of four oval expanded petals, fome what larger than the leaves of the cup; the ftamina are numerous capillary filaments, longer than the flower ; the antheras are oblong and erect ; the germen of the piftil is very fmall, but long and of a clavated figure, and obtufe at the end ; there is no ftyle, and the ftigma is obtufe ; the fruit is a very long pod, it is flefhy, foft, bivalve, and of a clavated figure ; it contains only one cell, and in that are a number of flefhy feeds, kidney-fliaped, and ranged in longitu- dinal rows. Ltnnai Gen. Plant, p. 230. Plumier, Gen. p. 16. BRIBE, denotes money or other gratification received by a per- fon in office or authority, as an inducement for doing fome- thing contrary to duty or inclination. Vid. Cah, Lex. Jur. p. 807. voc. Repetundarum. See Bribery, Cycl, The word is French, bribe, which originally denotes a bit, fragment, or relick of meat taken off the table 3 ; on which footing, bribe imports as much as pants mendicatus, and frill .keeps up the idea of the matter whereof bribes antiently con- fifted. Hence alfo the Spaniards ufe bribar and brivar for beg- ging, and brivia, brivoneria, and brivonijmo, for beggary b . — [* Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 1238. b Menag. Orig. Franc. p. 131. Skint:. Etym. in voc]
In middle age writers, a bribe given a judge is called quota litis, and the receiver, campi particeps, or cambi particeps ; in regard the fpoils of the field, /. e, the profits of the caufe, were thus fhared with the giver. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 4, p. 504. voc. 3j>uota. Id. ibid. T. I. p. 727. voc. Gampi-particeps- BRICIANI, Knights of St. Bridget, a military order, refembling that of Malta, cftablifhcd by St. Bridget, princefs of Sweden, in 1 366, and approved of by pope Urban V. who gave it the rule of St. Auguftine.
The arms of the briciani were a crofs azure, like that of the knights of Malta ; under which was a tongue of fire, to ex- prefs the ardour of their zeal : their office was to fight agamft heretics, bury the dead, affift widows and orphans, &c. Giy.fi. Hift.. dituttigliOrd.Miht. T. 2. c. 59. p. 685. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p, 1238. voc. Briciani. Item, p. 1243. voc. Brigide. BRICK (Cycl.) —The word brick comes from the French br'sgna which Menage derives from brica, ufed in the middle age La- tin to denote the fame, and which fome fuppofe formed from itnbrhare, to cover with tiles ; others from fabrica, as being a ftone cut and fafhioned. Menag. Orig. p. 133. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 1247. voc. Brique.
Brich-vioxk. is found ftronger and more durable than ftone- work; and efpecially better fitted to refift the force of guns and engines of war 2 . The Greeks are faid to have carried brick-makexs with them in their armies, to be in readinefs for camp-works and fortifications b . The Romans intermixed brick with their fquare ftone, in order to ftrengthen it c . In reality, ^Wc^-buildings were generally confidered by the anti- ents as perpetual ; fo that, in Rome, abatement was always made for the age of ftone-building, none for that of bricks d . Brick-wsMs are alfo found warmer and wholefomer than thofe of free-ftone and marble, as not being liable to fweat, or collect
humidities on their furface, which they rather imbibe p . We may add, that bricks are found the beft materials for vaults and edifices under ground, not only for their durablenefs, but die eafinefs of their expence, and 'fafety from fire F .— [ a Jlquin. Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. 535. voc. Lateritium. b Pint, in Agefil. c Vitruv. lib. z. c. 8; d Phil. Tranf. N° 149. p. 238, feq. e Item, N° 93. p 601 1. N° 149. p. 239. i DaviL Cours d'Archit. T. 1. p. 251.]
Bricks ferve either for the infides of walls, which are faced or incruftatcd with ftone, and for the outfides of edifices, which being of timber within, are faced with bricks '*. In modern Rome, the walls of the houfes are ufually of brick, to which are afterwards added divers ornaments and prefectures, by way of incruftation, faftened with cramp-irons h . — [s DaviL Expl. Term. d'Archit. p. 435. * Idem, Cours d'Archit. P. 1. p. 1 30- J
The brick chiefly ufed among the Romans was the didoreh, or, as other copies have it, lydian ; which, according to the di- menfions given by Pliny, was a foot and a half long and a foot broad': which meafures agree with thofe of feveral Roman bricks in England, which are about feventeen inches long and eleven broad of our meafure k .— [' Pliv. Hift Nat. 1. 35. c. 14. Harduin. Not. ad loc. * Philof. Tranfact. N° 149. p. 240.]
Sir Henry Wotton fpeaksof a fort of bricks at Venice, of which ftately columns were built ; they were firft formed in a circular mould, and cut before they were burnt, into four or more quar- ters or fides; afterwards, in laying, they were jointed fo clofe, and the points concentred fo exactly, that the pillars appeared one entire piece. Cotton, 'Khm. of Archit. 1, 2. Neve, Build. Diet, in voc.
The ordinary Paris brick is eight inches long, four broad, and two thick, French meafure, which makes fomething more than ours. But this fmallnefs is an advantage to a building, the ftrength and firmnefs of which confifts much in the multitude of angles and joints V at leaft if well laid, and in good bond. The Romans were guilty of a great overfight to this refpect j their bricks being above double of the French ones ; tho' they had a better fort, called latere* bcjjales, only meafuring eight inches in length m : but thefe were properly only their half- bricks. In England, we alfo fometimes make bricks of an iin- ufual length, meafuring twenty-two inches long, and only fix broad, ferving to fupply the office of laths orTpars in malt- kilns n . — [' Lifter, in Phil. Tranf. N° 149, p. 239. m Pitif\ Lex. Ant. T. i . p. 27 2. voc. BeJ/ales. n P/ott, Nat. Hift. Oxf. c 9. §.90.]
Bricks may be made of any earth that is clear of flones, even fea-owfe ; but all earth will not burn red °, a property peculiar to earths which contain ferrugineous particles ?. In England, bricks are chiefly made of a hazely yellowifh coloured fatty earth, fomewhat reddifh, vulgarly called loam. The earth, according to Leibourn, ought to be dug before winter, but not made into bricks till fpring 1.— [° Diet. Ruft. in voc. p JVood- wnrd's Nat. Hift. Engl. FofT. T. i. p. 1. Mortim. Art of Hufbandry, 1, 3. c. 3. T. 1. p. 72. Mason's Median. Exer. p. 238, feq. 1 Neve, Build. Diet in voc. J Bricks are ufually diftinguifhed into crude and burnt. Crude Bricks, lateres crudi, thofe only dried in the fun without burning ; thefe are much ufed in hot countries, where it rains rarely, particularly throughout all Egypt r . The Romans had likewife their crude or unburnt bricks, made of whitifh earth, refembling chalk, left to dry fome five years ere they were ufed. The like was alfo made of a fatty earth, mixed and baked with chopped hay, the compofition of which was called torcbis *. — [ r Savar. Diet. Comm. T. 7. p. 4S1. s Vitruv, Archit. 1. 2. c. 3. PerrauU, Not. fur Vitruv. p. 124,] Burnt Bricks, lateres tejlacei, or cocli, thofe baked either in a kiln, or with clamp-fire. Sturm. Math. Juv. T. 2. c. 3. In burning bricks, much depends on the alternate railing and abating the fire. J3nr£~burners,who continue the heat without intermiflion, ufually make their lower ware extreme hard and good, but the upper quite naught : nay, and which is worfe, the lower ones will fometimes run fo with the exceffive heat, as alio to unite into one body. Then, for cooling kilns of ware, fome unwife burners, as foon as the bricks are burnt, immediately ftop up the reft of the mouth of the kiln, which was left open above the fhin-lag, by which means the air beino- fhut out, it is long in cooling ; fo that fuch burners are com- monly a fortnight, or almoft three weeks, in fetting, burning, and drawing of a kiln of ware ; all which may be done in one week.
In all kilns or clamps there are ufually three forts or decrees of bticks in goodnefs, viz. 1 Clinke s, which are the firft and beft for Lifting, being thofe which lie next the fire; having, as it were, a glofs on them, owing to the faltpetre inherent in them, which, by the violence of the fire, runs and glazes them. 2. Common bi tcks, thofe which lie next in the kiln, or clamp ; and, 3. Samel or fandal bricks, which are the third and worft fort, being thofe which lie on the outfides of the kilns or clamps, where the faltpetre is not digefted for want of due heat. Thefe, when they come to be expofed to the weather for fome time, will moulder away like dirt. 'Tis an obfervation, that whilft hrkks are burning, thofe on the windy fide of a clamp are the worft of all. Neve, Build. Diet, in voc.
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