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On our way we stayed to look at a fragment of the ruins of the ancient city of Modjo-pahit, consisting of two lofty brick masses, apparently the sides of a gateway. The extreme perfection and beauty of the brickwork astonished me. The bricks are exceedingly fine and hard, with sharp angles and true surfaces.
The architect who desires to make an effective brick building, which shall honestly proclaim to all the world that it is of brick, may do this, and, if he will, may do it successfully, by employing brickwork and no other material, but making the best use of the opportunities which it affords, or he may erect his building of brickwork and stone combined, or of brickwork and terra cotta. Mr.
The four wings with their conical roofs, the massive projecting windows, grey stone, ruddy brickwork, lattices reflecting the sunlight, Italian terrace and blue river in the foreground, cedars and yews at the back, all made a splendid picture of an English ancestral home. 'Nice old place, isn't it? asked Mr. Smithson, seeing Lesbia's admiring gaze as the launch neared the terrace.
It has an imposing flight of stone steps guarded by iron rails leading up to it, and on each side of the door there is a row of three windows, and on the two upper stories rows of seven windows. Over the door there is a covering, on which there are grotesquely-formed, carved wooden faces; and over the centre of each window, let into the brickwork, is a carved stone.
He ran it up eight stories high, however, and two of them still stand, at this day a colossal mass of brickwork, rent down the centre by earthquakes, and seared and vitrified by the lightnings of an angry God. But the vast ruin will still stand for ages, to shame the puny labors of these modern generations of men.
These two are said to have been the meanest then in the palace. There were originally five; the three finest of which were pulled down to make way for William III.'s great square mass of brickwork. The writers who saw it in its glory, describe it in entireness as the most splendid palace in Europe. Grotius says, "other palaces are residences of kings, but this is of the gods."
There is a sheet of tin, however, on the top of the wall, which was probably a cornice before the fire. Only one side of it is attached to the brickwork, and when there is any wind it trembles in the breeze and rattles with an uncertain sound. It may have been that the sheen of the tin in the starlight or a windy night first suggested the idea of a ghost to some weird imagination.
Of course, if there is a failure of foundations, brickwork, as was pointed out earlier, becomes affected at once. But if these be good, and the materials used be sound ones, and if the other precautions just recommended be taken, it will last strong and sturdy for an immense length of time.
The framework of a two-or three-storied house is often completed, sometimes including the roof and tiling, before the brickwork has been commenced. In different parts of the city may be seen the framework of large and handsome houses which have never advanced beyond that stage, and have remained for years melancholy-looking skeletons.
Other countries besides England possess districts which from various circumstances have been more or less densely built on, but do not yield much stone or timber; and, accordingly, brickwork is to be met with in many localities.
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