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Habits of Great Students.
Racine composed his verses while
walking about, reciting them in a
loud voice. One day, while thus
working at his play of Mithrldates, in
the Tuilleries Gardens, a crowd of
workmen gathered around him, at
tract'd by his gestures ; they took him
to be a madman about to throw him
self into the basin. On his returu
home from such walks, he would
write down scene by sceue, at first in
prose, and when he had written it
out, he would exclaim—“My tragedy
is done!” considering the dressing of
the acta up in verse as a very small
affair.
Magliabecchi, the learned librarian
to the Duke of Tuscauy, on the con
trary, never stirred abroad, but lived
amidst books. They were his bed,
board, and washing. He passed eight
and-forty years in their midst, only
twice in the courseof his life venturing
beyond the walls of Florence; once to
to go two leagues, off, and the other
time three and a half leagues, by
order of the Grand Duke. He was
an extremely frugal man, living upon
eggs, bread and water, in great mod
eration,
Luther, when studying, always had
his dog lying at his feet, a dog he had
brought from Wartburg, and of which
he was very fond. An ivory crucifix
stood at the table before him, and the
walls cfhis study were stuck round
with caricatures of the Pope. He
worked at his desk for days together
without going out; but when fatigued,
and the idea began to stagnate, took
his guit ir with him into the porch
and there executed some musical fan
tasy (for he was a skillful musician),
when the ideas would flow upon him
as fresh as flowers aft r summer’s run.
—Music was his invariable solace at
such times. Indeed, Luther did not
hesitate to say that, after theology,
music was the first of arts. “Music,”
said he, “is the art of the prophets :
it is the only other art, which, like
theology,can calm the agitation of the
soul, and put the Devil to fight.” Next
to music, if not before it, Luther loved
children and flowers. The great gnat-
led man had a heart as tender as a
woman’s.
Cilvin studied in his bed. Every
morning, at five or six o’clock, he
books, manuscripts and papers
rried to him there, and had he oo-
ion to get out, on his return he
dressed and went to bed again to
tinue his studies. In his later
rs he dictated his writings to see
aries. He rarely corrected ally
ing. The sentences issued complete
his mouth. If he felt facility of
position leaving him he for h
h quitted his bed, gave up writing
composing and went about his
loor duties for days, weeks, and
thk together. But as soon as he
the inspiration fall upon him
n, he went back to his bed and
s secretary was sec to work forth -
Only ^ Brick.
om
with.
Aristotle was a tremendous worker ;
etook little sleep, and was constantly
etrenobing it. tee had a contrivance
y which he awoke early, and to
wake was with him to commence
ork. Demosthenes passed three
onth-i in a cavern by tin sea-side,
boring to overcome the defects of his
oioe. There he read, studied, and
eclaimed.
Roussean wrote his works early in
the morning; Le Sage at midday ;
Byron at midnight. Hardonin rose
four in the morniug and wrote tlllat
late at night.
Rabelais composed his life of Gar-
gantua at Belly, in the company of
Roman cardinals, and under the eyes
of the Bishop of Paris. La Fontaine
wrote his fables chiefly under the
shade of a tree, and sometimes by the
side of Racine and Bolleau.
Pascal wrote most of his thoughts
on little scraps of paper, at his by rno-
lents. Feuelon wrote his Telemach-
ln the palace of Versailles, at. the
jrand Monarque, when disohargiug
ie duties of tutor to the Dauphin. —
at a book so thoroughly democratic
uld have issued frnn such a source,
be written by a priest, may seem
rising* *
Q ilncy first promulgated his no*
of universal freedom of person
ade, and of throwing all tuxes
land—the germ, perhaps of the
h Revolution—in the boudoir of
e de Pompadour,
knelt down before composing
work, and prayed for light
iration from heaven. Pope
Id oompose well without^it
for sometime at the top of
his nervous
ty,
at
The History of a Useful Building Material.
—Brickmakiug in A uoleut and
Modern Times.
It would seem so utterly absurd and
uncalled for to accuse anything as
pro.-aic and notably “stay-in-the-
house” as a common red brick of mas
querading, that it is very likely
that the definition, “a kind of ficti
tious stone made of a fatty earth
into a parallelepiped,” would float
through the ordinary brain some
time before it attached itself to “a
brick.” Such, however, is the diction
ary defini tion of the word.
The use of brick as a building ma
terial, both burnt and unburnt, dates
from a very early period. Burnt brick
is recorded in the Bible to have been
used in the erection of the Tower of
Babel. We have the testimony of
Herodotus to the eff-Ct that burnt
bricks were made from the clay thrown
out of the treuches surrounding Baby
lon. These bricks, which were used
in building the wall about the city
were cemented together with bitumen,
and at every thirtieth row, crates of
reeds were stuffed ih. Statement! of
travellers showed that the Babylonian
brick is very much like a tile, being
12 to 13 inches square, and 3£ inches
thick. Most of them bear the name
inscribed in cuneiform of Nebuchad
nezzar, whose buildihgs no doubt re
placed those of an earlier age. They
were sometimes glazed and enamelled
pi various colors. Seoairamls is said
by Diodorus to have overlaid some of
her towers with surfaces of enamelle d
bricks.
Bun-dried bricks were exclusively
used in ancient times, especially in
Egypt, where the manufacture was
considered a most degrading employ
ment, and as such formed the princi
pal part of the occupation of the Is
raelites during their bondage, after
the death of Joseph. These Egyptian
sun-dried bricks were made of clay
mixed with chopped straw, which
was furnished to the children of Israel
by their Egyptian taskmasters, before
the application of Moses to Pharaoh
in tieir behalf. After this the onliga-
tion was put upon them to furnish
their own straw, which appears to
have been like the last straw upon the
camel’s back—too much to be borne.
More clearly does the monarch’s des
potism shine out when it is remem
bered tnat as captives they had no
harvests of their own, and that there
was in the fields “only stubble.”
It appears from the details given,
that the Israelites worked in gangs
under the superintendence of one of
their own nations, who was provided
with all the necessary tools, and theu
personally responsible for the labors
of his men. Borne Egyptiau bricks
were made without straw, and are
now found as perfect as on the day
when they were put up, in the reign
of Amunopolis and Thotmes, whose
names they bear. Wnen made of
Nile mud they needed straw to keep
them together, but when formed of
clay taken lr on the torrent beds on
theeigeof the desert they held to
gether without aid. Among the
paintings at Thebes, one on the tomb
of Rekshara, an oflijer of the court of
Thotmes 111. (B. G. 1400) represents
the enforced labors of captives, whe^
are distinguished from the natives by
the colors with which they are drawn.
Watching over the laborers are the
“taskmasters,” who, armed with
sticks, are receiving the “tale of
bricks” and urging on the work. The
process of digging out the clay, of
moulding and of arranging are all
duly represented. The process of
manufacture in Egypt was very simi
lar to that adopted at the predent
time in that country.
The clay was brought in baskets
from the Nile, thrown in a leeap.
thoroughly saturated with water, and
worked to a proper temper by the feet
of the laborers. This appears to have
been done entirely by the (ligbt-ool-
ored) captives, the (red) Egyptian
shunning the work which must have
been oppressive and unwholesome as
possible in that hot olimate. The oiay
when tempered was cut by an instru
ment resembling very much au agri
cultural hoe and n oulded in an oblong
trough. The bricks were then dried
in the sun.
BURNT BKICKS
were used in Egypt for river walls and
hydraulic works, but not to any great
extent. Enclosures of gardens or
granaries, sacred circuits encompas
sing the courts of temples, walls of
fortificatlous aud towns, dwelling
houses and tombs ; in short, all but
les themseL
brick and so great was Ihe demand
that the E jyptian government, observ
ing the profit which would accrue from
a mouopoly of them, undertook to sup
ply the public at a reduced price, thus
preveuting all unauthorized persons
from engaging in the manufacture.
The Jews learned the art of brick
making in Ejypt, and that they used
it greatly is proved by the complaint
of Isaiah, that the people built altars
of brick instead of unhewn stone, as
the law directed. The it 'oiaus used
bricks, both burnt and unburnt, i,n
great profusion, leaving their sun-dried
bricks in the air four or five years to*
harden. All the great existing ruins
of Rome are of this material. At the
decline of the Roman empire the art
of brick making fell into disuse, but
was revived in Italy after the lapse of
a few eenturies. The mediaeval, eccle
siastical and palatial architecture of
Italy exhibits many fine specimens of
brickwork and ornamental designs in
terra cotta. In Holland and the
Netherlands the scarcity of stone ne
cessitated a substitute, and led, at an
early period, to the extensive use of
brick, not only for domestic but for
ecclesiastical buildings. These coun
tries abound in fine specimens of brick
work, often done in two colors com
bined, with great taste, and producing
a very rich result, as is to be seen in
the celebrated examples at Leeu-
warden, in Friesland. It is worthy of
remark that in the fens of Lincoln
shire aud Norfolk, where we would
naturally expect the same material to
be used, the churches, many of which
are exceedingly flue specimens of ar
chitecture, are built of small stones,
said to have been brought a great dis
tance upon jack-horses. Iu modern
times nowhere do we find greater per
fection in the arts of brick making
and laying than in Holland, where
most of the fl >ors of the houses aud
the streets are paved with bricks.
IN ENGLAND.
Brickrnaking appears to have been
introduced into Eugla nd by the Ro
mans, who used large thin bricks or
wall tiles as bonds to their rubble con
struction ; and such wall tiles con
tinued to be fouud in England until
rubble work was superceded by regular
masonry at about the time of the Nor
man Conquest. These tiles were
merely a kind of thin brick or plate
of baked clay, and were extensively
used for covering roofs. They were
made very much the same as bricks,
only it was imperative that they
should be made of the best quality of
brick earth.
Brick work does not appear to have
come Into general use as a building
material until the reign of Henry
VIII., when it reached great perfec
tion, aud some of the finest knlwn
specimens were erected. In the reign
of Q, leen Elizabeth brick seems to
haye been nseu only in large man
sions. For common buildings, tim
ber framework, filled in with lath
and plaster, was generally used, and
this construction was much employed
eveu when brick work was in com
mon use, bricks up to a late period
being merely introduced iu panels
between the wooden frames. In the
rebuilding of London, after the great
fire of 1G'36, brick was the material
almost- universally adopted, and one
of the resolutions of the corporation
of the eity of London passed about
this time is interesting. It is as fol
lows :
“And that they (the surveyors) do
encourage and give directions to all
builders for ornament’s sake, that the
ornaments and projections of the
front of buildings be of rubbed brick ;
aud that all the naked parts of the
walls may be done of rough bricks
neatly wrought or all rubbed at the
direction of the builder, or that th e
builders may otherwise enrich their
fronts as they please.”
It was not till the close of the last
century that bricks were suljjct to
taxation. After this time the only
brick exempt were those made for the
purpose of draining wet and marshy
land, and they must be plainly stamp*
ed with the word “ Drain.” A penalty
of fifty pounds was Imposed on every
person who UBed these bricks for any
other purpose.
MODERN BRICKS
are made of different materials, day,
sand and ashes make excellent brioks,
while good brick earlh is found in
some localities. Loam and marl in
England are considered the best Ingre
dients. Upon the materials employed
depend the quality of the brick amf
the purposes for which it may be used.
They are pressed aud dried by ma
chinery to a great extent now, though
yards are often started *n the c
bricks made by manual labor. The
finishing and ornamentation, of
which so much is done, is, of course,
accomplished in larger places where
experienced workmen are employed.
Trouble is often occasioned by the
irregularity in the size of Eastern
brick, while those of Baltimore, Phila
delphia and New Jersey are invaria
bly of the same size. Details in the
plans of buildings are often delayed
until it is known what kind of brick
is to be used. This being the case of
Course only in places where only a
certain number of whole bricks can be
placed, as between window ledge3,
sills, caps or stone quoins. The utility
of brick as a slang word is not to be
denied. To call a man a brick is t >
compliment him exceedingly. In
one word you tell him that he is use
ful, upright, absorbent, retentive, that
his family history can be traced far
ther than that of most men, and,
above all, that he is not made of “com
mon clay.”
SIMPLE FACTS AinUT BRICKS.
9
The Carpenters' and Builders' Jour
nal gives the following faots : An av
erage day’s work for a brick-layer is
1500 bricks on outdde and inside
walls ; on facings and angles and fin
ishing around wood or stone work,not
more than half that number can be laid.
To find the number of bricks in a wall
first find the number of square feet of
surface, and then multiply by 7 f »r a
4 inch wall, by 14 for an 8 inch wall,
by 21 for a 12 inch wall, and by 28 for
a 16 inch wall. For staining bricks
red, melt an ounce of glue in one gal
lon of water ; add apiece of- alum the
size of an egg, then onedialf pound of
Venetian red and one pound of Span
ish brown. Try the color on the bricks
before using., aud change light or dark
with the red or brown, using a yellow
mineral for buff. ForcOloriug black,
heat asphaltum to a fluid state, aud
moderately heat true surface bricks
and dip them. Or make a hot mix
ture of linseed aud asphalt, heat the
bricks and dip them. Tar and asphalt
are also used for the same purpose. It
is important that the brick} be suffi
ciently hot, and be held in the mix
ture to absorb the color to the depth of
one-sixteen h of an inch.
Purchased Titles in Brazil.
•UdtatUec^trjjJ
A few days ago I was served with
coffee in a small hostelry, consisting
of a low cabaret and a corncrib, by a
dusky youug man iu cotton trousers
and carpet slippers (nobody wears
stockings and but few wear shoes in
this country, except the aristocrats,
who live in Rio Janelre, Bahia or
Pernambuco). After helping himself
t' the first Cup he informed me that
he was not in the habit of entertain
ing travelers, aud had only consented
on this occasion because the hour was
late aud the next village three or four
hours distant. The fact was, he was
|*the8onof the Baron de Mouteverde,
whose noble fazenda stood on the
banks of the R o Verde. I afterward
saw this noble fazenda. It was a
ruined hut, almost twenty feet square,
with nothing inside of it—not eveu a
bench—except ii th aud vermin.
At another place where I stopped
my dinner was cooked ffy a lady—
also of dusky hue—who was the
Baroness of R . These titles cost
about |500, and can be purchased by
anybody. Fuzendiuos who send their
sons to school in Englaud or the
United States—a few are able to
afford this advantage — commonly
purchase titles for their young men
before sending them abroad, in the
hope of their being able to “catch”
some blonde and confiding heiress of
those wintry climes. I met a young
English lady in Rio who had been
trapped in this way. She said she
had had £3000 in funds, the pro
ceeds of a legacy left her some years
before by a relative, and that she had
met a Brazilian “nobleman,” the
Baron de B , in London at a re
ception given by the Brazilian Minis
ter ; that deceived by his title, his
apparent good standing in society and
his oily manners, she had listened to
a proposal of marriage from him, and
had married him, after a courtship of
three months. Within a month
after the marriage the “nobleman”
ran away with her money and she
had followed him, as she supposed,
to Rio, there to find that he had not
returned to Brazil, and, worse than
lUat lieas a j ojirneyman barber,
The Beautiful Duchess of Dev
onshire.
The best sketch of her when she
was in all the bloom of beauty,in 1791,
is given by the vivicious Fanny Bur
ney, whose admiral le and lively and
most dramatic scenes and portraits
are scarcely appreciated as they de
serve to be. Blie was paving a visit to
Lady Bpeucer, then living in Bath,
during the season.
“Presently followed two ladies.
Lady Spencer, with a look and man
ner warmly announcing pleasure In
what she was doing, then introduced
me to the first of them, saying,
‘Duchess of Devonshire, Mies Bur
ney.’ She made me a very civil com
pliment upon hoping my health was
recovering; and Lady Spencer then,
slightly, and as if unavoidably, said,
‘Lady Elizabeth Forster.
“I did not find so much beauty iri
her as I had expected, notwithstand
ing the variations of accounts; but I
! fouud far more of manner, politeness
and gentle quirtt. Bhe seems by na
ture to possess the highest animal
spirits, but she appeared to me not
happy. I thought she looked op
pressed and thin, though there is a
native cheerfulness about her which
I fancy scarce ever deserts her.
“Thtra is in her face, especially
when she speaks, a sweetness of good-
humor and obligingness that seem to
be the natural aud instinctive quali
ties of her disposition, joined to an
openness of countenance that an
nounces her endowed, by nature, with
a character intended wholly for hon
esty, fairness and good purposes.
“Bhe now conversed with me
wholly and in so soberly, sensible
and q liet a manner, as I had imag
ined incompatible with her powers.
Too much and too little credit have
variously been given her. We talked
over my late tour, Bath waters and
the King’s illness- This, which was
led to by accident, was here a tend
subj ot, considering her heading t‘
regency squadron. She was e
tremely well bred in all she said h
self, and Beemed willing to keep up
the subject. I fancy no one has just
in the same way treated it with H
Grace before ; however, she took
in good part, though to have foun
me retired in discontent had perha
been more congenial to her.”
The lady who was with her, a
her bosom friend, was a person of
ordinary attractions. Indeed she
so alluring that Mrs. Gibbon deck
that no man could withstand
that she could make the Lord Chi
cellor come down; from off his w
sack. This lady was destined to tak
her place, aud to succeed her as Due
ess of Devonshire.
The poor beauty was at one tim
drawn into a strange entanglemen
which had well nigh produced th
most serious family confusion. 8h#
had two little girls, aud was eager for
a son and heir, and it has l^gen often
r epeated, and there seems litTte reason
to doubt the story, that she arranged
with her friend to exchange children,
and that the Duchess received her
fiLnd’s boy.
That some such story was connected
with the late Duke of Devonshire is
well-known. It is public property
that the perpetual celibacy of His
Grace was the result of an arrange
ment by which he was to wear the
title by consent for his life.it then
passing to his cousin, the rightful heir.
Lady Clnr'#tte Campbell learned;
“The pr sent Duke of Devonshire ap
peared for a length of time to have a
sir >ng aversion for his mother in-law,
the sometime Lady Dover, and one
day, when sbe hung; over him and
kissed his forehead, the duke turned
away as though he had been touched
by a basalisk. But subsequently after
his repeated visits to her when she
resided chiefly at Rome, his manner
entirely changed, and he evinced the
utmost pleasure in her society and the
greatest affection for her per^n.
It was said that this change in his
feelings to war 1 her was wrought.by the
Daohess having declared to him the
secret of his birth, and his being her
own ol41d. It 1b also said that this
great man oannot marry, Rumor
says the Duke is only suffered by the
rightful heir to eDjoy the title and
estates for hiB lifetime, In order not to
disgrace the family by a disclosure of
the truth. But possibly the whole of
these suppositions are false, ami per
haps the Duke has never mar.ied be
cause he would not be espoused for the
sake of his great name and fortune.
This romance in real life was once
dramatized under the title o.‘ ‘The
False Friends,’ and that by a friend of
the Cavendish family ; yet, strange to
say, the authoress of the play didmot
amir thrlr illi nil HHliaM