countries and in the same country at different periods. Some bricks of
unusual shapes have also been employed from time to time. 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. Holland and Belgium, for example, are countries of this
sort; and the old connection between Holland and England led to the
introduction among us, in the reign of William III., of the Dutch style
of building, which has been in our own day revived under the rather
incorrect title of Queen Anne architecture. Another great brick district
exists on the plains of Lombardy and the northern part of Italy
generally, and beautiful brickwork, often with enrichments in marble, is
to be found in such cities as Milan, Pavia, Cremona, and Bologna.

Many cities and towns in Northern Germany are also brick built, and
furnish good examples of the successful treatment of the material. In
some of these German buildings, indeed, very difficult pieces of
construction, such as we are in the habit of thinking can only be
executed in stone, are successfully attempted in brick. For example,
they execute large tracery windows in this material. Great brick gables,
often with the stepped outline known as crows' feet, are an excellent
architectural feature of these German brick-built towns. In parts of
France, also, ornamental brickwork was from time to time made use of,
but not extensively. It is not necessary to go very minutely into the
manufacture of bricks; but perhaps I ought to say a word or two on the
subject. Good brick earth is not simple clay, but a compound substance;
and what is essential is that it should burn hard or, in other words,
partly vitrify under the action of heat. The brick earth is usually dug
up in the autumn, left for the frosts of winter to break it up, and
worked up in the early spring.