LlTRRATniR.— Fuller Information may be found in Bishop I>iffhtfoot'8 iliiwortation on the ilrethren of the IjOrd. admimhle alike for thoroiii;hnciw, '?IcartieHi4, anil fairness, which iscontaiiu^d in his Commentary on the KpistU to the Gaiatians, ed. 10, pp^
326
BKIBERY
BRIDE
253-291. It is from him I have borrowed the terras HieronjTnian, Epiphanian, Helvidlan, to classify the main theories which have been put forwattl on the subject. He himself held the second theory. The first is advocated by Dr. Mill (PantheiBtic PrincipU9, pt. ii. pp. 220-316), and in a less extreme form by Dr. P. Scheg^(Jafco&t«, der Bruderdei Herm. Miinchen, 18S3). The argument for the third is given in Credner's EinlHtutig, Laurent's Neutf^t. Sludien, Farrar's Early Days oj Christianity, ch. xix., the articles 'Maria' and • Jakobus' in Herzo^''8 EncycL /. prot. TheoL, and the introduction to my Commentary on the JEpistU qf St. Jame$t from which the present article is chiefly taken. J. B. MAYOE.
BRIBERY.— See Crimes.
BRICK {n}3^). — The usual material for building throughout all Eastern countries is mud brick. In rainless Egypt this is a perfect substance for walls, and the great defences of towns and sanctuaries were immensely massive walls of dried mud, up to 80 ft. in thickness. The same was used for arches and domes and for pillars, as in the great hall of 700 pillars of Akhenaten. In Babylonia as wide a use of mud brick is found, walls, ramparts, and zikkurats being entirely made of it, from the earliest Bab. age downward. In Persia, India, China, and Mexico, mud brick is a universal material ; it has sheltered far the greater part of the human race, and the use of red or burnt brick is quite an exception in history. In Pal. mud bricK was largely used in Amorite times, thick fortifications being made of it. The form was more like the Babylonian, being a square tUe, whereas the Egyptians used a brick of our present shape. Throughout the Jewish period, mud brick was generally used, faced with stone jambs and lintels at the doorways, and plastered white all over. Such was the Egyptian method. In PhUistia, down to the present time, the villages are of mud- brick houses domed, and the rainfall is absorlied by a thick crop of grass which grows on the roof, kind is the pasture ground of the goats.
In the OT there is allusion to burning bricks for the tower of Babel (Gn IP) ; and such burnt bricks were largely used in Babylonia, owing to the wetness of the soil and climate. They were very rare in Egypt until Roman times, but became general in the age of Constantine.
The brick-making in Egypt was a common occupation for captives, and the celebrated picture at Thebes of the foreign brickraakers, guarded by an Egyp. overseer, is very well known. The black Nile soil of the country is first dug down into a hole already made at any convenient spot near the water ; it is then mixed mth sufficient sand, if a good quality is desired, and with chopped straw, which IS cut up thus by the threshing rollers used at harvest. Water is poured over it, and it is trampled into a smooth paste. Baskets of this paste are then carried out to the moulding ground, a smooth clear space near at hand. The moulder places liis wooden mould on the ground, lifts a double handful of the mud, and droi)s it in, pre.sses it down, and wipes oil' the surjihis ; he then lifts the mould frame by its handle, and leaves the brick on the ground to dry ; the frame is then placed close to it, and another is moulded, until the ground is covered with bricks in regular rows. These
BBICK STAMP OF WOOD, EOTPTIAN, XVIH. DTN.
remain for a week or more to dry in the sun, and are then ready for building. From the I8th to 21st
dynasties the bricks for government buildings often bear a stamp of the king's name, and sometimes a special stamp naming the particular building for which they wdre intended. Tlie wooden stamps for this purpose have been found, as well as the moulding frames.
In the celebrated question of the straw (Ex 5'""), which has passed into an English proverb, there is something to be said on the Egyp. side. Straw was not by any means universally used, often jdain mud and sand, or mud and pebbles, were used ; and it was far more important to get the tale of bricks done than to be too particular about the straw. Next, the chopped straw regularly kept in stock and supplied (the tibn of the present day) is a very_ valuable cattle food, and the main support a' animals during the inundation, as it is more sweet and grassy than En", straw. Hence to restrict its use for brick-making, and to require waste material, such as stubble, to be found, was quite customary; and many more bricks are to be seen made with waste than those containing good food tibn. We may note that the taskmasters were the Egyp. overseers, while the officers were Hebrews, chiefs of the gangs, held responsible for the quantity delivered. Considering the well-known character of the Hebrews (Nu 11' 21">), we must not take their grievances too seriously. They had at least in Egypt a good and full diet, by their own confession (Nu IP), as good as, or better than, that of the Egyp. peasant of the present day.