thus the injury to be guarded against in such a wall, will be 
prevented ; for if any tiles should be accidentally broken 
or dislodged by the wind, so as to afford a passage for the 
rain, the burnt brick, a protection to it, will secure the 
wall itself from damage, and the projection will cause the 
dropping of the water to fall beyond the face of the wall 
and thus preserve it. To judge of such burnt bricks as 
are fit for the purpose is not at first an easy matter ; the 
only way of ascertaining their goodness is to try them 
through a summer and winter, and, if they bear out 
through these undamaged, they may be used. Those 
which are not made of good clay are soon injured by the 
frost and rain ; hence if unfit to be used in roofs they will 
be more unfit in walls. Walls built of old tiles are conse¬ 
quently very lasting. As to wattled walls, would they had 
never been invented, for though convenient and expedi¬ 
tiously made, they are conducive to great calamity from 
their acting almost like torches in case of fire. It is much 
better, therefore, in the first instance, to be at the expense 
of burnt bricks, than from parsimony to be in perpetual 
risk. Walls moreover, of this sort, that are covered with 
plaster are always full of cracks, arising from the crossing 
of the laths; for when the plastering is laid on wet, it swells 
the wood, which contracts as the work dries, breaking the 
plastering. But if expedition, or want of funds, drives 
us to the use of this sort of work, or as an expedient to 
bring work to a square form, let it be executed as follows. 
The surface of the foundation whereon it is to stand must 
be somewhat raised from the ground or pavement. 
Should it ever be placed below them it will rot, settle, and 
bend forward, whereby the face of the plastering will be 
injured. I have already treated on walls, and generally