Ocean-work, ancient and modern
Joseph Hall Wright
Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, Sept. 13, 2013)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1845 edition. Excerpt: ... EVENING XXVII. THE OCEAN AS BRICKMAKER. The evening being wet and cloudy, the ladies petitioned that Charles might remain at home, and having readily complied with their request, he announced, amid the derisive laughter of Kate and Lucy, that he should say a little on that beautiful aspect of the ocean--its acting as a Brickmaker. Kate. Oh! extremely beautiful! Lucy. Remarkably clean! Louisa. Interesting to ladies--very! Char. Thank you, ladies. If I were called upon to say in what part of this earth's solid substance there was shown the most profound design and foresight, I should at once say. it was exhibited in the universal deposit of clay almost all over the world. Kate. My dear fellow, you know we could have lived in tents, or log-houses. Lucy. Or built houses with stone. Char. Ah! you could have done so; but what a paltry substitute for bricks to build houses with, which may either be a palace for a prince or a hovel for a pauper. Mr. R. And look at its other uses. Every cup, every vessel, vases of exquisite shape, glowing with colour and splendour,are also framed from it. Without clay, man would have been a poor, wretched being. If his house were not of stone, which it could not often be, he could never have dwelt in cities, where freedom was cradled--those fastnesses where the lamp of learning was kept duly burning, when it had been put out in baronial halls and castles. Kate. For my part, I cannot see anything so extraordinary in it. Char. What is clay, or gault, Kate? Kate. Why, my brother dear, it is clay, and grew there, undoubtedly. You might as well ask me what grass is, or any other ridiculous question. Jane. Pray, Charles, tell us what it is. Its properties of being hardened by fire are truly wonderful. Every man having...