fc R I
B R I
The traffic of books was anciently very inconfiderable *, Jn- fomuch that the book- merchants both in England, France, Spain, and other countries were diftinguiflied by the appel- lation Jlationers, as having no (hops, but only ftands or ftalls in the ftreets, where they expofed their wares to fale. — Vid. Du Cang. 'Gloff. hat. T. 4. p. 951. voc. Stationarii. During this ftate, the civil magiftrate took little notice of the bookfellers ; leaving the government of them to the uni- versities, to whom they were fuppofed more immediately re- tainers: who accordingly gave them laws and regulations, fixed prices on their books, examined their correctnefs, and punifhed them at difcretion. — But when by the invention of printing, books and bookfellers began to multiply ; it became a matter of more confequence ; and the fovereigns took the direction of them into their own hands; giving them new ftatutes, appointed officers to fix prices % and grant licences, privileges 6 , &c. — 'Vid. Fritfch. diff, de bibliop. c. 4. b Id. ibid. c. 5. Thurman. bibl. acad. p. 10. Chevillier fhews, that the univerfity of Paris had formerly the fole power of creating and appointing bookfellers, who were to take an oath to the univerfity ; and were reputed part of the academical body, and as fuch entitled to the ex- emptions of the other members thereof. They were to give fecuritjr to the univerfity for their behaviour, and produce atteftations of their capacity for the difcharge of their office : the univerfity alfo depofed and expelled them at difcretion : they were obliged to appear at all affemblies of the univer- fity, when fummoned, and affift at the public proceffions thereof: they were obliged to lend their books to be read, or even copied by fuch as were difpofed to borrow, on cer- tain conditions prefcribed by the univerfity. If they kept any books by them which were not correct, the univerfity punifhed them : they were not allowed to buy any book of a ftudent without leave of the rector : nor were they al- lowed to gain above four deniers in a livre, by any copies fold to the members of the univerfity. Every bookfeller was obliged to have a catalogue of all his books hung up in the fhop, with the prices, as rated by the univerfity : no book- feller, who had not taken the oaths to the univerfity, might fell a book of above ten fols value. — Vid. Chevill. cliff, de l'o- rig. de Vimprim. I. 4. Jour, des Scav. T. 23. p. 240. Savar. I). Com. T. 2. p. 530. feq, voc. Libraire. This ftate lafted from the thirteenth century till the inven- tion of printing, and even till the end of the fifteenth cen- tury ; during which time there were only allowed twenty- four bookfellers, two binders, two illuminers, and two fworn book-writers, or copifts. — But from that time the kings of France began to take cognizance of them : Lewis XI. thought fit to prescribe fome new regulations in 1467 : under Fran- cis I. the bookfellers were brought wholly under the royal au- thority, and received ftatutes from the king. — Vid. Savar. lib. cit. p. 531.
Ahaf. Fritfch, chancellor of Jena, has a difTertation exprefs concerning bookfellers, de bibliopolis, but it is a jejune piece, and befides, half-filled with pafiages in High Dutch imtranf- lated : what we find in it any way curious, is fome quef- tions and cafes, between bookfellers and authors, which he difcufies on the principles of the Imperial and Saxon laws j as,- — whether any copy-money be due to an author, who has not been able to finiih his book by reafon of the difficulty of it? — whether a bookfeller, who printed the firft edition, be entitled to the refufal of the fecond ? — Whether new copy- money be due from the bookfeller to an author on a new edi- tion of a book ? — Whether a bookfeller may reprint a book without the knowledge and confent of the author ? — Whe- ther a number of copies be due to the author over and above the copy-money ? which he refolves in the affirmative. — And whether a bookfeller may feize his books unpaid for, in a. ftudent's clofet ? which he folves in the affirmative a . — See further concerning bookfellers, in the writers on Books and Printers. — More efpecially in Schoettgenius b , de la Caille c , Chevillier d , and others % who have written ex- prefsly on the fiibjec~t. — a Vid. Fritfch. trail, de Typogr. W Bibliopolis, he. Jen. 1675. 4 . diff. 1. c. 6. b Chrift. Scho- ettgenii diff. de Libraries & Bibliopolis antiquorum. Lipf. 17 10. 4 . A notitia of it is given in Reimm. Idea fyft. antiq. liter. p. 60. c Jean de la Caille, Hijloire de £ imprimerie & de la libraire, jufque en 1689. Par. 1689.4. An extract of which is given in Journ. des Scav. T. 17. p. 467. feqq. d And. Chevillier Vurigine de I'Imprimerie, Par. 1695. 4 . An ex- tract of it is given in "Jour, des Scav. T. 23. p. 223. feqq. Iteru p. 235. feqq. c Fabric. Bibl. Antiq. c. 19. §. 7. p. 607. & Thurm. Bibl. Acad. p. 10. Item p. 56.
BRIDGE, an edifice either of ftone or timber, confifting of one, or more arches erected over a river, canal, or the like, for the conveniency of croffing, or palling over from one fide to the other. See River, Arch, t3V. A bridge may be confidered as a road over water. See Road. Janus is made, by fome learned men, the firft inventor of bridges, as well as of fliips, and crowns : their reafon is, that in feveral ancient Greek, Sicilian, and Italian coins, there are repvefented on one fide a Janus, with two faces,
• and on the other, a bridge, or a crown, or a fhip.
The parts of a bridge are the peers, or legs, piles ; the arch-
es; the pavement, or way over for cattle and carriages; thd foot-banks on each fide for foot- parte ngers ; the rail or para- pet, which inclofes the whole ; and the butments, or ends of the bridge on the banks. See Peer, Butment, cjfe. Bridges are a fort of edifices very difficult to execute, on account of the inconvenience of laying foundations, and walling under water. The earlieft rules and in ft ructions re- lating to the building of bridge's, are given by Leon Baptifta Alberti, Archit. I. 8. Others were afterwards laid down by Palladio, /. 3. Serlio, /. 3. c. 4. and Scammozi, /. 5. all of which are collected by M. Blondel, Cours d'Archit. P. 5. /.I. p. 629. feq. The beft of them are alfo given by Goldman, Baukunjl. I. 4. c. 4. p. 134. and Hawkfmoor, Hijl. Lend, Bridg. p. 26. feq. M. Gautier has a piece ex- prefs on bridges, ancient and modern. Trait, des Ponts. Paris 17 16. 12 .
The conditions required in bridges are, that they be well- defigned, commodious, durable, and Mutably decorated. — ■ The peers of Rone-bridges are to be equal in number, that there may be one arch in the middle, where commonly the current is ftrongeft. Their thicknefs is not to be lefs than a fixth part of the fpan of the arch, nor more than a fourth. They are commonly guarded in front with an angular ftar- Hng or fpur, to break the force of the current ; though this defence is fometimes alfo turned femi circularly : in the an- cient bridges, it is always a right angle ; which has the ad- vantage of being ftronger and more durable than acute ones. The ftrongeft arches are thofe whofe fweep is a whole femi- circle. — For the rails, the height, ornaments, and the like, they are left to difcretion. — It is even complained, that no demonftrative reafons are given of the feveral proportions of the moft effential parts of bridges: much of which is ftill left to the difcretion of the builder, to be regulated according to the circumftances, defign, place, magnitude, &c, of the defigned edifice. M. Gautier wifb.es, that mathematical per- fons would take the ftructure and proportions of bridges into their consideration, in order to bring things to more certain- ty, and precifion, founded on unvariable geometrical truth. Something of which kind has been attempted by M. de la Hire, in Mem. Acad. R. Scienc. an. 1712. p. 70. and the Marquis de l'Hopital, mAcl, Erud. Lipf. 1695. p. 56. The breadth of a bridge, according to Baptifta Alberti, ought to be the fame as that of the highway which abuts on it : the breadth of the peers is to be one third of the aperture of the arches ; the ftarlings to be one half the breadth of the peers, and to rife above the greateft height to which the water ever mounts.
In the bridges of Avignon, St. Efprit, and Lyons, there is this remarkable, that they are not ftreight, efpecially the two former, but bent, having an angle, whofe convexity is turned towards the ftream, to break the force thereof : the pont St. Efprit, Dr. Robinfon obferves, is bowed in many places, making unequal angles, efpecially in thofe parts where the ftream is ftrongeft. The great peer in the middle of Jjowion-bridge, as we are told, was" intended to ferve for a fteadying to the whole machine, inftead of making an an- gle, as in the above-mentioned bridges.
The famous bridge of Venice, called the Rialto, confifts but of a fingle arch, and that a flat or low one ; paffing for a mafter-piece of art; being built in 1591, on the defign of Michael Angelo : the fpan of the arch is ninety-eight feet one half, and its height above the water only twenty-three feet. — Poulet alfo mentions a bridge, of a fingle arch, in the city Munfter in Bothnia, much bolder than that of the Ri- alto at Venice. But thofe are nothing to a bridge in China, built from one mountain to another, confifting of one fingle arch 400 cubits long, and 500 cubits high, whence it is called the Jlying-bridge : a figure of it is given in the Phi 'lo- fophical Tranfattions. Kircher alfo fpeaks of a. bridge in the fame country, 360 perches long without any arch ; fupport- ed only by 300 pillars.
To fecure the peers of bridges, they fometimes dimhiifh the current of the river, either by lengthening its courfe, by making it more winding (a method fometimes ufed by the ancients in rendering their rivers navigable) or by flopping the bottom of a rapid river, with rows of banks, flakes, or piles, which break the current.
The peers of a bridge always diminifh the bed of a river: fiippofe this diminution one fifth, it will follow, that in cafe of inundations, the bed muft be funk or hollowed one fifth more than before, fince the waters gain in depth what they have loft in breadth. Add, that as the quantity of the wa- ter remains ftill the fame, it will pafu with greater velocity by one fifth in the place where fuch contraction is : all which conduces to wafh away the foundation. The ftream thus augmented in velocity, will carry away flints and ftones, which before it could not ftir. See River. The foundations of bridges are to be laid at the feafon of the year when the waters are loweft, as in autumn ; and if the ground be rocky, hard gravel, or ftony, the firft ftones of the foundation may be laid on the furface, without digging deeper ; but if the foil be foft fand, or gravel, it will be ne- ceflary to turn off the water, and dig till you come at a firm bottom ; at baft, if this cannot be done, part of the C water
