The mortar is made up by an assistant, called a bricklayers’ labourer, and is taken by him to the spot where the workman wants it in what is called a _hod_: this utensil, which consists of three sides of a rectangular box fixed edgeways at the end of a long handle, is expressly contrived to be carried on the man’s shoulder, and leave his hands disengaged, to enable him thus loaded to ascend and descend a long ladder; the hod being held standing upright on the handle, the labourer can put bricks into it with his right hand, or another assistant fills it with mortar. The manner in which the bricks are arranged in the work, is termed _bond_, and is of different kinds, according to the thickness of the wall, and the purposes for which it is intended. The bond most generally used is termed _Flemish_, in which the bricks are laid alternately lengthwise and across the thickness of the wall, the broadest side of the brick being laid horizontal, and never edgeways, in building _walls_ of every thickness. It was formerly usual to lay a whole course of bricks lengthwise, and that above it across; this disposition may be seen in old walls, and was termed _English-bond_. In every kind of bond, the joints of the bricks of one course are always made to fall over a brick in that beneath, or so that one joint may never be immediately over another. The site of a wall, or the walls of a building, being _set out_ or marked on the ground, a trench is dug in the earth for the foundations, the width and depth being determined on from the thickness and height of the superstructure, and from the nature of the soil. If this be loose or soft, and the edifice be an important one, it is often necessary to drive piles into the bottom of the trench, and lay a course of oak planking on the tops of these timbers, to form a firm foundation for the wall; but if the nature of the ground do not require such precautions, it is only necessary to level the bottom of the trench carefully, as on this the stability of the wall will entirely depend. A course of bricks is then laid dry on the earth, forming a band twice the width of the lowermost thickness of the wall to be built. This and the subsequent courses of the foundations should be constructed of the best bricks; but unfortunately in common houses this obvious requisite is entirely neglected. When this course is laid, thin mortar, or mortar almost fluid and having but little sand in it, is poured over the bricks, so as to flow into the joints and bind them together by hardening: a second course is then laid on the first, only narrower in width, and each subsequent course diminishes in the same regular manner on each side, till the width is reduced to the thickness at which it is proposed that the lower part of the wall should be built. A cross section of these foundations thus constructed would present the outline of a truncated pyramid, diminishing by regular sets-off or steps; this part of a wall is called the _footings_.