254 BRIDGE OF A NEW CONSTRUCTION. June It, 



Intelligence refpeBing Arts, h\c. 



Bridge of a new Conflruclion. 



The following intelligence is extracted from tlie Leydeu 

 gazette of the 13th of May laft. 



" To all the lovers of archltefture, I announce, that I 

 liave rcfolved to publilh a work by fubfcription, giving di- 

 recilions for confirnBing a bridge of wood without pillars or 

 fupports, of which nothing like it has been defcribed by 

 any author who has hitherto treated of that matter, and 

 which cannot be equalled by any of thofe tliat have been 

 built in any place. 



" If there are fome parts in Europe, Vv'here the largenefs 

 of the river has not permitted a bridge of four or five bun- 

 dled feet in length to be conrtruclcd, for want of fuch 

 an invention j there are alfo others in which there are al- 

 ready bridges with pillars and fupports in the middle of 

 the river, which are often carried away, or very much en- 

 damaged by ice and inundations : theie misfortunes may 

 be remedied by this itiventlon. 



" The principal intention of this advcrtifement, is to in- 

 form the public, in i\i^Jir/l place, that I fhall deliver defigns 

 c:;graved upon cCpper, accompanied with defcriptions very 

 clear and intelligible, of a bridge of four hundred feet in 

 length, by thirty-eight in breadth. Secondly, this bridge 

 fliall have no more than fix feet of rife, that is to fay, when 

 you are on the middle of the bridge, and at two hun- 

 dred feet from either end of it, you fhall be only fix feet 

 ijigher than cither end of it. Third, It is neceffary to give 

 to this bridge, at each fide of the river, a firm foundation 

 as iit ordinary cafes 5 but it does not require parti- 

 cular butterefles, becaufe the bridge fuftains itfelf, as a 

 itrong vault, altogether free, from one fide of the river^to 

 tlie other, without pillars or fupports. Fourth, this work is 

 confirucled in fuch a firm manner, that if it be made of 

 Oik, it may endure for feveral ages without being in wan,t 



