274 



buildings, but to none more than to bridges; 

 and when all the circumstances of an arch- 

 ed bridge over a broad and rapid river, from 

 the foundation to the last finishing, are con- 

 sidered, it may be reckoned among the no- 

 blest efforts of architecture ; uniting,*per- 

 haps, in a higher degree than any other 

 buildings beauty, grandeur, utility, and 

 real, as well as apparent difficulty of ex- 

 ecution. 



The two general divisions of architecture 

 in England, the Grecian and the Gothic, 

 are as strongly marked in bridges as in other 

 buildino;s. In the old brido-es that were built 

 in the neighbourhood of castles and abbeys, 

 and probably about the same period, the 

 pointed arches, and the strong projecting 

 buttresses, while they accord w^ith similar 

 forms in the edifices, to which those bridges 

 ^yere in some measure appendages, gave to 

 them a remarkable appearance of firmness 

 and resistance to floods, with a peculiar 

 depth and opposition of light and shadow. 

 This agreement between the principal build- 

 ing, w^hether a castle, an abbey, or a great 



