BRIDGE OP ALCANTARA. 207 



which it stands. It is a beautiful piece of architecture, but its chief 

 curiosity consists in its being fourteen feet out of the perpendicular 

 although it has been thought to have been built in its present inclined 

 position from eccentricity on the part of the architect, yet there can be 

 no reasonable doubt, but that it is occasioned by the sinking of the earth 

 on one side of it. The entrance is by two beautiful bronze doors, said 

 to have been brought from Jerusalem. The view of the surrounding 

 country from the top is extensive and beautiful. 



BRIDGE OF ALCANTARASPAIN. (12) 



Alcantara is a small frontier city of great strength, in Spanish Estre- 

 madura, upon the banks of the Tagus; the town was originally built by 

 the Moors, on account of the conveniences of a fine stone bridge, which 

 is said to have an inscription that it was built in the reign of the Emperor 

 Trajan, by the Lusitania, who were assessed to pay the expences. It 

 was thus that the Moors gave to the town the name of Al-Cantara, which 

 signifies the bridge. This bridge is thrown across the river at a place 

 where it flows in a deep channel, between two high and steep rocks. It 

 is elevated two hundred and eleven feet ten inches (some reckon it only 

 one hundred and ninety-six feet) above the level of the water ; although 

 it consists but of six arches, it is five hundred and sixty-eight feet in 

 length and twenty-seven feet six inches in breadth; of the six arches, 

 the two in the centre are ninety-four feet wide. A triumphal arch in 

 honor of Trajan, rises in the centre, and a Mausoleum, constructed by 

 the Roman architect (Lacer), stands at the extremity towards the town. 

 This mausoleum, which owes its preservation to the enormous stones 

 with which it is constructed, has been changed into a chapel, dedicated 

 to St. Julian, and is now an object of veneration both to the townspeople 

 and the peasantry ; there is nothing else remarakable about the town, 

 except the strong walls, bastions, and other works, which its situation as 

 a frontier town seems to demand. 



MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, CONSTANTIOPLE. (13) 



This Mosque has been most talked of because it was anciently a 

 Christian temple, and was supposed to have suggested to the Turks the 

 grand dome or cupola, and which predominates in all their religious 

 edifices ; if the Turks did borrow the dome from it, they have greatly 



