286 



grandeur of massiness and of strait lines,' 

 and also their powerful effect in throwing off 

 the distance. If any one could doubt it, 

 let him substitute the most picturesque Al- 

 pine bridge of wood only^ with the most va- 

 ried intricacy of form, and he would imme- 

 diately feel how much the grandeur of the 

 whole scene would be destroyed. 



It is by no means improbable, that Claude 

 may have copied this bridge with little 

 alteration, from one that he had seen; for 

 in constructing bridges over rapid moun- 

 tainous torrents, the builder is often 

 obliged to make the piers and supports 

 of a much more massive kind, than the 

 weight of the woodwork requires, and 

 produces an effect of grandeur, where secu- 

 rity alone was thought of. At other times 

 in such situations, the builder is forced into 

 singular and picturesque forms and combi- 

 nations, into a. mixture of irregular wood- 

 work and masonry, with the equally irre- 

 gular supports furnished by the natural 

 rock ; and thus suggests ideas to the painter, 



