680 



GARDENESQUE STYLE OF FLOWER-GARDENS. 



ing from the top of two cast-iron columns 

 at the ends of the bridge. These columns 

 were cast hollow, and within each of them 

 w T as placed a vertical bar of wrought iron, 

 two inches and a half square, to which 

 the wires were attached. Those who 

 agree with F. L. Von Sckell, of Munich, 

 that rustic bridges are inadmissible in 

 garden scenery, on account of their tem- 

 porary and insecure appearance, may 

 safely adopt the wire or chain suspension 

 bridges, as being of a more permanent 

 character, and as being less expensive 

 than stone ones. 



Both the iron arched bridge, and also 

 the suspension bridge of the same mate- 

 rial, according to Sir Thomas Dick 

 Lauder's views, are deficient in picturesque 

 effect — the former wanting the massive- 

 ness of stone, and the latter that pictorial 

 effect which he believes is produced by 

 wooden ones. He remarks 

 " that several ages must 

 elapse before the eye be- 

 comes so much accustomed to 

 their flimsy appearance, as to 

 be able fully to tolerate them. 

 The wire bridge, indeed, may 

 furnish a cheap and com- 

 modious means of passing a 

 river, but it is so devoid of 

 substance that it never can 

 become an object that may be admired 

 as a feature in landscape." It appears to 

 him that, of iron bridges, those are of best 

 appearance which consist of the fewest 

 parts, and those parts of the most massive 

 description ; w T hile those are least so 

 which have the greater number of parts, 

 and those parts thin and fragile-looking. 

 If intricacy of construction be considered 

 by some as an ingredient that constitutes 

 beauty, "I certainly think," he says, 

 " that it does not do so in the article of 

 iron bridges ; indeed, it has often occurred 

 to me that the way to make an iron 

 bridge look well would be to board up 

 its sides and the interior of the circle of 

 the arch underneath, so as to give it the 

 appearance of solidity, and to paint it in 

 such a manner as to give it the semblance 

 of stone." 



On the character and effect of wooden 

 bridges, Price observes — "Many of the 

 wooden bridges in Alpine scenes, with 

 the supports irregularly crossing each 

 other, are universally admired for their 



wild picturesque character, so well suited 

 to that of the scenery ; and even where 

 wooden bridges are executed with great 

 mechanical skill, on a regular plan, still a 

 great degree of intricacy, though of a less 

 picturesque kind, must arise from the 

 necessary crossings of the timbers. In- 

 tricacy is, therefore, a principal charac- 

 teristic of wooden bridges, as solidity, and 

 consequently a certain degree of massive- 

 ness, is of stone bridges ; for whatever is 

 solidly built of any hard material, how- 

 ever light the general appearance, must 

 be massy in parts, when compared with 

 that which is of wood only, and where 

 the different supports, (whether upright 

 or slanting,) together with the pieces 

 which, by intersecting, tie them together, 

 are all visible." 



Figs. 949, 950 show elevation and plan 

 of a very simple suspension bridge, made 



Fig. 950 



of light iron rods, and erected over the 

 Tweed at Dryburgh. 



Several specimens, of which fig. 951 is 

 an example, have been built of late years 



Fig. 951. 



in the Regent's Park and elsewhere, upon 

 a principle in which a singularly small 

 consumption of iron is required, a great 

 portion of the heavy weight of the chain 

 being dispensed with. 



The late Mr Loudon remarks, in "Villa 

 Architecture," " that bridges are amongst 

 the noblest structures which can be 

 erected in pleasure-grounds ; and, unlike 

 rustic seats and root-houses, they main- 

 tain this character even when constructed 

 of materials of temporary duration, from 

 their obvious and unquestionable utility. 



