192 
u The Natural Bridge, the most sublime of Nature’s works, 
though not comprehended under the present head, must not be 
pretermitted. It is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to have 
been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The 
fissure just at the bridge, is by some admeasurements, two hun¬ 
dred and seventy feet deep, by others only two hundred and 
five. It is about forty-five feet wide at the bottom, and ninety 
feet at the top; this of course determines the length of the bridge, 
and its height from the water, its breadth in the middle is about 
sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of the mass, 
at the summit of the arch about forty feet. A part of this thick¬ 
ness is constituted by a coat of earth, which gives growth to 
many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both sides, is 
one solid rock of limestone.—The arch approaches the semi¬ 
elliptical form, but the larger axis of fhe ellipsis, which would 
be the chord of the arch, is many times longer than the trans¬ 
verse. Though the sides of this bridge are provided in some 
parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolu¬ 
tion to walk to them, and look over into the abyss. You invo¬ 
luntarily fall on your hands and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep 
over it. Looking down from this height about a minute, gave me 
a violent head-ache. If the view from the? top be painful and in¬ 
tolerable, that from below is delightful in an equal extreme. It 
is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime, to be 
felt beyond what they are here: so beautiful an arch, so elevated, 
so light, and springing as it were up to heaven! The rapture of 
the spectator is really indiscribable! The fissure continuing 
narrow, deep, and straight, for a considerable distance above and 
below the bridge, opens a short but very pleasing view of the 
North Mountain on one side and Blue Ridge on the other, at the 
distance each of them of about five miles. This bridge is in the 
county of Rockbridge, to which it has given name, and affords a 
public and commodious passage over a valley, which cannot be 
crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance. The stream pas¬ 
sing under it is called Cedar creek. It is a water of James’s 
river, and sufficient in the driest seasons to turn a grist-mill, 
though its fountain is not more than two miles above.” 
I confess that I am no poet; yet I was very glad to have taken 
the trouble of coming hither; this rock-bridge being certainly 
one of the greatest wonders of nature 1 have ever beheld; and I 
have seen Vesuvius and the Phlegrean fields, the Giant’s Cause¬ 
way in Ireland, the Island of Staffa, and the Falls of Niagara! 
The brook under the bridge was almost dry; the most majestic 
view is from below. 
On the 23d of November we left the wretched tavern at the 
Natural Bridge, and returned to Staunton in a crowded stage, 
