pensive, and tedious progress may be accounted for. We confine ourselves to the masonry, a description of the dam will be hereafter presented that it may be of service to others who may have occasion to use such auxiliaries, in aquatick structures. The plan of the dam, and instructions for its establishment, do much honour to Mr. Weston who furnished them. Mr. Robinson our superintendant, has great merit in faithfully executing this plan. But many dangerous casualties and unforseen embarrassments baffled all previous arrangements; and required the immediate and unceasing efforts of the committee and the workmen to combat them. The members of the board, and others of our fellow citizens, who voluntarily assisted us in endeavours to evacuate the dam of the obstructions which prevented our totally baring the rock, have our thanks for their exertions. These have afforded conviction that the plan we adopted for the foundation, was indispensable. The result has undeniably proved its efficacy, competency, and permanence; and leaves no doubt of its being in contact with the rock; which, though somewhat irregular, rises at the interiour circumference of our dam and forms in the middle a tolerably regular cavity, well calculated to prevent (if the weight on it were not sufficient) any injury to, or movement of the foundation."

DESCRIPTION OF THE PIER. "Not being able to arrive nearer to the rock than three feet six inches, without the most imminent danger of ruin, and failure in our object, it was deemed (after every effort to evacuate the dam had been tried) most adviseable, and dictated by evident necessity to lay a rough foundation, before the masonry of cut stone commenced, about eight feet below the common bed of the river. This foundation was accordingly directed by the building committee; and on the 25th of December 1802 began to be formed. It consists of large foundation and smaller stone intermixed. Roach lime and sharp sand cover and fill the interstices of each layer of these stones; which are all well rammed; and reaching the rock, comfour feet thick, filling pose a solid mass, the whole interiour of the dam; the area whereof is 42 feet six inches in breadth, by 92 feet in length. On this foundation, the cut stone was laid, and the pier shaped to its proper dimensions; which are here 30 feet in breadth, by 71 feet 6 inches in its extreme length; the ends being semicircular. It continues of these dimensions to the first offset, about four feet from the foundation. There are six offsets to low water mark; each diminishing the pier about four inches; so that at that point it is twenty-six feet eight inches in breadth and six

ty-seven feet two inches in length. There are from this point, to 18 inches above high water mark, three offsets, each diminish. ing the pier 10 inches. So that the dimen. sions, at this point, are twenty-one feet eight inches in breadth, and sixty three feet two inches in length; the whole continuing semicircular at the ends. From this point the pier begins to batter and the cut stone ceases. The hammered stone in range work, begins, and rising sixteen feet, lessens regularly to nineteen feet four inches in width, and in length sixty feet ten inches.

Six

When finished it will be in height fifty-five feet nine inches from the rock, and will be neatly surmounted with cut stone, at each end, formed in the shape of a half dome. The cut stone are all clamped at every joint, with iron clamps, well secured. The outer ashlers are all laid in tarras mor. tar. There are a proper number of headers, dove-tailed in each course; running into the pier many feet. On these are laid vast rough stone, some whereof are twelve tons in weight. These large stones of various sizes, are common in the interiour of the pier, which is laid in a workmanlike manner, in common mortar, and properly filled with smaller stone; the whole being grouted and forming a solid, mass. large and heavy chains, are worked into the masonry, cross wise of the pier, at the foundation; and a large curb of timber, hooped with iron, surrounds the cut stone at this point. Fifteen other massive chains, fastened at proper places, with perpendicu lar bolts, well wedged, are dispersed in various parts of the pier, crosswise thereof, as high as low water mark. The whole masonry of the pier, was performed (including the winter work with all its disadvantages) in seventy four working days, after we had been seven months preparing and fixing the dam. Two months of this period were employed in incessant pumping, clearing and combatting casualties and impediments the most embarrassing and expensive.→→→ The courses of cut stone vary in depth, the least course being ten inches, and the largest two feet eight inches in depth."

"The foundation is further secured by the embankment of stone, intermixed and embodied with sand, thrown around the dam, on the bed of the river, to the height of fourteen feet. The interiour piling will be cut off below low water mark, and connected with the pier by chains. Building stone are thrown in, between this piling and the masonry, about ten feet high, the whole forming a strong barrier against any attacks on the foundation."

"Had we foreseen that so many casualties, difficulties, and dangers would have attended our enterprise, we should proba bly not have hazarded the undertaking."

"We were convinced that the whole of our success depended on completing this pier; and persevered against casualties and impediments, which frequently appeared insurmountable. It is at length accomplished, and the completion of our whole work thereby ensured. We mention, not as it respects ourselves, but for the emulation and encouragement of others, who may be obliged to encounter similar circumstances, that by perseverance, we have prevailed over the most discouraging obstacles. A pier of solid masonry, having 7250 tons on it foundation, which is twenty-nine feet below low water mark, and at high tide, 38 to 40 feet deep, was begun on Christmas day, in a severe winter, in a depth of water uncommonly forbidding, and in forty days carried up from necessity, during the inclemency of the season, to near low water mark; the point aimed at in our original design, for the work of an earlier and more temperate period.

No warm shielding breast the chill winds to assuage,

They buffet his head, unrelenting, unstaying.

Alas! from the womb

He has fled to the tomb,"

How damp are its walls, and how fearful the gloom!

Ah! the life that thou spent, it shall never return,

Yet why should man weep, or the son of man mourn?

Go roam to the forest and green breasted hill,

Go roam through the sweet-scented wilds of the valley,

Go learn from the birds, who with grati tude thrill,

It is weak thy existence in sorrow to dally:

Let not Hope deceive,

And for fear never grieve,

But uprightly walk, and contentedly live, And cry, when on past life exploring you turn,

O! why should man weep, or the son of man mourn?

When thy temples are furrowed, thy locks are all grey,

And low to the valley of death thou art bending,

Then a hope shall arise that fades never

away,

There's a Father in Heaven to forgive my offending.

Sing, sing, son of man,

That so short is thy span,

of cares,

fortless urn,

CARLOS.

Vol. V.

No. 15.

spector of the works lives, and, draw ing his resources from reservoirs at a distance, supplies either side of him with water, as he is informed it is required. The principal of these is, the reservoir of St. Feneol, which, to my very great regret, I had it not in my power to visit. This enormous basin is 160 feet deep, and 14,468 feet round; it is formed by a circle of mountains, and confined at the only outlet by a wall, which is 234 feet thick. The Inspector put me in mind of Virgil's Eolus, directing the fury of the winds, at pleasure, from the hollow mountain, which served him as a palace; he was civil to us, however, notwithstanding his empire over an element as formida ble as the winds, and explained all the particulars of his employment, with great good nature. He then

showed us his garden, in which were espaliers and dwarf apple trees: many of these last, though not a foot high, had several apples, which seemed out of all proportion large. We passed more quickly than I could have wished, by the ancient city of Carcassone, whose walls seem

D d

ed as old as those of Troy, and whose dismantled castle would have suited us exactly, had we been in 'the situation of Lamotte and his family, (you remember Lamotte,) it was gloomy and terrifick in the extreme, and no path could be discovered leading up to it. We began now to perceive fig-trees, in abundance, and greater quantities of Indian corn: as to the roads, nothing that I could say could give you an idea of their magnificent perfection. There are causeways for miles together, kept up by stone walls, and handsome bridges, wherever an accidental torrent from a winter shower might, sometimes, make the water a foot deep. Arthur Young's Tour through France will give you proper ideas on this subject, and a great deal of other information. We now quitted the direction of the canal, and proceeded to wards Narbonne, across a country similar to that we had hitherto travelled through for scenes of plenty and population; but with this difference, that olive trees began to appear, and the herbs, which grew by the road side, were either thyme or sweet marjoram: in the villages which we passed, as well as in the fields, the people were busily employed in their vintage: several of the men had their legs red with the juice of the grape, and one young lady, with her petticoats neatly tucked up about her knees, was making wine in a tub by the door of her house. We dined at Narbonne, once so distinguished in Roman history, as giving name to a large portion of Gaul, but now distinguished for little more than the honey, which is made in its neighbourhood. At a time when the ocean was navigated in much smaller vessels than at present, Narbonne was more ofasea-port, than it is now,and Cæsar embarked thence, after escaping the effects of a conspiracy, which he seems never to have known of. The communication with the Mediterranean, was then kept up, as it is now, by means of a canal and a lagoon; but this canal has, of late years, been joined to that of

Languedoc, and is far more than sufficient for all that exists of trade and intercourse at Narbonne, and in its neighbourhood. There were once to be found here very considerable remains of Roman architecture, but they have been sacrificed, on various occasions, to the defence of the town, and to the construction of those antique walls, which still retain a ve ry, respectable appearance.

The Episcopal residence of for mer times, (I am not certain to what use it has been since applied) looks like the palace of a Prince, and the Cathedral is one of the most stately and solemn buildings I ever beheld. The Sacristan, who attended us, told us, with tears in his eyes, of the ravages, and of the horrible outrages committed during a period of the re volution; when it was fashionable to decry and to destroy everything any way connected with religion. His family had filled the same office, from father to son, for the greater part of two centuries, and the Cathedral was to him the Holy of Ho lies: he pointed out to us, with honest pride, certain sacred ornaments, as we walked about the church, which he had found means to secrete, and some valuable pictures, which he saved in the same manner. I observed too, that the workmen were at that moment, employed upon the great organ, which had been very much mutilated.

From Narbonne to Beziers, the road is short, and we arrived at a very early hour, through crowds of peo ple returning into town from the vin tage of the day: some very pretty girls were of the number, and mounted, two at a time, upon asses, with old and young people, and chil dren in carts, and servants, carrying baskets of grapes on their heads. It seemed a procession in honour of Bacchus. We here join ed the line of the canal again, and, admiring the neighbouring hills, whose sides were covered with olive trees, we drove up a very steep ascent, under an ancient gateway, into

The first relates merely to the nymph, and the second only to the cat. The sixth stanza contains a melancholy truth, that a favourite has no friend; but the last ends in a pointed sentence of no relation to the purpose; if what glister'd had been gold, the cat would not have gone into the water; and, if she had, would not less have been drowned?"

of it.

We were disappointed also innot be ing able to see and to admire the approach to Montpelier, of which we had heard a great deal, as we did not arrive until after night, and during a hard rain. I had observed during the day, however, that the country rose in gentle hills, and that there was a profusion of all that could cheer the heart of man, amid towns, and villages, and castles, and country houses, and that these last were in a style of greater magnificence, and in greater numbers as we approached the city.

CRITICISM.

For The Port Folio. Ode on the death of a favourite cat: Trifling as the ode on the death of a favourite cat was probably held to be by Mr. Gray, and as it is denominated by his criticks, it furnishes many topicks of remark. Dr. Johnson has been unusually diffuse:" the poem on the cat was doubtless considered as a trifle, but it is not a happy trifle. In the first stanza, the azure flowers that blow, show resolutely a rhyme is sometimes made when it cannot easily be found. Selima, the cat, is called a nymph, with some violence, both in language and in sense; but there is good use made of it when it is done; for, of the two lines,

What female heart can gold despise ?
What cat's averse to fish!

"This ode," says Mr. Wakefield, is, beyond all dispute, the least excellent of all Mr. Gray's productions; but the cause of this inferiority must be sought for in the tenuity of the subject, which was incapable of great things: and not in the meanness of its execution, or the imbecility of his genius. A gayety of imagination, and a spriteliness of humour, invested with melodious verse and elegant expression, are its undoubt ed recommendations; and of what uther excellence was such a simple event susceptible."

Allowing for the ill humour with which Dr. Johnson writes, we are not indisposed to admit his objections to this ode. In describing the fish as angel forms, and denominating the cat a nymph, and presumptuous maid, the poet has only assumed the indisputable privilege of elevating his subject, and giving an allegorical turn to his narration. Dr. Johnson is certainly right in his concluding criticism; that all that glistens is not gold is nothing to the purpose; but here it may be agreeable to extend the observation. If we reconsider the poem, it is evident that Gray's design in the composition, was to produce a moral fable, and so relate the story as that it should equally evince the fatal consequence of a cat's heedlessness in catching fish, and beauty's in catching gold. If he have failed in so simple an undertaking, it is not easy to excuse him; and yet, if we decide impartially, we must allow that the failure has happened, in as far as the concluding lines do not ex press what is intended. The angel forms which occupy the place of the beauteous forms, as originally written,