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THE WEEK.

NOVEMBER 30.-The birth-day of Dr. Jonathan Swift, the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick's. He was born at Dublin, or, according to other accounts, at Cashel, in the county of Tipperary, in 1667. Both his father and mother, however, were English; and the latter was aunt to John Dryden, the great poet, who was therefore Swift's cousin. She was also related to the wife of Sir William Temple; and this connexion, after Swift had studied the usual time at Trinity College, Dublin, opened an entrance for him into public life. Having in his twenty-first year come over to England and paid a visit to Sir William at his seat of Moor Park in Surrey, the retired ambassador was so much pleased with his conversation, that he kept him with him for several years. Here Swift used frequently to meet King William, with whom he soon became a great favourite. He seems, however, to have eventually fallen out of the good graces of his Majesty, by declining the offer of a captaincy of horse, on the plea that his inclination lay more towards the church. In 1694 he took orders; and proceeding to Ireland, he received a prebend in that country from the Lord Deputy Capel, to whom he had been recommended. This, however, he soon after resigned, and returned to Sir William Temple, with whom he resided till the death of that eminent person in 1700. Temple, besides a sum of money, left his papers to his young friend; by whom a selection of them was soon after published in two volumes. Swift's next patron was the Earl of Berkeley, who, on being appointed one of the Lords Justices for Ireland, took him with him as his secretary and chaplain. On Lord Berkeley's return to England Swift went to reside at Laracor, a small living which he held in the county of Meath; and it was soon after this that he published his first political pamphlet, entitled A Discourse on the Contests between the Nobles and Commons in Athens and Rome,' being a defence of the existing administration. In 1704 appeared anonymously his famous Tale of a Tub,' accompanied by the Battle of the Books;' in which performances he first gave evidence of that power of satirical humour which has proved to be the most distinguishing quality of his genius. These publications were followed by others of a political character, in which he appeared as the champion of the Tory party; and to such importance did he quickly raise himself by these services, that in 1710 he was sent for to England by Harley and St. John, and immediately taken into their most intimate confideuce. It appears, indeed, that for some time public affairs were in a great measure directed by his advice. Meanwhile he continued his services with his pen, and gave to the world a succession of able tracts in support of the policy of his patrons. This period also, the most brilliant, and probably the happiest of his life, was that of his chief intercourse with Pope, and Arbuthnot, and Addison, and his other illustrious literary friends. It was generally expected, and by himself, no doubt, as well as by others, that his active and useful partisanship would be rewarded by the highest professional advancement; but when a place on the English episcopal bench at last became vacant, the Queen, at the instigation, it is said, of Sharpe, Archbishop of York, objected to the extreme levity of some of his literary performances, and especially of his 'Tale of a Tub,' and would not consent to his promotion. He was forced, therefore, to be contented with the Deanery of St. Patrick's in Dublin, of which he went over to take possession in 1713. He now withdrew himself for some years from politics, and even from the press, occupying his time chiefly in regulating the chapter of his cathedral, into the management of whose affairs he introduced many useful reforms. It was not till 1720 that he again appeared as an author, by the publication of his celebrated Drapier's Letters,' in exposure of the scandalous job of a patent granted by the government to

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a person named Wood for the coinage of Irish farthings from debased metal. The patriotic and successful stand which he made on this occasion for the rights and interests of his country raised him to unbounded popularity, and acquired for him an influence in Ireland probably greater than was possessed by any other individual, and which he never afterwards lost. In 1726 appeared his Gulliver's Travels,' which of all his works has most contributed to extend and perpetuate his fame. This book is the most remarkable example in literature of the combination of that which is fitted for the comprehension of the initiated few, and of that which is addressed to the multitude; for, while it abounds with strokes of general and political satire which can only be perceived by those who have both been in the habit of reflecting upon human nature and society, and are well acquainted with the history of the author's age, it con tains at the same time scarcely a sentence which is not intelligible and full of interest even to the youngest reader: it is a book at once for philosophers and for children. The latter, however, probably read it after all with the most delight, though they, as it were, only half understand it; for it is much more captivating, and also, in an extended sense of the word, much more true, as a work of imagination than as a work of philosophy. After this Swift sent to press various other shorter performances, partly of a political and partly of a miscellaneous nature; and it was also during this latter part of his life that he wrote some of the most elaborate and spirited of his poetical pieces. In 1736 he was seized with a deafness and giddiness from which he never recovered, and which gradually increased into a general decay of his whole system, till at last, in the beginning of the year 1742, both his bodily and his mental faculties were reduced to a state of almost entire prostration. He lingered, however, in this lamentable condition till the 29th of October, 1745, when he expired in the seventyeighth year of his age. Swift's works have been several times printed in a collected form; but the last and best edition is that with a Life and notes by the late Sir Walter Scott, in nineteen volumes octavo. He occupies a very high rank among the prose authors of England. If the quality of a pure style, indeed, were to be estimated by its freedom from anything poetical, Swift would be the greatest of all our writers of prose. But although his diction is to an almost unrivalled degree plain and unornamented, it yet derives, from its union of perspicuity with idiomatic expression, a singular terseness, strength, and vivacity. His poetry seldom rises to anything properly deserving that name. The most remarkable attribute of his genius is that exquisite sense of the ludicrous, which, combined as it was with great powers of observation, and controlled by the most unerring sagacity and judgment, enabled him to assume and support a tone of grave humour, in which he has certainly never been excelled. Much of what he wrote, however, in this style is debased by a coarseness which is very offensive, and is calculated to convey anything rather than an agreeable impression of his general disposition and habits. Indeed very little can be said for the moral character of this great writer. It may be allowed that he was charitable, and free from the love of money; but this is nearly all that can be advanced in his favour. His selfishness, in almost every thing else, displayed itself in the most intense form; even those who experienced his kindness were obliged to take his rudeness and unfeeling insults along with his bounty. His imperious and ungenerous nature was always best pleased with the meanest servility, in any who sought his aid or patronage. But the blackest and most indelible stain on his memory, is the story of his treatment of the two females whose affections he courted and gained, only to ruin their peace and send them in succession to a premature grave. The first of these was a Miss Johnson,

appurtenant to the Castle for a very long period. Here | ment of some capital two or three thousand years hence, several of the most amusing scenes of Shakspeare's should convey an incorrect notion of the dress that an Merry Wives of Windsor' are laid; and tradition still Englishman wore in the nineteenth century. points out a withered tree as the identical oak of "Herne

the hunter."

"There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,

Some time a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,

Walk round about the oak with great ragg'd horns.”
In fact, this Little Park was formerly part of Windsor
Forest; but in progress of time the public road to the
town was carried through it, and parcels of land sur-
rounding the town became private property. In the
reign of Queen Anne that part of Windsor Forest which
remained the property of the Crown, under the name of
the Great Park, was cut off from the Castle by the inter-
vening private property. To remedy this inconvenience
it was resolved, in that reign, to purchase as much land
as might be required to complete an avenue leading
from the Castle to the Forest. This was done, and the
present Long Walk was formed.

POMPEII*.

Ir is characteristic of the noblest natures and the finest imaginations to love to explore the vestiges of antiquity, and to dwell in times that are no more. The past is the domain of the imaginative affections alone: we can carry none of our baser passions with us thither. The antiquary is often spoken of as a being of a peculiar construction of intellect, which makes him think and feel differently from other people. But, in truth, the spirit of antiquarianism is one of the most universally diffused of human tendencies; there is perhaps scarcely any person, for example, not utterly stupid or sophisticated, who would not feel a strange thrill come over him in the wonderful scene which these volumes describe. Looking round upon the long-buried city, who would not for the The Long Walk, which many of our readers may moment utterly forget the seventeen centuries that had have seen and more heard of, is generally considered the revolved since Pompeii was part and parcel of imperial finest thing of its kind in Europe. A perfectly straight Rome, and see in vision the living masters of the world road runs from the principal entrance of the Castle to moving to and fro along its streets! It would not be a the top of a commanding hill in the Great Park, called mere fever of curiosity that would occupy the mind,—an Snow Hill-a distance of more than three miles. On impatience to pry into every hole and corner of a scene each side of the road, which is slightly elevated, is a at once so old and so new. Besides all that, there would double row of stately elms, now at their maturity, some be a sense of the actual presence of those past times, alindeed beginning to show signs of decay. Nothing can be most like the illusion of a dream. There is, in fact, perhaps finer than the general effect of this immense vista. The no other spot of interest on the globe, which would be stranger who is tempted to pursue the road to its ter- found to strike so deep an impression into so many mination on the hill is amply repaid by a most splendid minds; and yet, in this country, but little has hitherto prospect, of great extent, and comprehending objects of been popularly known about Pompeii. It has been left powerful interest. He is now upon the ridge, whose undescribed, except in works inaccessible to the genecontinuation, about a mile to the eastward, leads to a rality of readers, either from their high price, or from spot which has given a name to the earliest, and in some being written in a foreign language. Here is a little respects the best, descriptive poem of our language, publication, which comes to supply this want. It conCooper's Hill.' Windsor Castle appears almost attains, we believe, the most comprehensive account of his feet; to his left is a magnificent expanse of forest scenery; to his right is the Thames, seen beyond the little plain of Runnemede, where Magna Charta was extorted from King John by his barons. The hills in the distance are those of Harrow and Hampstead.

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During the past summer a colossal equestrian statue of George III. has been erected on the highest point of this hill. The figure terminates the avenue, at a distance of about three miles and a half from the Castle, and, of course, forms a prominent object at every step of the way. It is raised, as will be perceived from the wood-cut, upon a mass of stones intended to represent a rock. The total elevation of the statue and its pedestal is more than fifty feet. The statue itself is twenty-six feet in height. The circumstance, however, of the gradual approach to it through a vista of very lofty trees, and the large forms of the trees immediately surrounding it, greatly diminish the effect of its gigantic proportions. Till the spectator approaches within a hundred yards, he does not feel that the figures are of colossal dimensions; and yet we were told by a person who saw the statue before it was placed on its pedestal, that he could not span the fore-finger. The likeness of the face to George III. is very admirable; but those who recollect that monarch in his plain blue coat, or his military jack-boots, will have difficulty to recognise him in his Roman costume. The very eminent sculptor, Mr. Westmacott, has in this particular to allege the example of the statue of Peter the Great, and of many other celebrated works of modern art; but it has, on the other hand, been successfully shown that the ungracefulness of European dress may be, in a great degree, overcome by skilful arrangements, and that truth of representation in this -particular is not incompatible with high taste.

At any

every thing relating to the disinterred city, that is to be found in any one work; and although it cannot, of course, be placed in comparison with some of the more magnificent and costly publications which have been devoted to this subject, in respect either to the elaborate character of its investigations and details, or to the splendour of its pictorial illustrations, it may be perused with more advantage by the general reader, who is new to such studies, than perhaps any of these more pretending performances. The author has aimed throughout to make his descriptions subservient to the explanation of the manners, customs, arts, and general state of society in the ancient world; and the work becomes in this way a manual of classic antiquities, which may be read with the more pleasure, because quite divested of the parade and formality of a school-book. In no other way indeed would it, we think, be possible for a person ignorant of, or but superficially acquainted with this department of learning, sooner to acquire both a taste for it, and a tolerably extensive knowledge of some of its most important details. The volumes may be read, however, with interest and advantage by very well instructed scholars; for they contain within a small compass the results of extensive research, and on some of the points which they discuss present more ample and various information, than would readily be found collected together anywhere else. They are also profusely illustrated by steel engravings and wood-cuts, so that the descriptions of the text can hardly fail to be intelligible and attractive, even to the youngest minds.

The first volume is devoted to a general description of the circumstances attendant upon the destruction of Pompeii, and the history of the discovery of its ruins, in the last century. The remains of its public buildings are

* Pompeii, 2 vols.; in the series of the Library of Entertaining

rate it is to be lamented that any statue of brass, which,
from its almost imperishable material, may be the orna- | Knowledge.

accurately described. We extract the following account was present at the excavation of this house, and saw the of the Roman roads :—

The chief approach to Pompeii was through Naples and Herculaneum, along a branch of the Appian way. It is well known that the Romans constructed with great solidity, and maintained with constant care, roads diverging from the capital to the extremities of the empire. The good condition of these was thought to be of such importance, that the charge was only intrusted to persons of the highest dignity, and Augustus himself assumed the care of those in the neighbourhood of Rome. The expense of their construction was enormous, but they were built to last for ever, and to this day remain entire and level in many parts of the world, where they have not been exposed to destructive violence.

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mills at the moment of their discovery, when the iron-work, though entirely rust-eaten, was yet perfect enough to explain satisfactorily the method of construction.

The base is a cylindrical stone, about five feet in diameter, and two feet high. Upon this, forming part of the same block, or else firmly fixed into it, is a conical projection about two feet high, the sides slightly curving inwards. Upon this there rests another block, externally resembling a dice-box, internally an hour-glass, being shaped into two hollow cones with their vertices, towards each other, the lower one fitting the conical surface on which it rests, though not with any degree of accuracy. To diminish friction, however, a strong iron pivot was inserted in the top of the solid cone, and a corresponding socket let into the narrow part of the hour-glass. Four holes were cut through the They usually were raised some height above the ground stone parallel to this pivot. The narrow part was hooped which they traversed, and proceeded in as straight a line as on the outside with iron, into which wooden bars were possible, running over bill and valley with a sovereign con- inserted, by means of which the upper stone was turned tempt for all the principles of engineering. They consisted upon its pivot, by the labour of men or asses. The upper of three distinct layers of materials; the lowest, stones, hollow cone served as a hopper, and was filled with corn, mixed with cement, (statumen) *; the middle, gravel or which fell by degrees through the four holes upon the solid small stones, (rudera), to prepare a level and unyielding cone, and was reduced to powder by friction between the surface to receive the upper and most important structure, two rough surfaces. Of course it worked its way to the which consisted of large masses accurately fitted together. bottom by degrees, and fell out on the cylindrical base, It is curious to observe that after many ages of imperfect round which a channel was cut to facilitate the collection. paving we have returned to the same plan. The new These machines are about six feet high in the whole, pavement of Cheapside and Holborn is based in the same made of a rough grey volcanic stone, full of large crystals way upon broken granite, instead of loose earth which is of leucite. Thus rude in a period of high refinement and constantly working through the interstices, and vitiating the luxury, was one of the commonest and most necessary solid bearing which the stones should possess. A further machines: thus careless were the Romans of the amount of security against its working into holes is given by dressing labour wasted in preparing an article of daily and universal each stone accurately to the same breadth, and into the consumption. This, probably, arose in chief from the emform of a wedge, like the voussoirs of an arch, so that each ployment of slaves, the hardness of whose task was little tier of stones spans the street like a bridge. This is an cared for; while the profit and encouragement to enterprise improvement on the Roman system: they depended for the on the part of the professional baker was proportionally solidity of their construction on the size of their blocks, diminished, since every family of wealth probably prepared which were irregularly shaped, although carefully and firmly its bread at home. But the same inattention to the useful fitted. These roads, especially in the neighbourhood of arts runs through every thing that they did. Their skill in cities, had, on both sides, raised footways (margines), pro-working metals was equal to ours; nothing can be more tected by curb-stones, which defined the extent of the central beautiful than the execution of tripods, lamps, and vases, part (agger) for carriages. The latter was barrelled, that nothing coarser than their locks; while at the same time no water might lie upon it. the door-handles, bolts, &c. which were seen, are often The second volume, however, which relates more to be referred? Here we see that a material improvement in exquisitely wrought. To what cause can this sluggishness domestic matters, is probably the one which will be any article, though so trifling as a corkscrew or pencil-case, found most interesting to general readers. The chapters,is pretty sure to make the fortune of some man, though in particular, on the houses of Pansa and Sallust, on that of the Tragic Poet, that of the Quaestor, that of the Nereids, the art of baking as practised by the ancients, their writing implements, &c. are well calculated to arrest their most eager attention. We subjoin an account of the baker's shop:

We reckon, among the most interesting discoveries of Pompeii, those which relate to the manner of conducting handicrafts; of which it is not too much to say that we know nothing, except through this medium. It is to be regretted, that as far as our information goes, there are but two trades on which any light has yet been thrown, those, namely, of the baker and the dyer.

Three bakers' shops at least have been found, all in a tolerable state of preservation. The mills, the oven, the kneading troughs, the vessels for containing water, flour, leaven, have all been discovered, and seem to leave nothing wanting to our knowledge: in some of the vessels the very flour remained, still capable of being identified, though reduced almost to a cinder. But in the centre some lumps of whitish matter resembling chalk remained, which, when wetted and placed on a red-hot iron, gave out the peculiar odour which flour thus treated emits. One of these shops was attached to the house of Sallust, the other to the house of Pansa: probably they were worth a handsome rent. The third, which we select for description, for one will serve perfectly as a type of the whole, seems to have belonged to a man of higher class, a sort of capitalist; for instead of renting a mere dependency of another man's house, he lived in a tolerably good house of his own, of which the bakery

forms a part.

Mazois (a French writer, who has described Pompeii) Statumen, that which supports anything. Vitruvius uses it for the coating of a floor.

† Rudera, rubble, rough stone, or broken pottery.

unfortunately that man is very often not the inventor. Had the encouragement to industry been the same, the result would have been the same. Articles of luxury were in high request, and of them the supply was first rate. But the demands of a luxurious nobility would never have repaid any man for devoting his attention to the improvement of mills, or perfecting smith's work, and there was little general commerce to set ingenuity at work. Italy imported largely both argicultural produce and manufactures in the shape of tribute from a conquered world, and probably exported part of her peculiar productions; but we are not aware that there is any ground for supposing that she manufactured goods for exportation to any extent.

Originally mills were turned by hand; and this severe labour seems, in all half savage times, to have been conducted by women. Among the Romans poor freemen used when all other resources failed; and Plautus is said to have done so, being reduced to the extreme of poverty, and to have composed his comedies while thus employed. This labour, however, fell chiefly upon slaves, and is represented as being the severest drudgery which they had to undergo. mill as a punishment, and sometimes forced to work in Those who had been guilty of any offence were sent to the chains. Asses, however, were used by those who could afford it. The use of water-mills, however, was not unknown to the Romans. Vitruvius describes their construction in terms not inapplicable to the mechanism of a common mill of the present day; and other ancient authors refer to them.

sometimes to hire themselves out to the service of the mill

mill, is the aperture to the cistern by which the water used In the centre of the pier at the back, half hidden by the in making bread was supplied. On each side are vessels to hold the water; one is seen, the other hidden.

The oven is seen on the left. It is made with con siderable attention to economy of heat. The real oven is enclosed in a sort of ante-oven, which alone is seen in our

view. The latter had an aperture in the top for the smoke | Several of these loaves have been found entire. They are to escape. The hole in the side is for the introduction of flat, and about eight inches in diameter.

dough, which was prepared in the adjoining room, and deposited through that hole upon the shovel with which the man in front placed it in the oven. The bread, when baked, was conveyed to cool in a room on the other side the oven, by a similar aperture. Beneath the oven is an ash-pit. To the right of our view is a large room which is conjectured to have been a stable. The jaw-bone of an ass, and some other fragments of a skeleton, were found in it. There is a reservoir for water at the farther end, which passes through the wall, and is common both to this room and the next, so that it could be filled without going into the stable. The farther room is fitted up with stone basins, which seem to have been the kneading-troughs. It contains also a narrow and inconvenient staircase.

Though bread-corn formed the principal article of nourishment among the Italians, the use of bread itself was not of early date. For a long time the Romans used their corn sodden into pap: and there were no bakers in Rome antecedent to the war against Perseus, king of Macedonia, about A. U. 580. Before this every house made its own bread; and this was the task of the women, except in great houses, where there were men cooks. And even after the invention of bread, it was long before the use of mills was known; but the grain was bruised in mortars. Their loaves appear to have been very often baked in moulds, several of which have been found: these may possibly be artoptæ, and the loaves thus baked, artopticii (mentioned by Roman writers).

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[Longitudinal Section of the Tunnel, showing the progress made, and the proposed continuation.]

THE Company having been incorporated in 1924 by an Act of Parliament, the work was begun in March, 1825. A shaft 50 feet diameter was constructed, destined to form ultimately the descent for the footways. This structure was in the first instance laid upon piles, and raised to the height of 42 feet, including a cast-iron rim, intended to act as a cutter. A steam-engine of thirtyA steam-engine of thirtyhorse power was mounted on the top of this structure. In this state, the piles being removed, this tower was brought to rest upon the edge of the cast-iron rim. It is easy to comprehend, that, by clearing the ground inside, the whole must have descended. In this manner a structure, weighing about 1200 tons, was lowered to the depth of 40 feet, through a stratum 26 feet deep, consisting of gravel and sand full of water, wherein the drift-makers had met with almost insurmountable obstacles. It is to be remarked, that for this, and for the whole operation of the Tunnel, the engineer did not employ a larger steam-engine than had been required in the operations of the drift-way. As the body of the Tunnel was to be opened at the depth of 40 feet, the shaft was continued to 64 feet, by underlaying, leaving the space in the side open for the horizontal work. A well, or cistern, 25 feet diameter, was further made at, the bottom of this shaft, for draining the ground; but in sinking it a quicksand suddenly burst upon the work. This event confirmed the report of the drift-makers, and of the geologists, as to the existence of a dangerous bed of sand at about 80 to 85 feet from the level of high water. The shield, destined to precede the body of the Tunnel, was put up at the depth of 40 feet. The shield, as represented in the cut, consists of twelve parallel frames, 22 feet high. These being divided into three stories,

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present together thirty-six cells, destined for the working of the men. The whole constitute at the same time a powerful fence against the ground. The sides and the top are lined with sliding pieces, corresponding with the sheet-piling of a coffer-dam; and at the bottom it rests upon broad shoes. For its progressive movement each frame is provided with legs, which have their action in the lower cells. By this means each frame can be moved separately; but the whole is brought forward by alternate moves, regulated by the progress of the work. Each operator provides for the security of his own cell, by covering the front with small boards, technically called polings; and, as the miners work in front, the bricklayers work at the back in forming the structure.

The shield was entered under a substantial bed of clay, and its progress began, by about the 1st of January, 1826. It had not advanced above nine feet, when this substantial protection was found to break off at once, leaving the work open to a considerable influx of water and of fluid sand, and it resulted that for thirty-two days. the progress was extremely slow; however, by the 14th of March, the shield was brought into substantial ground again. From that day to the 14th of September following 260 feet of tunnel had been completed; when, in consequence of a run of ground in a fluid state, a cavity was discovered to be formed above the head of the shield. A remarkable occurrence happened on that day. The engineer having occasion to meet the directors, stated to them that at the head of the tide, which was then rising, the bottom of the river would, he conceived, break down, observing at the same time that every thing was prepared to meet the case. The accident did actually occur. However, though this was the

first occurrence of the kind under the river, the miners | 350 feet of tunnel had been made; when, in the act were in no way alarmed on hearing the river deposits falling over the head of the shield, accompanied with a burst of water. The cavity soon filled itself, and with additional precaution the work was continued. An occurrence somewhat similar to the preceding one took place on the 18th of October following, with equal success in its consequences. On the 2d of January (1827)

of removing one of the poling-boards which cover the front of the excavation, some loose ground, of the consistency of tempered clay, impelled by the weight of an extraordinary high tide, made its way with an almost irresistible force; but, with the auxiliary means which had been provided for emergencies of this nature, an | irruption of the river was completely averted.

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shovel and a hammer, left at the bottom of the river, were not found again upon the next visit, as expected. Some depressions were discovered in several places and were secured.

On the 12th of May, however, in the act of removing the polings in front of several cells, the ground made its way at the top of ten frames in succession. One of the top cells, in particular, was filled several times, but by an expeditious move, and the intrepidity of one of the miners, the ground was secured and the work was brought forward. In advancing one of the middle frames, the shovel and the hammer which had been missing, were found in the way of it, having descended at least 18 feet into the ground.

[Shield used in the Excavation of the Thames Tunnel.] The influence of the tide upon the ground to a depth | of not less than thirty feet, was a circumstance which contributed more than any other to multiply the difficulties, and to give them an awful character. In its natural state the ground is compact, even when it consists of sand or of gravel; but in consequence of an excavation on so large a scale, opening new vents for the exudation or emission of water, it has resulted that some of the strata have been decomposed and softened, some portions have become even liquid, and others have been kneaded into various degrees of consistency. These circumstances, which are exemplified in the three preceding occurrences, rendered the operations excessively complicated and laborious. Other portions of the strata, consisting of round smooth pebbles, though embedded in some adhesive substances, were occasionally found as loose as chesnuts in a cask. It resulted, from the concurrence of so many causes, that the ground, at the foundations in particular, instead of retaining its original state, as reported by the driftmakers, viz. a dry firm ground, was found to be so loose, even at the depth of several feet, that it became expedient to condense the ground before the foundations could be laid down. This was effected by means of substantial planking, compressed with a power exceeding the greatest weight which each plank was computed to carry. The original idea of forming the structure by rings of nine inches, united by the cement only, has proved the most efficient way to prevent the consequences that were to be apprehended from any derange- On examining the hole with the diving-bell, the strucment or disruptions that might result from partial set-ture was ascertained to be perfectly sound, and the shield, tlements. to all appearance, undisturbed. The repairs were immediately proceeded with, by means of clay in bags, armed with small hazel rods about 3000 tons of this filling, with some other soil, were required to close the hole, or rather the chasm, which was found to exceed 33 feet in depth.

From the 14th of January to the 14th of April following, although the ground was in general so loose that the river deposits were sometimes found in the way of the excavation, and although the influx of water was generally excessively abundant, the progress of the work exceeded upon the whole that of any period during the course of the operation: it has been as much as 14 feet in a week and even 3 feet per day. However, in consequence of the frequent run of fluid ground, the engineer applied for and procured a diving-bell for the purpose of examining the bottom of the river. The first inspection took place on the 22d of April. A

Notwithstanding the loose state of the ground, the shield had gradually gained under a more substantial covering, when several vessels, coming in at a late tide, moored just over the head of the Tunnel, where no vessels had moored since the docks had been opened to the trade. It resulted from this obstruction to the stream; that those substances which protected the softer ground from the action of the tides, was washed away. The river soon made its way into the Tunnel, forming at first a transparent curtain between the shield and the brick structure. Every exertion made to oppose it proved fruitless; the river soon after broke in and filled the Tunnel. This irruption took place on the 18th of May, 1827.

At this period of the proceedings many hundred projects were sent to the directors or to the engineer, but none were found applicable to the case.

On the 21st of June the Tunnel was sufficiently clear of water to be entered; and by the middle of August the soil which had been driven into the arches was completely removed. The structure was found quite sound; but,

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