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HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.
Rook I.
continues Dugdale, “it required extraordinary knowledge and skill, which ancient timeshad not attained to, and foreign nations now admire. The engines of several kinds madeuse of for raising the water and casting it off were framed by men of singular judgments inmathematical learning, and suitable to the depth of the water, or opportune for carryingit away. Friseland, which lies very much beneath the surface of the ocean, is preserved bythe wall raised in 1567, by a Portuguese in the employ of Philip II., King of Spain; theauthor before alluded to asserts that it would require a volume to give an account of all theworks of this nature in the Low Countries, and the several banks, ditches, and sluices.
The provinces of Belgium which formed a portion of Gaul were in the time of Casarfull of woods and fens, which latter were not effectually drained till the work was taken inhand by Baldwin I., who married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald .
In the year 1169, Floris, earl of Holland, demanding the Isle of Walcheren , in Zealand,from Philip, earl of Flanders , obtained it, on condition that he sent to Count Philip 1000men expert in making ditches, to stop the breach near unto Dam or Slusc, whereby thecountry was drowned at every high sea; “ the which the Flemings could by no means fillup, neither with wood, nor any other matter, for that all sunk as in a gulf without a bottom,whereby in process of time Bruges and all under its jurisdiction had been in danger of beinglost by inundation, and to become all sea if it were not speedily repaired. Whereupon theCount Floris sent the best workmen that he could find in his territories, who beingcome to the place, they found a great hole, near unto this dam , and at the entrance thereofa sea-dog, that for six days together did nothing but cry and howl very terribly. They notknowing what it might signify, resolved to cast this dog into that hole, whereupon a mad-headed Hollander, getting into the bottom of the dyke, took the dog by the tail, and casthim into the midst of the gulf with earth and turf after him, so as, finding a bottom, theyfilled it up by little and little.” They named the place in consequence Hontsdam, or Dog'sSluice; dam, in Flemish signifying a sluice, and hont, a dog. The town still has a dog inits armorial bearings.
The banks from Dam to Sluse thus rescued from the sea, in 1180, all the land thathad been submerged.
At Antwerp the Emperor Napoleon raised on the banks of the Scheldt, which is hereupwards of 2000 feet in breadth, and 40 feet in depth, dockyards, slips for ship-building,and one of the most magnificent quays in Europe. Engineers were sent from France toconduct these works, upon which vast sums of money were expended, and Antwerp becameone of the most important ports on the coast; it is situated in an extreme plain on theeastern bank of the Scheldt, and is divided by eight canals which traverse the city, onwhich are warehouses for the reception of goods. The exchange, which was the model forthat constructed by Sir Thomas Gresham in London , and the celebrated warehouseor magazine, in which all the merchandise that once enriched this distinguished city wasdeposited, still remain. Some of the bridges erected in Germany deserve to be mentioned,and we shall commence with that over the Elbe .
Bridge over the Elbe , at Dresden , was restored from 1727 to 1731, by Poepelmann, in thereign of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland . The ancient piers, which arethe work of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and which were paid for by indulgences,are the nuclei of the present. Originally there were twenty-four, but several were carriedaway at different times, and when the fortifications of Dresden were extended to the Elbe ,some were destroyed. The bridge is now composed of eighteen arches, distributed withoutorder, nor can this be a matter of surprise when it is considered how' they were constructed.'Hie total length is 1447 feet, the breadth of the road is 25 feet, and that of the footway4 feet 7 inches. Notwithstanding all its irregularities, it is one of the longest in Europe ,that of St. Esprit and another at Prague only surpassing it, and it may be regarded as one ofthe finest. The piers are very thick, being in some instances nearly equal to the span ofthe arches, which vary from 40 to 62 feet. They rise to the level of the footway, and serveas recesses for benches. On one is placed a bronze figure of Christ on the cross, richlygilt; the parapet consists of an iron railing, strengthened over each pier by pedestals, whichsustain vases.
The roadway is nearly level, and forms a superb promenade. The bridge is entirelyconstructed of squared stones, and the voussoirs are rusticated.
Bridge at Prague , on the Moldaw, was commenced in 1638, by Charles IV., Emperor andKing of Bohemia, who laid the first stone, and finished under Charles VI . Its length,1706 feet, is greater than that at Dresden , but it does not equal it in its construction. Thebreadth is 35 feet 8 inches. The eighteen semicircular arches of which it is composed areconstructed of squared stone, and ornamented with an archivolt: the piers are surmountedby pedestals, which support statues ; that of St. John Promucena is placed over the veryspot w’here King Venceslas threw him into the river, for refusing to violate the secret ofconfession. The masonry of this bridge is excellent: when the Swedes seized upon Prague ,