Bk. IV. Ch. V. BRIDGES AND AQUEDUCTS. 373 regularity which the architects of the Renaissance introduced into their classical designs, in which they sought to obliterate all distinction between tlie component parts in a vain attempt to make one great whole out of a ijreat number of small discordant framnents. Bridges and Aqueducts. Perhaps the most satisfactory works of the Romans are those which we consider as belonging to civil engineering rather than to archi- tecture. The distinction, however, was not known in those earlier days. The Romans set about works of this class with a purpose-like earnestness that always ensures success, and executed them on a scale Avhich leaves nothing to be desired ; while at the same time they entirely avoided that vulgarity which their Avant of refinement allowed almost inevitably to api^ear in more delicate or more ornate buildings. Their ensfineerino; Avorks also were free from that degree of incom- pleteness which is inseparable from the state of transition in Avhich their architecture was during the Avhole period of the Empire. It is owing to these causes that the substructions of the Appian Way strike every beholder Avith admiration and astonishment ; and nothing im])resses the traveller more, on visiting the once imperial city, than the long lines of aqueducts that are seen everywhere stretching across the now deserted plain of the Campagna. It is true they are mere lines of brick arches, devoid of ornament and of every attempt at architecture properly so called : but they are so well adapted to the purpose for which they Avere designed, so grand in conception, and so perfect in execution, that, in spite of their want of architectural character, they are among the most beautiful of the remains of Roman buildings. The aqueducts Avere not, however, all so devoid of architectural designs as those of the Campagna. That, for instance, known as the Pont du Gard, built to convey water to the town of Nimes in France, is one of the most striking Avorks of antiquity. Its height above the stream is about 180 ft., divided into two tiers of larger arches sur- mounted by a range of smaller ones, giving the structure the same finish and effect that an entablature and cornice gives to a long range of columns. Without the introduction of one single ornament, or of any member that was not absolutely wanted, this arrangement converts Avhat is a mere utilitarian work into an architectural screen of a beauty iiitherto unrivalled in its class. The aqueducts of Segovia and Tarragona in Spain, though not ]>erhaps so grand, are quite as elegant and appropriate as this ; and if they stood across a line of well Avooded and watered valleys, might form as beautiful objects. Unfortunately the effect is much marred by the houses and other objects that crowd their bases. Both these rise to
