; While murmurs sooth each awful interval Of ever-falling waters ; shrouded Nile, Eridanus, and Tiber with his twins, And palmy Euphrates ; they with dropping locks Hang o'er their urns, and mournfully among The plantive echoing ruins, pour their streams.' " Ruins of Rome. HISTORY OF THE PBOGBESSIYE MEASURES EOE SUPPLYING THE CITY OF NEW-YORK WITH WATER. As early as 1774, when the population of the city of New-York was only twenty-tico thousand, the Corporation commenced the construction of a reservoir and other works for supplying water ; and for the purpose of defraying the expense of the undertaking, issued a paper money, amount- ing to two thousand five hundred pounds, under the deno- mination of "Water Works Money," and bonds were exe- cuted in favor of certain individuals for land and materials to the amount of eight thousand eight hundred and fifty pounds more. A spacious reservoir was constructed on the east line of Broadway, between, what is now known as Pearl and White streets, and a well of large dimensions was sunk in the vicinity of the Collect. The war of the revolution, which commenced in 1775, and the consequent occupation of the city of New-York by the British troops, was the cause of the abandonment of the work in its unfinished state. In the year 1798, Doctor Joseph Brown addressed a 15 58 communication to the Common Council, strongly recom- mending the Bronx River as a source from which to obtain a supply of good water for the use of the citizens. This recommendation induced the Common Council to employ William Weston, Esquire, a Civil Engineer, to examine the subject, and he reported on the 16th of March, 1799, in favor of the practicability of introducing the water of the Bronx into the city. Neither of these gentlemen had used levels or made any survey of the country over which the water should be brought, nor was there any measurement obtained of the flow of the stream ; consequently, their opinion was only founded on personal view, gained by walking over the ground. In April, 1799, the Manhattan Company was incorpo- rated by an act of the Legislature, and the object of this Company was declared to be, to supply the city with pure and wholesome water ; but instead of looking for a supply from foreign sources, they resorted to the plan of furnishing the water from wells which they sunk within the city limits. Besides these wells of the Manhattan Company there were others subsequently sunk by the Corporation of the city, as well as by individual enterprise. Some of these wells were of great depth and capacity, having, in some instances, horizontal excavations at a considerable depth below the surface, branching off from the main shaft. Efforts of this kind, however, proved unsatisfactory, and much solicitude was felt by the citizens on account of the scarcity of pure water. On the 17th of March, 1822, the Mayor among other measures suggested by him to the Common Council, brought 59 to their consideration, the important question of supplying the city with pure and wholesome water, and requested its reference to a Committee, which was accordingly done. The Committee, of which the Mayor was one, proceeded to the principal source of the Bronx River, in the county of Wectchester, known as the Rye Pond. They spent two days, the 20th and 21st of March, in exploring the country adjacent to the River and Sound, and at a meeting of the Common Council, on the first of April, the Mayor, as Chairman of the Committee, made a report of their observa- tions, and recommended an appropriation, with authority to employ a competent engineer to survey and profile the whole line between the city and the main source of the river Bronx, and to ascertain the quantity of water it would afford, and an estimate of the probable cost of completing the project of supplying the city with good and wholesome water from the aforesaid source. The recommendation was concurred in, and the Mayor employed Canvas White, Esquire, a Civil Engineer, to make the said survey and estimate. The yellow fever prevailed in the city during the summer of 1822, and shortly after the termination of the epidemic, on the 25th of November, the Mayor, in a communication to the Common Council, on subjects relative to the preser- vation of the public health, stated that a very important subject connected with the health of the city, was a sufficient supply of good water ; and that on this subject all had been done that it was practicable, under existing circumstances, to perform ; that arrangements had been made with Mr. White, a Civil Engineer of repute, to examine the several 60 sources from which a supply was