to open before, and the waters to swell around, him. Two sea- horses, conducted by two tritoris, drag the chariot of the god, and emerging from the caverns of the rock, shake the brine from their manes ; while the obedient waves burst forth in torrents from all sides, roar down the clefts of the crag, and form a sea around its base. In the heats of summer, they overflow their usual limits, fill the whole marble con- cavity round the fountain, and rise to a level with the square, where, after sunset, the inhabitants of the neighboring streets assemble, to enjoy the united freshness of the waters and of the evening. " Such is the celebrated Fontana di Trivi, the noblest work of the kind in Rome? and probably the most magnificent fountain in the world. The basin itself is of white marble, and the vast enclosure around it is flagged and lined with marble of the same color. A flight of steps of white marble leads down to this basin ; and to prevent acci- dents, a chain, supported by large blocks of granite, encloses the exterior border. I know that the architectural part of the Fontana di Trivi, and indeed of the Aqua Paola and Aqua Felice, has been severely criticised ; and in candor, I must acknowledge, that the criticism is in many respects well founded : for instance, it must be allowed that the elegance and lightness of the Corinthian, or Ionic, is ill adapted to the simplicity of a fountain where Doric would be more appropriate, because plainer and more solid. It will be admitted also, that these edifices are broken and subdivided into too many little parts ; a process in architecture, as in painting and in poetry, diametrically opposite to greatness and to sublimity. In fine, it cannot be denied, that the superstructure is, in all three, too massive for the order, and too much encumbered with coats of arms and other supernu- merary decorations. Yet, notwithstanding these faults, and they are not inconsiderable, while the spectator sits on the marble border of the basin, and contemplates the elevation of the columns, the magnitude of the edifices, the richness of the materials, the workman- ship of the statues, and, above all, the deluge of waters poured round him, the defects are lost in the beauties, and criticism subsides in admiration." It would swell this essay to an unreasonable length, if we were to notice in detail all the remarkable modern aqueducts of Europe, and passing by, therefore, that of the Prince of Biscari, in Sicily, which served at once as a bridge and a conduit, those of Tarregona, of the plains of Anover, and of Almasora, in Spain, that of Caserta, commenced in 1753, by the King of Naples, which boasts of a line of arcades 1618 feet in 13 50 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. length, and 178 high — divided into three stages — with numerous and long tunnels, lighted and ventilated from the depth of 250 feet, by conical shafts of 50 feet diameter at bottom, and four feet at top, and others of inferior note, we select for more special description and detail, the chief water works of England, and of France, and the magnificent aqueduct of Lisbon. London, like Rome, was already a large and populous city, before its supply of water was copious or convenient. In the reign of Henry II., about the middle of the twelfth century, the inhabitants relied on the Thames, or wells in the city, and on springs rising in the elevated grounds, north and west of the city. Fitz Stephens thus refers to this last fact in his " Description of London in the reign of Henry II." " Round the city again, and towards the north, arise certain excellent springs at a small distance, whose waters are sweet, salubrious, and clear, and whose Runnels murmur o'er the shining stones. Among them, Holywell, Clerkenwell, and St. Clement's well, may be esteemed the principal, as most frequented, both by scholars from the schools, and youth from the city. when in a summer's evening they are disposed to take an airing." The antiquarian, Stowe, who published his " Survey of London," in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, gives this account of the source and supply of water to the city : " Anciently, until the Conqueror's time, and for 200 years afterwards, the citie of Lon- don was watered (beside the famous river of the Thames on the south part,) with the river of Welsj as it was then called, on the west ; which water is called Wallbrooke, running through the midst of the citie into the river Thames, serving the heart thereof: with an- other water or bourne running through Langbourne Ward. In the