but it ranks among the most interesting objects conspicuously embellishing the city of Rome. The Piazza Novana has a very noble fountain standing in its centre. It is composed of a large circular marble basin seventy-nine feet in diameter, in the middle of which is placed a rock of square form with apertures at the sides. The figure of a lion adorns one side, and that of a sea-horse another. From the base to the top of the rock, the height is about fourteen feet; and on its summit stands an Egyptian obelisk formed of red granite, fiftyfive feet in height, and covered with hieroglyphics. At the four sides of the rock are colossal marble statues, which designate the four great rivers in the different quarters of the world: viz. the Danube, the Nile, the Ganges, and the Plata: and from these statues the water flows in copious streams to the spacious basin below. "The Nile and Ganges pour the silver tide : La Plata too, and Danube's streams unite Their liquid treasures, copious, clear and bright." During the summer, it is the custom occasionally to permit the water to overflow the whole square, for the entertainment of the people; and on midsummer's eve persons amuse themselves by wading and driving through the flood. This practice has sometimes been attended with fatal accidents, and not only men but horses have actually been drowned in the attempts to pass it in carriages. In the month of August the area of the square is likewise filled with water for the purpose of amusement. The same square likewise contains two other fountains, one of which consists of a capacious marble basin, having at its centre a Triton holding a dolphin by the tail; and on the margin of the basin are four heads with the same number of Tritons that spout the water from their mouths. The other fountain has not any remarkable characteristics to entitle it to peculiar attention. Where formerly stood the circus of Flora is now the site of the Piazza Barberinni, which has two fountains to embellish it:-one of them being composed of four dolphins supporting a large open shell, with a Triton in the middle ejecting water to a great height. The other is fanciful, being also formed of an open shell, from which three bees throw out the water. In the vicinity of the Temple of Vesta stands a handsome fountain, having a capacious basin, in which some Tritons support a large marble shell. From the centre of the latter, the water spouts to a considerable height, and then descending flows over its margin into the basin beneath. Some fine fountains adorn the magnificent colonnade in front of the Cathedral of St. Peter. Piazza di Spagna has likewise for its embellishment, a fountain in the form of an antique boat. The Besides the structures described above, there are a great number of other fountains which evince much diversity of taste and ingenuity in their contrivance. But at the different villas of the opulent, the abundance of water is rendered subservient to amusing as well as useful purposes, and several of them are rather singular. The description of one will convey some notion of what is common to many of them. The delightful promenades, groves, and gardens belonging to the Doria family, are interspersed with fountains of various forms; besides having a beautiful lake with waterfalls. Statues, antique basso relievos, and small fountains adorn a kind of amphitheatre, where a circular edifice contains the marble figure of a faun holding a flute, on which it seems to play different airs: the music, however, is produced by a machine resembling an organ in its construction, and motion being given to it by the flowing of the water from a cascade. Perhaps the few instances recited above will suffice to demonstrate the different modes employed at Rome, for calling into exercise genius, fancy, and taste, to diversify the public edifices concerned with its abundant supply of water; thus rendering them subservient to magnificence, entertainment, and utility. Whilst John Dyer resided there, he viewed these celebrated fountains with the mingled feelings of the painter and the poet; hence, associating them with other interesting circumstances, they furnished the materials for one of his most striking and pathetic delineations. "The pilgrim oft, At dead of night, 'mid his oraison hears And palmy Euphrates: they with dropping locks CHAPTER XV. Paris: means devised for procuring Water for the use of its Inhabitants. Aqueducts; Arcueil, Prés-Saint Gervais, Belleville. Henry IV. The Samaritan Pump. Plan to supply from the Seine: its failure. Unsuccessful project of Messrs. Perier. Schemes for constructing an Aqueduct by M. de Parcieux; Perronet and Chézy; Defer de la Noverre. Napoleon.. Canal de l'Ourcq; M. Girard, engineer for its construction. Commission of Engineers. Company of Englishmen propose to supply Paris. Compte de Chabrol employed to inspect the Water-works at London. M. Mallet's examination of the principal Establishments of England and Scotland; his project to supply Paris. Commission consisting of M. Prony, &c. Improved Plan. Prospectus for realizing it. M. Mallet's reflections upon the superior advantages of Great Britain. Methods of supplying Paris. Filtering Establishment. Proposal of Messrs. Lee and Taylor to Louis Philip. Remarkable Fountains-the Innocents, Popincourt, Military Hospital, Hospital of Invalids, Dessaix, Place du Chatelet, Grenelle, School of Medicine, Leda, St. Sulpice, the Elephant. THE means employed, during different eras, for affording a supply of water to the capital of France have been various; and among others for this purpose, several aqueducts were constructed,—for instance, those of Arcueil, Prés-Saint Gervais, and Belleville. Though the present aqueduct of Arcueil is a modern structure, one formerly existed having the same designation, but it was totally destroyed by the Normans in the ninth century. The water for its purposes was derived from sources in the vicinity of the village of Rungis, and even at some distance from it, as appears by the channels that have been discovered. The aqueduct of Prés-Saint Gervais originally belonged to the Abbey of Saint Laurent, situate at the foot of Montmartre; but the precise period of its formation is unknown, yet its antiquity appears evident from the ruins having no resemblance to those of the ancient aqueduct of Arcueil. The hills of Romainville, Bruyeres, and Menil-Montant supplied it with water, which being collected in a reservoir situate at the village of Prés-Saint Gervais, was thence conveyed to Paris by leaden pipes.* The aqueduct of Belleville commenced at the summit of that village, and terminated at the foot of the hill on which it is built. Its exact origin has not been ascertained, but from its having supplied a fountain within the boundary, it is supposed to have been constructed at the expense of the rich Monastery of St. Martin. An inscription on a small building connected with it records that the aqueduct was repaired in 1457, and this circumstance indicates the probability of its having been erected several centuries prior to that period. As Paris increased in magnitude and population, the monasteries were gradually included within its walls; and thus circumstances probably imposed the necessity of the public participating in those advantages with respect to the supply of water, of which the use had previously been exclusively possessed by the religious establishments. Eventually, however, either by purchase, or other means, the aqueducts of Prés-Saint Gervais and Belleville became the property of the city of Paris; and consequently the distribution of the water was regulated by the direction of its municipal authorities. For a long •" Recherches sur les Eaux publiques de Paris," par M. Girard. |