The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-22 00:00:00

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THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 22, 1864.

WHERE CAN WE MEET AF I'ER THE
PANTOMIMES ? My dear Fellow, Gentlemen sup
at EVANS', Covent-garden.

TEAM from LONDON to NEW YORK.
'I he British and American Steam Navigation Company
(Limited) will DESPATCH one of the undermentioned
Splendid Fast Screw Steamers TWICE EACH MONTH for
New York :

The New Bridge at Blackfriars.

In two months more the easy work of helping old Black-
friars-bridge down will bo begun. It has done its best to
save contractors unnecessary work in rendering this last
office. It is like a ship ready to be launched ; they have
but to knock away the centring from the two broken-
backed arches which now obstruct the river, and the whole
structure will go pell-well into the Thames• It is just in
that critical condition that it can change no further with-
out coming down with a crash. It has reached its lasr
point of subsidence, and, to do it justice, it has for some
time past seemed disinclined to tempt its fate further. It
might stand in its present condition for the next ten years,
or it might tumble down like a house of cards in a few
hours. The intricate, yet beautifully arranged web of scaf-
folding raised for the erection of the temporary and the
railway bridges has much decreased the scour of the river
through the arches ; it so far has checked any tendency to
further settlement, and, perhaps, the old bridge has more
chance of standing now than it has had for the last 25
years. But it is not a safe rule to calculate too closely in
these matters, so Mr. Cubitt has hurried his plans forward
for completing the temporary bridge at once, that the old
high-shouldered structure may be closed in April and re-
placed with a far wider, stronger, and infinitely handsomer
structure as soon as possible.

KINAHAN'S LLERIAVNHDIYSKY v. COGNAC,
This celebrated Old IRISH WHISKY rivals the finest
FRENCH BRANDY,
It i Pure, Mild, Mellow, Delicious, and very Wholesome.
Sold in Bottles, 3s. Bd., at the Retail Houses in London ; by
the At;ents in the principal towns in England; or wholesale

Tons. Horse Power.
LONDON 2,500 „ SCO ~.., „ Capt. GLOVER.
WESTMINSTER 2,500 ..... 5(,0 ~,,. Capt. Conon
DUBLIN
NEW YORK 2,500 • •••• 500 ..... ( apt. lIARRIs.

These magnificent vessels are unsurpassed by any ocean-
going steamer, and have accommodation for passengers re-
plete witn every comfort. The Line will commence early in
March ; the exact dale to be fixed in a latter announcement.
To load in the Victoria Docks.

8, GREAT WINDMILL-STREET, W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
`,Kinahan's LL Whisky."

For freight or passage apply to the Company's Agents,
Alfred Laming and Cu., 70, Cornhill.

THE CONSOLIDATED DISCOUNT
COMPANY (Limited).
No. 4, ABCIIURCH-LANE.
Capital £1,000,000.

INIPERIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.
INo.I, Old Ilroad-strut, .Londen, E.C.
Instituted 1820.
EDWARD HENRY CHAPSIAN, TN., Chairman.
MARTIN TUCKER SMITH, Esq., M.P., Deputy-Chairman.
Insurances effected before the -31st January, IS6I, will be
entitled to Three -Years' Additions in the Profits to be de-
clared in 18GG.

DIRECTORS.
George Walter Constable, Esq. (Messrs. Constable and
Wykesl, Mincing-lane.
George Denny, Esq. (Messrs. George Denny and Co.), Great
St. Helen's.
William Little, Esq., Director of the Cape Town Railway.
Wm. WArthur, Esq. (of the firm of Wm. end Alexander
M'Arthur, Australian Merchants), 46, Moorgate-street.
F. J. Sargood, Esq. (Messrs. Sargood, king, and Sargood),
London and Melbourne.
Thomas Shepherd Richardson, Esq., Director of the Buenos
Ayres and River Plate Bank.
James Thompson, Esq. (Messrs. Le Gros Thompson and Co.),
Gutter-lane.
*Hugh Fraser Sandeman, Esq.,
*Richard Manners Sanderson, Esq. Messrs. Sandeman & Co.
*Samuel Baker, Esq.
* Committee of Management.
BANKERS.
The London and Westminster Bank.
SOLICITORS.
Messrs. Sole, Turners, and Hardwick.
The business of this Company being in active operation. the
Directors are prepared to Discount approved Mercantile Bills
and to make advances upon negotiable Securities.
Money received on deposit, at call and short notice, at the
current market rates, and for longer periods upon terms to be
specially agreed upon.

SAXUEL INGALL, Actuary,

The great engineering works now in progress at Black-
friars always command a somewhat large and apparently
deeply interested body of spectators, who from the old

bridge survey what is going on beneath them hour by hour
as long as daylight lasts. To the ordinary spectator it is
a curious and rather bewildering scene, a web of piles and
ties, a singular two-storied mixture of iron and wood, with
glimpses through the network of deep round iron cylinders,
like those used for soap boiling, pushed far down in the bed
of the river, being filled up with masonry. In the nooks
and corners of the great framing lurk steam pile drivers
fussily busy, driving great balks of timber down into the
London clay, while overhead the travellers are crawling
slowly to and fro with blocks of granite, masses of iron,
beams, girders, or whatever else they may have seized upon,
and crept off with till they are claimed with a bail from
below, and lowered to their proper places in the structure.
This is what can be seen from the old bridge, but the as-
pect is very different from the works themselves. There
nothing is in the way or out of the way. The tangle of
scaffolding reveals itself under proper inspection, and we
see at once that, as in a spider's web, there is not a fasten-
ing without a purpose—nowhere is there one more or less
than is required, and everything, from the largest iron
girders to the smallest fastening, has its own special work
to do, and will do it when the time comes. Looking towards
the east from the old bridge two bridges are now being
built, and both by the same engineer, Mr. Cubitt—one the
great four-line bridge for the London, Chatham, and Dover,
of which very little can now be seen ; the other lofty tier of
scaffolding is the temporary structure which is happily to
replace Blackfriars in a couple of months or so. This, as
the first temporary bridge we have yet seen over the Thames
in London, and for its own intrinsic merits, as a very
simple, yet immensely strong contrivance in scaffolding,
merits some notice. Its length is 990 ft from wharf to
wharf, and it is built in two stories; the lower one is
26ft wide (the width of the old bridge roadway) ; the
upper storey is raised 16ft above this, and consists of two
footways, each Oft wide, the width of the footways in the
present bridge being only 7ft. The lower storey is for the
carriage traffic, the upper for pedestrians, and the four feet
extra width of footway given to the latter is to accommo-
date the loungers on either side who are sure to pass much
of their time in looking over at the progress of the works
beneath. This scaffolding, though called a temporary
bridge, is in reality a permanent structure as far as strength
is concerned. It is only temporary in the sense that it is
not built of durable materials, such as stone or iron. The
lower piles are driven 10ft into the bed of the river ; the
staying piles which carry the roadway are only 18ft from
centre to centre longitudinally—those laid transversely are
only 7lt apart. All these, too, are braced together with
horizontal and diagonal bracings, and, in fact, even as far ae
the woodwork is concerned the whole is built of consider-
ably greater strength than ordinary wooden viaducts for
railways. This bridge has three openings for river traffic,
each of 70ft span. These are formed by two girders, Ott
deep, with ordinary transverse girders between, They are
already nearly all floored with wrought iron buckle plates,
and fur the future traffic arc to be covered with asphalt and
paved with wood. The gradient of this temporary mad
will be exactly that of the new bridge when fini-hed—that
is, a rise of 1 in 40, instead of as at present 1 in 22—an in-
cline only less dreadful than that which stops the traffic up
Holborn-hill. Tho approaches to the foot bridge, as being
taken up to a high level above the roadway, will be much
more steep—no less than 1 in 10 on either side. To wake
these easily practicable to pedestrians it will be necessary
that in wet and ft osty weather such timber slopes should
be well sanded, or they will be almost insurmountable. This
steep gradient is only continued to where the footpaths
going and coining from each side meet the road traffic
above, whence they aro continued across the river at al-
most a level. Yesterday this temporary bridge was tested by
a mass of iron weighing 36 tons being drawn slowly across
the greater part of the carriage-way, Under this severe
test not the slightest yield or complaining among the tim-
bers could be detected, though the strain was certainly more
than double what is ever likely to come upon a single part
of the bridge at any one time. This was a test for strai❑
only ; the next will be for vibration, when a weight of six
tons will be drawn rapidly over it, in order to counterfeit,
as far as it is possible to do so, the rapid, reckless driving
of one of Pickford's heavy vans. Under this last teat a
good deal of vibration is sure to be found, but that in mere
wooden structures, which, as it is said, "give and take so
much," will be of little consequence so long as no lateral
sway of the whole fabric takes place. In April it is hoped
to be able to open this bridge, when the old one will be at
once closed, and the work of removing it to make room for
its grand successor be urged on with all rapidity.
The new bridge, which is to occupy the site of the old
one, v ill be as great an improvement upon that which now
cumbers the river, as Westminster is upon the heavy, dan-
gerous, and steep pile of stones it at last superseded, with
so much benefit to the public. The improvement that will
result from the change, looking at it only as a question of
accommodation for the public, may be seen at a glance by a
mere comparison of dimensions. The width of the roadway
of the old bridge is 26ft; the width of the new roadway will
be 45ft, Old Blackfriars has two pathways of 7ft each ;
new Blackfriars will have two of 15ft each. The gradient
of old Blackfriars is 1 in 22ft—of the new, 1 in 401 t, or the
same as new Westminster, which on the surface it will en-
tirely resemble, except in being 4ft less wide over all. It
is to be built in five spans or arches, the two next the shore
being of 155 ft span each, the two next those, again, 175 ft
span, the centre arch having a stretch of ISsft. These
arches will be all of wrought iron—the piers on which they
rest of Aberdeen and red polished granite, with richly orna-
mental cornices and capitals of Portland stone.
The total length of the proposed structure from end to
end is 1,170 ft., its width extreme from point to point of
piers, 130 ft; its height from high water, 36ift, and from
foundation to parapet, 81ft. The waterway under the
arches will be 845 ft, as compared with the present water-
way of 769 ft; its headway under the arches will be 25ft,
and though 4ft lower in height than the present structure,
it will double the accommodation to river traffic under it,

THE ENGLISH and FOREIGN LIBRARY
COMPANY (Limited).
Capital, £lOO.OOO, in 10 000 Shares of £lO each ; £1 to be paid
on application, and £llos. on Allotment. If no Allotment
be made the Deposit will be returned.
DIRECTORS. _

Major-Gen. Sir Henry C. K.C.8., F.R.S., 1, Hill-
street, Berkeley-square, Chairman.
Right lion. Viscount Bury, M.P., 48. Rutland-zate.
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, K.C.8., 1.R.5., D.C.L.,
10, Belgrave-square.
The Very Rev. the Dean of Chichester, F.R.S.
Charles Neate, Esq., M.P., Oriel College, Oxford.
Coleridge J. Kennard, Esq., F.R.G.S., Fenchurch-street.
Ferdinand Freiligrath, Esq., Bang of Switzerland, Royal
Exchange-buildings.
John William Kaye. Esq., 59, Lincoln's-inn-fields.
Robert Bell, Esq , F.R.S.l,ll,_York-street, Portman-square.

(With power to add to their number.)
BARBERS.—The Consolidated Bank, 7, Fenehurch-street,
London.
BROKER.—George 11. Haslewood, Esq., 7, Lothbury.
AUDITORS.

Charles Reynolds, Esq., Allhallow-chambers, Lombard-st.
John Ball, Esq. (Messrs. Quilter. Ball. and Co.), Moorgate-st.
SOLICITORS. —Messrs. Bevan and Whiting, 6, Old Jewry.
.SECRETARY (pro tem).—W. R. Prideaux, Esq.
Offices, 15, Old Bond-street.
1. It Is proposed to establish a Public Circulating Library,
on a more comprehensive plan, and with more complete ma-
chinery for the early and regular delivery of books than has
hitherto been attempted. The English and Foreign Library
Company guarantees the circulation of all new works of
value or interest immediately after publication. Daily deli-
veries will take place at all houses of town subscribers, within
a rad.us of five miles.
2. Books will be provided for all readers without distinc-
tion of sect or party.
3. A Special Scientific Department will be established, em-
bracing Science and the Liberal Professions ; Theology,
Medicine, Surgery, Civil Engineering, Philology, and the
Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
4. Foreign Literature will form a prominent feature.
5. All important Publications relating to Eastern and Co-
lonial subjects will be collected, including Public Documents,
and Books published in India and the Colonies.
6. The Direction has been organised with a view to the
combination of literary judgment and commercial experience.
7. Arrangements have been made to purchase Hookham's
Library, 15, Old Bond-street, the oldest in existence, contain-
ing a hundred years' stock, as the basis for the formation of
a Library of permanent value and vast extent.
8. Profits will be immediate on the opening of the Library,
the current subscriptions to Hookham's Library yielding 12
per cent. cn the purchase money, atter payment of all ex-
penses.
9. Shareholders will be entitled to special privileges (as
detailed in advertisement below).
Prospectuses, with forms of application for shares, may be
obtained of the Bankers, the Brokers. the Solicitors, and at
the Offices of the Company, 15, Old Bond-street, W.

owing to the elliptical shape and somewhat flat crowns of
its arches. The style of the whole is to be what is called
Venetian Gothic. The two outside ribs of the ironwork
that will be seen from the river will have open lattice span-

drils of wrought iron, ornamented at their junctions with
bold gilt flowers. The ribs beneath this will be in five
joints, of great depth and strength, and similarly orna-
mented, but on a larger scale. In the centre of each arch
will be hanging shields, gilt and emblazoned. Over the
latticework will be a moulding, carried on concave brackets,
enriched with broad graceful leaves of foliage, while above
all will come the balustrade of the footways. This latter
will be exceedingly handsome. It will be formed of an open
arcading of cast iron, each of the small columns which
support it having highly enriched foliated capitals of the
most varied designs, though all in strict keeping with the
style and intended general effect. Above those columns,
the cornice, so to speak, of the balustrade will be pierced
in trefoils with a kind of moulded string course to resemble
a sort of handrail above all. This balustrade will be 3;fr
high, and all its beautiful proportions and detail of design
have evidently been studied with the utmost care, and
certainly with the utmost success. The spaces between the
many separate ribs which go to form each arch will be
built over with buckle-plates, and the usual bed of asphalt
and stone pitching pavement laid above all. So much
fur the ironwork. With the stone, as might be expected,
higher efforts are made at ornamental details, and, in
an architectural point of view, are made with even more
success. Theme are to be four stone piers, each 130 ft
long by 201 ft wide, and 35ft high from Trinity level. As
tho design was especially framed to admit of construc-
tional colour, the masonry used hero will the blue gray
granite of Aberdeen, red polished granite columns, with
bases and capitals of richly-carved white Portland stone,
To begin, however, with the construction of the piers.
They will, like all bridge foundations of the present day, be
built in wrought-iron caissons. Seven caissons will be re-
quired for each pier. These will be forced down to.) 20ft.
below the bed of the river—into the London clay, in fact.
When they can be got no lower they will be laid at the
loottom with concrete, and built up inside till they are solid.
It is not yet decided whether they are to be thus filled in
with bricks or masonry, but it is to be hoped the latter.
Four feet below low water the blocks of granite (all of great
size) will be laid, and be continued up in the centre to where
the iron arches rest; but on the external face of the pier,—
that is, on each end that can be seen from the river, they-
will rise apparently to the level of the balustrade. OD the

PRICE ...... ...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

and of each pier, and rising from a bold rich pediment of
carved white stone, will be a column of polished red granite.
7ft in diameter and 12ft in height. This will Le surmounted
by a gigantic capital of carved white stone, and this again
with what we may term a cornice deeply cut and rich in its
design. Above all will be the massive ornamental parapet
of white stone, partly pierced in bald yet simple designs,
and this latter will form the balustrade" surrounding the
wide recess above each pier. It is difficult to speak toe
highly of the general effect of these piers as they will be
seen from the river. There is a simplicity, a massiveness,
and dignity in their whole proportions, and the effect of
their colour contrasts will be so striking that no merely
verbal description can do them justice.
When the piers are an finished the pressure on the foun-
dation will be only four tons per fo•)t, or not much more
than half the pressure on the foundations of large ware-
houses. The ironwork will, of course, all be tested before

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it goes up, awl before the bridge itself will be opened ;
but it is almost not too much to say that the second
testing in place will be a mere matter of form, for
the sectional area of all the girders has been designed to be
about seven times stronger than any strain than can ever
come upon it in the reasonable course of London daily
traffic.

One most ornamental and novel feature in the new bridge
deserves especial mention, both for its own,merit and for
the praiseworthy liberality and good taste the corporation
have displayed in granting this extra expense for purely
decOrative purposes. At both sides' and at both ends the
new bridge is to have a wide and noble flight of steps lead-
ing to the waterside. But, unlike other bridges, which ge-
nerally have their parapets tapering away into insignifi-
cance at their extremities, the balustrades at either end
stop short and terminate in four bold massive pediments
about 25ft high, somewhat similar to those which terminate
the balustrades at London bridge, but far more lofty in size
and noble in proportion. Once seen in design and it was
impossible for any architect or engineer of taste to resist
surmouriting them with groups of statuary, and this Mr.
Cubitt boldly did, and included the price of the bronze
groups in his estimate for the whole bridge. Though these
are, after all, mere supplementary ornaments, without which
no doubt, the bridge, as a bridge, would do quite as well,
yet the corporation, to their great honour, did not take this
narrow view of it, but, regarding the statues only as a
splendid finish to their splendid work, almost unanimously
granted the £16,000 required for the four groups. All these
are to be equestrian statues in bronze, and 20ft high. Three
of them are already decided on—her Majesty, with Queen
Elizabeth, at one end, and King Alfred, and most probably
Edward the Black Prince, as the first and most renowned
of our Princes of Wales, at the other.
The cost of the whole work, including the temporary
bridge, is only £265,000, which is at the rate of £3 per
foot super, only about is a foot dearer than Westminster-
bridge, which still enjoys the honour of being the cheapest
and as yet the most beautiful that spansthe Thames. There
is only one great drawback on Mr. Cubitt's bridge, but
this, unfortunately, is a most serious destroyer of its
beauty. It is that the equally fine bridge which is being
built for the Chatham and Dover line is so close to the site
of new Blackfriars that from no point of the river can a view
be got of one structure without the other also appearing and
spoiling it. The distance between the two is only 150 feet
—a mere nothing in perspective. The spans of both are the
same, but the railway is a level bridge and the city struc-
tare is arched, and situated as they are, apparently almost
touching, one most effectually kills the other. In these
days of metropolitan railways the Chatham and Dover
bridge (which is a wonderful structure of its kind) must,
we suppose, be regarded as a necessary evil. But, neces-
sary as it may be, it is cordially to be wished that it was
anything but alongside the site of new Blackfriars. The
latter will really be a noble structure, and will add still
' further to the character the Thames enjoys above all other
rivers in the world for the grandeur and beauty of its
bridges.