The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-12 00:00:00

ace more the old trick of verse-making. The result was
" The Second Vision of Daniel : a Paraphrase in Verse,"
in which the noble author attempts to elucidate the
original by what he conceives to be the true interpre-
tation of the prophecies of the eighth chapter of the
book of Daniel ; declaring in his preface that "we
are on the threshold of great events, and of the close
of our present economy," and deprecating the
doctrines which Mr. Buckle had recently pro-
pounded in his work on civilisation. He afro delivered an
address at the Social Science meeting at Liverpool in the
same year on "Criminals and their Reformation." One of
the last occasions on which the late Earl presided was the
Shakspere Tercentenary Festival at Stratford-on-Avon last
April. Before that time the paralytic affection of which he
died had slightly affected his power of utterance, and he had
been advised to decline the invitation, But, knowing that
the project was not popular, and heartily approving of it
himself, he generously made the effort, and proposed the
toast of the evening with all his accustomed fluency. Thus
the life of the seventh Earl of Carlisle, if it has not shown
him as a man of great depth or power, has been ono of
acknowledged usefulness in his generation ; and, if his
literary works are not destined to carry down much fame to
posterity, it must be remembered that the good ho has done
could not have been effected except by a man who, to use
the words of his political opponent, was " remarkable by his
knowledge, his accomplishments, and his commanding
eloquence."

Opening of the Clifton Suspension-bridge.

Thursday was a great day for Briatol and Clifton—in fact,
a great day for Gloucestershire and Somersetshire generally,
inasmuch as it witnessed the formal completion and public
opening of the Clifton Suspension-bridge amid great fes-
tivity and well-deserved public rejoicing. The long-deferred
anticipations of union between the two counties were
worthily celebrated on this occasion. The Lords-Lieutenant
with the magistrates, sheriffs, and high officials of the two
counties were present, The Consuls of various nations, the
clergy of the district, the ancient Merchant Venturers of
Bristol, with the presidents and office-bearers of Foresters,
Druids, Shepherds, friendly societies, and trades, all united
heartily to contribute their share of professional grandeur
to the day's display. With them, too, were corps represent-
ing the Naval Reserve, the regular forces, Yeomanry, and
Volunteers, so that these, with the chairman and directors
of the Clifton-bridge Company, and the large muster
of gentlemen who came in uniform of some kind or
other, made, upon the whole, a very brilliant show, worthy
both of the place and the occasion. Fortunately the wea-
ther, too, was all that could be wished. It poured inces-
santly during the previous night, and the morning itself
broke chill and dismal, as if threatening a longer continu-
ance of the long continued rain. Towards the middle of
the day, however, it cleared up bright and fine, till the sun
shone with the clear warmth of those spring like days which
so often checker the mid-winter of the West of England.
The processions, as we have said, were very long, and what
is more, very good. All the windows and balconies along
the route were thronged; banners were everywhere;
triumphal arches here and there; every shop' was closed ;
all the bells were ringing ; and in short, all Glocester and
much of Somerset gave themselves up to an unreserved and
hearty enjoyment of what proved a brilliant and most suc-
cessful ceremonial.

One can hardly be surprised at the enthusiasm which was
manifested about the completion of this bridge, when it is
remembered that it is fully 200 years ago since the want
of such a structure was keenly felt ; it is 111 years ago since
the first money was left to carry out the long-cherished idea
of the citizens; and it is now 34 years ago since the work
was begun. It is not to be wondered at if the Brietolians,
who, since their bridge was begun, have seen everything
change and everything progress but their bridge, should
have come to regard its completion as an unattainable ideal
—a sort of phantom project that haunted the shores of the
Avon like another Flying Dutchman, now looming dismal
and indistinct through a hazs of expended capital, and ever
and anon,as the want of the structure was more deeply felt,
assuming the clear, sharp outlines of a feasible undertaking
—but nothing more. Perhaps for this long-deferred com-
pletion of their hopes the good citizens of Bristol have
themselves been much to blame ; and certainly but for the
exertions of Mr llawksLaw and Mr W. Barlow, and the
zeal with which they were seconded by the great engineers
of the country, it is more than probable that to this
day th© massive and now somewhat venerable-looking
towers for the bridge chains, put up nearly 40 years ago,
would still have remained the useless tokens of a groat idea
—landmarks of the insolvency certain to await all coldly
regarded public works, no matter how useful. The mere
story of the idea of this bridge is somewhat peculiar. In
the year 1753 there died in Bristol ono Alderman Vick, and
as this alderman had experienced the difficulty of getting
across the Avon from Glocesterehire to Somersctshire at
any point between the Severn and the city of Bristol he be-
quoated to the Society of Merchant Venturers the sum of
£l,OOO, directing that such sum should be placed out at
interest until it should accumulate and increase to LlO,OOO,
when it was to be applied to the building of a stone
bridge across the Avon from Clifton-down, in the county
of Olccester, to Leigh-down, in the county of Somerset.
This was the origin of the bridge which has been 30
years building, though how Mr. Vick could ever have
imagined that it woe possible to get a stone bridge
across such w ohnoin and in euoh a gitliation for
£IO,CO it is difficult to conceive. For nearly eighty
years the thousand pounds left by Mr Vick was allowed to
accumulate; and in the year 1830, when the railway system
was:beginning to make itself felt, the citizens of Bristol
began to think of the old legacy, and the possibility of
applying it to the purpose for which it was left. At that
time the money had increased to £B,OOO, and it was resolved
to use the amount as the nucleus of whatever SUM might
be required to construct the bridge. An Act of Parliament
was obtained, and plans were advertised fur, The first esti-
mate given for a stone bridge was £90,000, or, in fact, about
half what it must really have cost; so stone was given up
for iron, and Telford, the builder of the Menai-bridge, and
the late Mr Brunel competed for the honour of giving a
design for a suspension bridge, and. as might have been
anticipated, Brunel gained the day. Mr Brunel's estimate
was £57,000, and it was, perhaps, characteristic of the
estimates of that great engineer that when £45,000 had
been spent only the towers had been built, and the
money was gone. His design was a chain bridge of. a single
span of 700 feet, two chains passing over two towers,
and being anchored deep in the limestone rocks behind
tmoney,vearint of funds, and, though
as
we have said, was gone,
and thescheme
propositions.
more or less good or bad, were made to
the trustees under the old Act of Parliament, the bridge
r ohaenmy
s allt o o d the
still
for
would not likely have been incomplete to this day, had not
the removal of Hungerford become necessary. Mr Brunel,
as it happened, had been the engineer et Hungerford, and
when therefore the chains had to be pulled down and to
give place to a railway. nothing was more natural than that
Mr Hawkshave should wish to have them applied to the
completion of the greatest and most original of all Mr
Brunel's bridge designs, except Saltash. For such a pur-
pose the money was soon 6forthcomin-.
A new company,
under a new act, and presided over by Captain ituisb, was
started with a capital of £35,000. The chains of Hunger-
built by Mr Brunel for the company, for £2,000. Two
ford-bridge were purchased for £e,ooo the stone towers,
years ago the work of slinging
these chains began, and
yesterday the bridge was opened, finished. Taking it as a
whole, either with regard to the picturesqueness of its
situation, or its lofty height and immense span, there is
really no bridge like it for beauty in the world, save,
perhaps, that erected by the engineer of the bridge across
the Niagara (Mr Roebling) at St. John's, New Brunswick.
aTto4Cfoirifdt'os:laennd e
Menai-bridge h
i dt g ea isn half nearly
200 feet shorter than this
its
height; that at Fribourg,
though longer, is in an easier position to build, and is only
160 ft above the water, instead of 260 ft, as this across the
Avon. The Lambeth Suspension-bridge of Mr Peter Bar-
low has a span of more than I,oooft, but is built on four
piers. St. John's-bridge approaches Clifton in its span and
beauty, though not in height, The Niagara-bridge, as be-
ing used for both road and rail, can scarcely be compared
with it. All these, however, except that at Menai and
Clifton, are wire-rope bridges, which were first much used
in France, America, and Switzerland. From their exceed-
ing liability to decay and injury they are now, however,
looked on with less favour in those countries than in this,
where they are less known.
A short statement of the chief constructional features of
Clifton. bridge may not be out of place on this occasion.
Some three months back a detailed account of the works
appeared in these columns, the greater part of which was
copied (inadvertently, without acknowledgment) from a
clever little pamphlet about the bridge by Mr J. Wright of
Baistol. Yet, though this explanation almost exhausted
the subject, a brief notice way still be readable. Most
people understand how a stone bridge is erected, but the
way in which the chains of a suspeuaiou bridge aro got
across appears to plizzle many. It is needless to say that
the very modern invention of a suspension bridge is only a
bridge formed of powerful chains, buried in the ground at
their ends, and then built link by link over high towers,
the chains being of sufficient strength to support the road
and footway afterwards to be hung from them. The chains,
or rather jointed iron bars, as they really are, aro built
together by joining sideways a series of flat iron bars, or
parts of links—ten and 11 bare, an odd and even num-
ber, alternately composing one link ; and the bridge
having one, two, or three chains of numerous links at each
side, according to the weight it is built to carry and the
distance it has to cross. The first thing done is to get the
anchorage for the shore- on is of the chains at each side.
This at the Clifton-bridge is done by taking down the
links no less than 75ft deep into the heart of the limestone
rocks, and then building them in with solid masonry.
The series of bars composing the links are then embedded
at each side, and from these moorings first a thin rope is
passed over the towers and across to the other side, then
a thick rope is conveyed along the thin, and lastly a wire
rope along the thick one. With two wire ropes thus got
across a cradle is slung between there, and the workmen
can then go on placing and bolting together as they tke a