When the point of departure is ascertained, much is accomplished, but many difficulties still remain. This point, the highest in the whole of the canal, must be furnished with water, and in such abundance that almost the whole of the canal may be thence supplied: because, although from a certain spot the communication might sometimes be easily made between the two seas, by descending along two rivers that have courses down two inclined planes; yet many objections lie against the attempt to form a public and active navigation on such rivers, when situated near high lands :-they are subject to sudden increase from rain, and are liable to much decrease or even to be dry in the middle of summer. Hence, in a perfect inland navigation, rivers are to be avoided, and canals are to be cut in their direction. In fixing on the point of departure, we should have mentioned that, provided it be above the level of the canal, it ought to be as low as possible, in order to avoid the multiplication of locks and sluices.-Naurouse being chosen for this purpose, it appeared that a supply of water might be procured from rivers and springs, by turning the beds of the former, and conducting the latter to the proper points by artificial canals the great constructor of the work then directed his attention to the Black Mountain (Montagne Noire), and there found sufficient supplies of water. This mountain, at the place at which it terminates, pours out streams in several directions; and consequently, in the space of a semicircle of inconsiderable radius, it presents the near approach of the origin of the course of many natural waters. It is also covered with excellent forests, and contains many resources from which great advantages may be derived. We cannot (says the author) stand at this culminating point, and without experiencing admiration and respect; and without sympathizing with that enthusiasm which in 1786 dictated to a young learned naturalist those animated reflections, which could originate only in an elevated mind, capable of comprehending and of appreThe common granite is the constant and only ciating great ideas. basis of the Black Mountain; it always shews itself there under the same appearances; and it forms only low and flat hills, remaining buried under a surface of earth which produces the oak and the broom. In this sterile and monotonous country, no plant excites the attention of the Naturalist, no irregularity strikes the eye, no grand feature of Nature takes possession of the senses nor awakens the imagination: but it is stamped with the genius of the author of the canal, and we cannot take a step without strong emotions and warm admiration. Here the observer is placed, if I may so expresa myself, before the origin and cause of the canal of Languedoc: he discovers its mechanism, and he holds its key. The project of the Ggz engineer 8 engineer of this grand work here easily explains itself, and the simplicity of the means exceeds the boldness of the undertaking. In other parts, it seems an effort of art constraining Nature: for there, art surpasses Nature by simply imitating her. A narrow and tortuous channel, and two lakes of moderate size, are the simple means that form and maintain, from one sea to the other, a factitious river; the waters of which, kept up and (as it were) suspended at will, can never deceive the expectation of the merchant, nor destroy the hopes of the cultivator.' In this mountain, the engineer raised a mound; which, stopping the torrent, turned its water into a channel, called the channel or canal of the mountain (rigole de la montagne), and which canal receives the waters of four rivers. It is cut along a bed of granite to the mountain of Campmase, through which a tunnel is formed; and the waters, issuing thence, precipitate themselves into the bed of the river Laudot, and follow the course of that stream to the grand reservoir of St. Ferriol. A second channel, called the canal or channel of the plain, commences at Pont Crouzet, receives the waters of the Sor, and joins the canal cut from the reservoir of St. Ferriol at the Hamlet of Thomases: from which point, the waters are conducted along a valley to Naurouse. At the conflux of the two canals, machinery is erected to keep the water at its proper height, and to discharge any that is superfluous and irregular. The length of the canals, from the river Alzau, (where the canal of the mountain begins,) is 30,060 toises, or about 34 miles. One of the greatest works belonging to the canal of Languedoc is the reservoir of St. Ferriol; which was effected by throwing a bar across the valley of the Laudot. Its shape is that of a scalene triangle, the shortest side being formed by the bar or dike across the valley. The length of the reservoir is 800 toises (1600 yards), its breadth near the dike 400 toises, and its greatest depth 99 feet.-The bason of Lampy, another reservoir, is of very inferior dimensions.-M. ANDREOSSY has given a clear and full description of each. We should far exceed our limits, were we to follow this philosophical author along the two branches of the canal, and examine with him the various expedients and machinery which have been employed for the use and safety of this vast work. It appears to be, according to what he says, a chef d'œuvre of the hydraulic art, and reflects infinite honour on the knowlege, the sagacity, and the intellectual boldness of its original projector.It may not be altogether useless, however, to state the author's division of his treatise, and some of the historical particulars. In the first chapter, the project of the canal of the South is considered as deduced from the direction of the waters of the country; and a general view of the canal is taken, from the point of departure to its extreme points. In the second, is considered its connexion with maritime and other lakes in its vicinity. Chapter 3d contains an analysis of the works of art constructed on the canal. Chapter 4th compares the product and consumption of its waters. In chapter 5th, are considered the means of augmenting its quantity of water. Chapter 6th treats of the management of this canal. Chapter 7th and last contains a discussion respecting the real author of the project, and the construction of the canal, and this section is intitled to particular notice, because it is probable that the present publication originated in the author's desire of vindicating the fame of his ancestor F. Andreossy. The un iertaker of, or contractor for, the canal of Languedoc was undoubtedly Paul Riquet; and he obtained the profits which accrued from its execution. His family being enriched and ennobled by it, and his name frequently connected with the mention of the canal, in conversation, and in public acts, to him also the glory of the project and the plan has been transferred but the real author, in all that regards its design and plan, was François Andreossy. This ingenious man was born at Paris in 1633, where he studied the mathematics; but, having subsequently retired from the metropolis to Languedoc, he quitted Narbonne for Italy in the year 1660; through which country he travelled in order to acquire greater knowlege of the hydraulic art. Rich with the information which he had acquired, (says the present author,) F. Andreassy, on his return to Languedoc in the same year, communicated to Riquet his project for the canal, gained his approbation of it, and induced him to obtain the sanction of the minister Colbert. In order, however, to make it agreeable to Louis the Fourteenth, the minister required that the Chevalier Clerville, com. missary general of the fortifications, who possessed much credit at court, should present the plan and manifest its utility. It rarely happens that men, who are raised to those eminent places which call for the exclusive confidence of government, sufficiently divest themselves of self-love, to give weight and worth to projects that do not belong to them, but of which, from their situation, people would think they ought to have been the authors. Clerville repaired to Langue. doc, saw Andreossy, and accompanied him to all the places through which it was intended that the canal should pass; and the latter, with the unsuspecting confidence of youth, disclosed his project. Clerville demanded a copy of it, and employed him to draw up an estimate of the expence. His labours terminated in 1664, were confided in the following year to the Commissary-general, and enabled him to form his first estimate of 1666, which he presented to the king, without mentioning either the author of the project or M. Riquet. Gg3 Clerville Clerville being a man of power and credit, F. Andreassy was under the necessity of keeping terms with him; and, some difficulties having arisen concerning the execution of the plan, he formed a new project more extensive than the first; and which would have been secure from all blame and criticism, had not Riquet desired him to make the canal pass through Beziers; where, according to the proper expression of our author, he happened to be born. Colbert still insisted that the plan, &c. should pass through the hands of the Chevalier Clerville; and Andreossy was now convinced that, if he intrusted it to him, the honour of the work when performed would be reserved for the Commissarygeneral, the project for the contractor, and that his lot would be the fatigue of the execution, after having first demonstrated its possibility. What was to be done? In imitation of the statuary, who mutilated one of his most exquisite performances in order to have an opportunity of afterward demonstrating that he had executed it, Andreossy split his project;-he made known only the first part, and left the second, according to his own expression, to the prudence and knowlege of the Chevalier de Clerville. The Commissary-general, thus abandoned to his own resources, surveyed the ground, and presented a plan, a miserable one, which proved him to be ignorant of the first principles of navigable canals. Having acquired some partisans at court, Riquet accepted the clauses contained in the estimate of M. Clerville, with the express condition that he might change the route of the canal, during its execution, if he thought it necessary. The point was now gained, the project of Clerville fell to the ground, the whole plan of Andreossy was put in execution, and the canal of Languedoc, the admiration of Europe, was constructed. Riquet died in 1680, before the canal was completed; and his coadjutor directed its construction till the day of his death, which happened on the 3d of June 1688. It appears that this event was accelerated by chagrin. The family of Riquet, having suddenly arrived at wealth and distinction through the genius and labours of a foreigner *, felt the burthen of grati tude too heavy for them, and threw it entirely from their shoulders; and Andreossy, neglected and forgotten, saw the phantom of renown disappear, and tasted not the fruit of thirty years of meditation and labour. To prove that Andreossy was really the projector and author of the junction between the ocean and the Mediterranean, the writer of this volume has brought forwards several documents and testimonies; the most important of which, in our opinion, Andreossy's father was a Senator of Lucca, in Italy. is the "Extract from the memoirs concerning the construction of the royal canal of communication between the two seas, in Languedoc, by F. Andreossy, 1675.". This piece bears strong internal evidence of Andreassy being the author of the project; he speaks as if the fact never had been doubted, nor was likely to be doubted; and the General vouch s for the authenticity of these memoirs, which are in manuscript. A second strong proof is contained in his epistle dedicatory of the chart of the junction of the two seas to Louis XIV.; which was published in 1669, eleven years before the death of Riquet, who never openly contradicted any statement of this chart, in which Andreossy plainly speaks of himself as the original projector of the canal.-In support of the same opinion, many other authorities are quoted, and some contradictory evidences controverted; and we think that, if the whole matter be fairly weighed and examined, the General must be allowed to have made out his point. The faculty of judging and of adopting is more common, and of a lower order, than the power of inventing: yet, if the first praise be due to Andreossy, we must applaud and admire. the acuteness, judgment, and zeal, which Riquet exhibited in comprehending and fostering the vast plan of the canal of Languedoc. He seems to have been well described by his coadjutor Andresssy;-"Although endowed with a penetrating and active mind, which quickly determined in favour of any thing that was true, his very advanced age, and his education which was totally adverse to any thing that could be called science, for ever prevented him from being the original institutor of a great undertaking: but there remained to him the sweet and tranquil pleasure of being useful to his country; and in this hope it was that he exerted all his power, and risked his whole fortune, for the success of a project in which every one had hitherto been baffled." A perusal of the present treatise, we think and hope, has added to our stock of information: not so much by its mere enumeration of facts and detail of particular circumstances, as by the comprehensive views, sage maxims, and philosophical truths, with which the writer has variegated and enriched it. It has also afforded considerable entertainment, although several of the particulars are to us uninteresting: not that such particulars are useless, for whoever would survey and understand the great work of F. Andreossy, in all its several contrivances, artifices, and machines, ought to carry in his hand this publication of his descendant and namesake. The volume, in its statement of facts, we presume to be accurate: in its general style and fabrication, it bears testimony to the clear, learned, and enlightened mind of its author. R.W. ART Gg 4 |