fide with bricks or ftone. .The aftonifhing magnitude o f
the fabriek confifts not fo much in the plan o f the work, as in
the immenfe diilancc o f fifteen hundred miles over which it
is extended, over mountains o f two and three thoufand feet in
height, aerofs deep vallies and rivers. But the elevations, plans,
and feftions o f this wall and its towers have been taken with
fuch truth and accuracy by the late Captain Parilh, o f the Royal
Artillery, that all further defcriptton would be fuperfluous.
T h e y are to be found in Sir George Staunton’s valuable account
o f the embaffy to China.
The fame Emperor, who is faid to have committed the barbarous
aft o f deftroying the works o f the learned, ra'ifed this
ftupendous fabric, which has no parallel in the whole world,
not even in the pyramids o f Egypt, the magnitude o f the largeft
o f thefe containing only a very fmall portion o f the quantity o f
matter comprehended in the great wall o f China, This indeed
is fo enormous, that admitting, what I believe has never been
denied, its length to be fifteen hundred miles, and the dimen-
fiona throughout pretty much the fame as where it was eroded
by the Britiih Embaffy, the materials o f all the dwelling-houfes
o f England and Scotland, fuppofing them to amount to one
million eight hundred thoufand, and to average on the whole
two thoufand cuhic feet o f mafonry or brickwork, are barely
equivalent to the bulk or lolid contents o f the great wall o f
China, Nor arq the projefting maffy towers o f ftone and brick
included in this calculation. Thefe alone, fuppofing them to
continue throughout at bow-ihot diftance, were calculated to
contain as much mafonry and brickwork as all London. T o
1 give
give another idea o f the mafs o f matter in this ftupendous fabric,
it may be obferved, that it is mofe than fufficient to furround
the circumference o f the earth on two o f its great circles,
with two walls, each fix feet high and two feet thick ! It is to
be underftood, however, that in this calculation is included the
eatthy part in the middle o f the wall.
Turning from an objeft, which the great Doftor Johnfon
was o f opinion would be an honour to any one to fay that his
grandfather had feen, another prefents itfelf fcarcely inferior in
point o f grandeur, and greatly excelling it in general utility.
This is what has ufually been called the imperial or grand canal,
an inland navigation o f fuch extent and magnitude as to ftand
unrivalled in the hiftory o f the World. I may fafely fay that,
in point o f magnitude, bur moft extenfive inland navigation o f
England can no more be compared to the grand trunk that
intërfefts China, than a park or garden fifh-pond to the great
lake o f Winandermeie. The Ghinefe afefibe an antiquity to
this work higher by many centuries than to that o f the great
wall ; but the Tartars pretend it Was firft opened in the thirteenth
century under the Mongol government, The probability
is, that an effeminate and ihameful adminiftratioh had fuf-
fered it to fall into decay, and that the more aftive Tartars
caufed it to undergo a thorough repair : at prefent it exhibits no
appearances o f great antiquity. The bridges, the ftone piers o f
the flood-gates, the quays, and thé retaining walls o f the earthen
embankments are comparatively hew. Whether it has originally
been conftrufted by Chinefe or Tartars, the conception
o f fuch ah undertaking, and the manner in Which it is eXeèuted,
imply