DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26532#0056
xxxiv INTRODUCTION.
war with the Turks, he made good all the Venetian
strong holds in Dalmatia, Corfu, the Morea, the
Levant, Cyprus, &c. By the v/orks he raised for
its defence the city of Candia, metropolis of the
issand of that name, was enabled to Rand out a ten
years siege by the Turks; to whom, aster that long
course of devastation and carnage, it was given up
by capitulation, Sep. 6, 1669. a mere field of ruins.
But the merit os all these specimens os his ability
as an engineer disappears, when they are compared
with that astonishing fortress del Lido, at the mouth
os the Port of Venice. The soil, on which this
enormous mass is built, was marsh surrounded by
the sea. Notwithstanding which difficulty, our Ar-
tist contrived, by the choice os his materials, the
solidity of his soundations, the mamveness of the
Hones and the care in their conjunction, so to com-
plete his enterprize, that no changes of weather,
nor comtant agitation os the sea, nor incidental storm
have in any degree affeCted this construction; which,
by its compabtness, seems rather cut out of a rock,
than built by hand. Envy soon suggested that the
great quantity of heavy artillery required to furnisli
this sortress, would, when discharged, infallibly oc«
casion its ruin. Sanmicheli, in order to do away at
once this malevolent suggestion, begged leave to
have the largest cannon of the arsenal brought thi-
ther; and, furnishing all the embrasures, ordered a
discharge os the whole number os pieces at once.
This formidable experiment caused not the leas!:
breach or crack in the works, and effeClually silenced
the presages os the envious, 7 In
war with the Turks, he made good all the Venetian
strong holds in Dalmatia, Corfu, the Morea, the
Levant, Cyprus, &c. By the v/orks he raised for
its defence the city of Candia, metropolis of the
issand of that name, was enabled to Rand out a ten
years siege by the Turks; to whom, aster that long
course of devastation and carnage, it was given up
by capitulation, Sep. 6, 1669. a mere field of ruins.
But the merit os all these specimens os his ability
as an engineer disappears, when they are compared
with that astonishing fortress del Lido, at the mouth
os the Port of Venice. The soil, on which this
enormous mass is built, was marsh surrounded by
the sea. Notwithstanding which difficulty, our Ar-
tist contrived, by the choice os his materials, the
solidity of his soundations, the mamveness of the
Hones and the care in their conjunction, so to com-
plete his enterprize, that no changes of weather,
nor comtant agitation os the sea, nor incidental storm
have in any degree affeCted this construction; which,
by its compabtness, seems rather cut out of a rock,
than built by hand. Envy soon suggested that the
great quantity of heavy artillery required to furnisli
this sortress, would, when discharged, infallibly oc«
casion its ruin. Sanmicheli, in order to do away at
once this malevolent suggestion, begged leave to
have the largest cannon of the arsenal brought thi-
ther; and, furnishing all the embrasures, ordered a
discharge os the whole number os pieces at once.
This formidable experiment caused not the leas!:
breach or crack in the works, and effeClually silenced
the presages os the envious, 7 In