Ruskin, John: The elements of drawing: in three letters to beginners (London, 1857)

264

THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING-. [letter IHi

that lives at the bottom; — but, wicked or good,
the rivers all agree in having two kinds of sides.
Now the natural way in which a village stone-
mason therefore throws a bridge over a strong
stream is, of course, to build a great door to let the
cat through, and little doors to let the kittens
through; a great arch for the great current, to
give it room in flood time, and little arches for
the little currents along the shallow shore. This,
even without any prudential respect for the floods
of the great current, he would do in simple eco-
nomy of work and stone; for the smaller your arches
are, the less material you want on their flanks.
Two arches over the same span of river, supposing
the butments are at the same depth, are cheaper
than one, and that by a great deal; so that,
where the current is shallow, the village mason
makes his arches many and low: as the water gets
deeper, and it becomes troublesome to build his
piers up from the bottom, he throws his arches
wider; at last he comes to the deep stream, and, as
he cannot build at the bottom of that, he throws