In order to connect
the hill with Prince's-street, all these have been swept away, and an
elegant arch, called _Regent Bridge_, has been thrown over the hollow,
which makes the descent from the hill into this street easy and
agreeable. Thus, in place of being carried, as formerly, through long
and narrow streets, the great road from the east into Edinburgh sweeps
along the side of the steep and singular elevation of the Calton Hill;
whence the traveller has first a view of the Old Town, with its elevated
buildings crowning the summit of the adjacent ridges, and rising upon
the eye in imposing masses; and, afterwards, of the New Town finely
contrasted with the Old, in the regularity and elegance of its general
outline.
_Regent Bridge_ was begun in 1816, and finished in 1819. The arch is
semicircular, and fifty feet wide. At the north front it is forty-five
feet in height, and at the south front sixty-four feet two inches, the
difference being occasioned by the ground declining to the south. The
roadway is formed by a number of reverse arches on each side. The great
arch is ornamented on the south and north by two open arches, supported
by elegant columns of the Corinthian order.
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