observes PROFESSOR PHILLIPS," "we regard as originally British ways those in which the main feature is a clinging to high ridges of open ground, thickly set with tumuli and earthworks, and which exhibit a negligent flexuosity, such as suits the notion of a customary track, rather than a well-planned and firmly-executed road, the old Wold road from York to Bridlington may claim to be such. The old road which runs from Malton by Thornthorpe to Stamford Brig, and by another branch to Acklam Wold, Wilton Beacon, Givendale, Warter, and Londesborough, is of this character. The fortified way from Acklam by Sledmere toward Bridlington, and that which runs among entrenchments and camps from Malton by Settrington toward Bridlington, may be put in the same class, and contrasted with the firm and decisive lines between Aberford and Castleford, Castleford and Doncaster, and indeed the whole way from Pierse Bridge to Lincoln." Whether the so-called "Abbot's Way," in the turbaries of Somersetshire, belongs to Ancient British times, as some suppose, or was constructed, as its name implies, by some abbot of the neighbouring monastery of Glastonbury, I am in no position to determine. It is now buried about two yards beneath the Turf Moor, and is composed of birchen poles, each a yard long, split, and pegged close together. Pity but some antiquarian society would undertake to once more lay it open to daylight, and use every exertion to ascertain whether it belongs to Celtic or to medieval times.

But of all roadmakers (though the Carthaginians are supposed to be the first people who had paved roads, and the Greeks the first to legislate for their repair) the Romans stand pre-eminent.

No other people, of ancient or modern times, are fit for a moment to be compared to the hardy Roman soldiers in the construction of firm and spacious roads, which would have lasted until now, had they not been rnthlessly torn up, by savage numbskulls, in modern days, that they might steal the materials, and boast of living in a state of superior civilization. No matter

* The Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-Coast of Yorkshire.

what difficulties lay in the way, the Romans believed that their soldiers were all the better for being inured to labour, as it contributed alike to their health and morals; knowing that Idleness and Dissipation generally go hand in hand; and all obstacles were surmounted by patient perseverance. "The first road which the Romans paved," observes that prince of preceptors, good DR. ALEXANDER ADAM, "was to Capua ;* first made by Appius Claudius, the Censor, the same who built the first acqueduct, A. M., 441, afterwards continued to Brandusium, about three hundred and fifty miles, but by whom it is uncertain; called Regina Viarum, paved with the hardest flint so firmly, that in several places it remains entire unto this day, above two thousand years; so broad, that two carriages might pass one another; commonly, however, not exceeding fourteen feet. The stones were of different sizes, from one to five feet every way, but so artfully joined, that they appeared but one stone. There were two strata below; the first stratum of rough stones cemented with mortar, and the second of gravel; the whole about three feet thick. The roads were so raised as to command a prospect of the adjacent country. On each side there was usually a row of larger stones, called Margines, a little raised for foot passengers." They had other roads, however, only covered with gravel, with a stone footpath on each side. All the military ways in Italy terminated in the Forum: and distances were reckoned from the gates of Rome, and properly marked on milestones erected along every road in the country. At shorter distances, stones were placed for travellers to rest on, and to assist those who alighted to mount their horses. "The charge of the public ways was intrusted only to men of the highest dignity. Augustus himself undertook the charge of the roads round Rome, and appointed two men of Prætorian rank to pave the roads, each of whom was attended by two lictors." + "They usually," says DR. NUTTALL, "dug a trench,

*About a hundred and twenty-five miles, says the Rev. R.J. MAJOR. + Roman Antiquities.

and strengthened the ground which formed the foundation of the road, by ramming it, laying it with flints, pebbles, or sand, and sometimes with a lining of masonry, rubbish, bricks, or other materials, bound together with mortar. This composition reaching in some places ten or twelve feet deep, became at last hard and compact as marble, which has resisted the injuries of time near two thousand years, and is still scarcely penetrable by all the force of hammers, &c., though the flints it consists of are not bigger than eggs.-The most noble of the Roman roads were the Via Appia, Via Flaminia, and Via Emilia.

The

length of the Via Appia was five days' journey, or three hundred and fifty miles, twelve feet broad, and made of square freestone, a foot and a half on each side. Though this road has lasted near two thousand years, yet it is in many places, even now, as entire as when it was first made.-Certain important rules were observed in laying out Roman roads. They never deviated from a straight line, except where nature had opposed some impediment. The highest points of land near to the general line were chosen progressively for surveying points, as from thence they could look forwards to some other point at a considerable distance, and thus deviate but little from the direct line. Miss KNIGHT divides Roman roads into strutus vias, pebbles and gravel, like ours; vias silice stratas, roads paved with large unequal stones; and vias saxo et lapide quadrato stratas, paved with square flat stones regularly laid. In some roads four strata occur: 1, the statumen or foundation, all sand and soft matter being carefully removed; 2, ruderatio, a bed of broken earthenware, tiles, &c., fastened by cement; 3, nucleus, a bed of mortar, on which was placed, 4, summa crusta, the outer coat of bricks, tiles, stones, &c., according to local materials.-The Roman roads are distinguished into military roads, double roads, and subterraneous roads. The military roads were intended for marching their armies into the provinces of this kind were Ikenild-street, Watling-street, Foss-way, and Erminagestreet, in England. The military ways were of sixty Roman feet in width, twenty for the agger, and twenty

Double roads were roads

for the slope on each side. for carriages, having two pavements, one for those going one way and the other for those returning the other way [just as we have our separate lines for up and down trains on railways]. Between the two pavements was a causeway, a little raised for foot passengers, which was paved with brick, and had a border, mounting-stones, and milestones. Subterraneous roads were those dug through a rock, and left vaulted, as that of Puzzoli near Naples, which is near half a league long, fifteen feet broad, and as many high. The smaller roads consisted of the semita, for persons walking, one foot broad; callis, a bridle road; tramites, cross-ways; the actus, four feet broad, for beasts of burden, or a simple chariot; the iter, two feet, for men alone; the via, eight seet in breadth, for carriages to meet.-The Romans made four great ways in England, as just observed, and called them consulares, prætorias, militares, and publicas. The first was called Watlingstreet, otherwise Werlam-street, and led from Dover to London, St. Alban's, Dunstable, Towcester, Atherston, and the Severn, near the Wrekin jn Shropshire, extending itself to Angelesey in Wales. The name of the second was Ikenild-street; stratum Icenorum; so called, because it took its beginning among the Iceni, which were the people that inhabited Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. This way stretched from Southampton, over the Isis at Newmarket; thence by Camden and Lichfield; then it passed the river Derwent, by Derby; so to Bolsover castle, ending at Tinmouth. The third way was called the Fosse, because in some places it was never perfected, but lies as a large ditch; or, as it is stated by COWEL, from having a ditch on one side of it. This way led from Cornwall, through Devonshire, by Tetbury, near Stowin-the-Wells, and beside Coventry to Leicester, Newark, and thence to Lincoln. The fourth way was called Ermine or Erminage-street; and began at St David's in west Wales, ending at Southampton.-These ways are still observable in various parts of England; and are distinguishable from the British trackways, or roads, existing before the Roman invasion, which were

B

not paved or gravelled; nor was the lined causeway, or elevated street, usual before the Roman conquest. These trackways (says SIR R. HOARE, in his History of Ancient Wilts,) appear to follow the natural ridges of the country, and are seen winding along the top or sides of the chains of hills which lie in their way. They are attended generally by tumuli, and vestiges of villages and settlements, which are placed on their sides, some at the very crossing of two trackways. During their course, they very frequently throw out branches, which, after being parallel for miles, are again united with the original stem. If the towns and trackways of the Britons were found convenient for the Roman purpose, they made use of them; if not, they constructed, others, which differed very materially from such as had been made by the original inhabitants. The British trackways adopted by the Romans, as the Foss-road and Ikenild-street, seem rather to have been adapted for civil and commercial purposes. On the other hand, the Romans, although they made use of the British ways, where they lay in a convenient situation for them, distinguished the roads which they formed, as well as those which they adopted, by very particular marks. They placed towns and military stations on them, at regular distances, seldom exceeding twenty miles, for the accommodation of the troops on their march. New Roman roads often run parallel with these trackways."*

Nor were the four main thoroughfares from sea to sea (which few of our turnpikes or railways even can equal for directness) the only roads made by the Romans during their almost five centuries of occupation of our island; for antiquarian research now traces other trunkways in all parts of England. Wherever

the word Strut or Street occurs in the names of places

-as Street Houses, in Cleveland; English-Street, at Carlisle; Street, in Somersetshire and in Sussex; Streethall, in Essex; Streethay, near Lichfield; Stretham, near Ely; Stratfield, in Berkshire; the various

*A Classical and Archeological Dictionary of the Manners, Customs, Laws, Institutions, Arts, etc., of the celebrated Nations of Antiquity, and of the Middle Ages.