The Romans, having previously learned from the Carthaginians the art of making paved roads, would, in all probability, be the first who introduced any regular roads into Great Britain; as the aborigines, at the time of the invasion by Cæsar, were merely barbarians, living chiefly upon what they procured from the chace. The grasping policy of the Romans, it is apparent, was, after the subjugation of the inhabitants, to lay the country open by those roads, to facilitate the transport of troops and supplies, in order to keep them in a state of subjection. "The Roman roads," says Mr. Tredgold, "were made so firm and solid, that they have not entirely yielded to the dilapidations of fifteen centuries. These roads, he states, ran nearly in direct lines; natural obstructions were removed or overcome by the efforts of labour or art, whether they consisted of marshes, lakes, rivers, or mountains. In flat districts, the middle part of the road was raised into a terrace. In mountainous districts, the roads were alternately cut through mountains, and raised above the valleys, so as to preserve either a level line, or a uniform inclination. They founded the road on piles, where the ground was not solid; and raised it by strong side-walls, or by arches and piers, where it was necessary to gain elevation. The paved part of the great military roads was 16 Roman feet* wide, with two side ways, each 8 feet wide, separated from the middle way by two raised paths, 2 feet each."

The following account of the construction of those Roman roads, is translated from the French Encyclopædia, article Chemin, and shews that this enterprising people only wanted a knowledge of steam, and its application as a motive power, toge

"The English foot is to the Roman foot as 1000 is to 967."

ther with a knowledge of the modern system of manufacturing iron, to have adopted Railways. "They were commenced everywhere by two furrows measured by a string, these parallel lines deciding the width of the road; the intervening space was then excavated, and in this depth the several layers of the road-materials were laid, the first being as cement of chalk and sand an inch thick. On this cement, as a first coat, broad and flat stones, six inches high, were placed one on the other, and connected by a very strong mortar; as a second coat, followed a thickness of eight inches of small round stones, softer than the pebble, intermixed with tiles, slates, and the fragments of buildings, all worked to an adhesive substance; and, as a third coat, a thickness of a foot of cement, made. from rich earth, mixed with chalk. These interior substances formed a road from three feet to three and a half feet thick; and upon this was placed an entire surface of gravel, bound by a cement with a mixture of chalk. This crust is still to be found perfect in several parts of Europe."* Indeed, there are some remains of those Roman roads yet visible in Britain. At the city of Chester, the Častrum of the Romans, remnants of the old Roman pavement are frequently discovered, when the superincumbent soil, several feet deep, has been removed. In Scotland, a portion of Roman causeway may still be seen leading from Musselburgh Bay to the Firth of Forth.

With the exception of these Roman roads, and the carriages employed thereon, "the width of the wheel-tracks not being more than three feet,Ӡ (and

Abstract of the report of Jos. Gibbs, Esq. addressed to the London, York, and Norwich committees of the Great Northern Railway Co. as inserted in the Railway Magazine for Oct. 1835.

Rondelet, as cited in Tredgold, 2nd edit. p. 7.

perhaps even those carriages were exclusively, or mostly, devoted to the purposes of war (it appears that the whole of the internal communication of Great Britain was, for centuries afterwards, effected by the employment of what were termed "packhorses," carrying their loads upon their backs, the roads being similar to sheep-tracks. Even at the present time, we find in the mountainous districts of Wales, and in the Highlands of Scotland, that the greater part of their commodities are transferred from one place to another, by this mode of conveyance.

From the works we have quoted in the succeeding chapter, it will be seen, that the next improvement in interior communication, was in substituting wooden railroads for the common or military roads; but as that species of road is noticed there at greater length, it is here merely adverted to, in chronological order.

CANALS. "The total number of canals in Great Britain (says Mr. Herbert) is 103; the total exent 2688 miles; and the capital sunk in their construction is computed at upwards of thirty millions sterling." Although those works are now prosecuted to so great an extent, the following pages will show that after the art had been introduced by the Romans, that it soon became obsolete, and was never revived to any extent, until the middle of the last century. Consequently, the above length of canal navigation was executed in about 80 years.

"The Foss Dyke canal, supposed to have been originally made by the Romans, and restored under Henry I. is connected with the Witham at Lincoln. At Braybrook Mere it proceeds on one level 11 miles, to the bank of the river Trent at Forksay, about eight miles above Gainsborough. It is pre-. served at the same level by a lock, having gates

C

pointing in both directions. This is the oldest artificial canal in England; but we are uncertain in what manner it was anciently connected with the Trent, or even that it did ever form such a connection."

"The Car Dyke, which skirts the uplands from the river Nene at Peterborough, to the Welland near Market Deeping, and from thence by Bourne and Billingham to the river Witham near Lincoln. It is a very ancient work, probably Roman. Its position leads us to think it has been a catchwater drain, but it might also be used for the purpose of navigating through this great extent of country."

In Scotland their appears to have been a canal made across the island, along Scotia's Great Glen, from near Inverness on the east, to the Sound of Mull on the west, at a very remote period: but it would seem only to have been subservient to the purposes of contention and warfare. The passage alluded to runs thus: "This extraordinary pass [the great glen] has excited public attention even since the time of the Romans. In the curious map by Richard of Cirencester, (composed in the fourteenth century, and founded chiefly on Ptolemy's Tables,) a continued canal is represented along the whole of the valley between the east and west seas. Of this, perhaps, the most ancient of existing maps, a correct copy is inserted in the able memoir which accompanies Mr. Arrowsmith's excellent map of Scotland."

The first attempt at canal-making in England, in modern times, was in forming the Sankey brook into a canal, in the year 1755,-from the river Mersey to near St. Helen's in Lancashire, but which was not completed until five years afterwards.

The Duke of Bridgewater's celebrated canal, completed under the direction of the indefatigable Brindley, is well deserving of attention, it being inestimable, as the prototype of canal navigation in England. The original destination of this canal was to convey coals from the Duke's mines at Worsley, to the town of Manchester, and for which the act of 32 George II. was obtained; two other acts were subsequently granted for extensions and alterations. "In 1795, by an act 35 George III. an extension was made from Worseley Mill to the town of Leigh, in Lancashire, with a branch to Chat Moss. Excepting 82 feet of rise by ten locks, in the distance of 600 yards, at Runcorn, the whole of the navigation, which is about 45 miles, is upon one level, to which, when we add 18 miles of the Grand Trunk from Preston Brook, making 63 miles, besides what is underground, in the Worsley coal-mines, which cannot be less than 10 miles, we have the extraordinary extent of 73 miles of canal navigation upon one level. Combined with this advantage, we may add, that the Grand Trunk, and all the canals at Manchester, connected with the western sides of the ranges of mountains which separate Lancashire and Yorkshire, finally discharge water into the Duke's canal, and thereby insure a superabundant supply for all its purposes."

We shall now present the reader with a cursory view of some of the principal canals executed in Great Britain and Ireland. The first that we shall advert to, is the Grand Trunk, or Staffordshire Canal, which forms a communication between the Trent and the Mersey; and thus connects the German Ocean with the Irish Sea. From the eastern commencement of this canal, to its junction