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the metal by a pair of scales and a six-ounce weight; but a more usual test is an iron ring two inches and a half in diameter, attached to a handle, through which every stone should be small enough to pass. Some writers have recommended that one inch should be the maximum diameter, but it is only the hardest and toughest materials that will bear breaking so small without much waste. The pieces should be as nearly cubical as may be, and should on no account be broken on the surface of the road; nor is it well to do it on the heap, the best method being to break one or two pieces at once on a large block of hard stone, the pieces being held steady by the iron ring that serves as a gauge. A sitting posture is considered best for those engaged in breaking road-metal, an operation which, under the modern system of road-making, gives employment to a great number of hands. Attempts have been made to perform this operation by machinery, but mechanical contrivances have not been found equal to manual labour. Pronged shovels are made use of in lifting the broken stone into barrows and carts, as they save labour by entering the heap with less resistance than ordinary shovels, and also prevent the admixture of earth with the metal.

exclude sun and wind; and for the same reason trees or buildings that overshadow the road should be removed when practicable. The situation of toll-gates must be regulated by circumstances, but it is very desirable to avoid placing them either on or at the bottom of a hill, an arrangement very liable to cause accidents. The gates, which, when single, may be fifteen feet, or, when double, without a centrepost, twenty-four to thirty feet wide, are usually painted white, that they may be readily seen at night. They should he well lighted, and supplied with comfortable toll-houses, which, on some of the modern roads, are erected in an ornamental style. Parnell advises the use of milestones of light-coloured stone, and of larger dimensions than usual; but cast-iron posts have been extensively used, and on some roads cast-iron tablets mounted on stone. A convenient arrangement is a stone or post with two tablets inclined towards the road, so that persons travelling in either direction see the distance of the town which they are approaching. However well a metalled road may be made in the first instance, its preservation in a good state depends greatly on prompt and judicious repair. The mud that forms on the surface in wet weather should be scraped off and formed into heaps at the side (avoiding the side channels), until it is sufficiently dry for carting away; because, if left on the surface, it would while moist soften the road and cause it to break up, and after drying impede the running off of water from a subsequent shower. This operation has been usually performed by hand, but scraping-machines, patented by Messrs. Bourne and Harris, have been recently introduced with success, they being found to diminish the April, is considered the best time for the addition of fresh materials, which are laid on in thin coats, and should always be applied as soon as any hollow capable of retaining water is observed. For the purpose of keeping a supply of broken stone always at hand, depôts for holding about twenty-four cubic yards of metal are formed by the road-side, at intervals of a quarter of a mile or less, from which the stone is taken to the required spot in barrows. When laid on the road, according to Parnell, it is not necessary to pick up the old surface, as the new metal keeps the part under it wet and soft, and soon works in. Mc. Adam, however, recommends breaking up the surface of the road in every case where fresh stone is added.

The depth of metal on a paved foundation should be not less than six inches, and it should be laid on in two or three distinct layers,carefully spread with broad shovels, and carriages should work on each till it is in some degree consolidated before another is laid over it. While the metalling is fresh, men should attend to rake in the ruts as fast as they are formed, and to pick off any large stones that may have previously escaped notice, as they are sure to work up to the surface. The sides of the road may be covered with the smaller por-labour fully one-half. The winter season, from October to tion of the metal, separated by a sieve with meshes of an inch square; and a layer of about an inch and a half of clean gravel is occasionally added over the whole surface in order to ease the draught while the road is new, though its effect on the road is rather injurious than otherwise, nothing being needed to bind the metal together. Rolling a road on which fresh materials have been laid is a measure of doubtful utility, the most effectual consolidation being produced by the working of carriages which are compelled to vary their tracks, and to run on the new metal, by placing wooden trestles across the road, and altering their position when necessary; the road is frequently raked as long as any loose stones remain.

Where the traffic is not sufficient to justify so expensive a mode of formation as that which has been described, good roads may be formed with broken stone only, increasing in thickness from six inches at the sides to twelve inches in the centre. If nothing better than gravel can be procured, Parnell recommends that a coat of four inches be laid on the prepared bed, and worked over till pretty firm; then a layer three inches thick, once screened, and finally three distinct layers of the gravel well riddled, and free from earth, clay, or stones exceeding an inch and a half diameter; the road, when completed, to be ten inches thick at the sides, and sixteen in the centre, where the strongest and best part of the gravel should be laid. The drainage must be particularly attended to in a gravel road. Among the inferior materials occasionally used is limestone burnt to a vitreous state; but, though formerly often used in districts where coal is abundant, it is not approved for carriageways by modern road-makers.

In completing a road it is necessary to form the side channels with care, and to provide against their being interfered with by branch or field roads. The footpath, which is usually about five feet wide, may be made of gravel or broken sandstone, and is required in the Holyhead-road specifications to be level with the centre of the road, which is six inches above the sides. For fencing, walls are preferred where stone is plentiful, as they occupy less space than hedges, and have a neat appearance. If the stone is of favourable shape, such walls may be built without mortar, except in the coping; but if on the side of an embankment, the walls should always be strongly built with mortar. A hedge-bank and ditch occupy a width of about eight feet in ordinary cases, and the young quicks are protected by post and rail fencing; but where timber is scarce, it is sometimes well to make the ditch and bank rather larger, so that the wooden railing may be dispensed with. In cuttings and some other situations a mound or bank without a hedge forms a convenient fence, and these, as well as hedge-banks, may be improved in appearance and durability by being swarded. All fences should be kept low, that they may not P. C., No. 1235.

Stone and Iron Tramways.-Though an improvement on ordinary pavement, this description of road may be considered as a link between metalled and paved roads, stone tracks having been occasionally applied to common roads, and with great benefit. Stone tramways consist of wheeltracks formed of large blocks of stone, usually granite, the surface of which is made so smooth as to offer very little resistance to the rolling of the wheels, while the space between the tracks, being composed of broken stone, gravel, or rough pavement, affords secure footing for the horses. Iron tramways, in which cast or wrought iron plates are used instead of blocks of stone, have hitherto been very little used on ordinary roads, though their superior smoothness gives them a decided advantage, while their expense does not, as stated by Macneill, at all exceed that of granite. Iron tracks are sometimes made with a flat surface, but a slight concavity, as shown in the section of Woodhouse's rail in the article RAILWAY (p. 246), tends to keep the carriages more accurately in the right course, and is therefore an advantage when all the vehicles used on the tramway are nearly uniform in width. The granite blocks used for stone tramways are generally from three to six feet long, twelve to eighteen inches wide, and eight to twelve inches deep. Great care is necessary in bedding such large blocks, and the joints require nice adjustment. They are frequently laid end to end without any fitting into each other, but it has been proposed to dovetail the ends together, to insert a small stone as a dowel between two blocks, to use iron clamps, or to join the stones with oak tree-nails. The granite tracks used on some steep ascents in the Holyhead road are bedded on a pavement eight inches thick, packed and grouted, and a layer of three inches of broken stones not exceeding an inch and a half diameter; a thin stratum of gravel, well rolled, being placed last of all to receive the blocks. When they are laid, the centre and side spaces are filled up with ordinary road material to the level of the tracks; a row of common granite paving-stones, about six inches deep, five wide, and nine long, being laid along each side of the tracks to prevent loose materials working on to VOL. XX.-F

them. Mr. Stevenson, in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia,' recommends the use of smaller stones, as being cheaper and less liable to injury from vibration than those of the usual size. The dimensions recommended by him are fourteen inches deep, eighteen inches wide at the base, twelve inches wide at the top, and six to nine inches long. The increased accuracy required in the numerous joints might probably counterbalance any advantage gained by the adoption of small stones. The great saving of power effected by the use of tramways for ordinary carriages is shown by numerous experipients, some of which, tried on the granite tracks of the Commercial Road in London, proved that a well-made waggon will run with increasing velocity, by the force of gravity alone, down a mean slope of 1 in 155. On this road a loaded waggon weighing ten tons has been drawn with apparent ease by a single horse, up an ascent of 1 in 274, for a distance of about two miles. On an iron tramway laid in 1816 by the Forth and Clyde canal company at Port Dundas, near Glasgow, a horse has taken a load of three tous on a cart weighing nine cwt., up an acclivity of 1 in 15, without difficulty, though he could not proceed with it on a common causeway with an easy line of draught; and the carters agree that the horses take up three tons on the iron tracks as easily as they did twenty-four cwt. on the common causeway previously used.

In order to ascertain the comparative durability of different kinds of stone for tramways, and for paving generally, Mr. Walker tried some experiments on blocks laid in a toll gateway on the Commercial Road tramway, the results of which were as follows:-The blocks were eighteen inches wide and twelve deep, and were laid down in March, 1830; and the loss given in the table was ascertained after they had been in use seventeen months, in August, 1831

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Stone tramways have been adopted in many street pavements where a great traffic is carried on, particularly in some of the narrow streets in the city of London, with much advantage; but their application to acclivities on ordinary roads has hitherto been more limited than their merits deserve. By their judicious introduction on a few steep inclinations, many hilly roads might, at a small expense, be made nearly equal to level lines; and it is probable that such a measure would tend, in an important degree, to enable turnpike-roads to meet the formidable rivalry of railways. In his report to the Holyhead-road Commissioners in 1839, Mr. Macneill strongly recommends the application of stone or iron tracks to several hills, and states that an iron tramway laid down along the whole length of the road would reduce the expense of horse labour fully one half. If,' he writes, a tramway were constructed of iron plates, the whole way from London to Birmingham, a coach carrying sixteen passengers might be drawn at the rate of ten miles an hour with only two horses, and one horse would be able to draw a post-chaise more easily than two now can, so that the expense of travelling might be reduced one half, and a similar reduction might be made in the charges for carrying goods. The expense of forming such a railway would be about 25007. a mile, making the whole expense from London to Birmingham 271,000l. In addition to the immediate advantages of such an improvement, it would remove one of the greatest obstacles to the successful use of steam locomotives on common roads.

Pavements. The formation of paved roads on correct principles appears to have been well understood by the Romans, whose pavements show great care in their essential features,--a good foundation and accurate fitting of the : tones. Some of the modern imitations of the Roman system in the street-pavements of Italy show the like attention to these important points, the paving-stones being set in mortar on a concrete foundation with a degree of accuracy that has led some writers to designate these roads

Herm is an island adjoining Guernsey.

A whinstone from Northumberland. All the rest are granites.

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horizontal walls. In some instances the blocks of stone used are of considerable depth; but they are often thin. and, being of large dimensions, have more the character of flag-stones than of ordinary paving-blocks. At Naples and Florence, stones two feet square and six inches thick, laid diagonally across the road, and neatly set in Pozzolano mortar, are used; the surface being chipped where declivities or turnings occur, to prevent the shipping of horses, which become very sure-footed from habit. Occasionally, as at Milan, different kinds of paving are laid for the wheeltracks and horse-path, so as to produce the effect of a stone tramway. These pavements have been recommended as models for imitation in paving the streets of London; but the durability with which they are constructed would form a disadvantage in a place where the pavement has to be frequently disturbed for the purpose of laying down or repairing water and gas-pipes, or cleansing the sewers; and it is probable that pavements which answer well for the light vehicles and limited traffic of many of the continental cities, would be found quite inadequate to bear the number of heavy carriages traversing the principal thoroughfares of the metropolis; of which some idea may be formed from the fact that upwards of 11,000 vehicles were observed to pass along King William Street, near London Bridge, on the 12th of August, 1840, between the hours of eight A.M. and eight P.M., being at the rate of more than fifteen per minute for twelve hours.

Another description of paved road, the origin of which is commonly referred to the Romans, is the chaussée, or roughly-paved causeway used in the principal highways of France and some other parts of the Continent. This kind of road has been much recommended for its durability when well made, but, unless laid with a degree of care that would render it too expensive for general adoption, it causes a very unpleasant and fatiguing jolting. In such roads the pavement usually covers only a part of the breadth of the road, leaving the sides available for the use of light carriages in dry weather; and it has been suggested, that where the width of the roadway would allow, it might prove advantageous to form, in all great roads, a track of pavement or hard broken stone for winter use, and another of inferior materials for the summer, both to save the wear of the hard road and increase the comfort of passengers. Such an arrangement is convenient in the principal approaches to great towns, where it is considered best to have the pavement at the sides, that carters may walk either on or near the footpaths, and that foot-passengers may not be incommoded by the dirt of the metalled road.

In Holland, pavements of brick, which are also probably derived from the practice of Roman engineers, are extensively used, not only for footpaths, but also for the passage of light vehicles, which run on them with great facility. The bricks used for this purpose are thin, and well bedded in lime.

Common stone pavements are, by most writers, divided into two classes: rubble causeway, in which the stones are of irregular shape, and very imperfectly dressed with the hammer; and aisler causeway, which is formed of stones of larger size accurately squared and dressed. In both kinds the excellence of the pavement depends greatly on the firmness and evenness of the bed, and the careful fitting of the stones to each other, which may be accomplished with very irregular stones by judicious selection. If one stone be left a little higher or lower than those adjoining it, or if it become so in consequence of defective bedding, the jolting of carriages in passing over the defective place will quickly damage the pavement; the wheels acting like a rammer in driving the depressed stones deeper into the earth, while the derangement of the lateral support that each stone should receive from those adjoining it, occasions the dislocation of the pavement to a considerable distance, and the consequent working up of the earth through the disturbed joints. Defective joints form another fruitful source of injury and inconvenience both to the pavement itself and to the vehicles jolted over it. If, as is often the case in inferior pavements, the edges of two adjoining stones do not meet with accuracy, narrow wheels will have a tendency to slip into the joint, and by doing so, to wear the edges of the stones, till, as may be frequently seen, the surface of each stone is worn into a convex form that renders the footing of horses insecure, and causes the motion of vehicles drawn rapidly over them to consist of a series of bounds or leaps from one stone to another, accompanied by a degree of

lateral slipping highly injurious to the carriage, while the | very effectual, is represented in the annexed diagram, in irregular percussion produced tends greatly to the destruc

tion of the pavement.

In order to procure a firm foundation, and to prevent earth from working up between the stones, it is advisable in the first instance to form a good carriage-way of gravel or broken stone, and to allow it to be used by carriages till consolidated, before laying the pavement. This plan is stated by Edgeworth, in his Essay on the Construction of Roads and Carriages.' 1817, to have been practised successfully by Major Taylor, of the Paving-Board, in some pavements in Dublin, and it is strongly advocated by more recent road-makers. Where broken stone is laid to a considerable depth, it should, as in the case of metalled roads, be applied in thin layers, each being separately worked into a compact state. The new pavement laid a few years since in Fleet Street affords an illustration of the necessity of this precaution, as the stones were well shaped, laid, and grouted, and the earth was removed to the depth of from twelve to eighteen inches, its place being supplied by broken stone; but the broken stone, being thrown in by cart-loads, and merely levelled, was not united into a compact mass, and therefore very soon gave way, causing the pavement to sink into hollows. In streets of very great traffic, it is a good plan to lay a sub-pavement of old or inferior stones, bedded on broken stone, as a foundation for the surface pavement, 2 measure which has been practised with advantage in Paris. The bed of the pavement should be formed into a slight convexity, the slopes being about two inches in ten feet. A thin coat of gravel or sand laid immediately under the paving blocks is of use in filling up slight irregularities in their shape, and enabling them to form a compact bed.

For the paving stones hard rectangular blocks of granite are preferred, though whinstone, limestone, and even freestone, may be used. Guernsey granite, as shown by the table in a previous column, appears to be the most durable, but it is more liable to become inconveniently smooth than some stones of inferior hardness. The stones may vary, according to the traffic, from six to ten inches deep, six to eighteen inches long, and four to eighteen inches wide; but it is very essential that the depth of all the blocks in one piece of pavement should be alike, and that where the width is unequal, the stones be so sorted that all used in one course are uniform in this particular. The accurate dressing of the stones is a point often too little attended to; and an injudicious mode of forming contracts for paving, in which the payment has been by the square yard of paving laid, has, in connection with the effect of competition in bringing prices below the remunerating point, led to the use of stones in which the base is smaller than the upper surface, and which, when laid, scarcely come in contact with each other except at their upper edges. In some pavements the stones are made smaller at the top than the bottom, the joints being filled up with stone-chips, concrete, or an asphaltic composition; and in those of the more common construction the sides of the stones are occasionally hollowed, so as to receive a small quantity of gravel or mortar, which serves as a kind of dowelling. Ramming the stones with a heavy wooden rammer is a practice that has been much recommended, and it is considered that a more efficient application of the process, by means of a ramming-machine, or portable monkey, would remove some of the defects arising from imperfect bedding; but when the stones are well laid, and bedded in strong mortar, as the best recent pavements are, a few blows with a wooden maul of about fourteen pounds weight are sufficient to fix them firmly in their place. Grouting with lime-water poured all over the pavement facilitates the binding of the whole together, and fills up the joints, so as to effectually prevent the working up of the substratum. The blocks are commonly laid in rows across the road, the joints in each row being different from those of the adjoining ones; but pavements of superior smoothness have been laid in courses stretching diagonally across the street, by which means all the joints are passed over by carriages with greater ease. This arrangement is particularly desirable at the intersection of streets, as it diminishes the risk of horses slipping. Lon gitudinal courses are objectionable on account of the tendency of narrow wheels to enter the joints. In paving steep inclinations, it is well to use narrow stones, on account of the number of cross joints; or, if large stones be used, to cut deep furrows across their surface, to afford secure footing. A plan of paving for such situations, which has been found

which the stones are so inclined as to present a series of steps. The chief objection to this plan seems to be the jolting caused to earriages, which produces so deafening a noise that, in a recent instance, such a pavement was taken up at the request of the inhabitants of the street. Many patents have been procured for plans of forming stone pavements in which the pressure of carriages might be simultaneously distributed over several stones, by various contrivances for dovetailing and otherwise fitting the stones together; but such plans are generally too complicated, requiring an accuracy of formation that would be very expensive, owing to the hardness of the stone. Thin blocks of stone, bedded in asphalte, have been tried, and appear to make a good pavement.

When completed, a thin coat of gravel spread over the surface is useful in diminishing the effect of the jolting of carriages on the new pavement. In case of taking up any part of a pavement to attend to water-pipes, &c., great care is necessary in relaying the part, in doing which it is well to apply some fresh broken stone to the bed, and to lay the paving stones without mortar, until the foundation is settled.

The serious defects of the common stone pavements have led to a variety of experiments on other methods of forming carriage-ways suitable for streets, of which the adoption of broken stone, or macadamised roads, has been the most general. Opinions differ widely as to the propriety of this measure, but an idea seems to be gaining ground that the comparative quietness of such a road, and its superior ease to passengers, are insufficient to counterbalance the increased draught of carriages, the dust of summer, the mud rapidly formed in wet weather, and the great expense of keeping in repair a metalled road when subjected to the constant wear of a busy town. The first cost of forming the broken-stone roads of Regent Street, Whitehall, and Palace Yard, extending to a total length of 2010 yards, and embracing 45,251 superficial square yards, was 6055l. 8s. 3d., and the estimated value of the old pavement taken up and broken for the purpose was 67871. 7s., making a total of 12,8427. 158. 3d.; and the cost of keeping them in repair for the year ending January 5, 1827, was 40037. 18s. 4d., besides 6287. 118. for watering, making the total expense for the year 46327. 98. 4d., or rather more than two shillings per superficial yard.

The enormous expense of maintaining some of the metalled roads in London has recently led to much attention being given to the construction of superior pavements, and various plans of paving with wood have been tried, with great promise of success. A very coarse kind of wooden road, consisting of rough logs laid close together across the track, is much used in North America, under the name of corduroy roads, but the wooden pavement, properly so called, seems to have been first used in Russia, and tried on a limited scale at Vienna, New York, and some other places within a few years. One of the earliest kinds used consists of blocks of fir or other wood cut into hexagonal cylinders, of six or eight inches diameter, and from eight to twelve or fifteen inches deep, and placed close together, with the grain vertically. The blocks are sometimes tarred, or may be kyanised; but even where no such precaution is used, the wear is very trifling, as the swelling of the wood from moisture makes the joints very tight and impervious to water. Such a pavement is very smooth when first laid, but, unless the foundation be very carefully prepared, it is liable to sink into hollows like the common stone pavement, owing to the want of cohesion between the individual blocks, a deficiency which it has been proposed to remedy by pegging or dowelling the pieces together, though their form is not very suitable for the purpose. Some specimens have been laid on a flooring of planks, to avoid this inconvenience. Of the numerous other plans proposed, but one has yet been tried on an extensive scale, and it appears likely, in point of smoothness, quietness, cleanliness, and

case of draught, to prove the best of metropolitan | may be executed with asphalte. The genuine asphalte pospavements. In it the blocks are sawn into a rhomboidal sesses a degree of elasticity that renders it exceedingly shape, the upper surface forming an angle of about 63° with durable; but artificial compounds in imitation of it genethe direction of the grain, by which the durability of an end rally require too much bitumen, and are injuriously affected section is in a great degree preserved, while the inclination by great changes of temperature. Some experiments have of the sides causes each block to receive support from those been made, but, as far as the writer is aware, with very inadjoining it, and affords facilities for pinning the whole different success, on the formation of carriage-ways with pavement together by pegs. The following diagram may large blocks of asphaltic composition containing a considerserve to illustrate this ingenious arrangement, which is the able quantity of gravel or broken stone. invention of the Comte de Lisle.

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The solid lines represent part of one course or transverse row of blocks, which all incline in one direction, each block having on one side two projecting pegs, and on the other two holes. The adjoining course is laid in like manner, but sloping in the opposite direction, as indicated by the dotted lines, by which disposition the two pegs on one side of a block enter two distinct blocks in the adjoining row, while the holes on the other side receive in like manner the pegs of two other blocks; so that each block is pinned to four others, besides receiving support from the adjoining blocks of its own course. Where this principle of construction is fully carried out, the whole pavement of a street be comes, as it were, one mass, being so pinned together that no block could be raised without breaking the dowels; but as it is necessary sometimes to disturb the pavement in order to get at the gas and water pipes, some specimens have been laid down in masses of twenty-four or thirty-six blocks, so united by iron clamps that the blocks thus connected together may be laid down and taken up, when necessary, at once. The pavement laid down on this plan in Oxford Street is all pinned together in the manner first described, and consists of blocks six inches deep laid on a well-formed concrete foundation.

As far as

a judgment can be formed at present, wood pavements appear likely to prove exceedingly durable; and it is stated by Mr. Finlayson, who in 1825 suggested the adoption of wood for paving the streets of London, that a few blocks of wood placed vertically in a granite pavement were less reduced by twenty-five years' wear than the stone tself. The principal disadvantage of wood appears to be its becoming slippery in wet weather, to obviate which, in some instances, the upper edges of the hexagonal blocks have been bevelled, so as to form zigzag grooves when laid down; but the most effectual plan seems to be to cut straight grooves along the centre of each block, by which the stability of the joints is not at all affected.

Another description of road that has lately attracted much attention is that consisting of an asphaltic composition. Many attempts have been made to form roads of gravel and other materials united by animal oleaginous or gelatinous substances, or coal-tar, into a kind of concrete; but such attempts have seldom proved successful on a large scale. Mineral substances of similar character have been found more advantageous, and the native asphalte procured near Seyssel, in the department of l'Ain, and some other places, has been found to produce, when mixed with a small portion of native bitumen, a substance admirably adapted for the formation of smooth roads, and a variety of other im portant purposes. Its application to carriage-ways has been in this country chiefly confined to court-yards, for which, as well as for terraces and footpaths, it is very suitable. The asphaltic mastic of Seyssel, as prepared for use, consists of ninety-three parts of native asphalte reduced to powder, and seven parts of bitumen; the two being melted together, and a little fine gravel or sand stirred in with the mixture. The composition is ready for use when it simmers with a consistency similar to that of treacle, and it is spread while hot so as to form a coating about an inch thick upon a levelled foundation of concrete. The thickness of the asphalte is regulated by slips of wood or iron, which are often so disposed as to divide the pavement into ornamental compartments, the asphalte being made of various colours by the admixture of different kinds of sand or other substances. Where the ornamental character of the pavement forms a distinguishing feature, beautiful imitations of mosaic work

Foot-pavements of flagstones require very little remark. The curb-stones should be very hard, and firmly set in cement on a bed of gravel. They usually rise about six inches above the surface of the carriage-way, which may be made to abut immediately upon them, without the intervention of a gutter. Where gutters are introduced, those of cast-iron are to be preferred. The flagstones, which should never be less than two inches and a half thick, are commonly bedded in mortar on a layer of gravel; but sometimes, when there are no cellars underneath, are laid dry. The appearance of many of the new streets of London is greatly improved by the use of flagstones of extraordinary dimensions, extending the whole width of the pavement; and a similar appearance at much less cost may be obtained by the use of asphalte. A slight degree of slope should be given to the pavement, to conduct water to the gutters, for which purpose a fall of one inch in ten feet is sufficient, while a steep inclination is objectionable from its danger in slippery weather.

Among the substitutes for common flagstones that have been recommended, may be mentioned slate, which appears to be very durable. Some pavements or floors of this material have been laid at the London Docks, where, among other advantages, it is found preferable to wood in point of cleanliness. Trackways of slate two inches thick are found strong enough to bear waggons or carts with four or five tons of goods; and some are laid of only half that thickness on an old wooden floor.

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(A Treatise on Roads,' &c., by Sir Henry Parnell, of which a second edition was published in 1838, may be consulted with advantage by those desirous of obtaining further information on the theory and practice of road-making. The works of Mc. Adam, Edgeworth, and several others; and the various Parliamentary Reports relating to roads from the commencement of the present century, as well as those of the Holyhead-road Commissioners, also contain much valuable matter on this subject.)

It may be interesting to add a concise statement of the extent of turnpike and other roads in each of the counties of England and Wales, condensed from the Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners for inquiring into the State of the Roads in England and Wales,' 1840. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining complete returns from some districts, the statement can only be received as an approximation to accuracy: and this circumstance, combined with some difference in the kinds of road embraced in the returns of different years, must account for some discrepancies. The returns being given for two periods, with an interval of about twenty-five years, afford data for calculating the extension of the roads in each county; and the addition of a column, stating the area of the county in square miles, tends to show the proportion borne by the extent of the highways to that of the district. The columns giving the mileage for 1812-13-14 show the average of the returns for those years, a circumstance which must account for a want of agreement between the items and the totals. It must be observed also that paved streets are embraced with turnpikes in this statement, and not in that for 1839.

From the same document it appears that the average cost of maintaining the turnpike-roads, amounting to about 22,000 miles, has been, for the last five years, 989,545l. per annum, or 457. per mile per annum, including the estimated value of the statute duty performed on them. Of this sum about 367. per mile has been expended on mere repairs, and 97. per mile on improvements. The money expended on management is about 129,1247. annually, being nearly 67. per mile, and raising the total annual expense to nearly 517. per mile. The number of trusts is about 1116, averaging 19 miles, 5 furlongs, 28 poles, and 1 yard each; the number of tollgates and side-bars about 7796, and of surveyors 1300. Of the parish highways, extending rather more than 104,770 miles, the average annual cost of maintenance, by high way rates, is about 117. 3s. per mile; and the number of parochial surveyors or waywardens about 20,000.

Table showing the number of miles of turnpike-roads and other highways in England and Wales:

average length of each trust to be about three furlongs less than in England and Wales:

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ROANNE, a town in France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Loire, 238 miles south-southeast from Paris by the road through Fontainebleau, Montargis, Nevers, and Moulins.

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It is mentioned by Ptolemy, and in the Peutinger Table; its Latin name appears to have been variously written Rodumna and Roidumna; it belonged to the Segusiani. In the middle ages it gave name to a district, Roannais, but had sunk into insignificance at the beginning of the last century, from which commerce has since revived it.

The town stands in a tolerably fertile district on the left or west bank of the Loire, which here begins to be navigable up and down the stream; boats can descend from St. Ram bert, more than 40 miles above Roanne, but they cannot ascend. The town has never been walled; the houses extend in every direction into the country, becoming less crowded as they diverge, and as they are not very lofty the place presents the aspect of a large village rather than of a town. The interior is well laid out, with wide and straight streets and well-built houses. Several of the genteel families of the surrounding district have fixed their residence at Roanne. There is a fine wooden bridge over the Loire, and a good quay along the river. The church is a very inferior building, but the college is handsome; and there are good inns, a fine hospital, a handsome theatre, and public baths.

The population, in 1831, was 8890 for the town, or 9260 for the whole commune; in 1836 it was 9910 for the commune. There are manufactures of woollen, cotton, and linen yarn or thread, woollen cloths, muslins, calicos, and other cottons, leather, glue, and earthenware; there are some dye-houses. The trade is considerable, being carried on not only by the Loire, but by the lateral canal to that river, which extends from Roanne to Digoin; it comprehends the manufactured goods of Lyon, which are sent here on their way to Paris, the coals of the coal-field of St. Etienne, the wines and other produce of the neighbourhood and of other parts of the south of France, and the imports from the Levant. Some of the wines grown round the town are of fair quality, but the greater part are ordinary. Many boats are built here for carrying on this traffic.

Total of England 17,500 86,100 18,955 94,760 50,380 483 271 The town has a college or high school, with a cabinet of 850 754 natural philosophy attached to it, a public library, a subordinate court of justice, and some fiscal government offices. The arrondissement has an area of 688 square miles, and comprehends 108 communes; it is divided into ten cantons or districts, each under a justice of the peace. The popu lation, in 1831, was 121,817; in 1836 it was 124,871.

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Respecting the roads of Scotland and Ireland there do not appear to be published data for an equally minute statement. The following account of the number of miles of turnpike-roads in each county in Scotland, given on the authority of a paper presented to a Committee of the House of Lords in 1833, shows their total length to be 3666 miles, which, divided by 190 the number of trusts, indicates the

ROBBERY is theft aggravated by the circumstance of the property stolen being taken from the person, or whilst it is under the protection of the person, of the owner or other lawful possessor, either by violence or putting in fear. This offence appears to have been formerly confined to cases of actual violence to the person, but in later times it has been extended to constructive violence by putting in fear, and not only to cases where property has been taken or delivered under a threat of bodily violence to the party robbed or to some other person, but also where the fear has resulted from apprehension of violence to his habitation or to his property, or where it has been occasioned by threats of accusing the party of the commission of an infamous crime.

Robbery was formerly regarded not as an aggravation of the crime of theft, but as a distinct and substantial crime. Latterly however robbery has been treated as an aggravation of theft, and it has been held that if, upon the trial of an indictment for larceny, it appear that the taking

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