16

A TREATISE ON ROADS.

There are now a number of great roads communi-cating between the capital and various parts of thekingdom, kept in the best order ; most of them atthe expense of the government, and a few defrayedby the local authorities. In the towns and villagesthrough which these roads pass, the pavement isgenerally in a very bad state; the expense beingpaid by the municipal authorities, who are veryindependent, and only repair them when it suitstheir convenience.*

The little attention that was paid in former timesto the roads of England is made evident by a pro-clamation of Charles the First, issued in 1629, con-firming one of his father’s, issued in the twentiethyear of his reign, for the preservation of the roadsof England, which commands “ that no carrier orother person whatsoever shall travel with any waine,cart, or carriage with more than two wheels, norwith above the weight of twenty hundred, nor shalldraw any waine, cart, or carriage, with more thanfive horses at once.” t

The first attempt to put the roads of Englandinto order occurred when the turnpike systemwas introduced. The ancient method employedto mend roads, until after the restoration ofKing Charles II. , was by a pound rate on the land-holders in the respective counties; and by thesupply of carts and horses by parishes, for a limitednumber of days. But when, after the last named

* Vol. xii. p. 511. of Foreign Quarterly Review on Notes etReflexions sur la Prusse en 1833, par le Marquis de Chambray.

f Anderson’s Commerce, vol. xix. p. 130.