AN ACCOUNT OF A ROMAN PUBLIC WAY. 531 
“¢ And, about as many yards of it are very perfect ; 
“and a hundred and fifty, in the middle, as com- 
“plete almost, as they were originally. For this 
‘* space, it is very fairly rounded; and has a sharp 
“slope of nine or ten yards, on either side, from 
“the crown to the borders.” The Roman Road 
is here eighteen yards broad, and a yard in thick- 
ness: it is formed of one foot of earth, on which 
there is a foot of blocks of freestone; and this is 
covered with a foot of gravel. 
In most places, the freestone and the gravel 
have been carted away, and the road has been 
levelled ; but, even then, when the ground is 
turned up by the spade or the plough, the road is 
indicated by pebbles of brook gravel, and by the 
loose and peppery nature of the soil. Sometimes. 
the line of the Roman Road is made arable by a 
covering of earth; and, in this case, the road is 
indicated by a belt of earth, about thirty yards in 
breadth, in the middle of which the road is found, 
by the spade, to be quite perfect. 
To avoid a steep ascent, the Roman Road gene- 
rally cuts into the slope of a rising ground ; and, 
by this means, it often happens, that on a slope, 
the Roman Road is found at the depth of four or 
