Roads and Road-making. 91 



particular clan." But then the cost of forming and 

 maintaining these did not come so directly home to 

 the community. With roads of the turnpike and 

 " commutation " class it was different. In some quar- 

 ters it was averred that nobody entertained a doubt 

 of the advantage of a turnpike " since, at least, three 

 times as much weight can be drawn in a carriage as 

 was sufficient to load it before they were made." Still 

 the engineering of those who lined them out, was not 

 always perfect ; even the turnpikes were too often 

 " conducted over the summit of every eminence in 

 their course, when with a little judgment and atten- 

 tion a direction might have been found equally near 

 and incomparably more easy and convenient/' And 

 some could boast that "there are no turnpikes in 

 these parts, and none are wanted;" others main- 

 tained that it was a mistake to commute the statute 

 labour into a money payment. If they had divided 

 the districts properly, and made each small community 

 make and mend their own particular roads, they 

 argued, it would have brought the matter so closely 

 home to their practical feelings that, in place, of 

 slothful and slovenly labour, they would have been 

 incited to give something more than measure, seeing 

 themselves and no other would have the main if not 

 the exclusive benefit of it. The experience of the 

 county of Aberdeen, under the experiment of 1755,. 

 would, however, seem to teach a contrary lesson. 



