Book II. FORMATION OF ROADS. .567 



3515. Where the surface-soil is dry and poor, but on a dry subsoil, and all other cir- 

 cumstances are favourable, it may often be desirable for a proprietor to fix on such a 

 situation for his demesne; because such a surface is probably among the least valuable 

 as farm lands, because land to be laid out as a park is not required to be rich, and because 

 it will not be difhcult to ameliorate all that part wanted as farm and garden ground. 



3516. The extent that should be kept as a demesne is more easily determined than any 

 of the foregoing points. The general wealth of the proprietor, and his style of living, are 

 here the leading guides. The extent of the demesne may bear very different relations to 

 the extent of the estate ; because the proprietor may have other estates and other sources 

 of wealth. He may have chosen a small estate, on which to fix his residence, from its 

 local advantages ; or he may prefer a small demesne on a large estate, from his style of 

 life and the habits of his establishment. 



3517. The park, in general, occupies much the largest part of the demesne lands. In 

 a civilised and populous closely cultivated country, like Britain, nothing can be more 

 noble than a large forest-like park surrounding the mansion. In partially cultivated 

 countries, or open field countries, it is less imposing ; and in countries scarcely appro- 

 priated and but thinly distributed with spots of culture, the park becomes a less noble 

 feature, and less a mark of wealth and distinction than a well-hedged and regularly 

 cropped farm. 



35 1 8. The apparent extent of a park depends much less on its contents in acres, than on 

 the inequalities of its surface, the disposition of its woods and waters, and the conceal- 

 ment or unobtrusiveness of its boundaries. An extensive flat, surrounded by a belt, and 

 interspersed with clumps, may be great, but can hardly be felt as grand or interesting 

 by any but the owner : the acres it occupies will be guessed at by hundreds, and the 

 estimate will generally be found to fall short of the reality. On the other hand, a hilly 

 park, ingeniously wooded, with a piece or pieces of water, and probably rocks, bridges, and 

 other objects, will appear to a stranger of much greater extent than it really is, and sets 

 rational estimate at defiance : such a park is certainly much more grand and picturesque 

 than one of mere " bulk without spirit vast." 



3519. The home or demesne farm and farmery will be regulated in extent and style of 

 cultivation by the wants and wishes of the proprietor. It is sometimes a determinate 

 space in the least picturesque part of the demesne ; and sometimes, the greater part of 

 the park is brought in succession under the plough and the sickle. 



3520. The kitchen- garden is the next and only remaining large feature in the demesne : 

 it is generally placed near the house and stable offices, so as to have a convenient and 

 unobtrusive communication with the kitchen court, and the livery-stable dung heap. 



3521. The pleasure-ground, or lawn and shrubbery, often surrounds the house, offices, 

 and kitchen-garden ; and sometimes embraces them only on two or three sides. 



3522. The details of all these and other parts of the demesne belong to landscape- 

 gardening and architecture, and require no further notice in this work. (See Encyc. <j 

 Gard. part iii. book iv.) 



Chap. IV. 



Formation and Management of Roads. 



3523. The advantages of good roads are so obvious and so generally acknowledged, as to 

 need no comment. Roads, canals, and navigable rivers, have been justly called the veins 

 and arteries of a country, through which all improvements flow. The Romans, aware 

 of their importance, both in a military and civil point of view, constructed them from 

 Rome to the utmost extent of their empire. With the dismemberment of that empire, 

 the roads became neglected, and continued so during the dark ages. In modern times 

 attention was first paid to them on a large scale by the government of France, in the 

 seventeenth century ; and in England in the beginning of the century following. About 

 the middle of the eighteenth century, considerable expense had been incurred in road- 

 making, in several districts, and the expenses of toll-gates began to be felt as oppressive. 

 This produced An Enquiry into the State of the Public Roads, by the Rev. H. Homer, &c. 

 1767, which may be considered as the origin of scientific research on the art of road- 

 making in England. 



3524. In Scotland, the first turnpike act, as we have seen (771.), was passed in 1750 ; 

 since which period existing public roads have been improved, and many new ones formed : 

 but the great impulse there was given, after the act for abolishing heritable jurisdictions, 

 by the money advanced by government, and the able military engineers sent from England 

 to conduct the roads in the Highlands. The appearance in Britain, about this time, of 

 a new order of professional men, under the name of civil engineers, also contributed to 

 the same effect. 



O o 4 



