DISCOVERY 



215 



mated cost of such works for the present year is about 

 £2 15s. per square yard. Labour, so much of which 

 has to be devoted to the breaking out of the old 

 concrete, absorbs much of this cost. The breaking 

 out is still done by hand to find work for unem- 

 ployed men. When labour conditions have settled 

 down, we may e.Kpect this portion of the work to be 

 done by mechanical drills, and a further considerable 

 saving in expenditure may be looked for. 



The life of a wood carriageway is from twelve to 

 fifteen years under heavy traffic conditions and from 

 eighteen to twenty years under moderate traffic, but 

 it is anticipated that the actual modern foundations 

 themselves will last very much longer. Periodically 

 the wood blocks and the " floating " will require 

 renewal, but this is an inexpensive business compared 

 with rela;y4ng the foimdation. 



Considerable trouble has been taken of late years in 

 adopting the best gradients and transverse inclinations, 

 so as to afford ample opportunity for drainage and 

 yet avoid undue cause for the skidding of heavy 

 vehicles. A complete survey is now made of any 

 road under order for reconstruction, and levels are 

 taken to enable the new contours to be calculated. 

 These, when completed, are set out scientifically, and 

 the results may be said to justify the expenditure of 

 time and trouble. 



Minor thoroughfares are now paved for the most 

 part with tar macadam or one of the bituminous 

 macadams, of which there are so many on the market. 

 In these works the foundation is composed of hard- 

 core well rolled, and the tar or bituminous macadam 

 coatings are spread in two layers, the bottom of 

 coarse, the top of finer material, each well rolled and 

 formed to gradients. 



Experiments have been conducted also with roads 

 composed entirely of concrete, but so far they have 

 not been entirely satisfactory. 



The main difficulty experienced in London is that 

 no street remains in an undisturbed condition for any 

 length of time. Water, gas, hydraulic mains. Post 

 Office and electric lighting cables — all are laid indis- 

 criminately beneath the surface. They are continually 

 in need of repair, and, to effect this, the road is broken 

 up and the continuity of its foundations impoverished. 

 If it were possible to lay all these mains in a subway, 

 there is no reason why the road foundations of to-day 

 should not last a hundred years. 



The Metropolitan Paving Committee recently issued 

 its annual report, which showed that aU the boroughs 

 are working on more or less similar lines to those 

 outlined above. Vehicles, however, seem to grow 

 heavier day by day, and it may be doubted if even 

 the methods at present in use will prove to be sufi&cient 

 for very long. 



The Fate of a Great 



Lyric Poet 



II 



By Edward Liveing, B.A. 



(Continued from July No., p. 188) 



VI 



The true details of Shelley's death and the sinking 

 of the Ariel wiU never be known. Various theories 

 have been put forward. I propose to amplify one of 

 those theories, but before proceeding to do this it 

 would be as well to return to Roberts and Trelawny. 

 Roberts, as we have already noted, kept the boat in 

 view till it was " off Via Reggio, at some distance from 

 shore, when a storm was driven over the sea. It 

 enveloped them and several larger vessels in the dark- 

 ness. WTien the cloud passed onwards, Roberts 

 looked again, and saw every other vessel sailing on 

 the ocean except their little schooner, which had 

 vanished." * The storm-cloud broke over Leghorn 

 about half-past six, according to Trelawny. ' The 

 storm lasted about twenty minutes. After it had 

 passed over he " looked to seaward anxiously in the 

 hope of descrying Shelley's boat amongst the many 

 small craft scattered about. I watched every speck 

 that loomed on the horizon, thinking that they would 

 have borne up on their return to port, as all the other 

 boats that had gone out in the same direction had done." 

 The only facts which are at all certain are that the 

 Ariel perished during, roughly, a twenty minutes' 

 storm, some time between four and five o'clock in the 

 afternoon of July 8th, about ten miles off Via Reggio. 

 Now let us consider the theories of the disaster, which 

 may be conveniently summarised as follows : 



(a) The boat merely sank in the storm. 



(b) It was accidentally rammed by one of the 

 Genoese fishing boats. 



(c) It was intentionally rammed. 



We can dismiss (a) without more ado, since evidence 

 in support of [b) at least is to-day so strong that, I 

 imagine, no modern student would believe that the 

 accident was entirely accounted for by the storm. 

 While Trelawny was at Rome, burying Shelley's ashes 

 in the Protestant cemetery there, Roberts concerned 

 himself with recovering the Ariel. According to 

 Trelawnj' the two felucche, which he had hitherto 

 employed on the salvage operations, had found the 

 boat, but failed to raise her. In September Roberts * 

 wrote to Trelawny from Pisa, " We have got fast hold 

 of Shelley's boat, and she is now safe at anchor off 



1 Ref. IV. P. G73. ' Ref. V. Pp. 107-108. 



» Ref. V. P. 150. 



