('HAP. I. 



OLD KOADS. 



157 



ns on tlio downs of Wilts! lire, the moors of Devonshire, 

 ;u id the wolds of Yorkshire -stone tracks were laid down 

 hy the tribes between one village and another. We 

 have given, at the beginning of this chapter, a repre- 

 sentation of one of those ancient trackways, as its remains 

 still exist, in the neighbourhood of Whitby, in York- 

 si i i re ; and there are many of the same description of 

 old roads to be met with in other parts of England. In 

 some districts they are called trackways or ridge ways, 

 hrinir narrow causeways usually following the natural 

 ridge of the country, and probably serving in early times 

 as local boundaries. On Dartmoor they are constructed 

 of stone blocks, irregularly laid down on the surface of 

 the ground, forming a rude causeway of about five or 

 six feet wide. 1 



The Romans, with many other arts, first brought into 

 I 1 ] n gland the art of road-making. They thoroughly 

 understood the value of good roads, regarding them as 

 the essential means for the maintenance of their empire 

 in the first instance, and of social prosperity in the next. 

 It was the road, not less than the legion, which made 

 them masters of the world. Wherever they went they 

 opened up the communications of the countries they 

 subdued, and the roads which they made were certainly 

 among the very best of their kind. 2 For centuries 

 after they had left England the Roman roads continued 

 to be the main highways of internal communication, 

 and their remains are even to this day to be traced in 

 many parts of the country. Settlements were made 

 and towns sprang up along these old "streets;" and 

 the numerous Stretlbrds and Stratfords, and towns 



wielding great authority. Plutarch 

 says of Cams Gracchus, when ap- 

 pointed supreme director for making 

 roads, &c., that the people were 

 charmed to see him go forth on his 

 tours of road-making, followed l>y 

 such numbers of architects, artificers, 

 ambassadors, and magistrates. 



1 An interesting description 

 old trackways in Devonshire is ;j;iven 

 by the Rev. Samuel Eowe, M.A., 

 Vicar of Crediton, in his ' IVrambula- 

 timis iif tlu- Ancient and Royal Forest 

 of Dart moor.' London, 1848. 



3 The Curator Viarum of the Un- 

 mans waii an official of distinction, 



