Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



ascending. Not long since it was a mere 

 horse-path, but it is gradually being paved, and 

 is attaining to the dignity of a road. To the 

 contemplative mind it will suggest something 

 of the past history of the island. Doubtless 

 the early settlers would not be long before they 

 strove to cross the mountains, and it is not 

 improbable that this was the route they would 

 take, and that to-day we are treading in their 

 footsteps. 



In his great prose epic, " The Old Road," 

 Mr, Hilaire Belloc has pointed out to us the 

 true significance of The Road ; " the most im- 

 perative and the first of our necessities." And 

 not only is it the most ancient of the works of 

 man ; it is perhaps the longest to endure. 

 Considering the length of the Roman occupa- 

 tion of Britain, more than twice that of our 

 rule in India, and the solidity of Roman build- 

 ing, it is surprising that we have not more 

 remains of Roman work than we have. A few 

 villas, a few buried towns, a bath or two, the 

 northern wall, — there is not much else, except 

 the roads, and they are everywhere. You may 

 meet with forgotten traces of them in remote 

 fields and unfrequented woods ; and many of 



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