ORIGIN OF BYWAYS OR CROSS-ROADS. 3 



some of which are now of considerable importance, 

 in fact leading thoroughfares, were once upon a time 

 mere cart-tracks, after which, as the land became 

 cultivated on either side of them, they were probably 

 fenced in. In course of time they became green lanes ; 

 and afterwards when houses, farmsteads, or cottages 

 were built beside or near them, they passed through 

 a still further state of transition : stones of some 

 description were laid down, and they were by gradual 

 process converted into established roadways. Possibly 

 later on they fell under the jurisdiction of Highway 

 Boards, and became subjected to parochial main- 

 tenance. Leading, as they frequently did, from one 

 important highway to another, they were indispen- 

 sable to the Inhabitants of the districts through which 

 they passed, and it is on these roads that you frequently 

 observe every fault which a road can possibly possess, 

 for this reason : no skill of any kind, but mere chance, 

 led to their formation. Probably the first man who 

 drove his cart and horse over some rough moorland 

 or across low-lying ground, using his discretion in 

 avoiding whatever obstacle came In his path, was the 

 first pioneer of what afterwards became very probably 

 an important road, since where one goes another is 

 almost certain to follow ; and so the mere track be- 

 comes in process of time an important thoroughfare, 

 which eventually, owing to its erratic windings and its 

 eccentric v/ay of overcoming gradients, excites In the 

 minds of all Intelligent persons who use it, the utmost 

 derision, vexation, and scorn. 



But with high-roads it is quite a different matter ; 

 but as regards the high-roads and by-roads of Great 

 Britain at the present day, they are like veins and arteries 

 which Intersect its entire system In the same manner 



B 2 



