CONTINENTAL ROADS. 45 



deviating straight lines along that low and flat country, 

 between a double row of trees, with a ditch on 

 either side. The Dutch take great pains in preparing 

 a firm foundation for their roads, which are there 

 built with bricks called clinkers, laid in lime, their 

 longest direction being across the road. The Swedes 

 have lono^ had the character of beino: excellent road 

 engineers. Good rock is very generally met with in 

 Sweden, and they spare no pains in breaking it into 

 small pieces. Their roads are spacious and smooth. 

 Where the country has been opened in Russia the 

 roads are formed on scientific principles ; but there are 

 few of them. In the United States of America the 

 roads have been much improved. The principal roads 

 are similar to those in England, so far as regards 

 construction and maintenance. Italy still preserves its 

 celebrity for internal communication. 



*' Before the peace of 1S14, there was but one 

 great road throughout Prussia, namely, that between 

 Berlin and ]\Iagdeburgh, a distance of thirty leagues ; 

 the rest were in those days scarcely passable, and were 

 in a most disgraceful condition. There are now a 

 number of great roads connecting Berlin with various 

 parts of the kingdom, maintained in excellent order, 

 mostly at the expense of the Government, and a few 

 at the expense of local authorities and land owners. 

 In the towns and villages through which these roads 

 pass, the pavement is generally in a very bad state, 

 the expense being incurred by the municipal authori- 

 ties, who are very independent, and not easily induced 

 to repair them." The above lemarks are taken from 

 the Foreign Quarterly Review. 



But to return to the subject of English roads ; they 

 were made a matter for legislation in England as 



