1821.] Road-Making.—Plagiarisms of Lord Byron detected. J05 
and brought to even much greater per¬ 
fection than it is now, by Gabriel Stone , 
Esq. of Somerset Farm, near Axbridge, 
in Somersetshire, and that this worthy 
country gentleman, who constantly re¬ 
sided on his estate, rendered the road 
from Axbridge to Huntspil, and be¬ 
yond, always as smooth as a bowling- 
green, dry, firm, and effectual; inso¬ 
much that stage-coachmen have told 
me, when passing over ;t, that it was 
too good, as it made both coachman 
and horses careless, so that they oftener 
tripped on this than on a worse way. 
Now, all this he effected, as he has 
often told me, at a much less expence 
than it had cost formerly, merely by 
breaking the limestone small, draining 
carefully, and attending to the most 
minute repairs, by means of aged pau¬ 
pers, and little heaps of fine gravel of 
limestone, which they applied by means 
of the wheelbarrow, to the slightest in¬ 
equalities produced by accident or a 
shower of rain. Of his methods he was 
always communicative, and for many 
years during his life performed all 
these services gratuitously for the pub¬ 
lic, with a cheerfulness and liberality 
that I have seldom seen equalled in any 
man. 
The ground I speak of is almost a 
dead level, through a clayey and 
marshy country, with ditches of great 
depth on each side the road; this ena¬ 
bled him to drain it easily, but the 
bottom being a blue clay, it was neces¬ 
sary to have a coarse bed of limestone 
to rest upon ; and this access to drains 
enabled him to keep the road quite flat, 
and thereby use economy in breadth. 
This 2.0 d the new road-makers into an 
error at first, but they soon discovered 
the necessity of elevating the middle of 
all roads a little, having different 
ground to go over. And another error 
they will by and by see, and give better 
beds to their roads, instead of breaking 
them up,—literally cutting up the 
goose’s belly to save present expences ; 
for roads, to last for ever, must have 
from their foundations a regular grada¬ 
tion of stones from large to small, and 
be repaired with the smallest, as this 
will not discourage the coachman from 
driving over the repaired part, and 
thereby lie will become a good road 
mender himself of the very road he pays 
for using. From these remarks I claim 
no merit, they were the discoveries of 
Mr. Stone , the results of his long ex¬ 
perience, and I offer them to your in¬ 
dependent pages for the benefit of the 
public and the cause of truth. 
G. Cumberland. 
Bristol , IMh June, 1821. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
plagiarisms op lord Byron. — (Concludedfrom our last.) 
53. 
A ND first one universal shriek there 
rush’d, 
Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash 
Of echoing thunder; and then all was 
hush’d, 
Save the wildwindand the remorseless dash 
Of billows ; but at intervals there gush’d, 
Accompanied with a convulsive splash, 
A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry, 
Of some strong swimmer in his agony. 
60. 
’Twas a rough night, and blew so stiffly 
yet, 
That the sail was becalm'd between the seas, 
Tho ’ on the wave's high top too much to set, 
They dar'd not take it in for all thebreeze ; 
Each sea curl'd o'er the stem, and kept 
them wet, 
And made them bale without a moment's 
ease . 
61. 
- “ the long boat still 
Kept above water, with an oar for mast, 
Two blankets stretch’d together, answering 
Instead of sail, were to the oar made fast: 
Tho’every wave roll’d menacing to fill,”&c. 
Monthly Mag. No. 358. 
53. 
“ The cries of men drowning, were at 
first awful iu the extreme, but died away 
by degrees, as they became faint. 
.Loss of Pandora frig. pp. 197-8. 
60. 
“ It blew a violent storm, so that between 
the seas the sail was becalmed—and when 
on the top of the wave it was too muck to be 
set, but we could not venture to take it in, 
for we were in very imminent danger and 
distress, the sea curling over the stem of 
the boat, which obliged us to bale with all 
our might. Dangerous voyage in an open 
boat by Capt. Bligh, from Tofoa to 
Timor, 1789, p. 62. 
61. 
a A blanket was discovered in the boat; 
this was immediately bent to one of the 
stretchers, and under it as a sail we scudded 
all night, in expectation of being swallowed 
by every wave. 
Loss of Centaur man of war, p. 52. 
O « The 
