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On the 28eb of Fily was publifoed, the Surg. MENT A b te, 
of the Monruty MAaGaziNe, contgning—A comsprebenfive Retro/pef 
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Brivis LivtERATURE during the lj 
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AUGUST 1, 1804. 
ROLLEI TEP, 
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Be. Seventeenth Votyme 
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Rv. NUMRER‘f 
of GERMAN, 
i 
ited of Von. 18. 
No. 118. | 
——----_ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
y SIR, 
S I cbfrve that you have laudably 
allowed a place in your Magazine 
to the exoofure of detects and abules, and 
the fuggeition of improvemen s, in things 
of common concern ; I trouble you with 
a few obfervations of that kind, refulting 
from a Jate teur through fome counties to - 
the weft of London. 
The ufual method of making or mend- 
ing roads in ftoney countries is a great 
nuifance to the traveller. It confiits in 
breaking ftones taken out of neighbouring . 
quarries into mafles not much lefs than a 
common brick, and fpreading them over 
the line of read. It may be conceived 
with what pain and difficulty a poor horfe 
drags a carriage over fuch a track. As, in 
fa&, the road is made paffable only by the 
fucceffive grinding of carriage-wheel, it 
would feem as if, inftead of exacting heavy 
tolls for the liverty of paffing over thefe 
half made roads, a premium fhould be given 
to every one who thus contributes to their 
completion. I remarked in feveral places 
that care was taken to prevent carriages 
from going along avery good fummer- 
track, conftituting the old road, and to 
confine them to the new one. 
The defacement of mile-ftones, either 
from the aétion of the elements upon a 
crumbling ftone, or the operation ot idle 
mifchief, is in many places arrived to 
fuch a pich as to render them ‘entirely 
ufelefs. I remember in Sharp’s Letters 
on Italy, publifhed many years fince, a 
practice is secommended, which he eb- 
jerved on fome Italian roads. The letters, 
formed of iron, are let into the ftone and 
ftrongly fixed by folder, and are then 
printed black.. This feems an excellent 
method both for legibility and preferva- 
tion. I obferved on one of the Gloucefter 
roads mile pofs, raifed fomewhat lefs 
than the height of a lamp-poft, and fur- 
mounted with a piate bearing the inferip- 
tion. This mode- prevents defigned de- 
facement, and renders them con{picuous 
Monruty Mac, No. 118, 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. : 
ovjects, but Efulpedt will require frequent 
renewing. I fhall further fuggeit, that the 
beft form for a mile-ftone is to projeét 
with an angle towards the road, prefenting 
on each fide to the traveller as ke ap~ 
proaches it, the name and diftance of the 
place he is going to. : 
The want of direétion-pofts at the 
ranching of two or more roads, is in fome 
parts very obvious: the inhabitants of thofe 
diftiits being then:felves well acquaint. 
the roads, feem to think a travel- 
ler can want no information; as it is com— 
mon to fay to the enquirer, ‘* You can’t 
mils your way.” I contrived, however 
(though perhaps no more apt to blunder 
than my neighbours) more than once to 
go wrong, and that upon a very public 
road.. Certainly no roona thould be left 
for the reafonable poffibility of miftake. 
An ufeful practice adopted in fome 
parts, which ought to be general, is that 
of infcribing, in large letters, the name 
of every village upon the wall of the Art 
building on entering it, on each fide. ft 
alfo aftords a defirable piece of information 
to mark, as is fometimes done, upon the 
the Prétrefs of 
oN 
mile-ftones, the name of the parish or’ | 
townthip in which they ftand. 
In the hope that thefe few hints may be 
productive of fome utility, I remain, 
Your’s, &c; N,N. 
=a 
To the Editor of the Monihly Magazine. 
SIR, 
| N Vol. XV. p. 515 of the Monthly 
4. Magazine, anexplanation has been of. 
fered of the origin of April-fools’ Day, 
which the learned and refpectable commu- 
nicator will, doubtlefs, on a revifien, 
perceive to have been founded on errone- 
ous principles. ' 
The ceremony of making fools on this 
occafion, has in reality no conrie€tion whar- 
ever with any removal from another day, 
and ftill lefs with the feaf? of fools. : 
The French, who have a fimilar cufom 
on the firt of April, term the obje& of 
this mockery un poifion d’avril, a name 
B which 
| 
