ROMAN ROADS.

One of the most elementary duties of a commander in the field is to maintain his line of communications, and it is a prime necessity for the permanent occupation of a conquered or hostile country that the passage from one point to another shall be easy and safe, so that an overwhelming force may at any time be concentrated at the point where danger offers. Consequently the Romans, who were masters in the arts of war and government, not only erected strongly fortified cities in different parts of Britain, but connected them by splendid roads, along which were placed at intervals lesser forts and posting stations, so that armies and small bodies of men might pass swiftly and safely from one point to another in the land.

The earliest of these great roads was, no doubt, the Watling Street from Dover to Rochester and London. Before long it was continued to Verulam, Towcester, the High Cross, Wroxeter, and Chester, thence to the neighbourhood of Ripon and Richmond, and so through Durham and Northumberland into Scotland. Another great road, the Icknield Way, led from Dorchester to Sarum, and in a North-Easterly direction to Caistor, near Norwich. A third, the Fosse Way, led from Exeter to Bath, Cirencester, the High Cross, Leicester, and Lincoln. A fourth, the Ermine Street, was probably at first a continuation of the Fosse Way, leading to the Humber, and so to York. As time passed on, other great roads were laid down, but we believe that in the earlier days of the Roman occupation the main line of communication between. London, the chief emporium of trade, and York, the seat of government, was by Watling Street to the High Cross, and then by the Fosse Way and Ermine Street to Lincoln and the Humber. This great road always preserved its importance, and if our historical vision could be enlightened, we should perceive a countless succession of imperial armies and mercantile expeditions passing in long procession along its path, chariots driven by Roman Emperors, bands of slaves on foot, waggon loads of precious goods, and peaceful embassies of the King of Kings.

It is not without reason that we believe the Great North Road, South of Lincoln, to be of later date. The natural line of com

munication between London and York was interrupted by the wild forests of the Centre of Britain, and by the vast morasses stretching inland from the Humber and the Wash. "The North country was almost shut off from the South. The Axholme marshes in the East, and the Forests of Elmet in Yorkshire, Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, and the Peak in Derbyshire, were very serious obstacles to communication. Between the Humber and the Thames forests and fens alike contributed to make several great natural divisions." From the nature of things the fens were impassable, whilst the forests were the natural resort of wild and hostile tribes. Consequently, until they had obtained a secure hold upon the country at large, the Romans did not attempt to make their great military roads through the wilder parts, but confined themselves to the more open country. "The roads marked in the Itinerary of Antonine always, if possible, avoided traversing a forest."2 This fact had a permanent influence upon our district, since it led all the great expeditions of Roman and far later times through Lincoln, whence they either continued Northwards to the Humber, or took the alternative Till Bridge Lane through Segelocum across the Trent to Danae [Doncaster], and so to York. It was convenient to have these alternative routes, since at certain times of the year the lowlands of the Trent were impassable, whilst the passage of the Humber must have been always inconvenient, and sometimes dangerous.

Segelocum was probably Littleborough, where Roman coins. have been found, and the existence of the ferry implies a posting station at Marton, where there must at least have been an inn, and the houses of those employed about the stables. Near this it would be natural to find a small military station to protect the ferry, and we seem to trace it at Gate Burh-ton, the Road Fort Village. Swift and heavy traffic require short stages, and there may have been posting stations at the junctions of Ermine Street with Till Bridge Lane, at Spital, Gainsthorpe, Broughton, and Winterton, and in Nottinghamshire at Wheatley or Clayworth, and at Austerfield. Each of these would be a centre of intercourse

with the country people, who supplie provisions and fodder, and became familiar with Roman modes of life. It is thought that many of the roads were constructed in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, A.D. 117 to 161, their names having been found upon milestones, and that the legionaries were employed about this work in time of peace, with the assistance of native labour. They must have taken many years to construct.

The Romans built their roads in this country with such consummate care and skill that many of them remain even now in almost perfect condition. It has been found that whilst Macadam, whose name is proverbial, considered a thickness of ten inches of well consolidated material sufficient to bear the heaviest traffic, the Romans often used four layers of solid stone or concrete three feet or more in thickness, the uppermost consisting of polygonal blocks of hard stone, joined with the greatest nicety, and united by hard mortar. A width of fifteen feet is now considered sufficient for wheeled traffic in country roads, but the paved portion of a great Roman road was usually about sixteen feet wide, besides which there was an unpaved but levelled space of half that width on either side, for walking or riding.

For many centuries after Roman times little care seems to have been taken of the roads in England. Edward I and Elizabeth legislated upon the subject, but the result of their legislation was to throw the burden of repairs upon individual parishes, many of which had no object in performing the duty satisfactorily, and even so late as the close of the eighteenth century the condition of the roads was deplorable. Macaulay depicted their condition in forcible terms. Arthur Young lamented their neglected state, and it was not until the full development of the coaching system that really practical steps were taken to improve them.

ROMAN CIVILIZATION.

Besides the great Koman roads, Lindsey possesses inany signs of the influence of the Empire during the centuries of its rule in Britain. In Lincoln itself may still be seen a noble arch, through which must have passed many a stately imperial procession, and