Iran Lib. PREFACE. THE present little work would scarcely have needed a preface were it not that the Author feels some apology to be due to the public for the lengthened period which has elapsed between the work being promised and its present publication. The cause of this delay has been the full employment of his time in his vocation, which has left him little leisure for other pursuits, and he felt that it would be best on every consideration to delay the work until he could devote a sufficient time for its proper completion, rather than to throw it forth in a hurried and imperfect form. The general survey of the metropolitan roads has been written by Mr. Samuel Hughes, who was to have written the whole work, but was prevented from doing so by the same causes as have occasioned the delay in its publication. To that gentleman the Author is also indebted for some useful hints upon the subject. Old Windsor, 17th April, 1850. H. L. GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PRINCIPAL METROPOLITAN ROADS. WITH the view of arriving at some principles to guide us in the laying out of roads in new districts of country, I am not aware that any more instructive study could be pointed out than a brief survey of the physical features and geographical conditions which characterize the lines of the present great roads leading from the metropolis to various parts of the kingdom. It may be objected to this, that there are few districts which present any striking resemblance to the country surrounding the metropolis; and that, consequently, rules laid down as applicable to the construction of roads in this part of England would fail in their application to other districts, and to distant countries. It may also be objected that, with the exception of those designed by the Romans, the roads of this country were not the work of any set of people possessing superior wisdom and resources to the native inhabitants, but were, in fact, gradually contrived and executed by the natives themselves, during a long course of centuries, whilst they were gradually emerging from barbarism; and were continued and improved, step by step, in proportion to the increase of our towns, the spread of our commerce, and the advancement of our intellectual resources. This latter fact would certainly lead to the conclusion that our roads, instead of being traced with reference to the physical features of the country, would often be made subservient in their direction to other features and conditions; such as the position of towns or hamlets |