mode in which they were originally constructed is in most cases not very easy of discovery. One of those which had probably remained most nearly in its primitive condition was that discovered by Sir Christopher Wren under the present Cheapside, London, while he was preparing to erect the church of St. Mary-le-Bow. "Here," says the account in the Parentalia, "to his surprise, he sunk about eighteen feet deep through made ground, and then imagined he was come to the natural soil and hard gravel; but, upon full examination, it appeared to be a Roman causeway of rough stone, close and well rammed, with Roman brick and rubbish at the bottom for a foundation, and all firmly cemented. This causeway was four feet thick. Underneath this causeway lay the natural clay, over which that part of the city stands, and which descends at least forty feet lower." Wren eventually determined to erect the tower of the church upon the Roman causeway, as the firm- est foundation he could obtain, and the most proper for the lofty and weighty structure he designed. Some of the other Roman roads in Britain, however, and especially those connecting some of the lines of military posts, were constructed in a more ambitious style of workmanship than appears to have been here employed—being paved, like the famous Appian way and others in Italy, with flat stones, although of different sizes, yet carefully cut to a uniform rectangular shape, and closely joined together. Some of our great roads still in use were originally formed by the Romans, or were used at least in the Roman times. One example is the great western road leading to Bath and Bristol, at least for a considerable part of its course.[1]
There has been much speculation and controversy on the subject of the description of Money in use among the ancient Britons. Cæsar's statement is, distinctly, that
- ↑ In the "United Service Journal" for January, 1836, is an account of a survey of the Roman Road from Silchester to the station on the Thames called Pontes, made shortly before by the officers studying at the Senior Department of the Royal Military College.
