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RIVOLI, a town of Piedmont, Italy, at the foot of the Alps, on the great road which leads over Mount Cenis into Savoy. It has some manufactures of linen, woollens, and silk. On an eminence stands a castle, in which Victor Amadeus II. of Sardinia, after having abdicated his throne in favor of his son, and endeavoured to resume it, died, in 1732, a state prisoner. The prospect from this eminence, and in particular the view of Turin, through a spacious alley of trees, is most imposing. Population 5100.

Nine miles west of Turin.

RIVOLI, a small place in the north-east of Lombardy, on the Adige, twelve miles north-west of Verona. It is only remarkable as the scene of one of Buonaparte's victories. At Arcole, in the preceding November, his plans had been repeatedly baffled by the Austrians; but here they had complete success (14th and 15th January, 1797) both on the field and in the pursuit.

RIZZIO (David), an Italian musician, who about 1563 attended the Piedmontese ambassador to Scotland, where, by his professional skill, he obtained great favor with Queen Mary. She appointed him her French secretary, and showed him such marks of distinction as gave offence to lord Darnley and other nobles, who, with great brutality, assassinated him in her presence. See MARY and SCOTLAND. Tradition assigns to Rizzio the amelioration, not to say the invention, of the Scottish music; and it is unquestionable that his skill in the performance of the national melodies on the lute tended not a little to their general improvement and popularity; but many of the airs which have been ascribed to Rizzio, as Cowden Knowes, Gala Water, and others, are easily traced to more remote periods.

ROACH, n. s. From Lat. rutilus, red-haired.

A river fish.

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A roach is a fish of no great reputation for his dainty taste his spawn is accounted much better than any other part of him he is accounted the water sheep for his simplicity and foolishness; and it is noted that roaches recover strength, and grow in a fortnight after spawning. Walton's Angler.

Swift.

If a gudgeon meet a roach,
He dare not venture to approach!
Yet still he leaps at flies.
ROAD, n. s. Sax. ɲad; Fr. rade, route. From
RIDE. Properly a horse or carriage way; large
way; path; inroad: place for ships to anchor
in; journey; course.

About the island are many roads, but only one
Sandy's Journey.

harbour.

Cason was desirous of the spoil, for he was, by the

former road into that country, famous and rich.

I should be still

Peering in maps for ports and roads;
And every object that might make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures.

The Volscians stand

Knolles.

Shakspeare.

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ROAD, in navigation, a bay, or a place of anchorage, at some distance from the shore, whither ships or vessels occasionally repair to receive intelligence, orders, or necessary supplies; or to wait for a fair wind, &c. The excellence of a road consists chiefly in its being protected from the reigning winds and the swell of the sea; in having a good anchoring-ground, and being at a competent distance from the shore. Those which are not sufficiently enclosed are termed open roads.

A ROAD is an open way, or public passage, forming a communication between one place and another. Of all the people in the world, the Romans took the most pains in forming roads; and the labor and expenses they were at in rendering them spacious, firm, straight, and smooth, are incredible. They usually strengthened the ground by ramming it, laying it with flints, pebbles, or sands, and sometimes with a lining of masonry, rubbish, bricks, &c., bound together with mortar. In some places in the cidevant Lionnois, F. Menestrier observes that he has found huge clusters of flints cemented with lime, reaching ten or twelve feet deep, and making a mass as hard and compact as marble; and which, after resisting the injuries of time for 1600 years, is still scarcely penetrable by all the force of hammers, mattocks, &c.; and yet the flints it consists of are not bigger than eggs. The most noble of the Roman roads was the Via Appia, which was carried to such a vast length that Procopius reckons it five days' journey to the end of it, and Lipsius computes it at 350 miles: it is twelve

feet broad, and made of square free-stone, generally a foot and a half on each side; and, though this has lasted for above 1800 years, yet in many places it is several miles together as entire as when it was first made. The ancient roads are distinguished into military, subterraneous roads, &c. The military roads were grand roads, formed by the Romans for marching their armies into the provinces of the empire; the principal of these Roman roads in England are Watling Street, Ikonild Street, Foss Way, and Erminage Street. Double roads, among the Romans, were roads for carriages, with two pavements, the one for those going one way, and the other for those Would you not think him a madman, who, whilst returning the other: these were separated from

Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road
Upon's again.
Id. Coriolanus.

With easy roads he came to Leicester,
And lodged in the abbey. Id. Henry VIII.
The king of Scotland, seeing none came in to
Perkin, turned his enterprize into a roud, and

wasted Northumberland with fire and sword.

Bacon.

each other by a causeway raised in the middle, paved with bricks, for the conveniency of footpassengers; with borders and mounting stones from space to space, and military columns to mark the distance. Subterraneous roads are those dug through a rock, and left vaulted; and that of Puzzuoli near Naples, which is nearly half a league long, is fifteen feet broad, and as many high.

MODERN ROADS.-If the modern roads of Great Britain, and particularly those of England, do not as yet equal the most firm and durable of the ancient undertakings of this kind, it cannot be from the want of attention to the subject, either on the part of the legislature or the people. Our turnpike acts would of themselves make an ample volume; parliamentary enquiries into the general subject of road-making, as well as into its local applications, have often been adverted to; and commissioners for carrying into effect the decisions of the national wisdom comprise the names of almost every respectable squire and beneficed clergyman (!) and lawyer of the country.

M. Dupin, the ablest perhaps of modern writers on the commercial power of England, is far more enamoured with our road-making system than we can profess ourselves to be; he calculates that in the South of England alone we have an extent of public road, unequalled for its conveniences, that measures 46,000 leagues, and attributes it entirely to the well organised public spirit of the country. lle contrasts in this respect the conduct of the British government, too, with that of France: the former not only granting the inhabitants a credit and funds, but leaving them to carry on themselves those works in which they are so materially interested; whilst in the latter the government obliges the inhabitants to pour their funds into its own treasury, to enable it to execute after its own manner, and when it shall seem good in its own eyes, that which concerns only the governed. How very far,' he says, are we from participating in the spirit of the administration and the parliament of Great Britain! We, who scarcely confide to the zeal of the inhabitants the repair of a village foot-path! We, who, before a basket of pebbles can be thrown upon the smallest departmental road, require imperatively that the future expense of this basketful shall be carried to the budget of the arrondissement, then to that of the department, then submitted to the grand council of bridges and highways, sitting in a bureau at Paris, at the distance of 200 leagues from the situation of the work!

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He holds up to deserved ridicule the lenteurs savantes d'une comptabilité profonde,' and the formalites bureaucratiques, which must be encountered before a public work of any description can be undertaken in France; the consequences of which are, that, with a strong corps of engineers des ponts et chaussées scattered over every part of the country, the few new works which are commenced proceed with all imaginable leisure, and the old ones are suffered gradually to decay. Matters of this kind, he says, are very differently managed in England. There houses, ships, carriages, and machines, are kept constantly in the best condition, and have an

appearance of freshness, neatness, nay, of brillianey, which is only adopted partially, and that even by a small number of people, on the continent. It is remarkable, he adds, that the most economical nations, and those the most enlightened as to their pecuniary interests, such as the Dutch, the Swedes, and the English, adopt, with common consent, the system of constant repair; while the Italians, the Portuguese, the Spaniards, &c., the worst calculators, and the most improvident, wait generally till an edifice falls into ruins before they think of beginning to repair it. It is the same in England, he observes, with regard to the roads; they are habitually kept solid, smooth, and easy, equally economical for the transport of commerce, and the convenience and expedition of travelling. But in France, even in the midst of profound peace,' says M. Dupin, scarcely can the government be prevailed upon to assign, for the maintenance of our roads, the third part of the sums which are furnished by the inhabitants of England alone-a country that does not equal in surface a third part of France.'

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All this may contribute to put our readers in good humor with what is often a dry and dusty subject; but, while we shall shortly endeavour to do justice to the real modern improvements in road-making, we conceive that this writer admires, through ignorance of its details, some of the worst parts of our system. It is a dear and bad system, and a third part of the immense expenditure it involves would appear fully equal, on a better plan of administration, to accomplish the complete intersection of the country with good roads. The surveyor of parish roads is chosen from ten men named by a vestry meeting; or, if necessary, more than one are appointed, the selection being in the justices at the quarter-sessions. The works and the money are under the management of the surveyor, and the control is in the local magistracy. A surveyor may perform the office gratuitously, but it is in the power of the parish to name and pay a salaried and professional one. The business is neglected by all; and it is doubly neglected when the commissioners are numerous, or it falls into the hands of some one who makes an interest for himself, in power or patronage, or something else; or, finally, every thing is transacted by an attorney, not always the most honorable member of his profession. As to hired surveyors, their collusions with the contractors are numerous; and while the wretched but cunning people who form vestries contrive to waste and spoil the funds, from the spoil of which they all in turn contrive to derive a profit, there is either no efficient control, or there is no control at all, as the accounts are passed under the direction of the attorney, himself dependent on the vestry and the parish for his favor and his profits. It is unquestionable that double the money is often raised for these roads that would be required under a prudent direction, free from all local interests.

Bergman quotes this general view of the subject; we shall extract from M. Dupin a passage grounded on the recent parliamentary enquiries. It is introduced by the following

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Table of the public roads of England, their length, and the cost of repairing them.

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This gives us £12 7s. 6d. for the average annual expense of maintaining each mile of open road. In this calculation I have deducted,' says our author, 'from the total amount of the expense of road labor, the three days' labor which is allowed for turnpike roads; while six are allowed for open parish roads.

According to a report made to the house of commons on the 10th of June, 1821, the total amount of the sums levied in a single year on turnpike roads amounts to £970,618. This gives the average value of £47 18s. for the support of each mile of paved street and turnpike road. By adding the contributions in labor, the expense will amount to about £51 per mile. This revenue, immense as it is, is not sufficient for the construction of new roads, and the support of those that are already established. The different trusts have contracted debts, for which the rentals of each county are responsible. The total amount of the debts, at the period of the enquiry of which the report to which we have above alluded gives the result, was £3,874,254, that is to say, that these debts then equalled four years' revenue. It is affirmed that if the same calculation were made for Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the general amount of the debt of the turnpike roads would amount to £7,000,000 sterling.'-vol. i. p. 86.

The fact is that our modern improvements have been introduced in despite of a bad system -and, in their most decided feature, the simple methods of Mr. M'Adam exhibit the triumph of real genius and intelligence over cumbrous contrivances to make bad roads-and unmake good ones, that surveyors and inspectors may be paid. 1. Of the purposes of roads and of laying down the line.-Roads, rivers, and canals have been called the veins and arteries of a country; all its other improvements flow and circulate by

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means of them. Our legal system respecting them dates from the reign of Charles II., but it was not until the middle of the last century that scientific enquiry was directed toward them.

Before carriages of burden were generally used, little more was required than a hard horse path. All marshy grounds were therefore shunned, and the inequality or circuit of the road was of much less consequence than when carriages, instead of pack-horses, began to be employed. When carriages were first employed, they probably were light and narrow, and did not require to have roads of any considerable breadth. And, when these had once been traced, indolence and habit prevented any great exertions to lay them out in better lines. Heavier carriages and greater traffic made wider and stronger roads necessary; the ancient track was pursued; ignorance and want of concert in the proprietors of the ground, and, above all, the want of some general effective superintending power, continued this wretched practice. At length turnpikes were established, and laws passed investing magistrates with authority to alter established lines, so that now the chief obstacle to the improvement of the lines of public roads is the expense.

In laying out roads, observes Mr. Loudon, a variety of circumstances require to be taken into consideration; but the principal are evidently their line or direction, and its inclination to the horizon. The most perfect line, according to Marshall, is that which is straight and level. But this is to be drawn in a country only which is perfectly flat, and where no obstructions lie in the way: joint circumstances that rarely happen. Where the face of the country, between two points or places to be connected by a road, is nearly but not quite level, by reason of gentle swells which rise between them, a straight line may be perfect,—may be the most eligible, under these circumstances. But where the intervening country is broken into hill and dale, or if one ridge of hill only intervenes, a straight line of carriage road is seldom compatible with perfection. In this case, which is nearly general, the best skill of the surveyor lies in tracing the midway between the straight and the level line. The line of perfection, for agricultural

purposes, is to be calculated, by the time and exertion, jointly considered, which are required to convey a given burden, with a given power of draught, from station to station. On great public roads, where expedition is a principal object, time alone may be taken as a good criterion. A regular method of finding out the true line of road between two stations, where a blank is given, where there is no other obstruction than what the surface of the ground to be got over presents, is to ascertain, and mark at proper distances, the straight line; which is the only certain guide to the surveyor. If the straight line be found to be ineligible, each mark becomes a rallying point, in searching on either side of it for a better. If two lines of equal facility, and nearly of equal distance from the straight line, present themselves, accurate measurements are to determine the choice. If one of the two best lines which the intervening country affords is found to be easier, the other shorter, the ascent and the distance are to be jointly considered; the exertion and the time required are to be duly weighed.

That part of a road which is coated with stones is called the metalled' part. Although in some places, Paterson observes, it may be of little consequence, either to the traveller, or to the public in general, which way the bendings are turned, provided the level is nearly obtained, -yet a great deal may depend upon those turns or bendings for the real benefit and advantage of the road. In bending it one way, you may have no metals that will stand any fatigue, unless at a great distance and expense; while, in turning it the other way, you may have metals of the very best quality, in the immediate vicinity. In the one way, too, you may be led over ground of a wet bottom, where even, with twelve or fourteen inches deep of metals, there would be difficulty in keeping a good road; while, in the other, you may have such a dry bottom that the road would be much easier upheld with seven or eight inches of metals. So that the tract that may appear most eligible to the eye, at first sight, may not always be the one that should be adopted. A combination of all the requisites I have already mentioned should be studied, as far as possible; and, where these cannot be found all to unite, the one possessing the most of these advantages, and subject to no other material objection, should, of course, be adopted.' Treatise on Roads, p. 19.

Roads, Edgeworth observes, should be laid out, as nearly as may be, in a straight line; but to follow with this view the mathematical axiom, that a straight line is the shortest that can be drawn between two points, will not succeed in making the most commodious roads; hills must be avoided, towns must be resorted to, and the sudden bends of rivers must be shunned. All these circumstances must be attended to; therefore a perfectly straight road cannot often be found of any great length. It may perhaps appear surprising that there is but little difference in the length between a road that has a gentle bend, and one that is in a perfectly straight line. A road ten miles long, and perfectly straight, can scarcely be found any where,

but if such a road could be found, and if it were curved, so as to prevent the eye from seeing further than a quarter of a mile of it, in any one place, the whole road would not be lengthened more than 150 yards. It is not proposed to make serpentine roads merely for the entertainment of travellers; but it is intended to point out, that a strict adherence to a straight line is of much less consequence than is usually supposed; and that it will be frequently advantageous to deviate from the direct line, to avoid inequalities of ground. It is obvious that, where the arc described by a road going over a hill is greater than that which is described by going round it, the circuit is preferable; but it is not known to every overseer that within certain limits it will be less laborious to go round the hill, though the circuit should be much greater than that which would be made in crossing the hill. Where a hill has an ascent of no more than one foot in thirty, the thirtieth part of the whole weight of the carriage, of the load, and of the horses, must be lifted up, whilst they advance thirty feet. In doing this, one-thirtieth part of the whole load continually resists the horses' draught; and, in drawing a waggon of six tons weight, a resistance equal to the usual force of two horses must be exerted.

Mar

A perfectly level road, it has been often said, is not the best for every species of draught. Slight and short alternations of rising and falling ground are serviceable to horses moving swiftly; the horses have time to rest their lungs, and different muscles: and of this experienced drivers know well how to take advantage. shal concurs in this opinion, as well as Walker, Telford, and most engineers; and Paterson considers that it would not be proper to line a road upon a perfect level, even to the length of one mile together, although it could be quite easily obtained. It is a fact, he says, well known to most people, at least every driver of loaded carriages knows by experience, that where a horse, dragging a load over a long stretch of road, quite level, will be exhausted with fatigue; the same length of a road, having here a gentle acclivity, and there a declivity, will not fatigue the animal so much. This is easily accounted for. road quite level the draught is always the same, without any relaxation; but, on a gentle ascent, one of his powers is called into exercise; on the descent, another of his powers is called into action, and he rests from the exercise of the former. Thus are his different muscular powers moderately exercised, one after another; and this variety has not the same tendency to fatigue.

On a

Cutting through low hills to obtain a level is recommended by some, who, as Paterson observes, will argue that where the hill of ascent is not very long it is better, in that case, to cut through it in a straight line, and embank over the hollow ground on each side, than to wind along the foot of it. This, however, should only be done where the cutting is very little indeed, and an embankment absolutely neces

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it may be presumed, will he endeavour to avoid those levels on the straight line that are obtained only by cutting and embanking, and will either follow the level or the curved line round the hill; or, where this is impracticable, will ascend the hill, and go over it by various windings, avoiding always abrupt or sudden turnings.' Treatise, &c. p. 15.

According to Walker, Minutes of Evidence Defore a Committee of the House of Commons, 1819, a dry foundation and clearing the road from water are two of the main objects. For obtaining the first of these objects it is essential that the line for the road be taken so that the foundation can be kept dry, either by avoiding low ground, by raising the surface of the road above the level of the ground on each side of it, or by drawing off the water by means of side drains. The other object, viz. that of clearing the road of water, is best secured by selecting a course for the road which is not horizontally level, so that the surface of the road may in its longitudinal section form in some degree an inclined plane; and when this cannot be obtained, owing to the extreme flatness of the country, an artificial inclination may generally be made. When a road is so formed, every wheel track that is made, being in the line of the inclination, becomes a channel for carrying off the water, much more effectually than can be done by a curvature in the cross section or rise in the middle of the road, without the danger, or other disadvantages, which necessarily attend the rounding a road much in the middle. I consider a fall of about one inch and a half in ten feet to be a minimum in this case, if it is attainable without a great deal of extra expense.'

The ascent of hills, as observed by Marshal, is of course one of the most difficult parts of laying out roads. According to theory, he says, an inclined plane of easy ascent is proper; but as the moving power on this plane is neither purely mechanical, nor in a sufficient degree rational, but an irregular compound of these two qualities, the nature and habits of this power' require a varied inclined plane, or one not a uniform descent, but with levels or other proper places for rests. According to the road act the ascent or descent should not exceed the rate or proportion of one foot in height to thirty-five feet of the length thereof, if the same be practicable, without causing a great increase of distance. Mr. Telford, Minutes before the Committee of the House of Commons, &c., 1819, referring to those which he has lately made through the most difficult and precipitous districts of North Wales, says, the longitudinal inclinations are in general less than one in thirty; in one instance for a considerable distance there was no avoiding one in twenty-two, and in another, for about 200 yards, one in seventeen; but, in these two cases, the surface of the road-way being made peculiarly smooth and hard, no inconvenience is experienced by wheeled carriages. On flat ground the breadth of the road-way is thirty-two feet; where there is side cutting not exceeding three feet, the breadth is twenty-eight; and, along any steep ground and precipices, it is twenty-two, all

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clear within the fences; the sides are protected by stone walls, breast and retaining walls, and parapets; great pains have been bestowed on the cross drains, also the draining the ground, and likewise in constructing firm and substantial foundations for the metalled part of the roadway.'

In order to preserve a moderate inclination, or such a one as will admit of the descent of carriages without locking their wheels, a much longer line will generally be required than the arc of a hill. In reaching the summit, or highest part to be passed over, the line in many cases must be extended by winding or zigzagging it, so as never to exceed the maximum degree of steepness. Two inches in six feet is the slope of the celebrated Simplon road. If this were extended in a straight line, on each side, it would require an enormous mound, and an immense expense; but by being conducted in a winding direction, up the hill on one side, and down the other, the same end is gained at a moderate cost. Such works show the wonderful power and ingenuity of man.

In laying out a road towards a river, or any place requiring a bridge or embankment, an obvious advantage results from approaching them at right angles; and the same will apply in regard to any part requiring tunnelling or crossing by an aqueduct, &c. all crossings and intersections should indeed be made at right angles.

2. Of the width and form of roads.—It is contended, by the author of the Landed Property of England, that the plan of all public roads should admit of their being divided into three travellable lines, namely: 1. Á middle road of hard materials for carriages and horses in winter and wet seasons: 2. A soft road, formed with the natural materials of the site, to be used in dry weather, to save the unnecessary wear of the hard road, and to favor the feet of travelling animals; as well as for the safety, ease, and pleasantness of travelling in the summer season: and 3. A commodious path, for the use of foot passengers, at all seasons. But in these cases, he thinks, modern practice has simplified too much. Instead of these three requisites of a public road, we generally find a parliamentary or turnpike road (away from the environs of great towns) consisting simply of one uniform broadway of hard materials; upon which horses stumble, and carriages jolt, the year round: while travellers on foot are seen wading to their ankles in mud, or in dust, according to the state of the wind and weather. His notions of what the nature of a public road ought to be is, that within the fences of a lane or road there should be a raised foot-path, a convex hard road, a soft summer road, and channels to carry off the water collected by the carriage roads; the foot-path being cut across in proper places, to permit the water, which falls on that side of the middle road, to pass off freely into the ditch at that side, as well as to prevent horsemen from riding along the path; the opposite hedge-bank being perforated, to let off, into the other drain on the contrary side, the waters which may collect on that side of the lane or road. Mr. Telford, Mr. Walker, and most other engineers, consider seventy feet a sufficient

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