d me above an hour, I endeavoured to recover
my loitering, by a rapid pace towards #Putney Heath#, where a crowd of
objects presented themselves for description and observation.

The road from #Wandsworth# to #Putney Heath# ascends with a gentle
slope, which is inclined about six degrees from the horizontal plane.
Wandsworth itself lies little above the level of the Thames at high
water; and, as this road ascends nearly a mile, with an angle which
averages six degrees, the height of Putney and the adjoining Wimbledon
Common may be taken at about the tenth of a mile, 180 yards, or 540
feet. The ascent of one yard in ten gives that gentle fall to the
road, which, in a smaller degree, ought to be conferred artificially
on all roads, in order that they might drain lengthways, and that the
argillaceous earth might be carried off in solution, and only the hard
bed of silex remain behind. This beautiful piece of road is a fine
exemplification of that principle; but an elevation of two degrees, or
nearly one yard in thirty, would be sufficient for the purpose; and,
if the rise and fall in flat roads were made to take place at every
quarter of a mile, the difference between the bottoms and tops would
be about fifteen yards. In general, the natural inequalities of the
country would assist such a system of philosophical road-making; but,
notwithstanding the first labour, it merits no less respect in all
dead levels, as the only means of carrying off their standing water
and clay, and of establishing a hard bottom, which, when once formed,
would last for many years. Any person who has not duly regarded this
principle, will be struck with its justness, by taking notice, during
a journey, of any piece of road from which the road-makers have been
unable to turn a stream of running water; and he will find, that it
possesses a hard smooth bottom, and stands less in need of repair than
any road in the same vicinity. Let us then take a lesson from nature
on this subject, as we do on all others when we evince our modesty and
wisdom.

The objection to this form of roads, founded on the increase of
draught required in ascending one side of the inclined plane, has no
validity. An inclination of two degrees rises one yard in thirty;
consequently, such a power as would draw thirty tons on level ground,
must, other circumstances alike, be equal to thirty-_one_ tons on a
road so inclined. The resistance of friction in roads which permit the
whe