The Sun.
London, England, 1815-12-27 00:00:00

PAVi"..llllii\i't• AN L 3 h0.1D5.

I. 1-1117. tiT ‘TE•O7-tKF. eas eat tka.
ter 'rti F TikTiturot.-r4.
/Contrary-•to- the nincil effect of prosperity, in
impr'Oiiatg every egnVenience and Condort of civi-
lized Society,' the pavement of the Opulent and
flourisliiiig metropolis of the British ehipire has
lately attracted publiC notice by its increiising im-
perfection, which i 1 become such that not tbwn in
England of the second or third rate it hti. much
annoyed byfbe uneven surface of its Streets.
The evil and inconvenience resulting from this,
is felt too strong to need description ; it may suf-
fice to obsel•ve, that not only the springs of 'car-
riages arc endangered, and the ease of the' pas-
sengers destroyed, but that hereby the draft of
laden waggons and carts is also rendered heavier,
and, in consequence, all commodities somewhat
more expensive according to their bulk and
‘yeiglit ; from whence it might be proved, that a
good pavement answers better than a bad pave-
ment, did the former cost twice as much. What
shall we say then, if in the sequel a good pave-
ment shall appear to heless expensive in its main-
tenance than any other ; and that the inhabitants
of the metropolis are suffering an evil, and paying
-heavily for it at the same time.
Such au opinion may appear to savour strongly
of that unjust hind' of ponalar clamour which
pc-tints out all official persons as regligettt and cor-rapt; but its foundation is deeper laid, and,
when examined, may perhaps detnntistrine that:
the indefatigable •spirit of improvement, much
more than relaxation Or mismanagenTnt in paw,
int the streets, has canted the evil so universally
and so justly complained of as no longer tolerable.
Such, however, is the tact ; and we inliq iii I
jaistiee ecknowledge, that the subten Amin opera-
tions by which superfluoits water is carried•off—
by which clean water is introduced for dinnestie
purposes into evetydetellitig--and by twit ich light
is now produced in the streets and Shops—will
not stiller the. paVemeat to remain undistitrbed and.
inviolate, as in plares where these expedients ate
not in --ise.- Yet that a higil degree of conve-
nience results.from them, what inhabitant of the
metropolis will fail, to acknowledge--; and even
that they are almost necessary, the two first of
them at least, front the very extent of surface
which is covered by bui!dings of all kinds.
Londem, Westminster, and the Borough of
Southwark, with the adjacent places to which the
extends, together form the metropolis,
culled to a parallelogram of four miles and three
epiaeters long, and (allowing for time river Thames)
a mile and-three-quarters wide, in other words,,it
is shoat 53'20 acres. in area ; eight times as mach,
probably, as that of any other town in Great -
Britain ; amid reqtdring subterranean sewers in a
greater proportion than its extent might seem to
indicate, the rivulets of Mary-le-bon (:Vary
bourn), and Holborn .(//o/y-bourn), having been
long since concealed by expensive arch-ta ink, and
sonic of the main sewers being so deeply laid, as
to be repaired, it no.t made, wit bout disturbing
the surface ; and itiaddition, that surface •caunot
fail to be as much .annoyed by subordinate drain-
age work, as in any other town.
-•
- Sewage, indeed, has earlier rights, as being of
mote urgent necessity than paving ; thus the
sewers of Tarquin, in ancient Rome, were foand
necessary, as soon as that city had- extended be-
yowl the first of her Seven
Sewage then is' indispensable ; nor.is it so fre-
quently injurious to the pavement as the disttiba-
Lion of pipe-water, which is ramified into never
ending details of communication ; besides, that
the main pipes require occasional,- renewal, by
which whole streets :.re-torn tip more frequently
than is compatible with the mlnrability of the paVe,
meta. Yet a-plentiful supply of %eater for domes-
tic purposeg is but one.d.s.gree less necessary, -or
-.less salutary, than the sewage of an overgrown
metropolis.• Indeed, to a continual ion of t
contrivances, by which a profusion of clean
water is I'm-nisi:ea, and foul water is copiously
:carried off;' the 'increasing salubrity of London
- must he attributed : at present human life stiffers
little from the crowded residence of the metropo-
lis ; one person in thirty-eight dying annually.;
35 years since, the whole kingdom did not present
a more favourable result ; increasing cleanliness,
indeed, and better aliment, have now reduced time
aggregate mortality to one in fifty ; which is not
much less than that of the metropolis, considering
how malty persons of nature age settle in it from
various parts of the kingdom.
'flue third cause of the decay of Lsmdon pave-
ments, from lighting the streets wit!) gas, is very
recent, and mit yet universal ; a, grain! experi-
ment it is, which may. or may not succeed to the
satisfaction of the proprietors and of the public.—•
The injury to the pavement in first laying down
the iron pipes for this purpose has been very ex-
tensive ; hereafter, in case of its cOntionance,
this node of lighting the streets and shops will
only damage the pavement by necessary repairs,
and these will chiefly affect the flagged pavement,
which, from the mode of its' construction, is not
so liable to permanent injury as the rest of oe,
surface ; but the line of pipes is double ; one
along each side of the street, in consideration of
which we may ascribe as flinch damage prospec-
tively to gas lights as to sewage or water pipes ;
the whole taken together is such as no common
pavement can withstand ; in short, the stability
of paved and unpaved roads appears to be already
reversed, the former, in London, requiring more
frequent and more extensive repair than good
somni turnpike roads at a distance from the me-
tropolis.
In addition • to the three sources of ininred
pavementt already explained, another evil has
arisen 'whit!) is not easily to be accounted for ;
but as it stands on mere usurpation, the legisla-
ture may prohibit it in a summary manner.
' The practice of protruding cellars nailer the
streets is here alluded to ; every individual whose
• prosperity or ambitiou proinpts hint to enlarge his
-cellar, beiug at present permitted tints to apprO,.
priate so much of thepublie streets as for us the
frontage of his house, quite to the mit'dle lc time
road way. Among the conjectures whit b m ty
be
formed as tiethe origin of this strange practice,. it
most probably has sprung from the ;;.c :el-al
Builtl-
ing Act of 1774, by which District Surveyors -are
appointed to superintend the construction of every

tmilding wi)ltever titsC f(Ii•
!heir Lib° r
,o;11 ilyppoiooll,.ti:

, .
Therefore, \awn ;t: niettitato. ci.Le
largement Of his et Ilan, he must „Of course,
to this in rveyor; ‘‘-ho authorises him to build ac-
cording to the provisions of 'the Act : not at all
entering into the questicin of trespass, which is
thus conveniently nwrged ; and thesnrveyor's
au-
thority is successfully pleaded, irobjection.co the
encroachment should arise. From this cause, the'
pavement and the foot.pasengers suffer heavily ;
au instance occurred some years since in
but Much frequented place, where a cellar was
pushed above twenty yard into tie street, and the
boarded inclosure not being furnished with a
hoard or covered way for
,toot passengers (as the
law requires), they had to make a circuit of forts/
yards till the work was completed. In this case,
three months stoppage Was inevitably succeeded by
an imperfect surface of payment, which over such
a chasm, and On travelled .earth, did not consoli-
date with the rest.
_ .

Till such encroachments " are prohibited, this
fourth cause of ruined pavements May be added to-
the other three ; and to give an example of the
total injury, this letter shall conclude with ob-
serving, that a much frequented street may be
found, under which pass two Parallel sewers, two
rival water-pipe coinnomications, and two lines"
of gas-pipes ; and• the inhabitants muter such a
visitation, and as much infested'by ambitious cel-
lar-makers as their neighbours, cannot \yonder
that their pavement is always renewing, but ne-
ter pet-feet ; the 'chance of events being. that one
of these six lines is Opened for the pin pose Of re-
pair, regulation, orimproven;cnt, ht fOrtspreced-
ing damages to the harrassed pavement have been
rectified.

ybe permanent of this iirrpetual re-
novation thinnot be fully understood without inves-
tigating the principle on Which the stability-cif
pavement depends, which will naturally lead to the
remedy whereby the evil may be diminished. it
not quite removed. X. Y.

.DARING ROBBERY NEAR COLNBROOK.

Ail examination took place on Saturday, at the '
George Inn, at Bitruhani,before jAs. Po EriE, , Eiq.;
and SAMUEL Fr.rtuts, 711.:1) two of
.his Majesty's
Justices of the Peace for the county of Backs, of
two men, who had been apprehended on suspicion
of having robbed the lion. Captaiu Frederick Paul •
Irby, near Colubrok; on Wednesday evening last.-
' eAptaii, Irby deposed, that he was travelling
frohi London to ['editor, in his own carriage, with
post horses; which he took at Hounslow ; t that at ,
a small distance front Colnbrook, he was stopped
between fiCe and 'six o'clock in the evening by .
two footpads ; one of 'them came to the olf-side,
and opened the carriage door ; not suspecting a
robbury, he demanded of the per:-.on what he want-
ed, who ansu ',red, '" Your: pocket-book,' at the
the same time presenting 1 pistol :- Captain Irby
instantly seized the pistol to ward it, from him-
self, and to endeavour to discharge it. The rob-
ber with whom Captain Irby was contending, ex-
claimed to his accomplice" 'lbis ii; a sturdy chap,-
cOme and rap his kunrkles ‘vell„ainl if that won't
do, point your pi.,tol at his 'neat! or breast." At
the 3 Inle HlStailt Captain Irby 31W fire,•as from
the flint of .a pistol, but no discharge took place.
Captain Irby then valled to the pwhomy [7l cum,:
to his assistance : the boy answered, ‘• 1 (-AWL;
I can't leave my horses." The iohbers beat C•apt.
Irby about the hands, and snuck him it severe
blow on the forehead ; the crown of his hat was
also cut, seemingly as by the lock of a pistol.•
One of the fellows snatched Captain Irby's gold
watch, with which he ran off ; the other- ohtalit-
lug his purse, containing a ten-pound 41111 one
twenty-pound Bank of England note; politely put
till the step, and shut the 'carriage door, assuring
Captain Irby they had uo intention to kill him.
Captain Irhy's cleirositiort‘vits then read to hints
who Verified the wale 11110 a oath ; and that he
firmly belies :11 that one of the mutt in custody,
whose name is Wall, is the person who first came
to the carri:L:s.—Johit 'Smith, servant to Captain
Irby, who was iii the carriage with his masrer,
stated urns oath to the best of his belief, that the
prisoner Wall is the person that Clii to
pull captaio Irby out of his carriage. .
William Ddw, the 'Hounslow post-boy, Was
asked if he knew any thing of the two persons in
custody ? 'he answered in the negative. Being
..
desired to say what he knew of the rubbery, he
stated,. that two.perions came to the head of his
bursas, and taking the reins &Ohl h.itii,.fasteited
them to the pole of the carriage, sous to preVeut
them front going ou. Ile was asked, if the horses
could not go on, why he did not give his ass.iSt'-
aIIICC to Captain Irby against the robbery? Ile. re.
Oct!, one of them stood near with a pistol. Ile
admitted that the person who fittippetl his horses
Wit A tall thin man, but he could not be positive
to any thing further. .
The two persnns in custody were apprehended,
on suspicion, at a cottage at Langley, 'called
Langley Grove Cottage. The moue of one Of
them is James. Wall, that of the other'is Thomag
Evart IVinsiote. By the aceotmt they gave of
themselves, they were formerly in the navy ; but
'having been long unemployed, they were in very
reduced circumstances, as the letters aud papers
found in their possession folly evinced. They
were informed, that the evidence of the lion.
F. P. Irby, and his servant,- was such as to make
it incumbent on the Magistrates to commit them
for trial, but far the present they would be com-
mitted for further examination ; as the descrip-
tion given of the persons Whn robbed Mr. Vincent
on the Maidenhead-road, three weeks since, war-
ranted a suspicion that they might he the offenders.
i —Committed fie farther examinulon.

The trunk of a statue was recently dug out
of the ruins of St. Thomas's Tower, which form-
ed a part of the ancient Abbcv of At-hi-owl!, ht
Scotland. Jt snpposed to lie that of Thomas
.a. Becket, to whom the tower was dedicated.
Sunov.N DEATtt,---tht Saturdny se'nniglir, as
Mr, L'Hurr. Ilinite, a respectable farmer at Bati-
k', near Selby, ivas rettoning on Itorselnick, front
V.Alk marlict, accompanied by two neighbours, he
stiddeoly dropped trout 'his hafNei and .thoull
prompt as,Fistanee was rendered, he immedigte4.;
expired, in the With year of his age. lie appear-
ed iti pet feet Lteulth tti the view6,t. of his death: '

l'OLIC1;


176 CE. live)`{.-- 7.4 orris 11-11 s
I;vought op (!it cirorge at • fclor:v. It
!eget! th2i she h It! Imola it itoeke! contiiitt-
it)g tiote:; of c' tinsitlentble rit!tie, tool that. 5i,.6
bad srliiied tint' property her. otytt nee. The
trtts Icat ict one of ths- -streets of Lot)(1911 by
-a holy uitried -Sio`tre, (iosv.-eil-street,
at:ct .a. to Oid: of the notes
iri the.drieti&int. -

7dr. Aldeivall HEYGATk, on t.he authority o 1
'Judge Blackstone's law, laid down in Ilk
Comuicriies, tray of Opinion, that finding a
pocket-hook with notes, and tvihLolding it trcini
the o'4ner, ‘VitS not fchku,;-. the complain-
-ant had her remedy by an action in trover, auti
dismissed the complaint.:—The: .defethlant
discharged. _
SEttions 11toT.4L:Mtdc7i, IfiNdl/r), aini Marga-
ret Welch, were exiimincd on a charge of riot;
and joining in an afiray on .So»ttay morning last;
t Wright's-buildings, It Illip.eared;
that John:Franklin, it patrole of t•hat district, in
his- entica.vottr to keep the- peace, recciVed twd
cuts on the head from a cutlass, in consequence
of which he was taken to St. Bartbelomew's Hos-
pital in a dangeron's state.- The son of ilargaret.
'Welch, one of .the rioters, u•as sabred by : the pa-•
trole, who cut otf a piece from his scalp, threi
inches square. 'lite piece, with the hair. upon it,
was produeNl: in Court. Ile was also carried to
the hospital. As the patrole was not. Ale
tend, tile pt isotters were remanded to Thurscloy: