Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/194

Cbp.:VL OF MANCHESTER- 165 C HAP. VI. I. T^HESE are * the Roman roads that courfed from Mancu- nium to the neighbouring ftations. And fuch as they are, they muft fhare in the great admiration and the high praife which the antiquarians have beftowed upon the roads of the Romans in general. But furely thofe criticks have been too la- vifh in their eulogiums upon. them. Antiquarianifm is thfe younger fitter of Hiftory, lcfs fedate and more fanciful, and apt to become enamoured of the face of Time by looking fo fire*- quently upon it* But let not this be the conduct of her foberer difciples. Let not the fenfible antiquarian difgrace himfelf and his profeffion by admiring greatly what is merely antient, and by applauding - fondly what is only Roman. The pencil of Age may juftly be allowed to throw a (hade of refpe&ablenefs, and ttydiffufe even an air of venerablenefs, over the produ&ions of Tteiy antient Art, And we may appeal to the native feelings of every fenfible beholder for the truth of the obfervation. . But this is all that can be allowed to the mere influence of Time. And the antiquarian that once overfteps this reafbnable limit facrifices the dignity of fentiment to the dreams of antiquarian- ifm, and gives up the realities of Hiftory for the fables of Ima- gination. The great excellence of the Roman roads is the particular di- re&nefs of their courfe. Being conftrufted at a period when the laws of property were fuperfeded by the rights of conqueft, they were naturally laid in the ftraighteft lines from place to place. From this line of dire&ion they could not be diverted, like many of our modem roads, and thrown into obliquities and angles, by the bias of private intereft. From this line nothing could divert them but the interpofition of an hill which could not be dire&ly afcended,