a street of considerable extent, in the broader part of which stands what
may justly be deemed one of the most valuable curiosities of the place;
it is a _milliare_, or Roman mile-stone, forming part of a small obelisk.
This stone was discovered in 1771, by some workmen, digging to form a
rampart for a new turnpike-road from Leicester to Melton, upon the foss
road leading to Newark, and at the distance of two miles from Leicester.
Antiquarians allow it to be the oldest _milliare_ now extant in Britain;
and perhaps the inscription upon it is older than most others that have
been found upon altars, or other monuments of Roman antiquity in this
island. It is about three feet long, and between five and six in
circumference. The inscription, when the abbreviations are filled up,
may be read thus--
Imperator Caesar,
Divi Trajani Parthici Filius Divus,
Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus,
Potestate IV. Consulatu III. A Ratis II.
Hadrian Trajanus Augustus,
Emperor & Caesar, the son of the most illustrious Trajan Parthicus,
In the 4th year of his reign, and his 3d consulate.
From Ratae (Leicester) 2 miles.
Such is the inscription on this _milliare_, which our industrious
antiquaries seem faithfully to have extracted from among the ruins of
time and the injuries of accident; an object, which exhibits a curious
instance of the civilization introduced by the Roman arms into this
island; for the erection of marks to denote the distance from place to
place, is an accommodation, at least to the travelling stranger, which
unpolished nations never devised; and which the inhabitants of Britain
never generally enjoyed from the final departure of the Roman legions,
till the last century, when mile-stones were again erected along our
principal turnpike roads. The unlearned visitor, it is confessed, will
be apt to view, with some degree of disappointment, the object of which
we are speaking, and about which much busy conjecture, and learned
antiquarian research has been employed; for indeed, its appearance is
neither singular nor striking, the engraving being but slight, and the
letters rudely formed. But the ingenious observer will esteem it a
valuable curiosity; not only because it clears up the long doubted
question, whether the RATAE of Antoninus's Itinerary was the present
Leicester, but because it is one of those objects which assist the
reflecting mind in connecting the past with the present; and, by
confirming from sensible evidence the records of history, give greater
weight and effect to the lessons she may teach.
The situation in which this stone is at present placed, has often been
thought improper; for it is undoubtedly exposed to injuries from the
wantonness of play, and is so little conspicuous from its place in the
obelisk, that nothing appears necessarily to attract the attention of the
stranger. A situation more private, though not wholly so, would be more
proper; such a one as the garden of the Infirmary would afford: it would
there have all the publicity the curious could wish, and all the security
the antiquary could desire.
Our visitor, continuing his walk along this street, which, as he probably
will know, is on the great road from the metropolis to the north-west
part of the kingdom, arrives at a scene of busy traffic. Here, among
numbers of newly-erected dwellings (proofs of the increasing population
of the town) is the public and principal wharf on the navigable canal,
near which is an iron foundery. This canal was formed, in consequence of
a bill passed in 1791, for the purpose of opening a communication with
the Loughborough canal, and through that, with the various navigations,
united to the Trent. The line of the canal from Leicester to
Loughborough is near sixteen miles in extent, and serves to supply
Leicester with coal, lime, and the greater part of all the other heavy
articles, which the consumption of a place, containing sixteen thousand
inhabitants, requires.
The rates of tonnage, according to the act, from Loughborough to
Leicester, are--
For coals 1s. 2d. per ton.
Iron, timber, &c. 2s. 6d.
Quantity of the articles brought by this canal:
_tons_
Coal annually consumed in Leicester and its vicinity 35,000
Ditto forwarded to other canals 18,000
Merchandize for Leicester 4,000
Ditto sent down (chiefly wool) 1,600
Thus, whether we consider the saving of corn, &c. consumed by the horses
employed in land carriage, the comparative cheapness of the conveyance,
or the improved state of our roads, relieved from such heavy weights, it
must be acknowledged that this canal adds more than might have been
expected to the convenience of Leicester, and the greater part of its
county. Indeed, these _water-roads_, as navigable canals may be termed,
reflect the greatest honour on the ingenuity of man, exemplified in their
formation, and prove most strikingly to the thinking mind, how boundless
are the advantages of civilized life, and how inviolable the security
afforded to property by laws, wisely framed and judiciously enforced.
The view from this spot, across the Abbey Meadow, extending on the
opposite side of the canal, with the ruins of the Devonshire mansion,
commonly termed the _Abbey_, from its being the scite of _St. Mary de
Pratis_, will, by most visitors, be considered, at least, as very
pleasing; but as we mean to conduct our traveller to that place, we
shall, at present, forbear to particularize it.
We shall immediately, along a lane, called Arch-deacon's Lane, about the
middle of which is a Meeting house, with a small burial ground, belonging
to the General Baptists, guide our stranger to