The most beneficial regulations of police, which we have inherited
from our ancestors, are at present considered to be so indispensable
or necessary, that many people imagine they must at all times have
existed. If one, however, takes the trouble to inquire into the
antiquity of these regulations, it will be found that the greater part
of them are new, and that they were unknown to the largest and most
magnificent cities of ancient times. Among these are posts[791], the
night-watch, hackney coaches, and, besides many others, the paving of
streets.
Several cities, indeed, had paved streets before the beginning of the
Christian æra; but those which are at present the ornament of Europe,
Rome excepted, were all destitute of this great advantage, till almost
the twelfth or thirteenth century. I must nevertheless acknowledge,
that in the Greek and Roman authors I have hitherto met with more
proofs of paved highways than of paved streets. But we have reason to
believe that the richest nations paid attention to the streets before
their doors, sooner than to the roads before their gates. In all
probability, the former were paved at different times, and by private
persons; and required so little expense and so few regulations, that
no occasion was given to remark the time when it was done. On the
other hand, for the constructing of highways many miles in length,
the concurrence of states, and the consent and assistance of all the
inhabitants, were necessary; and, on that account, such circumstances
were inserted in annals, and they were sometimes copied afterwards
by historians, and mentioned in their works. In the East, where the
roads are not spoiled, as among us, by snow, ice, and rain, and where
many cities were built on eminences and in dry situations, the paving
of streets and highways may have been later thought of than might be
expected, when we consider the refinement of the ancient people who
inhabited that country, and the progress they had made in the arts.
Such undertakings also were often retarded by the want of stone; an
obstacle which many nations overcame with an ingenuity and patience at
which we, among whom workmen are fewer, and the price of labour higher,
because we have more wants, and enjoy more liberty, are not a little
astonished. It is however to be conjectured, that those people who
first carried on the greatest trade were the first who paid attention
to have good streets and highways, in order to facilitate intercourse,
so necessary to keep up the spirit of commerce.
This conjecture is in some measure confirmed by the testimony of
Isidorus[792], who says that the Carthaginians had the first paved
streets, and that their example was soon copied by the Romans. Long
before that period, however, Semiramis paved highways, as we are told
by the vain-glorious inscription which she herself caused to be put
up[793]. Of the paving of the Grecian cities I know nothing further
than that at Thebes the streets were under the inspection of the
telearchs, who had the care of keeping them in repair, and of cleaning
them. This office, which was there held in contempt, the spiteful
inhabitants conferred upon Epaminondas, in order to disgrace him;
but, by his prudence and attention to the public good, he rendered it
so respectable, that it was afterwards sought for as an honourable
employment. The streets of Thebes, therefore, were paved, else how
would it have been possible to clean them[794]? Whether Jerusalem was
paved I do not know; for, in the first book of Kings mention is made
only of the fore-court of the temple[795]. Josephus[796] relates that
the Jews proposed to Agrippa, after the building of the temple was
finished, to employ the workmen who had been discharged, the number of
whom, with Jewish exaggeration, he makes amount to eighteen thousand,
in paving the streets; this however was not done. We read in the
Talmud[797], that the streets of Jerusalem were swept every day, which
undoubtedly implies a hard and solid pavement.
That neither the streets of Rome nor the roads around it were paved
during the time of its kings, is well known[798]. In the year 188,
after the abolition of the monarchical form of government, Appius
Claudius, who was then censor, constructed the first real highway,
which was as properly called after him the Appian Way, as it was
named on account of its excellence the queen of roads[799]. The time
however when the streets began to be paved, cannot with certainty
be determined; for the passage of Livy[800], from which some have
endeavoured to prove that it was in the year 578 after the building of
the city, is inconclusive, as it will admit of various explanations
equally probable. It may be read, without forcing the sense, as if Livy
said that the pavement of the streets was then covered with sand for
the first time; that the streets were then first paved at the public
expense, or that the paving of them was then performed for the first
time by contract. Besides, we are told by Livy himself[801], that the
censors in the year of the city 584 caused the streets to be paved from
the Oxen-market (Forum Boarium) to the temple of Venus, and around
the seats of the magistrates in the great circus: but the information
of the same historian that the ædiles in the year 459 caused the
streets to be paved from the temple of Mars to the Bovile, and from
the Capena gate to the temple of Mars[802], does not apply here, as
some have imagined; for the temple of Mars was without the city, and
the author speaks not of streets, but of highways. The extravagant
Heliogabalus caused the streets around the palace, or on the Palatine
mount, to be paved with foreign marble[803]. The inspection of the
streets belonged to the ædiles; and, under certain circumstances,
occasionally to the censors. In the course of time, however, particular
officers, curatores viarum, called on account of their number quatuor
viri viarum, were appointed for that express purpose. Thus we are told
that the two brothers, Publii Malleoli, when curule ædiles, caused
the Mons Publicius to be paved, so that carriages could pass from the
street Velia to Mount Aventine[804]. That streets paved with lava,
having deep ruts made by the wheels of carriages, and raised banks on
each side for the accommodation of foot-passengers, were found both at
Herculaneum and Pompeii, is well known from the information of various
travellers.
Of modern cities, the oldest pavement is commonly ascribed to that of
Paris; but it is certain that Cordova in Spain was paved so early as
the middle of the ninth century, or about the year 850, by Abdorrahman
II., the fourth Spanish caliph. This prince, who knew the value of the
arts and sciences, and who favoured trade so much that abundance in
his reign prevailed throughout the whole land[805], caused water to be
conveyed into that city, which was then his capital, by leaden pipes,
and ornamented it with a mosque and other elegant buildings[806].
The capital of France was not paved in the twelfth century; for
Rigord, the physician and historian of Philip II., relates, that the
king standing one day at a window of his palace near the Seine, and
observing that the carriages which passed threw up the dirt in such a
manner that it produced a most offensive stench, his majesty resolved
to remedy this intolerable nuisance by causing the streets to be paved;
which was accordingly done, notwithstanding the heavy expense that had
prevented his predecessors from introducing the same improvement. The
orders for this purpose were issued by the government in the year 1184;
and upon that occasion, as is said, the name of the city, which was
then called Lutetia on account of its dirtiness, was changed to that of
Paris[807]. This service rendered to Paris by that sovereign, who first
also caused the cathedral to be surrounded by a wall, is confirmed by
various historians[808]. Mezeray informs us, that Gerard de Poissy,
then intendant of the finances, expended eleven thousand marks of
silver in this undertaking. It appears that a certain income was
allowed to the city for defraying the expenses; for in 1285, a hundred
years after, when it was proposed that the pavement should be carried
without the gate of St. Martin, the citizens excused themselves from
the work, by saying that the funds assigned to them were not sufficient
for that purpose[809]. It is certain, that in the year 1641 the streets
in many quarters of Paris were not paved[810].
It is very probable that other opulent cities, finding the benefit
which the capital derived from this improvement, were induced to follow
its example. At any rate we know that Dijon, which was then reckoned
one of the most beautiful, had paved streets so early as the year
1391, to which Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, the second husband
of Margaret heiress of Flanders and other parts of the Netherlands,
contributed two thousand livres; and in 1424 paviors were employed
on all the streets[811]. Historians remark, that after this period,
dangerous diseases, such as the dysentery, spotted fever and others,
became less frequent in that city.
That the streets of London were not paved at the end of the eleventh
century, is asserted by all historians. As a proof of this, they
relate that in the year 1090, when the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, in
Cheapside, was unroofed by a violent storm of wind, four pillars or
beams, which were twenty-six feet in length, sunk so deep into the
ground, that scarcely four feet of them appeared above the surface. The
streets of London then, says Howel, were not paved, but consisted of
soft earth[812]. I can however find no account of the time when paving
was first introduced. It appears that the pavement of this immense city
became gradually extended as trade and opulence increased. Several of
the principal streets, such as Holborn, which at present are in the
middle of the city, were paved for the first time by royal command in
the year 1417[813]. Others were paved under Henry VIII., some in the
suburbs[814] in 1544, others in 1571 and 1605, and the great market of
Smithfield, where cattle are sold, was first paved in 1614[815].
Of German cities I can mention only Augsburg, which by its trade soon
rose to such eminence as to be able to rival magnificent Rome, of which
it was a colony, in many expensive improvements. This city from the
earliest periods had small subterranean passages under the streets
for conveying away filth, which in some measure resembled the Roman
_cloacæ_. Hans Gwerlich, a rich merchant there, having caused a neat
foot-path to be made before his house in the oxen-market in 1415,
gave rise to the paving of the city; for this convenience was so much
admired, that after that time all the streets were paved successively
at the expense of the government. Berlin, in the first half of the
seventeenth century, was not entirely paved. The new market was first
paved in 1679 and the following years, and King-street before the
houses in 1684. The square behind the cathedral and before the present
tilt-yard remained without pavement in 1679.
When a solid bottom had been given to streets, the cleansing of them,
which, as the Roman prætors said, is a continual improvement[816],
was then rendered possible. At Rome were appointed _tribuni rerum
nitentium_, who had the care of cleaning the streets, markets, temples,
baths and other public places[817]. Strict orders were given that no
filth should be thrown into the river or streets; whoever transgressed
against this prohibition was subjected to punishment, and obliged to
repair the damage[818]. The public sewers, _cloacæ_, under the streets
contributed very much to facilitate the cleaning of them, yet they
were commonly full of mud[819], as those of Paris are at present,
notwithstanding the many expensive regulations established to prevent
that nuisance.
Some centuries after Paris was paved, every citizen was obliged to
repair the street before his house, and to clean it at his own expense,
as is expressly commanded in an order issued by Philip the Bold[820],
in the year 1285. The public however are often careless and negligent
respecting the most beneficial regulations, when the maintaining of
them is attended with trouble and expense, be it ever so small. By this
want of attention, all the streets of Paris were in the fourteenth
century entirely spoiled and filled with dirt; but they were again
repaired; and in 1348 a law was first made for inflicting punishment
upon those who neglected to clean them[821]. This law was rendered more
severe in 1388, and several times afterwards. The novelty of it, the
dread of punishment, and the vigilance of the new inspectors, produced
such an effect, that the inhabitants of one or more neighbouring
streets joined together and kept at their common expense a dirt-cart,
which at that time was called _un tombereau_; but the nobility and
the clergy, who always wish for immunities, endeavoured to exempt
themselves from this burthen. The markets and public squares remained
therefore uncleaned, and became still dirtier, as those who resided
in the neighbourhood began to throw filth into them privately in the
night-time, in order to avoid the expense of having it carried away,
till at length these places were rendered so impassable that the toymen
who frequented them with their wares wished to abandon them. For this
reason it was enacted in the year 1399, that no one should be exempted
from cleaning the streets; and an order was issued in 1374, that all
those who lived in the markets, together with the toymen who had booths
there, should clean them at their joint expenses[822]. Many now made
the removing of dirt a trade, and entered into contracts for that
purpose; but they as well as the paviors turned so extravagant in their
demands, that a price was set upon the labour of the former in 1396,
and the latter in 1501 were united into a company, every member of
which was obliged to subscribe to certain regulations[823].
When the city at length increased in size and population, the cleaning
of the streets became too troublesome and expensive to be left any
longer to the care of individuals. Besides, those who inhabited the
suburbs complained, and with great justice, that the burthen lay so
heavy upon them as to be intolerable; because all the carts which
entered the city, or which conveyed filth from it, rendered their
streets much dirtier than the rest. It was resolved therefore, in the
year 1609, that the streets should be cleaned at the public expense,
under the inspection of the police; and a certain revenue in wine was
set apart for that purpose. The first person with whom a contract was
entered into for this service, was allowed yearly, for cleaning the
whole city, 70,000 livres, which sum was raised in 1628 to 80,000[824].
In 1704, the Parisians were obliged to collect 300,000 livres, for
which Government undertook to maintain the lamps and clean the
streets; but in 1722 this contribution was increased to 450,000. The
last contract with which I am acquainted is that of the year 1748, by
which the contractors were to be allowed yearly, during six years, for
removing the dirt, 200,000 livres, and for clearing away the snow and
ice in winter 6000 more, making in all the sum of 206,000 livres[825].
All these regulations and expenses however would undoubtedly have been
attended with very little benefit, had not deliberate dirtying of the
streets been strictly prohibited, and all opportunities of doing so
been as much as possible prevented. As the young king Philip, whom his
father Louis the Fat had united with himself as co-regent, and caused
to be crowned at Rheims, was passing St. Gervais on horseback, a sow
running against his horse’s legs made him stumble, and the prince being
thrown was so much hurt, that he died next morning, 3rd October 1131.
On account of this accident an order was issued that no swine in future
should be suffered to run about in the streets; but this was opposed
by the abbey of St. Anthony, because, as the monks represented, it was
contrary to the respect due to their patron to prevent his swine from
enjoying the liberty of going where they thought proper. It was found
necessary therefore to grant these clergy an exclusive privilege, and
to allow their swine, if they had bells fastened to their necks, to
wallow in the dirt of the streets without molestation[826].
A very improper liberty prevailed at Paris in the fourteenth century,
which was, that all persons might throw anything from their windows
whenever they chose, provided they gave notice three times before,
by crying out _Gare l’eau_, which is as much as to say, Take care of
water. This privilege was forbidden in 1372, and still more severely in
1395[827]. A like practice however seems to have continued longer at
Edinburgh; for in the year 1750, when people went out into the streets
at night, it was necessary, in order to avoid disagreeable accidents
from the windows, that they should take with them a guide, who as he
went along called out with a loud voice, in the Scotch dialect, _Haud
your haunde_, Stop your hand[828].
This practice however would not have been suppressed at Paris, had
not the police paid particular attention to promote the interior
cleanliness of the houses, and the erection of privies. Some will
perhaps be astonished that these conveniences should have been first
introduced into the capital of France by an order from government in
the sixteenth century; especially as they are at present considered to
be so indispensably necessary, that few summer-houses are constructed
without them. Those however to whom this affords matter of surprise
must be still more astonished when they are told that the residence
of the king of Spain was destitute of this improvement at the very
time that the English circumnavigators found privies constructed
in the European manner near the habitations of the cannibals of New
Zealand[829]. But Madrid is not the royal residence which has had dirty
streets longest on account of this want. Privies began to be erected at
Warsaw for the first time only within these few years[830].
In the Parisian code of laws, _Coûtume de Paris_, which was improved
and confirmed in 1513, it is expressly ordered, that every house
should have a privy[831]. This order, with the denunciation of severer
punishment in case of disobedience, was renewed in 1533; and in 1538
the under officers of police were obliged to examine the houses and to
report the names of those who had not complied with this beneficial
regulation. It appears, however, that the order of 1533 was not the
latest; for in 1697, and even in 1700, the police was under the
necessity of strictly commanding “that people should construct privies
in their houses, and repair those already constructed, and that
within a month at furthest, under the penalty of being fined in case
of neglect, and of having their houses shut up until they should be
in a proper condition.” This order is given in the same words in the
Coûtume de Mante, Etampes, Nivernois, Bourbonnois, Calais, Tournay, and
Melun[832]. That issued at Bordeaux is of the year 1585.
All these regulations of police were not much older in Germany than in
Paris. The cleaning of the streets was considered there as an almost
dishonourable employment, which in some places was assigned to the
Jews, and in others to the executioner’s servants. The Jews were
obliged to clean the streets of Hamburgh before the present regulations
were established. How old these may be I do not know, but in the year
1585 there were dirt carts in that city, and a tax was paid by the
inhabitants for supporting them. At Spandau, in 1573, the skinners
were obliged to sweep the market-place, which was not then paved, and
for this service they were paid by the council[833]. In the beginning
of the seventeenth century the streets of Berlin were never swept,
and the swine belonging to the citizens wallowed in the increasing
dirt the whole day, as well as in the kennels, which were choked up
with mud. In the year 1624, when the elector desired the council to
order the streets to be cleaned, they replied, that it would then be
of no use, as the citizens at that time were busy with their farms.
Near Peter’s church there was a heap of dust so large that it almost
prevented people from passing, and it was with great difficulty, and
not until strict orders had been often repeated, that the elector could
get the inhabitants to remove it. For a long time dirt of every kind
was emptied in the new market-place, and lay there in such quantity,
that an order was issued in 1671, that every countryman who came to
the market should carry back with him a load of dirt. The director of
the public mill made continual complaints, that, by the dirt being
shot down near the long bridge, the mill-dam was prevented from
flowing. Hog-sties were erected in the streets, sometimes even under
the windows. This practice was forbidden by the council in 1641[834];
but it was nevertheless continued, until the elector at length, in the
year 1681, gave orders that the inhabitants should not feed swine;
and this prohibition was carried into effect without any exception,
as St. Anthony had no abbeys at Berlin. Privies, however, seem to
have been common in the large and flourishing towns of Germany much
earlier than in the capital of France; and those who are not disposed
to find fault with me for introducing proofs here which historians have
not disdained to record, may read what follows[835]:--In the annals
of Frankfort on the Maine, where mention is made of the cheapness of
former times, we are told how much a citizen there gave in the year
1477 for cleaning his privy[836]. We are informed also, that in 1496 an
order was issued by the council forbidding the proprietors of houses
situated in a certain place planted with trees to erect privies towards
the side where the trees were growing; and that in 1498, George Pfeffer
von Hell, J.U.D. and chancellor of the electorate of Mentz, fell by
accident into a privy, and there perished. It appears however from the
streets and houses of most of our cities, that they were constructed
before such conveniences were thought of, and that these were erected
through force at a later period[837].
[A new era in paving has been commenced by the substitution of wood
for stone, but unfortunately, its vast superiority in some respects is
nearly if not quite counterbalanced by its defects, so that it will
probably be laid aside. An imperfect kind of wooden _pavement_ has
been much used in North America, and is known by the name of _corduroy
road_; but the wooden pavement, properly so called, seems to have been
first used in Russia, and within the last few years, on a small scale
at Vienna, New York, &c. Its use in London was first suggested by Mr.
Finlayson in 1825. It was originally formed of hexagonal prismatic
pieces of wood, the grain of which was placed vertically. The blocks
have been kept together in various ways, some by mere position, others
by wooden pegs, strong iron wire, &c. The great disadvantage of
wooden pavement is that it becomes slippery in wet weather. Attempts
have been made to remedy this defect, by raising those in the centre
above the level of the lateral ones, or grooving the surfaces of the
blocks. Another objection to wooden pavement is the difficulty of
laying a firm and durable foundation. The retention of water by the
spaces left between the blocks and in the pores of the wood itself,
whereby an atmosphere of moisture is continually preserved, has also
been considered as likely to predispose to certain diseases. Whether
the latter is true or not, the short duration of their adoption has
hardly afforded sufficient opportunities of deciding. The checking of
the vibrations communicated from vehicles constantly running in the
streets, renders the wooden pavement of extreme value; its durability
has also been stated on good authority to exceed that of stone, and its
expense to be less. In these particulars however it has not answered
expectation; and from the immense number of horses which are daily
thrown down, from the want of resisting points on its surface, its use
will probably be abandoned; and in several of the large thoroughfares
where it had been adopted it is now being replaced by stone.
A very valuable material for the formation of foot-pavements has been
found and patented in _asphalte_. That which has been most used for
this purpose is the native asphalte from Seyssel; it is mixed with a
small quantity of native bitumen and sand. In preparing it, 93 parts
of native asphalte are reduced to powder and seven of bitumen; these
are melted together and fine gravel or sand stirred in the mixture.
It is then spread upon a concrete foundation in layers about an inch
in thickness. Its elasticity renders it exceedingly durable. Various
compositions have been substituted for this mixture, but we believe
none have been found to answer so well. The application of bituminous
substances to carriage-pavements has been almost exclusively limited
to court-yards, but there is very good evidence of its applicability
to public thoroughfares, in a piece of pavement, about 150 feet in
length by 10 feet in width, laid down in 1838 at Whitehall, as a sample
of Messrs. Claridge’s patent. It still remains in perfect condition.
The principal objection to the general adoption of asphaltic pavement
in the streets of London, appears to be the difficulty of raising and
relaying it, a process so constantly required to reach the innumerable
gas and water-pipes beneath.
Pavements have been laid down, especially in court-yards and stables,
one of the principal constituents of which is caoutchouc.]