Old Hampshire Mapped

miles

... We may consider the Dimensuration, Delineation and Illustration.

II. In Dimensuration, We might here Treat of the Several Measures us'd by the Antients; as among the Persians and Egyptians, the Schoenos containing two Parasangs or 60 Stadia; the Leuca or League among the Gauls, containing 1500 Paces,and the Rasta of the Germans 3000. but suffice it, that We say somewhat to the Roman Measure by which our Stations in Antonine are Computed; applying That and the Modern European Ones to the English Standard. The Romans accounted by Miles and Stadia, the Mile contain'd precisely 1000 Paces of 5 Foot, and the Stadium or Furlong 125 Paces, yet others Reckon the Stadium but 120 Paces or 600 Foot, and some Account the Mile but 7 Stadia and an half; now the Roman Foot exceeded Ours by 33 Parts of 1000; but the Itinerary Miles seem rather a Computation than any strict Measure, since by Our Dimensurated Intervals of the more certainly-known Stations, the Mile which should answer the English one as 1033 to 1056 seems rather larger than Our own, if the continual Inequality thereof admit a Censure: To which We may add, That the antient Greek Foot is said to contain decimally 1'076 Parts; the Babylonian 1'211; the Alexandrian 1'240, and the Arabian 1'102 of the English Foot, and as to Forein Measures in use, the Rhynland Foot being the same as the Roman 1'033; the Foot of Amsterdam '934; Antwerp '939; Hafnia (in Denmark) '965; Paris (the Royal Foot) 1'070; Venice 1'157; Toledo '896, and Nuremburgh 1'006 Parts of the said English Foot. And as to the English Mile it is deduc'd from a Barley-Corn, whereof 3 in length make an Inch, 12 Inches a Foot, 3 Feet a Yard, 3 Feet 9 Inches an Ell, 5 Feet a Pace, 6 Feet a Fathom, 5 Yards and an half or 16 Feet and an half a Pole, Perch or Rod, 40 such Poles a Furlong, and 8 Furlongs a Mile; so that a Mile English contains 8 Furlongs, 320 Poles, 1'056 Paces, 1760 Yards, 5'280 Feet, and 63'360 Inches.

To this of Measures We may adjoyn a Word or two of Dimensurators or Measuring Instruments, whereof the mosts usual has been the Chain, and the common length for English Measures 4 Poles, as answering indifferently to the English Mile and Acre, 10 such Chains in length making a Furlong, and 10 single square Chains an Acre, so that a square Mile contains 640 square Acres; This, as it obliges the Surveyor to chargeable Assistances, so it exposes the Account to the Dangers of Mistakes, which, perhaps is not the least Reason of the slow Progress of Actual Dimensuration, even in these last Centuries; That We have been much facilitated therefore in this Great Work by the Wheel Dimensurator, which, for Ease and Accurateness infinitely surpasses the Chain, as being manageable by a single Person, Measuring, even the smallest Deviations of the Way, and finishing a Revolution but once in 10 Miles; We readily acknowledge, and even in Wheels themselves, commend rather the Foor-Wheel here mention'd, of half a Pole Circumference, with the Way-Wizars as they are now Regulated, than any such like Coach or Chariot-Mensurator whatsoever.